Review: Over-lubricated fans upstage well-oiled Bhoy

Danny Bhoy. Photo / Supplied

There were some big laughs at Danny Bhoy's Civic debut on Thursday. But the biggest wasn't actually spurred by the comic himself.

Rather it was a loudmouth punter who got the crowd roaring when he called out his favourite pick-up line: "How about a punch in the undies?"

Yes, it was base humour. But his timing was impeccable, and it took Danny a good few minutes to get the crowd under control again.

To his credit, he milked the situation for all it was worth, hopping around like a frustrated child wanting to know what was so funny. Apparently they don't have the word "undies" in Scotland.

Later, he capitalised on the moment again, slipping the line into one of his own jokes. It was one of the few truly spontaneous moments of the night, which was full of easy chuckles but never quite took off as it should.

Danny is a very funny man. And he knows it.

As he strolled on stage and casually made conversation with the audience, one began to wonder if he had actually pre-written anything at all.

Admittedly, it wasn't helped by a particularly half-arsed heckler, who called out "about time too" as soon as Danny came on stage, just a few minutes late.

A deft response quickly put the heckler in her place, but it set an uneasy tone for the evening that took some time to subside. Indeed, Danny never quite warmed to the crowd, at one point banning the audience from answering any more questions.

"From now on all questions are rhetorical. You've had your chance," he declared after accusing the audience of ganging up on him.

"This is far too parochial. Did you all come up on a bus from Palmerston North?"

As the night progressed, Danny proved he had in fact prepared a show of sorts. But his off-the-cuff style, which regularly sees him embark on random tangents as he slips in another seemingly impromptu thought, couldn't hide the fact some of his stories are all too familiar.

Like the man who wanted to show Danny something - the funniest thing he would ever see - in a pub toilet in the Australian Outback. The joke may be an original Danny Bhoy property but it's been around long enough to have entered into general release. I heard it at a hens' party just last month.

It may be designed to look like an unprompted amble through the vaults of Danny's mind, but the Danny Bhoy experience is a well-oiled machine. At times a little too oily for its own good.

COMEDY FESTIVAL
What: Danny Bhoy.
Where: The Civic Theatre.
When: 8.30 tonight.