Nick Rado demonstrated why he won the 2011 New Zealand Comedy Guild best master of ceremonies award with his charming quick-fire banter with the multinational audience, which warmed them up for opening act Tarun Mohanbhai.
The bewildered comic, also known as "That Indian Guy", had the crowd guffawing when he told of the racial consequences of starring in a Marmite television commercial and why not all accents are sexy when used to pick up women in a bar.
Veteran headliner Andrew Clay drew on his recollections of entertaining drunks on the Australian toilet circuit and the battle of the sexes.
The self-confessed "uber-Kiwi" patriot nevertheless admitted he sang Maori-sounding names of towns because he did not know Maori lyrics of the national anthem.
Clay thanked the audience for watching the show instead of the Olympics speed-walking race, which "looks like a domestic dispute on Ponsonby Rd".
