GAY ICONS
IVY BAR, 49 Cuba St, Te Aro, Wellington
20/03/2018 - 24/03/2018
NZ Fringe Festival 2018 [reviewing supported by WCC]
Production Details
Representing the far ends of the life-cycle of the average homosexual, two of the funniest gay stand-up comics in New Zealand – James Malcolm (2016 Billy T Award nominee, TV3’s AotearoHA) and Neil Thornton (TV3’s After Hours) – entertain you as they vie for icon status. A different special LGBTQAI+ guest icon every night!
James Malcolm started performing stand-up comedy when he was just 17, his first time coming out as gay being on stage. He then went on to win the 2014 Raw Comedy Quest and receive a Billy T Award nomination in 2016.
Neil Thornton is certainly the funniest married gay bear comedian living in New Zealand. He has performed all over the world, from big city pride festivals to small towns on the South Island, from New York’s historic Stonewall Inn to the Porirua Soccer club. In the United States, Neil was a regular in New York comedy clubs, and performed in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Provincetown, and Fire Island. He’s a favourite at Auckland and Wellington comedy clubs, and recently appeared in the TV3 comedy special “After Hours.”
Ivy Bar and Cabaret, 49 Cuba St, Te Aro, Wellington
Tuesday 20 – 24 March 2018
8:30pm
Concession/Student $10 | Fringe Addict $10 |
General Admission $15 | Group 6+ $10
BOOK
Theatre , Comedy ,
1 hr
Confidence and self-acceptance allow for self-revelation and self-deprecation
Review by Margaret Austin 21st Mar 2018
The programme note introducing Gay Icons contains an acronym I haven’t come across. I ask the barman at the Ivy Bar what the last two letters of LGBTQAI stand for. He assures me it doesn’t matter – I should relax and enjoy the show.
Good advice. Gay stand-up comics Neil Thornton and James Malcolm make it easy, as well as making light of the non-show of the promised gay icon guest.
Malcolm’s trouble with the microphone gives rise to the first quip of the evening, and it’s humorously downhill all the way from there. Clad in a T-shirt that looks suspiciously like a strange version of the British flag, he regales us with a list of tell-tale symptoms of gayness in a maths teacher.
We learn that he moved back in with his mother when he became successful – in order to keep grounded. This same mother carries sex aids round in a suitcase – too many for a standard flight.
He laments his all-too-often robot role in gay sex. Why are we laughing? And cheers himself up by telling us that most people who work at Disneyland are on Tinder.
American Thornton makes no secret of the fact that he’s 47, thus “at the far end of the life cycle of the average homosexual” as the programme note puts it. If wit and wryness are any indicators, in Thornton’s case, he needn’t be concerned.
There are two kinds of gay bars in New York, and he avoids the ones with names reminiscent of men’s cologne.
The New Zealand political scene gets a bollocking. “How come in a country of four million people, you have three million political parties?” And, he asks, why did our Prime Minister choose as her election slogan the line Keanu Reeves uses in at least five movies?!
I could go on. Thornton does.
Self-revelation and self-deprecation underlie the essential confidence and self-acceptance of these two comics. They are hallmarks of this show, and why any audience member can enjoy it – be they L, B, T or Q. Or A or I.
And fine if you’re none of the above.
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