I was warned about Nick Sun. “You’ll either love him or you’ll hate him.” I was told. It’s safe to say I didn’t love him. “He’s a true genius, but he sabotages himself.” lamented another comedian. It’s safe to say he sabotaged himself last night. A comedian couldn’t have asked for a warmer, more ready-to-laugh crowd. Practically everything Sun said in the first ten minutes got a giggle, funny or not. By the end of the show there’d been several walk-outs and those of us left behind were sitting uncomfortably in silence.
The journey from there to here was not without some positives, Sun’s obviously got stage presence and charisma. But any attempts at actually entertaining the audience were abandoned in fairly short order. “You’re a pretty bad audience.” we were chastised. “I’ve pretty much given up on you. I don’t care.” There were some pretty lame stabs at humour- did you know that raping a guidance counsellor gives you reverse Tourette’s? You just go around shouting encouragement at people. And that rape jokes are the new dick jokes? Don’t worry, he had dick jokes too. For example, have you ever thought that a penis resembles a vagina but in reverse? Nick Sun has. Now you may be thinking: ‘Hey, these could be okay with the right delivery.’ But I haven’t even reached the bit where he spent what felt like an eternity just sitting on all fours screaming ‘OINK!’ over and over and over, or what felt like an eternity just turning the lights on and off by saying ‘Frangipani’ over and over and over.
Anyway, apparently you either ‘get’ Nick Sun or you don’t. I didn’t and neither did the crowd from what I could tell. At $13 at least he’s not gouging you for the experience, but you’d have to pay me to sit through that again. Not recommended.
Joymeat runs until April 18th at the Tuxedo Cat. For full booking details go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival website