Gig Review: Wellington Raw Comedy Quest 2024 Final

From time to time I like to review gigs still, including comedy. I was invited along to check out the final of this year’s Raw Comedy Quest. I wasn’t mad about that!

Wellington Comedy Presents…Wellington Raw Comedy Quest FINAL

Thursday, August 22

San Fran; Wellington

The Wellington final of the Raw Comedy Quest arrived after six heats in July, and then two semi-finals at the start of August, in the end there was 10 comics still standing. They were, in order of appearance on the bill, Lydia Sainsbury, Jackson Herman, Annie Harper, Sam Howard, Liv Ward, Summer Begalka, Chen Wang, Indie Grant, Katy Borrows, and Ben Lowes.

The MC for the evening was Eli Matthewson, and there was a bonus performance from Donna Brookbanks in a final guest spot, while the judges made their decisions.

First of all, it’s important to acknowledge the audience. It was one of the first times for me in a fully sold-out local comedy event and the crowd was pumped. I thought they did a great job of being ‘there’ for each of the comedians; out on a Thursday after work, or life, or both, and keen for a laugh. Leave the judgment to the judges, and hope for a hell of a show.

And Eli Matthewson was a superb MC, his prepared bits between acts showed the level of his craft, but he never made it about himself. His job was to keep spirits up, for audience and performers alike, and to rep and hype the comics. He was exemplary.

Look, I didn’t love every single comedian, but I found myself at least chuckling to something that each of them brought to the stage. A part of the problem I often have with local comedians is the attempt to construct a ‘bit’ and have it feel very much like a desperately prepared ‘bit’ — which is to say it’s an inauthentic story that’s been shaped in the way of a Netflix special or gag seen by a professional comic on a stage. No one was plagiarising material, but there is almost an accusation of plagiarism you could drop in the direction of delivery. And that bugs me. Maybe I need to articulate that further, so I’ll have a go: Some of this evening’s comics ended up working against themselves by taking an idea, or something that actually happened, which was probably pretty funny, and then by twisting it into a prepared shape for the stage they had neither the original ballon, nor anything quite resembling an animal; they just had a crudely shaped balloon.

I was blown away in the first set by Liv Ward.

I’ll add at this point, I had never seen any of these comedians prior.

There was some solid work by some of the people early on, but Ward was the revelation. They came on stage and just gave of themselves entirely. They were funny, and interesting, and different, and I was watching their set, thinking that I was seeing a new Lyn of Tawa, or Billy T. James, or, you know, anyone else you might care to name. My point being the voice was fresh, funny, and interesting. They were unashamedly themself, unabashedly Kiwi, and almost uncontrollably hilarious at times. Ward’s stage time teetered towards near-disaster — but was that part of it? Is this a master craftsperson running on the sting from it all? Or was it weird luck? Whatever the case Liv landed the plane. Big time.

After a short break there were a few more comics that had moments I liked (Summer Begalka) but too often it felt like all of the energy was invested in the delivery of the bit rather than the actual bit (Katy Borrows). The other revelation for me on this night was Chen Wang. She used a calmer, softer delivery, and at first I worried that things were not going to quite translate, that the material wasn’t going to hit. But by playing with stereotypes, turning them over, letting fresh humour drain from their ears, she had the crowd — often — in stitches.

Look, Jackson Herman was admirable with his musical-comedy bit, but I’m tired of that. Lydia Sainsbury’s manic energy just needs some actual jokes instead of dead spots, Annie Harper needs arc to her storytelling, and Sam Howard shouldn’t rely on cliched “comedy style”. Indie Grant needs more than the personality behind the material, so that it actually can matter, and Ben Lowes had a charm to his delivery and one or two jokes I really actually loved, but it all fell over too often, too easily.

So whether that’s cruel or kind, that’s the wrap. And I’m sure it’s bits of both. It is, in the end, only my opinion.

But I was thrilled to see the judges agreed with me — or perhaps I should say I agreed with them. The winner on the night was Liv Ward, and I say rightly. Absolutely. No contest. If Liv didn’t win I wouldn’t quite have rioted, but might have listened to The Clash’s White Riot in my headphones on the way home. So. There. And Chen Wang was awarded the runner-up, also the very correct decision. Both travel to Auckland, to represent Wellington. Both have an actual shot I’m sure, if they stick to the brilliance of what they currently have.

Donna Brookbanks’ guest spot was really just icing for the cake. She was decent. As should be the case — given she’s a step above the Raw finalists. She had some material, but not all of it was hitting, but there was enough casual-banter charm from her, and no smarm — I fucking hate that in comedians that frankly don’t yet deserve to have it — so she was always able to get things over the line.

A strong night for comedy then. At least in terms of effort. And occasionally enough in terms of execution also.

It’s nice seeing people so fresh and already earnestly into an attempted career or side-gig. It makes me realise how far we’ve come over the last two decades, creating this sort of environment for funny people to do their best to try to thrive.

Best of luck to Liv and Chen - and to all the others, keep at it. You’ve, at the very least, got something!