Ewen Gilmour: YEEHA!
San Francisco Bathhouse, 171 Cuba St, Wellington
06/05/2008 - 10/05/2008
NZ International Comedy Festival 2007-09, 2013
Production Details
COMEDY METEORITE HITS WELLINGTON IN 2008
Once described as "the Rising Star of New Zealand comedy" the now aging meteorite, Ewen "The Westie" Gilmour once again blazes through our comedy skies this festival.
Easy to be seen by the naked eye, a few glimpses are possible in Auckland, but the best viewing spot will of course be at the San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington, where you will get such a close up look that you may even be able to see craters and valleys. It is possible to stare directly at the ancient rock.
A leading scientist from NZICF Dr Hillary Coe was asked to comment on this phenomenon. She said: "It’s actually been 4 years since the comedy fire ball we call "Ewen" has passed this slowly through Wellington."
He will be able to be seen clearly at 8:30pm between the 6th and the 10th of May at the San Francisco Bathhouse.
Ewen is NZ’s most loved Westie. Known as the V8 of NZ comedy his outrageous style, sometimes wicked other times self deprecating sense of humour will definitely have you racing from laugh to laugh.
Come dressed as a cowboy or cowgirl and get a free Ewen Gilmour CD.
NB This show will have nothing to do with space or cowboys
Dates: May 6th – 10th, 8:30pm
Venue: The San Francisco Bath House, 171 Cuba Street, Wellington
Tickets: Adults $20 (service fees may apply)
Bookings: TICKETEK – 0800 TICKETEK (0800 842 5385)
Duration 1 hour
1hr, no interval
Tolerably ‘classic’
Review by Thomas LaHood 07th May 2008
For the first time in many years, venerable old man of New Zealand stand-up Ewen Gilmour returns to Wellington. He looks especially grizzled, his paunch hangs over his belt, and he opens his set by mistakenly dousing himself with an audience member’s bottle of white wine bedraggling his appearance still further. It’s a great start, even if unintentional. But he’s not too tired and worn to deliver an hour of dependable laughs on his own terms.
It has to be said, however, this is pretty old school stand-up. Straight-up gags about sex, drugs, sex and sex, complete with ‘ba-doom-tish!’ punchlines. And while Gilmour couldn’t by current standards be considered offensive, his material nonetheless does more to support dominant stereotypes than to subvert them – Asian drivers, Christians and women fare particularly badly.
It’s not mean humour, and as a bogan perhaps Gilmour can claim cultural immunity, but at times he’s a bit like a granddad that is only tolerated due to his seniority and inebriation and our own indifference. Ah well, simple pleasures …
I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the show, and so seemingly did the audience. Gilmour has a charm and integrity onstage that are hard to go past, he’s got a winning smile and he reads his audience well. He knows when things are working and when they’re not – and not everything does, certainly. The gags are patchy at times, some literally groan-worthy and others just pretty banal. Yet taken as a part of the whole they somehow become forgivable; just part of Gilmour’s repertoire, and ‘classic’ if not actually funny.
He seems like a good guy, Ewen Gilmour. He does charity fundraising work, he talks a lot about his wife (and not only to poke derogatory jokes at her), and he was a Waitakere City Councillor for many years too. He’s a good bloke to sit down at the bar and listen to if you want some good old bogan laughs about drunk-driving and fart-lighting. But by the time we get to the song that closes the set, "(Take Me Home) West Coast Roads" it feels pretty tired, and a little bit old.
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