Mark Butler – I’ve Been Watching You Australians (But Not in a Creepy Wa

 Sometimes it takes a very bad show to put into perspective the high standard of comedy presented at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and the comedians that make it look so deceptively easy. So I suppose I should thank Mark Butler for that.

 Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2010 Presented by: Funnymark.comVenue: Elephant & Wheelbarrow, Cnr Bourke & Exhibition Sts, Melbourne  Monday 29 March 2010
Sometimes it takes a very bad show to put into perspective the high standard of comedy presented at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and the comedians that make it look so deceptively easy. So I suppose I should thank Mark Butler for that.
This UK comedian has been coming to Australia for over nine years and has recently become an Australian citizen. His material ostensibly uses his unique perspective on this country and its inhabitants to lampoon the national identity and hold a mirror to our quirks.
Butler doesn’t appear too comfortable on stage, sweating profusely, knocking into the staging and playing around with the sound system. In another comedian’s hands this would perhaps be ironic or keenly studied naivety. This is not the case for Butler and it just makes you feel slightly uncomfortable and embarrassed on his behalf.
The title of the show I’ve Been Watching You Australians (But Not in a Creepy Way) is a bit of a misnomer as I found Butler to be entirely creepy. His attempts at satirising the behaviour of Australian women fell short of what really should be an easy mark. A failed classic ‘Melbourne Cup race-goers carrying their shoes’ gag only confirmed Butler as a creepy misogynist.
Most of his jokes had the potential for being funny, if a little lame. The audience actually groaned at more than one punch line. Butler sites the usual suspects of cultural differences between Australia and the UK in a roll-call of giant spiders, beer and accents without ever going beyond the obvious.
His tall stories are not particularly funny, merely serving as a vehicle for Butler to show himself as a bit of a ladies man or defender of ethnic minorities. Not only did I think he was lying about the gorgeous 19-year-old who spontaneously offered him oral sex, but the rest of his material was so consistently sexist, racist and stuck in the 70s that I just wanted to leave. 
The video recorded denouement is a hateful, spiteful piece directed at a girl he met who rejected his, probably quite creepy, advances. He tells us about his girlfriend of many years, but this doesn’t stop him pouring his energies into humiliating this woman on camera. I really couldn’t see the point.
I am more than happy to laugh at stereotypes, at cultural differences and I am at ease with the use of profanities in comedy, but that is not the problem here. An hour with Butler was a very long time; time to meditate on the ability of the many gifted comics I have seen this festival who confidently draw you into their world, entertain you with a startlingly different point of view and do it with the utmost of ease. Bookings: www.comedyfestival.com.au Until 18 April 2010