Jeff Green had a slightly shaky start at San Francisco Bathhouse on his opening night but he’d won the audience over soon after.

It’s difficult not to like the guy – Green is that friend you meet up with every now and then at the pub who always has funny anecdotes to tell you and before long you’re saying, ‘Go on then, tell us one more.’

He also has a familiar Brit style of self-deprecating humour which endears him to the audience so that even when the jokes don’t get as big a laugh as expected, he reels us back in with his charm.

Green warns at the start that the show has no theme; the show is more about getting to know him (well, as much as you can know a performer). And we do get to know him: his thoughts on becoming a father, how he feels about his wife and two children, kids’ birthday parties and what he’d give his children advice about.

Actually he talks about how he wouldn’t be any good at giving advice, especially when it came to the all-important trinity of sex, drugs and booze. This is where his biggest laughs come in, as he regales us with tales of his brushes with the opposite sex, having sex and sex in general.

That and Australia jokes. The crowd on opening night was a bit odd when it came to interaction – it was like we were stunned into silence every time he asked a question but mention Australia and we were right into it.

Green has an effortless way about his comedy and I enjoyed every minute of his set, wanting him to tell us just one more funny anecdote. 
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Jeff Green’s opening night is best summed up by one of the few heckles in the night: at the end of it a woman wails, “No, I don’t want you to finish!”  

With infectious effervescence and smiling sarcasm from start to finish, Jeff is an energetic ball of British mischief. Softly spoken now and then, but hugely entertaining throughout, he has mastered the art of comic story telling to perfection. And if at times the crowd feels a little quiet, it’s because we do not want to miss a single word from this hilarious man.

The evening starts with a few familiar gags for those who have had the pleasure of his comedy here before (Posh Spice, Auckland Cafes, strong coffee) but Jeff swiftly moves on to hilarious new material (Hong Kong, Indonesia, 3^rd world safety standards, Britain vs. Europe, Wasabi, his raging teenage hormones, working in a teacup, old people, Australians, craft, and being married with two kids). It is very easy to see why he has been invited back.

One aspect of his style that elevates him above many comedians is the way he finds humour in perplexing details and life’s little paradoxes (why indeed do you need to light a gas flame to make some fridges go cold?)

Jeff takes the time to chat to various members of the audience, including the young (non) couple and the chef from “One Tree Grill” who is an ex-pat Brit from Jeff’s home town! Tiny planet yes, but I suspect any Brit living in Auckland who loves stand up made sure they booked to see this guy’s opening night, so the odds were high that one of them would be from Chester.

Jeff’s marriage provides endless source material. He begins by announcing Britain’s depressing divorce rate (even worse than New Zealand’s and ours is sad enough) then throughout the night he shares with us, in his chatty jolly lovely manner, a romantic poem; the endless joys of parenting; camping holidays; scary encounters with croc wearing ‘experts’; caravan vs. tent; PC birthdays for kids; his fear of giving parental advice on drugs, alcohol and women; and his cure for anyone who gets clucky.

His kids and his wife are the reoccurring motif in his wide ranging material, and no doubt because he knows them so well, they throw up his best material (though at times there are so many bloke-jokes, it feels like a lads night out. at the expense of poor Mrs Green).

However, it works. The familiar shared experience of many in the audience is obvious when Jeff goes through the chronology of relationships – from the exhilaration of the first 6 months, to the reality of post-wedding expansion.

As he builds to the night’s climax, no one can deny his A to Z of surviving and understanding women and marriage (which you can conveniently read about in his new book), is funny as all get out, especially O and V. Even the overt pimping of his books is humorous as he manages to do it without dropping an inch of that British charm and constant merriment.

By his own admission, his opening night is the “gig that broke all the rules” – it starts late, finishing 20 minutes overtime, and is “full of waffling and rambling” – and we loved every minute of it.

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