Alfred Kainga's stand up is painful to watch.
Everyone told me he’d be funny, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
If you go to an Alfred Kainga show, you listen to me and you listen to me good. Brace yourself for his performance.
Go ahead and start preparing now for his show. Do some sit-ups and planks and try to strengthen your core. Prepare your body for the physically demanding experience he’s about to put it through. Schedule a Botox appointment so you can preemptively touch up the laugh lines he’s about to give you. The man is going to have you buckled over in laughter more than once during his set. I can’t remember the last time my sides actually hurt from laughter.
If I had a few more drinks in me, there’s a slight chance I might’ve fallen out of my chair. Yes, he’s that funny.
But how does he do it?
I just watched Alfred destroy his headlining set at the Addison Improv. I’m sitting in my truck in the parking lot trying to decide what if is that makes Alfred so god-damn funny. Yes, the jokes and premises are great, (that’s a given) but there’s something else.
Alfred had complete control of the room. There was literally almost nothing he could say or do that wouldn’t get a fully unified uproar from the crowd.
Somehow this man put a spell on us all, and we were fully committed to the comedy journey he was taking us on.
Thinking back on his set, I realized that it starts from the moment you see him climbing the steps to the stage, and shaking hands with the host. From the second you visually see him you can feel that he’s ready to make your face hurt from laughter.
You realize as he grabs the mic and scans the crowd that he emanates a powerful and positive energy that instantly spreads to the crowd.
I feel that it’s important to stress that it’s not a fake halfcocked smile because someone gave him the advice to look happy on-stage. He appears to have genuine gratitude and happiness that he gets to perform for the crowd.
Simply put, you can feel that he wants to be onstage. He wants to make you laugh.
It sounds like a given, but I’ve watched countless shows that have a burnt out comic going through the motions on stage. There’s a big difference between reciting your material, and giving a performance. Alfred does the latter.
Then I noticed that Alfred stays far away from the traditional setup/punchline comedy routine. Instead, he weaves his jokes into detailed stories. He tells them with such passion and conviction that I genuinely have a hard time discerning which parts (if any) are embellished for comedic effect.
Furthermore, he tells his stories in a way that makes the club feel much more intimate than it actually is. I didn’t feel like I was in a 300 seat comedy club. I felt like I was drinking around a campfire and catching up with an old friend.
In one evening I learned how he received his citizenship, failed at a threesome, and got into a crotch kicking contest with a geriatric man. Yep, you read that correctly.
One of the more subtle aspects of Alfred’s performance is the way he accentuates his words and his facial expressions. He can make you laugh with just one calculated glance or a well emphasized word or syllable.
Lastly, his control of the room is very interesting because he makes you lose your sense of how big the room is. You simultaneously feel like you’re at a huge party with strangers and at a small intimate get together with your close friends. More than once I found myself glancing across the room and meeting eyes with a stranger while nodding in approval about what we were watching. The table behind me tapped me on the shoulder to say “oh my god!” after one of Alfred’s jokes. Even in the bathroom, a guy was talking to me about his favorite joke of the night. Somehow, it felt like we were all old friends hanging out together.
I’m not exactly sure how he pulls it off, but it’s a great trick that has made me a fan for life.
So be warned. Alfred’s comedy show isn’t just a couple of funny jokes. It’s a full experience. He is funny on a level that may cause you to have physical discomfort during and after the show, but you’re going to love every second of the pain.
Travis Wright is the host of the “I’m a fan of…” podcast. If you enjoy music and comedy, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and check out the You Tube page. Thanks!