MICF: Tim Vine – Sunset Milk Idiot

MICF2019 Tim VineCompared to most, veteran English comic and super-sized imp, Tim Vine has a very different idea of what stand-up comedy should look like. His MICF show Sunset Milk Idiot delivers his trademark style of rapid-fire puns, an assortment of props, and no satire or political content whatsoever.

Last seen at MICF in 2016, his 2019 offering has some similarities. His work is suitable for families, as was shown by an almost full house on this review night. Despite the frequent laughs, reviewing Tim Vine is (still) tricky as it’s very difficult to recall the variety of material. (But I do know I’ll never look at a USB stick the same way again.)

Vine enthusiastically delivered high-intensity bursts of wordplay or silliness on one topic, switching abruptly to another and another over the hour. That he can remember and smoothly assemble all of the disconnected fragments, objects, and musical cues, shows the extraordinary degree of polish on this act.

Vine also doesn’t mind a song and dance routine as a set-up for some payoff. The unpredictability of these spots consistently earned good laughs. So did some of the jibes at himself (or the audience) when a gag didn’t get the reaction he thought it deserved.

You’ll have to wait almost to the end to finally (sort of) make sense of the show’s title. By that stage the audience had enjoyed many laughs. (My guest said her face was sore from laughing so much.) At least some will also have marvelled at the oddity and inventiveness of Vine’s brain in dreaming up the material.

Take your chances to wring a few more laughs out of MICF 2019 before the end. Sunset Milk Idiot was a refreshingly different type of show for fans of homonyms or general silliness of all ages.


Tim Vine – Sunset Milk Idiot
ACMI (Below) – Federation Square, Melbourne
Performance: Wednesday 16 April 2019
Information and Bookings: www.comedyfestival.com.au

Image: Tim Vine (supplied)

Review: Jason Whyte