Review By Tessa Stickland
Bits Akimbo are rising stars in sketch comedy. Katie Currie, Douglas Rintoul, and Max Paton are a well oiled machine.
What does their machine make? High energy absurd fun!
They had an amazingly packed audience for their opening night on a Monday. A Monday at 10pm! The vibe was electric.
Every sketch in their latest show is tight (but with enough room from the late night energy to give it the potential to go off kilter, in a good way).
Like the siren – beautifully portrayed by Rintoul and a set of balloon boobs – there are little riffs and silly bits to tempt the trio into the sea to crash their ship. They occasionally succumbed to the seduction, but their ship didn't crash. It exploded in laughter!
Now, the comparison can't be helped, so I'll go ahead and say it: if you like Aunty Donna, you're sure to like Bits Akimbo.
Both are sketch trios based in Melbourne making absurd, peppy comedy. The twist? They've got a girl. And she's American.
Nah, but I jest. They're very much their own thing. I've said it before, they're not copy cats.
It's hard to not address the Aunty Donna-phant in the room when they're clearly an inspiration, and the most obvious cultural touchstone.
Bits Akimbo even address this; with one of the trio attempting to escalate a sketch by bringing out a jar of piss, but the others rejecting it, because Aunty Donna already did a piss sketch. They joke that it limits the material available to them.
They've got songs to hype the audience up, they've got snappy sketches to keep you on your toes, and drawn out nonsense for uncontrollable laughter.
They strike a great balance between physical comedy and witty puns.
Currie, Rintoul, and Paton are wonderfully in sync. Their timing is on point and they hit every laugh.
Get in the Boot is everything you want from late night sketch comedy. Weird, unexpected, and dumb fun.
It's a stellar show. Banger sketches. High energy tomfoolery. They're only getting better with each show, so get in before they get too big for their boots (haha coz boots is in the name of the show. Geddit?).
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