LIVE: WANKERNOMICS for the Perth Comedy Festival – 9 May 2026

Shane | 12 May 2026 | Reply

LIVE: WANKERNOMICS for the Perth Comedy Festival – 9 May 2026
The Astor Theatre, Perth | Boorloo, Western Australia
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Currently riding high on a tsunami of corporate bullshit, the Wankernomics troupe of two (James Schloeffel, listed on their website as “Chief Disruptor and Strategy Optimisation Evangelist” and Charles Firth, “Customer Engagement Jedi”) delight in exploiting and skewering office-based wankery, much to the delight of many thousands across the country, and perhaps the world.

As with the best comedy, this comes from a place of intimate understanding of its topic – there’s literally no way Schloeffel and Firth weren’t middle management in an office at some point.

Self-professed “thought leaders in bullshittery,” our dynamic duo do a deep dive into the “inescapable” wank, ensuring that laughs are always their prime deliverable, and deliver they do.

If we haven’t worked in a wanky office environment (there are plenty of office-types in the house tonight, and their laughter is almost self-conscious, dealing with this sort of thing Monday to Friday), we’ve all had to deal with “how corporate wankery is making all our lives excruciating” – doubly so with the over-eager incorporation of job-destroying AI not fit for purpose by every corporate entity ever – so the comedy here resonates with everyone.

In short, to use some corporate wankery of my own, Wankernomics’ cross-functional synergies are synthesised towards an end goal of sustainable outcome-based audience satisfaction, so we can all thrive tomorrow.

Highlights of the new show include Snow White and the 7 key performance indicators, and creating a Duolingo language called Wanker, but really, it’s pure hilarity for sixty or so minutes straight, highlighting the sheer ridiculousness of modern life.