Review: It was chaotic, obscene and a genuine joy to see UK Taskmaster host Greg Davies as his unapologetic and completely bonkers self at his Auckland show. <\/p>\n
The 58-year-old actor and comedian was in New Zealand for the first time to perform his Full Fat Legend show, playing two sold-out Auckland dates on Sunday and Monday before moving on to Wellington and Christchurch.<\/p>\n
I was one of more than 2000 people at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre for Monday night’s show, but I’ll admit I didn’t know much about Davies beyond his role as Taskmaster (which he’s held for more than 11 years), his turn as Mr Gilbert in The Inbetweeners, and a handful of witty stories told from talk show host Graham Norton’s couch.<\/p>\n
By the end of the night, though, I had a very detailed understanding of this man’s brain and what caused him to become this way, as he proceeded to overshare from the opening word until the curtain closed.<\/p>\n
The show explores what it means to be called a “legend”, a title fans constantly shout at him in the street after it originated from The Inbetweeners. Davies quickly sets out to prove, in his view at least, that he’s anything but.<\/p>\n
He began by addressing his significant 18kg weight loss, noticeable on his more than 2m-tall frame, before swiftly diving into a series of deeply humiliating stories over the next two hours that demonstrated all the reasons he believes he’s unworthy of the title.<\/p>\n
I’m not even going to attempt to paraphrase those stories because I know I wouldn’t do them justice. I genuinely don’t think I can accurately summarise the many tales of toileting misadventures, prostate issues and male anatomy that became recurring themes throughout the evening.<\/p>\n
Over the course of two hours, Davies overshares about seemingly every corner of his life: growing up in the 1970s, his brief stint as a qualified teacher and his eventual rise to stardom. It had me laughing out loud, cringing in my seat and, at times, unsure where to look or what to think.<\/p>\n
The people sitting behind me cackled and whooped the entire time, though, so they were clearly among the true superfans.<\/p>\n
I also thought it was clever that he managed to make a show he’s been touring globally for nearly two years feel as though it had been created fresh for a New Zealand audience.<\/p>\n
I don’t know how to explain it in proper terms, but as he told each story and pulled the audience into his mind, often taking us back to a time when “things were different back then”, he frequently seemed to lose himself in his own train of thought. Sometimes he’d get so committed to a bit that he’d repeat it several times, which somehow only added to the appeal.<\/p>\n
At one point, while describing asking his brother-in-law to inspect his butthole on Christmas Day, things descended into such chaos that he told the same joke five times. It still got laughs every single time.<\/p>\n
As Davies doubled over with his hands on his knees, laughing at the lunacy of his own life, you couldn’t help but laugh with him and wonder what bizarre anecdote he might pull out next.<\/p>\n
I can’t remember the exact wording, but he said something along the lines of: “I’ve genuinely lost the plot”, which only reinforced the impression that he was flying by the seat of his pants.<\/p>\n
As if the chaos wasn’t already baked into every show in every city around the world.<\/p>\n
But I suppose that’s the essence of a good comedian: someone who can walk on stage and talk openly about taboo topics, embarrassing anecdotes and stories you’d never dream of telling your closest friends, let alone a theatre full of strangers.<\/p>\n
It’s full-on, it’s funny and it will make you see the Taskmaster in a whole new, and very personal, light.<\/p>\n