You know who Helen Bidou is, right? She's the beauty expert on the ABC TV show Get Krack!n which is a spoof of breakfast TV shows, of course!
Anne Edmonds is the real Helen and if you don't know her from Get Krack!n you might recognise her face from her own stand-up comedy as well as recent appearances on TV shows like Have You Been Paying Attention. Anne is hilarious so I was bang up for a whole show of bonkers Helen Bidou.
AND BONKERS IT WAS!
It's a show that's difficult to describe but essentially Helen is trying her hand at stand-up comedy for the first time and she's taking a cabaret-style approach by including a bunch of original songs in the show. Helen's side-kick for the show is her son Connor who helps give the show enough tangents and distractions that the intensity of Helen never gets too much. Though a warning - festival management have recently put an 18+ restriction on her show because, well, you'll see!
I'm not sure if this is the case in every show but in the one I was at, fellow comedian Greg Larsen was a guest. It's no reflection on him but I confess that when Helen said, at what must have been the 45-50 minute-mark of the show, "let's bring on a guest!" I wondered if it might be better to start wrapping up. Not because it wasn't going well but just because I desperately didn't want the craziness of what was going on to jump the shark. (A saying which has probably jumped the shark. Sorry.)
I needn't have worried - the show definitely didn't go down hill and I did enjoy every crazy minute. And crazy, it was. I can't emphasize that enough. If you want a tidy, rehearsed, pleasant show, Helen Bidou is not for you. But if you want madness and crazy laugh upon laugh where you start to lose a sense of what you're even laughing at, go for your life! Helen will bring you loads of joy.
And just if you need any more affirmation for how funny this is, I saw the likes of Wil Anderson, Tom Ballard and Nath Valvo the night I was there - people who I trust to know where to find the quality laughs!
I think Helen's shows are selling fast as she has a cult following so I wouldn't drag your feet with getting tickets to this one. Details here https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2018/shows/anne-edmonds-helen-bidou