LITTLE MOUSTACHE: Laugh Experiences

Club Ivy, The Garden Club, 13B Dixon St, Wellington

06/05/2010 - 08/05/2010

NZ International Comedy Festival 2010

Production Details



Another feather in the womanly cap of Wellington comedy
They may have cried till they laughed, but they’ll make you laugh till you cry.  Three fresh, new Wellington comediennes bring their real lives to the stage in Laugh Experiences, a show filled with scintillating stand-up with a splash of sketch comedy. 
Chelsea Hughes, Natalie Britten and Danni Taylor form the group Little Moustache.  They are the freshest female faces on the Wellington comedy scene and hope to add yet another feather in the womanly cap of Wellington comedy.  The show explores the concept of truth in comedy and each comedienne keeps it real by using their life experiences to form the basis of their comedic performance. 
Chelsea Hughes is a stand-up comedienne and improviser.  She is a member of the Wellington Improv Troupe, and appeared in WellingSIN City, a noir-themed improv show, as part of the 2009 New Zealand International Comedy Festival.  Natalie Britten regularly performs at Raw Meat Mondays, a weekly showcase of Wellington’s newest and hottest comedians.  She is a recent graduate of the Wellington Film School and directed the short film, Grace of God.  Danni Taylor was a 2009 Wellington Raw Comedy Quest finalist and performed in the stand-up show Miscellaneous, Etc. during the 2009 New Zealand International Comedy Festival.  Both Chelsea and Danni performed in the RadioNZ production of Stand-Up and Be Counted, a stand-up radio show airing late in 2009.
Laugh Experiences plays at the Ivy Lounge

Dates:   Thurs 6 – Sat 8 May, 10pm
Venue: Club Ivy, The Garden Club, 13B Dixon St, City
Tickets:  Adults $18, Conc $15, Groups 10+ $13
Booking:  Ticketek , 0800Ticketek www.ticketek.co.nz




Obvious comic talents

Review by Helen Sims 09th May 2010

Little Moustache is comprised of three emerging female comics: Chelsea Hughes, Natalie Britten and Danni Taylor.

We are told early on that the reason for the name “Little Moustache” will become clear to us – and it does during one of the pieces of sketch comedy. A tendency to over-explain is the hallmark of this work. Although it is cute and quirky, subtlety is not their forte.

Hughes, Britten and Taylor energetically bound onto the stage at Club Ivy and thank us for coming along. The audience on Friday, the second night of their run, seemed mostly made up of people known to them. Their Laugh Experiences show is comprised of a stand up set from each performer, with pieces of sketch comedy in between.

The sketches include a pirate interviewing at a job agency, a brush with an overzealous shop assistant and the first day at a Tawa pancake shack. It was only the pancake shack sketch that I found especially funny. The trio hasn’t yet learned that comedy often lies in setting up expectations only to subvert them, rather than having them pay off in an obvious way.

The individual stand up sets were more successful. Taylor made observations on glasses being sexy, being a student and her urge to buy odd things in second hand shops. Britten played a kiwifruit shaped ukulele as she delivered totally un-PC statements in a deadpan manner. Hughes mostly joked about her pregnancy (conceived on purpose, woohoo!). All three performers show promise as stand up comedians, especially Britten.

Although the trio bring a lot of energy to the sketches, I felt that the blend of sketch comedy and stand up was a bit strained and led to long pauses between parts of the show. I read in the programme afterwards that the trio all belong to the Wellington Improvisation Troupe, so that may explain their attachment to sketch comedy. Personally, I would have enjoyed longer stand up sets and fewer/shorter sketches.

However, I got the sense that all three were testing the waters with this show and sketch comedy was a more comfortable style for them. All three have obvious comic talents and hopefully they will build on this show in the future.   
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