New Order UK

As one of the opening salvos in this year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival, New Order UK (despite sounding like the title of a band) got things off to a great start. Three up and coming British acts performed for around 20 minutes each, all so entertaining that the time seemed to fly.

First up was Phil Wang, a young, laidback bloke of Chinese and British parentage, who built much of his material around sly observations regarding the cultural stereotypes people ascribe to the Chinese, along with some smart stylings about Australia from his point of view as a visiting Brit. Full of

infectious energy and exuding good cheer, Mr Wang quickly captured the audience’s goodwill.

He was followed by Lazy Susan, a double act described as an “anarchic sketch comedy duo”. Their first attempt at raising a laugh falling completely flat, the couple continued on undeterred, despite their initial sketch choices being a little difficult for the local audience to fully relate to. But their obvious talent for creating fully dimensional characters out of prop wigs and regional accents eventually won the crowd over, and by the end of their allotted time they had people in stitches.

Final act of the evening was Dane Baptiste, whose standup was not dissimilar to Mr Wang’s, though his content focused more on the relations between men and women. Again an engaging performer with polished delivery, Mr Baptiste was possibly the most well-received of the three acts - but all were impeccably presented and well worth seeing. New Order UK is a great intro to some rising talents that we’re sure to see more of in the future.

Alex Paige

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