New Zealand Comedy Festival 2021

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival takes place in Auckland and Wellington during May each year. Well, most years. 2020 was obviously an exception. The festival kicks off with a gala evening where local and (usually) international comedians put forward four minute samplers of what's to come during their festival shows. Last year's gala evening happened later in the year and featured an almost exclusively local lineup. This year's show had a few more internationals who had either moved her shortly before the pandemic or simply decided to sit it out in relatively safety while on their travels. Either way, we're glad we can enjoy live stand-up comedy again.

We went to five stand-up shows during the festival, having decided on three of them after attending the gala show. Hands down the best show we saw was Arsebiscuits by British-Indian storyteller and comedian Sameena Zehra. Her show was a roller coaster of intelligence, hilarity, dark humour and clever wit that has left me looking out for anything else featuring this multi-talented performer. Such a treat! 

Another on-form performance was Ladi Dadi Assadi like to party by Pax Assadi, who is really hitting his comedy stride. Ben Hurley is one of our favourites but we realised during Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream that we may have been to a few too many of his shows recently as we could recognise many of his stories from the opening lines. Guy Montgomery and Nick Rado served up fun nights out - even on a school night. 

It feels great to be able to support local artists and attend live events once again.

Kevin Bridges - NZ Tour

Paying it forward really can work. After abandoning two sets of Wellington on a Plate tickets last month due to illness, I was rewarded with free tickets to a comedy show from a colleague in a similar situation to mine. Would I like to see Scottish comedian Kevin Bridges on stage? Heck, yes! She insisted I take them as she hated to see good tickets go to waste. (A special cake will be making its way to her this week.)

The warm up act for the sold-out show was Italian-Australian gay gluten intolerant comedian Nath Valvo. He got things off to a flying start before Bridges took the stage.

We laughed ourselves silly from start to end as phrases were helpfully translatated into kiwi English for those who may not have understood Bridges's broad Glaswegian accent. Then the usual suspects (Trump, ISIS, Brexit) made an appearance in a standup routine that took him all around the world before finishing up with anecdotes about growing up in a suburb that sounds like the Hutt Valley of Glasgow. Yes, he did his research before facing a Wellington crowd. Hoos rice, anyone?

It seems like the audience was full of Scots keen to show off their patriotism - so much so that Bridges had to deal to a persistently annoying heckler, who made it clear just how much online stalking research she'd done by shouting out her findings all night. After some bickering in the gallery, a flurry of pledges to buy Bridges a beer after the show later popped up on Twitter. I hope he took up an offer or three. This guy is hilarious!

Ed Byrne - Outside Looking In

The 2017 NZ International Comedy Festival roared into life last week and saw the return of my favourite international comedian, Ed Byrne. After a traditional Wellington welcome consisting of an aborted plane landing, an unforeseen return flight to Auckland and then an eventual landing at Wellington airport, Ed sauntered onto the stage, beer in hand and looking barely worse for wear after the ordeal. He's been here before so knows it works.

Outside Looking In features Byrne's brand of observational comedy. Everyday activities get overthought, taken apart and regurgitated in a delectable Irish accent. Byrne covered topics like the futility of interviewing athletes after a race that lasted just 10 seconds, an awkward TV and radio experience with the notoriously arrogant New Zealand broadcaster Paul Henry, plus I learned far more than I ever wanted to know about diarrhoea. (These last two skits were unrelated although they sound like they go together well.)

This year's show was completely different to Roaring Forties from two years ago, apart from the odd cheeky reference thrown in to see which of us were paying attention last time. If anything, it was even better! (Apart from the diarrhoea, that is. No-one saw that coming.)

Tommy Tiernan - Out of the Whirlwind

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival has kicked off around the country. We always look forward to a show or two, especially if it means we can take advantage of seeing some of our favourite international comedians on stage instead of on television.

Last night, we saw Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan in Out of the Whirlwind. Resplendent in double denim, Tiernan's stand up comedy show is a whirlwind of mischievous storytelling. Described as having "no manners on him", absoultely nothing is sacred: religion, sexism, homophobia, racism ... somehow you can get away with more when you have a charming Irish accent (although one particular Stuff reviewer begs to differ).

Tiernan plays the audience and microphone well. He is proficient at a huge number of accents (except for Belgian - you'll see) and can pull a story out of almost any situation. Take, for example, a topic as mundane as drinks. Sure, Europe enjoys their wine, but the Irish are masters of anger in a glass, otherwise known as whiskey.

Whatever your tipple, you'll laugh, be offended, then forgive Tommy Tiernan all at once during his two 45 minute sets. The tour wraps up in Christchurch tomorrow night before picking up again in Edinburgh in August.

7 Days Live

It's that time of the year: the 7 Days crew are on the road for their annual pre-Christmas live tour. Travelling all around New Zealand, host Jeremy Corbett and regular cast members Paul Ego and Dai Henwood bring their Friday night comedy to the stage. This year, Urzila Carlson, Ben Hurley, Jeremy Elwood and Josh Thomson joined the gang in delivering laughs to a packed Wellington Opera House.

The show starts with stand-up stints by each of the seven comedians before the stage converts to the 7 Days set. A handful of 7 Days games are played out live and unedited. (They're supposedly unscripted, but I'm not so sure any more.) Interesting variations come in the form of My audience member can draw that and a Caption that competition where the audience could text in their wittiest captions for a photo shown on screen. Here's a tip: it's much harder to do than you think!

This was our third 7 Days Live experience and another hilarious night out. We look forward to another year of comedy, laughter and bizarre antics, all the name of 'news'.

Dylan Moran - Off The Hook

As a big fan of Black Books, I was introduced to the comedy of Irish comedian Dylan Moran and the hilarious and intelligent Bill Bailey. Having seen Bailey peddling qualms and in Limboland, last night it was the turn of his Irish counterpart to come to town.

Moran's opening line of "It's been a long time since all the stuff" immediately set the scene and he delivered two rambling 45 minute sets. This man is a weary, middle-aged father just trying to survive everything that life and his kids throw at him. It's not easy spending eight years giving up smoking and subsequently replacing it with food, especially since everything good in this world is designed to go into your mouth. Moran's four stages of life are sharp and scarily accurate: birth, failure, old, death. Kids (or lack of them), pets, a dislike of eating animals who names have only three letters, German (and Finnish) humour and a plethora of made up words and phrases all worked their way into his routine.

At times it was hard to work out just how far Moran had planned to ramble before pulling it all in again. The white wine was swapped for red at the interval and the bar leaner was well used. A couple of half-hearted hecklers were painstakingly shut down as his general frustrations in life took centre stage.

The laughs came hard and fast and the reviews are favourable. Dylan Moran's unique brand of charm may well have got him Off the Hook last night and endeared him to a full Wellington house.

Ed Byrne - Roaring Forties

A couple of months ago, I thought about which stand-up comedian I'd most like to see live on stage. I commented to Mr Weka that "if Ed Byrne ever comes to town, we'll definitely be there." The next day, the NZ International Comedy Festival announced its lineup along with an international headliner ... Mr Byrne himself! My powers of wishful thinking worked! (Next time, I'll wish for a million dollars, or world peace, or maybe something that combines the two.)

The title of Ed Byrne's show perfectly coincided with a particular celebration in our home last week. I quickly jumped online and booked front row tickets for the final Wellington show of Roaring Forties. In Byrne's own words, it's all about him being a dick and supposedly middle aged at the same time. Apparently that kind of behaviour of expected of teenaged boys, but it comes as a surprise when a grown man in his forties acts like a dick and this is how he gets away with it. It works for us.

Byrne explained that he loves travelling around New Zealand (don't they all say that?) but will never perform in Oamaru ever again. He has his reasons.

For me, Byrne's best comedy moments feature his retelling of seemingly mundane events, such as recovering from hernia surgery, peppered with everyday family life. His sketch about casually exhorting unreasonable demands from a partner "While you're up ... can you get me a sandwich?" regularly gets aired in our home any time one of us gets up from watching tv at night. (We've changed the punch line ever so slightly. "But I don't want a sandwich. I want *insert object of desire here*")

Roaring Forties is an hilarious look at life from inside a comedian's brain, all wrapped up in a delicious Irish accent.

Eddie Izzard - Force Majeure

Comedian Eddie Izzard came to town this weekend on his world tour, Force Majeure.

Looking incredibly sharp in an immaculately tailored Bond-esque dark suit and block heeled boots, Izzard took to the stage amid a flurry of lights and accompanied by a black umbrella and hat, both of which were quickly discarded. Bling was provided by way of sparkling earrings and a scarlet manicure - which perfectly matched his pocket square. And so the tone was set.

Izzard quickly got down to business with a somewhat prickly conversation opener: human sacrifice. Religion and history play a big role in his comedy and the pace of his storytelling is rapid, too fast even for hecklers to get a shout in. Concentrate and try to keep up or you'll be left behind! His dialogue and wit are equally matched: quick, sharp and all in the pursuit of wisdom.

The Death Star Canteen routine went down really well and the response from the audience showed that more than a handful knew it by heart. Here, it's been given the Lego treatment.


Force Majeure has been on the road for a couple of years now, travelling the globe and currently making its way around New Zealand. It's an excellent night of stories and belly laughs.

Bill Bailey - Limboland

The first time we saw Bill Bailey on stage was in 2012 when he was peddling qualms. Last night, he was in Limboland.

Limboland is described as "the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are". Don't we all know that feeling! As always, Bailey is in fine form. His musings are clever and sharp. No swearing, vulgarity or excessive shouting. Why can't all comedians be this clever?

The 2.5 hour show (including intermission) unfolded and took us on a winding comedic journey. One Direction were the easy target for many gags. I suppose they make it too tempting for a seasoned musician and performer to simply leave alone without having some fun along the way. We got a blow by blow breakdown of the perils of Bailey's extended family trip on dog sleds to see the Northern Lights in Norway and listened him share some pearls of wisdom from the Practical Indonesian Phrasebook, which wasn't so practical after all.

Then there were the musical interludes, which I really enjoy. This time, it included a Jamaican remix of Downton Abbey, Abba reinvented in Rammstein style and the Holy Bible played with a distinct country slide twang.

Having done the rounds in Australia, Limboland now sets off around New Zealand and various other locales. Give your comedy buds a tickle. It's "not too bad, all things considered". (Oops, belated spoiler alert.)

Bill Bailey - Qualmpeddler

I had been looking forward to seeing Bill Bailey in concert since booking tickets earlier this year. It would seem that Bailey has been looking forward to touring this part of the world, too. Ever since he first swallowed the Little Book of Calm on Black Books, I've been a fan of his comedy. As a musician, I also really enjoyed his Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra along with various musical interludes interspersed in his performances.

Bill Bailey is currently touring New Zealand and Australia with his latest show, Qualmpeddler, and we were at New Zealand's opening night on Friday. Although no qualms were being peddled and I'm told that some of the show is not new, this was an hilarious evening of non-stop laughter. Bailey had the crowd at "hello" and we ate out of the palm of his hand for the next 2 hours. His quick wit dealt to the many hecklers, many of whose lines made it into the show. However, no-one expected to hear someone shout, "I didn't want those grapes anyway!" from the audience and watch it become part of the show.

Naturally, music featured throughout the show including some techno-Jamaican dubs and a spell oe bouzouki, with the finale being played on Horntellica, Bailey's horn set - you've never heard Metallica like this before! A fantastic night out.

Veterinarian's Hospital

One of the many things I love about my iPod is the surprises it can deliver when I set it to shuffle. No matter what music I currently have on the 'little' 16 GB iPod I carry around with me, I always have the original Muppet Show Album on the playlist. Always. I know every word of every song and skit and never tire of the humour. Although I usually listen to the album in its entirety, it sometimes becomes interspersed with the rest of my music.

While I was out walking today, this episode of Veterinarian's Hospital came on in among everything else and I laughed out loud while I listened. That's another thing I love about my iPod: there's no way you can tell what I'm listening to unless my foolish grin gives something away. :-)



Laugh it up on your Friday afternoon.

The Improvisors - History Never Repeats

We are long time fans of The Improvisors. We have learned not to sit in the front row (although the cast are getting sneakier and even picking on audience members a few rows back) and love how latecomers are afforded the welcome they deserve. Recently, two of the troupe provided entertainment at a conference dinner I attended and the crowd were once again amazed by their quick thinking and sharp repartee.

Last night, thanks to Wotzon, we saw The Improvisors' latest show at Circa Theatre as part of the 2012 NZ Comedy Festival. History Never Repeats is a comedic jaunt through time from 2000 BC until some point in the future and was both educational and entertaining. For example, we learned that the ancient Etruscan civilisation started with E and so did most of their language. Shakespeare had set a play in South Auckland and the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup final somehow managed to coincide wth 1985's Rainbow Warrior sinking. It's certainly history as we didn't know it!

Although last night's show didn't quite fire on all cylinders like usual, there were still plenty of belly laughs to be had with Nic Gorman and Ian Harcourt in particularly fine form. The theatresports season is on its way and we hope to catch a couple of shows. Bring on the laughter!

7 Days Live

We enjoy watching 7 Days on Friday nights; it has become our way of unwinding after a long week. Last night, 7 Days Live came to town with a show at The Opera House. It was a show of two halves, beginning with short standup routines from each of the comedians before a live set of the tv show itself.

We were glad to see some of our favourite kiwi comedians, including Ben Hurley and Steve Wrigley, joining host Jeremy Corbett and regulars Paul Ego and Dai Henwood on stage. Armed with razor sharp wit and free from the shackles of television censorship, the group let rip on news, current events, local humour and each other during an absolutely hilarious night.

It quickly became clear that the Hutt Valley was going to be the butt of most jokes for the night (stereotypes do exist for a reason!). However, it wasn't long before they honed their jokes even further, with Upper Hutt becoming the natural punchline. The audience was involved in several of the games, including a version of "My kid could draw that" which naturally ended up with dodgy pictures being drawn by audience members before the show, and Captions, where you got to text in a caption to a dodgy photo during the intermission. The fact that neither of us could come up with a caption that was even remotely coherent, let alone interesting or funny in 20 minutes shows just how quickly these guys think on their feet (or butts - they were sitting down after all).

This was an hilarious night of standup comedy and fun. Hopefully there will be another 7 Days Live tour next year!

Danny Bhoy - Messenger (Please Do Not Shoot)

It's been a while since we've been to a live comedy show. The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is in full swing. Last night, we saw Scottish comedian Danny Boy in action.

Danny Boy is one the festival's international headliners. His new show, Messenger (Please Do Not Shoot) started out with Danny poking fun at himself in a variety of contexts, including anguishing about not being able to have his name up in lights, before moving on to talk about everything from the upcoming Rugby World Cup, the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar, Vikings, learning French at school, Australians, coffee and tea drinking, living in the US, rain (very appropriate in Wellington this weekend) and his somewhat less than ideal stint on the David Letterman Late Show. If nothing else, his adorable Scottish accent was enough to grab the punters' attention. A very entertaining night out.

Fascinating Aida

A colleague emailed a link around our team earlier this week; you know how it goes. I saw that it was a video and left it for later when I had more time. Within a minute or so, fits of laughter erupted from several desks - obviously others had decided to view it straight away. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Fascinating Aida is a British satirical comedy singing group that has been around since 1983 and their work speaks (or sings) for itself. For anyone who has ever been lured by the temptation of cheap flights, the ladies have got some words of warning. I especially love the verse that begins at 2:30 - so very appropriate on St Paddy's Day.



If you're hooked (I was!), firmly plug in your headphones and listen to this one:


Enjoy!

The Adventures of Jimi Samoa

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is in full swing. Last week, my sweetie and I watched the comedy sampler on tv and decided which comedians we'd like to see based on their performances. Upon consulting our budgets, we revised our list; only one show survived the cut.

James Nokise was our choice. Billed as a Samoan/Welsh comedian (I couldn't help but laugh already!) and with a previous show called Beige Against the Machine, his comedy snippet looked promising. The Adventures of Jimi Samoa was all about James's alter ego, Jimi Samoa, the funny guy who got himself into and out of situations and adventures. This is essentially the story of James's life; Nokise never misses an opportunity to send himself up or poke fun at himself. Plenty of in-jokes about Lower Hutt (which Wellingtonians can appreciate), Samoan culture, growing up bicultural with a Samoan minister father and Welsh mother, all-boys schools, and more.

After a successful opening night last night, I'd heard his radio interview on More FM this morning, albeit 45 minutes later than scheduled as he was still drunk from the after party the night before. It seems like James didn't stop drinking even after that interview and turned up for tonight's show somewhat inebriated; it wasn't as bad as it sounds, but I am a little surprised.

At times morose and melancholic, especially the segments which explored the aftermath of his relationship breakup, there were a few other serious moments and one very definite message: domestic violence is never acceptable. The show isn't exactly what we expected (don't ask me what we expected; we just know it wasn't quite that) but not one I'd write off completely. I'd be keen to see the talented James Nikose perform again sometime, but perhaps in different circumstances.

Improv - The Secondary School Musical

We have just got back from another hilarious Fringe show. Improv - The Secondary School Musical was our second date with The Improvisors this month. This time, it's a take on Disney's High School Musical (2006). Our 'tour guides' from our walking tour of Jackson Street were back - back in their prime as school students, that is.

The audience were asked for four key components, around which the show would be built. We were asked for a group which exists in schools; librarians was the decision. The 'thing' became risoni, the ambition was to run the cross country, and the theme was world domination. The scene was set and the story, complete with unrequited love, mobile phone humour, and very recent current events, developed.

Accompanied by an improvising musical trio, the cast of seven gave their best impersonations of singing teenagers. A range of characters evolved, including the hapless 'Alessandro', son of an Italian diplomat (while his real students were sitting in the audience behind us). The head librarian, who harboured dreams of being a cross country runner, was ousted from his role by his doppelganger, another boy who became corrupted by his new found power and in turn schemed a sinister plot to dominate the [library] world while regaining the friendship of a certain girl. What a fantastic way to escape the world for an hour or so with laughter. We'll look forward to their next show.

Jackson Street - The Short and Incomplete History of a Very Long Street

We went to our first proper Fringe 09 event this morning. By 'proper', I should point out that we went to the Wellington Comedy Club on Thursday night. It's supported by the Fringe Festival (ie two-for-one tickets with a Fringe addict card), but Fringe officially started on Friday. The headline comedian, Benjamin Crellin, was funny; the other two comedians first up and the MC were average at best.

Jackson Street - The Short and Incomplete History of a Very Long Street is a walking tour taken by two members of The Improvisors, an improv comedy/theatresports group based in Wellington. Being literally around the corner from here and, even better, entry by donation, we would have been silly to miss it.

Nearly 50 people followed 'Ross' and 'Matthew', our walking tour guides, up and down Jackson Street, the main road in Petone. We were entertained and informed by little known facts about the area and various streets and landmarks along the way. The facts are little known because, largely, they have been completely made up, or the tiny bit of truth in them is has been somewhat stretched and therefore is hard to find. These were interspersed by various theatresport games, like Word at a Time, Emotional Rollercoaster, and Alphabet (using the Maori alphabet).

As always, The Improvisors put on an great show. Their type of improvised humour, interchanged among the cast and reacting to audience participation, always makes for hilarity and entertainment. We are looking forward to their next show in a couple of weeks' time, Improv - The Secondary School Musical.