Charlie Pickering, How to Tame a Wild Squirrel

The image of the slick and successful television personality of Charlie Pickering makes it difficult to imagine him back on the stage in a stand up routine. This is an opportunity to see a raw version of the now polished persona we have become accustomed to. Pickering is astonishing in his ability to expose the daring that is required to perform in this context.

He is no novice but his improvised introduction to the show makes it clear that this is a space where almost anything can happen and so much could easily go wrong, if it were not for his incredible ability to think on his feet. He is not afraid to risk the polish on his image to maintain a certain edginess to his performance.

His material leaves ample space for his incisive observation of current issues. He has a bone to pick with the omnipotent and omnipresent Internet. His feelings about the often vacuous nature of broadcast news borders on brilliance, and his accusations of Australian naivety when it comes to understanding our rampant racism is wonderfully illuminating.

Pickering closes his show with an hysterical example of the cultural calibre of Internet content with his tale of how to tame a squirrel. Its bizarre nature will have you in stitches and simultaneously concerned about the cost of free flowing information where the ability to distil ideas seems to have vanished.

Patricia Di Risio