The Comediettes: Better Living would make great skits for a late night TV show. Their combination of handy home hints and off-the-wall musical numbers is quirky, original and would easily garner a cult following. Kitsch is the new cool.

Jim Stanton makes dry observations on her name, her relationships and her eating habits; Sarah Harpur is energetic, and toes the line of good taste with a giant smile plastered on her face. The two energies work well together and their musical numbers work a treat.

The stage looks great. They have excellent (presumably self-made?) costumes, and a set of beach balls and beach umbrellas. There are lights, lighting changes and a really good chase. The whole is colourful and bright and eccentric and cheerful – money went into this. That’s novel. 

The crowd last night was small. While a less professional pair might have faltered in the face of thin laughter, Harpur and Stanton kept the energy up and delivered a slick and stylish show. Nevertheless I think this would have been buoyed by the energy of a bigger crowd. So you should all go see it and give them the audiences they deserve.
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Having gathered, just a few of us, around James Nokise’s laptop for an intimate hour of comics and fantasy [Joker’s Guide to Armageddon], half an hour later we are struggling to find seats for The Comediettes show: Better Living.

All settled in, the feisty duo of Sarah Harpur and Jim Stanton launch into their spoof title song; a lifestyle segment on TV giving handy household hints. Last year’s Raw Comedy Quest winners, the two women know how to endear themselves to the audience and get the chuckles, giggles and belly laughs out.

After a duet about handy hints, the stage is left to Stanton to unleash her comedic genius on us. She starts with her childhood and adolescence, growing up on a farm in small-town NZ. Her comedy is self-assured and she tells her jokes deadpan.

We’re treated to a wee ditty which Stanton wrote as a 13-year-old trying to be an emo. She then moves onto how she tries to keep the romance alive in her relationship, keeping things steamy (not having the extractor fan on – zing!)

Harpur joins her on stage again and they do a hilarious bit on Titanic-themed weddings, singing a duet about love before we’re left to Harpur’s jokes.

She is the more physical and extroverted comedian of the two. Harpur’s face is more expressive; she does hilarious accents and impressions from dolphins to Irishmen. This blonde grew up on a farm as well, not the industrial type, she explains, but small nice type, where … [gag not given away].

Her life experiences, from being a young mother to job hunting while the recession was on, make for the best comedy of the night.

The jokes are endless, running thick and fast, and too many highlights to list here. The Comediettes have to be seen and heard to be enjoyed.
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