reviews

★★★★★ EdFest Mag.

★★★★★ The Adelaide Advertiser.

“Thought-provoking and wildly funny” The Wee Review.

“Properly entertaining. This is exactly the kind of show the Fringe needs. Fresh voices, new perspectives. And properly entertaining. As Kevin might say – this show is deadly. Go see it and you will understand” The Scotsman.

“Truly funny, indigenous comedy!” Broadway Baby.

“To be able to blend light, easy-going jokes with a piece of political protest is an incredible skill. This is warm, genuine comedy but with an underlying message that you’ll carry with you after the Fringe” Broadway World.

EDINBURGH FESTIVALS MAGAZINE (UK) – 5 STARS

Aboriginal All-Stars bring to the fringe a big, upbeat, belly laugh belter of a show. Acclaimed comedians on the Australian comedy circuit, Kevin Kropinyeri, Steph Tisdell and Andy Saunders each take to the stage to tell stories that evoke both enlightenment and plenty of hearty laughter.

Each comedian radiates warmth and hilarity and each instantaneously creates a welcoming rapport with the audience, an often challenging skill that they lap up effortlessly. Pearls of insights and indigenous history are interwoven into the show and much of their material derives from being aboriginal. A startling only 2% of Australians are aboriginal despite being the worlds oldest civilisations! If you didn’t already know about Australian culture, this show will gently provide you with a warm dosage of cultural learning.

Far from just a history lesson, the three comedians delight the audience with their unique tongue in cheek, vibrant sense of humour. It is impossible not to chuckle and feel embraced by Kevin Kropinyeri’ mischievous, joyous storytelling. Steph Tisdell is unapologetically cheeky and brimming with zest and original material. Finally, Andy Saunders energetically closes the show with his charmingly rambunctious energy and even hurls in an impressive slice of beatboxing.

Showcasing to the fringe a diverse smattering of hilarious anecdotes, the trio all share a playful, cheeky vigour that is fun for all.

ADELAIDE ADVERTISER (Aus) – 5 STARS

Any qualms about whether non-indigenous people would be able to laugh at the content in Aboriginal Comedy Allstars are quickly quashed.

Host Kevin Kropinyeri is swift off the mark to tell us “white fellas” that we can laugh away, and that we do.

This show is hilarious. Belly aching, cheek hurting, hilarious.

Featuring three indigenous comedians, Kropinyeri, young talent Matt Ford and the suave Andy Saunders, these three men know how to put on a show.

Together the comedians tackle stereotypes, frustrations, general observations and aren’t afraid to poke fun at their own culture.

Kropinyeri is the standout, the man is plain funny and doesn’t hold back, even with his facials and body movement.

See it, see it, see it.

THE WEE REVIEW (UK) – 4 STARS

Kevin, Steph and Andy are truly aboriginal comedy allstars and the show they deliver is without a doubt, ‘deadly’

The Aboriginal Comedy Allstars are bringing a fresh perspective from the oldest culture on earth to Edinburgh this year. Kevin Kropinyeri, Steph Tisdell, and Andy Saunders each bring their own style to this thought-provoking and wildly funny show.

Kevin Kropinyeri bounds on stage full of energy and launches straight into his set. Kevin is owning his ‘stereotypical’ past as the father of eight children to three women and who has spent time locked up. 17 years ago he turned his life around and so began his journey to becoming a comedian. Kevin uses his platform to inform the audience about aboriginal culture, home life and struggles faced in a concise and joyful manner that lent itself to big laughs from all. One theme running through each of the Allstars sets in this show is the real issue of wilful ignorance at the hands of the Australian Government at all levels in providing support to the aboriginal community. Kevin taught us some essential Aboriginal slang including ‘Deadly’, which the local government used in an equal horrifyingly and hilariously wrong context.

A lack of understanding or researching on the part of the authorities in Australia is highlighted again by Steph Tisdell. Steph delves into the origins of a famous Australian’s name, which is definitely not the same as the Google Search result. She feels these mistakes are bound to happen due to Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal folk as the “family silver” to be presented to visitors then kept in a drawer gathering dust for the remainder of the year. Steph talks on issues faced by Aboriginal people with her set ranging from how tasty she finds white guilt to personal experience of living in Scotland. Throughout her set, she never fails to keep the audience laughing with every tale.

Our third and final Allstar for the show in Andy Saunders who brought a refreshing mix of impressions, beatboxing and traditional stand-up. During the rainiest couple of days of Fringe so far, Andy pondered how the UK can really claim to have a summer with a superb impression of how the sun behaves in our different hemispheres. Andy touches upon his family life with the deft humour that can only come from a place of love and pride.

Kevin, Steph and Andy are truly Aboriginal Comedy Allstars and the show they deliver is without a doubt, ‘deadly’.

BROADWAY BABY (UK) – 4 STARS

Truly funny, indigenous comedy, Aboriginal Comedy Allstars features three Aboriginal Australian comedians: Kevin Kropinyeri, Steph Tisdell and Andy Saunders. Each performing a 15-20 minute set, they bring their own personal style of stand-up to the stage with an indigenous twist.

Truly funny, indigenous comedy!

I was a bit worried that a mostly white, mostly non-Australian audience won’t understand a lot of the jokes, but I was very quickly proved wrong. Although these comedians don’t exist to educate us, they gave enough background context to any niche references so we all learned a bit more about Australia and Aboriginal culture.

Steph Tisdell in particular blew me away with her drole sense of humour and infectious jokes. She told us about the weird and wonderful reactions she gets to being Aboriginal in Scotland, a place that’s maybe not so outwardly racist as Australia, but still hostile to some forms of difference. For anyone who’s familiar with non-white comedy, her discussion of white guilt as a drug is hilarious, and helps us white people understand further the experience of minorities.

All three comedians employ traditional cultural (often racist) stereotypes about Aboriginal people to challenge them and turn them on their heads – for example that they’re all criminals, they have no money and they’re addicted to drink and drugs. The fact that Aboriginal people make up 70% of the Australian prison population but only 2% of the general population was referenced in jokes a lot, which is a striking statistic I wasn’t aware of. They also spend a lot of time poking fun at the racist climate of Australia and the government, which allows for a lot of laughs as criticising inept governments seems to be a current comedy theme (for good reason).

The show ends with the audience participating in a song describing the show as “deadly”, which in Aboriginal Australian slang means excellent or amazing. And that’s exactly what Aboriginal Comedy Allstars is – deadly. It is well worth a watch for any fans of comedy, indigenous or otherwise.

BROADWAY WORLD (UK) – 4 STARS

Deadly’: Excellent/amazing/really good in Aboriginal terms.

MC Kevin Kropinyeri explains this definition at the top of the show, and also the damming impact it had on a “Say no to drugs” type campaign when used incorrectly. “You’re in for a deadly show, ladies and gentlemen,” Kropinyeri promises when he comes on stage. And you know what, he’s not wrong.

The Allstars gig in a comedy club format – Kropinyeri introducing Steph Tisdell and Andy Saunders to the stage in turn. Initially, this style seems a little unusual on the paid Fringe at 3.55pm, but they play their time slot very well. This is pretty gentle, kind-hearted comedy – Kropinyeri’s children were even in the audience.

But these three comedians are also aware of the platform the festival gives them, and they’re not going to miss the opportunity to shine a light on the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia. To be able to blend light, easy-going jokes with a piece of political protest is an incredible skill.

Each of the comedians comes at the subject in their own way. Kropinyeri is this big-hearted, open comic who gives you a slice of life in his hometown, alongside some exquisite dance moves. Saunders has insane beatbox skills, that he lovingly puts to use in a song about his wife. And Tisdell is so brilliantly cutting as she educates hipsters at breakfast and the Government on their white whale.

It was a bit of a fangirl moment seeing Tisdell gig live. She was a roaring success at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and appeared on MICF’s The Gala, “Australia’s comedy night of nights”. Tisdell’s become somewhat of a social media sensation, and I love that the Fringe can bring your favourites to the other side of the world to perform.

This is warm, genuine comedy but with an underlying message that you’ll carry with you after the Fringe. How’s about that for deadly?

RIP IT UP (Aus) – 4 STARS

Aboriginal Comedy Allstars features the comic stylings of Kevin Kropinyeri, Matt Ford, and Andy Saunders. These three are from all over Australia, and though the show remains deadly throughout, their sets remain distinct with their personalities shining through clearly.

Kropinyeri served as an MC of sorts, opening the show and giving introductions to the other performers. He got the crowd excited in half a second, and set the bar high for the rest of the show. His conversational tone also helped, giving the show an easy, relaxed vibe.

Matt Ford’s set was a shift in tone, largely because at 21 he was so much younger than the other comedians. While the topics were fairly routine – going out, relationships in your early 20s, the friendzone – the perspective he offered on them was refreshing. Despite his age and  short stature (another topic in his set) he commanded the stage like an absolute pro, and was funnier than much bigger names.

Andy Saunders closed the show, and though he fell somewhere in between the other two performers in terms of age his comedy was much more out there. As well as traditional standup he beatboxed and did impersonations, and maintained across all of these elements a high level of skill.

Aboriginal Comedy Allstars showcases three of the best comedians I’ve seen this Fringe. Their work was refreshing and hilarious, and the show was overall even greater than the sum of their parts. Kropinyeri, Ford, and Saunders were all outstanding and their routines were polished without feeling overworked.

IN DAILY (Aus)

There is not much to say about this original Aussie comedy performance other than it is gut-busting, laugh-out-loud, top-shelf Fringe entertainment.

I was not sure what to expect as we ventured to Tuxedo Cat to see the Aboriginal Comedy Allstars, but what transpired were the hilarious and contemporary observations of three very talented Aboriginal comedians on their life, frustrations and unique experiences of modern Australia.

The show kicked off with larger-than-life MC Kevin Kropinyeri – the funniest comedian I’ve seen. His use of facial expressions and body language alone are worth the price of the ticket. Forget all your politeness and political correctness, Kropinyeri destroys it with seat-squirming hilarity. There are plenty of OMG moments, especially for the “whitefellas” in the audience.

Just when you think you can’t take any more, Matt Ford enters the stage. Young, urban, laidback and self-depreciating, Ford meanders gently through dilemmas in his life before delivering the killer lines. A stylish performance that creeps up your funny bone.]

To the delight of the audience, Kropinyeri keeps going in between acts and just gets better, the highlight being an impersonation of his three-year-old son doing a “guna”.

Andy Saunders, star of ABC show WhiteBlackAtcha, finished the night with a smooth, quirky and very funny routine. This man has attitude and many voices, including some cool beat box. He debunks some of the misconceptions about Aboriginal people and culture with disarming wit and charm.

If you want to finish the Fringe with a bang, Aboriginal Comedy Allstars will leave you laughing until next year. A must-see.