English comedian Ross Noble. Photo / Getty Images.
After a two-year wait, the New Zealand International Comedy Festival is back in Auckland and Wellington. The NZ Herald will review some of the top shows throughout the festival, so make sure you check back here for all the latest on our local comedy stars.
Ross Noble – Jibber Jabber Jamboree
Don’t expect a clear and always coherent ride with talented English comedian Ross Noble as he takes his Jibber Jabber Jamboree on the road. This is comedic controlled chaos.
Noble is a rarity in standup, most of his material is improvised - building off small interactions with his, at times, gobsmacked audience.
Those used to clear structure, setup and punchlines may be left initially empty-handed in their attempt to keep up with Noble’s mind as he frantically zooms from notion to notion.
Noble is intently aware of his audience. A movement glimpsed in the corner of his eye can result in multi-minute riff, and a brief chat can set off a chain of callbacks that last the rest of the show.
Ideas explored included that Aotearoa has not heard of Will Smith’s Oscars slap (we’ve only just started enjoying his ‘80s rap output), the characters from The Borrowers must be extremely dead as the novel came out ages ago, environmentalist Greta Thunberg is the mastermind behind getting rid of the little plastic tables that came with pizza, and the opening night’s front row is made up entirely of herbs and spices.
Non-crowd work-based anchor points that are picked up and returned to over the course of an hour include what happened when Noble’s wife got word that he’d jokingly implied he was racist, and how lucky we are that we don’t always live inside his busy mind.
The closest nod to an overall theme is the idea of people being “cancelled” but it’s just as possible that the next night’s show will be chiefly about another of Noble’s preoccupations: monkeys (both the giant balloon set and a pre-show parody of Jay-Z’s 99 Problems are designed to resemble these simians).
If you can keep up and follow Noble’s off-kilter rhythm, his frequently distracted riffing is both funny and compelling.
Ross Noble – Jibber Jabber Jamboree is on at Auckland’s Q Theatre March 23-27. Reviewed by Shaun D Wilson.
Johanna Cosgrove – Hi, Delusion
As the hyperpop energy of tracks from English alt popstar Charli XCX fades out, a new rumble takes over Basement Theatre’s upstairs venue. After an elongated pause, out rushes comedian Johanna Cosgrove screaming and shouting, along with an equally excited opening night crowd.
It’s an impressively high-energy start to a midweek late-night show.
Cosgrove is dressed to match her often raunchy material with a veiled black outfit that is part nun, part goth bride, and quite a lot of PVC for the ultra-high-heeled boots. It’s very a different look from the towels and dressing gown vibe Cosgrove embraces for her AUNTY character – star of her previous shows.
Both of Cosgrove’s parents are in remission from cancer (Cosgrove and her “jealous little sister” Brittany created fashion social enterprise Nope Sisters in reaction to their mother’s diagnosis). Cosgrove plays with being thrilled that their parents survived but also, that as both a Millennial and professional artist she was just possibly getting used to.... maybe... getting on to that sweet, sweet housing ladder. The unlikeliness of someone Cosgrove’s age owning property is reiterated when a sparklingly ambitious collection of what she would acquire in the event of becoming a superstar includes the comparatively mundane idea of owning a home.
Hi, Delusion encompasses a grand range of topics all benefiting from the element of giddiness that Cosgrove’s confident performance gives. From dictatorial Waiheke hen’s parties, lockdown dating, the distinct unsexiness of Mumford & Sons’ Little Lion Man, all the way to the ideal scenario of NZ theatre veteran Jennifer Ward-Lealand reciting Shakespeare in te reo Māori at Cosgrove’s unhinged Spark Arena-hosted future funeral.
Possibly because of the cost of fitting in the multitude of ideas at play, Cosgrove’s intermittent use of crowd work is engaged but brief and somewhat perfunctory.
Cosgrove and Hi, Delusion director Jess Joy Wood have crafted a highly entertaining hour that rewards those who enjoy an occasional shock delivered with an ever-so-slightly malicious but very big smile.
Hi, Delusion is on at Wellington’s BATS Theatre March 23-27. Reviewed by Shaun D Wilson.
Tom Sainsbury - Goes Bananas
Unless I missed it somewhere, I didn’t see or hear any reference to bananas, even though they were the focus of his promotional picture…Am I expecting too much to have the title of the show feature in the show, just somewhere, anywhere?
To be honest, I don’t even know why I want bananas.
Even on a Tuesday night just about every seat is sold in the Q theatre but you’re almost reminded of the cost of living crisis straight away as he is forced to introduce himself, almost forgetting what city he is in. But I suppose that’s part of the Tom Sainsbury charm where you can’t help feel a little sorry for him, but not in a pitiful way, more in an underdog way.
As New Zealanders we are so good at backing the underdog, we’ll support you ‘til the cows come home. You can’t help but want Sainsbury to do well, and he has this way about him that you believe every single word that comes out of his mouth. It makes Tom and his stories feel really authentic.
Sainsbury did a great job of taking us on a journey through some of his life thus far, including his roots working at the Matamata KFC, to a drama teacher, pulling ponytails and flicking teenage girls’ bra straps, and meeting celebrities like Katy Perry in Vegas. All along the way Sainsbury has you smiling, laughing as you feel right there with him in his experiences.
While the stories are well put together it seems that although trying to involve the audience is not his cup of tea, he may feel it’s something he has to do just because other comedians are doing it. It just seems really hard for him, he is no Jimmy Carr when it comes to interacting with the audience, and to be honest I just think he is far too nice for that. There might be a better way for him to segway into his different stories than asking if there are any KFC workers in the audience and not getting a reply, and just simply say well I worked at New World.
Sainsbury did seem nervous through the first part of his show and I was thinking that’s part of his charm. That was, until the second half of the show where he seemed so much more confident with notes in front of him of the hilarious comments he has discovered by joining local community Facebook group pages. It seemed with his confidence he managed to really lift the audience, who seemed to all relate to some of the absurd things said on the pages.
I also can’t help but feel it all felt far too short, that’s always a good sign that you’re enjoying yourself, but it did seem to pass in a flash. While the show didn’t feel rushed, it felt short. The fact that there was another show from another comic in the same theatre afterwards took away from the sense of occasion that I was wanting to see someone at the top of their game. With the social media presence Sainsbury holds he surely deserved a longer slot, and not made to feel like he had to rush his audience out for someone else.
The guy is likeable, really likeable, in fact you get the sense he could be horrible on stage and you would still leave the show with a giant smile, saying things like I overheard one lady say afterwards “oh, he’s so cute”.
Look he is cute, but I also feel that once he can master the live comedy performance as confidently as he commands his social audience, we will get to see amazing things on stage from this man Tom Sainsbury.
If you are hoping to go and enjoy this great show as part of the comedy festival you will have to be in quick as there is only a handful of tickets left for the rest of the week… but take your own bananas as you won’t find any in the show.
Goes Bananas is on at the Q Theatre until May 19th. Reviewed by Dan Boyd.
Melanie Bracewell - Forget Me Not
Comedian and writer Melanie Bracewell won the Billy T Award in 2018. Since then she’s won the Director’s Choice Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2021, and that same year she became the co-host of her own television show in Australia - The Cheap Seats, and after seeing her new comedy show Forget Me Not, you won’t be surprised why Melanie is such success story, and well on her way to stardom.
The show is a perfect blend of comedic anecdotes of daily situations any person can relate to, asking the big question of “how will people remember me from this experience” married with great one-liners and superb improvised lines drawn from responding to audience interactions.
One of Melanie’s anecdotes draws from her experience of buying a weighted blanket to help with stress and getting to sleep. She explains that getting out of bed is already difficult - “I don’t need to bench press before I start the day”.
Despite her fame and notoriety, her stories are well-grounded and sure to be relatable for many people. Mel speaks about the time she accompanied her late grandfather to get his eyes tested by an optometrist. Despite the occasion, her grandfather still wanted to drive them there. Mel explains the comedy of errors that resulted in finding out her grandfather was losing his sight. The optometrist declared “I think we’ve seen enough”, to which Mel replied aptly “you’ve seen enough, my grandfather sees bugger all”.
But Mel’s greatest strength as a comedian is her ability to employ Chekhov’s gun, whereby every detail and element of her stories are tied up at the end of the show. As an audience member, there’s nothing greater than a full-circle moment.
Melanie Bracewell is without a doubt one of our greatest exports. An international act, born right out of New Zealand. Make haste and see a star in the making.
Forget Me Not is on Auckland May 12, Wellington 13 and Christchurch May 27. Reviewed by Joseph Coughlan.
Frankie McNair – Relax Your Knees
Australian comedian Frankie McNair is here to perform a “silly show”. Whether that’s showcasing the “erotic” side of Canberra public artworks The Sky Whale and The Big Powerful Owl, comparing the explosiveness of various whoopie cushions or explaining why an 8-year-old’s go-to dance battle move is doing the splits multiple times.
As absurd as much of Relax Your Knees is (McNair says the joy this show has brought them has scuppered their plan to quit comedy), the hour-long set is anchored by an openness and willingness to share an often-discombobulated life.
Unsure about becoming a parent, McNair sees that becoming a fun (AKA divorced) aunt is the path they’re expected to fall into. In an effort to prove their wide performance range, McNair showcases with utter glee the multitude of aunts they could evolve into; from the murderous to judgmental, an extremely important aunt or even Aussie sketch group Aunty Donna.
McNair grapples with reality vs expectation when it comes to polygamy. Their idealised version of Frankie is some sort of polygamous hippie with the vocal idiosyncrasies of Liza Minnelli. However, the version that tries to open up a relationship is confused and jealous but willing to drive their partner to a date to save face.
Presentation and expectation are also on display in the often-glossy world of dating reality dating shows. McNair shares that they once applied for semi-polygamous battle royale The Bachelor. The fact the long application process was filled out, in a car, on a smartphone and demanded confirmation that McNair was of sound mind (they were not) amplifies the disconnection between the glossy TV matchup madness and singles flicking through their phone trying to find a match.
In this fun, joyful show New Zealanders may also get the chance to learn that the concept of a flat is truly baffling compared to sharehouses, and that Bindi is a semi-common name even outside Australia Zoo. McNair is a talent to watch.
Frankie McNair – Relax Your Knees is on at Q Theatre Cellar on March 10-13th. Reviewed by Shaun D Wilson.
Elio is a hyper-imaginative orphan desperate for alien abduction.