On Wednesday night, I went to see Rhys Darby’s (otherwise known as “Murray” from Flight of the Conchords) stand up act which was conveniently located down the road from my house.

It was at a studio, so naturally everyone there was trying to make themselves look posh, well behaved and important, very nice suits and the rest of it.  I turned up in my “I call NZ home” teeshirt and ratty old jeans, because A) I’d forgotten that most people dress up and B) I was all about showing mah support, alright?

We brought drinks, shuffled our way along the queue to find quite good seats and spent the next 20 min or so just people watching.  Marcelo nudged me.  “Can you tell that people are Kiwi just by looking at them?”  I thought about it.  The truth is, yea, sometimes, I can.  I dunno how, I mean, we don’t look different or anything.  But as we were sitting there, I had a distinct impression that majority of the crowd were New Zealanders.  Not because it was a New Zealand comedian, not because there was a group of seats reserved at the front for “The New Zealand Tourist Board” but something else.  Something… familiar.

The warm up act was quite good, a man called Wilson who was a redneck country music singer type character.  He played a few songs, got the crowd going.  On his last note, he said bye to the crowd and introduced Rhys Darby’s act.

It was at this point I realised what the familiarity was.  Half the crowd poured, I mean, POURED down the aisles and rushed out the door.  The bar was PACKED.  In that quick 10 minute interval, everyone had frantically run out to buy more drinks.  The line to the guys bathrooms were longer than the girls, on the account that, in true Kiwi form, everyone had probably drunk 4 pints of beer during the 20 minute warm up act.  We haven’t really got the whole sip-and-enjoy-your-drink type culture yet.

As we waited for Rhys to appear, I fiddled with my camera trying to turn off the flash.  I changed some settings, took a practice shot, was happy with the results and turned my camera off.

Rhys came on stage, I turned on my camera, which had helpfully reset itself when I’d turned it off, and promptly photo-flashed the poor guy the minute he walked out.  MY BADS.  After I started with the photos, other people started too soo… I wasn’t the only one.

I can say, without a doubt, Rhys Darby’s show was the best stand up I’ve ever seen.  Ever.  I was actually rolling laughing.  I was laughing well after a joke had finished.  He is this sound box of talent and pure entertainment.  I was still giggling to myself on the way home.  Well recommended, if you get the chance, go see it.