The Comic Psychic - Comedy Review

What: The Comic Psychic - Are You There Michael Jackson?
Where: The Butterfly Club
When: 1-5 November 2017
Performed by: Bernadette Mirabelli

Bernadette Mirabelli

We often talk about seeing and hearing diverse voices on stage, but after watching The Comic Psychic it occurred to me that there is one voice we see and hear little of - the middle age immigrant woman. Laughing along with Bernadette Mirabelli's puns and pop culture humour I had the best 45 minutes in a long time at The Butterfly Club last night.

I have spoken before about how much I enjoy evenings of 'dad humour' comedy - how gentle they are as you cackle benignly with the corny joke heard a million times before. With The Comic Psychic I realised I had missed the wry, dry wit of the mum/grandma keenly observing life in a self-deprecating manner and working her way through a bottle of gin or vodka.

For our psychic Madame Elbac, the choice was vodka. Her five vegetables a day are the brands of potato which make up the contents of her tumbler and she is not going to let her repetiteur Herbie (or Herpes as she prefers to call him) judge her for it.

Elbac is cable backwards, and Madame Elbac is a conduit between the spirit world and our material world. Elbac has cleared the kitchen table of dishes, replacing them with a crystal ball and she has decided to touch base with Michael Jackson and check in on him. Unfortunately her communications highway is as effective as our NBN so we meet a few other Micheal's along the way.

With an eagerness boardering on naivette, a powerful singing voice, a no-nonsense awareness of the world, and an accent which will instantly remind of bright sunny kitchens with yummy food in the oven The Comic Psychic doesn't break new ground but ut had me laughing all the way through. The tone of the show is relaxed and inclusive and with a cocktail in hand you can't go wrong with this one.

2.5 Stars