What I’ve always liked about both Michele A’Court and Jeremy Elwood is they use comedy to make us think twice about stuff that matters rather than just using stuff that matters to get a laugh. Without ever being preachy or earnest – far from it! – they have tended to use comedy as a means to a greater end, although I’m sure they’d be the first to say that provoking laughter is, in itself, an honourable objective… Except when the likes of Paul Henry abuse that skill.  

Back in ’06 I wrote, of Michele A’Court’s 40 odd years, that “informing her wicked wit and perceptive insights is a fundamental concern for humanity.” Her set last night, which recycled much of her classic material, was certainly witty and insightful but somehow that deeper level was missing.

But then one of the advantages of getting older, she observes, is that you give up giving a shit – well, about things that used to seem important, anyway, like how you look, for instance. It’s like she’s more on the outside looking in at the world in all its madness, rather than on the inside, finding a place to take her stand and subversively make a difference.

Her views on the difference between girls and boys provokes a topical crack about MGM’s money woes; her choice between ‘no thanks’ and ‘yes please’ people is well expressed; her test for knowing when you are middle aged is a gem. Her list of people she is happy not to be touches on political satire.

Telling us she “loves being horrific,” she has a crack at finding a euphemism for the female version of ‘spanking the monkey’. And for her climax she returns to the difference between the sexes, leaving us men with a piece of advice on how to handle complaining women that may well make a difference to the world.  

To give away her punny punch-lines will not be a spoiler, I feel, because the juice is in what leads up to them, i.e. the Holly cost (Holly being her daughter), the surprise pee, sexual abuse of a miner … To know them in advance would be like listening to the final spot in a My Word episode (ha, show my age there, eh) and enjoying the way she gets to the tag.

A well lubricated party seated down the front, talking among themselves as if she was on TV, failed to deliver heckles of any value but did allow for some interesting coping mechanisms. Likewise with Elwood in his spot, although there were other elements of audience interaction that got him firing well.  

Earlier this year I wrote of his Jeremy Elwood Thinks Too Much show, “It doesn’t matter whether you agree with him or not, the point is he chews on gristle that matters.” Although the drive is not as strong this night, his moral compass remains intact.

His topical jibes at the Commonwealth Games security and opening ceremony, and Paul Henry, are all the funnier for being oblique; he trusts us to get it without being spoon fed which makes us sit up and concentrate.

A recent trip to Sydney allows him to have a go at their inherent racism and revisit his musings on closer emu relationships. The state of our armed forces and try-hard airlines are worthy targets. He revisits astute material about what makes front page news in NZ. And he rants once more in defence of smoking, or smokers anyway (yes, he does protest too much).   

His climactic rant, at women who prefer bad guys to good guys, powerfully transcends the standard stand-up fare and does leave us with some gristle to chew on.  

A’Court and Elwood complement each other well. Their well-tried material comes over as fresh, they can be relied on to have their fingers on the topical pulse and their capacity to engage with their audience ensures a lively 80-odd minutes of laughter.
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