Comedy / Tinseltown, The Burton Brothers. At Tuggeranong Arts Centre, May 15. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Real-life brothers Tom and Josh Burton emerged from the Melbourne comedy scene.

They quickly attracted attention with their brand of sketch comedy that saw them nominated for best comedy at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. 

But it was the success of their brilliantly written and performed shows at the 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe that really made audiences take notice. 

For their first appearance at The Tuggeranong Arts Centre, they performed their latest show, Tinseltown, a ferociously funny, high-energy romp through the glitz, grit and absurdity of the Hollywood you thought you knew. 

With the aid of little more than two small boxes for props, and a couple of willing volunteers drafted from the audience, the brothers somehow managed to capture the glamorous spirit of Hollywood’s golden era with their series of quick-fire sketches featuring a gaggle of absurd, instantly recognisable characters in a convincing demonstration of their mastery of the art of sketch comedy.

Particularly memorable among those characters was the ambitious young director trying to convince the 89-year-old ingénue to star in his forthcoming film. She keeps harking back to her heyday. Her only starring film was King Kong. Their recreation of the entire King Kong film is a miracle of ingenuity and hilariously funny.

But then there’s the guy in the neon-green suit hustling tourists for photos on Hollywood Boulevard, the award-acceptance speeches, the potted movie parodies and, of course, even the Columbia Pictures logo.

On the surface it feels chaotic, wild characters, quick-fire banter, and moments when you think they’re making it up on the spot, but beneath the playful veneer lies razor-sharp timing, a meticulously crafted structure and a knack of knowing exactly when to push the joke and when to pull back.

The show whisks the audience from red carpet glamour to behind-the-scenes meltdowns, skewering celebrity culture with affectionate satire rather than mean-spirited jabs. Their characters feel both hilariously exaggerated and oddly familiar, like you’ve met them at a party you wish you’d left earlier. 

What makes Tinseltown shine is the brothers’ ability to make the audience feel like co-conspirators in the madness. This slick, smart, joyfully unhinged love letter to showbiz is as much about the joy of performance as it is about lampooning Hollywood excess.