The Umbilical Brothers, The Footy Show Comedians at the Sky City Theatre

Reviewed by REBECCA BARRY

If the thought of paying to see a mime act sounds as modern as watching a re-run of Gilligan's Island, bear in mind the Umbilical Brothers have catapulted the genre into the future and given it a sinister twist.

They've made such chestnuts as "man walks down stairs" or "man against glass wall" actually funny. They've also invented new classics: "sporting accident goes horribly wrong", "attack of the indestructible fly" and "missing remote control that switches randomly on to porno mode".

Chaplin might not have understood it, but at their best, the Aussie duo became digital projections suffering from Matrix-style glitches, fast-forwarding and pausing when the "system" went haywire, leaping around the stage to convincing human-made sound-effects.

A distinct lack of props meant their comedy relied heavily on the imagination of the audience and a willingness to take the mickey out of their own set-ups. An underwater mime was undermined when the roadie just strolled on stage; things later got spooky when the lights went out.

Despite its Speed Mouse title, the pace waned towards the end, but most of the show was better than that old television ad for throat lozenges from which many will remember them.

Faced with the hard task of following up their hyperactive physical act - and the fact that much of the audience had gone home to bed - were the culturally diverse stand-ups who have appeared on Aussie television's The Footy Show.

MC Mick Meredith, who managed to look suitably peeved throughout most of his act, did a fine job warming up the audience with everyman jokes about his insufferable marriage and other such woes, picking on a pretty young blonde in the audience and her hapless male companion.

Desh, an Indian Australian brought up in South Africa, trod familiar comedic territory by making fun of his roots, as did the hilarious Akmal Saleh, an Egyptian Aussie who threw in the odd terrorism joke, but disappointingly repeated a number of lines from his set at the televised Comedy Gala opening night.

The instantly likeable Vietnamese Aussie, Anh Do, gets the thumbs-up for originality, bringing out a series of props simply because he thought they were funny (and they were). But by far the funniest was Chris "the Bloke" Franklin, a mulleted Ocker who "lives on beer and pies" and arrived on stage in the Westie winter collection: black jeans, jandals and a flannelette shirt.

Bloke, a song he sang in response to Meredith Brook's Bitch was a hoot: "I'm a bloke, I'm a yobbo, and me best mate's name is Robbo, Winfield is me cigarette, I dress in flannelette ... ", proof it really is worth paying to laugh at Australians.