Jordan Raskopoulos: jordanraskopouloscomedyshow.doc

Comedian, actor and singer Jordan Raskopoulos took to the stage – a fabulous, tinsel-y shrine in a former church – as part of Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s hot new queer comedy fest, Comedy Kiki, in the lead-up to the Mardi Gras Parade. This show is Raskopoulos owning her full scope, without the need to reference her days fronting The Axis Of Awesome.

Raskopoulos’ show ranged from absurd, scrappy performance art to storytelling laced with nuanced self-reflection and Warhammer references, the TED Talk on Rock, Paper, Scissors that never was, some goosebump-inducing covers of songs from David Bowie and Hedwig And The Angry Inch, and for good measure, some gloriously horrifying erotic dinosaur fan fiction complete with references to contemporary Australian culture. 

Jezza Bellend was a fantastically fitting support act, a drag king who deftly dances between femme and butch with a gigantic moustache offset by nipple tassels, serving up burlesque, spoken word and physical comedy. You might call Bellend the yin to Raskopoulos’ yang, if they weren’t both throwing all known gender norms and abnormalities into a blender and cranking it up to 11. 

The whole thing is stitched together into a glorious, charismatic Frankenstein's monster that captures the breadth of artistry and ridiculousness of Jordan Raskopoulos. 

Raskopoulos has a talent for busting open both your ribs and your heart while teasing open your sense of empathy, and also tickling the threshold of your gag reflex. Here’s to hoping that we will see more of her owning stages like this (and that audiences won’t be expecting anything nearly as restrained as her real-life TED Talk, Living With High Functioning Anxiety).