Shadbolt comedy show canned amid turmoil
A comedy show featuring Sir Tim Shadbolt has been called off by his fellow performer after the release of a report criticising the Invercargill mayor’s performance.
Gary McCormick and Shadbolt were scheduled to host a show called OK Boomers at The Craythorne’s Hotel in Christchurch last night.
McCormick told The Press it did not feel right to host the show while Shadbolt was dealing with the recently released report, which said he was struggling to fulfil significant aspects of his job as mayor.
Shadbolt has rubbished the report, saying it is flawed, but the Southland Chamber of Commerce says his refusal to accept responsibility for the leadership void is a concern for the city.
McCormick said hosting the show would be like ‘‘you have come out of a war and then you sort of walk straight into a comedy show and do a comedy, it just did not seem right’’.
‘‘It is just the wrong time.’’
McCormick said he decided to call it off and Shadbolt was ‘‘OK’’ with the decision.
‘‘I would not want to encourage someone to do a show when they are going through what he is going through at the moment.’’
McCormick said he was ‘‘very sorry’’ about what Shadbolt was dealing with and did not want to put more pressure on him.
He said Shadbolt had been his friend for a long time and the pair had done more than 300 shows together.
They did a show together about six to eight weeks ago in front of 120-odd people at a winery, and Shadbolt was ‘‘brilliant’’.
‘‘In terms of doing performances, I was very happy about what happened that day.’’
The Craythorne’s Hotel confirmed last night’s event had been cancelled in a Facebook post. The post said all ticket holders would be refunded.