NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

<i>Russell Baillie:</i> Bhoy stands up best to gala test

NZ Herald
3 May, 2009 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Wayne Brady was a solid choice as MC for the evening, despite an over-reliance on the autocue.

Wayne Brady was a solid choice as MC for the evening, despite an over-reliance on the autocue.

Like the universe itself, the NZ International Comedy Festival has always started with a big bang - the gala night show in which nearly half the acts in the three-week bonanza run on, do their party piece and are off in time to make room for the next ad in its delayed TV broadcast (TV2, Wednesday 8.30pm).

It might seem an indecent haste for the performers but for the audience it can be endurance test, with this one stretching to nearly three admittedly entertaining hours.

And as always, this year's set - giant plasma screens screwed to the sort of neon framework last seen backing many an 80s pop video - was hilarious in itself.

Counting super-smooth quick-witted although autocue-chained MC Wayne Brady (from Whose Line is it Anyway? and Don't Forget the Lyrics), this Friday night opener came with 24 acts, roughly half domestic and half exotic, although many of the imports were on an umpteenth festival visit.

So while there was a chance to find some new favourites, there was more than a little deja vu about much of the show and its content.

Dai Henwood - who opted to arrive as himself rather than one of the characters which made their mad mark on past galas - thought it best not to waste too much new material to be broadcast on a network other than the one which employs him. His gag about seals being like gang members in a sleeping bag has some miles on it.

Likewise, Te Radar delivered an anecdotal deleted scene from his sustainable living telly show, although his new forthcoming Eating the Dog show about great NZ failures possibly doesn't bear the cut-down preview treatment.

True they were original but worst, by far, of the locals was We Are Currently Experiencing Some Issues, a team - some with their own festival solo gigs - whose mock kiddie show slapstick farce involving animal costumes, roller skates and voice-overs seemed like a disastrous audition to a sequel to Meet the Feebles.

Elsewhere, there were a run of engaging stand-up routines from the locals. Among the more memorable were radio guy Paul Ego (bravely starting with a song extolling the virtues of his bum), Simon McKinney (with a heavy accent on accents), Benjamin Crellin and Ben Hurley.

Possibly the best local up-and-comer was James Nokise, whose take on things from a Polynesian perspective was fresh and amusingly self-deprecating. A star in the making, we suspect.

The new stand-outs among the festival's international stand-ups were Ireland's Maeve Higgins, whose absent-minded quirky charms and homespun subjects are sure to make her friends here, and Brit Carey Marx.

He was possibly the night's rudest act, but his surreal perspective and infectious mischief made him one of the most unpredictable bright spots.

Among other impressive foreign newbies were Aussies Hannah Gadsby and Wil Anderson - she with her thoughts on being not very good at much in life and one priceless heckle-response; he with a pointed routine of manic energy which took in Oz "terrorist" David Hicks and managed to extract new punchlines out of that perennial favourite - biosecurity at NZ airports.

So too did Wilson Dixon, singer of droll deeply amusing country songs who may sound like he's Nashville's answer to Flight of the Conchords but whose roots lie in Oz's 4 Noels and NZ.

The musical highlight of the night was the perennially unsettling Kransky Sisters, the Queensland trio extracting strange new levels of misfortune in the Bee Gees' Tragedy, among other tunes they rendered with tuba, guitar and musical saw.

Talking of tragedy, the sad streak that runs underneath the comedy of Glasgow's Janey Godley was palpable even in her short turn at the microphone but she remains a wee wonder of infectious stage presence.

She was among a fine bunch of exotically accented returning stars.

That included the brilliantly whimsical Welshman Mark Watson ("now there's a country with low self-esteem" he replied when we applauded him, saying he was glad to be back).

And there was the disarmingly frank Englishman Jason Cook, the ever-animated Irishman Ed Byrne, and the seemingly stoned but devastatingly sharp-thinking Canadian Glen Wool whose routine won the evening's prize for best lateral thinking about current events and global concerns.

But capping everyone was another regular festival star, Danny Bhoy, who after making some pointed quips about the show's duration and wacky stage set, launched into a hilarious spiel about a motel wildlife encounter in back-of-beyond Australia. He remains in a class of his own, that Bhoy.

Discover more

Entertainment

A quick word: Wilson Dixon

25 Jan 06:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Reviews

Auckland Philharmonia's Nightscapes enchants with Strauss and Schoenberg

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Entertainment

Too Much? Not for White Lotus star Will Sharpe

13 Jul 02:00 AM
Entertainment

'Unbelievable': NZ Youth Choir conquers world stage with second major win

13 Jul 01:50 AM

Get your kids involved in your reno

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

Auckland Philharmonia's Nightscapes enchants with Strauss and Schoenberg

Auckland Philharmonia's Nightscapes enchants with Strauss and Schoenberg

13 Jul 05:00 PM

REVIEW: Listeners were transported from a Viennese ballroom to a mysterious forest.

Premium
Too Much? Not for White Lotus star Will Sharpe

Too Much? Not for White Lotus star Will Sharpe

13 Jul 02:00 AM
'Unbelievable': NZ Youth Choir conquers world stage with second major win

'Unbelievable': NZ Youth Choir conquers world stage with second major win

13 Jul 01:50 AM
Premium
Meet the Kiwi teen with all the moves as the killer robot in M3gan 2.0

Meet the Kiwi teen with all the moves as the killer robot in M3gan 2.0

12 Jul 10:00 PM
Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper
sponsored

Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP