Older and bolder: Joana Joy returns to Whanganui to debut new comedy show

Whanganui-born comedian Joana Joy will debut her new show at Porridge Watson. Photo / Sarah Booher

Whanganui-born and raised comedian Joana Joy, aka Joana Simmons, aka. Banana Jolie, is returning to debut her new comedy show Miss Tui Whanganui 2009.

Joy’s extensive career in the arts started in her childhood participating in Amdram shows, performing at St George’s School and Whanganui Collegiate School where she attended, and took classes with Sharon Underwood.

“I’m really grateful for what I was raised in and in terms of how it shaped me. There was a real wealth of opportunities and I’m so grateful to my parents for allowing me to take as many of those as I could,” she said.

At 19, she moved to Melbourne where she studied dance and musical theatre, and worked in commercial dance.

Eventually, after getting tired of rejection in the musical theatre world, she moved into cabaret, where she worked alongside Australia’s Got Talent finalist Elizabeth Dawson-Smith.

Dawson-Smith encouraged her to create a one-woman show, in which Joy did and found great success, leading to her continuing to create shows.

A true jack-of-all-trades, she also teaches aerobics and yoga, and has studied psychology and philosophy.

It wasn’t until the Covid-19 pandemic hit that she decided to move back to New Zealand and promptly began to shift into stand-up comedy.

“I started feeling ready to not be a character so much.

“I think we’re so shaped by our culture and after living in Australia for 11 years I didn’t realise how much I didn’t feel I belonged in Australia until I returned to Aotearoa.”

Since 2020 she has been consistently focused on stand-up comedy, while still doing some work as Banana Jolie.

Originally, she started stand-up comedy to practice the skill she felt was her weakest while festivals and concerts weren’t available options, but over the past four years this has developed.

She now sees it as a method of sharing her life.

“There’s been shows that I’ve made that have been ways for me to work through difficult things in my life and learn lessons.”

“My life and my art run very parallel.”

Her newest show, which will debut at Porridge Watson, is titled Miss Tui Whanganui 2009. Referring to her winning the prestigious title at a Whanganui bar, a story which features in the show.

Joana Joy's new stand-up show Miss Tui Whanganui 2009 will touch on small-town Kiwi culture. Photo / Becky Nevada

Joy has debuted multiple shows in Whanganui.

“It feels like my way of contributing to the culture I was raised in.

“The reason I want to bring my shows to Whanganui is that’s where the lights really turned on and awesome things happened for me growing up. It’s a really crafty, ‘vibey’, cool place.”

One of the primary themes in Joy’s show is the intersection of small-town culture and beauty standards.

“It’s the first time in quite a few years where I’ve built a show from the bottom up, in the sense of I have an idea and a theme, and then I’m making all the content.

“The last couple of shows have been from the top down where I have a whole lot of material then I compile it together to make a show,” she said.

Reflecting on her career journey over the past few years, Joy has found herself needing to find calm and create a sustainable method of performance.

“I’m getting older, and I’m getting bolder. Some of the ideas that I want to share now don’t really suit that song and dance stuff.

“I can harness my energy and still bring that full noise energy, but also have moments of stillness and moments of quiet,” she said.

Although, Joy admits, some of the deeper topics of interest are intimidating to incorporate in her art.

“There’s big ideas I feel scared to share but I think are really important to share,” she said.

“I’m coming to recognise where I sit within the stand-up community. What my style is, what my voice is.”

Joy expects Miss Tui Whanganui 2009 will develop as a show over time, especially from the debut as it is what she calls a “work-in-progress show”.

“Stand-up comedy is the only art form where you practice publicly.

“This will potentially be a work that I’ll be working on for a couple of years, and I imagine it will have various iterations,” she said.

Miss Tui Whanganui 2009 has already been booked for Womad and Earthbeat Festival, and she is hoping to take it to the NZ International Comedy Festival.

As the show develops, performance locations change and new opportunities arise, Joy’s main priority remains creating relationships and sharing what is important to her through art.

“I want to be with people and connect, and share joy and share ideas,” she said.

“I love community, I’m stoked to put this night on with Richie (Faavesi), and Catherine (Badwind), and Cameron (Wagstaff), and Kajun (Brooking).”

Miss Tui Whanganui 2009 will debut at Porridge Watson on March 13th at 7pm.

Tickets are available from humanitix.com

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.