Reviewing comedy: no laughing matter

Every year I review some of the shows in the International Comedy Festival. I've been doing this for a while - and I'll also review any of the international comedians that tour New Zealand during the year, separate from the festival. I've been lucky to see some of the big names of comedy - heroes that I grew up listening to such as Ben Elton and Billy Connolly and more recently Black Books buddies Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey.

As with reviewing music sometimes you get to see shows that you really want to see - and you also have to watch some comedy that offends on the very basic level of not matching its description. It's simply not funny.

I've seen Billy Connolly have, what I consider, an off-night. Or an average night. I've seen Terry Alderton do the same - but then I've been lucky to see Alderton firing on all cylinders too. The man is a virtuoso in the field; it's a bit like taking in a John Coltrane saxophone solo. It's engulfing. And even if it's not for everyone you can imagine that everyone who saw it, hopefully, walks away with some understanding that what they saw and heard was close to superhuman; was so very different from just a saxophone solo, or in this case just a set of jokes.

This year's comedy festival served up a few duds and some gems. I kissed a lot of frogs this year - barely got to see any princes. But maybe that's just me. As with music reviewing, when it comes to performance, you can take on board the interest of the audience, but you are offering a response - your response - to the performance. As it's always pointed out this is just one person's opinion. Why are people so surprised if it does not mirror their own? And does that mean they then have to change their opinion? Of course not.

Reviewing comedy is a nice challenge - because I believe that most people have an idea of what is funny. And of course it's often different from someone else's idea. It would be a boring world if we all had the same sense of humour.

I'm not sure that it's any harder - or easier - to review comedy to music. You go in with your knowledge of the subject, you go in interested - hopeful too that your evening is not about to be wasted - and you come out with a deadline: 350-400 words and sometimes just 10 minutes to jot it down.

So my approach is much the same.

But I figure that an audience might respond to a comedy review differently. Now this is not to belittle the art of comedy - there are enough average comedians doing that - but I figure that people feel more entitled to an opinion about comedy because they see it as simply someone talking. Anyone can do that, right? (And again, just to clarify, I've seen enough terrible comedians to know that there is no way just anyone can do it.)

Some of the best music has been made by people who aren't, technically, amazing musicians. But to be good at comedy you have to know the craft. You can then unlearn the rules, subvert the craft, make it your own, as Terry Alderton is doing, as Andy Kaufman and Mitch Hedberg and Bill Hicks and many others have done. But you have to know the rules first. You have to do the time. You have to have something to say and some way of saying it. And you have to have your technique locked down. You cannot last 50 minutes, or double that in some cases, if you are not in control.

When I watch a stand-up comedian live I want to see (and hear) risks taken. I want edge. I want it to mean something. And it can be clever and still be a bit silly. That can happen. Sure.

But it's not always the case.

The comedy festival is over for me - this year. I've seen all the shows I was meant to get to. I've filed my reviews.

First up was Stephen K. Amos - click here to read the review. I didn't find him very funny. I also didn't like his lazy attitude; trying out new jokes on an audience that would most probably laugh because it was a festival and because he was an international visitor. I know that new material has to be tested somewhere - that's obvious - but don't justify it by telling me in advance that your new jokes might fall flat. Let me decide that for myself. They did, by the way. Horribly, painfully flat.

I also saw Janey Godley - very good. But then I've seen her several times. I like that she is herself - in the sense that you believe it's her, that you believe it's her real voice, not some fake comedy voice that she puts on for an hour at a time (in both a writing and speaking sense). She's also arrived at comedy almost by accident; her earliest shows were very dark, confessional stories - an autobiography that made a lot of people's heads spin. Dark truths, uncomfortable truths. And from there she's learnt comic timing, pacing, delivery - she was a bundle of nerves the first time I saw her perform. Now the audience can seem nervous as she ploughs in with humour that bites, that's real. It comes from the heart almost as often as it comes from the head. But it's always no holds barred. Grand.

My review for her show didn't make it online, possibly because I had to do a split review and also write about local comedienne Jan Maree the same night. Straight from one show to the next, just a few doors down.

Here's what I said about Jan Maree's show:

Jan Maree spent close to an hour talking about how she needs to wax a lot. She used this as the catalyst for an excruciatingly unfunny set of reflections from a recent seven-week holiday where Maree attempted to find herself (not the reason for all the waxing). The punchline to a sequence describing a hangover seemed to be that she "vomited so much" she "needed to go number twos". It's a classless act. And then incongruously the show finishes with Jan Maree offering a waiata. She's a real Kiwi, you see. So there was applause. It made no sense - but in keeping with what was presumably the theme of her show it was suitably humourless.

Some others who saw the show might have thought it brave or stirring or real. I thought it was a con.

Terry Alderton was next - not as good as other times I've seen him but I'm convinced he's a genius. I also liked how uncomfortable it got. I don't like the idea that these festivals exist simply so someone can tell a joke at work the next day, replete with terrible timing, that they picked up (on) the night before.

I also saw David O'Doherty and liked him a lot. He's easy to like. Again I've seen him before. And he manages, quite remarkably, to have absolutely nothing to say but still manages to make it funny and - most amazingly - worthwhile.

I didn't much like Steve Wrigley; not my thing. I almost appreciate his enthusiasm. But, as with Jan Maree, he seems to be an example of the local mediocre comedians celebrated because they've found an in; because they persevere but they never seem to progress.

And I saw Rhys Darby. And I wrote an objective review. I'm often told that my reviews are not objective - and that they need to be! So I gave it a go. I described the action that was unfolding. I pointed out that it was met with approval. I reminded people why Darby was famous, why he was a drawcard.

A week after that review appeared a man approached me while I was scrolling through my phone for music, waiting for a bus.

He asked if I was Simon Sweetman. I had nowhere to go. At least until the bus arrived. So I said yes. He asked if he could ask me a question. I told him that he could. So he did. He said, "with your review of Rhys Darby...did you like the gig or not?" Before I could answer he continued, "because you see my wife reckons you didn't like it at all and I reckon you did. We've been arguing about it."

I told him that, as was probably almost always the case, his wife was probably right but that he could break the news to her how he pleased. He could put whatever spin on it he liked.

There was a moment of silence between us. Almost awkward. Who am I kidding, I didn't know this person. He seemed perfectly nice, polite. But this moment was awkward.

So he chose to break the moment.

"Gee, that Ariel Pink gig was good..."

(He cannot be a regular reader.)

I told him that I had missed that show - in truth suggesting that I had missed it might not have quite been the right word.

Another moment. And then another. Awkward/slightly-awkward. More awkward. More silence. Hold it. Hold it.

And then finally he exhaled, "well, here's my bus". And he got on. And left.

Then I found the album I was looking for on my phone. And my bus arrived. I got on. And left. Leaving the comedy festival behind me too...

Did you go to any comedy festival gigs this year? Who did you see and what did you enjoy? Did you feel ripped off for seeing an especially bad show? Did you see any virtuoso performances? Do you think we need to go easy on the New Zealand comics and "give them a chance" or if it's called an International Comedy Festival do they then deserve the same treatment as the international guests? Aren't they competing on the same stage?

And finally - is Rhys Darby funny? I've see him perform. I watched people laughing. But that only confused the issue for me.

I'm of the opinion that comedians in New Zealand are more deluded, precious, paranoid and petty than any musician I've ever had to deal with. I get that it's a hard gig; you're up there in the spotlight. It's all eyes and ears on just one person. But who chose that gig? Who wants the good press when it suits? Who dines out on the numerous comedy awards, grants and TV show funding allocations we seem to be handing over without (any) discernment?

Postscript: I was supposed to review Dai Henwood one year, but I was banned. I think it may have been because I wrote this. The timing seemed to match up anyway. And word obviously spread that year. There's a comedian called Jamie Bowen. He also banned me from his show that same year. Thing is, I wasn't going to see him. He wasn't on my list. He was not in line for any review. But he was so sure that he would not be reviewed, not by me anyway. I've still not seen Bowen or Henwood live. So, am I missing anything?  Are they two of New Zealand's greatest comics? Or are they two of the worst?

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