WIL ANDERSON - "WHO WANTS TO BE A WILIONAIRE?"

30 March - 23 April 2000 Victoria Hotel 215 Little Collins Street, Melbourne Bookings on 136100 or Ticketmaster Online For more details, see the official Comedy Festival site   While Eddie Izzard and Johnny Vegas look set to become the favourites of this fest, I'd like to think that Wil Anderson will come a close third. Not only can he nudge an audience close to bellyache laughs, but also brings enough weight to his political satire to raise him to the level of Rod Quantock. He kickstarts by satirising game-shows and from here it's a smooth roller-coaster - a stream of consciousness I'm happy to be swept along with. Anderson takes well to impromptu cues, a litmus test of a good stand-up. Off the cuff, he offers $20 to the audience member who can lay claim to the most boring job. When one woman declares she works at the Tax Office, Wil's off with the wind. Ten minutes later he lands, and his expression queries, "Now, where was I?" Then he's ruminating about GST and tampons, cutting straight to the crux of the issues. While tampons may suffer luxury tax, Wil points out that menstruating is not a luxury by any measure. He wins over the women, but in no way alienates the men. As he pauses on stage for full effect, Anderson's timing is flawless. He seems forever confident that his audience will stick with him, and so you never feel pressured to love him. But you do anyway &endash; and not just because he's good looking. Definite pick of the bunch.   Reviewed by Ben Zipper.