Presented by Mary Tobin Presents…
@ Arts Theatre, 53 Angas St
TUESDAY 28 February (until March 11)

So Stephen K Amos thinks we all have an agenda. He believes these agendas are formed in various ways by our parents, where we grow up, and many other details in our lives. This is the basic idea his new show revolves around. His agenda, as advertised, is laughter. Having only seen him on TV in small doses before, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a full-length show. Quite a lot of it was audience interaction and when a heckler came up with a quick-witted comment relevant to the show Amos was quick to show his appreciation commenting, ‘That’s fucking hilarious. I wish I’d said that.’

He began the sold-out show by discussing the political leadership challenge that was all over the press on his arrival here, comparing it to the topic the media was so concerned about last time he was in the country just after the Queensland floods: that there were no bananas! Like many comedians he does his research. He really seems to know his stuff about Australia and Adelaide. We were also a test crowd he informed us. He had a sheet of paper with jokes that were getting the tick of approval to remain in the show or not depending on how big a laugh they received. Or he said he was. And even though this joke continued all through the show it kept earning laughs. It seemed the majority of the new jokes were staying.

Then we were onto his childhood. Being half Nigerian and half English was something that he spoke about, as was his family. He touched upon his parents comparing his career as a comedian with his brother’s as a scientist and them thinking that maybe he doesn’t quite measure up. I’m a little scared as I pen this after he read aloud to us a less than complimentary review he’d received after a show in Townsville some years ago. The reviewer was quite annoyed and wished for him to leave Townsville, or better yet the whole of Queensland, off his next tour schedule after he’d insulted both the town and the mayor. Amos eventually apologised for the slights he committed against Townsville to earn this harsh review, but as he told us, it was just lip service, he didn’t mean it. This led into a discussion of whether we thought the apology the Government gave to the Indigenous people of our country was a good thing and to a conversation he’d had with an Indigenous man on the streets of Sydney.

My personal highlight was when the whole crowd joined him singing Ramadan to the tune of the Banana Boat song. It was just so absurd to be sitting in a theatre full of people singing this, this part actually had me laughing a lot.  During much of the rest of the show I often found myself thinking yes, that’s funny but not actually laughing. The rest of the crowd were chortling like mad for most of the show though, so what would I know?

I like a comedian who isn’t afraid to diverge from his planned material and I enjoyed the clearly spontaneous material more than some of the planned stuff. However, his story about a case of mistaken identity at a fancy resort in Thailand after a night on the drink was gold. With so much crowd interaction the show will be quite different from night to night, and this will help to keep it fresh and fun for Amos. When he’s on the stage he seems comfortable and happy, and at times his manner is so relaxed that it’s just like he’s having a chat with the whole audience at a very large bar. He comes across as very intelligent, and it isn’t gung-ho comedy, he’s calm and in control. This made me think that he’d be ok with my not being doubled up with laughter the whole time, like just the fact that I recognised the joke or ‘found the funny’ as he’d say would be enough of a reaction to this laid-back humour.

When he had a punch-line mishap he redid the joke, for his own sanity he said. When everyone laughed as if it was the first time we’d heard it he told us not to patronise him. He’s unafraid to make a mistake and admit to it, unafraid to be a bit of a snark to the audience and unafraid to do accents that could very easily be taken as racist. And as far as agendas go, Stephen K Amos certainly succeeds in his.