[THEATRE REVIEW] LACHIE GOUGH: MONSTER TRUCK EXTRAVAGANZA 3000 @ The Butterfly Club Review (2023)
Get ready for fun fun fun!
It’s time for action action action!
With laugh out loud comedy comedy comedy!
And other gargantuan vehicular based mayhem at the Monster Truck Extravaganza 3000!!!
That’s right rev up your engines and fasten your seatbelts for the latest hour of comedy from the hilarious Lachie Gough of Handful of Bugs Theatre Co. We all know what to expect from a monster truck show. Death defying stunts! Wheelies! Burnouts! V8 engines roaring so loud you won’t be able to hear clearly for days afterwards! Not to mention the potential to be horribly injured if not killed by flying debris!
Well this show promises none of that! Are you insane? It’s a comedy show at The Butterfly Club after all! What it does promise is an hour of sketch comedy and laughter from one man living and breathing the monster trucking way of life!
I was lucky enough to catch Lachie Gough in his previous Handful of Bugs production ‘The John Wilkes Booth’. An energetic spy vs spy epic full of assassins, 10 gallon hats, dodgy accents and Daniel Day-Lewis impressions. Despite not being part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival it still ranks amongst the funniest shows I’ve seen this year. So I was excited to see what Handful of Bugs Theatre Co. would come up with next.
This is quite a different type of show from ‘The John Wilkes Booth’ being a one man show with plenty of surprises thrown in. Lachie greets us as we come upstairs out of character very informal and welcoming. Then it’s off and running with the thing all hotshot comedians are rocking right now: PowerPoint presentations!
We’re treated to an introduction to the world of Monster Trucks and the world of Lachie Gough. A random and absurdist slideshow easing us into the level of insanity which will follow. Hilarious sketch after sketch, songs, pantomime, some prop work and characters by Lachie based around all things with massive wheels!
The Butterfly Club may not have busted out their back wall to fit in a real 12 foot tall vehicle but Monster Truck Extravaganza 3000 is still an act big on spectacle. With sketches utilising the room’s audio visual systems to creatively shake things up and ensure we never know what direction the show is going to go in next.
Something I found so fascinating about the night was Lachie’s ability to draw us in and make you feel like a part of the action even without a huge focus on audience participation. Nobody from the audience was dragged up on stage and there’s little if any crowd work and yet the entire room is engaged by Lachie. Making us feel like we’re all part of the show just by the magnetism of his personality alone.
Of course I already knew Lachie was great at this from his previous show but once again his ability to think on his feet is apparent. The sketches may be heavily scripted but even when someone’s phone goes off interrupting things Lachie is able to roll with it and keep us laughing the entire time.
One of the few people who can make a vehicle ploughing into a crowd of spectators hilarious. Lachie Gough’s set has all the energy of a real life Monster Truck show. Both brilliant and at the same time ridiculously funny this is a show which will keep you immersed and wiping away tears of laughter in a mother-trucking good time!
4 out of 5 stars
Monster Truck Extravaganza 3000 is currently playing from Monday 19th to Saturday 24th of June at The Butterfly Club in Melbourne’s CBD. For tickets please visit: https://thebutterflyclub.com/show/monster-truck-extravaganza-3000
Review by Kyle McGrath