Comedian Raybon Kan brings new tour to NZ stages

It’s almost a year since comedian Raybon Kan stepped off the plane in Hong Kong, ready to travel Asia with some stand up thrown in.  

Now he’s back in New Zealand, touring with his show Raybon ... Kan Touch This, in a very different environment. 

“[For example] performing in Singapore, having come from Hong Kong, I had a joke about how I'd gone to Hong Kong and for some reason, it was very cheap to get a hotel room,” he said. 

The joke landed in January because the protests were on everyone’s mind, and the impact they were having on something like tourism.   

“The topic, the zeitgeist wasn't about the virus. It was about the protest.” 

Comedian Raybon Kan is touring New Zealand with his show Raybon ... Kan Touch This. Photo: Supplied

But make the same joke today in the middle of a global pandemic and people would laugh for a different reason - if they’d laugh at all.  

When he came back to the stage in New Zealand, just after lockdown, he had a brief moment wondering whether people were ready to laugh about Covid – but in touring Raybon … Kan Touch This, one thing he’s found is that the laughter is coming through loud and strong.   

“[After lockdown], suddenly, we were allowed in a bar together to do a thing and I did it. That felt very strange. It was not clear whether people wanted to hear about Covid or not. Now, doing the show, obviously Covid is a reality around it, but it's not the show.” 

“I've been doing comedy for years and yet oddly I feel like this show has suddenly lifted my game. I feel like I'm getting more flavors of laughter out of the audience,” he said. 

Raybon ... Kan Touch This started officially touring in October and for a stand-up comedian, performing in a mostly post-pandemic country has been a different experience when it comes to the jokes landing.  

“I'm getting a reaction I never used to get, and I don't know what that is. But everyone just beams and there's this sort of gratitude - although I don't know if that's just because they're pleased to be out of the house or something.” 

Kan's show touches on cancel culture, the environment, and New Zealand sporting culture. Image: Supplied

“Sometimes I used to feel like the audience was an adversary, like you're a bullfighter steering a bull around and with this, it's much more being on the same page from the get-go.” 

Raybon ... Kan Touch This tackles the “things you can't talk about now” - cancel culture and the speed it can move at, the environment, as well as New Zealand’s sporting culture – and that’s where the show’s name comes from.   

He was due to take to the stage in March with his show, but lockdown stopped him in his tracks. It wasn’t until September that he was able to get back into the routine and that’s when he realised he had a pretty good show on his hands. 

“This show is a very rollicking good time with the crowd, and I can hear it, and I can see it.” 

He’s already taken his show to the likes of Taupō, Palmerston North, and Whanganui with Christchurch, Auckland, and Wellington to go.  

Kan’s next show will be in Lyttleton on November 5 followed by Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. For tickets and details, visit Eventfinda.