Jack McGee
Huh!
Secret Time Travel Meeting is one of the most beguiling shows I’ve ever attended. I spend the whole show trying to figure out if there’s a joke I’m supposed to be in on. Ultimately, I decide there isn’t. Shaun Wicken’s touring show from New York is one half banter with the audience and one half assorted non sequiturs. It’s all vaguely themed around time travel. It’s a show that constantly promises to blow your mind, and never really does, but that’s what makes it charming. And odd. Huh. Huh!
The show takes place in the Te Auaha galley. Wickens frames it as a meeting, and because of the lack of stage lighting, it feels like one. He spends the first 10, maybe 15 minutes of the show, laying out ground rules, and promising what the show will become. He pitches the whole evening under the banner of “existential optimism”. He makes it clear that he’s not a reels-farming roast comic. He will be nice. We’re empowered in this as an audience, and people quickly take advantage of it.
The highlight of the show, without doubt, is Wickens engagement with the audience. There are two audience members in the front row who start thoroughly heckling him, and the interaction between the two parties is delightfully good-natured and charming. He gets to know the hecklers, directs questions at them, and includes them as part of the show's story. In the end, it’s a delight to see the two of them having a chat with him outside after the show.
Alongside the hecklers, there are a few other audience members who engage with Wickens. Most of them are so passionate about time travel, and philosophy, that they’ll respond to one of his questions with answers so deeply thought out that I find them completely impenetrable. It’s such a cute thing to watch. Wickens has created a space for a very niche group of people to come together and have genuine, positive, conversation about things they care about. As a layman, I am bewildered by a lot of this but I’m very happy for everyone involved.
It’s hard to ‘critique’ the show because it’s aimlessness feels inherent to the experience, but I do wish the material built a little more on itself. Often Wickens changes subjects just as he’s getting at something I’m finding really compelling.
There are a couple of jokes that become funny not because of the intended punchline, but because they miss so hard with the room that Wickens has to quickly course correct. The most notable of these, which involved Wickens saying “Doesn’t the Barbie movie feel like it’s written by men?” was met with disdain from certain members of the audience. I do wish I got to see where this line of thought was going. Another odd moment involves Wickens talking about AI. He discusses how AI is our child and if we’re cruel to it we’re bad parents? I find the whole discussion a little pithy and dismissive but we move on so fast it’s hard to dwell on it.
If you are a time travel person, and you want to hang out and have some fun chats about it, I wholeheartedly recommend this show. It’s peculiar, singular, and you can see exactly why it has a cult following all over the world. Wickens is an earnest and charismatic presence, and it’s entertaining to see him talk about anything. Even if you’re an outsider to the cult like me, you can do a lot worse than spending an hour with someone as charming as him.
★★★⯪☆ - 3.5/5 Stars
The show takes place in the Te Auaha galley. Wickens frames it as a meeting, and because of the lack of stage lighting, it feels like one. He spends the first 10, maybe 15 minutes of the show, laying out ground rules, and promising what the show will become. He pitches the whole evening under the banner of “existential optimism”. He makes it clear that he’s not a reels-farming roast comic. He will be nice. We’re empowered in this as an audience, and people quickly take advantage of it.
The highlight of the show, without doubt, is Wickens engagement with the audience. There are two audience members in the front row who start thoroughly heckling him, and the interaction between the two parties is delightfully good-natured and charming. He gets to know the hecklers, directs questions at them, and includes them as part of the show's story. In the end, it’s a delight to see the two of them having a chat with him outside after the show.
Alongside the hecklers, there are a few other audience members who engage with Wickens. Most of them are so passionate about time travel, and philosophy, that they’ll respond to one of his questions with answers so deeply thought out that I find them completely impenetrable. It’s such a cute thing to watch. Wickens has created a space for a very niche group of people to come together and have genuine, positive, conversation about things they care about. As a layman, I am bewildered by a lot of this but I’m very happy for everyone involved.
It’s hard to ‘critique’ the show because it’s aimlessness feels inherent to the experience, but I do wish the material built a little more on itself. Often Wickens changes subjects just as he’s getting at something I’m finding really compelling.
There are a couple of jokes that become funny not because of the intended punchline, but because they miss so hard with the room that Wickens has to quickly course correct. The most notable of these, which involved Wickens saying “Doesn’t the Barbie movie feel like it’s written by men?” was met with disdain from certain members of the audience. I do wish I got to see where this line of thought was going. Another odd moment involves Wickens talking about AI. He discusses how AI is our child and if we’re cruel to it we’re bad parents? I find the whole discussion a little pithy and dismissive but we move on so fast it’s hard to dwell on it.
If you are a time travel person, and you want to hang out and have some fun chats about it, I wholeheartedly recommend this show. It’s peculiar, singular, and you can see exactly why it has a cult following all over the world. Wickens is an earnest and charismatic presence, and it’s entertaining to see him talk about anything. Even if you’re an outsider to the cult like me, you can do a lot worse than spending an hour with someone as charming as him.
★★★⯪☆ - 3.5/5 Stars