Not only were the audience numbers up from the previous show, but the games flowed thick and fast, making it one very packed night of fun and laughter.

After a bit of warm-up, it was straight into the first game of the night, the ‘Clap Game’. This had Kathy and Brett’s suggestion of “motorcycle” turn into a moped and a marital dispute.
Ian and Sue had to deal with a pumpkin where one of them had a veggie fetish and wanted to introduce spicy pumpkin into the bedroom.
From the word “Golf”, Jon and Kelly ended up pimping their golf cart into a Cadillac simply by putting the Cadillac symbol on the sides.

‘Pocket Note’ – Sue and Fee were sisters planning to do away with their mother to get the inheritance. Mother, played by Kathy, had other ideas. As she made her way into the room, complaining that no one had come to help her in the shower, she announced that she would go on a cruise. The brochure said, “At first I was afraid, I was petrified”, allowing Kathy to add that it was a horror-themed cruise.
As the notes continued, Fee not only became pregnant, but the chance of “Here’s my resignation” meant she would be able to go on the cruise as well.
The lines came thick and fast amid much laughter, which even the players were hard-pressed to contain.

Needless to say, the sisters threw in their plans when Mother announced she had struck them off her will.

With ‘Sign Language Interpreter’ another crowd favourite, Jon interviewed Brett, better known as Mr Slipover, because of his ability to train Koalas to be firefighters. Mr Slipover took great delight in taking his Koalas to Melbourne into the nearest bar, where they got wasted. At that point, he put a hat on them and guided them to the nearest fire – which in Melbourne was nowhere.
Kelly had the audience in stitches as she flung herself about interpreting the crazy lines thrown out by both Jon and Brett.

The ‘Dating Game’ had Cindy (Kelly) asking the contestants questions to see if they would be a suitable date for her.
A snippet of the game will give you an idea of who she was dealing with.

She was able to guess what each one’s quirk was and decided, in the end, to go with the eggplant.

The second half saw ‘The Relay’, a long-form game with all the players. The suggestion from the audience was “jealousy”, and the green-eyed monster appeared not as a monster but as a Dr McDreamy. Sue, a surgeon, couldn’t concentrate on the patient on the bed but instead held her gaze to his green eyes; consequently, the patient died. The scene shifted from the operating room to the mortuary to the gift shop—lots of dead bodies and green eyes.

The show wound up, the audience left, and the players headed off to the Strand for a final drink and a goodbye to Kathy, who has now flown back to the USA to visit family.
Don’t worry; she’ll be back for October’s show!

Thanks to players

Kathy Kelly Ian Brett

Sue Jon Fee

Thanks to the Crew: Sally & Ant

The next show on the Black Box Stage is on Saturday 2nd Juluy at 7.30 pm

Book your tickets and join the players for loads of laughs.

1^st Saturday of every month.
16th Ave Theatre.
16th Avenue, Tauranga.
Show Starts: 7.30 p.m.
Licenced bar available.

It proved to be a very different show, as not only did the Honest Liars present a brand new game, but there was a tinge of sadness.

The last day of daylight saving didn’t faze the exuberance of the Honest Liars players as they arrived at the theatre ready to play to a nearly full audience.

The fact there were so many tickets sold was a surprise considering the nation’s state was still in the Red Light level. It seemed that the virus would not overshadow the fun they came to have.

The chairs were sorted, the signs went out, and the air conditioning was cranked up. Yes, temperatures were climbing not only with the climate but with the fun the players were having during their warm-ups.

At 7 pm, the Honest Liars disappeared into the backroom to make way for the influx of audience members. Finally, all was ready, the music increased, and the lights dimmed as Kathy, the emcee, made her way to the stage.

Warming the crowd up with lessons on how to clap, the players ran out and onto the stage to begin the first game of ‘Questions’, which had them in a barbershop on Uranus.

‘Pocket Note’ saw Kim and Jon working in an S.T.D. Clinic in Huntly when in came Brett with a major problem. What happened next had the crowd erupting into laughter as the pocket note lines were read. After examination, Kim exclaimed, “it’s so fatty”.

Then after Jon asked, “have you ever had genital warts?” the scene collapsed into a riot of improbable antics that have never been seen before in any clinic.

After a short break for patrons to refill their glasses, it was time to introduce the new game.

Drum roll, please!!!

‘The Relay’ 

Typically the Honest Liars play short-form games similar to ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ but now they were ready to spread their wings and take on long-form. This is one game lasting for the entire second half of the show.

The game, created by the talented Honest Liars player, Jon Boyer, is all based on one word given by the audience. In this case, the word was “Tyrannosaurus”, and so the players began.

Going in turns of two players at a time, the game unfolded, starting with two palaeontologists discovering bones.

As one character left the scene, the next player in line entered, and the story continued. All players then shifted one seat until all players had their turn. Then came the thrilling bit. It was all reversed! The players had to remember who they had been, what had happened, where everyone was, and help progress the story to a final conclusion ending with the original two players.

It went off without a hitch!

The audience was enchanted, and afterwards, glowing comments were given.

“How did you all remember it?”

“Loved the game, so incredibly clever.”

“Laughed till I almost peed my pants.”

Then several signed up for the workshop JOIN HERE on Saturday 21st May, eager to have another fun day out.

With the excellent audience reaction, the Honest Liars decided to keep ‘The Relay’ in the shows. If you want to witness this great game in action, come along to the next show!

It was time to say goodnight to the audience, but there was one last thing to do before the players left the stage.

A beautiful, large bunch of flowers was brought forward and given to the Honest Liars player, Kim. Kim and her family are sadly heading back to their home in the U.S.A. after being in N.Z. for several years. Kim has been a fabulous player with the group since its inception, and she will be sorely missed. Thank you, Kim, for all the wonderful lines, the camaraderie and your dedication to improv.

Then it was time for the lights to go off and the players to head to The Strand for a wind-down drink before heading home with applause still ringing in their heads.

Thanks to players

Kathy Kelly Brett Sally Mark

Sue Matt Jon Kim

Thanks to the Crew: Fee.

 

The next show on the Black Box Stage is on Sunday 4th June at 7.30 pm

Book your tickets and join the players for loads of laughs.

1^st Saturday of every month.
16th Ave Theatre.
16th Avenue, Tauranga.
Show Starts: 7.30 p.m.
Licenced bar available.

 

 

 

Slow early ticket sales followed by a late rush of fun-seekers escaping the terrible weather resulted in a nearly full house.

It was terrific to welcome Neil, the troupe’s founder, into the audience to see the show before he makes the shift to Auckland. The Honest Liars will all miss him and thank him for all his work setting up and developing the team.

And another sad farewell was said to a wonderful player, Melissa, who is moving to South Island. Melissa’s passion for Improv shone through with her behind the scenes work along with stellar performances over the years. Take care, Melissa and thank you for all your work and encouragement. Your passion for Improv is contagious.

The players were warmed up and ready, and so on this special night, above the sound of the hammering rain, Jon the emcee introduced the cast, and it was on with the fun!

Starting with “Laugh Elimination”, the group got the crowd warmed up for the rest of the evening.

The next game, “Pocket Note,” featured Matt, Sally and Kim. It involved planning a wedding that turned into a complicated ménage à trois. Applying audience suggestions like “hit me baby one more time” and “why are you naked?” quite a story developed.

Straight into “My Movie”, where audience suggestions of letters resulted in great movie titles like Zebra Algorithms and Zamboni Accident- yes, that’s right- the slowest disaster movie ever made.

Kim was late for work with Brett, Sally and Matt miming audience suggestions for why she was late. Her dog being too cuddly resulted in Sally on all fours giving a great impression of a cute doggy while Matt had the difficult task of miming the word diesel.

“The Cube” was played by Brett, Sally, Kelly and Melissa. It involved Kelly as the slowest tradie ever, taking two years to dig out a swimming pool with her special spade and Melissa and Sally as seniors growing weed in Tauranga to help with arthritis pain in the form of ‘special baking’ that was ever so popular.

After an interval so brief it didn’t happen – On with the rest of the show!!

“Film Director”, played by Melissa Kelly and Kim with director Jon, saw the acting out of a horror movie in a rest home located in Briscoes. Plenty of bargains were to be had alongside some great spooky side effects.

The resident sign language expert Kelly was on hand to interpret an interview held by Matt and Brett on the subject of teaching Llamas to Yodel. Unfortunately, the expert “Dr Lie-down” meant that Kelly had a real workout while interpreting the interview. Full marks for Kelly’s stamina; surely she will need some power aid for the next one!

“The Dating Game” saw Matt as the lucky Batchelor selecting from a delicious cannibal played by Kim, Kelly, was a conspiracy theorist who believed in aliens and Sally a Teletubby. Kudos to Matt for correctly guessing the bachelorettes’ real identities

In her last ever performance with Honest Liars, Melissa vamped it up with the ultimate femme fatale in “Film noir” with Jon as her co-star.

As usual in the “Film Noir” segment, you could cut the sexual tension with… well, a sledgehammer. Too hot for the frier, Melissa as the Maven in Maccas could not temp the guy in the fries section.

And one last special game. It was beautiful to invite Neil on stage to join the cast in the hilarious “Themed Restaurant”. A delightful menu of dumpster diving specialities was presented to Jon and Neil by the entire cast.

And so ended the evening. Emotions ran high at the farewell to dear friends Neil and Melissa, who helped set up and develop Honest Liars into a group that can stand proud in the improv comedy world.

Thank you, Neil and Melissa, for all your work and all the laughter.

Thanks to players

Melissa Matt Kim

Sally Kelly Brett

Thanks to the Crew:

Sue and Fee and Caleb on sound.

NEXT SHOW – NEW ATTRACTION!!!!

We welcome musical guests, improvised jam band, Stone Immortal.

They will kick the night off at 6PM with live music.  Bring the gang for a night a live music and huge laughs.  Tickets only $15

The next show at the Jam Factory is on Sunday 11th July 7 pm

Book your tickets and join the players for loads of laughs. NOTE: We are BYO!

1^st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

Level 1 came back just in time for the Honest Liars’ March Show.

Finally, the rain had cleared, the lockdown levels changed, and the players bustled into the Jam Factory for the pre-show activities.

Warm-ups, run-throughs, sound and lighting checks, chairs out and stage set. Time for a quick pop into the Mood Lounge to get into the mood for the night’s performance.

Quite a few new faces in the audience, which meant they were in for a treat as Melissa, the emcee for the night, introduced them to the art of clapping. Nothing beats resounding applause!

‘Laugh Elimination’ had proved popular at the previous show and certainly delivered again as the players navigated themselves through a wedding in a cathedral in Barcelona. The choir sounded like chipmunks, and the story ended with a vegan vampire unable to drink the blood of Christ wine.

Jon and Kelly did a stellar performance with the new game ‘He Said, She Said’. The argument between this married couple was all about the washing. Jon tried to find a pair of jeans instead found a pair belonging to his wife, which fitted her 30 years ago. However, the crunch came when he discovered a beautiful piece of pink lingerie in the laundry basket, and it didn’t belong to Kelly. Her anxiety attack sent Jon to fetch her pills, of which he had switched them to cyanide.

The’ Change Game’ saw Kim trying to teach Brett how to drive a bus. When Kim got him to look at the little boy Kathy tapped change. The little boy then changed to a kiwi bird followed by a drunk. So it was settled, Brett was to head for the drunk. Fee and Kathy’s changes took the story in lots of different direction, much to the delight of the audience.

The second half brought in a crowd favourite ‘Pocket Note’. This had Sally and Melissa as road workers and Kelly as the Forman who struggled to control the team. It wasn’t long before employment contracts, mother’s wise words and signposts were quoted from the notes suggested by the audience. “She’s my cousin”, “He made me do it”, and “I’ve given you an STD” were just a sample of the lines these road workers weaved into the story.

The show flowed on, and the laughter continued.

‘A Special Event’. saw one brave audience member, Peter, volunteer to recount his birthday. His wife, Jacqui, had brought him to the show as a surprise.

The day unfolded from coffee in bed, swimming in the neighbour’s pool, and watching sport on TV before coming to the show.

Then it was time for the players to take over!

Jon (Peter) and Kim (Jacqui) set about re-enacting the birthday. Kathy became the neighbour, Janet, and Brett, the brother-in-law who was visiting.

A great deal of creative licence went on, much to the delight of both Peter and the audience.

To end the show, it was time for the press to grill Jon, who had fronted up as CEO of Air N.Z., to explain why both wings had fallen off a plane. Throughout the questioning by the fourth estate, hints were given. From Paul McCartney’s band Wings to one press member pointing out the exits, Jon finally pieced together who he was and what had happened.

The audience filed out, still chuckling and with comments of returning with friends. For the players, it was time for a wind-down at Mood before returning to shut down the Jam Factory and head off home.

Thanks to the players:

Kathy Fee Sally Kim

Kelly Mark Jon Brett

Thanks to the Emcee: Melissa and Crew: Sue and Caleb.

The next show ……. Sunday 4^th April at 7 pm

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW.

1^st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

Contact us if interested in our Next Workshop

It began with an idea that proved to be a winner!

The Honest Liars decided to make quite a change with the layout of the stage. It worked!!!! The audience thought it was brilliant, they could see what was going on, and the players had more space to frolic about with their comedic antics.

It was a smaller group of players this time, only six, but they still managed to put on a show that had the audience laughing. Once the stage had been positioned, it was time to put out the chairs ready for the seven people who had tickets to arrive (and the hope of a few more walk-ins). Then it was time for a run-through of the games that were going to be played.

After a good warm-up, the players headed over to the Mood Lounge for a break leaving the crew to man the door. By the time they were back, there were certainly more than seven eager patrons filing in. In fact, it ended up being a nearly full house as more tickets had been sold at the last minute!

The players arrived on stage to battle it out for the best ‘World’s Worst’ hypnotist/publican/boss and midwife. Quickly followed by another warm-up game, ‘Questions’, where the players must speak in question form only.

Then the games began in earnest with ‘Four Ways to Die’ after which was the hilarious ‘Hollywood Director’ game. Kevin played the director trying to come up with the best take on the audience suggested scene of prostitutes in an alleyway. Kathy was an excellent pimp handling a prostitute (Jon) with problems and Melissa a very demanding customer. The director tried different genres from Western to Shakespeare, each one getting funnier and the problems getting worse.

It was decided to lengthen the half-time as not only did the audience need a bathroom break, but many needed to refresh their drinks from Mood.

Back with the show and ‘Film Noir’ was another hit. The suggestion from the audience had Jon and Melissa in Disneyland. Melissa, a princess, was tired of just having children around so when she spied Jon, she decided he could be the one. Little did she know that Jon, being British, gets turned on standing in queues for 3 – 4 hours. Have a peek and why he said it.

 

The rest of the 2nd half had the ‘Superheros’ battling a shortage of peanut butter and Fee, Sally and Kevin giving ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ advice on home loans and procrastination among other things.

Two brave members of the audience came up onto the stage to assist in the ‘Change’ game. There Kathy, a criminal lawyer, was trying to talk to the client, Fee, who couldn’t make up her mind if she’d killed just one celebrity or many all for 15 minutes of fame.

Finally, the curtain came down. Well, not literally as there is no curtain! The players said goodnight to the audience, reassembled the stage back to where it was, turned off the lights and headed to Mood for a celebratory drink and a wind-down.

Thanks to the players:

Kathy Kevin Sally

Melissa Jon Fee

Thanks to the Crew:

Mark and the players!

 

The next show at the Jam Factory is on Sunday 1st November 7 pm

Book your tickets, have a drink at Mood Lounge first, then join us for loads of laughs.

1^st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

Next Workshop – Jam Factory Saturday, October 10th 10 – 12

Contact us if interested

Following on the heels of a sell-out show at the Jam Factory, the Honest Liars had a booking at the Waihi Theatre and, true to form, excitement swelled as the time got closer.

The first order of business was to meet at the local Kebab eatery for some smashing food and a plan of action before heading off to the theatre.

For a couple of the players, it was a bit of a time warp as they had been known to tread the boards on more than one occasion in this theatre.

No time for faffing about though as there were banners to put up, lighting instructions to give and warm up to be played.

In no time at all, it was showtime!

The irrepressible emcee Melissa began warming up the crowd getting them to a full crescendo of applause as the players tumbled out onto the stage. And the games began.

‘Scenes from a Hat’ gave all the players a chance to warm up the crowd with their disrespectful answers and statements to subjects such as ‘the world’s worst nun’ and ‘what you shouldn’t say on a first date’. The mention of Trump in that first game was the kicker for the audience to fall about laughing.

‘Four ways to die’ saw death by suffocation, out of a window, stabbed and crushed with the story set in the mine pit. This was followed by ‘Pocket note’ a game in which the audience gave sentences which were written on paper then incorporated into the game. Of course, the players had left the stage in order not to hear. Naturally, the innuendos flourished making for brilliant comedy.

‘Party quirks’ saw some extremely odd guests arriving including Quasimodo and a gentleman who could turn chairs into humans!!

At the end of the first half, a couple of audience members came on stage and helped with the ‘Change game’. This meant tapping the player’s shoulder, saying “Change” and changing the context of the scene. It is always a thrill to have brave people join in and share the fun on stage.

A bit of a twist came at the beginning of the second half when the audience was asked to participate in sending a “happy birthday” to one of the player’s son. A very quick video recorded as the camera was raised to take in all the Honest Liars and the audience as everyone shouted out the birthday message. (Needless to say, it was well-received by the birthday boy).

Cracking on with the second half the audience by now was well and truly into calling out suggestions, some great, some okay and some definitely R18. But the games continued, and once more two audience members were called upon to participate in the game ‘Puppets’. They quickly took control of the players in a scene held in a ballet studio.

It seemed like just a blink of the eye, and it was over. The Honest Liars mingled with the crowd as they were leaving the theatre and encouraged them to come back to the next performance to be held on August 29th. The players then packed up and went off to Waihi Beach pub for a celebratory drink before heading to their digs for the night to debrief and relive an exceptional night.

 

Thanks to all the players

Sally Kathy Brett Kelly Kevin

Kim Melissa Kristina Fee

 

Next show is on August 2nd so save the date!

1^st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts:  7 p.m.