Justin McGinley - AM Dilemma - Trades Hall, Melbourne - 04/05/06- by epod

After being very impressed with his clowing talents as Justin Sane at The Big Laugh Out, I was eager to see Justin McGinley's solo show, AM Dilemma.

Packed into a tiny room at Trades Hall, the show began with the adorable Justin in his apartment, removing the petals from a large flower, she loves me, she loves me not style. When he got to the last petal, he realised that it would have been "she loves me not". He looked at the flower in disappointment for a moment, then smiled and ripped the last petal in half in order to get the result that he wanted "she loves me!"

Justin was getting ready for a date, and he had bought a self help package to assist him in making the date a successful one. This package consisted of a self help tape that was heard at various times through the show, and a blow up doll. Yes, the mention of a blow up doll makes this show sound like it was less than classy, but be assured that this was not the case!

AM Dilemma showcased Justin's clowning skills and was packed with loads of innocent fun that you would not see in too many comedy shows these days. One really did feel empathy for the poor guy, who ran into so much trouble when trying to get ready for his big date.

Disaster seemed to follow his every step. He destroyed a piano that he was not to touch, and also found a massive zit on his face. When exploding said zit, the first few rows of the audience - including me, were squirted with water from it. The inability of an audience member to be trusted with a remote control further added to the chaos that was occuring on stage.

This was a remote control which Justin had given to an audience member to look after. It was the remote to a door that was on the stage, which the audience member kept opening and closing, much to Justin's annoyance. The remote was eventually confiscated after he had had enough!

Clocking in at around 40 minutes, this show was the shortest that I saw at this years comedy festival, but it was time that was definately well spent. The show was very clever and sweet and I would recommend checking out any other stuff that Justin may be doing now or in the future as he really is an engaging performer.