2 Stars
"Visionary character maverick (and registered blind guy) Tom Skelton gallops through the history of famous VIPs (Visually Impaired People). From Samson to Stevie Wonder, Tom tells their tales and the story of his own sight loss in a blindingly riotous show." - reads the Melbourne Comedy Festival Website.
The show begins with a strong opener. UK-born Skelton presents himself as a charismatic, charming doctor who warns of upcoming dark humour about blindness. The audience was in stitches as he rattled off personal anecdotes of things that people "actually" said to him as he slowly started to lose his vision. A harrowing experience for anybody to go through I'm sure, yet Skelton presents each anecdote with brilliant comic wit. As the doctor, his questioning, lined with faux pas was incredibly entertaining.
The show then takes a sharp turn (as promised in the above description) into the history of blind people. This takes up a majority of the show and unfortunately as it drew on, the high-brow style of this comedy lost most of its audience. There were moment of laughter, but the biggest responses came from occasional his anecdotal asides, leaving me longing for more content that ran with the opening theme.
I recommend this show to anybody who has a firm grasp of fairly ancient history and gets their kick out of making a mockery of the associated figures.
Blind Man's Bluff
Imperial Hotel - Hooper Room
6pm, April 8-21
Tickets: Click here