Ben Russell & Xavier Michelides Are Finally Ready To Mess With The Audience

It's been almost a year since No Show premiered at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but since then co-creator and co-star Ben Russell has made a mission out of having as much of a laugh as possible with his fellow performer, Xavier Michelides. "The most fun is that you've got someone else there," says Russell. "It's not all on you and you can relax a little bit more. You're not working as hard so you can put that energy into making each other laugh." Russell also admits he's more on the receiving end of a character break, saying, "He's a lot harder to crack than me, especially when he's driving the scenes. He knows he can just throw something in that I haven't heard, and I'll just lose it."

"He knows he can just throw something in that I haven't heard, and I'll just lose it."

No Show follows the trials of two seasoned performers who find out that no one has bought a ticket to their new show. Ironically, it has gained much bigger audiences and locations since its humble beginnings. "It's been really fun doing it in theatres," Russell muses on the journey his show has taken. "I'd say it's gotten better since we've gotten to do it in actual theatres... Putting it in a theatre is kind of easier; it's more theatrical than the kind of show you might put on above a pub."

The crowds are also more diverse from the show's first incarnation, moving from a "comedian's show" to a more accessible and well-rounded production. "We get a lot of pass holders in when we do the festivals, because we're working with those themes of self-doubt within performance, and not having anyone show up and still doing the show, working with all those existential crises," Russell continues, "it has kind of just gotten more approachable while not seeming to lose any of its soul or its relevancy. I think because it's in a more theatrical setting, people seem to be just as on board as ever. We have a lot of improv and a lot of play, and we just read the audiences a lot better now, so we just mess with them a lot more."

That self-doubt, says Russell, comes from a very real and tangible place: "In the beginning I was thinking, 'I don't even know if people are going to find this funny,' because we both have really messed-up senses of humour, so it was a relief to know that, yes! It is funny, and that people like what we're doing."