Comedy fest review: Gordon Southern in Long Story Short
Gordon Southern is a polished, slick comic. His show, Long Story Short, is a rollicking hour of puns, raps, gags, stories, frenetic energy, sound and light and one of the most delightfully likeable comics I’ve seen.
He explodes onto the stage and doesn’t let up for the duration of the show, despite some – at times – sad sounding material. But we’re never allowed to get sad with Gordon because he’s just so goddamn upbeat and enthusiastic. Like an otter. With a nice accent. Telling jokes.
He adds sound-effects to his show to great effect, adding humour to what are already very funny bits. Then sometimes he adds the same sound effects when the joke’s been a bit shit and suddenly it’s funny again.
Every piece of this show is polished within an inch of itself, it never feels like Gordon loses – or gives up – control of the show and the ebbs and flows all seem natural, if not a little manufactured. There are pieces of the show where it feels Gordon could let go more and give us more of a raw feeling; some parts do feel a little over-rehearsed but this is completely fine because it’s still very funny.
His material touches places that not a lot of comics are prepared to go to – I see from the promotional material that I’m not spoiling anything by saying that he talks about alzheimers and dementia, which are not easy things to make funny. Gordon manages it with the ease of a consummate professional.
There is a wee bit of the used-car-salesman about him, not in a gross creepy way, but more in a “here’s a guy with his patter absolutely sorted”. It’s just very good patter.
This is a show I’d highly recommend. It’s slick, it’s funny, it’s entertaining and it’s a wonderful way to spend an hour.
Gordon Southern in Long Story Short
Wellington, May 9-13, 8.45pm
TICKET PRICES
Full Price $24
Concession $20
Group 5+ $20
Cheap Wednesday $18
*service fee may apply
