COMEDY REVIEW: Hi, Delusion!
17.05.2023 at Basement Theatre
This review is part of the 2023 Comedy Festival Lineup!
It’s impossible to start this review without mentioning Johanna’s dazzling stage presence, and gorgeous apparel. Sporting a black veil, tight fitting, slick black dress, and shiny knee high boots, she immediately takes the audience by the eyes, tits, balls, or any other appendage which (being grabbed) would entirely capture your attention.
Hi, Delusion!, written and performed by Johanna Cosgrove and directed by Jess Joy Wood, has a stand-up/anecdote format which we are all familiar with, and rode an alluring line between relatablility, and unhinged personal stories, which had the audience snorting with laughter.
Despite self proclaiming as ‘slipping into the void’, Johanna has a delightful air of self-confidence (perhaps the kind one acquires while slipping into the void), and a sort of morbid optimism, like she is inviting her audience to join in the band’s merriment as we all watch the ship sink around us. If we can’t laugh about it, we’d be crying about it. Make no mistake though, she is well and truly the main character, well adorned in self-awareness. No room for tall-poppy-syndrome here, even the most indoctrinated kiwi couldn’t argue with Johanna’s natural charisma and charm.
Johanna’s strength lies in her shaggy-dog-stories, which I won’t spoil here, although I want to. These tales will have you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out which wet fish you were about to get comedically slapped in the face with. Complete with props, lighting, and music cues, this show takes you on a journey through moments of Johanna’s life with the caring detail of a Bob Ross tutorial - except the ‘happy little clouds’ are descriptions of the usual characters one might find in Calendar Girls on a thursday morning at 11am. Spanning from the horrors of Waiheke bachelorette parties, to online dating while isolating with covid. Not shy of political commentary, or crimes against fashion, this show has a bit of everything, although it is not for the faint of heart.
Hi, Delusion! had me giggling, snickering, if not whooping from start to finish, but on a more serious note (as I am not a comedian myself, I am not obliged to be funny about funny things) Johanna’s observational satire, coupled with her honesty about the darker areas of her everyday consciousness, made for a cathartic hour of revelling in the misfortunes of others, as well as drawing critical attention to the hilarity of one's own hypocrisies. Crude, hilarious, shocking, undeniably sexy, Hi, Delusion! certainly aimed high and didn’t miss.
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Check out more about Hi, Delusion! here!