The Humorous Arts Trust’s Young Guns Comedy Showcase draws a large crowd at the San Fran (San Francisco Bathhouse) on Thursday night. The show features eight young comedians who are billed as ‘the cream of the crop’ from the more than 50 first-time performers at Raw Meat Mondays in 2014.

The evening is hosted by MC Neil Thornton. Originally from New York but now a familiar face on the New Zealand comic scene, Thornton’s content is predominantly a mixture of jokes about the differences between Kiwi and American culture and about his own homosexuality. While some of the gay jokes are funny and even pertinent, they do go on a bit and I am bemused when he refers to the entire room, at least some of whom are strangers to him, as a ‘straight audience’.

Our first young gun is Aiken Hutcheson and he performs with confidence and flair. Hutcheson smoothly takes his less successful jokes in his stride, interacts with the audience and his parting shot is particularly well-received (and when you’re telling an earthquake joke you’d better make damn sure it’s funny!)

Next we have Lucy Edwards whose short act revolving around motherhood has some excellent moments but at times feels a little too much like an act.

Third up is Bas Jeffrey whose schtick seems to be that he is an ‘old person’ which gets a little old itself, but Jeffrey’s anecdotes maintain a narrative that is appealing and he goes down well with the crowd.

Our final act for the first half is Joel Hansby and his performance consists of a series of ever more self-effacing one-liners. A stronger theme or narrative thread and more follow through could strengthen his act. But his projected dismal sense-of-self is popular with the audience.

After the break we are served Eric J Tuller, an American who has been in Wellington for 6 months. Tuller’s laid-back, easy style of delivery is pleasant and relaxing. While some of his material may be more successful in America than it is in New Zealand, much of his content works for everyone in the room.

Next up is Ollie Crafter who is high-energy, open and seemingly completely himself. It’s common knowledge that stand-up isn’t for the faint-hearted and we quickly learn more about Crafter than we may ever have wanted to know… There are a few times when Crafter loses the thread of what he’s talking about (every single comic so far has waxed rapturously about the joys of alcohol, perhaps we are seeing the effects…) but he copes well and is charming when an audience member sets him back on track. 

The second last comic of the evening is also our second female. Anya Rzhevitskaya, who hails from Russia, presents herself in a hospital gown and there is some hope that we are going to see an act that diverts from stand up’s traditional spot lit microphone. Unfortunately the outfit doesn’t really lead anywhere in particular and the performance is made up mostly of a series of one-liners.

Finally we meet Patch Lambert from Naenae. Lambert is self-effacing too, but cheerful with it, and he has an attractive oddball energy. He has the beginnings of ‘thought-experiment comedy’ (when a comedian has a mad notion and then follows it through verbally to its inevitable conclusion) which could be more deeply explored to great effect.

This showcase could have benefitted from a more timely start – the doors opened at 7 for a 7.30 start, but we didn’t begin until closer to 8pm – and perhaps shorter interludes from Neil Thornton between the young gun performers. However there were continuous peals of laughter and these young comedians are clearly people we are going to continue to see on the comedy circuit.

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