(Token / Liberation Music)

Eeeeeeevrybody loves Dave Hughes, right? Of course they do, that’s why we call him Hughesy! What about that part in his act where he starts in a dull monotone describing something about his meandering day, but then he slightly raises his voice and eyebrows, possible inserting a "friggin" into the punchline? Immaculate work, right up there with the best of comedy, combining the absurdist feel of Monty Python with the intellect and rapier wit of Woody Allen. Yes, I am of course being particularly brutal to Dave Hughes, but I think we’ve passed the point of critical analysis around the 12th time I heard his Snakes Alive joke relayed to me at a high school deadshit party. What else can we make fun of? Oh yeah, the dude looks paunchy and those years of early morning wake-ups – what crappy breakfast radio show is he on now? – have developed crows feet that look more like … ostrich feet. Ooooh, snap! Recent developments (because it’s a live concert DVD and not network television) include replacing "friggin" with "fuckin" and making observations about cricket, take out food and boobies. Because he’s a blokey bloke and that’s what blokes do and that’s what his blokey bloke audience also do. Perhaps even more irksome are the special features, including footage of a smaller club gig, where his support acts at various times adopt his zero emotion and swearwords routine with varying degrees of success. Dear god … he’s spawned a genre.