A Lovely Day To Be Online {Melbourne International Comedy Festival} – Comedy Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

While everyone has unlimited access to the internet 24/7 thanks to our phones, our co-dependency and internet obsession is something that we’ve all become so adjusted to that our addiction is normalised. Connor Morel unabashedly loves the internet, in a way that most of us probably do, except he wrote a musical comedy show about it.

As a front man, Connor is absolutely wonderful! If you looked up the definition of ‘front man’, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d find Connor’s photo. There can be no-debate that Connor is as talented a musician as he is a comedian, between each song he speaks to his audience, guiding us through his adventures on the World Wide Web.

Behind Connor are two immensely talented musicians, Kat Ades on the bass and Jake Pickering on percussion. Both have coolness bottled with musical talent on par with their front man. Kat has an enviable coolness to her playing, vocally, her harmonies with Morel are as smooth as Fleetwood Mac, and Jake plays at that perfect speed where the audience can’t help but be hypnotised. I love seeing musical comedy where the bands performance was as important as the jokes, so much so that a musical note or comedic joke wasn’t missed once.

There are moments that these interjections had too similar a tone to the musical numbers and I would be interested to see how these would feel if they were presented a little more straight. In his field, a comparison to Tim Minchin must be mentioned. Morel has the same charisma and vocal talents as Minchin, so I really can’t wait to see what else Morel has under that curly head of hair.

Topics from TikTok musical stitches to keyboard warriors making everything a little bit less fun are addressed, but it’s with original song ‘I Got This (Under Control)’ that the show is at its most powerful. Morel’s hubris leads to thinking he can out scam a scammer but ends up not only harming himself but his friends are victimised too. This section was far darker than the rest of the show, but it was Morel’s honesty from the start, his confession about a foolish act with severe repercussions, left me feeling genuine sadness and empathy.

There’s a lot discussed in A Lovely Day To Be Online’s one hour run-time, but it was such an amazing experience that it never felt long, nor did I feel overwhelmed. At the end, I was sad that it was all over, and I found myself with the feeling that I usually have with a band at a concert. It had me wanting to chant, “One more song!” 

Connor Morel’s A Lovely Day To Be Online is the kind of show you can bring anyone along to whether it be your friends, family, or even ones that complains about ‘young people’s’ internet dependency by posting a meme to Facebook. With just a little bit more tightening, A Lovely Day To Be Online could be at Edinburgh Fringe. The writing is smart, the lyrics are hilarious and engaging, the band’s talents are undeniable, and the show has a powerful message that, in different parts, everyone can resonate with.

Unfortunately, A Lovely Day To Be Online’s run is over. The two shows on April 13th and 14th that were held at Brunswick Ballroom as part of the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival had their audio recorded though, so hopefully we can expect the songs to pop up on streaming services soon.

For more information on future shows, or to just to bug Connor to bring A Lovely Day To Be Online back, visit:
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2023/shows/a-lovely-day-to-be-online
https://www.instagram.com/lovelydaytobeonline
https://www.instagram.com/connormorel_

Photography by Lucinda Goodwin.

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