Comedy
by Umit Bali
Rosie O’Grady’s
28th of January
Review by Alex Tate
Umit Bali is a Sydney comedian from Fiji with a Persian name and Indian parents – if you think living with that mish-mash of multiculturalism in this day and age would provide a comedian with a tale or two, you’re not wrong.
From chutney-handed Customs inspectors and his father’s machete-wielding kidnappers, to snorting cocaine in a bathroom stall with South Africa’s Most Photographed Transsexual, Bali cruises from joke to story to heartfelt confession with a constant smile and carefree attitude that leaves the audience with nothing but respect and appreciation for the humour found in situations anyone else would probably take a little more seriously.
Packed with fast-paced humor and slices of life that are often just plain tragic, Bali’s high-energy stage presence is as entertaining as it is inspiring, an hour-long exploration of his own life as a fugitive, a son, a brother and former housemate-of-a-goth.
Far from your average punchline-driven stack of jokes, Flight Plan is interspersed with captivating and endearing recollections of some of the defining moments in this charismatic Blacktown comedian’s life that if you don’t laugh at, you might just cry, and that’s just the way he wants it to be.
It’s clear that with Flight Plan Bali is hoping to start a dialogue between people about the type of issues that many of us shy away from discussion – at times, it’s a very humanising exploration of problems that are commonplace among immigrants, legal or otherwise.
Ever the optimist, Bali laughs at each and every ridiculous obstacle life has thrown at him, and you can’t help but laugh with him. Equal parts funny and stupidly resilient, this is a man you can’t help but wish the best for. But even if you didn’t, I doubt it would bother him at all
Umit Bali: Flight Plan runs from the 29th of January until the 5th of February at Rosie O’Grady’s Broderick Room, with a final show on the 7th of February at Mojos Bar.
