The stage was decorated for a day at the beach with colourful beach balls and umbrellas. There was no real beachy theme to the show but it was such a jolly fun time that it was as good as a sunny holiday. The Comediettes were comediennes Jim Stanton and Sarah Harpur, both excellent stand ups in their own right, this was their second show together (though last year it was as a trio) and it’s a great way to pool and showcase their talents. Sarah had already done a short run with her own stand up show at the festival, unfortunately I was unable to catch it but I got a pretty good taste of her work here.
I was pleased that this last show I saw in New Zealand was such a hoot and as it began I was also glad that it was the only one I saw that didn’t begin with the same sort of jokes about the major New Zealand cities. The Comediettes began with a funny, welcoming, introductory, slightly wrong song that set the tone for the rest of the show. The next bit really won me over, a hilarious, medieval style mummer’s play done in puppetry that summed up the show we were about to see!! The puppets wore replica outfits to the girls which was a sort of 1950s housewife attire. As the show went on, the aprons with their names embroidered and their high heels were gradually abandoned, pretty much along with the theme which started off being about loopy and often dangerous housewife handy hints.
A large chunk of the show gave each of them time to do some lone standup. Jim Stanton has been performing since 2002 and her style was relaxed, warm, silly and slightly twisted. Her experience meant she was extremely confident in working the audience and had them onside from the get go. She talked about growing up in a small town, where the most exciting thing that happened was visiting the local bird sanctuary, but she also talked about a Titanic themed wedding and did a pretty funny rape routine.
Sarah Harpur, despite her blond dolly bird looks, was even darker than Jim in her solo bit. She’s a little older than Jim but has only been doing comedy since 2008 and won the 2009 New Zealand Raw competition. Her lack of experience was evident only occasionally in some clunky timing but her bright enthusiasm for some really dark and scary subject matter and clever wordplay won us over. We also learned that she grew up on a farm and was a pregnant teen who enjoyed hanging out, gloating, at infertility clinics.
I enjoyed the show most when the girls were on stage together, swapping banter, singing silly songs and at one point doing a pop quiz with the audience that actually had a prize from their sponsors. It was a show with a bit of everything, but most of all it had the laughs. It was an intelligently written and structured show with some new ideas and some very old ideas all working well for them and most of all giving the audience a really great night at the comedy festival. They performed in Adelaide this year; I hope they pop over to Melbourne some time in the future.
Visit the NZ Comedy Festival website for booking details.