A-Z of the Comedy Festival

Avenue Q. Photo / Supplied

The Broadway-born show set on the New York boulevard where a bunch of funny-looking Sesame Street-inspired puppets live. This musical stage show-meets-The Muppets has the crude humour of South Park but comes with a big mushy heart. And speaking of puppets, join Australian comedian Sammy J and his purple, goggle-eyed mate Randy in Ricketts Lane.

B BURLESQUE
The Blush Revue by The Dust Palace offers something different from most of the shows in the festival. Including possibly the worst lines of the event in their publicity material: "The Blush Revue" plays the clown, slipping on lacy undies covered in whipped cream, the archeologist, digging up the past for us to investigate through modern magnifying apparatus, and the provocateuse, balancing "sexy"' and "intelligent" on the sharpened blade of a knife." Er, quite.

C CLASS COMEDIANS
A group of class clowns have been put through the boot camp of comedy workshops in the run-up to the festival - it all culminates in the Class Comedians Showcase where the kids each perform a four minute set in front of their first paying audience. As Rhys Mathewson - our second most famous Rhys and a graduate of the programme who has his own show in the festival - says: "Being a part of Class Comedians 2006 was the most important thing that has ever happened to me, bar my birth."

D DEADSHITS
Making history of them thereof. Aussie character comedian Heath Franklin brings back his alter ego Chopper in this new show Make Deadshits History which follows his earlier creation Harden the [Expletive] Up New Zealand. Full marks for consistency of style, then, mate.

E EIRE
Well "I" was already taken. Ireland, the country which apparently has more comedians per head of population than any other, is well represented this year. That includes much acclaimed rising star Jarlaith Regan, the delightful Maeve Higgins (see W) as well as Irish superstar Tommy Tiernan, who sells tickets in U2 numbers at home and last year set the Guinness World Record for the longest stand-up comedy show by an individual with a set which lasted more than 36 hours. He's only doing a one-hour show in Auckland though.

F FRANCE
The festival features its first Gallic import in the form of Marcel Lucont, his country's "premier misanthropist and lover and a self-published, self-award winning author of several books". Tres amusant, n'est-ce pas? Also F is for the fangs of vampire-inspired improvisational show Bite Me; Fangprove. Oh and for Fear which is the title of the shows by anxious Englishman and festival returnee Jason Cook, while local boy Jamie Bowen has christened his show A Rational Fear of Concrete.

G GAMESHOW
Watch out if you're sitting in the front row at Don't Spit the Water because you're likely to get a free shower. This is the Kiwi version of the US game show where audience members fill their mouths with water and a cast of funny guys have a minute to make them spit it, and quit it. hosted by Te Radar, it's not exactly Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but it sounds like fun.

H HENWOOD
It wouldn't be a comedy festival without wee Dai unleashing yet another epic piece of interpretative dance to an 80s song we hoped we had forgotten. But his solo show Ideals Vs Reality should contain so much more than just comic choreography, all going well.

I IPHONE APPLICATION
The festival comes with its own iPhone and iPad app which is actually much handier than the paper programme. Just don't think of checking it in the middle of someone's set - they will think you are texting or just showing off and probably single you out. I is also for impersonation and this year, American Pablo Francisco turns his mimicry abilities on a host of stars - he's a hit on MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and, of course, in Scandinavia.

J JAMES, BILLY T
Although he passed away in 1991 he's still the funniest Maori fella in the world and has an award named in honour of him. This year The Best of the Billys Show brings together past winners, including Dai Henwood, Te Radar, and Brendhan Lovegrove. Sky City Theatre, May 1, 8.30pm. The nominees for this year's Billy T Award are Rhys Matthewson, Jarred Fell, Clayton Carrick Leslie, Vaughan King, and TJ McDonald who will have their final performances at Last Laugh (SkyCity Theatre, May 16) when the winner will be announced.

K KIDS
Laughter without the R-rating - Mr Boon a part-time teacher/part-time comic, teams up with comedy mate Rob Callaghan to bring stand-up, sketches and pie-in-the-face silliness to kids aged 5 to 10 in shows like Mr Boon's Big Time Last Chance Kid's Show which is all part of the Kids Comedy Season at the Herald Theatre.

L LADIES
Among the strong female presence in the festival are some neatly packaged, female-skewed shows. The Mother's Day special, Comedy Divas, features leading comediennes Justine Smith, Zoe Lyons, Irene Pink and Maeve Higgins, while The Comediettes, Sarah Harpur and Jim Stanton (a lady), arm themselves with clingfilm to deliver their hilarity in heels.

M MUSIC
Dulcet and down-home American comedian Wilson Dixon saunters back into town with his dog, his guitar, and his songs, to tell us about his American dream; also on the understated side is Canadian Phil Nichol who's Bobby Spade character is a mix of the Man in Black and Billy Bragg. On the local musical front Greg Ward's Short History of Music takes a sonic trip from year dot to today; while the Lonesome Buckwhips and their sweet harmonies go in search of their Buckapapa.

N NUTTERS
The lot of them. But there is one show with the mental health foundation's tick. In the lead-up to his forthcoming Maori TV show Mike King laughs about one of the most unlaughable human conditions - mental illness. A less PC take might be Jason Cook's Asylum or Briton Rob Callaghan's bipolar show Confirmed - Mad.

O OCCULT
Occult Comedian is the title of Brit Andrew O' Neill's season at the Classic, the performer taking time away from his other jobs, a guide to tours of Jack The Ripper's murder sites, playing in a steampunk band and his life as "a vegan metal-head transvestite". For more from the dark side, there's Scottish duo Barry and Stuart's Powered by Demons (see story page 7)

P PAULY SHORE
Briefly famous in the early 90s for his stoner persona until a couple of awful movies seemed to kill off his screen career, Shore is now plying his trade as a stand-up and carrying on regardless.

Q
See A.

R RAW COMEDY
It's not all about the professionals. The festival has been hosting a search for fresh faces for the past six weeks with the grand final taking over the Powerstation on May 9.

S 7 DAYS
After the profile boost of last year's Friday night TV3 panel show, expect healthy turnouts for gigs by the programmes regulars - the double-header of Paul Ego and Jeremy Corbett might draw a crowd. The cast also features in Gastrocomique, the festival's special lunch for Make-A-Wish New Zealand on May 7.

T TRIBUTE
To Michael Jackson with Tarun Mohanbhai paying his respects to the King of Pop during his show about wedges and his Downsize Me experience, and local lass Heidi O'Loughlin dedicating her show, Life Without Michael, One Year On, to the man she idolises. Meanwhile, local lad Simon McKinney pays tribute to Hamish the Fish, a character he played on kids TV show Squirt during his formative years.

U ULTRA MEGA ALRIGHT
That's the name of 7 Days-er Ben Hurley's latest live venture.

V VENUES
Check your ticket as some smaller shows have changed from the programme. All Transmission Room shows have moved to Elliott Stables, which is one of the festival's new locations.

W WHIMSY
The likes of Brit Josie Long and Ireland's Maeve Higgins should prove little rays of sunshine among all the brooding about what's wrong with the world. Both come highly recommended.

X X-RATED
See B.

Y YOUNG
The festival is a great chance to check out local young talent like Rose Matafeo, Heidi O'Loughlin, Rhys Mathewson, Guy Williams and Joseph Harper.

Z ZOOLOGY
With Te Radar's Eating the Dog, Rhys Darby and David Farrier telling tales about Bigfoot, Yetis, and Mongolian deathworms, and the strange beast known as El Jaguar leaping around , this year's festival is going to be a weird and wonderful zoo.