Billed as “a short comedic history of rebellion in Australia,” Micah D. Higbed’s ‘Rebels and Radicals’ identifies the acts of protest and heroism that have defined Australia’s past and continue to echo in the present. Mixed with snippets of autobiography, Higbed asks his audience to take a long hard look at the historical importance of rebellion in Australia, but not without first having a good laugh.

Higbed is an impassioned supporter of dissent and has been since an early age. The first people he rebelled against were naturally his parents. When his dad once asked him what he was rebelling against, he said, in his best Brando, “Whadda you got?”

He begins with Captain James Cook and skips through time in search of the good stuff: conflict. He touches on the settlements in Castle Hill and Botany Bay, before moving onto the Rum Rebellion, the blackballing of Ned Kelly, the Eureka Rebellion, the cult of the Southern Cross tattoo, and one of his favourite subjects, Charlie Perkins: the activist, one time Everton FC soccer player, and the first Aboriginal Australian to graduate from an Australian university.

Higbed’s attempts at condensing over 200 years of history into a 60 minute set meant that he had to sustain a furious pace in order to cover his dense narrative, causing him to stumble through a couple of jokes. But his frequent sparks of brilliance largely concealed his errors.

The autobiographical elements often provided a welcomed break to the consistency of his narrative and delivery, but eventually became lost in the mass of historical information. As a result, the second half of the performance lacked much of the diversity with which it began.

Higbed cleverly locates the humour in the utter detestability of the actions and attitudes that have inspired rebellion in this country. Rebels and Radicals is a polemic carefully worked into a downright hilarious routine, which aims to show how some of the most important moments in Australia’s history remain largely ignored. That Higbed can find humour in oppression and the persecution of minorities is testament to his impressive comedic skills.