This was my first show ever at The Spotlight. For a festival that often crams audiences into back storage rooms and all types of makeshift theatre nooks, this venue turned out to be a refreshing change of pace. Being in a functioning restaurant has its perks, and the audience seemed to delight in having access to nibbles and sips before our funnyman took the stage.

Emo – an immigrant to Australia with a South Sudanese background - took us all on a solid hour of standup, tracing his journey to the stage from very humble beginnings. Performing for a majority-white audience, he made good fodder out of our cultural/racial differences. His material also covered colonialism, his time as a finalist on Australia’s Got Talent, his last Canadian comedy stint (Just For Laughs), the odd nature of jobs and the pitfalls of raising a family when touring for a living.

As a single Queer theatregoer, I don’t think I was the target audience for his type of comedy. The material was 100% heteronormative, but I still managed to enjoy myself as I sipped my ginger beer in the dark.

If you need a good laugh (or even respite from jugglers, actors and burlesque performers), take a chance on Emo Majok at The Spotlight Cabaret.

(Just be prepared for some crowd work/ or questions from the stage. Emo took keen interest in many a table at my performance...)