By Jake Ebdale

Artist: Russell Brand

Date / Venue: Wednesday October 14th, 2015 - Vector Arena, Auckland

Comedy shows can drag, plain and simple. This was not the case with Russell Brand's refreshing show, Trew World Order. There was genuine excitement amongst the 4000 at Vector, and for most of the show, he was treated as a rock star.

Off the back of his semi-blacklisting from the entertainment industry and his online show The Trews, Brand, in his first visit to NZ, was his usual articulate, smutty, hyper-intelligent self.

A sort of multimedia show with intermittent showings of YouTube clips that featured or referred to him, Brand could be, at times, exhausting when speaking of the uprising/revolution material that he is so passionate about these days, but his compare and contrast with Rupert Murdoch and Hitler was very well thought-out, and fucking funny.

As I said, he is definitely a rock star figure, and the female fans in the audience let him know this. His true wit would shine when he'd talk to the crowd - including a perplexing conversation with a ‘whale of a man' on whether Brand was circumcised, in which the comedian then said he felt sorry for the man's wife and that he should sleep on his back at night so he doesn't choke on his own lardy bile. Hilarious stuff.

Whenever a comedian moseys over to our shores, there are jabs at what makes us Kiwis so unique - references to our accent, our sayings, the general disdain for John Key, and Hamilton as perennial punchline.

Brand touched upon all these things (including an early, spot-on take on the term ‘good c**t'), and the biggest laugh was a reference to ‘yeah, nah', elaborated on by a Brand-look alike, Brad, plucked from the audience. "Sometimes it means ‘yeah', and other times, like, ‘nah.' A clip showing Brand's experience in the US army was also a side-splitter, as well as his confusion at the 10 commandments (on being gay vs stealing thy neighbour's oxen, and a disgusting-but-funny reference to ‘cum bubbles'.)

Overall, an enthralling, slightly confusing display of talent from the rogue, Jesus-like Brand. Watch the Trews.