DANIELLE WALKER

Hi, I’m Danielle, my grandad calls me Bush Rat

A review by Tanya Howard

Once I was bored and my grandad gave me a magnifying glass to burn my dead dog’s name onto a small wooden crucifix so we could put it on his grave. Anyway, please come to my comedy show I won RAW Comedy in 2016, I’ve been on Get Krack!n, I did comedy at the Opera House for Just for Laughs and just won the Best Newcomer at the 2018 Melbourne Comedy Festival.

Danielle Walker begins her show by explaining to us why she called her show Bush Rat, which was a nickname given to her by her Grandad due to her love of the Australian bush. Hailing from rural Townsville, Danielle draws on her experience of growing up in Australia surrounded by obscure and eccentric people, basically her entire family.

Growing up with a particularly unusual family Danielle has plenty of good material to draw from, from her Grandad who prefers to spend time in the grave he dug himself than with her Nan, to her younger twin sisters who learnt about sexual consent from Danielle’s original artwork including drawings of Jockeys and horses, to her Mum who discovered electrolysis and can’t give up swearing.

At times Danielle does get side tracked during the show, notifying the audience this is not a part of the script, but are usually funny enough that she would be better off just leaving us to assume it is. Danielle has a sweet yet naughty laugh and at times you can see that her mind has taken her elsewhere, but she doesn’t feel it’s relevant to the show.

As well as her immediate family Danielle talks about how she tried to get in touch with her birth father and armed with a screenshot on a projector tells us about how he seems to be quite the ladies’ man looking through the comments left on the photo. Running a Banana Farm, friends comment that they are glad he reached the dream he had since school and old flames leave messages of lost love and how they would love to reconnect before Danielle leaves her own message to say she thinks she is his daughter but not of the women commenting above.

This is Danielle’s first hour-long stand-up show, which at times you can tell as she nervously giggles through the show, but she has a charm about her that makes you want to hold out and see what’s in store for her. I look forward to seeing where she goes with her comedy career, but I would suggest leaving the projections of amputated pigs being made into different vehicles at home. Although I was really impressed with her artistic skills!