Cool TV freaks Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, creators of batshit cult sketch show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! are playing Auckland’s Sky City Theatre this Friday. Joseph Harper called them for a chat. Those who are already fans need no introduction to the work of Tim & Eric, and the uninitiated should … Read more
TV3’s Funny Girls, New Zealand’s funniest sketch show in years, comes to the end of its current run this week. In celebration of its triumphant first season, we asked the team to tell us the stories behind their favourite sketches. Rose Matafeo: ‘Makeup Tutorial’ This was one of the first sketches I wrote for the … Read more
Alex Casey binges the entire catalogue of WatchMe, NZME’s brand new on demand local video platform. Following in Family First’s footsteps, today NZME launched their own video on demand service, with a focus on 100% locally-made shows. Starting first with the comedy genre, the platform promises zero cost, zero pesky apps (are apps actually pesky?). … Read more
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if New Zealand’s favourite soap-opera and New Zealand’s coolest comedy improv group combined forces? Weird thing to wonder. But it happened on Friday night, when I had the privilege of attending ‘Snortland Street’. It was the stuff of dreams: an evening with Ferndale Strangler-levels of suspense and … Read more
I was leaving Countdown Whangaparaoa with a bag of bananas and some chocolate milk when I saw the poster. “Gary McCormick and Mayor Tim Shadbolt,” it read. “Stand-up comedy at it’s best!” And there they stood, suited and grinning, framed in yellow hibiscus flowers. The poster raised more questions than it answered, like: what the … Read more
Alex Casey talks to the 2015 Billy T Winner Hamish Parkinson about being raised by TV, playing the New World guy, and what he’ll do with the coveted yellow towel. Hamish became a national star a while back, when these New World ads played before every pre-roll on the internet, and the image of a … Read more
For My Life in TV this week, Alex Casey talks to Madeleine Sami about creating and starring in Super City, starting out on Shortland Street and how she’s still taking an extended gap year. Madeleine Sami is everywhere if you look hard enough. Just after this interview I popped to a film screening and there … Read more
With Noel coming to town this week for the NZ International Comedy Festival, Alex Casey breaks down some of his absurd hits from The Mighty Boosh. I can only assume that when Noel Fielding arrives in New Zealand this week, it will be on a bedazzled polystyrene unicorn. Just orbiting around and around baggage claim, … Read more
Despite what Taylor Swift’s album would have you believe, she does not hold the monopoly on 1989. As we found out in Joseph Moore’s comedy show of the same name – there was much more going on that year than the birth of a lady in a “nice dress staring at the sunset”. Bookending his solo … Read more
With a few minutes before showtime, I took in the crowd at the Comedy Festival’s One Man Breaking Bad show. Unsurprisingly, they were a picture of Breaking Bad fandom. Balding. Novelty t-shirts. Pleather. I was particularly taken by one t-shirt featuring the Disney castle, with Walt Disney’s name replaced by Walt White. Much like the gates … Read more
‘Next Actor’ on Jono and Ben is one of their most well-known segments, placing a famous New Zealander into a regular pleb job and letting chaos ensue via an earpiece and a fervent need to destroy. When it goes well, you get Phil Goff blowing up a condom at New World. When it goes badly, … Read more
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week, Alex Casey talked to 7 Days producer Jon Bridges about bringing the competitive laughs each week. // Jon Bridges is the current producer of TV3’s flagship comedy panel show, 7 Days. Going into its sixth year now, and … Read more
For this Music Monday, Alex Casey finds a totally normal way to excuse yourself from devastating cricket chat with help from The Mighty Boosh. // Yes, the cricket final happened last night and some bad things happened. We were all there, no need to dwell. Actually, let’s. As someone who has struggled with watching sport … Read more
Alex Casey talks to comedian Rose Matafeo about her eclectic TV upbringing, getting toenails in the mail and becoming a television star. // Rose Matafeo has already lived many television lives. Just 23, but already a grizzled showbiz vet, having been on the TV and comedy grind since the age of 15. That’s essentially child labour! … Read more