Instant Cafe Theatre's D'STATE OF D'NATION

It's been over 10 years since I last caught an ICT comedy revue show. Got one of the last remaining cheap (RM50) nosebleed seats for the grand gala show on Tuesday night. I figured I wouldn't find parking either at the Civic Centre or at the parking area next to the MBPJ building, so I parked a bit further.

Turning 2.6 decades old on December 1, Instant Café Theatre Company takes us down Malaysia mudah lupa lane with its best hits and political satire classics. Join this one-night-only emergency meeting of the 25 Prominent Comedians ++ as they ask: 

What is happening to D’State of the D’Nation? Are things so D’Pressing that some of us are actually missing the good old days of ISA D’tention? Has it gotten worse or has it always been this funny? Instant Café is here to remind us there were no good old days. But we laughed anyway. 

Together with friends, Instant Café Theatre holds a D’State of D’Nation Telethon to raise 2.6 Billion Ringgit and return Malaysia to its former Glory. And Dignity. And Currency.

I haven't been back to the Dewan Sivik in years, not even for a wedding (haha). While I have my complaints about the actual place, I'll save that for another time or medium.

The chaos that is ticket collection. And yes, they were sorted by price. 

Collected my ticket pretty quickly, considering the chaos. Became part of the problem because I was in the way of people collecting their tickets, so I quickly went off to the side and watch Shelah talk to people on the red carpet and also to see who else of note showed up. 

Shelah working the red carpet

Quickly went upstairs and found my seat. Saw that Dr Jason (in crutches) was a few seats away. Because the place is so old, the seat design was a product of its time in the sense that all I could see was the back of the head of the lady in front of me (and she was sitting ramrod straight some more >.<). I don't think she appreciated having me breathe down her neck most of the night because I couldn't see anything if I didn't lean forward. 

Bird's eye view

Some things were going pretty cheap, especially the t-shirts.
Notice the 2.6 theme.

The show kicked off with Ribena Berry. 

The show was kicked off by one of Jo Kukathas's characters, Ribena Berry. Anyway, nice to see the alumni that showed up (too many to name), and then there were some that I didn't know were even in ICT (unless they recently joined)....

I can't be the only one that felt some of sketches ran a little too long, like Allen and Indi's lawyer sketch, which was never my favourite characters or sketch anyway, but still. A lot of the classic characters, bits and sketches for everyone, who may or may not remember them. I guess they want people who paid the RM500, RM1000 tickets feel like it was worth the money spent, but still :P I don't know if my hearing's crapping out, but the sound system is also pretty crap that I couldn't hear anything clearly. 

Like the Oscars, it was almost 4 hours long. There was an intermission 2 hours in, by then the only thing I could do is stand up in my seat in a lame attempt to stretch my legs. I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat by the end because if I didn't I couldn't see anything too clearly.

After the intermission, it was about an hour's worth of show before everyone came back on stage for their final bows. 

Closing/Final Song

There's satellite shows at DPAC this week but it's all sold out. They also just added a Sunday matinee performance yesterday afternoon, so if you haven't gotten your tickets, move quickly. 

Stray observations:

• Yes, they have their own spin to Let it Go. Forgot how it went, but still. Also, too many songs to keep track of. 
• The RM2.60 programme was the best buy of the evening. 
• Even in drag, Sean Ghazi still looks hot... tak aci betul. LOL.
• All the founders were there... except for Jit. Even Andrew Leci showed up!
• Jo Kukathas's other characters also showed up - YB and also that judge fler. 
• The "lost P. Ramlee film" sketch is back - with Na'a Murad as the religious officer this time. The "bin Dover" part really cracked the house up, I already forgot if they used the same first name as the last time I saw this.