Type: Unhinged, Investigative, Comedy Festival
If You Liked: Zoë Coombs Marr, Emma Holland, Hot Department
Where are all the tall grandmas? Lou Wall asks. It’s a literal question at first, almost absurd, and if like me, you have not pondered about this in your life yet, you certainly will after seeing Wall approach it with an almost academic sincerity that would make researchers proud.
There are plenty of ways to open a stand-up show, but you will be hard pressed to find one that lands quite like Wall’s this year. It is bold, unhinged, and just when you think it cannot be topped from there on, they spend the next hour proving that it can. What follows is a sharply constructed and tight performance that amidst all the fanfare and spectacle, has its moments that make you really sit back and think about the world we occupy.
Their investigation into this missing tall grandmas is data-backed, statistically sound, crowd-sourced, and authority-vetted, so that by the end, you’re not just convinced it’s a valid question, but you’re a little unsettled that you’ve never asked it yourself. Wall leaves no stone unturned, and in doing that, leaves your insides twisting in joy at the results.
As the layers peel off, Wall takes you into more rabbit holes, exposing the absurdities of the systems we have created, including some realities that hit hard – all while ensuring it never gets too heavy and the laughs keep rolling in. They talk about their childhood, the ‘weirdness’ of growing up to be as tall as they are, the looking-down upon people that comes with it – for reasons equal parts anatomical and responsive to male insecurities – and this is all delivered in the classic Lou Wall way, involving plenty of multimedia, song, and dance. They sing, recite, dance, and laugh their way through the hour, even managing to weave in a moment of crowd interaction in the middle of a song before jumping back to the song mid-rhythm without skipping a beat – that is class, and Wall’s act is full of it.
Running underneath it all is a motif of hide-and-seek, posed as a question “when does hiding become too comfortable, almost preferable?” There is precision in the way they touche on the politics of identity, acceptance, and everything in between, and they leave the audience with a perspective that is hard to shake off. Easily one of the more memorable acts you will see at the Comedy Festival this year.
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See our other reviews from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in the link below
Tickets and Practical Info for Where Are All the Tall Grandmas? at MICF 🎟️
Tickets: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/where-are-all-the-tall-grandmas/
Ticket Prices: $30–$39
Time: 7:45pm | 6:45pm
Venue: The Malthouse – Beckett Theatre
Duration: 60 minutes
Suitable for audiences 15+: occasional coarse language
