Arj Barker is..

is not the funniest comedian I have seen this year, however he did make some good points, get good laughs from the audience and speaking of the audience man it was diverse.

Speaking of diverse, we had old, young (a baby was brought in which was awkward as the start of the show was about annoying kids on the plane), ethnically super diverse and around 50/50 men and women. It looked and seemed like a good start/end to date night this past Friday night.

Arj Barker is American however has been here many times before and therefore gets Australia, understands how expensive real estate is in Sydney, knows about state rivalry between Australian states and cash make fun of Australians without being overly offensive.

Comedy when done well is brilliant however when jokes go bad or wrong it can kill the mood and make you think, man this was not as great as one would have expected by an international comedian in a large room. Most comedy I see is in smaller rooms and when a comedian takes on the Star Event centre, a new venue, a larger room it's tricky to have the room on your side. Anh Do earlier this year did a brilliant job whereas Arj at times lost members of the audience and some jokes kinda fell flat.

Arj still has some regional NSW dates to come including my old stomping ground of the Central Coast, WYONG, ETTALONG & NEWCASTLE. For touring regionally I support Arj that is tidy work and most out of city folk generally have to travel or just sit at home watching the Block or Masterchef in place of enjoying good quality live entertainment.

So for touring regionally and getting amongst it I applaud Arj, however for a seasoned performer I did find the comedy lost its way in parts, the good was great but some of the show was drawn out and not as amusing. The sales pitch at the end was not only long and drawn out but slightly infomercial like and yes he had a long signing queue at the end (so the pitch/infomercial worked) but for the remainder of the audience it seemed a little desperate.

I get comedians need to make a coin and in the day of downloads and DVDs almost being fazed out you have to move all that stock, but really? Ten minute sales pitch at the end of a 60 minute show? That is 1/6 extra infomercial time.

Arj there is pros and cons but after the likes of Ronny Chieng and Joel Creasey earlier this year I think I prefer my comedy more local and slightly more playing on their differences. Also we all know I love Amy Schumer and almost everything outside of her world in comedy is slightly pale in comparison.

Also if your after off the wall TV comedy, this is back and fuck me it's good: