CAREY MARX in INTENSIVE CAREY
05/05/2014 - 17/05/2014
NZ International Comedy Festival 2014
Production Details
IF THE DOCTORS HADN’T REVIVED HIM WE WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH THIS RIVETING HOUR OF GLORIOUS STAND-UP COMEDY
Carey Marx, a favourite of the Classic, returns from the 5 – 10 May and 12 – 17 May as part of the 2014 NZ International Comedy Festival.
After starring in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 festivals, Carey Marx took a ‘year off’ to have a brush with death. This is his story (not for the faint-hearted!).
“…sharp, sweet, cheeky, cynical, romantic and rude as he ever was” **** Chortle
” smart, shocking humour… Intensive Carey really soars” **** The List
Carey Marx was voted ‘Best International Act’ on his debut in the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in 2009 and returned to critical acclaim with new shows in 2010 and 2011. He might have been back for a 4th year in a row but his heart, literally, was not in it. Fortunately the doctors saved his life and, like any good comedian, after a frustrating period of recovery, the old adage of ‘tragedy plus time equals comedy’ applied and he turned his life changing experience in to a comedy show at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe.
But in typical ‘Carey’ style rather than a fluffy feel good story, this is a dark twisted tale full of dodgy surprises that keep the audience on the edge of their seats with laughter.
Regarded by his peers as a ‘comedian’s comedian’, an hour in Carey’s company is always a master class in how stand-up comedy can say so much more than audiences may have come to expect.
As part of the 2014 NZ International Comedy Festival in cahoots with Old Mout Cider, grab some mates and join us for a great night of laughs from 24 April – 18 May.
For the full Comedy Fest show line-up head to comedyfestival.co.nz
CAREY MARX in Intensive Carey
AUCKLAND
Dates: Mon 5 – Sat 10 and Mon 12 – Sat 17 May, 8:30pm
Venue: The Classic, 321 Queen St
Tickets: Adults $20 (Mon – Thurs) to $30 (Fri – Sat), Conc. $25
Bookings: 0800 TICKETEK (842 538) or www.ticketek.co.nz
See also the ‘The Big Show on the Shore’ (Fri 25 & Sat 26 Apr) Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna
What doesn’t kill a comedian gives him great material to work with
Review by Kate Ward-Smythe 06th May 2014
Carey Marx turns the tale of his near death experience into an hour of morphine-soaked street-smart comedy, crude wit and cynical observation, with a chaser of surprising yet completely lovable touch of romance.
It’s a totally digestible mix, even though you can’t help wondering if he’s disobeyed doctor’s orders by getting back in the saddle, to bring you all the gory bits and (as he puts it himself) “shockingly disgustingly true” circumstances.
Carey’s preamble is a fun gag-filled sarcastic story about friends finding themselves in all the wrong places all over the world, followed by an equally entertaining sarcastic romp around love and the universe, before changing tone and sharing a lovely memory of this happy man’s marriage on our own fair shores. We oooh, ahhhh and applaud this unlikely incurable romantic. Then he tags on his simple philosophy on life — which involves socks – and it is apparent the man is easily lead to contentment.
Thereafter, we head into the attack that gripped his heart last year. The porn-fuelled first act – complete with more sock references – is priceless.
Carey’s retelling of the hospital scenes make me cringe at the thought of ever needing cardio-care from the English Public health system. In what can only be described as a comedy of errors (in a Fawlty Towers way), Carey remarkably survives the NHS. What’s in a name anyway?
On the upside, what doesn’t kill a comedian gives him great material to work with.
I’m so pleased Carey survived the attack and the aftermath that followed, and came through the other side with a hard-on for life again. Hopefully that means he’ll be back again next year.
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