Posts tagged Creative Sidekick

As a last minute addition to my itinerary last night I popped in to The Classic to see Craig Campbell, a Canadian comedian who I had not seen before but whose poster won me over.

It was a quiet Monday crowd and one that I am not entirely sure fully appreciated the  genius story telling capabilities of Craig Campbell.

I found him totally engaging, clever, sometimes quite unexpectedly shouty, but overall very funny. He had a great ability to sound improvised and to interact with, and include his audience. Having not seen him before I am not sure how much of the show was improvised but it certainly had that feel. It strikes me that he will adapt and meander around the interaction and commentary he gets from his audience.

He is a Canadian and proud but has many stories from around the world with humorous observations from his experiences in the Netherlands, UK, Norway as well as his homeland.

He is exactly the kind of stand –up I love and could listen to him for hours. He has similarities to his countryman Tony Law, as they both tell long tales with huge expressive movements and tone to get you to giggle.

Craig is able to delve in to his own life and travel experiences and link them together to form an hour of hilarious and varied antidotes including character voices as well as social commentary. It is the breed of comedy I admire so much and it’s no surprise he has been compared to Billy Connolly.

I believe his show will evolve during the week and no night will be the same, he is definitely one of my picks and I am so glad his poster caught my eye.

Craig Campbell is performing at The Classic, Auckland until the 12 May, part of the NZ International Comedy Festival.

Bookings: 0800 TICKETEK (842 538)

Dead Cat Bounce is a three piece band from Ireland, but don’t expect classic covers at this show. Dressed the part and proving their rock credentials, the 3 guys wore gold skinny jeans, glittery leggings and leather trousers, much to the delight of the female front row!

This comedy rock trio gave us an hour of excellently executed songs including one about a Homophobic Penguin performed in the style of Johnny Cash, while bass player Shane O’Brien sung about his penchant for a Really Tall Woman. Every rock band has a huge international hit and they played theirs, the crowd pleasing Youtube hit ‘Rugby’.

Admittedly this show may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s a fun gig and a refreshing change from traditional stand-up.

They are amazing musicians with some clever lyrics, but make sure you pay attention as you may miss some classic lines if you don’t.

Aside from the songs you get to learn a bit about the band too. They have supported The Darkness and their lead singer, James Walmsley, has been on a quest to find his father who he believes to be Whitesnake front man David Coverdale !

Expect to see your first ever comedy drum solo from Damo Fox, as well as other impressive musical tricks too!

The band shamelessly plug their merchandise in their final song ‘Lets Make Love’ then  briefly leave the stage before returning for their ‘planned’ encore.  

If you still want more you can purchase your Dead Cat Bounce CD after the show!

You can catch Dead Cat Bounce at The Loft @Q every night until  5 May.

‘I’ve been doing this job for almost 20 years… I’ll do the jokes!’ said Stephen K Amos to a confident audience memeber last night, the first of 3 nights at SKYCITY Theatre.

He has returned to Auckland after a 5 year absence with his show Laughter is my Agenda.

He walks on the stage with a cool confidence and is instantly at home and instantly making you laugh, some times you are not even sure why.

He takes control of the audience immediately when he puts the house lights up and has a little look at us all. Upon noticing some empty seats in the front rows he invites a family he noticed in the foyer to come down and fill them. This was the start of their participation in the show which especially focused on the teenage sons Tom and George, often much to mum’s embarrassment.

Stephen is a master of audience interaction and is able to bring them in to his existing material. He covers the topics of heritage, background and nationality all in his quest to fulfill his agenda of making us laugh. He can be cheeky and naughty but is also very clever and his jokes never seem crude. He has the kind of talent and confidence that comes with 20 years in the comedy business but also of a natural innate likeableness that people respond to.

This hour show flys by and the only fault I found was that I wished there was more!

After the show Stephen sat and sighned DVD’s, autographs and had pictrures taken laughing and joking all the way through.

Go and see Stephen K Amos for a night of laughter that will continue for hours after the show. I hope he doesn’t leave it another 5 years to come back to New Zealand.

Bookings: 0800 TICKETEK (842 538)

Cheers

Ingrid Grenar