Review by Tatum Stafford
To review serial improviser Josh Glanc almost feels like an impossible task. As his Tuesday night preview audience would attest, it’s really anything goes when you’re in his audience - there are high fives, hilariously awkward silences, and a deck full of sound effects in ‘Collections 2024’, his latest show.
The show features a series of sketches and callbacks, with each minute getting more unhinged than the last. Without giving too much away, you can expect a French accent, plenty of crowdwork and interaction, and an original song about how Josh is a ‘family man’ remixed in a variety of styles, and with lyrics that got more twisted as the show went on.
Josh is a master on the mic and clearly no stranger to the awkwardness that can sometimes come from a performer-audience scenario. He leans into silent moments (that were more often than not punctured by ripples of laughter from throughout the packed crowd as we waited for the next ‘bit’ to emerge), and has mastered a hilariously vacant stare that made every moment of the show enjoyable and so funny to watch.
It’s clear Josh has amassed a well-deserved, devoted audience, and they were out in force the night I caught this show. His interactions with Lachie in the front row were hilarious and organic. It’s also perhaps the first show I’ve ever seen where audiences are encouraged to heckle or yell out their reactions; with Josh even seeming annoyed when people on one side of the room weren’t interrupting him - hilarious.
Josh’s relationship with his audience; be it his die-hard returning fans or people who have stumbled in off the street, is unlike any I’ve seen before. There’s one moment in this show that had us all in hysterics, where he held an audience member at ‘gunpoint’ until someone Googled the lyrics to a song from Grease (seriously), that elicited a mountain of laughter and showcased Josh’s ability to get a bunch of strangers to band together and unite for the sake of a bit.
Whether you’ve never seen Josh before, or you’ve seen one of his previous shows, don’t miss this one. It’s the perfect balance of awkward, unhinged and hilarious, and the hour absolutely flew by. I look forward to seeing what tricks he has up his sleeve in future years, and he’s got a new fan in me.
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