News satire for 'Frontline' fans
BOILING POINT: Chamberlin & Pickering
The Rhino Room, Until March 16
Reviewed by Petra Starke
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ONE of the funniest acts you'll see this Fringe has been left out of the program!
Boiling Point, a two man show by Melburnians Charlie Pickering and Michael Chamberlin, is struggling for audiences after their program listing was accidentally left out of the Fringe guide, but no doubt they'll be playing to packed houses once word gets around.
The show begins as straight-up stand-up from Chamberlin but is interrupted by an urgent news flash - Tasmania, ''Australia's smallest and most useless state'', has declared civil war on the mainland.
Almost as if you'd changed channels with your remote, the duo break into their version of a current affairs show, Boiling Point, to deliver the story.
Complete with ad breaks, audio snippets from talkback radio and live crosses to reporters ''on the front line'' in Launceston, Boiling Point is a hilarious spoof of TV current affairs shows with a healthy dose of cynicism thrown in.
Fans of Frontline will love it, Tasmanians might not.
Go and see it and spread the word - these guys are just too funny to be left out of the Fringe!
Review published in the Portside Messenger 13/3/02.