By Alberto Macchione
A sold out Factory Floor in Marrickville set the scene for ‘Spaghetti Vs Noodles’, the biggest stand up comedy battle of the year. A team of Italo-Australian comedians would each perform a stand up comedy routine and be judged against a team of Asian comedians. The audience would then decide the winner.
It was no surprise that Prime Time television star Michael Hing from Channel Ten’s The Project, SBS’s Letters and Numbers, Australia’s Best Competition Competition, Win The Week, The Other Guy and Guy Montgomery’s Spelling Bee captained the Asian team to victory. The incomparable Stella Wu who has appeared on SBS TV and the best comedian from Sydney’s west, David Truong filled out the winning bill.
The Italian team favourites going in to the show, with MC David Troung asking which team the audience favoured. The warm and vibrant crowd overwhelming cheered for the tricolore leaving David to exclaim that the Asians were in the drink (sic).
First out was Improv actor, podcaster and Sydney Fringe Festival hit, Luca Trovato who warmed up the crowd with his zany hilarity and his unique brand of off the wall comedy. Raw comedy alumni, Nic Lelli’s take on being a redhead Italian and the difficulty of getting in transit lanes had audience members doubling over with laughter.
Described afterwords as ‘Brilliante’ and ‘Australia’s answer to Rodney Dangerfield” David Truong Introduced “the man you’ve came to see”, Don Alberto took to the microphone with his quips about life as an Italian in Australia and the influence of the Asia Pacific to a very receptive audience.
Stella Wu was the penultimate act. Her stories about life as an immigrant from Hong Kong, had the hilarity on high. Audience members jousted with her as she talked about misunderstanding, being misunderstood and eventually how she found her feet with a mother who clearly never did.
In the finale Michael.Hing dispelled the myth that many other comedians riff on, asserting that Marco Polo in fact did not bring Noodles back from China, saying that it was actually a case of convergent evolution (where both Italy and China each created their respective dishes independent of each other.
