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Comedy Review: ‘Good Egg’ – Scout Boxall (Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2021)

If chaotic comedy sounds like your thing, then Scout Boxall’s Good Egg is the show for you. Boxall presents a surreal mix of schoolyard humour and crass satirical commentary in an energetic, witty show. 

 

Held in the Quilt Room at the Trades Hall, the space is dimmed and intimate. The night I attended it was a full house, which filled the room with electric energy. The performance starts with a voiceover announcing that the show has no narrative and no arc, an announcement welcomed by audience applause. 

 

Boxall is non-binary, dressed in an all-white jumpsuit reminiscent of the gender-neutral sobriquet ‘good egg’ which the show is named after. True to their promise, the show is chaos personified, bounding through genres and sketches with reckless speed. Boxall expertly toes the line between immature schoolyard humour and witty commentary about the current state of popular culture. We are presented with a slew of props and costumes, constantly keeping the audience guessing as to what stunt we are to witness next. 

 

Some skits stand out in particular. Dressed as a nun, Boxall performs a high-energy exercise routine titled ‘Cardio for Christ’. This runs on for slightly too long, but quickly segues onto the next bit. Boxall is acutely aware of the audience and pushes the boundaries of comedic timing. They tell the story of how their parents met while working at the Federal Treasury Department, using pretend table tennis balls hit towards the audience to punctuate their tale. Recalling the story of coming out to their parents as non-binary, Boxall recites the line that they were “diversifying [their] gender portfolio”, eliciting raucous laughter from the audience.

 

While performing a bit about Eurovision, Boxall jokingly rallies with an audience member, moving on to perform a song dedicated to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Their performance is punctuated with Enya’s Orinoco Flow which is first used as a tool by schoolgirls to thwart a school shooter and later to halt a Soviet shooter. Boxall worked closely with the bio-box techie, using a huge number of sound and music cues. 

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The performance keeps us guessing as to what’s coming next, and although we are promised that “this is as cooked as it gets”, the show spirals into Boxall poking a watercolour painting of a vulva accompanied with loud, exaggerated moan sounds which make the audience squirm uncomfortably. The show is confronting, agonising, energetic and lively, with the audience sat at the edge of their seats. 

 

Although there are some moments of cringe, Boxall presents a witty show littered with eccentricity, providing the audience with a moment of reprieve from everyday monotony. Good Egg is fast-paced and emotive, and surprisingly carries an air of familiarity. 

 

Good Egg premiered at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival on 25 March 2021, with an extra show scheduled for 10 April 2021. 

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