Comedy review: Elouise Eftos, Australia’s First Attractive Comedian
★★★★
With a sold-out crowd on her debut night at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Elouise Eftos has clearly struck a chord with her audience.
Source: Elouise Eftos is performing live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, 2024
Dubbing herself as "Australia’s First Attractive Comedian" is indeed supposed to be ironic. While Elouise is definitely stunning, the premise of her show is more piss-take than pageantry.
Throughout the show, Elouise cleverly tackles the stereotype that beautiful people aren’t funny, offering us anecdotes about the downsides of being conventionally attractive. She provides us with one hilarious historical example, the time The Beatles drummer Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr. Not because of talent, says Elouise, but because Pete’s chiselled jaw and superior facial features would have outshone all the other bowl-cut Beatles…
She moves on from this exposé to embody various hot-girl personas. Quickly turning away from the stage, Elouise changes her wig to become the shy bookworm that every guy dreams of to the Californian cool-girl bartender. As she plays on these stereotypes we’re reminded of the unoriginality behind male-fantasies – that it really doesn’t matter what the bookworm or bartender does or who they are deep down, as long as they’re hot.
Australia’s First Attractive Comedian will have you cackling out loud as Elouise dives from improv, to characterisations, to singing and dance, showcasing her diverse talents and ability to work with an audience. While she plays on this heightened version of herself, exuding confidence bordering on vanity, Elouise skilfully weaves in moments of self-deprecation, slicing in jokes about male comedians, pissing off Ricky Nixon, and tackling outdated views on female body autonomy.
The result is a curated blend of smart, tongue-in-cheek humour that leaves audiences both entertained and enlightened. Whether you catch the underlying message or simply enjoy the sing-song hilarity and robot-inspired dance moves, one thing is certain: Elouise knows exactly what she’s doing, and she does it brilliantly.
With extensive training in dance, singing, and acting, including previous successful MICF shows like The Audition Room and international tours, Elouise Eftos is a comedic force to be reckoned with. You’ll leave the theatre either humming her featured ‘fantasy girl’ song or pondering feminist discourse.
Elouise Eftos, Australia’s First Attractive Comedian is performing live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival from 14th April to the 21st of April.
For more details and tickets, click here