Wilson Dixon, the country and western music loving hick from Cripple Creek in ‘Colorada’, is back at Mac’s Function Centre.

It’s a night of comedy based on even-paced irony.  Everything feeds into the creation of close detachment.  It’s a show full of sly grins and wry chuckles rather than big belly laughs.  But make no mistake, Wilson Dixon: For the First Time, Again is full of laughs. 

Dixon – clad in his trademark ponytail, cowboy hat and sunnies —  is an American character made by Otago comedian Jesse Griffin.  The character never slips, and he has an amazingly detailed accent that sounds eerily like half the men in my extended family (the other half have a different accent). 

Dixon’s comedic dual citizenship allows for outside commentary.  But Dixon’s clearly talking just as much about NZ as he seems to be talking about the USA.  His first description of NZ as laid-back, tied in with a fantastic riff on native birds, is just as easily applied to his own breezy presence. 

The comedy is a mixture of spoken bits and comedic songs.  While talking, Dixon’s also constantly picking at his guitar strings.  It’s a clever choice.  The sonic foundation allows the spoken comedy’s pace to amble along.  It is measured, rather than slow as molasses in winter.  And the constant plucking feeds into the breezy optimism of the character.  While things might be crap right now, they’ll keep rolling along. 

Dixon takes an observation and pushes until it gives, like in the song that starts “You’re perfect in every way but one”.  It starts out with that one tiny thing that his better half does to drive him absolutely nuts, but grows into a list of all the small annoyances that splinter any given relationship. 

The song is the perfect example of Dixon’s irony. It’s ostensibly about Dixon’s own relationship, but immediately familiar to anyone who has been in a couple ever.  And the joke is on both the annoying person and the overblown response to the annoyance.

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