Michèle A’Court: From kids TV to primetime comedy...
Michèle A’Court's comedy skills have been seen on everything from Pulp Comedy to 7 Days, but she began her screen career as a presenter on kids show What Now?. The multi award-winning comedian and columnist has also been a reporter on youth news show The Video Dispatch and has acted and written for Shortland Street.
Michèle A'Court - Funny As Interview
Michèle A'Court is an award-winning stand-up comedian, an author and a newspaper columnist.
ScreenTalk Short: Michèle A'Court
Michèle A’Court is well-known for her stand-up comedy talents, but she began her screen career as a presenter on kids show What Now?. The multi award-winning comedian and columnist has also been a reporter on youth news show The Video Dispatch;
Penny Ashton - Funny As Interview
She always thought she'd become an actor — but comedy poet Penny Ashton says poetry "chose" her. Ashton has toured her solo shows around the world, and in this Funny As interview she covers a range of topics, including: Being a cabaret act — doing a mix of poetry, songs and comedy — and lamenting that there’s less cabaret around in New Zealand than there used to be Producing Rhys Darby’s first solo show and Paolo Rotondo's play Little Che, and meeting poet Pam Ayres Representing New Zealand on a poetry tour of England, and different styles of slam poetry around the world The time a man yelled out "lose weight" during a performance — and the great response from a woman in the front row that inspired a new poem — plus the “new breed of woke bros coming through” Doing 130 shows in 55 towns across five countries between April 2017 and May 2018, at which point she "couldn’t remember what my husband looked like" How tough performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is, how phenomenally beautiful the city is, and how "f***ing terrible" the weather is
Eli Matthewson - Funny As Interview
Starting out in Christchurch with the aim of becoming a serious actor, comedian Eli Matthewson has found his place further north — in stand-up, and as a writer for television.
Chris Parker - Funny As Interview
Chris Parker grew up seeing long-running improv show Scared Scriptless at Christchurch's Court Theatre. A move to Auckland and comedy troupe Snort — which fellow Snorter Thomas Sainsbury joins him here to discuss — saw him playing David Halls onstage, and becoming a head writer on Jono and Ben. Among other things, Parker discusses: Seeing himself as an actor more than a comedian Getting the role of David Halls in the Hudson and Halls stage play without an audition, and learning about Halls and Peter Hudson's lives as gay men in the public eye, "who couldn't openly be out" The apparent contradiction of being a head writer of mainstream show Jono and Ben, despite his 2015 Comedy Festival show being “a weep fest about coming out to your parents ... like 45 minutes of dancing and no jokes” Winning the prestigious Fred Award for the best show written and performed by a New Zealand comedian, for his 2018 show Camp Binch, which he notes also contained no jokes Watching and learning from fellow actors Jo Randerson and Rima Te Wiata He’s joined by fellow comedian Thomas Sainsbury to discuss Auckland improv group Snort
Cal Wilson - Funny As Interview
After starting her career in improv comedy, Cal Wilson has gone on to work in Australia and the United States.
Peter Rowley - Funny As Interview
Peter Rowley was in his early 20s when David McPhail asked him to audition for new comedy show A Week of It. Rowley talks in this Funny As interview about his long career, performing with Billy T James, and other subjects, including: Working as a stage manager at Christchurch's Court Theatre, before getting his break on A Week of It in 1977 — "It was just sensational, and it was groundbreaking" First meeting Billy T James in a corridor, and clicking with him straight away Giving up stand-up comedy in Australia to write and act in The Billy T James Show, and moving into Billy's house to write the series Hanging out of a helicopter for The Billy T James Show, and having "the most fun a guy could ever have" on accidents will happen comedy Letter to Blanchy Being a "bit difficult" while co-starring on comedy Pete and Pio in the 1990s Wearing an $8,000 wig for 2018 movie Mortal Engines (in which he played a slave trader) Note: For more on Billy T, check out this Funny As interview with Rowley and Billy T's former minder Rick Harris.
Julia Parnell: From Wayne Anderson and the Exponents to Loading Docs...
Julia Parnell runs Notable Pictures, and is the award-winning producer behind the offbeat Wayne Anderson: Singer of Songs; diversity series Both Worlds and Arranged; and music docos The Exponents and The Dragon Story. Parnell is also one of the driving forces behind successful online mini-documentary initiative Loading Docs.
Lynn Waldegrave - Funny As Interview
Actor Lynn Waldegrave found TV fame appearing on comedy shows A Week of It and McPhail and Gadsby, before relocating to London for 20 years. She discusses her long career in this laugh-filled Funny As interview, including: Memories of her father’s humour, and him having a “face for every day of the week” How an inebriated fart led to her being cast in A Week of It Working on McPhail and Gadsby and being made to do “murderous things” – but having fun Running into actor William Shatner after emerging from a lake in Hagley Park for a McPhail and Gadsby skit Public reaction when she exposed her breasts for a ‘Nude News’ skit Sending up Radio with Pictures host Karyn Hay — and how much Hay hated it