No complaints for Kapiti comedian

Ricky Threlfo and Bas Jeffrey are performing Happiness (comedians not complaining) in Wellington this weekend.

As part of the annual New Zealand International Comedy festival running from now until May 17, award-winning Kapiti comedian Ricky Threlfo is set to front the stage in Wellington.

The Reikorangi resident's stand-up gig Happiness (comedians not complaining) started on Wednesday and runs until tomorrow evening, Saturday May 2, in his third consecutive year involved with the popular nationwide comedy event.

An award-winning comedian, Ricky took away the title of Best Wellington Comedian 2014; a feat the husband, father and daytime IT office worker said was a huge honour.

Well-experienced in the field of stand-up as well as comedic screenwriting, Ricky said this year's performance was stirred by a challenge he set for himself to not complain about anything while on stage.

"I'm not sure why I did that, it seems like hard work."

Ricky, who shifted to New Zealand from Australia eight years ago, said Happiness (comedians not complaining) is a collaborative piece with fellow comedian and Wellington RAW Comedy Quest finalist 2014 Bas Jeffrey, which represents the fact the pair has "a lot to be happy about".

"We both have huge mortgages, semi-tolerant wives who let us do stand-up comedy one night a month, and health problems that are very manageable - what's there to complain about?

"Besides, watching comedians complaining is so 1990s."

The NZ international Comedy Festival, which emerged in 1993, is a component of the New Zealand Comedy Trust that works to help comedians establish a career in comedy.

In the past the trust created development initiatives including The Billy T Awards, Class Comedians, The Fred Award, Comedy Lab and the Creative Comedy Initiative.

The often sell-out annual comedy festival is held simultaneously over three weeks in Auckland and Wellington during April and May, hosting comedy performances that range from stand up, sketch, improv, theatre, children's and musical comedy.

"For the last four years, I've been working very hard on performing clean comedy that doesn't rely on putting other people down or relying on offensive subjects to generate laughs," said Ricky, whose comedy heroes are Seinfeld, Brian Regan and Paul F Tompkins.

"If you want an hour of very funny, story-oriented, clean comedy then come and see Happiness."

- Happiness (comedians not complaining) runs until tomorrow night, starting at 7pm at Wellington's Four Kings, 7-11 Dixon Street.

Buy tickets here.