The confession box: Laura Daniel

Laura Daniel steps into the Canvas confession box.

PRIDE

Career aside, what are you most proud of?
Probably my relationship with my partner Joseph [Moore], who is ultimately my best friend. We work together and we had a lot of hurdles to overcome and we maintain a sense of fun. It's one of best bits in my life and I feel proud of that and where we have got to. It was a classic New Zealand meeting, we had a one-night stand and it did not work out but then we became friends after that and then we were workmates. It wasn't meant to be at the time, but it was meant to be in the end.

You've been branching out this year work-wise. Are you in a good place?
You have to keep making opportunities for yourself. You can't sit back and wait for it to come to you. The entertainment industry is quite gruelling and quite unforgiving at times. You get a lot of no's in life; you have to keep on keeping on. I was taking a bit of a gap year after high school, I hadn't made it into drama school or anything, and I thought, "maybe I'll be a lifeguard for the rest of my life, that'd probably be fine". And I was like, "no, you've always wanted to perform", and within a month I had made a decision. I quit my job and moved to Auckland. I am proud of sticking with it.

You said you spend a lot of time on Instagram tweaking your captions.
I am always trying to think of the funniest gag I can. I like to buy into the comedy of what is social media at the moment. When we were in LA, I got Joseph to take lots of pictures of me outside Starbucks as if they were paparazzi shots, like a celebrity holding their Starbucks. We're about to go back. We're taking Two Hearts to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and we're coming back home via LA, and will hopefully scope out some work opportunities while we're there.

GLUTTONY

Why did you choose gluttony?
When I was little, at Easter, I used to get a bit obsessed with chocolate and I would steal my brothers'. We would always be given Roses or something weird and I remember I couldn't help myself. I replaced the chocolate with other items, like I would put rubbish back in the box so it would look like I hadn't done it, but obviously I had.

LUST

The flirtatious parody interviews you did on Jono and Ben got you in trouble. Some viewers complained that if you were a man you wouldn't get away with it.That was entirely the point, it was a parody. If I was genuinely doing that, trying to get into someone's pants, it would be wildly inappropriate but I was in a committed relationship the whole time. It was purely for comedy purposes, but you've got your men's activists who were like, "If this were reversed, ra ra ra ra ra … " and it was like, "that's the point, it's constantly reversed, this happens in interviews all the time". My comedic persona is an absolute thirst monster and someone who is openly lustful, and I am totally comfortable living and performing in that space. Although it's a part of who I am, it's not truthful in a way that is dangerous. I do know boundaries and I have boundaries.

Do people ever get confused and think you are actually coming on to them?
A few times they figured out it was happening in the interview. Comedy is also about pushing boundaries and sometimes when you're trying to find the line you can step over it, but it's like, acknowledging when you've done it and learning from it. I think you should always be right up against the line when you are performing comedy because otherwise it's a bit meek or mild. Discomfort is a very funny place to hang out, but not live in all the time. Sometimes I watch things back and feel physically uncomfortable. One of the first pranks I did [on Jono and Ben] was to be a real inappropriate osteo to heavyweight boxer Shane Cameron. I had an earpiece in and was told what to do. At the time I was like, "just do it, just go with it", but I watched it back recently and it brought back all those feelings of fear. Because he had no idea I wasn't an actual qualified osteo, he just thought I was strange. But he was a really good sport. - Eleanor Black

Laura Daniel hosts Zombody Save Me!, available on TVNZ OnDemand from June 23.