The first noticeable character on stage is a casually dressed woman, executing swift hand gestures congruent to the offstage voice announcement that the (late) start of the show is imminent.  The two sign-language translators, present in acknowledgment of sign language week (in the middle of music month!), are actually the unlikely stars of the show. 

Most of the six performing comedians take great delight themselves in observing their material in sign; in particular certain words… yes, those kinds.

Mike Loder emcees for a line-up purported to be  "some of New Zealand’s very best performers."  With his natural, matter-of-fact wit he endears himself easily to the crowd, creating that uneasy self-disgust that arises when one finds it impossible not to laugh at such bigoted concepts as child abuse and domestic violence and other classic standup fodder. 

To lubricate proceedings for the first act, Loder drafts two flustered audience ‘volunteers’ to perform his pornographic script.  The best laugh it gets is when the woman explains the man is the husband of her best friend (who’s watching). 

The honour of first-off-the-rank comedian goes to the youngest performer – who’s excellent solo gig The Best $18 You’ll Ever Spend! was the last show I reviewed – 18 year-old Rhys Mathewson.  Going over some of his more memorable bits from his show, I laughed all over again, particularly pleased to witness a second time his valiant attempt to mime Mark Sainsbury’s moustache.

Non-anorexic, highly entertaining Urzila Carlson weighs in with some terse opinions on infomercials, immigration, relationships and Grey’s Anatomy.  An ex-pat South African lesbian, Carlson’s comically derisive overviews includes an inevitable jab or two at the All Blacks, and the flavour of straight people (chicken).

Ending the first half, middle-aged whitebread Terry Williams cracks onto the personality differences between the Auckland’s compass points, e.g. the natives of Manukau objecting to being called black, preferring the term ‘South Auckland American’.  The tamest of the evening’s line-up, Williams has good material but somehow manages to quieten us down a few degrees, and then carries on too long. 

Sassy broad Justine Smith is up first after the break, expounding her broad, sassy views on the discourse of dating and relationships.  The interval beverages may have helped, but Smith’s hilarious vitriol seems to resurrect the audience’s appreciation for the crude and tasteless.

Headline act is Jeremy Elwood, with his snappy suit and cheeky wisecracks aplenty.  He seems to have got a bit drier and more cynical than I remember from earlier times when he seemed, I don’t know, nicer, but not as funny.   Like the others, he notes his impressions of the various nationalities present before attacking politics and the media ("Have you watched the Tamiflu Infomercial, or as we like to call it the News?").  Making his exit at just the right time, Elwood provides a satisfactory conclusion to an altogether entertaining night of Kiwi comedy.
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