Neel Kolhatker is a young Australian comic whose material, implicit in the name, is based on his observations about issues affecting his generation. His delivery relied on talking to the audience in an attempt to develop some to and fro and generate a more conversational approach.
He is a young comedian and there is some very good material there, but he needs to develop more craft and technique.
From the start this proved arduous as individuals weren’t very responsive. One should point out though that if your act is reliant on interaction, you should be asking more interesting questions than “What’s your name, where you from?” repeatedly. The great comics are those that can convert a dead audience and are so persuasive and charismatic they can draw a response from a stone. After a while he did get a response from one individual and this developed nicely, showcasing his wit and more improvised comedy nicely.
Slow start over, he took us through some good material. He did resort to some guiltily entertaining, but unoriginal, racial comedy to get the audience laughing. But as his material developed, his show focused on his obsession with rap music and his observations in a youthful career. Unfortunately, Kolhatker could not disguise his disappointment at the lack of response to some of his better jokes.
When’s all said and done: I like him. He is a young comedian and there is some very good material there, but he needs to develop more craft and technique. This will come with experience. He’s definitely worth keeping on your radar.
