How To Rock

Published Monday 13 August 2007 at 10:55 by Chris Wilson

Christian Reilly is a guitarist who was inspired to become a stand-up comedian by the great Rich Hall in whose band he toured on or off for six years.

Wisely, he has placed his obvious skill as a guitarist and songwriter centre stage in this production and penned stand-up material around it. The result was some blisteringly funny songs, interspersed by dodgy, half-baked comedy routines.

At the root of Reilly’s problem was his stage persona. He came across as a cheeky, ruddy-faced guitarist chappie, and then, incongruously, used date-rape material on a pretty woman in the audience. Suddenly, the persona did not ring true.

The show was also a bit of a misnomer. It was not so much informing the audience of how to rock as telling the story of how Reilly became a rocker, through his parents’ divorce and mother’s numerous boyfriends, including a cool hippy who gave him his first guitar, a Gibson Flying-V.

It was an interesting story with some good yarns, like how he missed his band’s big break by overdosing on dope cake. But weak material prevailed too often.

The songs, however, saved his bacon and there was no doubt the audience left having been entertained.