Three ex-PMS: Mandy Bishop, Jonathan Biggins and Phil Scott as Julia Bishop, Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd. Photo: Vishal Pandey
‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ sing four red-nosed fairground clowns (aka Mandy Bishop, Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phil Scott) in the opening number of The Wharf Revue: Looking for Albanese. And for the 90 minutes of this hilarious revue, so they are. If laughter is the best medicine, this show should be on the PBS.
Aficionados will be familiar with the talents of this foursome. Writers Biggins, Forsythe and Scott are adept at encapsulating pithy humour into the sketches and songs that lampoon not only our politicians but our national character. There is something of a dearth of satire in Australia entertainment at present but the revue team endures. Their barbs are sharp and funny, accurate but not too cruel – which is perhaps why their format is so beloved, and successful. Mandy Bishop, part of the team for many seasons now, is also a wonderful mimic, actor and singer.
So, expect to meet the wholesome quartet The Greens (a la Wiggles) singing ‘Toot, toot! Electric Car’, impersonations of such favourites as Paul Keating, Julia Bishop, Kevin Rudd, Pauline Hanson (always and only a delight when channelled by Forsythe) and a boot-scootin’ Jacqui Lambie (Bishop had the audience clapping along to the tune of ‘Convoy’). Scott, the revue’s musical director, does a fine turn as Boris Johnson hosting a piano party.
As the title suggests, our new Labor PM features heavily. See him in sketches entitled Albo Baggins and the Mountain of Debt (complete with the Elves of Indifference and Wong the Ubiquitous); Albo in Wonderland, featuring an almost unrecognisable Bishop as the man in question; and the (only) slightly more serious Inner West Side Story.
Woven throughout the show are video excerpts of a spoof version of the ABC’s You Can’t Ask That. The theme? Losers. Among them Trump, Kristina Keneally and Hillary Clinton (but Vladimir Putin won’t be answering questions).
Other highlights (and new characters to impersonate) include Biggins as a hilariously observed King Charles, who has a thing or two to tell us Aussies; Biggins again as a truly gruesome Peta Credlin; and Bishop as Allegra Spender (‘Real Contender’), electioneering to the tune of Shirley Bassey’s ‘Big Spender’. And the team comes together for the penultimate number, The Supremes of the US High Court. A very clever putdown of Roe v Wade sung to the music of such classics as ‘Stop! In the Name of Love’ and ‘Baby Love’. If this was on TikTok, surely it would go viral.
A new government has provided Biggins, Scott and Forsythe with fresh fodder, world events are giving them even more, and this year’s commentary is sharper and more incisive than ever, the parodies better than ever, and as for the song lyrics – just so clever. Not to be missed.
Presented by Soft Tread Enterprises, Looking for Albanese plays at the Seymour Centre, York Theatre, until 23 December, 2022
