Review by Stephanie Lee
As the title suggests, Zoë Coombs Marr has decided to try and tackle every single thing in her entire life in one hour of ridiculously funny and chaotic comedy. Did we get through every single thing? No. But that’s what leaves you wanting to come back for more with every show offering a completely different set of weird and wonderful anecdotes from Marr’s life.
The show starts with some ‘warm up’ stories about pictures of vomit and Kate (Marr’s Lesbian Life Partner), before it delves into the background to creating what can only be described as a master excel spreadsheet of Marr’s memories. The rest of the show is spent trawling through the spreadsheet and its many different hyperlinked categories. Some categories worthy of mention include: ‘voms, wees and poos’, ‘people’s names I have not changed’ and ‘sandwiches’. I think these are all pretty self-explanatory names but you will have to see the show to understand the full genius of the categorisation Marr has going here.
Honestly the spreadsheet itself is truly impressive. It is basically a living breathing thing in and of itself. Marr has crafted comic gold, with categories and memories that are downright hilarious and allow for sections of stand-up that leave the audience howling with laughter. My only complaint is that from the back section of the audience I couldn’t read the spreadsheet as the writing on the screen was too small, but this was more a downside of the venue size I think.
Marr is honestly a hoot from the start of the show to the end, highlighting her ability to think sharply on her feet and weave together seemingly unrelated topics. Her rapport with the audience is wonderfully casual and makes the show feel super alive. It is like being with a friend that tells the best stories with several sub-stories thrown in along the way. The very unscripted nature of the section where Marr dives into a category picked by the audience means that not all the material has been tested. However, Marr handles the untested territory with ease, possibly helped by the sheer volume of silly moments she has managed to archive for use here.
‘Every Single Thing In My Whole Entire Life’ is chaos in its most organised form where comedy meets planning. Zoë Coombs Marr’s stories in this show are truly a perfect combination of unhinged and charming. This show will leave you wanting to whip out excel yourself – highly recommend witnessing it in all its glory this Melbourne International Comedy Festival!
Image Supplied