Jeff Green @ The Howling Owl, Adelaide 20/2/2019

Jeff Green calls his latest comedy show Letters Home an “epistolary stand up, or something like that”. What was good, was that judging by the laughs, most of the audience got the joke. Appearing in front of an appreciative full house on opening night at The Howling Owl, Jeff Green delivered, by his own admission, probably the most poignant show that he has done, and I loved it.

For me Letters Home is a love letter to the dying art of letter writing. It’s also about connecting with “home”, wherever that may be, in a way that Instagram and Snapchat doesn’t. These letters are beautifully and wittily crafted which reveal the relationship between the writer and the audience and present some very funny and astute observations about Australia and relationships along the way.

If you like a little bit of sentimental, you too will absolutely love this show.

If you don’t like sentimental, don’t let this be a turn off, as Letters Home is a very funny show. Jeff Green is an Award winning comedian who had the audience in blissful glee from start to finish.

By his own admission Letters Home is a departure from his usual risqué Fringe offerings. After all, how risqué can you be in letters to your Catholic mother in Chester. But this doesn’t stop his razor sharp and acerbic wit, with much of the object of his vitriol being the National Broadband Network and “the industry” that he has been a part of for thirty years.

Some of the audience came to see why Jeff Green has got legendary status in Australian comedy but most, I gather, were aficionados who have followed his thirty year career. So, there was a nice mix of ages on opening night – there were those who grew up on paper letter writing and snail mail; and there was also the Instagram and Snapchat generation who have probably never written a paper letter to a relative overseas.

Despite the show being all about the “epistolary” art, Jeff Green makes good use of technology in the show and was unfazed when the inevitable opening night technical glitch occurred; and in fact worked it in so well into his gag, that you could be forgiven for thinking that this was a deliberate contrast between techno and paper communication.

But if you’re thinking this is going to be a night of dad jokes, let me reveal a moment that cracked everybody up. I know it’s wrong to reveal – but here goes anyway.

Picture this, Jeff Green is reading a letter to his mother about a stand up gig he did in Copenhagen on New Year’s Eve with a fire cracker firmly ensconced in his derriere, tightly clasped by his sphincter muscle. And it’s all there on show, on the screen, as proof. Those of you who have been to Copenhagen on New Year’s Eve will get the joke even more as the Danes have got a weird relationship with firecrackers on New Year’s Eve.

If your curiosity is piqued, see the show. You won’t be disappointed. Letters Home is a Great show. Howling Owl is a fantastic venue. A cracker of a night.

Fringe Review By Bob Becker

For tickets, show dates and times for Jeff Green’s “Letters Home” head to Fringe-Tix.