NZ International Comedy Festival 2009 (8th May 2009)
After last night's awesome time at Best of the Fest, I decided to round up a few friends to see a few comedy shows tonight. I had 3 in mind: Janey Godley, Jason Cook and Simon McKinney, all of which I had the opportunity to see bits of their show last night. Claus was the only person who was game enough to come along for all 3 shows with me - you're the man! Cost us $70 each for the 3 shows, all general admission i.e. no fixed seating.
Caught up with him at his office around 6pm and walked over to upper Cuba St to Midnight Espresso for a light bite and catch up before our first show. Janey Godley's show (cost $25), Domestic Godley, was up first at 7pm at the San Francisco Bathhouse. I had a quick browse of her biography earlier today and my god, I admire how she can still make a joke of it all - growing up sexually abused, mother murdered, married to a gangster - and still make a name for herself! Her jokes mainly revolve around her childhood growing up in a Protestant home and her Asperger syndrome husband (and how her daughter, Ashley, and her would play mind games with the husband, each making him do stuff around the house for points), which would only be funny if you were open-minded with religion and disability jokes. One thing I found out quickly about humour is that not everyone enjoys the same humour. Didn't think Claus enjoyed Janey Godley as much (didn't hear him laugh out loud at most of the jokes)...
Next up was Jason Cook in his show titled Joy (cost $25). This was the show I REALLY wanted to see tonight. Everyone in San Fran had to leave and queue up again outside for the show (I suppose this is how they know who has paid and who hasn't, not so much to 'reset the place' as the bar staff puts it). Lucky for us, we got ourselves a table this time and ordered drinks and chips while we waited for the show to begin at 8.30pm. Jason's show was mostly themed around his family and getting married, but boy was he good at dealing with heckles from the crowd. Stand-up comedians impress me with their ability to think so fast on their feet, knowledge of a broad range of local and international issues and still able to make a funny comeback when thrown off course. Jason also has this little voice in his head that often tells him to do naughty things to people for a laugh. One such example was of him sending a picture text of himself in a tiger suit to his mate who asked him how was his honeymoon. He had half the photo up on the projector screen for the crowd, him in a cat snarl look, and then started talking about a mangina, which some people had blank looks on their faces (me too!) - the crowd squeeled in laughter when he showed us the bottom half! Front on nudity with his penis tucked away, legs crossed thus looking like a woman. Claus and I laughed till we cried! Mangina - I'm sure you ladies have had a boyfriend at some point in your lives that pulled that trick on you. Oh, and apparently the view of a mangina from the back is called a fruit bowl. Don't ask me how - you can go figure it out yourself! And of course, we all got given a pair of cheap male socks and a hat each at the end of the show ;) I hope he comes back again next year - I had an amazing time at his show!
The third and final show of the evening was at The Fringe Bar, just further down the block. I've never been to this bar (it used to be some jazz bar) and apparently it's Wellington's home of comedy (you can watch comedy here 4 times a week). Small little place with a tiny stage. We were here to see Dunedin guy, Simon McKinney's show, Simon McKinney Tells A Bit Of A Yarn (cost $20). As the night progressed, the comedy got better, both Claus and I agreed (and no, it has nothing to do with the alcohol because we only had 2 beers each). Simon was so funny and his jokes were just about everyday silly things that people do (like how we mouth our words so slowly to someone across the street when we are in the car, windows up) and how different accents can cause funny confusion. And he's AWESOME at impersonations! Got me laughing into stitches (and did I mention he's quite cute too hehe...). Kelly and Dvita also came along to this show, sitting far back - good on you girls! Photos taken tonight:
Caught up with him at his office around 6pm and walked over to upper Cuba St to Midnight Espresso for a light bite and catch up before our first show. Janey Godley's show (cost $25), Domestic Godley, was up first at 7pm at the San Francisco Bathhouse. I had a quick browse of her biography earlier today and my god, I admire how she can still make a joke of it all - growing up sexually abused, mother murdered, married to a gangster - and still make a name for herself! Her jokes mainly revolve around her childhood growing up in a Protestant home and her Asperger syndrome husband (and how her daughter, Ashley, and her would play mind games with the husband, each making him do stuff around the house for points), which would only be funny if you were open-minded with religion and disability jokes. One thing I found out quickly about humour is that not everyone enjoys the same humour. Didn't think Claus enjoyed Janey Godley as much (didn't hear him laugh out loud at most of the jokes)...
Next up was Jason Cook in his show titled Joy (cost $25). This was the show I REALLY wanted to see tonight. Everyone in San Fran had to leave and queue up again outside for the show (I suppose this is how they know who has paid and who hasn't, not so much to 'reset the place' as the bar staff puts it). Lucky for us, we got ourselves a table this time and ordered drinks and chips while we waited for the show to begin at 8.30pm. Jason's show was mostly themed around his family and getting married, but boy was he good at dealing with heckles from the crowd. Stand-up comedians impress me with their ability to think so fast on their feet, knowledge of a broad range of local and international issues and still able to make a funny comeback when thrown off course. Jason also has this little voice in his head that often tells him to do naughty things to people for a laugh. One such example was of him sending a picture text of himself in a tiger suit to his mate who asked him how was his honeymoon. He had half the photo up on the projector screen for the crowd, him in a cat snarl look, and then started talking about a mangina, which some people had blank looks on their faces (me too!) - the crowd squeeled in laughter when he showed us the bottom half! Front on nudity with his penis tucked away, legs crossed thus looking like a woman. Claus and I laughed till we cried! Mangina - I'm sure you ladies have had a boyfriend at some point in your lives that pulled that trick on you. Oh, and apparently the view of a mangina from the back is called a fruit bowl. Don't ask me how - you can go figure it out yourself! And of course, we all got given a pair of cheap male socks and a hat each at the end of the show ;) I hope he comes back again next year - I had an amazing time at his show!
The third and final show of the evening was at The Fringe Bar, just further down the block. I've never been to this bar (it used to be some jazz bar) and apparently it's Wellington's home of comedy (you can watch comedy here 4 times a week). Small little place with a tiny stage. We were here to see Dunedin guy, Simon McKinney's show, Simon McKinney Tells A Bit Of A Yarn (cost $20). As the night progressed, the comedy got better, both Claus and I agreed (and no, it has nothing to do with the alcohol because we only had 2 beers each). Simon was so funny and his jokes were just about everyday silly things that people do (like how we mouth our words so slowly to someone across the street when we are in the car, windows up) and how different accents can cause funny confusion. And he's AWESOME at impersonations! Got me laughing into stitches (and did I mention he's quite cute too hehe...). Kelly and Dvita also came along to this show, sitting far back - good on you girls! Photos taken tonight:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157617924180790/detail/
Thanks Claus for coming along to all the shows - I've had a blast and hope you had fun too! Everyone headed our on ways for home - the weather was so cold!! Bumped into James and Mike (my swing dance classmates) and us three headed over to Southern Cross Bar to join Peter (swing dance teacher) for a drink. Had a few swing dances with James while I was there too :) Left for home around 12.30am. Need to catch up with sleep after having 2 late nights in a row!
Thanks Claus for coming along to all the shows - I've had a blast and hope you had fun too! Everyone headed our on ways for home - the weather was so cold!! Bumped into James and Mike (my swing dance classmates) and us three headed over to Southern Cross Bar to join Peter (swing dance teacher) for a drink. Had a few swing dances with James while I was there too :) Left for home around 12.30am. Need to catch up with sleep after having 2 late nights in a row!
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