Comedy Review - Natali Caro is Seeking Representation
Images courtesy of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Do you like watching cable tv? Is it even called cable anymore? In this internet swaddled era the art of channel surfing is rapidly dying and its remains have been sublimated into 30 second bursts on TikTok and Instagram. Well, Natali Caro carries the torch of channel surfing into a live comedy show environment and kills it while doing so. Natali ducks and weaves through a delightful hour of varied multimedia comedy. More traditional stand up and crowd work is neatly blended with pre-recorded segments, confessional comedy sits neatly next to live songs and the end result is highly entertaining.
Natali’s comedy often slows down a step to expose their vulnerabilities, issues, and triumphs in comedy and life as a queer, disabled, non-white comedian in Australia. The show is called “Seeking Representation” after all, so the fact that this type of material is included is naturally expected. Natali’s expression of this material was excellent, and their jokes were good but it wasn’t the highlight of the show. For queer comedians or really anyone who doesn’t fall into the “comedy bro” category that dominates the profession, this style of vulnerable comedy can feel a little routine — almost like it’s fulfilling an expectation of what a non white-comedy-bro should perform. Natali broke ground on this expectation when they combined it with a well-timed and incredibly uncomfortable drag performance as a typical “comedy bro” doing a set — a mid-show reminder of the disappointing broader comedy culture which continues to thrive.
In fact Natali’s impressions are a continual highlight of the show — one particularly inspired segment is an extended pre-recorded sketch of Natali delivering a Chris Angel impression. Chris Angel’s cultural relevance in 2024 might be vanishingly small, yet the bit still lands solidly. This continued combination of video skits, impersonations, traditional stand up, songs, and other unexpected delights means Natali never lingers too long on an unwelcome joke. If a joke isn’t landing then stay tuned, because the channel is about to change and as the show progresses there’s a pleasurable anticipation trying to guess just where the next joke might come from.
Seeking Representation is Natali Caro’s first show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival - their first show of this length - and Natali is undoubtedly one to watch for in future years. An incisive comedian with an unusual genre-hopping style: this was a solo show like no other.
Natali Caro is Seeking Representation was part of the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, For tickets and more info, click here.