Cameron Murray In Logical Oddity

Fringe Bar, Cnr Cuba & Vivian, Wellington

03/05/2011 - 07/05/2011

Brooklyn Community Centre, Wellington

17/05/2011 - 21/05/2011

NZ International Comedy Festival 2011

Production Details



WELLINGTON’S BILLY T HOPE ODDLY LOGICAL 

In 2011, New Zealand’s newest comedy star brings his Billy T Award nominated show “Logical Oddity” to the NZICF. Cameron Murray will be taking on the banality of life by applying his own delusional reasoning to the monotony of the mediocrity.

Cameron Murray has a sharp eye for storytelling and takes a weird and wonderful approach to comedy, best described as awkwardly whimsical. One of just five Billy T Award nominees for 2011 and after only taking five years to become a ‘fresh new face’, Cameron has been climbing the ranks of New Zealand comedy since winning the 2008 Raw Comedy Quest, a stepping stone to bigger things for many New Zealand’s comedians, including Billy T award winner Cori GonzalezMacuer. 

“Logical Oddity” is a show for those looking for more from everyday life, for people wanting to see award winning comedy and for people who wish they were more awesome. Cameron Murray knows awesome. Cameron Murray is awesome. Cameron Murray will share awesome. By taking a unique look at the dilemma of being the lone man stood up in the double date of life, he plans to deliver pearls of peculiarity as he entertains the masses in their quest to better themselves.

Winner New Zealand Raw Comedy Competition 2008 
“Sharp and unusual” – theatreview.org.nz
"His star is in the ascendant… cerebral and surreal” – Lumiere 

WELLINGTON 
Dates: May 3-7, 7.00pm 
Venue: The Fringe Bar – Cnr Cuba & Vivan Streets 
Tickets: Adults $18 Conc. & Groups 10+ $15 
Bookings: Ticketek 0800 842 538 or online www.ticketek.co.nz 

AUCKLAND
Dates: May 17–21, 7.00pm
Venue: Brooklyn Bar – 57 Lorne St, Auckland
Tickets: Adults $18 / Conc. & Groups 10+ $15
Bookings: Ticketek 0800 842 538 or online www.ticketek.co.nz  
 




Outrageous similes galore

Review by Robbie Ellis 04th May 2011

Nobody can accuse Cameron Murray of being too high energy: his Billy T Award-nominated show is what I’d call an understated meander. However, the whole presentation is better than my opening sentence would suggest.

He’s called his show Logical Oddity. At no point did he tell us the title of his show from the stage, but it’s an apt description of his approach. Cameron Murray’s brand is tried-and-true observational comedy and his leaps of logic are the best things in it. 

He presents us outrageous similes galore which simply beg justification: this he delivers in spades. He’s got a good handle on word play and double meaning, and he’s not above dropping a good hoary pun once in a while. There’s enough touchy subject material to keep us on edge (school bullying, the Holocaust etc) but he never keeps us there for long, quickly defusing the tension with lighter follow-up laughs: call it treading on reinforced thin ice. 

The subject matter is a little run-of-the-mill, however. His premise that “women … are a lot like second generation technology” inspires some clever punning but this, like so much of the show, sits within the stand-up’s realm of default topics: relationships, childhood, alcohol etc. While he landed a couple of serious laughs with a friendly audience of around 25 or 30, these sat among a forest of lines that were reasonably entertaining at best, just above mediocre at worst.

I can understand that his low-energy, slow-burner stand-up comedy style is a conscious choice and it’s nice not to be shouted at and cursed as an audience member. Cameron Murray is a practised comic who’s developed his stage presence well and his style will appeal to a lot of people. But while Logical Oddity is a perfectly pleasant and entertaining hour, it’s going to have a hard time standing out both among the group of Billy T nominees and in the wider festival. 
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