Festival highlights coming of age of NZ comedy

Rhys Darby is back from London for the festival.

Hillary McMillan has more idea than most how New Zealand comedy has developed since the New Zealand International Comedy Festival began 14 years ago.

McMillan was a performer at the first festival, served two years as a producer and has for the past six years been director of the festival, which begins in Auckland on Friday.

"It's kind of turned into my baby, much to my mother's shock and horror," she told NZPA.

"But New Zealand comedy has come a really long way, even in the last three years. A lot of our comedians are doing very well internationally and we're starting to lose the cultural cringe.

"We are definitely about five to six years behind New Zealand music, which has become part of mainstream culture in recent years, but I think we're starting to see that happen."

With acts like Wellington's Flight of the Conchords winning awards overseas, there's every chance New Zealand comedy will become a greater part of mass culture.

This year's festival includes three weeks of shows in Auckland and Wellington, and a convoy of five comedians going around various other New Zealand venues throughout May.

The Comedy Festival helped give New Zealand performers a platform to show their skills to locals and international guests when it first began in the mid-1990s.

The international performers still tend to be major crowd-drawers at the festival but many more New Zealanders are now on the bill as internationally successful comedians rather than local acts trying to find an audience.

Flight of the Conchords won't be playing - "they're far too busy for us," says McMillan - but several successful New Zealand acts will be.

"Rhys Darby is back after getting regular gigs at some of London's major clubs, and we're delighted to have Al Pitcher, a Rotorua boy who moved to England to do comedy six years ago and is back here for the first time since," McMillan says.

Also back is Brendhan Lovegrove, who had a successful career in Britain but who is now permanently back in New Zealand, and Ben Hurley, who also has performed with success in Britain and Ireland.

The festival is three weeks later than usual because of a similar time change for the Melbourne Comedy Festival, which is just winding up.

"The Melbourne festival was put back because of the Commonwealth Games, and because we have many of the same performers we had to do the same," McMillan says.

"But we could do the same again next year because there's some cycling event in Melbourne and it would take us further away from the Auckland Festival. Plus winter is a great time to be going out to comedy."

As usual the gala opening event in Auckland on Friday is a sell-out, though sales were even quicker than usual because of the presence of American Dom Irrera, a hugely popular comedian who was recently voted in Comedy Central's Top 100 Comedians of all time.

"Even Melbourne doesn't have him. He just happened to have a space clear during our festival. They're really envious," McMillan says.

Other well-regarded visiting comedians are Britain's Stephen K Amos and Addy Van Der Borgh, Ireland's Jimeoin, Scotland's Janey Godley and Scotland's Danny Bhoy, who will be playing several venues outside the comedy festival in a nationwide tour.

McMillan says the biggest difference this year is an expanded programme in Wellington, to help cater for several comedians in that city, and a greater emphasis on musical comedy.

"We probably have more musical acts than we ever have. The Australians Tripod have a real musical show, a little like an Aussie Flight of the Conchords, and then there's others like David O'Doherty and Jeremy Elwood who have musical elements to their show."

For the 10th time the festival will host the Billy T Awards for emerging New Zealand comedians, for which the finalists this year are Cameron Blair, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, James Nokise, Gish and Jerome Chandrahasen.

In addition, the festival this year introduces the Fred award, named after New Zealand comedian John Clarke's iconic character Fred Dagg. The award is for comedians with at least eight years of experience who have an original show premiering at the festival.

"John said he would rather have called them the Fredericks because it sounded funnier," says McMillan.

"But New Zealand comedy has come a long way and it's only fair that we reward those who have been making us laugh for a long time."

* The Oddfellows New Zealand International Comedy Festival runs in Auckland and Wellington from May 12 to June 4.

Comedians in the Comedy Convoy touring the country will be Rhod Gilbert, Charlie Pickering, Te Radar, Sam Wills and Jeremy Corbett. They will visit Hamilton (May 29), Rotorua (May 30), New Plymouth (May 31), Nelson (June 1), Blenheim (June 2) and Christchurch (June 3).

- NZPA