Floyd Alexander-Hunt is an overthinker — that much she admits at the start of her debut solo show, Think Floyd. It comes as no surprise, then, that Alexander-Hunt has put a lot of thought into her sold-out run at the Factory Theatre, as part of the Sydney Comedy Festival.
Alexander-Hunt is a University of Sydney graduate, having studied law (a famously hilarious degree) before deciding she’d rather be a stand-up comic rather than a solicitor. She’s no stranger to comedy, having directed the 2019 Law Revue and performed at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Alexander-Hunt’s material spans the entirely mundane and the deeply personal, all delivered through her awkward, overthinking character. She sells her persona through the acute use of short silences; after she delivers a punchline, she’ll tilt her head, narrow her eyes and collect herself briefly, before powering onto the next joke. It’s a quirk that endears herself to the audience, even when recounting a cringeworthy story about modelling handbags at a charity fundraiser. A unique aspect of her act is her performance of classical violin to soundtrack imagined scenarios (such as Jack and Rose on the Titanic, if they were in a domestic argument).
Behind her bumbling exterior, Alexander-Hunt displays a whip-smart ability for comebacks, audience interaction and quick quips. She’s a master of the one-two punch, hitting the audience with follow-up jokes (“I’ve been seeing someone … my counsellor”), which enables her to draw unexpected analogies, like comparing a sex shop to Lush (“the staff are very intense”).
She excels when talking about family (her divorced parents, her siblings Romeo and Jupiter and her dog Lisa are recurring butts of the joke), relationships, dating and sex, in a way that would make your mother blush. Alexander-Hunt knows how to go for the joke and pull back at the right moment. The intimate space also worked in Alexander-Hunt’s favour, making the audience feel like they were in a casual, relatable conversation with a friend. A minor flaw, however, was that as her character didn’t let up in spewing a stream of anxious thoughts, the audience needed more time in between to appreciate each joke.
Overall, Alexander-Hunt presented an enjoyable 60-minute romp through the inner workings of her interesting mind. With Think Floyd selling out, audiences will just have to wait to see what she does next.
