REVIEW: Chris Martin: Ol Smarty Pants (NZ International Comedy Festival)

Review by Sharu Delilkan and Tim Booth

Chris Martin

[Chris Martin:  Warmplay]

A nice touch having Chris Martin on stage as we arrive – chatting to people and generally being chilled and unpretentious.

And a nice show too – about nice things like getting married and waterparks as well as nice parts of New Zealand.  Likewise the audience was nice – polite, not too drunk, attentive and suitable ‘laughy’.

It’s not long before we are well aware that Chris Martin worries a lot – which is pretty much the theme of his show.  He worries about what people think, about politeness in social media, about responding to texts…generally about doing the right thing.  Which is probably why he’s well-liked by his in-laws, especially the ladies.

His boyish delivery is definitely refreshing.  No need to say ‘f..k’ every five minutes to get a laugh…and no need to filthify things or insult people for cheap laughs.  He has an uncanny ability to solicit lots of laughs through his youthful boyish observational and good-natured angst.  Chris Martin says he loves NZ and we believe him.  He has genuinely taken the trouble to research NZ, which immediately gives him the thumbs up and makes all of us in the room feel a tad special.  This, coupled with some observations of the big wide world, take us away from our Monday night blues for the full 60-minutes.

As mentioned before, Chris Martin’s wife’s family love him and I can see why.  He’s a genuinely nice guy and he almost definitely makes them laugh.  Which was the same for us tonight…Nice.

Chris Martin performs at The Classic until 20 May. Details see Comedy Festival

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