2023 Comedy Festival

It's been a bumper crop of comedy here in the capital for this year's comedy festival, and we've taken in four excellent performers from the British Isles, plus one winning local act.

Joe Lycett

Springboarding off his telly and internet fame, Lycett delivered a highly entertaining and well-crafted recap of his recent brushes with fame. Opening with scene-setting quips - describing his slightly prison-like striped boiler-suit as 'Guantanamo Gay' - Lycett provided plenty of evidence of his winning career as an impish, versatile multimedia star, including his deadpan riposte to demands that the BBC provide more airtime to conservative voices by simply claiming on Laura Kuenssberg's new BBC politics show that he was 'incredibly right wing', satirising both then-PM Liz Truss and the notion of mandatory balance in current affairs programmes. Plus there was the credulousness of then-minister Nadine Dorries, who took him at his word when he tweeted ironic messages of support to Boris Johnson. His many telly appearances were referenced, including Dancing With The Stars (a self-deprecating pratfall), Sewing Bee, Taskmaster and his own shows. The high-water marks of the show included an extended riff on his absurd and daftly entertaining campaign to get the Mayor of his hometown Birmingham to officially open his new kitchen extension (which she did, inexplicably), and the grand finale in which he detailed an intriguing and ultimately successful self-led five-year social engineering campaign in his local neighbourhood.

Ed Gamble 

A youthful Wellington crowd turned out for Gamble's first proper NZ comedy tour in the peculiar Shed 6 venue, which was ideal for the sadly defunct DCM bookfair but is less than ideal for standup comedy. His broad standup set encompassed a detailed riff on the mysteries of budget hotel continental breakfasts (a travelling comedian's mainstay), staging a solo surprise lockdown hen party for his wife in their house, and the intimidation of performing standup comedy in front of a heavy metal festival crowd who became fixated on his diabetes and demanded to see real, live blood. There was also a detour into the challenge of getting fit in London, with forays into the dynamics of a flawed spin class and how to cope with exercising at an East London 'big boy gym'.

Sara Pascoe   

Possibly Pascoe's first foray into NZ touring, she started her set by pointing out that she does know she's pregnant, thank you, and she would normally reveal that at the end of the performance, but that dramatic flourish was rather redundant now the baby is officially 'showing'. Her endearing and witty set addressed her grandiose teenage dreams of telly fame, a hilariously misjudged attempts to win over both Michael Barrymore and Geri Halliwell with her singing, and the curious nature of life in the entertainment business with a 'fame-adjacent' public profile. The trials of flying a toddler to the other side of the world - which many in the audience could no doubt relate to - rounded out a charming set.

Guy Montgomery

Fresh from his award-winning Australian tour and boosted by his highly amusing and definitely daggy game show, TV3's Guy Mont Spelling Bee, Montgomery's festival contribution was a mix of observational comedy, absurdist rambling and drug-referencing psychedelia. A genial presence throughout, Montgomery was at his best riffing on the guilty pleasures of taking horse tranquilisers (it's quite important to stroke the horses to sleep first so you don't feel guilty) or taking the venerable expression 'what's that got to do with the price of fish' for a lengthy excursion into dramatic theatre. He also shows his sweeter side in his material about his step-daughter and the unexpected joys of being a step-dad, including the self-deprecating lengths he goes to to gain the approval of his beloveds by traipsing through the rain in a chemically-altered state of mind to buy pajamas that he didn't particularly want in the first place.

Dylan Moran

The audience's nerves at what might have been a difficult performance, given what was reported at the previous show in the tour at Christchurch, were immediately dispelled by Moran at the outset, when he discussed the gig and confirmed, as many had suspected, that he was not inebriated at the gig, and the news reporting was completely overblown. Moran proceeded to prove that with a set as good as any of his many previous shows (c.f. my 2006 write-up for Scoop). He has a wonderful knack for slyly devastating putdowns that land with a feather-light touch given the audience knows his bleak worldview lacks all malice - it's equal opportunity lambasting. A detailed examination of the innate foolishness of all age groups, a lengthy riff on the ridiculousness of male genitalia, and the true secret of alcoholism all delighted the crowd. But for me the highlight was the surprising, and surprisingly listenable, foray into moderately-listenable free jazz keyboard playing and atonal jazz vocal performances, which, he related, led one Vienna audience member to howl an anguished 'noooooo...' at the commencement of the second half of his performance.  

See also:

Comedy: James Acaster, 14 May 2016
Comedy: Eddie Izzard, 15 February 2015
Comedy: Josie Long, 6 May 2013
Comedy: Stephen Merchant, Wellington, 17 December 2012
Comedy: Bill Bailey, Wellington, 29 September 2012
Comedy: David O'Doherty, 5 May 2012
Comedy: Ed Byrne / Steve Coogan, 17 May 2009
Comedy: Bill Bailey, 3 July 2008

Gonna send you back for some schoolin'

Thursday music corner: Born Anna Mae Bullock in Tennessee in 1939 and taking her final bow in her Swiss chateau aged 83, timeless rock and soul performer Tina Turner rose from the cruelty of her marriage to Ike Turner (1931-2007) to global rockstar adoration from the 1980s onwards. Her three '80s albums, 1984's Private Dancer, 1986's Break Every Rule and 1989's Foreign Affair, were enormous sellers worldwide, particularly in Europe, and her explosive concert performances made her a staple of the touring circuit until her final 50th anniversary tour in 2008-09.    

Turner's cover of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love appeared on her 1975 album Acid Queen, which was her last to involve Ike Turner in any capacity before their 1978 divorce. The album was inspired by Turner's role in Ken Russell's Tommy (1975), and included an A-side of rock covers, including Under My Thumb, Let's Spend The Night Together, and I Can See For Miles.  

Tina Turner - Whole Lotta Love (1975)

See also:
Music: Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm - You Got What You Wanted (1968)
Music: Tina Turner - I Can See For Miles (1975)
Music: Tina Turner - Let's Stay Together (1983)

So why did I give my heart so fast

Today's $2 op-shop find, highlighted mainly because of the intriguing sleeve indicating that Mosgiel used to be a seething hub of musical creativity. But actually it was just the base for legendary Dunedin music promoter, and long-standing producer of Miss New Zealand (1960-74, 1978-86) and the nationwide Search For Stars roadshow ("Joe Brown Presents the Tops in New Zealand Talent!"), Joe Brown. 

The best-known of Brown's stable were Howard Morrison and John Hore (later John Hore Grenell, to avoid scandalising American country audiences). Craig Douglas was English rather than a New Zealander though - he took this cover of Sam Cooke's original Only Sixteen to the top of the UK charts in 1959, so this must be a licenced copy for New Zealand. Douglas had 10 UK top 40 hits until 1963, when he like many others was swept into irrelevance (at least as far as teen music fans were concerned) by the arrival of the Beatles. The whistling in the track is by Mike Sammes, of Mike Sammes Singers fame.

See also:

Music: Sam Cooke - Only Sixteen (1959) 

Music: Craig Douglas - Only Sixteen (1959)

Music: Howard Morrison - Little Darlin' (1959)

Soho feeds the needs and hides the deeds

Thursday music corner: British folk-rock performer Al Stewart (b. Scotland, 1945) grew up in Dorset after moving there with his mother; his father died in an RAF training crash before he was born. After securing a weekly solo performing slot at a Soho coffee house in 1965, he later became the regular compere at the Les Cousins Folk Club, also in Soho. Well-connected across the contemporary arts scene, he flatted in London with Paul Simon and befriended Yoko Ono. 

He released his first album, Bed Sitter Images, in 1967 and released several more albums before he started to gain traction with the release of his 1975 album Modern Times, which reached number 30 in the US charts. His next release, the album and single Year of the Cat in 1976, is his most recognised recording, but the subsequent Time Passages album (1978) was a hit too, reaching number 10 in the US, number 15 in Australia, and just grazing the UK top 40.

 

Soho (Needless To Say) appeared on Stewart's fifth studio album, 1973's Past, Present & Future, and documents the London songwriter's home away from home, the grimy, cosmopolitan streets of Soho.

Al Stewart - Soho (Needless To Say) (original 1973, live performance 1978)

See also:

Music: Al Stewart - Song on the Radio (1979)

Music: Al Stewart w/ Tori Amos - Year of the Cat (live, 1991)

Music: Al Stewart w/ The Empty Pockets - Time Passages (2022)

Sylvester guarding the laundry

O'Reily Ave, Wellington, 15 May 2023

 

They say that time heals everything, but it's not my situation

Thursday music corner: Latin dance music ensemble the Spanish Harlem Orchestra released its first album, Un Gran Dia En El Barrio, in 2002 featuring this song, Mama Guela, as its opening track. Since that release the group has issued seven more albums, with the most recent being last year's Imágenes Latinas, which was nominated for a Grammy award - the band's sixth such nomination. The Orchestra will shortly commence a summer tour, playing in New York, Mexico City, Seoul and Taipei. 

Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Mama Guela (2002) 

See also:
Music: Ray Barretto - Together (1969)
Music: Los Lobos - Kiko & the Lavender Moon (1992)

Music: Ruben Blades - Estampa (2002)

NZ precision telephone engineering

Glenmore St, Wellington

 

Don't fall asleep while you're ashore

Thursday music corner: Thomas Alan Waits, better known as Tom, was born in California in 1949 and has been releasing brooding, off-kilter music for 50 years. His ninth studio album, 1985's Rain Dogs, was his first to achieve Gold status in the US, and features Singapore as its opening track. The album features his first collaboration with guitarist Marc Ribot, and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards appears on three of its 19 tracks. Buried on Side 2 of the same album is the classic Downtown Train, which was the album's third single.   

Waits has also had a busy acting career alongside his music, appearing in such films as Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law (1986), Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula (1992), Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) and Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza (2021). Waits was nominated for an Oscar for his song score for Coppola's 1982 drama One From The Heart, but lost out to Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse's work for Victor/Victoria. 

Tom Waits - Singapore (1985)

See also:

Music: Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues (live, 1977)

Music: Tom Waits & Crystal Gayle - One From The Heart (1982)

Music: Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos - No Me Llores Mas (1998)