First of all, a tip; if you are travelling to New Zealand for their comedy festival, you’re better off arriving in the 2nd week as not much other than the sold out Gala happens in the first week., this year that tuned out to be fortunate, due to a certain volcano. The 5 Star Comedy Preview that was on the night before the Gala, was missing three of its line up of comedians; Tom Wrigglesworth, Jarleth Regen, and Miles Jupp, luckily they will be here in time for their first shows on Saturday. Meanwhile, it was announced that all of them would be replaced by the very flexibleJason Cook.
All of the acts in the Preview were overseas names and most were unfamiliar to New Zealanders. The host Wil Anderson had performed here once before, I’m not sure if they have seen him on the telly though. He was an excellent host and as well as giving us taste of his current show ‘Wilful Misconduct’, he pulled out some classic rope to make sure we were warmed up to the max for each act. Jason Cook, who has won an award for best host in the UK, opened the night with a big chunk of his current show ‘Fear’. I’ve seen him placate a rough Festival Club crowd at the Hifi Bar this year, but I’ve also seen him do his own show, which has a more warm hearted story telling vibe and it was nice to see him have the time to move from his pub comedy style into the latter effortlessly. He told me he plans to bring ‘Joy’, the show I saw in Edinburgh in 2008 to Melbourne next year, if he does I can highly recommend it.
The second act was a magician, Chris Cox and I’m tempted to move on, I really wish magicians could just have their own festival and leave our comedy festivals alone. He did get laughs, but with such tired old magic tricks with all the usual schtick; card tricks, mock mind reading and audience participation. He was perky and entertained the crowd, he also had badges that said “I love Cox” but I was pretty bored with it.
The next act could not been more different. Terry Alderton was extraordinary. I missed his show in Melbourne and now deeply regret it. He’s not doing a full show in New Zealand, he is part of ‘The Big Show’ an international showcase, though strangely everyone else in that line up is also doing a solo show. You may have seen him as part of the MICF Gala, he did a sort of bi polar / Gollum like act. I was a bit turned off by it at the time, he just seemed too aggressive, but tonight with a much longer turn on stage, I got to see him in full flight and totally winning over and slaying the audience. As well as his scary psycho character, he showed off his impressive linguistic skills, some silly choreography, his brilliant impressions and told some great character stories with warmth & charm. I am usually repelled by hip hop but his spoofing of the way hip hop has changed since his youth was breathtaking. He seemed genuinely chuffed as the rapt audience cheered him off. Just as well it was time for interval so that the audience could catch their breaths.
Andrew O’Neil ‘Occult Comedian’, opened the second half of the evening with his own style of impressive wordsmithery. It took the audience a little while to catch onto his idiosyncratic style of stand up interspersed with off the wall ditties, poems and a puns a plenty. He cannily left the material about his penchant for cross dressing and Satanism aside for punters of his show to discover. Like the eccentric Terry Alderton before him, he had the time to bring the audience on his journey and have them roaring their approval by the end.
The headline act was the comedian I knew least about. Carey Marx from the UK won the ‘Best International Act’ at last year’s NZ Comedy Festival and so this year he is reprising that sold out show ‘Careyness’ as well as performing his new one ‘Doom Gloom Boom’. He was quite a contrast to the previous acts, being quieter and fairly reserved. Considering that he’d made little impact in Melbourne and the fact that his topics were so mainstream & dull I wondered what the fuss was about, until a bit about his hotel room windows was skilfully developed into a witty argument about the validity of creationism vs. evolution. He definitely grew on me and was a lovely way to round out the evening.
It’s a pity there weren’t any local acts in the line up, but this was a brilliant introduction to several of the overseas acts who are performing here. The fact that we had two less performers meant than unlike the overcrowded Gala, all the performers were able to shine and make a memorable impression. Hopefully many audience members tonight will be encouraged out to see the performers do their own shows. It’s a shame that Terry Alderton is not doing a solo show here, because I felt that he was definitely the standout performer of the evening.
Wil Anderson can be seen in his show Wilful Misconduct. Jason Cook’s show is Fear-. Occult Comedian is the show by Andrew O’Neill. Carey Marx is doing two shows Careyness and Doom Gloom Boom. Chris Cox performs his show Mind Over Patter. Terry Alderton is part of the show The Big Show 2010.