Arj Barker: Go Time

Opening his show Go Time with a song, dancing around the stage with exaggerated movements, Arj Barker's boyish face grins at the crowd, recognisable from Flight of the Conchords and as an 'adopted Aussie,' one of Australia's favourite standup comedians. Cheesy puns like 'why don't you build a pyramid…and get to the point!' are scattered throughout the show, and while Barker knows how bad they are, he ties them into his stories so skilfully that the crowd loves them. 

He  personalizes the show with endearing jokes about Australia, drop bears, spiders, and being slain by a tram – the vehicle which 'weighs a million pounds, is pretty much silent, and whose bell sounds like the single haunting sound of an orchestral triangle.' He threads some spiritual and environmental messages through his show – but with his cheekiness and slight arrogance the audience is never quite sure of his sincerity.

There are some squeamish moments – Barker confesses a couple of 'secrets' – one, that his 'jizz' forms an image of a drawing of a penis, and his ending joke, that from time to time he enjoys diarrhea. His blow-by-blow account of his toilet behaviour draws groans but also plenty of laughs, and he wraps up with a song about poo.

Barker is confidently relaxed throughout, his show combining some fun, predictable humour with plenty of clever stuff in between.