Dan Dion

Host Arj Barker was one of the night's highlights.

REVIEW: Chuck 20-odd comedians on one stage on one night and you should get a reasonable temperature-take of what the professionals think is funny right now.

The annual NZ Comedy Festival Gala, the opening night showpiece where the comics roll out their best bits for the TV cameras and to drive ticket sales, had a fair chunk of intergenerational angst. There was a bit of climate change, and yes, quite a lot of Donald Trump (although none of it particularly hilarious - perhaps, as Veep creator Armando Iannucci surmised, he's beyond satire).

But actually, where it's at seems to be musical comedy, of all things. The highlights of the gala, for this reviewer, all included a tune.

There was, of course, the always perfectly-observed Wilson Dixon, Jesse Griffin's mournful country singing cowboy. But there were also a couple of names you might not recognise: the engaging Hayley Sproull accompanied herself on piano as she delivered a song about the most annoying bits of life, such as when someone runs the hot tap downstairs when you're having a shower. And then there was the Fan Brigade, who took us all the way to the Levin RSA for a ditty about the frustrations of being a non-member and having to sign into the razzer.

READ MORE:
* Flight of The Conchords Arj Barker gets Organic about comedy
* Guy Williams: My 2018 comedy festival picks
* The Questionnaire: Dai Henwood

Supplied

Hayley Sproull won fans with a song about the most annoying bits of life.

It's always true that the higher up the bill you are, the easier it goes. Brit Jimmy McGhie drew pole position and led off with a tight routine about house prices and baby boomers. From there, it was a roughly 50-50 mix of local and international, with regular import Arj Barker at the helm and in good form.

I can only imagine it must be hard to graft for months to create a show, then have to distil it down to your best five minutes. And to do it well must take experience. The old hands here had it down - some of the younger comedians seemed to struggle with the format, whereas Dai Henwood could command the audience expertly with a childhood anecdote about shooting fireworks at a nemesis.

The comedy gala always demands a certain amount of staunchness from the audience. Run tightly, it's a pretty unbeatable format: five minutes of the best bits of a whole heap of people, some of whom you might never see otherwise. Other times, it's a test of your gluteus maximus and your tolerance.

Supplied

Wilson Dixon was in fine form.

This year's version started almost 15 minutes later than the scheduled 8pm kick-off, the interval ran much longer than the promised 15 minutes, and so it became a marathon - and there were quite a few walk-outs.

The flattest moment? The otherwise pretty good Irishman Andrew Maxwell's gauche line about what sort of a country could it be where you could be the prime minister and pregnant at the same time.

The best (non-musical) bit? Probably a Barker routine about, of all things, going gluten-free. "It isn't that bad," he said. "The only thing I miss is... happiness."

NZ International Comedy Festival, until May 20, nationwide. comedyfestival.co.nz

 - Stuff