Being the third in a trilogy of autobiographical shows (the others being ‘Beige Against The Machine’ and ‘Jimi Samoa’), James Nokise’s _Is This It? saw him facing an impending 10th High School reunion. After meeting with a number of his school friends, James attempted to examine his life by comparing his achievements with those of his peers.
He began with some audience banter and stand up which essentially provided minimal but sufficient background to James for those of us who’d come in late. James then launched into segments about the various friends he had caught up with in recent times. Each were introduced with some degree of detail before he veered off on tangents about his own experiences and his family which were tenuously linked to the attributes of that friend. Most of these episodes concluded with a hilarious tale from the life of that school chum, either from their youth or one recounted to James at that meeting.
It was interesting that race played a major role in his descriptions of friends and family, even when this wasn’t particularly the focus of the humour. It provided vital context for the stories he relayed as well as helping to create a vivid image of these characters in the audience’s heads.
As the episodes of his meetings progressed, it often seemed that little was covered in terms of his objective to compare his life with others. It wasn’t until the final segment about his current girlfriend that we could see where he was going. Perhaps he anticipated that most in the audience were familiar enough with his work that he didn’t need to go into excessive details, but it made us newbies work a bit harder. The conclusion tied up most of the loose ends but some may find the resolution to his quest a little flimsy.
James was a brilliant storyteller with an engaging wit and friendly manner that won over everyone. Plenty of vocal mimicry added lots of colour to stories and fleshed out the characters.
Staging of the show was sparse consisting of a microphone front and centre with a cafe table and chairs to James right, perhaps symbolism of meeting friends. Blackouts at the end of each segment divided the show into discrete episodes but they left the audience unsure if they should be applauding at the end of each or simply wait for the next.
This was Jame’s last show in Wellington for quite a while (I assume he’s going overseas) so all in Auckland would be advised to check it out, especially if you have followed his previous shows. Regardless of your knowledge of James, this was a delightful storytelling show.
Visit the NZ Comedy Festival website- for booking details.
