If they are idiots, what does that make me? 

British sketch comedy quadrangle Idiots of Ants were my favourite acts in their Auckland debut at last year’s Comedy Festival. Amidst an amusement of stand-up comedians, Ants are a fresh and lively point of laughter-filled difference. Sketch as a form seems to be viewed as a bit antiquated today – it had its heyday in the Oxford/Cambridge humour of Monty Python, and the form has been noticeably absent in New Zealand since the days of Billy T James. What the members of Ants (Andrew Spiers, Elliott Tiney, Benjamin Wilson and James Wrighton.) do so well is take both a clever meta-ironic commentary on the form, but also wholeheartedly embrace the silliness of it all. And in Model Citizens especially it’s how they use us – their audience – that takes the show to a gleeful brilliance.

It doesn’t take them very long at all when the first sketch starts for the Idiots of Ants to turn to us and break the fourth wall – the loose premise of the show is that the boys live in a flat which just happens to have one very special feature: a live audience who think everything they do is funny and then mysteriously leave after an hour. [More]

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Having seen Idiots of Ants’ show at last year’s comedy festival (in which they won the Best International Show Award) I was thrilled and excited to learn I would be seeing them again. And I’m not disappointed.

For the uninitiated, the Idiots of Ants are four English lads – Andrew Spiers, Elliott Tiney, Benjamin Wilson and James Wrighton – who perform uniquely off-the-wall sketch comedy. 

As with last year’s show the lads, or at least 2 of them, are already on stage as the audience fills the theatre, and we quickly learn that we are a semi-permanent fixture in the living room of the foursome’s flat, setting them up for some superb fourth wall breaking throughout the show.

Another similarity to their 2012 show is the technical issues they encounter … I’m beginning to think they’re not so accidental, but we’ll probably never know because of the destruction of the aforementioned fourth wall, and combined with some clever ad-libbing they use these to their advantage.

As far as sketch comedy goes, these guys really do it well and it’s great to see new material from them, with a couple of my favourites from their last visit thrown in for good measure (the ‘Hen’s party aftermath’ and ‘Guide to being a Dad’ sketches have us in stitches).

Video games gone wrong, inappropriate use of firearms, avoiding surveillance, oral hygiene and naughty doctors are some of the themes on offer and these guys move between each vignette with pace and energy. There is also some fantastic audience interaction, particularly from Tiney trying to date everyone at once, and the musical finale to the evening, which again involves practically everyone in the theatre.

The Idiots have a great rapport both with the audience and with each other, and it is so enjoyable to watch the play happening between them throughout their show. It almost feels like we’re just hanging out with four really funny mates (or flatmates), having a lark.

I thoroughly recommend these guys, especially if you are a fan of Monty Python or Paul Whitehouse, and I am already looking forward to their next visit.

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