Top Shelf Comedy: A Night Full of Laughs, Mystery, and Seduction

Originally published on Avenoir Magazine, in May 2017.

The University Dramatic Society has done it again; their sixth annual Top Shelf Comedy was a spectacular hit. It had the audience in stitches and wanting more.

When I entered the tavern on Monday night, I had no idea what I was in for. A comedy sketch show seems simple enough; I knew there were going to be 15 sketches, I wondered, would there be an overarching theme? Would they be connected somehow? Whilst they weren’t connected in a way I expected, this anthology of sketches was fantastic. Each highlighted something about society or the human psyche that was eye opening, sometimes quite shocking, but always full of humour. 

“A touch of seduction. A dose of deduction. Heroes. Villains. Lads.
All this and more awaits as we take you on a journey through time and space in a ludicrous night of sketch comedy.
Four Nights. Fifteen Sketches. One Top Shelf.”

The show started with ‘Hall of the King,’ which set the tone for the entire evening, in a way that very clearly stated, this show is going to be all over the place in the best possible way, leave expectations at the door because “expect the unexpected” is an understatement. This sketch started with two friends coming back from bowling, and erupted into a riot about milk and more.

Like I said, you won’t be able to see any of these shows coming, which made the experience all the more enjoyable. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, with anticipation, as to what could possibly be next.

Some notable highlights for me were: ‘A Study in Black’ a Sherlock Holmes parody that was fantastic, and hats off to Xavier Hazard for his spectacular Moriarty impersonation. ‘Bush Dads’ was incredibly Aussie, ‘The F Word’ was a Gordon Ramsey parody where he tries to revitalise the food at a funeral home, and chaos ensues in many ways.

My top two favourites of the night were, ‘One Night Stand’ and ‘Redgrave Investigations.’ I loved the old fashioned feel to ‘Redgrave Investigations’ and the way they utilised the private investigator trope, and ‘One Night Stand’ just escalated in such a completely absurd manner that caught me completely off guard.

Well done to the various writers who penned these many sketches, they were all incredibly unique and witty in their own way. Also, hats off to directors Caleb Donaldson, and Jonathon Sweeney once again you two have put together a great show with an amazing cast.

Top Shelf Comedy has two more shows; so don’t miss out on an incredible night of original sketches.