The Boy With Tape on his Face - More Tape: Comedy Festival Review

The Boy With Tape on his Face - More Tape: Comedy Festival Review

There’s just something about the Boy With Tape on his Face and his show which renders you happy throughout its entire duration.

It’s a very simple premise – Sam Wills, a renowned Christchurch prop comic, is on stage with a strip of dark black tape across his face. He can’t speak, doesn’t speak and spends an hour making the audience do things for his pleasure – and ours.

It’s not a show I want to spoil in any shape or form but with Wills' tall gangly frame and bulging eyes being his only window of communication with the audience, it’s entirely down to the audience for the interaction.

Props on the stage help with the set ups and punchlines for his visual gags – and quite frankly, if you’re lucky enough to be invited up to be part of the show (and believe you and me, it’s a real privilege if you do), you’re an idiot if you don’t play along with this guy.

Wills is an expert puppet-master, a masterful mime and class clown who knows what he wants from the audience; but here’s the thing with this show – it rises and falls on what the audience members bring to it.

There are some moments where TapeFace’s a bit non-plussed by the failure of some to understand what he wants them to do – but it’s that level of unpredictability which really makes every night totally unique and each show inventively awesome.

I’ve seen TapeFace perform every time he’s been here and it’s great to see the show and its star grow; each time you see it, the randomness adds something to it which elevates it to the truly brilliant. 

I’m in awe of Sam Wills, his creativity, his childlike naivety on stage and his sense of fun is seared through every second of this hourlong show. And this time, I like the way TapeFace is a bit dismissive of those who don’t quite get it. One guy can’t work out what’s needed of him and is summarily dismissed from the stage. 

But here’s the thing – he doesn’t do it cruelly or use that to mock you if you’re not quite sure what’s required. Simply put, The Boy With Tape on his Face – More Tape is truly a magical hour of entertainment; it’s such good fun you leave on such a high and with a grin beaming from ear to ear, having been transported to the earlier times of childhood where innocence was prevalent and everything was a play thing, ready to be fashioned for your own fun.


I utterly adore this gloriously original act and wholeheartedly recommend this show without any doubt whatsoever; if you don’t laugh or fail to be moved by the truly brilliant genius that is Sam Wills/ Tape Face, then you have no soul.