Review: Rose Matafeo, Latitude 2017

New Zealand's Rose Matafeo isn't really a stand-up comedian at all. She is simply a force of nature. A whirlwind in human form ready to whip up a comedy storm from the moment she walks on and sends up her own speccy appearance.

Her short Latitude set was an impressive showcase of her various talents, from physical clowning to off-the-wall mini-sketches. It was equally daft and deft as she moved through the gears building up to frequent big laughs.

Her best routines involve music, as she reworks the lyrics to R Kelly's Bump and Grind, or portrays a disillusioned violinist getting fed up with their minimal contribution to a Shaggy hit. There are some lovely tiny gags here, such as finding a phrase in a Michael Jackson classic and imagining it is what he came out with when he touched something hot.

There are moments when this approach sails close to Peter Kay's old "misheard lyrics" routine and there is a gag about not being able to resist dancing to a track by a controversial rapper which is very similar to an Aisling Bea gag about having a feminist stance on Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines but still shuffling to it after a few drinks. This overlap would not normally be an issue, but Bea had done her take on the topic earlier in the day on the same stage.

It'll be good to see Matafeo's full set and how she incorporates these elements into an hour. What this taster underlines is that this is a performer with genuine funny bones. Now she just needs to flesh those bones out.

Read more Latitude 2017 reviews here. 

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