Review By Tessa Stickland
You may recognise the dulcet tones of Dave Woodhead from Triple J as the lunchtime radio host. As well as being a broadcaster, Woodhead is a comedian, writer, actor, and self proclaimed “big boy” (he is rather tall).
Lunch For Dinner is his first solo Melbourne International Comedy Festival show. While he is young (only 25), he has been in the comedy game for a long time. He has competed in MICF’s RAW Comedy (2016) and was later chosen for the Comedy Zone lineup in 2019.
On top of all of that, he has lent his comedy chops to renowned series like Black Comedy and Get Krackin’. So if you’re a fan of them, it’s worth checking Woodhead out.
As a host for the national youth broadcaster, it’s no surprise that Woodhead’s stand-up consists of stories about being young. He talks about growing up in Darwin, his parents, parties and drugs, and the strangeness that comes with being young but looking old.
Woodhead canvassed the age of the crowd near the start of the show, asking for a cheer from the under 25s. It felt weird for me to be in the “old people in the room camp” (only by a year and a bit (almost two years…)). But after seeing a bunch of shows by those around their 30s, there was a bit of freshness to this.
As well as a primarily older (above 25) audience, we were also an audience of squares. He poked a bit of fun at us for that. But it was good natured razzing. Though I think it was used as a way to transition between and set-up stories that involved drugs and bush doofs and other typically youth and risk taker things.
Also near the top of the show, he made an off the cuff quip about an audience member wearing a face mask. This got my hackles up a bit, and had me ready for red flags. However, happily, Woodhead didn’t actually go to mock the person.
Still, from that one improvised line, it kept me off side for a bit. I wasn’t 100% sure if I could be comfortable. But Woodhead won me around before the end.
Woodhead serves up some tasty comedy for dinner. From gibes at Melbournians to jokes about his dad being angry at a KFC drive-through, there are many yummy treats in Lunch for Dinner. It’s a show for the big boys!
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