No sugar-coating the truth or dancing around it like I have seen in other reviews, the main theme of this show is how Lou Wall recovered from being raped and also several other things like a break up, housing stress and starting a new job on the national broadcaster during 2023.

This was around the same time as they got the Moosehead Award and did their successful comedy festival run, also going over to Edinburgh Fringe and playing at the SOHO Theatre in London.

They decided that to get through it they could not just do “tragedy plus time equals comedy” but make a joke about it straight away and comes up with list of things they thinks is funny that was 600+ items long. For the show they takes us through 69 of them as that is their favourite number.

The audio-visual format with the large screen and Lou with the remote in their pocket returns. These things can be difficult to get right and it is like working without a net as there is no backup if the tech fails. It is 100% dependant on it working or there is no show that is a whole bunch of stress.

There is a brief fake-out like they was going to attempt a song about rape, but even they decides that is not something they could pull off. Is an infamous song by actor Peter Wyngarde from the 1970s where he just says “rape” over and over with a disco beat but Lou Wall is not an actor from the 1970s with a moustache.

Lou Wall does say they are much better now, but things during the show point to it not being so as much such as their whole sexuality and personality changing, yet still they had to keep it together for their work on the WTFAQ show. They also does not change anyone’s name as uses a message from someone they slept with in the show. Not sure what the legalities are of that but I am sure the festival would have given it a once-over with the legal department.

I did enjoy the couple of songs/spoken word performance pieces about the Facebook Marketplace furniture thief and the real estate landlord song but nothing really stands out like the foot fetish song like last year.

It is a more reflective show in general and I think this is one you need to see on a night where you do not have anything else on or at least do not go to another show straight after as you will need a drink. I almost considered going straight home and not going to my last show of the day but decided to go get dinner and went after that.

While this is a good show I would recommend this with some caveats for people who have experienced sexual assault or abuse and it generally needs to have some time to reflect afterwards o I am not sure how well this one is going to do this year. It was still important for Lou themself that they did it and that people know what happened to them but I would advise some caution if you are approaching this expecting to be exactly the same as last year.

Rating: 4/5

Show details:

This show contains: Occasional coarse language, References to sexual assault or abuse, Strobe lighting.

Tickets from: https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2024/shows/the-bisexuals-lament

Adult:

Wed & Thu $29.00

Fri & Sat $32.00

Sun $29.00

Concession:

Wed & Thu $27.00

Sun $27.00

Group (6+):

Wed & Thu $27.00

Sun $27.00

Preview:

All Tix $27.00

Tightarse Tuesday:

$27.00

Triple R Subscribers:

Wed & Thu $27.00

Sun $27.00

Dates & Times:

Thu 28 Mar – Sat 30 Mar: 6.20pm;

Sun 31 Mar: 5.20pm;

Tue 2 Apr – Sat 6 Apr: 6.20pm;

Tue 9 Apr – Sat 13 Apr: 6.20pm;

Sun Apr 7 show cancelled

Sun 14 Apr: 5.20pm;

Tue 16 Apr – Sat 20 Apr: 6.20pm;

Sun 21 Apr: 5.20pm

ACMI – Gandel Lab, Fed Square, Melbourne

Mon 15 Apr: 9.15pm

Trades Hall – Solidarity Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton

Show length: 60 min