You could say Colin Hay's career has Scrubbed up pretty well.
The former front man of Australian band Men At Work is one of that country's most successful music exports; their early albums sold millions around the world and their anthem Down Under is 30 years an Australian classic with its evocative lyrics involving Vegemite sandwiches, fried-out Kombis and men 'chundering'.
Hay appeared at the SkyCity Theatre as one of the star turns of the Auckland Comedy Festival - and one of the reasons for his diversion into comedy is Zach Braff, the star of the hit TV comedy series Scrubs.
Braff was among several entertainment 'names' who came to see Hay at the Los Angeles cabaret Largo and who was taken with his mixture of music and comedy - leading to several of Hay's songs being featured on Scrubs and appearances by Hay himself.
That helped bring in a whole new generation of younger fans and, while Hay has been busy ever since the break-up of Men At Work (he has made 12 solo albums since basing himself in Los Angeles in the late 80s, including the one out now - Next Year People), he has found time to branch out into his new comedy career.
His show at SkyCity Theatre - titled Waiting For My Real Life - had themes of redemption and renewal and no end of pathos and self-deprecation; it could make for a depressing evening if Hay wasn't so full of droll humour; his amusement at finding himself in this position, after selling millions upon millions of records, is infectious.
Hay is a genuine storyteller and his wry recollections of touring with Ringo Starr, how Paul McCartney invited himself to dinner and a classic rendition of what drunks at concerts do when they want a certain song played are hilarious and all the more so for their almost apologetic delivery - in stark contrast to many of today's in-your-face comedians.
Interspersed with that are his sensitive songs, testament to the fact his voice retains its power and range.
The 61-year-old told Sydney's Daily Telegraph in an interview this month that his show began when the band broke up: "It's been a show in development for the past 25 years or so, really...Men At Work no longer existed, and I didn't quite know what to do, so I decided to go out on the road by myself.
"Contained within the shows was me telling people what had happened to me, trying to figure out with an audience why I was still doing this, and people were quite encouraging and they liked the show, so I kept on telling stories between the songs, and some of that was very funny, and when you start getting laughs, well, there's nothing more encouraging than that. So it's a show that has been in development ever since."
The Largo cabaret is where several famous comedians began their careers, including Louis CK and Sarah Silverman and was where Braff spotted Hay. So did Garry Shandling, which led to an appearance on the ground-breaking Larry Sanders Show - and Hay had a whole new multi-faceted career in train. Apart from personal appearances on TV shows and the odd movie, his music has featured in several US/UK shows including Scrubs, JAG, Casualty, What About Brian and The Black Donnellys.
The SkyCity Theatre is a perfect venue for such festivals with its 700-seat capacity and state-of-the-art technology making performances like Hay's intimate as well as international in flavour. The theatre's spokesman, Alistair Kwun, says SkyCity has deliberately steered the theatre, among other things like dance, drama and TV productions, towards festivals like the Comedy Festival and the annual New Zealand International Film Festival.
"We link the theatre strongly to long-term events like the festivals," he says. "It's something we have nurtured over the years - and people are clearly responding. Audience sizes are going up year by year and we have noticed a trend to younger audiences as well.
"We bill ourselves as the home of entertainment and we also try to show our patrons the whole integrated ability of SkyCity to live up to that billing," Kwun says. "It means we encourage them to have a meal or a drink pre-show and post-show and to enjoy the whole raft of entertainment available on one site."
That was not just important to SkyCity but to groups like Auckland's Heart Of The City - a business association that aims to foster, develop and maintain a thriving inner city area that patrons want to visit.
Other Comedy Festival attractions to be found at the SkyCity Theatre include:
• Heath Franklin's Chopper - the irreverent Aussie returns (May 8 & 9)
• Le Comique - including the Naked Magicians and Tom Binns' hospital DJ Ivan Brackenbury (May 10)
• Urzila Carlson - NZ's best female comedian 2014 (May 15 & 16)
• Last Laughs - the final, all-in, laugh-in of the festival (May 17)
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