As an audience, we all love a good success story. But if we are honest, we love it even more when things go wrong. Night Terror by New Zealand’s Eli Matthewson delivers the perfect mix of disaster and charm. After all, what could be worse than your boyfriend trying to murder you?
From the moment he begins, Matthewson has the audience in a steady rhythm of laughs, never letting the energy dip. He is fast, funny, and instantly likeable, the kind of comic you trust to take you anywhere, even somewhere slightly odd.
The “night terror” at the heart of the show is not a supernatural haunting but a far more intimate (and absurd) incident: the night Matthewson’s boyfriend, mistaking him for an intruder, tried to strangle him in his sleep. They remain happily together, and Matthewson has transformed the ordeal into a running joke, first among friends and family, and now on stage, gleefully coaxing couples in the audience to decide which one of them would be the “strangler” in their own relationship (a conversation sure to make for an interesting car ride home).
The night itself came after weeks of mounting tension following a string of home invasions, one of which claimed the lives of two beloved pink flamingo lawn ornaments. Fly high, flamingos, fly high. Yet, for all the anxiety and grief woven into the story, Matthewson’s telling is warm, personable, and relentlessly funny—proof that comedy can bloom from even the most peculiar forms of chaos.
What makes him stand out is how much he packs into an hour. His stories zip along, each loaded with quick-fire gags, sharp asides, and references to previous gags, collating into a seamless performance. A highlight is his “how to do an art gallery” routine, which is so accurate it made me wheeze. Couples visiting art galleries should absolutely go their separate ways round, and I will die on that hill.
There is no false misery here. He is open about having a good life, but he is also smart enough to know that comedy often comes from the bad bits. He wrings every drop of humour from those moments without ever feeling bitter.
By the end, he is talking about the future: the creeping fear of turning into a conservative, and the strange, unpredictable demands our children might one day have. It is a surprisingly thoughtful way to wrap up what is otherwise a rapid-fire, joyfully silly show.
As a side note, I spent the first part of the show mildly panicking because I am 80 per cent sure the brilliant Rose Matafeo was sitting behind me, making the experience even more thrilling. But reader, I promise you, even without her you are in for one of the best, and soon-to-be favourite, comedy hours of Fringe 2025.
Night Terror proves that great comedy does not need big drama; it just needs someone who knows how to spin life’s oddest moments into gold.
Night Terror is running until 24 August (not 11) at The Wee Coo at Underbelly, George Square.
Buy tickets here.
Image courtesy of Michelle Hyslop, provided to The Student as press material.