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Singing comedian and improv maestro Wayne Brady will host this year's annual Comedy Gala, opening the 2009 New Zealand International Comedy Festival. Best known to New Zealand audiences as a regular on Whose Line Is It Anyway? Brady promises to bring some old-fashioned Vegas entertainment to New Zealand.
"I don't do standup," Brady explains. "I do an improv, variety show called Making S**T Up and it's a 90-minute sampling of old school Las Vegas meets new school Hollywood, with some comedy and music thrown in.
"There's a lot of audience interaction, sketches, improv scenes and music - both improvised and set music."
Unfortunately, Brady says he will only be able to bring a stripped-back version of the show to New Zealand due to the economy.
"I will be bringing a cardboard box and a kazoo," he quips. Actually, the former talk show host will bring a three-piece band, two backup dancers and his improv partner - compared to his usual eight-piece band and six dancers.
"It's still going to kill," assures Brady, who deliberately incorporates audience participation into his act to prove the improv is indeed off-the-cuff and not pre-written.
"I have no idea what you're going to say, so unless I have some incredible superhero power there is no way that I wrote this. And if I did have that power, I certainly wouldn't be an actor," he laughs.
"I think people love improv because it seems to be a magic trick. 'How did you create that stuff, right there, on the spot, in front of us, with things that we gave you? How?'
"Part of the gag is - are you going to succeed or are you going to fail? I pride myself on the fact that even the failures, especially the failures, are so much funnier."
In addition to Whose Line and his former daytime talkshow, Brady has also guest-starred on How I Met Your Mother, Everybody Hates Chris and 30 Rock.
But don't expect his show to follow that PG13 precedent. "The live show is definitely not a family show. I never set out to make a reputation for myself as a [family entertainer]. My last name isn't Cosby.
"Funny's just funny. It's not that I set out to drop F-bombs but I do what I think is funny... I enjoy a good fart joke. A lot of the songs are dirty and it's just good fun."
Brady will host the Crunchie comedy gala at the Aotea Centre on Friday May 1, before performing a solo show at the Aotea Centre on May 2. He will then head south to perform at Wellington's Town Hall on May 4 and Christchurch's James Hay Theatre on May 5.
Other acts confirmed for this year's festival line up include Irish comic Ed Byrne, Scotland's Danny Bhoy, Englishman Mark Watson, Australia's Kransky Sisters, American cowboy Wilson Dixon and New Zealand's own Te Radar. Tickets to the comedy gala go on sale this Saturday, February 21 from www.the-edge.co.nz. Tickets to Brady's solo shows are on sale from March 9.
