TIM FERGUSON – DISABILITY RULES!
The Boboli – The Garden of Unearthly Delights
March 10-12
Most of us first discovered Tim Ferguson and his comedy genius with The Doug Anthony All Stars on “The Big Gig” TV show back in the late 80s. More than 30 years on and Tim can still engage a crowd and he still has the same hairstyle!
Tim is quick to embrace his disability (caused by multiple sclerosis) and finding ways to turn it into a positive from the second he is wheeled out to us by “Lurch” to the end of the show, as he gives us HIS rules for disabled people.
He covers everything from bowel movements to the LGBTQI+ community’s attraction to intelligent people and of course, a friendly reminder about using the disabled carpark if you’re not entitled to it & what he’ll do to you if he catches you!
Tim’s done his local research as well, with Salisbury getting a mention, sadly, as per usual, in a less than complimentary way – clearly there was no-one from Salisbury in the audience. I do often wonder how the “Salisburians” and ‘Elizabethans” in the audiences feel about these continual bad references.
Given his DAAS background we shouldn’t have been surprised by the political comments, although I’m not sure they were needed. We did get a few of them throughout the show, including his thoughts on some of our recent Prime Ministers with Scott Morrison getting the most “critiquing”, mainly thanks to his “we are blessed to have children without a disability” comment last year.
He ends the show with a singalong to his version of the National anthem called “Advance Disabled Fair” and it starts like this.
Australians all let us rejoice
For we are amputees
With chronic pain and scrambled brains
We can’t walk, hear or see
… you get the idea
One of his helpers handed out pieces of paper so everyone could sing-along, and they did!
I have to say, the show felt like more of a Uni lecture (in a good way) than a comedy gig, even though there were laughs along the way and I was entertained and informed at the same time.
You can’t help but admire this comedy legend and his words, if you get the chance to see the show … “you’re already paying for the N.D.I.S., so you might as well enjoy it!”
4 stars
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