Review

Zoë Coombs Marr

4 out of 5 stars
Zoe Coombs Marr takes Dave, her neckbearded comic creation, into strange and hilarious new dimensions
  • Comedy, Stand Up
  • Recommended
Rose Johnstone
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Time Out says

Coombs Marr’s utterly brilliant and mind-bending Trigger Warning was the hottest ticket of last year’s festival, and took out the Barry Award. If you missed the show last year, then don't make the same mistake again.

Time Out Melbourne's review of Trigger Warning at MICF 2016:

So you know when you have a vagina, and you’re walking around, and it starts creating a vacuum so powerful that it threatens to suck your legs into your body?

Nope, us neither. But at this point, Dave’s not making much sense. His attempts to make his misogynist brand of comedy more inclusive have failed. In fact, he’s dangerously close to a full-blown identity crisis. The thing is, since the last time audiences met Dave, the comic found himself the target of Twitter feminists, who derided his dick-swinging, Battle of the Sexes routine and confused him by using unfamiliar terms like ‘cis man’ (“kiss man?” Dave ponders). So, Dave did the only thing he could do: move to France, enrol in Philippe Gaulier’s famous school of clowning and become a mime. He may have given up the “classic Dave gold,” but at least he won’t get harassed by the feminazis.

This premise alone, along with Zoe Coombs Marr’s captivating energy, manic facial expressions and surprisingly nuanced performance of her misogynist alter-ego, would be enough to sustain an absurdly enjoyable hour of comedy. But without giving too much away, it soon becomes apparent that this is only the tip of a truly brilliant meta-spiral into a Zoe/Dave identity paradox. Coombs Marr is asking us to follow her (and Dave) into some messy, bizarre places (at one point, Dave is expected to appear on a panel on women in comedy) and every single audience member gleefully jumps along for the ride. It’s insanely intelligent, rib-achingly hilarious stuff.

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