GORDON SOUTHERN Your New Favourite Comedian
Q Theatre, The Vault, Auckland
06/05/2014 - 10/05/2014
Fringe Bar, 26-32 Allen St, Te Aro, Wellington
13/05/2014 - 17/05/2014
NZ International Comedy Festival 2014
Production Details
Gordon Southern, adrenaline monkey, is back in New Zealand for the 2014 NZ International Comedy Festival after rocking the Auckland Big Show and the Comedy Convoy, and enjoying sell out solo shows in Wellington and Auckland. Your New Favourite Comedian comes to Auckland 6 – 10 May and Wellington 13 – 17 May heralding the international word clown’s 10th solo show.
Why the title? In 2001, when Southern first took a solo show to the Edinburgh Fringe, a dapper Swedish garage rock band released “Your New Favourite Band.” This show will be just like that but with jokes, stories and implausibly good improvisation. It’s a funny and at times moving look at the events of almost 20 years ago, that shaped Gordon into the comedian he is and the reason you are currently reading this media release.
Gordon was nominated for Best Show in the 2012 New Zealand Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Laughter Awards 2012.
TOTAL SELL OUT MELBOURNE COMEDY FESTIVAL 2011 – 2013
Here’s what the press in Australia, Melbourne and Edinburgh had to say:
“His spontaneous humour and interaction with the audience really had people in stitches” ****1/2 Adelaide Advertiser “Wins big laughs with every punchline.” Herald Sun “Highly accessible, wonderfully exuberant and will leave you with a big smile on your face” ***** Broadway Baby “Undisputedly hilarious anecdotes and observations” ****Three Weeks **** Festival Journal
Check Gordon out at the TVNZ Christchurch Benefit: www.youtube.com
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
AUCKLAND
Dates: Tue 6 – Sat 10 May, 7.15pm
Venue: Vault at Q, 305 Queen Street
Tickets: $20 – $28
Bookings: 09 309 9771 or qtheatre.co.nz
WELLINGTON
Dates: Tue 13 – Sat 17 May, 8.30pm
Venue: The Fringe Bar, 26 – 32 Allen St
Tickets: $18 – $26
Bookings: 0800 TICKETEK (842 538) or ticketek.co.nz
Honest, energetic and a great storyteller
Review by Shannon Friday 17th May 2014
Gordon Southern looks like he is having so much fun onstage. He bounces around right on the edge of control like the front man of his favourite band, The Hives, and his enthusiasm for the band, his wife, New Zealand, and performing are utterly infectious.
His show is mainly through two or three big personal stories, with amusing detours on the way. Some early audience interaction gets us nicely warmed up, though I’m found out as a critic on the way. Southern handles this curve ball easily, tossing in references to what should and shouldn’t be covered in this review all night long, along with references to the IT worker, software tester, and Irish/Scottish couple found along the way. I am always fearful of volunteering information here, but despite how uncomfortable I must have made Southern, he never makes me feel bad in return.
The show’s pacing is breath-takingly fast, bouncing from story to digression and back like a hyperactive pinball machine. It’s tight. The tangents always loop back around to the main story just before I lose the plot.
There are lots of high-energy transitions, including “that’s a fun fact” sound effects to highlight, guess what: fun facts. Though it aids the first few times it is heard, the sound effect quickly feels a little random, like it is leftover from another show.
Though truth is a theme of the show. The line “If that were the basis for a one-man comedy show, you’d find it incredibly contrived and convoluted, but that’s what happened” appears several times. And it’s true; every life has a healthy dose of WTF in it.
Gordon Southern is honest, energetic, and a great storyteller. And the title just might be true: he is awfully close to becoming my new favourite comedian.
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