Te Auaha Tapere Nui is packed when Brynley Stent brings Bonetown to Wellington. It is described as a comedy panel game show that talks a lot about fucking. In reality it is a popularity contest that uses dirty words to vote with. What we are voting on is real-life scenarios and situations – called “bones” in the show – that give us pleasure, deciding which scenario the group collectively likes the best, through our comedian avatar game players on the stage.

We whittle our way through abstract situations like, “waking up on the weekend, thinking it is a weekday, then remembering it is the weekend”, vs “the haka, anywhere, especially parliament”, vs “rainbows in Ireland”, vs “calling someone James, even though you know their name is Jesse, every time you see them, because you hate them”, and many more “bones”. Each round, each comedian picks two from the pot, reads them both, chooses one they “would fuck” and one to burn. Thus we slowly discard bones, one by one.

With six comedians in the show this does take some time to whittle down 13 bones. With bones being returned to the pot there are a lot of repeated bones, although amazingly on the final round there are two that have not yet been read. There are games in between rounds and other complications in the form of special game cards.

As the show extends beyond the hour I do wonder if there were perhaps one too many comedians in the panel. This is top notch light entertainment, giving some of our best talent – Eli Matthewson, Barnie Duncan, Josh Thomson, Maria Williams, Sera Devcich and Kura Forrester, alongside Stent’s demonic, rubber-clad MC – some fertile improv opportunities. However with the repetition, the show goes beyond its ideal length. Some more variety in the game, and the opportunities for the talent to express themselves in different ways would be welcome.

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