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
Comedy co-editor Sam Brooks reviews the two recipients of the Creative Comedy Project Grant – Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore’s Two Hearts and Sarah Harpur’s Dead Dad’s Club – and awards our third Spinoff Comedy Badge of Honour. Laura Daniel x Joseph Moore: Two Hearts We’re halfway through the festival, I’ve seen about twenty-five shows, and I’m going to call it: Two … Read more
Duncan Greive watches Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore weave sketch comedy songs and new material into a choreographed, heavily produced pop powerhouse. The line between perfect pop and its parody is incredibly thin. Joseph Moore, one half of Two Hearts, the fake band currently playing Q Theatre, knows this well enough to argue persuasively in … Read more
A few weeks ago, comedian Nic Sampson came to The Spinoff with an idea: What if he did a comedy show in a library? We’ve got the bizarre results, and a brief interview with the man himself, right here. Sam Brooks: Why on earth did you want to do stand-up in a library? Nic Sampson: … Read more
With TV3’s sketch show Funny Girls wrapped up for another year, we got the writing team to pick their favourite sketches from season two. Laura Daniel During a brainstorm session, I sat down with Joseph Moore and we talked about how we really wanted to make a full-length, romantic ode about getting the booty call … Read more
Alex Casey previews episode one of Funny Girls, and we debut an exclusive clip ahead of the show’s return tonight on Tv3. No pressure on Funny Girls season two but, as the hapless but impeccably-dressed producer Pauline says, all they have to do with their late night 22-minute comedy sketch series is “further all women and … Read more
A rare experimental edition of On the Rag featuring Laura Daniel and Madeleine Sami, two key players in TV3’s female-driven sketch comedy Funny Girls. In this special edition of On the Rag, Alex Casey chats to Madeleine Sami (director) and Laura Daniel (writer and star) of Funny Girls ahead of the second season. What does it take … Read more
On Friday the 2016 Billy T nominees all played a showcase at Auckland’s Q Theatre. In the crowd, somewhere near the back, Duncan Greive watched and judged. The Billy T award is probably the coolest award in New Zealand. There’s just one given out each year – if you miss out, suck it up. It … Read more