One of my all-time favourite moments in TV, ever, was Guy Williams in 2012, interviewing the winners of the reality series home design competition The Block on the red carpet. Libby and Ben had won as a team, brother and sister. Guy Williams insisted that they share a congratulatory kiss for the camera, and then repeat it again with tongues. The spectacle of their 15 minutes of fame being ruined, the horror in the eyes of the pair as they realised incest was possibly their next career move, were all real. It was disgusting. It was cruel. It was wonderful.

Fast forward nearly ten years, and Guy Williams is back on stage at San Fran, where, as he tells the audience, he started ten years ago. It’s the type of self-deprecating show that New Zealanders are supposed to love – being a Kiwi is a bit crap, isn’t it? All we invented was the heated towel rail, and now we are just OK at beating Covid. Its not a new setup; we like to be reminded that we don’t give a shit about the little bit shit we are.

But despite the edgy sheen – suicide, climate change, class politics – the pop references seem to be from the shows of ten years ago. Katy Perry? Bill Cosby? Alleged murderer and Woman’s Weekly cover story star Ewan McGregor? Woody Allen? The paedophile weight loss guy from the Subway ad? Mr Williams berates some of the audience for being on their phone, but they reply that they are only trying to google the punchlines.

Mr Williams does local references much better – his Wellington jokes go down well with a Wellington audience, so I would like to think he can improvise his way around the country. He obviously enjoys being away from the shackles of commercial television to experience some level of freedom on stage.

There is an attempt at being Meta – we are asked to laugh at the straight white male laughing at why people laugh at straight while males. But the straight while male targets are cheap (his mum and his penis). I don’t feel any risks are being taken, but perhaps that’s my fault for having expectations. Even Cliff Richard was considered a teenage delinquent when he started.

It’s a simple show, and better for that – dressed in black, one spotlight and one sound effect. It goes down easy. Those who want to laugh, will laugh. Mr Williams likes to splash about in dirty puddles. But those puddles are very shallow. 

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