It is a sold-out crowd on a hot Friday night at The Church Pub. Christchurch local, Mulletman (as MC), shares his connections to the performers from around the world, breaking up the evening with his own jokes and juggling and getting the crowd excited for the next act. Some of his jokes feel a little stale to me, but get good laughs from the audience.

The show includes short performances from juggling drummer Gaku, Leah Orleans of Tiny Girl Big Show!, magician Charming Jay, unicyclist Sam Goodburn, Mulletman and Mim, Gracie from A Day at the Beach, magician Jason Maher, Punk the Clown and The Circus Firemen. Representing Japan, the USA, South Korea, the UK and Australia, as well as local Aotearoa New Zealand acts, the Buskers’ Comedy Club provides a bite-sized taste of the whole festival menu.

Having grown up in Christchurch, I’ve been attending the World Buskers Festival for as long as I can remember, and it is great to revisit some familiar faces and tricks during the Comedy Club, but what stands out to me the most are the creative and clever talents I’ve not seen before. These performers bring something unique to the show, and they are street shows I will definitely check out over the festival, which runs until 28 January.

Gaku the Juggling Drummer has the crowd bopping along to Justin Biebers ‘Baby’, perhaps more enthusiastically from the minority of audience members under 30. His timing is impeccable, and coming from someone very uncoordinated, the ability to seamlessly drum, juggle and make the crowd laugh all at the same time is impressive.

Leah Orleans performs an act which definitely falls into the adults-only category and doesn’t feature in her street show, Tiny Girl Big Show! Leah has great stage presence and things escalate very quickly from sharing Tim Tams with the audience, to a medically necessary striptease…let’s just say you have to be there.

Gracie, who performs street show A Day at the Beach, is mesmerising to watch as she twirls LED hula hoops that created an array of colours and patterns. It’s exciting to see new technology integrated into established circus disciplines. An extended night-time performance of this doesn’t feature in the festival, but it’s something I hope to see in the future.

The Circus Firemen close the show with stunts and great banter. It certainly gets your heart racing to watch fire being juggled in a building over 150 years old. They manage the tight space well.

The highlight of the Buskers’ Comedy Club for me is Sam Goodburn of Wire Attire. His quiet English charm, combined with some excellent audience interaction and a seemingly never-ending supply of biscuits, is top notch entertainment. It’s not uncommon to see Buskers taking their clothes off as performances go on, so seeing Sam put more clothes on, whilst riding a unicycle, is certainly a first. His full street performance is definitely top of my list.

Overall, the Buskers’ Comedy Club is a fun night out, and a great reminder to check out all of the talented street performers during the Bread and Circus World Buskers Festival.

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