Comedy Festival review: Problem Areas, Lana Walters

Lana Walters. Photo / Supplied

As we've all learnt in 2020, a lot can change in a year. When this year's Billy T nominees were announced at the end of 2019, they couldn't have imagined a pandemic would mean it would take 18 months to finally deliver their shows.

For Lana Walters, she has arguably gone through the biggest change waiting to perform her nominated show – she's now pregnant, which is a rarity for New Zealand comedy let alone the Billy T Award lineup, which managed to be all male just six years ago.

While it will undoubtedly make for a fantastic hour next year, Walters' 2021 show "Problem Areas" is not a pregnancy set. It instead tracks Walters' life up to this point, examining how she went from being a debt-riddled student caught in bad relationships to probably the only pregnant stand-up around right now.

Walters is such a joy to watch perform because she has such a sunny disposition on stage that instantly relaxes you. Even her most biting jokes are delivered with a smile and a sigh, and you can't help but become absorbed in her world.

She regularly threw questions out into the crowd, and while the idea of audience interaction is generally terrifying, the room was eager to be involved, the dialogue including people her set without making them the butt of the joke.

It's the closest the show came to the improv background that Walters has come from – she's a Snort regular and has shown up in the annual all-female parody shows at the Fringe. Unlike many of her fellow cast members from those shows, Walters has stuck to a straightforward hour of stand-up, and makes for an excellent storyteller with brilliant punchlines around her police officer partner and previous weight-loss attempts.

Walters also excelled dealing with the woes of performing at the Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen. It's a new venue on the festival lineup in what is hopefully only a one-year arrangement, as Walters' Thursday night show had to compete with live music bellowing through one wall while some sort of hedge trimming demanded attention from the other. It was an unfortunate pairing but Walters took it in her stride, slipping easily between her set and poking fun at the circumstances.

"Problem Areas" is a simple, effective and joyous hour of comedy, a thoroughly entertaining show that feels like a catch-up with an old friend who has all the best stories. Walters' pleasant brand of comedy is soothing to watch while also leaving you breathless with laughter, and I am already looking forward to what she does in 2022.

What: Problem Areas, Lana Walters.
Where: Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen, until May 22.