Australian sketch comedy group Aunty Donna finally got a Netflix series. Have they sold out to Big American Comedy? No, says Josie Adams. I shook Mark Bonanno’s hand while he was flyering in Edinburgh. I stood next to Zachary Ruane in line for the movies in Melbourne. I ricoheted off Broden “Manbeast” Kelly when I … Read more
Stewart Sowman-Lund and Tara Ward take a walk down memory lane to look at some of the best (and worst) UK to New Zealand television remakes. The good Grand Designs There can only be one Kevin McCloud, but we’ve proved there can be two excellent versions of Grand Designs. Hosted by our own amiable architect … Read more
New Zealanders love Taskmaster UK. But will they warm to the homegrown version? Guy Williams is doing his best to amp up the crowd, while Angella Dravid sits quietly alongside with her usual look of both discomfort and amusement. Leigh Hart has that wry smirk on his face that viewers of Moon TV and the … Read more
Tofiga Fepulea’i is back on stage with some comedic relief in a truly dismal year. Tofiga Fepulea’i cracks up as we discuss some of the trends he’s clicked onto. First, there’s the fitness buzz. Anyone who follows the Laughing Sāmoans comedian online will have seen the videos he posts of he and wife Bessie after … Read more
Whether they’re being cast as serial killers or compared to politicians, it’s a hard time being a clown. Sherry Zhang reflects on her time as a jester, and talks to some friends in the profession. Time and time again, clowns have been ridiculed and defamed in our parliament. A few weeks ago, in relation to … Read more
Shrill, now streaming on Neon, is more than just a comedy – it’s a landmark in millennial feminist storytelling. Shrill is a sitcom with social grit and feminist nuance that goes where other fat-focused shows have failed to go before – straight into your heart. High on laughs and equally high on feels, the shows … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Three’s mainstay 7 Days, and finds a show that is still worth the watch, but needs to change. The first joke of 7 Days in 2020 is a mask joke, followed up by a ball gag joke. Dai Henwood then chides host Jeremy Corbett with this scorcher: “It’s always something sexual with … Read more
Judith Collins today unlocked the secret of her political comedic code. ‘When my eyebrow goes up, it’s a joke,’ she told reporters. Enlightened, we’ve gone back through her first speech as National leader, to excavate the punchlines. On a trip to the comedy capital of Palmerston North yesterday, Judith Collins announced that no one had … Read more
A new sketch show on Comedy Central has heralded a new era for Pacific voices. But it’s not all big laughs and dick jokes – it’s much more sophisticated than that. The trailer for new comedy sketch show Sis, released in late June, is bloody funny. As a good trailer should, it takes some of … Read more
Everyone thinks they know satire when they see it. But does that help our understanding of where it should sit within the law? Nicholas Holm explains why it matters. Before the case was cut short, I was scheduled to appear as an expert witness for the Defence in the recent High Court case, Jones versus … Read more
Jean Sergent writes about her comedy crush John Mulaney, and what makes his brand of wholesome yet sharp comedy so special. Who is John Mulaney and why do people love him so dang much? John Mulaney is a white, middle class, American stand up comedian. He’s a former Saturday Night Live writer, voice actor (Into … Read more
Nick Kroll discusses lessons he’s learned in comedy, including how an applicator tampon works. Nick Kroll is always changing and somehow everywhere. On Kroll Show, his three-season sketch comedy show, Kroll rotated through dozens of characters from Larry Bird the basketball player to Liz the insufferable PR to Bobby Bottleservice the ultimate douchebag. On Big … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Josh Thomson about his satanic transformation in tonight’s Wellington Paranormal Christmas special on TVNZ2. There’s a scene in the Wellington Paranormal Christmas special tonight that is sure to cheer up even the grizzliest of Christmas grinches. Due to a clerical error, Tawa Mall has accidentally booked Satan instead of Santa and … Read more
The Spinoff’s cartoonist Toby Morris chats and draws with New Zealand’s doodlers in the webseries Two Sketches. This episode, Toby hosts comedian Angella Dravid. In the seventh episode of The Spinoff’s webseries Two Sketches, Angella Dravid makes herself at home in the dining room of Toby Morris’ house. Angella is an award winning comedian appearing … Read more
Taskmaster is arguably the funniest show on television, and next year a New Zealand version will hit our screens. Tara Ward dives into the caravan of challenges to find out what Taskmaster NZ could look like. We might be drowning in a sea of formulaic television, but Taskmasker is our David Hasselhoff, a beautiful saviour flailing towards us at … Read more
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites. We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears we’ve evolved just a … Read more
With American comedy PEN15 landing on Neon today, Alice Webb-Liddall chats with its creators and stars about uncovering all the shameful secrets pre-teen girls thought they got away with. Being a 12-year-old girl is hard. There’s schoolwork, there’s parents who just don’t understand, there’s friendship dramas and there’s the encroaching threat of periods, first kisses, … Read more
Last night TVNZ2 premiered their own panel show, where comedians riff on news from around the country and the world. Sound familiar? Alex Casey reviews. I could only find one moment when Have You Been Paying Attention NZ took a breath last night. Guest quizmaster Ben Barrington, appearing for a special Shortland Street-themed round, was … Read more
Tara Ward reviews Funny As, a series that documents the history of New Zealand comedy, and manages to be a key part of that history in its own right. Kiwi comedy has come a long way since Fred Dagg first fell out of a Land Rover, and new documentary series Funny As: The Story of New Zealand … Read more
Laura Daniel has made a career out of committing to the bit. Sometimes it’s a joke. Sometimes it’s a zombie reality show. And sometimes it’s a ten-week celebrity dancing competition. In 2016, Laura Daniel was nominated for the Billy T Award for her show, Pressure Makes Diamonds. The show’s opening bit was also its best … Read more
Interviewed by satirical comedy show White Man Behind a Desk about climate change, politics, and his career as a journalist, Newshub national correspondent Patrick Gower did not hold back. At the start of May, the White Man Behind A Desk team set themselves the task of making a 60 minute comedy show about climate change. … Read more
Ukraine has elected as its president a comedian with no political experience and not many policies. So what would our comedians do if elected to be the President of New Zealand? Here are their manifestos. Guy Williams Two words: Flag referendum. The last one was a shambles and we need another one! I genuinely think New … Read more
A sitcom starring Pamela Anderson as a bookstore employee in 2005? We’re already laughing. Sam Brooks writes about the dusty two-season wonder that was Stacked. Imagine, for a moment, that you’re an American television network in 2005. Friends has just ended its ten year run, and that format of sitcom (friends do problematic things with guest stars) … Read more
There’s a lot to love about the acclaimed comedy-drama Better Things, which returns to Lightbox for a third season this Friday. Tara Ward takes at look what the show gets right about parenting. Better Things heroine Sam Fox reckons that if she was to ever name her home, it’d be called ‘Tiny Assholes With Vaginas’. … Read more
Catherine Robertson’s latest novel What You Wish For has raced to the top of the best-seller charts – but what she really, really wants is to win a prize for being funny. There’s a writing prize I really want to win. When I say really, I mean reallyreallyreallyreally ad infinitum. It’s the Comedy Women in … Read more
If you happen to be a comedian who isn’t male, the road home isn’t so simple. Ahead of a special one-off fundraising gig on December 9, comedian Amanda Kennedy writes about the dangers of simply getting home – and what’s being done to solve it. Content warning: Article discusses the impact of physical and sexual … Read more
Last night Rose Matafeo won the Edinburgh Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, one of the most prestigious awards for comedians anywhere. Here’s why that matters. First up: What’s the Edinburgh Fringe Festival? The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the biggest fringe festival in the world. With well over three thousand shows, there’s nothing that’s … Read more
With the return of Three’s women-led sketch show Funny Girls tonight at 9.45pm, we bless ye with an exclusive clip from tonight’s episode. Funny Girls returns to Three tonight at 9.45pm This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent folk at Lightbox. Do us … Read more
The NZ International Comedy Festival is here, and last night it kicked off with its traditional opener, the NZ Comedy Gala. But this year, among the local and international comedians, there was a whole lot of racism. Julie Zhu writes. As a Chinese woman, I’m used to surface racism. My brain has almost developed an … Read more