Richard Higgins and Matthew Kelly are The Listies, an all-singing, all-dancing comedy duo. Their newest kids’ show, The Listies Make Some Noise, contains toilet humour, family-friendly jokes and high-tech special effects – like a rubber mat for a wind machine – within a series of sketches, songs and moments of absurdity.
Unsurprisingly, The Listies like to make lists, which are the perfect platform for preposterous wordplay and visual humour. Music history lessons with Higgins come in the form of a PowerPoint presentation made extra comical by Kelly’s use of puns, rebus riddles and pop culture references. This unique style of musical education includes the art of practising the roadie bum crack and, of course, wind instruments lend themselves wonderfully to fart jokes. A game called ‘Audience Orchestra’ has the audience clapping, burping and dancing out of their seats.
The Listies’ fantastic use of lighting, sound effects and a projector screen complement a variety of intriguing and original props, including (but definitely not limited to) silly string, dirty nappies and inflatable wavy-arm humans. The world’s weirdest baby costume is the perfect set-up for a series of seemingly infinite gags, including the funniest baby rap ever performed.
With distinct personalities, the duo already have three albums, a couple of books and a television show on ABC iView under their belts. These two play off each other hilariously, with call-backs, puns and visual gags littering their banter. Small amounts of subtle adult humour may go over the heads of the younger audience, but the entire show is family friendly and suitable for all ages.
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This show gets the audience clapping, tapping and rapping along with an engaging selection of catchy songs and pointers in air guitar rock star moves. This is high-quality children’s comedy, which will amuse and entertain the whole family.
The Listies Make Some Noise
Richard Higgins and Matthew Kelly
State Theatre Centre of WA
Tickets: $29
The Listies Make Some Noise will be performed until 29 January 2023 as part of Perth Fringe World.
