AWESOME Review: The Listies, ROFLSHALBOWCO ·
PICA, 9 October ·
Review by David Zampatti ·

Every now and then a show comes along with a title so long and so accurate that it’s a reviewer’s dream, because there’s nothing much more needs to be said about it.

It’s money for jam.

So here come The Listies, Matt Kelly and Richard Higgins, or, in the spirit of this year’s Awesome Festival, the Orange One (Matt) and the Blue One (Richard). Their show is called Roll On the Floor Laughing So Hard A Little Bit Of Wee Comes Out.

Need I say more?

Not really, but I will (a little bit). Matt and Richard are very funny guys (especially Matt, who’s a loony, but Richard is pretty funny too, for a straight man).

It’s got farts, lots of mess, a costume horse that’s a dinosaur, farting, bubbles, lullabies (of doooooooom), pretend wee and a large emoji poo, misbehaviour of many kinds and farts. All stuff that kids love.

It’s also got the first line from Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the one about Grigor Samsa waking up one morning to find he’d become an insect, which went right over the heads of the grown-ups in the room but was deeply appreciated by the kids, who all know it by heart.

It’s 50 minutes jam-packed with ecstatic kid’s stuff, and clever as all get-out. Guaranteed to leave the little monsters (4 – 9, I’d guess) exhausted with laughter. And, just maybe, a tiny bit wet.

Junior reviews by Gabriel Bott (10) and Sascha Bott (8)

Gabriel (10)

ROFLSHALBOWCO was made by The Listies – Richard Higgins and Matthew Kelly – a comedy duo from Melbourne, who are funny and interactive with the audience.

ROFLSHALBOWCO is an amazing show for all ages and is great for people to get involved in. It is about Rich and Matt having people over at their house (which is the audience). They have a to-do list that needs to be completed while the visitors are over. Two of the things on the list are already ticked off, but one of them isn’t; Beddy Byes. One problem, Matt doesn’t want to go to bed yet, so he tries to do everything he can, NOT to go to bed.

I don’t have anything negative to say about this show. The Listies’ show had all different possibilities of events that might actually happen in real life. For example, Rich’s plant was growing perfectly well, but Matt’s was just a stick with a leaf stuck to it. You could probably imagine that happening if you got mad your plant wasn’t growing well.

Secondly, it was just plain funny, everything about it was funny. Even their characters were funny. Matt’s voice was funny. Rich’s moustache was funny. The way they made every possible thing into something funny was so clever.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the way they got everyone in the audience to join in. Little kids were getting up on stage and dancing. It was just a great atmosphere to be in. If I was to give a rating out of ten, it would be a 10/10.

Sascha (8)

ROFLSHALBOWCO is a comedy show by Matt Kelly and Richard Higgins, known as The Listies, and was part of the AWSOME Arts Festival. In the show we saw Richard try to help Matt get to sleep because he’s not tired. Somehow, they made all of Richard’s ideas into hilarious jokes. For example, Richard decided to ask people their favourite books for Matt to read, but Matt wrote down funny and silly titles instead of the real ones.

My favourite bit was when Matt was emptying Richard’s tidy, clean and organised sock drawer – he kept saying, “Thank it and send it on its way! Thank it and send it on its way!”

I also liked how Richard told Matt a funny version of Jack and the Beanstalk – Jack and the Beans Talk. Richard’s version was fall of funny twists (such as when Jack touched the golden duck, aliens attacked him).

I really liked the show and think lots of parents and children would love it to.