Some individuals onstage are simply so likeable that you’re simply willing them not to be terrible. Thankfully the immensely affable Michael Winslow is also on great form at the Udderbelly.
If you recognise his face it’s most likely because of the Police Academy series in which he starred (perhaps also Spaceballs), though you’ll have heard some of his amazing range of voices and sound effects on the likes of Gremlins, Family Guy and The Simpsons.
Soon into his show, he’s quickly showing how to get food in Tesco for free – replicating exactly the sound a scanner makes when an item passes through – though showing how to freak out a crackhead at a supermarket by getting the food to talk to him.
Winslow seems like a full-time joker, someone’s who will never pass up an opportunity for mischief, using his vocal prowess to pretty much get himself chucked off a plane by a stewardess, or banned from a restaurant, though it all seems done with such good humour you wonder how anyone could take it seriously.
He’s a master mimic of singing voices as well, showing succinctly how in Led Zeppelin Robert Plant sounded like he had his hand stuck in a door, and doing a mean impression of Snoop Dogg were he to have featured in Mary Poppins.
Also operating the "remote control from Hell", occasionally Winslow’s US-dependant references fall flat, but even then he’s so spot on with his impressions that the audience doesn’t seem to mind. It’s a fun, engaging set, and one that you definitely won’t want to leave early. (Not least since Winslow is likely to then mimic your footsteps as you climb the stairs towards the exit, and dramatize your subsequent visit to the restroom...) It’s certainly one the audience enjoys wholeheartedly, unless a multi-tasking Winslow is also producing all the applause from that dastardly microphone of his...
- Michael Winslow: The Man of 1000 Voices is on at Udderbelly’s Pasture at 8pm until August 29
