A hit list of comic genius
Idon’t like having friends; they’re not worth the trouble. An easy way for me to achieve this is by snubbing as many as possible in my yearly Comedy Festival picks column! Why do I keep doing it? Because I love comedy more than I value human contact.
To keep it kinky, this year I’m eliminating the shows I picked last year, which are obviously still great: Fricken Dangerous Bro, Two Hearts, Rose Matafeo (who won the The Fred Award for best show – good pick guys!), and Nic Sampson (who didn’t win, talk about a major let-down).
So, after some ado, and without further ado, I present some great picks for the 2018 NZ International Comedy Festival, and an example of what I think is one of their GOAT (greatestof-all-time) tweets.
More ado: I do realise that comedians can’t be judged solely on one tweet picked by me, but I’m doing it anyway, life isn’t always fair.
Melanie Bracewell:
Melanie is nominated for the Billy T Award this year, and if her show is half as good as her Twitter account, she’s probably a favourite!
‘‘Spoil any movie by telling ur friend ‘‘Ice Cube dies’’ before they watch it. They’ll be waiting for Ice Cube to appear and die the whole time.’’
GOAT tweet: Angella Dravid:
Last year, I was hesitant to pick Angella. I was an idiot. Her 2017 show Down The Rabbit Hole won the Billy T Award and was probably the best NZ show I’ve ever seen. It was reminiscent of that time that I doubted Lorde, then Lorde won two Grammys. There’s no way anyone can live up to this hype, but I’m not making the mistake of leaving Angella off my list again.
‘‘Held my mum’s hand while watching Blade Runner cause I was afraid that it had horror. Nope. Just watched tits & ass holding my mum’s hand.’’
GOAT tweet: Paul Williams:
Is it wrong for me to put my brother on the list? Yes. Do I care what anyone thinks? Desperately. But I genuinely think his show is worth risking accusations of nepotism.
‘‘Give a man fish, you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a dog to read, you’d make an absolute killing. People would pay so much to see that.’’
GOAT tweet: Eamonn Marra:
I’ve been waiting for Eamonn to do a solo show like Star Wars fans have been waiting for more Star Wars movies. Does that make me sad? Not according to me!
‘‘Gareth Morgan: I don’t understand people. I’ve told them how wrong they are again and again and they still don’t like me.’’
GOAT tweet: Alice Snedden:
Another Billy T nominee who’s going to knock ya socks off.
‘‘The Auckland Mayoral race is just a collection of people trying to show WINZ they’re looking for a job.’’
GOAT tweet: James Mustapic:
If you haven’t seen James do ‘‘Shorty Street Scandal’’ or ‘‘Repressed Memories’’ on the internet, then I feel sadness for you!
GOAT tweet:
‘‘On studylink it asks you when your current relationship status (single) started and I had to put my date of birth.’’
The Fan Brigade:
Am I allowed to print that title here? I hope so because it’s pretty great. In the proud tradition of Flight of the Conchords, we’ve always had a lot of really good musical acts, and these guys are leading the way.
‘‘When Morrissey dies everyone’s gonna be like: ‘lol that’s so him.’’’
GOAT tweet: Luke Heggie:
Almost every Australian coming to the festival is worth seeing, but Luke is No 1. I’ve been watching him for years and am continuously bamboozled as to why he isn’t a household name yet. Last year he won a fancy award in Australia, what more do you want from him, book a ticket. He rarely uses Twitter. Smart.
❚ Guy Williams is also performing at the NZ International Comedy Festival: comedyfestival.co.nz