Jackie van Beek

And then you've started breaking into features with a couple now.

What has been, like, besides obviously the obvious things, working with bigger actors, I can't wait to talk to you about working with Jackie van Beek, who I just think has one of the truly greatest faces that's ever existed in comedy.

But, like, what...

when you guys are in the pocket of making stuff, how do you know when the time's right in the joke? Like, I think that's a real exceptionally hard talent to get in both comedic writing, whether you're a standup comedian, it's like the length of a story before a punchline or the length of a bit.

It felt like, man, I've seen that suburb before I may have in real life.

And I'm like, oh, it just feels so familiar.

but then also patently ridiculous happening in some way that's really familiar to you or like you feel like it's really lived in is like also fun so i think that that kind of like ties together that's really good um but let's talk about the people in the movie like jackie van beek first because she is just sublime emma is great and obviously ryan is great leo and maddie are two lead characters but jackie is just her face is one of my favorite things in the world

Well, Jackie was our, like, stake in the ground.

Oh, yeah.

And Jackie Van Beek was in there.

We're great, great people.

And I just was on the stage snivelling and scratching my nether regions in a sack.

Yeah.

Starring Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Johnny Brew, Corey Gonzalez-Macrior, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie Van Beek.

This movie was made for $1.6 million, over $400,000 of which was raised through Kickstarter, I believe.

Went on to make 8.1, some places say 8.7 at the global box office.

I'm like, where are the females? It's a little too much male energy.

Just give me some female.

And I understand we have Jackie the familiar.

No, I need more.

Because it was like, we had a really good...

Jackie Van Beek was in my class.

And Taika Waititi, Taika Combat.

They were in my class.

But I mean, really is just such an incredible opportunity creatively to work with, in a collaborative way, like that in film and TV.

And I guess I came from theatre, you know, like a lot of us did back in the 90s, you know, coming through that sort of cohort of, you know, a lot of people down in Wellington, like my wife, Jackie Van Beek, and Joe Randerson, and Brenton Germain, and Taika, and, you know, a whole lot of people.

And I was working with, like, Duncan Sarkis and Te Radar and people like that doing comedy and...

You know, you just want to collaborate and hang out with your mates, you know.

Tell me about its trajectory through to this really innovative TV where literally, and I'm interested, you know, there's a lot of trust involved, isn't there? And so, OK, turn up with bugger all script and actors go and make this show that we're going to broadcast and stream.

Tell me more about its evolution, beginning at the Comedy Fest and then how it grew to what it is now.

Yeah, it started as Jackie Van Beek and Johnny Brough and I made a comedy show in the festival.

I think it might have been back in like 2016 or 17 or something.