“Is it on?” are the first words Mo Munn utters, off stage. I assume she means her mic – but no. It’s the stove, the oven, which sits centre-stage in the compact Te Auaha Gallery.

Despite all the OCD anxiety it gives her, she loves that oven. And given the way she makes her entrance, one may see it as a metaphor for her mother. Not that she suggests that. We could even call it cupboard love, given the way it keeps on giving. Except that’s not what ‘cupboard love’ means. I can’t be more explicit without committing spoiler crime. The point is, it signals we are in more than stock-standard stand-up comedy.

Mo, who has just turned 30, confesses she’s incapable of keeping secrets so compulsively shares some, mostly about herself – about jobs, meetings, moisture, what she collected as a kid, teenage boys … She questions the value of such things as spiritual animals and washing towels, asks, “What if Mary Poppins was Māori?” and gives us hilarious highlights from that version.

It may be because we are her first audience that Mo peppers her performance with nervous-cum-delighted giggles, mostly because we’re reacting well. Or maybe that’s just who she is. Either way, she has devised a show that carries her through a range of emotions and moods that enrich her mahi most when she fully commits to each one.  

Pirates, pole-dancing and piercings each get a run for our money. The secrets of her marriage – 11 years and counting – include roleplays in the bedroom, birthday presents and her preferred colour of M&Ms. After inserting sausages into well-known songs – also hilarious – Mo plucks from a jar pre-written answers to what our obsessions are, and riffs off them.

Recalling the early 2000s offers nostalgia for most of the audience. I’ve noted ‘Beebo’ and now Google it to find a list of 13 possibilities. I’m guessing she means the furry blue toy, worshipped by Vikings. I also noted Juicy Fest only to discover that was liquidated early this year.

We learn what would be bitter-sweet for her father and are amused by mimed plastic gloves before being treated to her over-sharing rap-song, ‘I’m part of the Problem / But At Least I’m Part of Something’. This proves to be an ingenious way of recapping the wealth of material Mo has romped through for our entertainment

The thoughtfulness of her husband is exemplified through her sojourn in hospital and a getaway to Martinborough. His qualities are even compared to the oven! But when it comes to the love song that closes the show, guess which wins out.

When Mo Munn is on point in Is it Off? her show goes off in very good way. It deserves to travel far and wide, as long as the oven is up for that.

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