Dark Side of the Afternoon is a solid hour of entertainment from two bright young stars of the New Zealand comedy scene.
Ashton Brown is an endearing, self-deprecating, jovial chap while Louise Beuvink is a dark, biting, deadpan comedic force. Both are engaging, with comedy about their own lives that is very easy to relate to.
Brown opened with a physical gag that I thought was pretty weak, but quickly moved into some decent material about his successes and failures trying to make it as an actor.
Although his set was generally lighthearted, Brown dished out insults against the New Zealand Herald, MediaWorks, Unitech, Nickelback, Kiwis who live outside of Auckland and the National Party. John Key's government got it the worst and while that bit edged towards being more preachy than comedic, it was great and went down well with the audience.
He also did some good stuff on his mother's growl voice, an orgy he read about, old people using Facebook and Noah's Ark.
I enjoyed Brown's set and chuckled along with him quite a bit, but it served as an entree before the main course of Beuvink's set, which I spent most of roaring with laughter.
She opened with a hilarious dance before moving into great material about mental illness, abortion, poos, alcohol, Tinder, pubes, supermarkets and a fantastic bit about how she met her current boyfriend.
That may look like a pretty inappropriate collection of stuff to joke about, and while I probably wouldn't be comfortable taking mum along, it's probably not as shocking as it sounds - and it's certainly not as juvenile. She's witty, intelligent and has a terrific delivery.
This is the first time I've seen Beuvink and she's a huge talent. I'm sure she'll have a full solo show at next year's festival and I'm very much looking forward to it.
Together, Brown and Beuvink make for a nice one-two punch of youthful Kiwi comedy worth checking out. They get extra points for a great show title and playing Pink Floyd before they came out too.
Dark Side of the Afternoon is on as part of the Comedy Festival at Q Theatre's Cellar every night this week until Saturday.
3 News
source: newshub archive
