Josh Davies on stage.
When inspirational comedian Josh Davies was a student at Horowhenua College he used to enjoy hearing his mates laugh.
Now, the 25-year-old is making a name for himself on the New Zealand comedy scene as a finalist for the 2021 Billy T James Award.
What sets Davies apart from your average comedian is that he is almost completely blind. He has no sight in his left eye, and about 15 per cent vision in his right eye due to a rare genetic condition called X-linked Retinoschisis.
"It sounds made up. I really think someone made it up on the spot," he said.
Davies was born with sight, but can't really remember a time that he could see. But he does remember treats at Ōtaki on the way back from Wellington Hospital as a child.
"That's my main memory. Just being a cool 5-year-old with a slushy," he said.
There were a lot of slushies. He had nine eye operations before the age of 8, as doctors tried to save his degenerating sight. He also remembers laughing uncontrollably every time he was given gas or put under anaesthetic.
Davies said his parents Andrew and Melanie bore the brunt of the ordeal. With so much unknown about the rare disease, they researched and did as much as they could to save their son's sight.
One medical record said his mother "is extremely worried his eye sight is getting worse, but he won't sit still long enough for us to ascertain if this is the case."
In the final operation, surgeons were able to stabilise his sight to the level it is now.
His mother Melanie didn't mince words when put on the spot about her son's journey to the comedic stage.
"He is the most inspirational person I have ever met," she said, her voice quivering.
Mrs Davies admitted to going red at some of the gags when she attended her first show, like the time they sent him on a ski trip as a youngster and he ended up in Middlemore Hospital.
"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Oh my God, did we really do that? I wanted to crawl under the chair," she said.
"I don't know how he played hockey. I think he just felt the play and knew where the ball was."
"As a kid he would say 'Mum, I can hear the grass growing'," she said.
"Or he'd say 'the train has just left Ōtaki' and 20 minutes later a train would go past. That's just how his senses were. He was a pretty amazing kid. There is nothing he couldn't do or wouldn't have a go at."
"It was when he was studying at university, he said to me 'you know what Mum, I really like comedy'."
Davies was a top student and enrolled at Otago University studying geology. But after completing his first year, the writing was on the wall.
"When people think of geology, it's a lot of looking through a microscope at minerals and going out into the field and looking at rock mountains from a distance," he said.
As a youngster he had secretly romanced about comedy, but naively imagined he would need to go overseas to be a comedian, like Sir Billy Connolly on the television. He remembers the joy at discovering a comedy scene while living in Wellington.
"I constantly question whether or not I'm funny, but I do know that when I was at high school I definitely got a lot of joy and pleasure from making my friends laugh," he said.
"I wasn't outgoing or anything, but I think I always wanted to try comedy."
His first gig was in front of 150 people who "laughed at my poorly thought-out jokes". He admitted being nervous.
"It's terrifying. Public speaking always makes the list of people's top fears and comedy is doing that to a group of drunk people who have no problem telling you that you are s***," he said.
"Then you realise there are 10 people in the audience and they didn't know it was a comedy show."
"But there is more of a desire to do it rather than chicken out and run away."
Davies, who won the 2019 NZ Fringe Most Promising Emerging Artist award, had only done a one-hour show once before, and that was two years ago. Fine-tuning a one-hour set took practice.
"It's pretty boring a lot of the time. It's a lot of sitting at the computer asking 'is that funny? Is that funny? I don't know if that's funny," he said.
"But there is just as much to learn from failure as there is in success."
He made no apology that many gags were centered around real issues that come from being blind, like crossing the road.
"I don't know how inspirational it is, but by talking about it on stage, it's talking about something that isn't talked about. If it resonates with someone and makes them feel like they are being represented, then that is a phenomenal perk," he said.
"Part of it is a coping mechanism to make vision loss acceptable and there is funny stuff to come from it... when there is something out of the ordinary, there is a chance to make comedy from it."
"I do think that all the funniest jokes are things that have happened in real life. They can be dialled up and you can cut out all the boring details and keep the funny parts."
"You can bring people from different walks of life to life through a shared experience."
"They might laugh and react with surprise to something that has happened to them, but they had never noticed it or had it articulated in that way. They can see it from a different perspective."
Davies has a day job working at Blind and Low Vision New Zealand, formerly the Blind Foundation as the media and grants person.
"I would love for comedy to be fulltime but while I am working towards that, it is so good to work for a charity that I know helps people and can help people who are losing their vision or who have lost their vision," he said.
His Look! I'm Blind show starts in Wellington on Tuesday and runs for five nights at the Fringe Bar in Wellington starting on Tuesday, as part of the 2021 NZ International Comedy Festival with Best Foods.
Davies is one of four finalists for the Billy T James Award, with other nominees Brynley Stent, James Mustapic and Lana Walter. The festival runs from May 4 to 23, at venues in Auckland and Wellington.
A list of previous Billy T James Award nominees reads like a who's who of New Zealand comedy. It includes the likes of the late Ewen Gilmour, Jerome Clement, Taika Waititi, Rhys Darby, Rose Matafeo, Ben Hurley and Mike King.
"It's a tremendous honour to be lumped in with that group," he said.
"It's time to get serious."
