Rhys Darby would be an instant stand-up legend whether he’d reached international acclaim as Murray in Flight of the Concords or not. His new show tour, This Way to Spaceship, has just started in the UK and it’s tears streaming from your eyes funny, as well as containing a few words of wisdom from the Darby mind.
The warm up act is Rhys Darby himself dressed up as his ranger character, Bill Napier. The act is funny, bizarre and almost authentic. This is followed up by support act, , whose comedy is brash and wayward at times, with flashes of poignancy and a great collection of comic songs to close on.
When Darby does take to the stage in earnest, the concept of the show comes to life as you find him on a spaceship escaping the no longer inhabitable planet earth. The dialogue with the ship’s computer is witty and sets up the main section of the show, Rhys’ life flashing before his eyes as he tries to remember how he made it onto the escape ship.
The autobiography stand-up style is intermingled with tangents of genius observational comedy. Dressage, hand shakes and Dyson hand dryers all come under his transcendental mind’s eye and the result will leave you creased up. You know your ticket price was money well spent when you have stop yourself from calling out “stop” because you’re laughing so hard it hurts.
Tracing Rhys’ life up to the point of near oblivion, This Way to Spaceship changes from meandering ramblings to, stuttering tangents and tales of youthful glee in a way that only Darby could achieve.
Rhys Darby, This Way to Spaceship review: 5/5
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