Laura Ferguson
Standing awkwardly with nerves of jelly rather than steel, Joel Hansby begins his show, A Guide To Leaving The House, Cause You Have To. His anxiety and self-consciousness brings the audience on side from the outset, ready to root for an underdog. The style of comedy is very endearing, stilted and deprecating in nature. We are entertained by a range of puns, witticisms and social commentary with a very millennial outlook that is fun and relatable.
Hansby is engaging even while reminding the audience of their own embarrassments. He becomes the embodiment of the crowd’s own insecurities. He is the dork in all of us that just loves a pun, the sigh of rejection after a failed pick-up and the spotty teens we used to be that delight in hidden innuendo.
His show does not have so much of a narrative rather than being a collection of thoughts grouped together and while there are a couple of call backs to previous jokes, there isn’t a running theme his discomfort becomes the glue which holds the show together. He has a unique presence that has you laughing at things you wouldn’t normally find funny. There are a lot of instances in his show in which you are not only giggling, but also saying, “Aww,” a rare feat in which you feel empathy and sympathy in conjunction with the hilarity of his set. With his individual take on comedy, it is easy to see why he won the Wellington Raw Comedy Quest in 2015.
His awkwardness is useful in tackling subjects that can often be deemed too offensive. Ranging from 9/11 to Iraq with a healthy dose of innuendo, and even a reference to Pokémon (be still my beating heart!), Hansby kept my cheeks sore from use for his whole set.
Hansby is served well by his opening act, Ray O’Leary. O’Leary easily warmed the crowd up and is the kind of act that not only makes you laugh, but makes you think. He weaves social politics into his set that when it was not causing us to laugh aloud, was met with a bubbling murmur of appreciation. Juris prudence and media manipulation are not often topics one comes across in comedy, but O’Leary executed these subjects in such a way that were simple to understand and came with that fun sense of smug satisfaction that you “got it”. He was a great start to the show and while his confident nature is juxtaposed against Hansby, the opposite energies worked very well together to give a beautifully rounded experience.
I really do recommend going to see A Guide To Leaving The House, Cause You Have To. I would love to tell you specifics on some of the jokes that had me in absolute stitches, but they cannot be done justice here, only Hansby’s distinctively humble personality will be able to give you that wonderfully weird pleasure. For a show that is both reminiscent of your past self and entirely too relevant for your present self, this would be the one to go to.
Joel Hansby’s show, A Guide To Leaving The House, Cause You Have To, runs from the 3rd of May – 7th of May at Ivy Bar at 8.30pm.
Read more and buy tickets from here: http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/find-a-show/joel-hansby/
His show does not have so much of a narrative rather than being a collection of thoughts grouped together and while there are a couple of call backs to previous jokes, there isn’t a running theme his discomfort becomes the glue which holds the show together. He has a unique presence that has you laughing at things you wouldn’t normally find funny. There are a lot of instances in his show in which you are not only giggling, but also saying, “Aww,” a rare feat in which you feel empathy and sympathy in conjunction with the hilarity of his set. With his individual take on comedy, it is easy to see why he won the Wellington Raw Comedy Quest in 2015.
His awkwardness is useful in tackling subjects that can often be deemed too offensive. Ranging from 9/11 to Iraq with a healthy dose of innuendo, and even a reference to Pokémon (be still my beating heart!), Hansby kept my cheeks sore from use for his whole set.
Hansby is served well by his opening act, Ray O’Leary. O’Leary easily warmed the crowd up and is the kind of act that not only makes you laugh, but makes you think. He weaves social politics into his set that when it was not causing us to laugh aloud, was met with a bubbling murmur of appreciation. Juris prudence and media manipulation are not often topics one comes across in comedy, but O’Leary executed these subjects in such a way that were simple to understand and came with that fun sense of smug satisfaction that you “got it”. He was a great start to the show and while his confident nature is juxtaposed against Hansby, the opposite energies worked very well together to give a beautifully rounded experience.
I really do recommend going to see A Guide To Leaving The House, Cause You Have To. I would love to tell you specifics on some of the jokes that had me in absolute stitches, but they cannot be done justice here, only Hansby’s distinctively humble personality will be able to give you that wonderfully weird pleasure. For a show that is both reminiscent of your past self and entirely too relevant for your present self, this would be the one to go to.
Joel Hansby’s show, A Guide To Leaving The House, Cause You Have To, runs from the 3rd of May – 7th of May at Ivy Bar at 8.30pm.
Read more and buy tickets from here: http://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/find-a-show/joel-hansby/