Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Fiona O'Loughlin

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Fiona O'Loughlin

1) Tell us what your show is called this year? The Divine Miss O.

2)  Why? Because my audiences have been becoming camper by the day and I wanted a title that reflects that. 

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about? My shows are autobiographical story telling and the landscape is always family. In all its forms. I'm a terrible Mother and people will leave my shows guaranteed to feel much better about themselves if nothing else.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival? It's a never ending evolution. The show actually has three hours of material but every night I pull an hour out of my bag of tricks

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what you’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 felt raw and insatiable at 21. I remember it was fun but I wouldn't go back for anything. I'm weird, I know, but I love being old.

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? Jesse Griffith is one of my oldest comedy mates and I can't wait to inhale him.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why? My favourite at the moment is Ronny Chieng. He's on fire at the moment as are a lot of very young comics. It's so glorious seeing the next wave of comedians tearing it up. 

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had? Shutting my Mother down at the Adelaide Fringe. Powerful tool, that microphone.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months? It hasn't happened yet but I'm hoping it will be opening night in Wellington/Auckland 

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of? Laughs and more laughs in the most beautiful country on Earth.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show? One of my kids needs an operation if I don't sell tickets he could d.......just kidding.

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: John Carr

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: John Carr

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

2)  Why?
Mainly because I liked the sound it gave to the  show’s website address: yoyoyo.co.nz. Also because the words, just like the performer in the show, have a  strong  “old school” rap pedigree.

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

The show tells the  almost true “rags to bitches” story of an ageing white rapper’s journey from the mean streets of Bucklands Beach to Queen Street, told by the Godfather of Geriatric Rap himself.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?
I’m a rapper. If I kept time sheets I’d have a real job.

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what are your memories of being 21?
!975 was a big year. The Vietnam War ended and I bought my first car, a 1959 Ford Prefect. I was very happy about both of those things.

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?
Not really, I’m a street rapper and comedians are a bit “funny” if you know what I mean. I am looking forward to seeing James Norkise, Brendhan Lovegrove  and Ewab Gilmour though, they are all pretty “street” in their different ways. I’m also looking forward to catching up with Tevita Manukia, he owes me ten bucks.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
The comedy scene is vibrant at the moment and there has been a noticeable improvement in standard in recent years. There’s lots of energy , activity and competition. 
I rate most of the big names in New Zealand comedy, especially Nick Radovanovicch who seems to have added at least 8 letters to his in the last six months. Of the up and comers Guy Williams, Tom Furniss and Eli Mathewson  and TJ McDonald all make me laugh out loud.


8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
I was performing my “Colostomy Bag Rap” when a drunk woman in the front row called out to her friend, “Oh my God! How does he know? How does he know?”
I stopped  to enquire if she was wearing a colostomy bag.
She said, “No! But my friend here is, and it was a secret till you opened your big mouth!”


9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?
Getting my  58 year old face on the poster for  the “Next Generation” show which showcased young and up and coming talent as part of The Classic’s 15^th birthday celebrations. I felt this was a significant achievement given that I was at least 10 years older than all of the comedians in “The Originals” show which was on the week before.
10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?
The New Zealand International Comedy Festival.


11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
First I try really hard to create a sense of obligation  among my family, friends, and workmates to come to the show, and to bring their friends along. Then I appeal to their extended families as well.
When I get really desperate I stand outside the venue and pretend to be the Mad Butcher. That always gets a few street people in looking for free sausages.

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Terry Williams

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Terry Williams

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

2)  Why?Two reasons. Obviously, there’s the play on one of death’s nicknames being ‘The Grim Reaper. Change ‘grim’ to ‘grin’ and you’ve got comedy implied. Comedy about death - Or, more specifically, death avoidance.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?The show was, in part, inspired by a book I read two Christmases’ ago called 'Blue Zones - Lessons For Living Longer From Those Who've Lived The Longest.' Scientists studied those places where people lived disproportionately long lives and quality lives. Hit a library. Check it out. It's not all monastic lifestyles, not by a long way. Friends, wine, laughter, oats and get off your arse. There's an online quizzy thing where you tell as much truth as you can and it estimates how long you'll live, gives you some advice, and how long you might add if you take their advice. You do the maths and you decide if it's worth it. My show looks at their nine secrets of adding 10 quality years to your life and extracts the funny from them.  Coincidentally, that year I also ended up being witness to three emergency dashes to hospital with friends and family. They all turned out OK but it did make me focus on how people deal with life in those circumstances – and humour is a very common outlet. There’s a lot of comedy in the machine that goes ping.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?The past 12 months! (Your question very much implied the answer.) There’s a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System. We’d all go crazy if we noticed everything all the time so it kindly filters out most everything and we can keep our noticeable universe down to about 10 things. Once you know what your show’s concept is, it provides a focus and you see the world giving you lots of inspiration for your show. That and the three pixies who live behind my left earlobe.

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?I plan on doing a Benjamin Button thing where I’m ageing in reverse emotionally, so, based on my estimate of living to 100, I’ll be 21 emotionally in 2045. In a more traditional chronology, I was 21 in the 80s so, much like Ronald Reagan and Oliver North, I cannot recall.

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?Whilst I have no problem performing on stage in front of large crowds of people (or crowds of large people), I am abjectly terrified of catching up with anyone socially.Comedians tend to be quite distributed people. They’re all over the place geographically, demographically and chronologically. Gatherings like the festival enable us to put names to faces and, often, names to incriminating FaceBook photos.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment? Who do you rate and why?Burgeoning and booming. There’s such a mass of newbies coming through and such a visible pathway to actually being a professional comedian in the dictionary sense of the word professional. Not just getting paid in beer but making a living and having a pathway of progression. The overseas and very visible success of the much publicised names, plus the local successes on TV here really attaches a validity to the pursuit rather than people seeing it at best as a hobby (“Don’t give up your day job”) or at worst and ironically, a joke. I rate anyone and everyone who has the guts to do it more than once. And I rate their friends and family for being supportive or, hopefully, at least tolerant.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?I was doing the usual MC thing of asking a couple how they met and the woman responded loud and proud, “Oh he used to be my parole officer.” Pretty good basis for a relationship I thought. At least he’d be genuine in asking her what she got up to today. And listening intently to her talk about her friends.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?Aside from pub and club stand-up comedy, most of my comedy is for corporates, conferences and events. I recently MC’d the NZ Dairy Awards for the second year. Great to be witness to our country’s most successful industry on nights of celebration and me making them laugh helping them celebrate. In fact, the drought broke during me hosting the Taranaki awards. Best applause I’ve ever got as their desperate need for rain synched with my desperate need for approval.

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?New. It’s the first word of the phrase ‘New Zealand International Comedy Festival’ and it implies what the festival should be about – newness, novelty, innovation, looking at the world and its temporary inhabitants in new and different ways.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?Patience, logical argument and diplomacy. This same approach has been tried with the global financial crisis, climate change and the Syrian Civil War. We’ll see how it goes. As a back-up plan, I’ve banged out a few posters, a FaceBook event and every ticket bought to my show goes in the draw for a box of six bottles of Oyster Bay Sparkling Cuvee Brut. And I gift 2 bottles a night to audience members. (This is totally in line with the show’s theme of adding 10 more quality years to your life. Drinking is fine if you’re drinking socially with true friends and comedians.)

Star Trek: Into Darkness clip

Star Trek: Into Darkness clip

Here's your first look at a clip from Star Trek: Into Darkness starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

It comes with just a few weeks to go until Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood and Peter Weller all report for duty as Star Trek Into Darkness lands here on May 9

Thor - Dark World First Look

Thor - Dark World First Look

We've got a first look at Thor- Dark World with the launch of the new Thor Dark World poster.

Set one year after Avengers, the sequel sees Asgard battered by war after invasion from the Marauders. But an even worse threat shows up in the form of Christopher Ecclestone's Malkeith and his Dark Elves who are out for vengeance against the whole of Asgard.

New trailer for R.I.P.D is here

New trailer for R.I.P.D is here

Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds headline the 3D supernatural action-adventure R.I.P.D. as two cops dispatched by the otherworldly Rest In Peace Department to protect and serve the living from an increasingly destructive array of souls who refuse to move peacefully to the other side. 

Veteran sheriff Roy Pulsifer (Bridges) has spent his career with the legendary police force known as R.I.P.D. tracking monstrous spirits who are cleverly disguised as ordinary people.  His mission?  To arrest and bring to justice a special brand of criminals trying to escape final judgment by hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth.

Once the wise-cracking Roy is assigned former rising-star detective Nick Walker (Reynolds) as his junior officer, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork.  When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, two of R.I.P.D.’s finest must miraculously restore the cosmic balance...or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.

R.I.P.D. is directed by Robert Schwentke (Red) and produced by Neal H. Moritz (Fast & Furious series, I Am Legend), Mike Richardson (Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army) and Michael Fottrell (Fast & Furious series, Live Free or Die Hard).  

Autumn Events are here

Autumn Events are here

With the much vaunted end to the rain drought due to hit this weekend in Auckland and Wellington, those involved in the planning of the Autumn Events 2013 series must be rubbing their hands in glee.

The replacement for the World Cinema Showcase is open now and is offering up film lovers a pre-Film Festival treat to satiate their appetites until the main event comes along a little later this year.

With the Civic in Auckland opening up its doors and proffering forth its massive screen, as well as the Embassy in Wellington offering a bit of class, there's really a lot of cinematic sophistication on show with the programme which offers up a fair few treats and a retrospective to engage with too. You can also see films on the Paramount's screen in the capital and the Academy in Auckland.

Guys and Dolls and Lawrence of Arabia are the big drawcards on the big screen with restorations of the prints giving you the chance to completely wallow within the film-makers' intentions and simply lap up these movies which haven't been on the screen elsewhere in a very long time.

There are also premieres afoot as well - from the horror portmanteau of The ABCs of Death, where a range of filmmakers are given a short time to dispatch people in grisly ways according to the letter they've been given from the alphabet, to the NZ premiere of Kon-Tiki, an exploration of Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl's trip  across the Pacific on a balsawood raft. With stunning visuals and a captivating story, this is a film which works best on the big screen.

Elsewhere, a series of films from Asghar Farhadi offer a peek into Iranian film-making, as do three Jean-Luc Godard titles. It shows once again the determination of the organisers to offer us insights into worlds so often neglected outside the arthouse circuits.

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters showcases the talents of the American photographer, best known for creating scenes of American vistas and gives us a tantalising look into what fuels the artist into creating cinematic landscapes which at times, even David Lynch would use. Looking like Jon Lovitz's brother and with blonde tips to his dark hair, this doco may well have a broader appeal than just the art students.

The House I Live In is a searing look at the US drug policy, how it's not working as you may believe and its implications for all those caught in its web.  Led by a diatribe from The Wire creator, David Simon, the film takes a long hard look at what is not going well. The late Roger Ebert said the film "made a shattering case against the War on Drugs" and it's compellingly put together and tautly directed, making it one of the must sees of the Autumn events.

David Cronenberg's son, Brandon ventures into horror with Antiviral, a flick about a worker who injects diseases from celebrities into paying clients and his descent into the black market. With the trademark Cronenberg flair for the grotesque, it's clear the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

And there's also another chance to catch festival favourite From Up on Poppy Hill, Miyazaki's ode to 1960s post-war Japan - and the much vaunted doco, The Queen of Versailles.

All in all, my advice is bring on the rain and head down to get some culture from the eclectic offerings of the Autumn Events programme.