Stand-up comedians can be a bit hit-and-miss; this one is most definitely a hit!

So often on Netflix I click the ‘thumbs-down’ and move on to another choice, but when it’s live on stage one has to either enjoy or endure. At last year’s Edinburgh Fringe I experienced both but there, with so many to choose from, I didn’t stumble upon the UK’s Stuart Goldsmith. No matter, here he is in Christchurch with a well-honed act that has the large audience in stitches for its duration.

Although some of his material is the same as that in Nothing But Stand Up Dudes, which we’d seen him host a few nights ago, it’s no less humorous and effective for that. In fact, in the context of this cleverly structured act, the content is possibly even funnier tonight and, somehow, knowing what’s coming raises anticipation of punchlines all the more. And do I also notice a joke that’s ‘shared’ from one of his stand-up colleagues? 

Goldsmith’s material is primarily based on his relatively recently-acquired status (as a very youthful-looking forty-year-old) as a husband and father. The first half of the show contains some hilarious perspectives on married life at the expense of his ‘lovely wife’, while the remainder is centred on his son and on being a father.

The observations on his new commitments “for the rest of my life!” bring considerable recognition and laughter from those of us ‘in the know’ about the situations being described. At times he draws our attention to couples in the audience looking at one another as they identify with the comic absurdity of the situation being described. And being, it seems, the prime daytime caregiver for his son, provides some very amusing source material for his show.

Newly-weds and new parents seem to be extraordinarily common among stand-up comedians (my wife and I had, coincidentally, just been talking about that phenomenon before the show), but Stuart Goldsmith’s content and delivery are creative, original, seemingly spontaneous and very genuinely funny.

I always enjoy the diverse and inventive ways that buskers and comedians devise to ask us for tips at the end of their acts. I particularly like Goldsmith’s way of asking for a ‘ten’ or a ‘twenty’ or, “if you don’t want to give any money, don’t just scurry past; look me in the eye and say ‘thank you’ … and I’ll pass that on to my hungry child!”

I’ve used words like ‘humorous’ and ‘amusing’, but such terms are far too gentle for the consistently LOL character of this superb act.

Unfortunately, Goldsmith’s solo show is on for only this one performance, but do catch him and other Stand Up Dudes & Divas at the Laughter Lounge at 7.00pm for these last few nights of what, for me, has been (with still a couple of shows to see) a tremendously successful Christchurch World Buskers festival in its 25th year.

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