It was early in the first stop of her New Zealand tour that Catherine Tate had to remind one bold heckler that this is a live show. It was also one of the finest examples of the British comedian's winning combination of quick wit, unflappable commitment and willingness to tear her audience to shreds that will make The Catherine Tate Show Live a national success.
Catherine Tate's show. Photo / Supplied
When promoting the tour earlier this year, Tate said she doubted there would be a demand down under for her live show, that's been running since 2016.
The packed crowd at the Bruce Mason Centre on Wednesday night proved her wrong; the audience hung onto every word, laughing at every joke while waiting desperately for more.
It was a room full of fanatics, and Tate flourished amongst them, trading barbs with the audience as effortlessly as she embodies her characters.
Few sketch shows have caught on in recent years as much as Tate's did in the mid-noughties, and watching it live a decade later you can see why it worked so well. She is a flawless performer, switching between so many voices and stances in rapid succession and never once dropping character.
Her supporting cast (Niky Wardley, Alex Carter and David O'Reilly) aid her well, and are equally as playful with the live environment as Tate, but it is the headliner who proves with every scene why old favourites like Nan, Lauren Cooper and Dennis Faye remain in our hearts.
Catherine Tate is performing in New Zealand this week. Photo / Supplied
Like any touring show, there are plenty of Kiwi name-drops to localise the jokes. These unsurprisingly get a big applause, but when every sketch works some reference it, it begins to feel like a cheap route to a laugh. We aren't antipodean simpletons unaware of the world beyond our little isles, and it can start to feel condescending.
Yet, that obsession with making the jokes local led to an absolutely shambolic, side-splitting and sensational finale. Words cannot capture the comedic magic generated when a Pop Tarts reference saw Tate and her cast remove all pretence of a fourth wall and descend into a truly epic moment of corpsing.
It was a moment that showcases the joy of live theatre, those one-time-only occurrences you can't get from a TV show. There may have been some low-brow queer and race jokes that could have overshadowed a weaker show, but Tate's expertise and her talented cast and crew generate an experience so joyous that, at the end of the day, no one's going to be that bovvered about anything else.
What: The Catherine Tate Show Live
Where: Touring Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Palmerston North.
