Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Hedluv and Passman

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Hedluv and Passman

Key for understanding....
Hedluv; H
Passman; P

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?
H+P: 2 Cornish Rappers and a Casiotone

2)  Why?
H: We went for a descriptive title so that no one can complain when it dawns on them that we really are just two Cornish rappers and a Casiotone. Also, it might encourage Cornish people to come and see us
P: There are Cornish people in New Zealand?
 
3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?
H: It’s a gig… but hopefully a good one. We do quite a lot back home… pubs, birthday parties, weddings etc. The good thing about this show is that it’s quite short – so we can just stick to our best songs
P: Unless we have to do an encore

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?
H: I’ve been really busy actually – got a kid now and all that
P: And I’ve been mainly working at M&S…
H: I expect we’ll have plenty of time to sort something out on the plane

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – whatyou’re your memories of being 21? Or if you’re not old enough yet, you lucky person, what are your hopes for being 21?
H: I wrote my first rap,
“I’m 21 and live at home with my parents, it’s okay though because they don’t make me pay rent”
P: We don’t do that one though
H: No

6) The Comedy festival is one big party and catch up for a month - is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing over here either socially or on stage?
H: I don’t know anybody really
P: It’s difficult to find a way in

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
H: I think it’s probably fine – there seems to be plenty of it anyway

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
P: Well, there was this one time somebody laughed… I’m not sure why

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?
H: It’s funny you only really remember the bad times

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?
H: That’s far away

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
H: It’s been really difficult really
P: Hopefully people will like the posters
H: The trick is not to put people off

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: ADAM WRIGHT from Gloriously Average

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: ADAM WRIGHT from Gloriously Average

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?
Gloriously Average


2)  Why?
Because everything is hyped up beyond belief these days, You don’t need to show a man flying to mars on a rocket ship to sell a chocolate bar, sometimes the real glory can be found in the mundane, the average. Of course if you’re selling a mars bar the man on mars works quite well.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?
Every day and all around us, things are happening with are so stupid they’re hilarious or so frustrating that the only option is to laugh. We want to capture those moments

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?
Roughly a year. It’s an ever evolving process, if a joke has hit big, I’ve tried to refine it without over using it getting it ready to unleash at the fest.

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what are your memories of being 21?
Oh you couldn’t possibly print those. Actually on reflection there isn’t much controversial about sitting around at home eating precooked sausages for dinner. For my 21^st Birthday my mum gave me a quiche dish. That tells you all you need to know about my rock n roll lifestyle


6) The Comedy festival is one big party and catch up for a month - is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing over here either socially or on stage?
I’m looking forward to seeing some of my friends in comedy perform, Particularly Brad Zimmerman and Sam Smith who are both doing solo shows this year. I’m also looking forward to seeing my old mate Jack Dee, although he hasn’t returned my calls, the reason being, that he doesn’t know me.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
In Wellington, the last 12 months have seen an explosion in comedy. A year ago there was one weekly night of comedy - that was the scene. Now there are shows like The Medicine (weekly) Comedy Cave (monthly) and Comedy Monthly, I’m not too sure on the frequency of that one, but if I had to guess I’d say every 4 weeks.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
I don’t tend to do a lot of audience interaction but I do recall doing a joke about people falling asleep in movies, and I looked down and saw in the front row, a guy who I’m fairly certain was asleep. It was very funny but also quite disheartening at the same time


9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?
Getting to the Final of the Raw Comedy Quest 2012. That was cool.

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?
Probably the showcases they have at the start of the festival. They’re always quality and a great chance to preview a variety of acts both local and international. I’d highly recommend getting along to one live if you can; it’s a different vibe than on TV.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
I would say, Look, there is a lot of top quality comedy out there this year. You can see some great, Grass Roots level comedy from a local act that you could one day tell your kids about. Of course that will only work if we go on to stardom, otherwise it’s a boring story about two blokes your kids have never heard of.

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Greg Ellis

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Greg Ellis

1) Tell us what your show is called this year? 

Vance Fontaine for Lovers.

2)  Why? 

Because this is the show where Vance Fontaine, NZ's greatest singer and love legend, shares his romance secrets.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about? 

It's hard to say - it's completely improvised. But there will be a touch of romance and lots of improvised music.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival? 

We are always jamming together as a band but as each show is created on the night you can't really prepare.

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – whatyou’re your memories of being 21? Or if you’re not old enough yet, you lucky person, what are your hopes for being 21? 

I got dumped by my girlfriend on the night of my 21^st.

6) The Comedy festival is one big party and catch up for a month - is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing over here either socially or on stage? 

I always love catching up with Steve Wrigley. Once upon a time I was his school teacher.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why? 

I think Parliament is going very nicely right now.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had? 

Every show I do is all about the audience interaction. I've had 23 years of great interactions. But in one show last Comedy Festival a quite drunk young lady decided she was Vance Fontaine's daughter and came up onstage and threw her arms around me. We went with that.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?

Getting to sing with my band is always an amazing thing for me.

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?

I've been in every one.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
Vance Fontaine for Lovers is unlike anything else in the festival. It's one man and an amazing band improvising stories and songs all from your suggestions. And it's been created right here in NZ.

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Kade Nightengale

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Kade Nightengale

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?

PANIC!

2)  Why?

Because our show is all about finding the comedy and magic in life’s lemons.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?

Our show is not your average stand up show, its a mix of comedy with a twist of magic and a dash of dancing.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?

The show has been under construction, thankfully not with Mainzeal for about 8 months.

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what are your memories of being 21? Or if you’re not old enough yet, you lucky person, what are your hopes for being 21?

Well Jeremy just turned 21 and Kade isn’t quite there yet so Jeremy’s memories of being 21 involve last weekend and Kade’s hopes of being 21 is making it there and having a well deserved drink of course.

6) The Comedy festival is one big party and catch up for a month - is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing over here either socially or on stage?

Really looking forward to seeing Steve Hughes and Jimeoin this year, stoked with the international acts this year. Really looking forward to Guy Williams as well, saw him earlier this year and was in stitches.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?

In Wellington it's great, the comedy scene is always buzzing and has an awesome following which is always a nice feeling if you are ever doing an open mic night

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?

When we performed the show at BATS earlier this year and had James Noikse up for a magic trick.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?

Having a sold out night at BATS theatre!

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?

A big yellow nose and then extreme excitement for what’s on the way!

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
A little bit of begging goes along way! Haha nah the magic angle is always a great one to go with because its something a bit different to your normal comedy show but we always promise a great night if they come along! Please come.....please. Seriously please come.

Comedy Fest Q and A: Alan McElroy

Comedy Fest Q and A: Alan McElroy

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?
One Bucket, Two Comedians

2)  Why?
Vaughan King and I were awarded the Creative Comedy Incentive for our idea to create a show about funny bucket list ideas.  We wanted to avoid calling it, ‘Bucket List’ because that’s crap.  The original name was ‘Two Comedians, One Bucket’ but as that was too similar to that famous internet video featuring three classy lady friends so we were encouraged to change it.  Our director, Ben Crowder, suggested we flip it to appeal to theatre goers because it’s similar to ‘One Man, Two Guvners’.  So now we have no idea what eclectic mix of an audience that we’ll get

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?
It’s a comedy variety show and Vaughan and I will be hosts.  There will be sketches and a small bit of audience participation.  We will be trying to fulfill our own bucket list ideas on stage and also taking ideas from the audience.  If anyone has any suggestions, go onto our Facebook page and leave a comment and we’ll try work it in the show.  If anyone has any bucket list ideas that they would like us to help with, leave that comment and we might give them free tickets to our show and we’ll help them out.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival? A lot of time, several months, more even, we’ve had a lot of fun doing it.

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what are your memories of being 21? Or if you’re not old enough yet, you lucky person, what are your hopes for being 21?
Highly intoxicated playing in goal in a football tournament, flopping about like a fish on the goal line as we lost, then going out celebrating with friends and family at my party and getting messy and silly!

6) The Comedy festival is one big party and catch up for a month - is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing over here either socially or on stage?
I’m in Wellington for the first time ever, I’ve never even been there so looking forward to having fun with the comics and friends there.  The festival is great fun, usually when your show is over and you get to relax and enjoy the other shows.  I can't wait for it.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
It’s really strong, there are a lot of good new comedians too, but Vaughan King is the man you should go see, his show looks great.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
I helped a woman eat a bowl of chips before that she wasn’t expecting to eat.  What I like to do when it is someone's birthday, I get the crowd to sing Happy Birthday but I purposely don’t get their name so when it gets to the ‘Happy Birthday (name)’ bit, it usually dies off like a bad Mexican wave. Then, depending on the crowd, you can usually joke around the fact that what happened in the song symbolises the rest of their life.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months? 
Selling out last year’s festival show was cool, it was my first show too so it was a massive relief!  It was great.  On the last night too, there were a lot of friends and family in and against my wifes wishes, I announced that she was pregnant.  She was snapping at the time but it’s great when we look back on it now.  She was just fat by the way, so she jumped on a treadmill and we rented a kid from Zambia, just to keep the story going.

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of? Going to see ‘One Bucket, Two Comedians’ starring Vaughan King and Alan McElroy, directed by Ben Crowder!

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?  
Well, we did try to get cookies from Cookie Time to give to the audience but they wouldn’t give us any so we might just give the audience empty paper plates to go along with the gazillions of laughter that they’ll be doing at our show.

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Jimeoin

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Jimeoin

1) Tell us what your show is called this year? 

What

2) Why? 

Why what?  Why not?

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about? 

 It's about making people laugh. If it was about something then that would be something different. That would be a lecture. And who wants that

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival? 

Non stop. Did over 200 gigs last year

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what are your memories of being 21? Or if you’re not old enough yet, you lucky person, what are your hopes for being 21? 

 Remember how close to being 18 21 is. I had a party and caught up with allot of friends. Still wasn't really interested in girls then. 

6) The Comedy festival is one big party and catch up for a month - is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing over here either socially or on stage? No but there is a lot of people I'm trying to avoid

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why? 

Scene is good. Lot of good new acts but I'm still the best

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had? 

 I've picked up on stage a few times. 

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?

Royal variety show was a good night. Also did the O2 in London to 19000 people. 

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?

 Not more questionnaires. 

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?I try and be very funny on stage. That seems to work. 

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Bastards

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Bastards

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?
Battle of the Bastards

2)  Why?
Because I get to play a cartoon villain and beat myself up

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?
It’s about sword fights, eye-gouging and Elizabethan cussing. My show is the dirty carnie version of King Lear.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?
More hours than I care to admit.  

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what you’re your memories of being 21?
Lighting my birthday bonfire with a mouthful of kerosene and a firetorch. The taste of petrochemicals haunts me still…

6) The Comedy festival is one big party and catch up for a month - is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing over here either socially or on stage?
Both socially and on stage it will be great to see Sam Wills (Boy With Tape On His Face) and Stuart Goldsmith- a couple of friends who both live in England. And Jeremy Elwood’s always good fun for a pint. Or three.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?          
Most of my mates are carnies and street performers, so I rate anyone that can entertain a crowd armed only with a mic. I’m more comfortable juggling a chainsaw than standing there telling jokes.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
An eight year old once asked me if I was a Jedi.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?                                                                                                                  
Spending 3 months as a juggling ladder-walker with the NZ Opera was pretty mind blowing.

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?
Yellow towels. Followed by “Gee I hope people come to Battle of the Bastards”.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?    
Not sure. Any ideas?