Welcome, Blog on the Tracks readers!

Here at Mrs. Peacock HQ, we're proud to have been purveyors of badly-written comedy songs since about 1999.

In case you haven't gotten the gist, Simon Sweetman doesn't like us very much. But we're comforted by the fact that he doesn't seem to like much else about NZ comedy either (particularly not the female comedians, who are apparently "interchangeable").

If you're interested in seeing some female comedians during this year's comedy festival, then we recommend the thoroughly interchangeable Comediettes, whose show, we understand, consists primarily (95%) of references to their vaginas.

(Needless to say you should also come and see Monkey vs. Robot)

UPDATE #1: Completely forgot to mention another all-female show in the festival: A Guide to the Uncool, starring Heidi and Rose. Or is that Rose and Heidi? I'm not certain, as they're so interchangable I can barely tell them apart. Either way if you're in Auckland you should go see them. I'm not sure how often they talk about their parts but I bet it's a lot.

UPDATE #2: Rose tells me that a solid 15 minutes of their show will be parts-related. I make that about 25%. Letting the side down a bit I reckon.

TJ gets reviews!

TJ McDonald (i.e. my partner in crime for the upcoming Monkey vs. Robot) just got a nice writeup as part of a longer review of First Laughs, the festival's opening bash.

"TJ MacDonald also merits a longer stint with his laconic observations – does he really love Secret Santa because he enjoys being the anonymous cause of someone else’s disappointment? Without wishing to inversely influence anyone’s shows, I encourage you to find out."

- Kate Blackhurst, Lumiere Reader

monkey vs. robot opens in a week!

Good times. Needless to say we're both very excited.

I thought that it was important to clarify though that the Monkey (TJ) and Robot (me) won't be interacting in any way during the show. We'll both be doing standup, separately.

Of course depending on how the shows go that could change over the course of the season. It all depends on you! Or something like that.

See you all next week, unless you're in Auckland, in which case I'll see you the week after that.

- Jarrod