Melbourne Reviews

Larry Dean is a multi-faceted performer of many voices, faces and characters. The award-winning comic from Scotland is no stranger to the comedy circuit and has become a beloved act at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Dean returns in 2023 with an encore performance of the sold-out show FUDNUT that goes beyond standard comedy fare, and delves deeper into the somewhat troubled psyche of a comedian whose jokes often mask the darker feelings below the sunny surface.

Because at face level, Dean is funny, witty and engaging, (he even does a decent Australian accent) and he prances around the stage with the joviality of a toddler hyped up on sugar. He weaves his story through a central narrative that involves being caught up in customs in Abu Dhabi. This story is our basis, a touchpoint to come back as Dean goes off on tangents about his best friend Paul, his psychiatrist, the hypnotherapist that tried to hypnotise him into quitting vaping and the best/worst gig of his life.

He plays off the AUSLAN interpreter who becomes part of the show and in on the jokes, something we’re seeing more of as performances across the board become more inclusive and richer for it.

He discusses the discrimination he receives from being a gay man on the comic scene and of falling in and out of love. He also tells fart jokes. It’s a delicate balance being a comedian, finding the right amount of sincerity and pathos to counter the more indelicate jokes regarding anal lube and bumming.

For the most part, Dean keeps it light, we are, after all here to see a comedy show. But there is an unexpected emotional ending that he keeps close to the chest, and he drops the bombshell at just the right moment for maximum effect.

The 2022 season of FUDNUT sold out and has been referred to as “confessional storytelling at its funniest”. If you want to laugh at silly jokes from a man who has an excellent handle of his craft, and is both a gifted impressionist and storyteller, then Larry Dean is the comedian for you.

It is daring, it is sincere, it’s really tragic, but it’s also really funny.