by Laura Ferguson
“I *am* going to make fun of something you believe in,” Neil Thornton chortles at us during A Cynic’s Guide to Enlightenment after another successful wave of laughter has permeated the audience, punctuated with a couple of good-natured, ‘ooh’s’.
This technique is something Thornton excels at throughout the entire performance, not only weaving his story and enthralling us, but also reacting to our reactions effortlessly.
Thornton’s show is exactly as described, sending us on a journey through not only his search for happiness, but also our own. There were many instances when myself and others were nudging the company we were with and gesturing, “Me too, that’s me right now!” The sense of camaraderie we felt towards Thornton heightened the hilarity of his show and made a connection not often felt during a comedy gig.
Thornton makes great use of a visual presentation that emphasised his points and punchlines, but never distracted from his words. I would suggest, therefore, sitting near the middle of the seating in order to get the full impact of these slides because they really are highlight and there may be a couple sneaky cat pictures in there to bribe the audience in giving out some well deserved, “Aww’s”.
This set is inspired by gurus such as Deepak Chopra and Oprah to Beyonce and even the untapped wisdom of Monica Lewinsky. He made reference to a multitude of people with varying degrees of expertise in enlightenment, but all of which caused a laughter that continuously entertained the opening night crowd. He even referenced the very enlightened Dan Savage and Thornton’s two references to DTMFA (the extra tab to Google this is worth it) made me want to give him impromptu standing ovations. Personal heroes aside, his constant insertion of such notaries made his narrative unique to each audience member. At least one of these mentions will have you nodding and pondering your existence and many more than that will have you in stitches.
Neil Thornton’s show, A Cynic’s Guide to Enlightenment was thoughtful and flowed beautifully. We, the audience, were captivated and thoroughly delighted, with more than one comment of cheeks hurting heard afterward. I do believe this particular cynic’s guide to enlightenment was surely helped along by Neil Thornton’s advice, but even more so by the laughter he provided and I encourage you to head along to his show if you are also in need of these lifestyle improvements.
Neil Thornton’s show, A Cynic’s Guide to Enlightenment, is on at 7pm from the 10th - 14th May at Fringe Bar.
For ticket details see: https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2016/may/neil-thornton
Thornton’s show is exactly as described, sending us on a journey through not only his search for happiness, but also our own. There were many instances when myself and others were nudging the company we were with and gesturing, “Me too, that’s me right now!” The sense of camaraderie we felt towards Thornton heightened the hilarity of his show and made a connection not often felt during a comedy gig.
Thornton makes great use of a visual presentation that emphasised his points and punchlines, but never distracted from his words. I would suggest, therefore, sitting near the middle of the seating in order to get the full impact of these slides because they really are highlight and there may be a couple sneaky cat pictures in there to bribe the audience in giving out some well deserved, “Aww’s”.
This set is inspired by gurus such as Deepak Chopra and Oprah to Beyonce and even the untapped wisdom of Monica Lewinsky. He made reference to a multitude of people with varying degrees of expertise in enlightenment, but all of which caused a laughter that continuously entertained the opening night crowd. He even referenced the very enlightened Dan Savage and Thornton’s two references to DTMFA (the extra tab to Google this is worth it) made me want to give him impromptu standing ovations. Personal heroes aside, his constant insertion of such notaries made his narrative unique to each audience member. At least one of these mentions will have you nodding and pondering your existence and many more than that will have you in stitches.
Neil Thornton’s show, A Cynic’s Guide to Enlightenment was thoughtful and flowed beautifully. We, the audience, were captivated and thoroughly delighted, with more than one comment of cheeks hurting heard afterward. I do believe this particular cynic’s guide to enlightenment was surely helped along by Neil Thornton’s advice, but even more so by the laughter he provided and I encourage you to head along to his show if you are also in need of these lifestyle improvements.
Neil Thornton’s show, A Cynic’s Guide to Enlightenment, is on at 7pm from the 10th - 14th May at Fringe Bar.
For ticket details see: https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2016/may/neil-thornton
