Axis Of Awesome

So here's the situation: you have to write a thing about Axis Of Awesome because they're playing at SICF. But your questions are a bit crap, and then you get distracted by watching Axis Of Awesome clips on YouTube, and you're, like, 'shit, I have to say something'. Not too far-fetched an idea, I hope. I know, in fact. It's happening to me right now. The Australian musical comedy trio, despite each having been alive for less than 40 years, have purportedly been playing together for over 40 years. Work that out. They've dominated festivals and tours around the world for a bit less than that time now, and have notched squillions of YouTube hits into their belts. Their latest show, Cry YOURSELF a River, Sydney-bred Jordan Raskopoulos, Benny Davis and Lee Naimo, armed with a keyboard, a guitar and microphones, pull apart the ridiculous demands of the pop-music behemoth.

We'd hate to say that every comedy country has a musical comedy outfit representing them, but The Axis kind of fit that for Australia. They jam with Tim Minchin, are like a nouveau Tripod, and are similarly geek-quirky to Flight Of The Conchords. Ashton Kutcher, one Duran and Journey are all reportedly fans, and their song Four Chord Song is a bloody internet sensation. No wonder their press is all like, 'whatever, just see the show – no one doesn't love it'.

Naimo, The Axis' guitar-playing left-hand-side dweller (if you're looking at the stage/computer screen) answers the questions. He's the dry one and merrily leads me down the garden path. What's the show about? “A kitten and a puppy are stranded hundreds of miles from home, and only Bruce Willis can help them get home by stopping Skynet.” So if a Milo & Otis/Die Hard mash-up sounds like your thing, come on down.

The guys clearly have a mountain of material, or just easily breathe out funny music. So much so that the development of this show, for Naimo, was like “filling a piñata with calamari and then putting it into a wood chipping machine.” Crumbed, raw, pan-fried with lime juice – doesn't really matter. There's festivity, seafood fun, wood to chop and an axe to grind. But if their latest video clip about having read the books before everyone got on the Game Of Thrones bandwagon is anything to go by, don't be a Joffrey-douche. Just do what you're told.

More images of plenty and farraginous fare abound. “Jordan [the lead vocalist] has regular heartache after eating veal ragu,” I'm told. But that's the worst of the pain inflicted when assembling their shows. Ultimately, as an audience member, what should you take away from your Axis experience? “A t-shirt, a CD and a plate of veal ragu.” Just, you know, eat the ragu slowly.