Rhys Darby in Jekyll & Hyde 2030 AD; Stewart Lee at The Classic

Rhys Darby

What a strange night of comedy. First was ex-pat Kiwi Rhys Darby in a fast-paced, physical performance of a futuristic Jekyll and Hyde.

Then came British stand-up Stewart Lee, who discussed taboo topics at a pace so leisurely some of the audience lost their patience.

You couldn't have asked for two more contrasting acts.

Darby's routine relied as much on the crowd's imagination and the lighting guy as it did on his rubbery faces and impressive sound effects.

He played all the characters in the classic gothic tale about a scientist-turned-monster - robots and rockets included.

The premise worked out of sheer ridiculousness - his face going through a series of strange contortions, spit flying, arms flailing, machine noises spluttering as he assumed each crazed character.

But after an hour of Darby's theatresports-style antics it was hard to tell how it had washed.

A few faces displayed absolute bewilderment, others hooted wildly. I was somewhere in between.

Lee, meanwhile, has a comic style so laid-back and dry it's practically dehydrated, like a very cynical John Campbell on sedatives.

A solid start about 9/11, or "November the 9th", was the first of many controversial themes that included stupid Americans and the late Pope.

Easy targets perhaps, but combined with toilet humour they made for some creative punchlines.

But if anything was to blame for the heckling, it was their infrequency.

Lee's timing relies on deliberately drawn-out stories, pauses and deadpan repetition, and that wasn't particularly popular with the fellow Brits in the crowd.

The guy doing most of the yelling was an idiot - after interrupting Lee for the fourth time with something inane about the American jokes, it was tempting to get up and bash him over the head.

But he did have a point. Lee was building up too much expectation by drawing out the jokes, and by the time he delivered them some fell flat.

Lee handled the hecklers by including them in his routine, half-kidding that they'd made him more depressed than ever before in his 17-year career.

But the telling-off only exacerbated the problem by drawing attention to the rising tension in the room, and it was easy to see he was rattled.

He recovered eventually, adding an extra 10 minutes to his routine "out of punishment", but perhaps he should have just sped things up.

* Rhys Darby in Jekyll & Hyde 2030 AD and Stewart Lee are at The Classic, Queen St until Saturday