Adam Richard #fgt | Fringe World | ★ ★ ★
A paranoid preamble: I’m slightly terrified of reviewing Adam Richard in the wake of Mooneygate. Richard has known Lawrence Mooney for years – they competed against each other in the 1997 Raw Comedy final – and I am a twenty-something writer with the gall to call myself a critic. (Does majoring in Literary and Cultural Studies qualify??) That’s asking for it… Nevertheless, I don’t have a choice, so read on as I cobble together my limited thoughts and experiences to cast assertions on this seasoned comedian’s performance. NOW ENOUGH ABOUT ME GOD MY GENERATION IS SO SELF ABSORBED.
Adam Richard begins and ends ‘#fgt’ with a question that continues to haunt modern Australia: when does ‘having a laugh’ turn into ‘just being an arsehole’?
Why can’t women and ethnics and faggots (#fgts) just take a joke?
He might as well ask what makes good comedy. Brilliant question, but Richard leaves this thought hanging ‘like a fart’ and mainly riffs on his life as a B- to C-grade celebrity. This proves insightful if not a shade disappointing – wait Adam, let me explain!
From the vantage point of his own modest fame, Richard comments on the ambition and slog it takes to gain any success as a performer; the crap you have to take from the public, your peers and the entertainment industry itself – not to mention deadbeat critics.
The former radio host and occasional TV presenter is no stranger to the pitfalls of being in the public eye. He’s been typecast as the catty gossip simply because he’s a gay male, has appeared on two awful reality TV shows and turned down a third because it was getting ridiculous.
He notes how Australia’s tall poppy syndrome is bizarrely suspicious of even the least offensive stars. Everyone asks him what Rove McManus, Adam Hills and Hugh Jackman are really like? (Because obviously they’re too nice and must either be raging narcissists or closet homosexuals.)
The only setback is that Richard affirms from the beginning that celebrities can and should take a joke. So where’s the transgression in mocking people who can rightfully be mocked?
As funny as it is, an impersonation of Hugh Jackman as a flamboyant-but-definitely-not-gay Wolverine doesn’t tell us much about bullying or the harm in stereotypes. Why not skip the whole ‘what can and can’t be made fun of’ premise and present a hearty show about life on the the C-list?
If you don’t leave #fgt with a strong message about discrimination, then you’re at least guaranteed an incisive one about celebrity, as well as some amusing anecdotes that you can laugh at without feeling like a complete arsehole.
Carmen Reilly
