The first time I knew about Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby was when I happened to stumble upon a tv show in which he travels to Japan, “Rhys Darby: Big in Japan”, and I instantly became a fan so I was super excited when I found out that he would be performing a show in Perth for the Perth Comedy Festival and his show did not disappoint.
Although Rhys delves into a range of topics, which he manages to squeeze into his hour-long show, it centred predominantly on technology and its impact on society.
His take on Artificial Intelligence (AI) within society was especially cleverly portrayed using an analogy of a horse and carriage. The horses are the AI, the tech billionaires Mark Zuckerburg, Elon Musk and Sam Altman are the horsemen with the whips directing the horses where to go, the general population are the passengers inside the carriages not knowing where the horses are taking them, and the Baby Boomer generation are being dragged behind the carriages in this crazy ride. The whole image was brought to life energetically with Rhys impersonating the horses, the tech billionaires, the general population and the Baby Boomers.
With Perth known as being behind the rest of the world in everything, he jokes that Perth wouldn’t be aware of this, as AI hasn’t yet hit Perth.
Throughout the show, Rhys tells separate stories like Rumba the robot vacuum that escapes from home or the flying machine he invents to take his kids to school. In the end, he manages to weave all the stories into one cleverly crafted final story.
Rhys is also a man of hidden talents, or perhaps a talent of his that isn’t so well known. I was impressed with his voice, sound effects, and his beatboxing and DJ skills. During the performance, he manages to put together a live track of him beatboxing.
Rhys was full of energy throughout his entire show. He is not one to stand still. He is animated in the stories that he tells, and his passion for comedy and storytelling shines through in his performances. There are some comedians who are more popular with male audience and others with female audience. Rhys appeals to a wide range of audience members regardless of age, gender or ethnicity.
Unlike other comedians, he also delivered quite a poignant message about not getting too consumed with technology, to appreciate each other’s company whilst we can, as life is short and not to be so afraid of what the future holds in these uncertain times.
The Perth Comedy Festival runs from 21 Apr to 18 May. To book tickets to a show, please visit https://www.perthcomedyfestival.com/.
