Comedy Fest Q&A - Jamaine Ross

Comedy Fest Q&A - Jamaine Ross

***Billy T nominee***

Tell us the name of your show
Jamaine Says Funny Things

Which came first – the show name or the show content?
Some show content, then the show name, then some more show content. I still don’t have enough show content though so it’s possible there’ll be a bit in there where I just read out my best tweets and Facebook status updates for ten minutes.

C’mon, be honest….
OK, twenty minutes.

Any other working titles for the show?
It was ‘Transformers & Shit’, then it was ‘Growing Up & Shit’. But I was worried that people wouldn’t understand my colloquial vernacular of saying ‘& Shit’ at the end of things and confuse it with literally being about shit.

How long – honestly- have you been working on this?
Honestly, ever since I started doing stand-up 4 years ago, I’ve been thinking about what my first hour long solo show would be like.
Metaphorically, since the dawn of time.

What’s been the biggest challenge of pulling this show together?
Deciding what to use as my entrance music. ‘Testify’ by Rage Against The Machine, or ‘Freaks and Geeks’ by Childish Gambino, or ‘Profile’ by Usual Suspects, or ‘22’ by Taylor Swift… again.

Who’s your biggest comedy rival – and why?
Any other comedian with a beard. I don’t want any of those chumps taking my coveted ‘Best Facial Hair Award’ that I won at last year’s Comedy Festival.

And the other Billy T Award nominees. One of which also has a beard. I’ve got my eye on you Brendon Green.

Who’s your biggest comedy friend – and why?
My homies James Roque and Pax Assadi. Whenever we hang out together we make each other laugh. So we started recording a podcast together (www.theissuespodcast.com) so that we have something to plug when we’re answering Q&A’s.

Which show is your must see? Why?
Local: James Roque - ‘Roque to Self’. He’s so genuine and funny on stage that you can’t help but enjoy yourself. Plus he’s my favourite New Zealand-Filipino comedian named James Roque.
International: Stuart Goldsmith - ‘He-Wolf’. He’s hilarious and will having you eating out of the palm of his hand, with the way he doesn’t use clichés to describe how good other comedians are.

Give us your definition of a great night out during the festival.
Any night that starts with a show, and ends up at Denny’s at 2 in the morning.

What goes through your mind, the minute before curtain goes up?
“Don’t worry. Once you’re on stage, you won’t even feel nervous anymore.”

What about when you’re on stage?
“I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WOULDN’T FEEL NERVOUS ANYMORE!”

How easily distracted are you?
Not very easily at all. While I was answering this Q&A, I had porn running in a Chrome incognito window and didn’t ‘alt+tab’ to that shit once.

Give us your dream comedy line up
Dave Chappelle, Tig Notaro, Louis CK, Hannibal Buress, and the chick who does the voice of Dory in Finding Nemo. I forget what her name is. Helen or something.

Just finally, where will you be in 5 years’ time
Still in New Zealand, still doing stand-up, still ordering a Millennium Burger, curly fries and a glass of apple juice at Denny’s at 2 in the morning.

Jamaine Ross is a 2014 Billy T nominee who performs his show JAMAINE SAYS FUNNY THINGS in Wellington (Tue 6 - 10 May) and Auckland (12 – 17 May) as part of the 2014 NZ International Comedy Festival in cahoots with Old Mout Cider 24 April – 18 May. For more info visit www.comedyfestival.co.nz