Who Am I? I'm Yvan. A.K.A. Dave, because it's hard to explain quickly to someone on stage how to pronounce my first name. You'll see me around some comedy gigs every few days. I'll be doing giveaways through the Facebook and Twitter pages up to, and during the festival.
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My opinions do not reflect those of the NZ Comedy Trust, nor am I an employee of the trust.
Raw Comedy Quest - Monday April 16
This week’s raw was a healthy blend of astonishing, and fantastic. 11 near-virgin comics over lorded by the Carbon-Neutral TJ McDonald, and an audience full of proud supporters for “Kevin” and a front-bar full of other Raw comedians sussing out the competition. This was the second-to-last raw heat for this year, and the two-third full auditorium was filled with people who loved his white-guy dance moves, and enjoyed the fact that in the front row was the cast of everybody’s favourite movie: Four Brits and an apologetic Canadian.
Nineteen Minutes with Scott Blanks
I had a good chat with NZ’s God-Father of Comedy about his experience with comedy in NZ, and his running of the RAW Comedy Quest up here in Auckland.
Source: comedy.co.nz
Raw Comedy Quest - Monday April 2
An interesting night of RAW this week, after I missed it last week, I was excited to hear that the fantastic Jesse Griffin was MCing, though more than a little disappointed his cowboy hat wearing, guitar playing friend wasn’t going to make an appearance. Jesse came out to a two-thirds empty room that was mostly full by the half-time break. He showed off his experience at TV filmings by using his hands to conduct various levels of applause, and he’d have made the “Aggressive Researcher” for 7Days proud.
Covering topics, such as how he can tell his career’s on the way down, and cracking on to some of the more semitic members of the audience, most of the reactions came from a largely quiet room giving little more than polite laughs.
The first of the act of the evening was a comedian who seemed (from his introduction) very well travelled, but for someone of that experience, it doesn’t seem he gets out very much. Covering topics of his stagefright, and lavatory conversation, it became clear that his stagefright didn’t extend to the stage. This comedian started slow but by the end of the show was getting some very good laughs from a previously very cold crowd.
The next act was a semi-self-depreciating comic who was kicking arse from his first gags. This comic knew how to put himself down enough to get laughs, but clearly knew when to stop, so he didn’t just look desperate. Some of this comic’s material was very topical which gave the impression that while the lines were very tight, and well polished, they hadn’t been sitting in a notebook for five years getting looked at once a moth. A very dry comic who has a helluva lot of potential. I’ve not seen this man on stage before, and if this was indeed his first time, I want to know where he’s been hiding before now, and why.
Our burlesque comedienne was back for her first heat this week. This “Gindian” comic was rolling out clearly new gear, as I’d not heard any of it from the last time I saw her perform a few weeks ago, which is very impressive, as some people find it very hard to write six minutes of new material, have it that well rehearsed, and then not revert to the “old stuff” as soon as the first punchline doesn’t go down as well as planned. This set was fantastic, though it needs to be polished, I have a feeling some of the lines coming out could get some massive laughs down the track. Though I wouldn’t recommend she quit her dayjob to become a human beatbox.
I saw my first musical act of the RAW contest. Perhaps next time I’d recommend putting them as the first act of the second half, as half of their six minutes was spent setting up. I don’t think the room was prepared for what come forth, as for the most part, they were recieved with stunned silence. Some well versed somgs expressing their love for their hometown of Hamilton, that may have gone down better at a bar, but certainly showed a lot of potential.
The first comic of the second half started out with a safety warning, then proceeded to express some empathy for smokers. Judging from the reactions of this act, and the amount of “yessss” and “fuuuck yesss” coming from this comic, I suspect she picks only one activity to smoke after, but her set was well recieved by both smokers in the room, and most of the rest of the room.
I honestly didn’t know what to write about Scene Two Act Two, who was possibly the estranged/deranged sibling of a well known NZ Comedian of the same surname, making “funny noises” and rantings that would fail to entertain a three year old, but seemed to keep the “beer enthusiasts” in the room well amused. Some basic stripping followed by somewhat delusion, and mass confusion from the audience when he announced he’d spent three months rehearsing for this show. I’m wondering why.
The next act delivered a very tight set which covered a wide range of well segued topics. Lichtenstein got an early mention for the Raw Quest, and by “Early Mention” I point out that it was mentioned at all. Delivering an accurate portrayal of Auckland Drivers, this comic delivered his own take on the new road rules, and reinforced my lifestyle choice of being a permanent pedestrian.
This was quickly followed by a self claimed Mummy’s Boy, who, if he’s looking to break that bond, and get a little distance, could take some card-writing lessons from our first female performer of the evening. A little confounding when accents disappeared completely during a set, to return later, stronger than ever. I can honesly say it was the first time I’ve ever seen a performer serenade a Marmite Jar, and I’d be a little caucious if I purchased it from him over trademe, for the possibility that it may have been rendered “Cheesymite 2.0”. Though I must say, this comic’s interpretations of dirty-talking transformers could finally provide a good career option for Megan Fox, as an internet based webcam user.
The last act of the evening used travel stories to “fluff” the audience, the second comedian of this quest that I’ve seen “burn” a few of his precious six minutes talking about what other comedians have done during their sets. After that, once he’d settled into his rhythmn, we managed to hear how this comedian pumps himself up in the shower, and about his KFC fandom and gastro difficulties.
Overall a well-varied night of performances, with some very strong acts, and I look forward to seeing who out of the comedians I’ve seen, make it through to the Semi Finals.
Some tips I picked up on:
- If your set requires you to go from standing to squatting a fair bit, maybe opt for trousers instead of a skirt.
- Always have a back-up microphone ready, in case it should become necessary to decontaminate one.
- Never assume you’ve seen it all. You can always be horrified to see you haven’t.
Raw Comedy 2012 - Heat Three
Raw This week, heat three was showing a fantastic amount of potential before I even got to The Classic. The front bar was close to full, and there were substantially sized knots of people outside. I figured this was going to be a great show. The unfortunate lack of Stella Graham, due to an unfortunate weather based flight diversion to Wellington, meant that our host was the very talented Vaughan King.
In the front bar, I noticed the heckler from TJ McDonald’s show “Glen”, who did remain surprisingly quiet this week. I must admit, this wasn’t a bad thing from the performer’s point of view, but I’ve never seen Vaughan King take on a heckler before, so I was a teeny bit disappointed.
“Sale Street!” RAW Heat 2 – 12 March -
A late-arriving crowd managed to pack out the main room at the classic this Monday. A big juicy lineup of 11 acts, MC’d by the well-versed Rhys Mathewson. I have started to recognise a few faces in the crowd, some of regular audience members, and some performers, not so subtly checking out the competition. The evening kicked off well. An interesting front row led the MC to get gently brainwashed, before receiving the revelation that he’s no sexual threat. We learnt some interesting things about Invercargill, and there was a little bit of flashing-talk.
Our opening act was a bit of a cold-starter, though it was evident he wasn’t a fan of the tardiness of the audience. He delivered a good speech, which the final third of the audience, who tried to sneak in well after the lights went down, could do with hearing. It’s a shame he was on first, and most of them missed it.
Raw Comedy 2012 - Show Two
Tonight’s MC, Billy T award nominee Guy Williams comes down onto the stage to a rather quiet, and vacant room at the classic. His energy reflecting that which he’d like to see from the crowd, rather than the response he was receiving. An interesting heckler (possibly on his first night, much like many of the comedians present), by the name of Kase, or Kane, bought himself to the attention of the room with heckles probably pulled from a third former’s guidebook.
The first two acts were absolutely fantastic, certainly showing a lot of potential. I can honestly say the first time I’ve ever seen someone literally steal the show from the MC. A fantastic example of two people with a lot of comedic potential, which were quickly followed by the first (and by no means last) poo jokes of the evening, bought to us by a lovely comedienne who’d done a few sets a while back, but this was her first stage time in a long time, and her experience, and understanding of the formulation of the joke was blatantly obvious. Her mothering experience bought back painful memories of how many wooden spoons were broken over my arse in my younger days.
Later in the evening came a budding comedian who bought out stories from his life, and for the first time I’ve ever seen, bought a story to the stage, that was something that happened to him when he was at another comedian’s show, in the audience.
Eventually, just before the end of the first half, the room seemed to warm up, and began responding to the seventh comedian of the night, who managed to illicit some of the best laughs of the night.
After the break we had another six two comedians. The first two had difficulty getting much reaction from the audience, including one who managed to bring material outlining the differences between cats and dogs, which didn’t manage to get much of a response from the assembled crowd.
Then came on a comedian who managed to bring an energy that immediately made me think of Jan Maree, a comedian who grabbed the audience’s attention with a trick, or a tactic that caught them off guard. I didn’t get a chance to speak to this guy after the show, to find out if it was intentional or not. If this gentleman intentionally bought this to the table to grab the audience’s attention, very well done on his part. If it was a fluke, I hope he runs with it, and learns the power of it.
Overall a very interesting night of RAW comedy:
- I got to see exactly the impact that the audience’s mood has on a show. And no matter how good the MC is, if the room doesn’t want to warm up, then the comedians following him or her, had better be ready for an icy dunk.
- I got to see my first ever scat based Elvis parody artist.
- I learned how Heath Franklin’s Chopper signs autographs.
- I was reminded of just how a handcrafted gift to your mother can be used to inflict pain
- And most importantly, I know that some of the faces I saw that night have the potential to be the future of NZ comedy.
Bring on next week!
Note: You can find the details on this year’s RAW Comedy’s final here: http://www.facebook.com/events/372774586075721/
What's happening?
- Here's a list of things I've done, and what's upcoming over the next week:
- First Open Mic night for RAW 13/02/2012 - Now Up
- Interview with Irene Pink - Now Up
- Interview with Steve Wrigley and Justine Smith - Transcript delayed due to website being down.
- Interview with Brendhan Lovegrove this weekend - Transcript mid next week
- Interview with Simon McKinney this weekend - Transcript the end of next week
- Second Open Mic night for RAW 20/02/2012 - Blog coming up tonight
Raw Comedy 2012 - Show One
Monday 13 February. The classic. The lights go down. Boycie drops the lights and brings up the music introducing the MC for the night – Steve Wrigley. The room breaks into applause. Steve Wrigley comes on stage…
I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was the first night I’d ever been to see Raw Comedy. I’ve been to more Friday and Saturday gigs than I can remember. Even a fair number of Wednesday night gigs. I was excited to see some new faces perform. I have to admit, the sadist in me was looking to see a few colossal bombs, and I was hoping to see some mediocre gear.
