Tom Gleeson's show Good One at The Garden of Unearthly Delights is the first show I have seen at The Adelaide Fringe this year and it was a great way to start off the season.
The show was good value. It had something for everyone and the material covered a lot of bases, including politics, Tom's childhood, and his own family.
Tom joked about how Josh Thomas (complete with a very convincing Josh Thomas impression) said that Tom’s shows are filled with a bunch of people "who could be any number of randoms standing at a bus stop". Looking around the audience, that's exactly what we looked like!
Good One is the type of show you that could take anybody to. The crowd consisted of people all ages, from 17 months to 70 years. Half of me wanted to congratulate the parents of the 17 month old in the crowd for still enjoying the Fringe with a young child and the other half of me wasn't so sure that a child learning to talk should be listening to that much swearing! She was, however, very well behaved and appeared to enjoy the show.
The material in Good One was very current and a lot of the jokes were politically based. This managed to keep the show relevant and fresh.
Tom has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics and you can tell he is a very smart man. The jokes are clever and I wouldn’t worry about getting offended by anything the way some people do in certain comedy shows.
Tom is a seasoned performer and the show was very polished, however he could still pull jokes right off the top of his head. I wouldn't dare heckle him from the crowd, as I've heard he can give it back as well as he can take it.
Overall this is a very funny show and Tom uses a lot of 'smart' political humour. I found, however, the absolutely funniest parts were when Tom was talking about his experiences as a young child.
Go to see this if you like TV shows like The Project and Good News Week.
Venue: The Hunting Lodge, The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Rundle Park/Kadlitpinna, Cnr East Tce & Rundle Rd, Adelaide
Season: 8:45pm Thurs 23 Feb to Sun18 March 2012.
Duration: 60 mins
Tickets: $20-30
Bookings: Fringetix 1300-FRINGE (1300-374643), Fringe outlets or online.
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