Comedy Fest Questionnaire: James Roque

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: James Roque

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?
James Roque is Chicken!
2)  Why?
Because it’s true! I have the award for most chicken person on Earth (self-awarded)

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?
The show is me trying to face my fears by laughing at them. It’s going to be terrifying. I may or may not cry. No refunds if I cry.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?
What I should say is “Heaps! I spent the whole 12 months just non-stop writing.” But what I will say is “I played too much Pokemon and wrote jokes sometimes”.

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 actually only turned 21 last year! My favourite memory is going up to my younger cousin and asking “Do you remember the show Hey Arnold?” and him replying with “What’s that?” and me feeling real down about it.

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’d be too scared to list names in case I miss anyone. (But really I don’t know enough people to justify catching up with them! Comedians, if you are reading this, let's be friends so we can catch up one day)
7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
The comedy scene is awesome! I’m really stoked to be a part of it – especially as one of the younger comedians. There’s such a talented group of younger comics doing their thing at the moment. I have a lot of love for Fanfiction Comedy and I’m honoured to be part of it. They will go far for sure.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
One time I was doing my joke about how ridiculous the Filipino accent sounded and a Filipino woman in the audience tried to heckle me. Only thing was she had such a strong Filipino accent that I didn’t even need to rebuttal it. It was almost cheating. Don’t heckle me with a Filipino accent.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?
Performing as part of Minority Report (with Eli and Edith) last year! Had heaps of fun performing that one and we were extremely proud of the show we created. It was really rewarding to know that we could put a show on all by ourselves. Also, I got to MC a Raw Comedy night at the Classic not too long ago. It was crazy having all the new aspiring comedians asking me for advice, ‘cause it wasn’t that long ago that I was in their shoes. I just wanted to go “I’m just as lost as you! WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME FOR ADVICE!?”

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?
The vibes. I know that’s really broad, but I just love that feeling in the air when the festivals on. It’s like a mixture of nervous energy, stress and happiness. I dig that because it makes all the comedians step their game up and rise to the occasion.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
Everyone has fears, guys! If you help me get over mine, I might even help you get over yours during the show. Also, I will give you a ride home if you need it (you must provide the car).

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Sam Smith

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Sam Smith

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


2)  Why? The show is about antics and my name is Sam.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?
I love pranks and games, and this show is a celebration of them through jokes and music.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?
I started working on it before the end of the last festival actually. I’m constantly thinking about it. I carry a little notebook around with me that I write ideas in, and then I’ve been road-testing the material since about November last year. During the night I’ll wake up and write things down. Last night I wrote “Alphabet rap”. Don’t know what I was thinking there, but don’t worry – it hasn’t made it into the show.

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 was at University in Dunedin and on my 21^st birthday two of my friends held their joint-21^st. So my memory of being 21 was spite.

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?
So many! I’m looking forward to Tom Green, Wayne Brady, Arj Barker and Jarred Christmas coming back to NZ. And I’m trying to get to all the local Wellington comedians’ shows; Brad Zimmerman, James Nokise, Jerome Chandrahasen, Adam Wright & Rick Threlfo, and especially the local line-up shows. Any show with a pun title is right up my passage. I’m especially looking forward to Nick Gibb and TJ McDonald’s show Anglo Sexin’.


7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
Thanks to shows like 7 Days and Jono and Ben at Ten we’re seeing more comedy on TV and it’s getting audiences out to live shows. I really rate all the Billy T nominees this year. I’m going to all their shows and I can’t wait. Those guys and girl are going to be big names in the near-future – so check ‘em out before you have to pay megabucks to see them.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
Most of them are nice. The worst is the time I asked a kid how old he was and he said 37 and he wasn’t a kid he was a midget. That was awful.

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?
Unfortunately the most memorable gigs are the bad ones. The free gigs where people don’t care that there’s comedy on and don’t listen and talk and ruin the show for everyone else.

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of?
The first time I did it in 2003 as part of Class Comedians. I won the Ultimate Comedian’s Comedian award. I still have the certificate in the draw of my desk.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
I’m trying to publicize the show through messages in bottles this year. I’ve got them ready; I just need to go down to Oriental Bay on a busy day and throw them in the sea. Will it work? We’ll see.

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Secret Policeman's Ball

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Secret Policeman's Ball

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?The Secret Policeman’s Ball

2)  Why?

Because Amnesty International has been putting on comedy shows under this banner since the early 70’s and who are we to mess with that?

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

It’s about good times and hilarity while at the same time raising funds and awareness for Amnesty International.  We ask all of our acts to take part in a show celebrating freedom of expression, so we leave it pretty open for the acts.

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

Planning a comedy show is a big job, fortunately I don’t have to write the material but preparing the show and coordinating the acts is a big task, I started thinking about this years’ show almost as soon as the 2012 show was over.

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?

Amnesty turned 21 in 1982, in that year we launched an appeal for a universal amnesty for all prisoners of conscience and collected 1 million signatures, we also reaffirmed our opposition to inhumane treatment of those persecuted because of their sexuality. Most disturbingly, back in 1982 the people of Syria were demanding freedom and the regime  under Bashir Al-Assad’s father,  was suppressing them. They endured a 27 day military assault on Hama and it’s estimated that 250,000 people may have died.

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?

We’re looking forward to seeing all of the acts who are part of our show and hopefully meeting many more who’d like to take part in the future.

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

I’m not really in a position to comment on the state of the comedy scene, there are certainly plenty of comedians in NZ and a lot of them are supportive of us so we love everyone who has been, is, or wants to be involved in our show.

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

Our triumphs don’t really happen on stage but one of the best pieces of audience interaction for us came when our supporters took action to stop the execution of Troy Davis in 2011, so many New Zealanders went online to take action that the Georgia Parole Board’s IT team blocked the petition.

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

I’m not a performer but I think we performed well in acting on behalf of Malala, the young Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for her education & women’s rights activism.  To see Malala recover and then be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize has been pretty awesome.

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

The Secret Policeman’s Ball

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
I’d tell them it’s the best value showcase of the festival, not just a great line-up of NZ and International acts but the Secret Policeman’s Ball is comedy legend and with all proceeds going to a great cause how could anyone refuse! 

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: James Elliott and John Glass

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: James Elliott and John Glass

1) Tell us what your show is called this year? The Jim John Jam

 2)  Why? Coz you asked.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about? Well it does feature a bespoke psychic toast reading, the rest should be obvious.

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival? Can we get back to you after Easter?

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? At 21 we had silently functioning knees

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 think it was the treaty of Versailles but we may have misread the question
7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why? Tough question, we’ll answer with a question of our own: in no less than 500 words why did the League of Nations fail?

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

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

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

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show? A small fire arm can be very effective

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Jonny Potts

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Jonny Potts

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?  Let Us Reappraise Famous Men

2)  Why? I came up with the title a year and a half ago, before I'd read Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and let it guide the development of the show.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about? It's about men we look up to and men we perhaps should look up to. And a couple we shouldn't. Everyone from politicians to artists to sports stars to landscape architects. 

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival? 
After I came up with the title I realised a lot of the stuff I was doing was consistent with it, so some of the writing had already been done. Some of it goes back to the very first stuff I was doing on stage. The ideas have just kinda been filtering through, punctuated with these occasional bursts of gag writing. Which helps, what with it being a Comedy Festival show and all.

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 was living in Whanganui staying up late, falling in love, smoking cigarettes and trying to see what folks saw in prog rock. Bliss it was that dawn to be alive...

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 mostly looking forward to what the Auckland folks bring down to the capital. And like every sane person I want to be Josie Long's flatmate. I don't know her but she grinned at me in 2008. And she liked one of my tweets once.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
It's really healthy, and I'm looking forward to following some promising Wellington performers over the next few years, people like Eamonn Marra, Alice May Connolly, Cam Miller and Rick Threlfo, who are so totally their own people on stage. Also, Binge Culture collective have been responsible for some of the best and funniest theatre in Wellington over the past few years, and they're going from strength to strength. 

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

A toss-up between a really aggressive heckler I destroyed about six months into doing comedy, and a night in my Fringe Festival show recently when the AV screwed up and the whole mood changed to one of 'OK folks, we're all in this together, HERE WE GO!' That was serious fun. 

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?
The last night of Good Times with Cool Dudes, the split-bill NZICF show I did with my brother-from-another-mother Hadley Donaldson last year. The night had this great energy. We dedicated it to MCA, who'd died that day. Then we went and saw Tommy Ill play and I was apparently quite rude to someone and if you're reading this I'm very sorry. But YOU should be sorry for using the word 'gay' to disparagingly describe my draw-string bag.

10) When we say New Zealand International Comedy Festival to you, what’s the first thing you think of? I really have to nail down how I'm going to open this show.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
Just look at the amazing poster. I know it has to be good. 

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Andy Clay

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Andy Clay

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?Andy Clay’s Book of Love

2)  Why?Because it’s a show done in the form of chapters where I give my advice and opinions on love and related topics – plus I think the name is kind of catchy

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about?
Hints be damned – I’ll tell you exactly what it’s about. It’s me giving my tainted views on love, romance and other bits and pieces. I do this with the aid of my wonderful cast (Michael Saccente, Dane Dawson, Damien Avery and Shavaughn Ruakere) who act out my points in quick fire scenes

4) How much time have you spent crafting the show over the past 12 months since the end of the last festival?Well we did this show 4 years ago so that’s not really been needed too much although rehearsals are underway so tweeking has and will happen as we have 2 new cast members – Shavaughn and Damien.

5) The comedy festival is turning 21 this year – it’s a big age 21 – what’s your  memories of being 21?
I had just started doing stand up comedy so I spent most of 21 crapping my pants wondering why I had left my life in NZ to try to be a comedian in Australia

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?
Oh far too many to name. It really is a great time for a catch up with comedy friends from around the world or to meet new friends from foreign shores. In fact it can be too good a time if you know what I mean.

7) What’s the comedy scene like at the moment who do you rate and why?
The comedy scene seems very healthy at the moment. We’ve never had so many top quality comedians with high profiles in this country before. I can’t say who I rate because if I don’t mention someone then by implication I don’t rate them which may or may not be true – can of worms stuff that.

8)  What’s the best piece of audience interaction you’ve had?
Not sure if it’s the best but many years ago the then governor of the reserve bank Don Brash was in the front row – his son used to do a bit of stand up – I was MC and in between acts I got a piece of paper wrote “$20” on it, brought it out and asked him to sign it. Got a big laugh on the night

9) What’s the most memorable part of performing for you within the last 12 months?
Well I’ve just got back from a tour of South East Asia and I did a show at short notice in a Cambodian town called Siem Reap, 300km north of capital Phnom Penh to bar full of expats. It was such an odd place to be doing comedy but it went really well. I was only the 4^th ever comedian to do a show in that town.

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

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?
Hopefully it goes without saying that it’s a funny show. I know that’s a fairly unoriginal thing to say but it’s pretty important for a comedy.
What stands out about this show is that it’s one of the few shows in the festival that’s not stand up although because it’s written by a stand up (me) and directed by a stand up (Jeremy Elwood) it’s got a very similar laughs per minute ratio. And finally this show will make you realise, whatever your gender, that you are not alone in not being able to understand the whole, relationship, girl/boy situation. This show however  may help you understand why you don’t understand.

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Markus Birdman

Comedy Fest Questionnaire: Markus Birdman

1) Tell us what your show is called this year?
My show is called ‘LOVE, LIFE & DEATH’
2)  Why?
Not so long ago, I suffered a stroke. That’ll make you think about the big issues. And none are bigger than love, life and death. And I felt this experience gave me the sense of self-importance and grandiosity required to tell you what you should think about them too! You’re welcome.

3) Can you give us a few hints as to what broadly your festival show is about? Yep, it’s about Love. It’s about Life. It’s about Death. It’s about laughing in the face of it all. And it’s about an hour.

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

I have been whittling away at it, with the sense of purpose I assume Robin Hood employed, preparing arrows to win the heart of Maid Marian.

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? On my 21st birthday I leapt off a nightclub balcony dressed as one half of a pantomime horse to the delight of the people below. Except the one I landed on, who sued, unsuccessfully, for damages.

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 wouldn’t mind seeing the other half of that pantomime horse. I haven’t seen him since my 21^st birthday. And he still owes me 20 quid.

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

In the UK, it is very healthy indeed. I work to my own rating system based on ancient astrological charts, medieval alchemy and a secret Ugandan recipe for soufflé.  On that, the likes of Rhod Gilbert, Greg Davies, Andrew Bird and Stuart Goldsmith score huge. So I am very excited to see what NZ has to offer. If you’re all blazing like Boy with the Tape on his Face, I’m screwed!

I had lunch with the Boy and his new son recently. Neither are great conversationalists, but I was greatly entertained when he tried to eat his soup.

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

I once stole one of their identities. It was highly lucrative, but pretending to be a 72-year-old woman from Argentina is not without its challenges. Still, my tango is peerless within the comedy community.

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

I walked the boards as a Snow White in a very avant-garde pantomime last Christmas. It was a difficult role to pull off. In fact I’m still on parole.

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

I’m thinking, I hope no one in the NZ visa department saw that panto.

11) How would you persuade people to come and see your show?

Well the Scotsman said of it. “By the close of this hugely enjoyable, sharply structured hour I was feeling glad to be here – with small and big “H” – vowing to grab life by the balls. 4 stars”

Failing that, I’ll be grabbing people by the balls and marching them in.
Females are welcome too.