RAYBON KAN in RAYBON WITHOUT A CAUSE
Foxglove Queens Wharf Ballroom, 33 Queens Wharf, Wellington
07/05/2013 - 11/05/2013
Q Theatre, The Vault, Auckland
15/05/2013 - 18/05/2013
NZ International Comedy Festival 2007-09, 2013
Production Details
THIS TIME RAYBON WHACKS HIS LYRICAL
Fresh from recording his first live stand-up DVD, Raybon Kan returns to the NZ International Comedy Festival with his most hard hitting hilarious show yet, Raybon Without A Cause. An all-new hour full of his trademark verbal assaults on everyday icons, Raybon Without A Cause opens in Wellington on May 7th and Auckland on May 15th.
“People don’t think of me as a rebel,” says Raybon, “But I am. For example, I’m totally against religion. But it’s entirely possible that’s a religious belief.” “As for the War on Terror, well, everyone knows that’s nothing but a pyramid scheme funded by the metal-detector industry.”
Raybon Kan has played comedy festivals around the world, including Montreal, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Masterton and dark, dark places he will deny no matter how hard you tickle him; a recovering columnist. An insatiable pun addict. The unexpected author of three books: America on 5 Bullets a Day (a travel book on tennis and Martin Luther King); 5 Days in Las Vegas; and An Asian at my Table. Raybon Kan . . .
“. . . keeps us laughing for 80 minutes that seem like 40. . . offers extraordinary ways of seeing the ordinary.” National Business Review
“. . . has a ready wit, an engaging personality with bags of charm, and the true
comedian’s ability to take the ordinary, the mundane, the unnoticed, and turn it into the bizarre.” The Press, Christchurch
“A highlight of the festival.” The Age, Melbourne
“Must-see, nerve-wrenching, white-knuckle comedy.” Auckland Scene
As part of the 2013 NZ International Comedy Festival
RAYBON KAN IN RAYBON WITHOUT A CAUSE
WELLINGTON
Date: Tue 7 – Sat 11 May, 7pm
Venue: Foxglove Ballroom, 57 Customhouse Quay, Queens Wharf
Bookings: 0800 TICKETEK (842 538) www.ticketek.co.nz
AUCKLAND
Date:Wed 15 – Sat 18 May, 10pm
Venue: Vault at Q, 305 Queen St
Bookings: 09 309 9771 www.qtheatre.co.nz
Tickets: $20 – $25 (booking fees may apply)
For the sweetest deals and hottest comedy news throughout the Festival head to www.comedyfestival.co.nz
Raybon Without Applause
Review by Sam Purchas 08th May 2013
From the back of the two-thirds full Foxglove Ballroom Raybon Kan introduces himself to the waiting mature audience and receives a cheering applause. It is the best response he receives for the rest of the show.
He idles up to the stage and attempts to seek a rapport with the audience. But commenting on the weather, the complaints of farmers, the boredom of Wellington, the emptiness of the South Island, outdated unpaid teacher jokes and Susan Devoy’s appointment brings barely a laugh.
He lends his experience and professionalism with a new technique in the quest for rapport and talks directly to Darryl in the front row. Bad choice. Darryl can barely speak.
But this brings him to a subject that does appeal: words and sloppy speech. “Probably” now “probly” soon to be “prolly” and later will be only “ur”. The audience is warming but then he switches to the worn-out subject of religion and, although his jokes are quite witty, he loses them again.
Raybon has many intelligent flashes of great imagination and wit. It is appreciated by the audience who now and again manage to offer flickers of laughter. However, he fails to develop his themes and jokes or stay on a subject long enough to create flames.
Recognising that his show is being received with about the same level of enthusiasm as the government policy meetings he was earlier scorning Wellington for, Raybon asks the audience whether they have any questions!
Receiving no response to this, his hour ends with him asking a reflective question to the audience on the lack of response to his performance: “Was it the religious jokes? Is this the Religious Club here?”
He then closes the meeting and soberly leaves the stage.
Raybon Without Applause.
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