Jarred Christmas Stands Up

When prompted to put his profession on his daughter’s birth certificate, the seriousness of Jarred Christmas’ job finally came home to him. If he doesn’t make us laugh then baby Maggie goes without nappies. Luckily, she is doomed to no such fate, as Jarred Christmas Stands Up is an energy packed gem of a show that’s both funny and heartfelt.

Christmas describes himself as "just a Kiwi guy having a laugh" and, as far as this hour suggests, that is exactly what he is. Naturally affable and imbued with a raucous, infectious joie de vivre, Christmas is a consummate performer who inspires real trust from the moment he bounds on stage.

With material ranging from childhood heroes to his ballet dancing days (even with his current penchant for secret snacking he’s actually quite graceful and pulls off a mean moonwalk) this is a solid show that mingles straight jokes with touching comedic stories. A Shakespearean soliloquy about economics is particularly brilliant.

Linking each observation back to his daughter, Jarred Christmas Stands Up has a personal weight to it. Describing a humiliating confrontation that he watched passively, he cuts through the comedy with some moments of real regret that he did nothing to help the victim. He is never going to let negativity stop Maggie like that. "Make a stand," he tells us. Jarred Christmas is certainly making a stand, and it’s a hilariously touching one.