ROBERT EYRES WATCHES TELLY

Rip It Up, Issue 69, 1 April 1983, Page 8

ROBERT EYRES WATCHES TELLY

Robert Eyres

*

New not an easy place for stand-up comics to find work but until recently it always seemed there would be openings for them in TVNZ Sports. It was sad, however, to see this summer's cricket coverage using instead the likes of John Morrison and Warren Stott, who bored us all to sleep by talking intelligently and articulately about the game as if that were the object of the exercise. In fact the whole lineup of cricket

commentators is very low on entertainment value indeed. Alan Richards, despite his years of experience, is still more into pathos than true humour. Peter Williams' hapless innocent routine (note Harry Langton, Jerry Lewis influence) is coming along but only the low level gay undertone raises Billy Ibadulla's sub-Peter Sellers routine above the pedestrian. And that's your lot. The Ockers did much better by using the World Series as a vehicle for the All Time Rambling Bore of the Universe play-off between Bill Lawry and Fred Trueman. Thank God rugby's back soon, and the return of the incomparable Keith Quinn. Quinn outshines even John Clarke / Fred Dagg and the slick Norman Jones-Ben Couch team as the great kiwi comedy act,

marred only by occasional lapses into pure slapstick. Graham Thorne is improving fast too but the Les Dawson influence is still a bit obvious and he does go a bit over the top. on the drunken, slobbering number. However, the Harpo Marx hairdo suggests - a whole new.direction. Underrated is boxing man Bob Jones, who takes a lot of good old Kenneth Williams, routines downmarket but is probably a little subtle for mass appeal. ' Let us hope TVNZ is not, as the cricket coverage suggests, planning to cast off all these top New Zealand entertainers. After all, we still have a long way to go to equal the truly world class Ocker league commentators. Bring on the winter sport. Bring on the clowns!