Holographic Charizard - 8 out of 10
Thomas Begg
TICKETS: End of Season
It would be
safe to assume Thomas Begg’s favourite Pokémon is Charizard as his 60-minute
Comedy routine is all things Charizard… and Pokémon TCG packs! Reviewing a
closing night session, you’re always in store for something special, and with
such a great crowd (even the Squirtle fans), we managed to convince Begg to
extend his final performance to unwrap his remaining TCG packs in a desperate
hope that we would be the audience he would find the elusive Holographic Charizard
card… that’d be pretty cool, right?
Upon arriving
at the Howling Owl, everyone received a Pokémon card to take home – yay for souvenirs
(Fun Fact: Begg works at the Howling Owl!) and the night begun with an
enchanting visual of Charizard’s face on a totem pole. Accompanying was some
suitable brooding music, perfect for Begg to open the show by chanting
Charizard’s name… we soon knew what kind of night we were in for.
During the
performance, we learnt that Begg was introduced to Pokémon through the video
games and his first Pokémon was Charmander (nearly wrote Charizard…), which proves
undeniably difficult when facing against the first two gym leaders: Brock and
Misty, whom specialise in Rock and Water Pokémon respectively – neither a particular
easy battle for young Charmander, nonetheless, Begg was able to succeed and
continue on his journey.
Sitting in
a crowd with other Pokémon fans (wearing my Eevee shirt), the audience warmed
to Begg rather quickly, throwing back and forth banter, suggestions and inevitably
manipulating his show to extend beyond the 60-minutes… we really got our money’s
worth! There were young Pokémon fans in the audience, who were very vocal, necessitating
the need to make the performance more family friendly.
In addition
to ripping into his final unopened TCG packets, we were regaled with more songs
about Charizard, as well as a couple of instrumental pieces you wouldn’t be
surprised to find featured at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival or similar. Upon
the opening of each pack, Begg attempted to find a joke, quip or pun for each
card and then share them with the audience, assisting them in further building
their own trading card decks. It was a really enjoyable evening by all in
attendance, but alas, we did not find a Holographic Charizard.
- Andrew Broadbent
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