Nau mai, haere mai, e hoa, kaupapa o Funny As. (CHUCKLES) Kia ora, bro. Can you do it? I'd love to. I'm never allowed to do this! It's cool, eh? Wow. I'm gonna steal that trick. Whatever. (SNAP!) (SNAP!) (SNAP!) (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) That was an honour. TOM SAINSBURY: Hi, sweeties. JOHN CLARKE: Yeah, gidday. GINETTE MCDONALD: My name's Lynn, and I come from Tawa. (LAUGHTER) Captions by Faith Hamblyn. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019. Pasifika stand-up in a nutshell is sardonic storytelling. You know, we Maori people are very generous people. We love to share. We love sharing our culture, our songs, our smiles, our land. Yeah. (LAUGHTER) (SCATS A RIMSHOT) Sometimes with quick gags; sometimes with long gags. Tell that one in Dunedin. (LAUGHTER) This is the biggest Trojan Horse I've ever seen in my life. Fuck, I can be the world champ at this. I could do this. It's psychological warfare, and I'm here for it. (CHUCKLES) (CHEERING, WHISTLING) (APPLAUSE) I don't do any ethnic jokes any more, you know, because` (LAUGHTER) Hey, no, shut up. No, listen. Hang on. No. (LAUGHTER) See, cos to me, there's no such things as ethnic groups in this country, right? If you live here, everybody's a New Zealander, we're all Kiwis, best country in the world, yeah? (CHEERING) Am I right or what? Huh? Yeah. (APPLAUSE) Bullshit. (LAUGHTER) Billy T was just... (CHUCKLES) Well, he was a legend. Everyone loved Billy T. He was Maori, you know, and Polynesian, so that spoke to me. If you were Maori in New Zealand in the '80s and the '90s, Billy T James was the OG. He was the one ` had no competition. (SEAGULL SQUAWKS) Oh. Tena koutou. He was charismatic because he was a charismatic person ` it's that simple. (OFF-KEY CHORDS PLAY) The only word for it is magic. # Ooh yeah. # The Billy T James Show was, like, my shit. I started massaging Mum's feet so I could watch The Billy T James Show. He could take the most banal joke... My old man wants a bit of four-by-two. Oh yeah. And just how long does he want it? ...and make it funny. Ooh. I think he wants to keep it. Billy could have the audience falling out of their seats, even though they'd heard it a hundred times. It's raining and makariri up north and windy and wetter down south, so if you fullas live in the middle, may as well stay home, cos no bloody good anywhere else. (GIGGLES) Even if I didn't even understand the joke, I would laugh at them as a kid. It was the way he told it. There was just something about him that was just inherently funny. He could just do that laugh and people would crack up. (GIGGLES) No words ` just a laugh. (LAUGHTER) Billy T James was a terrific actor. Moron! Moron?! (PLAYS FLAMENCO MUSIC) He could pick up any instrument and play something beautifully on it. I mean, one night there was a trombone sitting there, and I thought, 'I've got him.' But he played this very melodic piece. # We're gonna have a good time. Oh, yes, we are. # And he could sing. He could hold a tune. I think in Broadway he'd be called a seven-threat man or something. He could do everything. (CHEERING) Welcome to the show! (APPLAUSE) I remember him as Dexter Fitzgibbons, 'Hello, I'm Dexter Fitzgibbons etc, etc.' POSH ACCENT: And let me assure you that there is no cause for feeling bad tonight, because everything on Radio Times is looking good. It sounded very odd and looked very odd to hear this precise English voice coming out of his mouth. He was actually a very good mimic. There's a Maori guy front and centre ` that was my first impression. He was just doing everything but being Billy T. As much as he enjoyed Dexter Fitzgibbons and Radio Times, his real yearning was to get into the comedy thing. Kia ora, kia ora, kia ora. They reckon a man's home is his castle, eh? Except down at the works, where a man's home is his freezer. (GIGGLES) I do remember as a kid, racing to school the day after a Billy T episode was on, and everyone just, like, waxing all those sayings of that show from the night before. Get it? It's a modified Land Rover gearbox. (LAUGHTER) (GIGGLES) Dumb, eh? Yeah. And I tell you what ` not only will this baby scoff up pork bones, fish heads and Fresh Up cans, but if you drop a knife or a fork in it, you just slap it into reverse, and it'll spit the bloody thing straight back out again. (GIGGLES) (LAUGHTER) He started talking about a sketch show ` dressing up authentically, and just just let the situation and the words do the humour. You know, like, if you do a second world war sketch, that you actually get the right gear. Is this a new thing for you, Billy, to actually be playing a German? Well, yes, it is. Or Captain Cook ` the right stuff looked right. Gifts from His Majesty ` telescope. There you are. (GROWLS) Billy T James Show, with its sketch comedy and that, kind of, vaudeville flavour, it was kind of old-timey, but it was also very radical. Drink. Whoo! (LAUGHTER) You were giving this platform to one person, and they were Maori. I mean, obviously, people have done things before that` that they probably thought would have been indigenous to New Zealand, like the John Clarke Fred Dagg thing, which I must admit, to me, wasn't, because I couldn't identify with a lot of things he was saying. His Captain Cook making first contact with Maori sketches had a massive effect on me. Now, I would like to buy the beach. All right? Now, would you accept 26 muskets? It's, like, New Zealand history. It's pointing out the, kind of, ridiculousness of it and the injustice of it. Some beads for your women, a quantity of tobacco for your men and some glue for your children. How say you, savage? Haven't you got any money? We can all laugh at it, but it's actually making a really fucking great point. Literally taught you about the truths of colonisation, cos the school curriculum wouldn't. I mean, a lot of it holds up. It's amazing. But then there's still a lot of problematic stuff now. You know, the Lands For Bags ad, everybody knows. Where'd I get my bag? Lands For Bags, of course. Where else? (JAZZ GUITAR MUSIC) And one of my other favourite Billy T ones, which I only question now, but I didn't when I was a kid. (LAUGHTER) Where did I get my bag? I pinched it. (GIGGLES) Which, you know, is a, kind of, damaging stereotype, I guess, but do we still laugh at that as hard now? I dunno. Probably. (LAUGHS) We've got a lot of shit to sort out in New Zealand. It's kind of a messed up... It's messed up, cos he was a Maori fulla,... yeah, poking fun at Maoris. Like, we're looking at ourselves, and then we're looking at him making fun of us, but making fun of himself at the same time, and we related to that. Yeah. Tricky bugger. Mm. The Maori entertainer Billy T James appeared before the Race Relations Cons... Hiwi Tauroa, after receiving heaps of complaints about his new record, I'm Dreaming Of A White Mistress. (GIGGLES) Yeah, and then he gave everybody else permission to laugh at us too, which is good and stink too. Yeah. (LAUGHS) Hey, listen, have you fullas got a couple of bucks to spare? Why don't you put one of these up at the front gate ` beware of the dog. Actually, it was supposed to be Dobermanns, but I couldn't spell it. (GIGGLES) I'm not really, you know, stereotyping or demeaning anyone; I am just portraying people that I see. You know, there are people like that. There are people with that sense of humour. There are people who speak like that. You know, I've got cousins, uncles. My mum has 10 brothers, so I'm very familiar with the lovable, charismatic uncle who has it all. He was just like us. He was like the Tamatea Rugby Club in Hastings. The Race Relations Council doesn't like your jokes. Lots of people have made criticisms of Billy T James. Does that sort of thing ever rattle you? No. I mean, you know, there is sort of racism in this country, and it doesn't matter how much you say we may get rid of it. You know, I certainly know what I am. What's that? Well, I'm Maori, you know. Seeing his frustration when he tried to explain that he's not creating these characters to put down people or to ridicule people; he's making comedy about characters that he's run into that cracked him up. If they watched the whole thing till the end, they will see the subtle messages. And I always come out on top. There's no way I'm ending up on the bottom of the heap, you know. I grew up in Christchurch in the '70s in a very conservative white family. And so for me watching Billy T James was like, 'Oh, Maori people are awesome.' You know, cos I hadn't really had any interaction, you know, which is terrible. Just to recap` recap` just to go over those points again. (CLEARS THROAT) Number one ` dress to impress. Billy T James was what I imagined all Maori people to be like ` like, jolly, hilarious, cheeky. Number three ` learning,... (LAUGHTER) ...and number four ` experience. (LAUGHTER) Pakeha comedians, they were always given that grace. They'd never had to be perfect. And so I afford the same kind of, um, lenience to him and his canon, Because pretty much his visibility was crucial at that time. (MARIACHI MUSIC) Came A Hot Friday is by far the best thing he did, and I wish he'd done more of that shit. He shone in it. As an actor, I thought, 'Wow.' Wow. You're wondering who am I you see before you. No. Johnny Porano, otherwise known as the Tainuia Kid. Ta-da! No. Hey, Mister. Don't go down the river or the taniwha eat your arsehole. My son's saying that line. I don't even know if that's exactly the right line. Everyone's looking at him like... Who taught you that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, what a weirdo! So sorry, son, but it's comedy history. Ta-da! (GUN COCKS, GUNSHOT) I loved him in that. I loved the character he played. He played it with such integrity and believability. (CHUCKLES) Billy stole the movie. Yee-ha! (ENGINE REVS) Assertive ` that's how I describe my driving. On the open road, you're aiming for about 10 to 15 above the road sign. Nah, nah, passengers don't get to call the shots. I'm the one driving, so I choose the speed. (WEATHER REPORT PLAYS ON RADIO) (ENGINE REVS) If you wanna drive, then you can drive. That's what I always fire back. They just don't understand how you can drive quickly and safely. If anyone tells me to slow down, I give them the same response every time ` my car, my rules. * So, you live in Mt Eden, eh? I did a stretch there once myself ` about eight months, yeah. Supposed to be a year, but... He was also such an enigma. Having worked with him a lot, I never, ever felt I knew him. I'm nervous now. This is my fifth smoke... in about a half an hour. (LAUGHS) I get really nervous. It's terrible. I'm like a piece of jelly at the moment. He has always sweet. He was very modest, almost apologetic. By cripes, that's a choice dress you've got on there, eh, dear? Once the cameras were rolling, he just fizzed. And as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, he just became this very private shy person again. Even in his shows, when you saw him looking very sort of effete and sophisticated, that wasn't really Billy either. Who was Billy? Very few people actually knew Billy. I started working with him in '86. I was a mate, and I used to run around with Billy. And that was my job, and it was awesome. He had an absolute love for his daughter. At home he'd sit round the table, have a cup of tea, shoot the shit, like you do ` like everybody does. Absolutely loved guns. We'd have a mental block, and, 'Right!' Outside we'd go. (IMITATES GUN COCKING, GUNSHOT RICOCHETS) And him with that maniacal laugh. (IMITATES GUNFIRE) Oh gee! That was an example of Billy having fun. Yeah. Fun with a capital F. About 1986, he and I got really, really pissed, because 1.5 million people watched his show. That was half the population. That was pretty good. To have that peak, and then to go to the other end of the scale and have this dipping, people turning off. The pressure on Billy was immense. I think that contributed to his cardiac problem, big time. (CRASH!) We did two tours with him after he had his heart transplant. Just been a bit crook lately, eh. Have you? Oh, didn't you know? No, I am. Really? Oh, no, operation and everything. You wanna have a look? Hang on. Even though he had been very ill and, uh, had lost a lot of energy and was on about a hundred pills a day, uh, his performances were just amazing. He was working as hard as he wanted to, you know. I often wondered if he knew he had a certain amount of time and he just wanted to make the best of it. (POIGNANT GUITAR MUSIC) Go on. Well, you found out watching the news tonight ` you know, what was your reaction when you found out? Well, I mean, obviously, with somebody with a heart condition like that, it's not a surprise, but a hell of a shock, because,... yeah, he was such a special guy. He was an incredible guy. I miss him a lot. WHISPERS: Thanks. (SNIFFLES) Right. Controlled myself as best as I could. You did very well. Excellent. He touched the heart of everybody, that man. Except that ones that fired a few shots through his window. But, you know, I mean, you can't please everybody all the bloody time. Crikey. How would you like to be remembered, do you think? What, say, in how long? 200 years' time? (LAUGHS) 50 years' time. 50 years' time, I'd like people to be saying, 'Doesn't he look good for his age?' (BOTH LAUGH) (LIGHTS CLICK) Please put your hands together for the Modern Maori Quartet! (CHEERS, STRUMS CHORD) We're always going to be navigating around each other, Maori and Pakeha, and putting things inside song and entertainment. You have a chance to be more open with making it a dialogue. ALL: # Haere # mai. # Haere mai. # When we started out, all the kaupapa was based off the Howard Morrison Quartet and the show bands. We pay homage to those guys. (ALL SING 'HAWAIIAN COWBOY SONG') Three albums that I can remember from my childhood, that everyone had, one was the soundtrack to My Fair Lady; one was John Clarke's Greatest Hits, and the other was the Howard Morrison Quartet. They were the first people that broadcasted on New Zealand TV. Mean. # Well, there'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover... Four guys in suits looking suave as hell, and then they open their voice boxes, and Howard's just charming the pants off everybody. # There'll be love, love and laughter and peace ever after... # That's a really beautiful political thing, in a way, also really positive ` it shows Maori in another light. To get the attention of everyday New Zealand, they had to stand out, and what better way than to play against what the common stereotype of what Maori were back in the day? I can read lips. She was saying to her girlfriend, 'Hard to imagine that their ancestors were cannibals, isn't it?' (LAUGHTER) The Maori showbands were essential,... so I could see what a star looked like. These were mythical creatures. These were guys that invented the land of funny. New Zealand was not a funny place. There was that laconic humour, the Peter Cape and all of that sort of thing, but you didn't really get people get up and actually do an act. You know, Maori ` yes. These were rough, hard-case Maori people,... who are just like me,... who suddenly switched on. And then they were big stars. # Drift away like a bird. # These people as entertainers had to be really, really highly skilled in a lot of different disciplines. They were impressionists. They did, like, you know, poi and haka dances. They played all the instruments. They told jokes ` they were very charming. They were talented because they worked hard, but they made it look effortless. We even had a go at that whole Quin Tikis, strum the guitar here and play the bridge there. That's hard. A lot of the showbands used to fine each other for certain things. I know that the Quin Tikis definitely did. You know, it would be, like` Your shoes weren't shined. Yeah. Or hair out of place or late or forgot lyrics or didn't smile enough ` fine �5. That's probably, like, half your wages back then. And those guys travelled all over the world too. ARCHIVE: The Maori Volcanics are playing at a suburban Sydney hotel. They found they couldn't operate satisfactorily in New Zealand ` we're too small, and we tend to underrate homegrown ability. The Maori Volcanics could have played anywhere in the world. It was variety, but musically, it was just incredible. # There's the lady, # there's the lady that I love. # ALL: # There's the lady... Prince Tui Teka ran away from home to join the circus. He rang up his parents from Sydney and said, 'Gidday. I'm in Sydney.' They thought he was down the road. # There's the lady, there's the lady that I love. # Argh! (LAUGHTER) When he went there, they said, 'Don't do any Maori stuff. 'Do it straight, because this is Australia.' Give me some takeoff music. Come on. One, two, three, four! And the more Maori he did, the better it was, and that's what people wanted. (LAUGHTER) You cannot be funny if you're not essentially yourself. Nah, he was the king. (BAND PLAY ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC) The part of it that makes me wonder, was it that much of a culture shift for them, is that it still had that element of easy-go-lucky Maori. And they played on that as well. The hori-humour kind of thing going on ` I'm sure that made the audience feel more comfortable as well, 'Remember ` we're still just those happy-go-lucky guys.' What is hori humour? If I had to define hori humour,... I guess I'd talk about the image of the character who was called Hori, that was in The Half-Gallon Jar series of books, who was typically wearing a singlet, had big lips, was quite dark, involved in manual work and a bit dim-witted and always being, sort of, outmanoeuvred by the cunning Pakeha coot up the road. And I remember them being on the bookshelves when I was growing up ` my dad was Maori, my mum was Pakeha, but, you know, I remember them along with Barry Crump's A Good Keen Man. I mean, it seemed like everybody in New Zealand had these books. Yeah, from where we sit now in our generation, it's kind of hard to imagine, let alone remember, that there was this whole tradition of Pakeha writing as Maori. (STATIC HISSES) (SIGHS) I should've ironed these pants. They did a census of Timaru, and the Tongan population when my mum moved there was one. So to help fit in, Mum and Dad decided to, you know, raise us as all the other farm boys were raised. And then this thing came on TV, and it was just insane. Darling, I'm home! (LAUGHTER) Oh! I hadn't seen anyone with the same hair as me. It was crazy. Happy anniversary. And it was really funny. On purpose. And it wasn't Crime Watch. Very proud to have been Mrs Semisi. Even though I'm a Maori, yeah, it was lovely to be Samoan for a few years. Malo. (POP MUSIC) # Every morning, when I wake up, I drink my coconut. # The Semisis were groundbreaking in the mid-'90s ` the first, kind of, comic portrayal of a Pacific Island family, albeit very heightened. Congratulations, people. The Housing Department has picked you as Tenants Of The Year! (ALL CHEER) It was just silly. Now it would probably be cringe-able. Your arrears are the biggest in Auckland. I like it like that. Ooh! It was like a kids' show. It really was. The response was amazing. We were mobbed in Otahuhu and KFCs. But, you know, avoided in Ponsonby. PA: Would the large woman bouncing on the trampoline please get off immediately? Suddenly, people at school were, like, 'Oh, is that what it's like at your house?' It's, like, 'You've been to my house. It's not like that.' And now it seems possibly it was, you know, making fun of Island people. They were so FOB. You know, bright, colourful ` they were caricatures. But that's what its point was ` it was actually using the stereotypes, like, the colourisation, the sending up of, really, a lot of racist attitudes towards, um, Pacific Island families. Malo, family. ALL: Talofa, minister. It was a good five, 10 years later before I came up to Auckland and went, 'Whoa. There's a real truth behind this.' For me, Samoan humour is really quite savage and... in a quite full-on way. It's almost laugh so as not to cry. There could be a funeral, and our next-door neighbours would be thinking, 'Didn't someone die next door?' Cos of all the laughter, you know? Mm. It's just the way that we are. I'll always remember seeing the movie 300 in Samoa. And there's a scene where the goodies have had a battle, and they're going round making sure all the baddies who were still alive are dead. And so they've got their spears, and they're going... (GRUNTS) And the whole theatre was going... (LAUGHS) And I was, like, 'Oh.' That's probably the moment where I kind of got it, that thing where Samoans will often laugh at what, on the face of it, other people might not laugh at. (LAUGHTER) How naked are the Samoans gonna get? I don't think too much nudity on my behalf, because of censorship rules and, you know, the broadcasting standards. Nah, you've got a good body. You think so? You've lost weight, man. You're looking great. You're looking great. Actually, the first time I met Dave, I think I'd gone to a mate's house, and he was there. He'd crashed on the floor, cos he'd been arrested the night before and spent the night in the cells. (LAUGHS) He said, 'Oh, this is Dave.' I went, 'Oh, hi.' All those years of struggling, dancing, singing, acting, it's really gonna pay off. Look at these people supporting the families against family violence concert. Those guys are so, so, so, funny. If you don't shut your mouth, I'm gonna smash you. (LAUGHTER) They had an amazing ability to produce such a funny show, and then, like... then just make it just the most depressing, most affecting piece of theatre you've ever seen. They're, kind of, like, the first group of Pacific performers punching through into mainstream consciousness. Is Mummy stupid? No! Is Mummy stupid? Eh? No! Eh? Yeah, I saw you stupid. (LAUGHTER) They're not afraid to go to the places that no one else really is game to. They're the breakers of icons. It's got a smart local bite to it in amongst all the being hit by an iron and calling each other 'dick' stuff. As a group of mostly Samoan mates on stage, you felt a little bit invincible. We're not as racist as that made Indian dairy owner. Yeah. He was racist, the bloody black curry. (LAUGHTER) And also because of the place Samoans occupy in New Zealand society, you know, there was a sense of we could say and do whatever we want, because we're coming from that position of punching up. (LAUGHS) Shut up! Our chosen response to shame was comedy. Set a good example for him! It's cheaper than alcohol, you get in less trouble than violence, and it can even give you a career. Morningside for life! ALL: Morningside for life! One of my best friends, Elizabeth Mitchell, she'd come to every show. And then she came to me and said, 'Well, what do you think?' And I went to the boys and went, 'What do you think?' And they were, like, 'Yeah, sounds good. Do we get paid?' And Bro'Town was born. It was everyone else except me. I was wagging then. Society made me do it. It was Jeff. He's a Maori. Not even, ow! That was pure magic. It just hit the mark, and it sung, you know, like a note that gets hit. Racial stereotypes. Yeah. We wanna celebrate... 'To write a script, and then record them, 'and then having a whole studio of artists draw the pictures' and animate their mouths to go with the lines ` man, that was just something else. Oh, look at me. I'm a model. I got a sausage up my arse. (ALL LAUGH) I remember after the first episode had screened, cos the poor receptionist at TV3 used to have to take all the complaints, and there were so many after that first one ` there was comments from Australians who were offended on our behalf, there was comments from people who were offended on behalf of Maori, on behalf of Islanders; and, oh, man, they must have been busy that night, that poor receptionist. Got any beer? Dad, can you change this baby girl's nappy? What the hell do you think I am? A parent? (LAUGHS) I grew up with Bro'Town. Bro'Town was probably my Billy T. Yeah, Bro'Town was crazy. I only now watch it and go, 'Ooh, 'fuck. Ooh. 'That would not fly today.' But I'm still grateful that it was there. There are no brown people on TV, so even when they're cartoon characters, you take that shit, eh? Do you mind if I get a picture, Prince Charles? No, not at all. All sorts of other people do. (BOTH LAUGH) Prince Charles was pretty awesome. Helen Clark brought him to this play called Niu Sila, and so we knew that we'd get to meet him backstage. One of our studio workers... was ushering, so we got her to plant a mike in the dressing room. Dave hit up and goes, 'Oh, we do this animated series on prime time. 'Do you think you'd wanna do a voice for us?' And he goes, 'Ooh, I'm not so sure about that.' Meanwhile, we were already recording. (LAUGHS) And then Helen Clark, bless her heart, vouched for us. She goes, 'Oh, go on. I've been in it.' And he went, 'Oh, OK.' All you have to say is, 'Morningside for life.' Morningside for life. But we used everything he said. (LAUGHS) Including all the backchat in the room. Then we found out that he's only been in two TV shows ` Coronation Street and Bro'Town. ALL: # Morningside for life. # Baby, baby. # There's a lot of trouble in the world today, eh? Oh, yeah, there's heaps of trouble. (LAUGHTER) Laughing Samoans started... maybe a little bit after, but not that much after. And they're two very different part of the spectrum of Pacific humour. One is decidedly very edgy, and one is definitely widely community friendly, first with Ete by himself, and then incredibly successfully with Tofiga as his partner in crime. My show was called Laughing With Samoans. He was supposed to get onstage and do five minutes. I asked Ete if there was anything else that he needed me to say. He said, 'House rules ` you know, health and safety.' Another health and safety, which is probably one of the most important, is your cell phones. Now, I know a lot of youse don't even have any credit... His five minutes became 10 minutes. The audience were rolling! And then it went 15 minutes. And I was standing on the side of the stage, going, 'Get off.' (LAUGHS) And the reason why it's health and safety is that if it rings, I will kae your ulu with this mic. The last thing you want is to walk home like, 'Yeah, that was good.' (LAUGHTER) From there, then people started calling us, 'Hey, these are the Laughing Samoan guys.' We had no idea that 10, 14 years later, you know, we'd be flying to Alaska; you know, that we'd be going to Invercargill ` You know, amazing places like that. How do you pronounce that word? (GIGGLES) I already know that one. Yeah. OK. Next one. (LAUGHTER) Tofiga is the first time... I fall on the floor laughing backstage, crying, watching a comedic performance. Doug? Doug hah. (LAUGHTER) He's the modern master of the Samoan style of fale aitu. (SPEAKS SAMOAN) (LAUGHTER) The fale aitu literally means the house of the spirits. The performers within this house say that they have invoked the spirits of those who have passed on, which was just an excuse to say whatever you wanted about the village ` you know, bringing down those who were in high power, gently, with humour. It's a way of maintaining equilibrium within Samoan society. It's always been done by men. Yes. (SPEAKS SAMOAN) (LAUGHTER) Petelo's the king of Samoan comedy. Yeah, he's a magician. He would say stuff about people that no one else would get away with, but Petelo. And in many respects, it's what we do. Yeah. Stop. Yeah. (LAUGHTER) We sort of poke gentle fun at those in power. Stop. Yeah. (LAUGHTER) Yeah. (LAUGHTER) Yeah. Yeah. Stop. Stop. (LAUGHTER) (CLEARS THROAT) Phew. (LAUGHTER) Start to get hungry now. (LAUGHTER) Hard work, pretending you know what you're doing. (LAUGHTER) The Laughing Samoans, between 2003 and 2016, managed to put together 14 shows. Each one went on DVD, of which we would have sold several hundred thousand copies. Each time we went out, the audience has just got bigger and bigger. And each DVD we release, more and more requests started coming from overseas. They were touring all over the world and selling out all over the world, and even places that they'd never even heard of. There's such a huge demand for Pacific comedy. And it's really rare to have women. Dear Buns and Buns, my boyfriend thinks I'm playing around on him... 'Pels and I have characters called Bunny and Bunny,' and that started in 2004. And it was largely based around taking the mickey out of our mothers. We thought, 'What are we gonna do?' So we though, 'Ooh, why don't we do the dear...?' Dear diary. It was like, you know, there was that column, Dear Rose? No, Dear Abby? There was what's-her-face. Hi there, Buns and Buns. I am marrying into a Tongan family, and the guest list for my wedding is over 800 people. That's a very small wedding. You think so? There was no structure to our comedy ` we were just trying to make the other one laugh. How do I tell my fi-nan-ce that there's not even food in New Zealand to feed this many people and that it's actually against the law to serve horse on the buffet table? I don't know what the problem is, because I know that New Zealand has plenty of food. And it depends on where their wedding is... 'It's just us. 'With American accents.' Yeah. (LAUGHS) AMERICAN ACCENT: Yes, with heightened American accents. Which lots of our aunties have. (BOTH LAUGH) And then, of course, when that came out, I think it just kind of spiralled from there. We did this whole dance routine on office chairs. This was for all the women in the office or those at home. Or those who just didn't wanna stand up. Most of the feedback that came through from that one was mainly PI women, who said, 'Thank you for giving us that. We're practising it down at the office, the chair dance.' Yeah, but, you know, with PIs,... Yeah. ...we laugh at pain. We laugh at ourselves. We laugh at people` We laugh at obesity. We laugh at... (LAUGHS) We do! Hypocrites. AMERICAN ACCENT: Mahalo. Have you had any Island food since you've been here, like taro, like pisupo, like o pua'a, like anything that gives you diabetes? Have you had that? (LAUGHTER) I think you got to feel him, didn't you? He felt me. Right. Let's get it right. Jason Momoa. (LAUGHTER) Oh my God. (CHEERING) But that was last week. Oh my God. I think my dragon eggs are pregnant. (LAUGHTER) That is what Bunny can do that we probably won't do. Wouldn't be able to. No. I see a real reluctance to offend The Community ` capital T, capital C ` slash family. You know, you have young actors and comedians who can come out and have the freedom to just do what they wanna do, follow their bliss. But our picture is the entire family. My mum still hasn't been to a Nakeds show. Dave was saying one time, his mum came. And, you know, he said his mum called out and goes, 'I raised you better than that.' You know, a voice from the audience. These are not the first choices that PI kids should make. Yeah. Our first choices need to be A ` find somewhere that the money rolls in to look after your family, to send money to wherever; that, not this life. I mean, this was hard for Dad. All the other cousins are, like, lawyers, they're doctors or they work in IT. And I'm, like, 'Dad, I wanna tell jokes.' Man, it's so nice to be back in Auckland, you know? I mean, I haven't been to Samoa for ages, and it's so nice to come home. My father is Samoan; my mother is Welsh. I'm wearing an Island shirt, and I'm talking about domestic violence, and that's the first time people see me on TV. James. James. Come here. Come here. Why you cry? Huh? Why you cry? (LAUGHTER) I reckon Pacific Islanders must have been watching that going, 'This is us. This guy?' Cos people were saying, 'I don't know if you should be talking about domestic violence. 'You should be talking about diabetes; 'I don't know if these subjects, you, mixed-race, pale-skinned Pacific boy.' In New Zealand, that's what happens. You get white-ass Samoans. I am straight woman, unfortunately. (LAUGHTER) Gutting. Absolutely gutting, to be honest. It is definitely the worst of all the sexualities, I'll say. (LAUGHTER) With a completely different upbringing. Mm-hm. It's even worse than being a straight man, to be honest. Because given all of the options, we still went for fucking dudes. (LAUGHTER) There are things that she can do that there's just no way in hell I could do. I would probably end up in A & E. (LAUGHS) Or McDonald's. And we laugh. Yay. Yeah. And we laugh, eh? Because it's, like, yeah, of course. If I'm ever referenced as, like, a Polynesian comedian or Samoan comedian, I feel, like, a certain guilt. And I know it's a cool thing, and I am proud of it, but it's a really complicated thing, where then you're forced to represent something... which you don't necessarily feel capable sometimes of representing. I think she's freer and she's probably a lot more braver. Yeah. Shame and heartache... because of four immature fools! Sione's Wedding was a massive hit. The boys owned that film. Must bring girlfriends. Girlfriends? But Your Majesty, Albert hasn't had a girlfriend in 30 years. Good one, Stan (!) Although there was a lot of argument over who would be who. Oscar didn't wanna be anyone and had to be kind of slapped around. ALL: Oh yeah. It couldn't have been the success it had if only Samoans had gone ` people outside our community loved it and owned it. Do I still look cool. Yeah. You hardly look wasted, bro. (VOMITS) But I remember seeing Sione's Wedding in Poland, of all places. I was terrified about what they'd think, but I was also intrigued to see whether they would laugh at the same places. And they did. I'm more than just a dick, you know. I'd just go, 'Wow. Comedy is the great uniter.' (LIFT BELL DINGS) I'm a man... with a dick. * Billy T's interesting because he's hugely influential to everybody, and he was to me as well. But what he did do is make it hard for everybody else. It's like when Billy died, comedy died. Mm. (GIGGLES) Laugh, eh. I stole that laugh off Billy T. I actually met Billy T once. Did you? Normally, in comedy in New Zealand, there is room for brown people, but just one. Billy T seemed to be on his own back then. And when Mike King came along, again, there was, sort of, like, Billy T, Mike ` where is everyone. We'll maybe let you have two ` maybe have Billy and Pio. Hello, Mum? Can Johnny come round for cake? (LAUGHTER) The ghost of Billy T haunted every comedian. Yeah, I get compared to him often. FALSETTO: You're gonna be the next Billy T James. It's an easy thing for people to do. You couldn't beat it. You couldn't beat it. That was the thing that people would say. Billy T James is still the funniest. I remember watching myself on TV1, 2 and 3 all on the same night. I arranged two tours. I had a CD. I put out a VHS. There's more beyond Billy T James. Taika's omnipresent in Aotearoa pop culture. If you live in New Zealand, you claim him pretty hard. He was an example of someone who is just an artistic person who is just so good at everything. And it's kind of frustrating, a bit. It's a real New Zealand thing of not taking yourself too seriously, but being fucking good at what you do. Well, yeah, so it's good to be here. (LAUGHTER) What? (LAUGHTER) No, that's weird, because that's not even a joke. (LAUGHTER) Some of the funniest nights of my life were watching Taika do these experimental characters. He had a character called Gunter. What do you do for a living. Nothing. Nothing? Shit. What a coincidence! Me too. (LAUGHTER) How can this be happening? Are we the same person or what? (LAUGHTER) He went through a phase where he would try out his characters just on the streets of Wellington, which, I mean, is so crazy, cos Wellington's so small. So there would be people who know Taika would bump into him, but he would be pretend to not be Taika. (LAUGHS) No, the first time I saw him do that` Oh, you didn't recognise him? I did not know who it was. It was just some weird guy standing next to me. He had a fake paunch. He wouldn't have to fake it as much now. He'd just, like, stand next to you. I'm up here in some freaky body here doing this shit. I don't even know what I'm doing. And you should be up here; I should be down there looking at you, thinking, 'Fuck, this sucks.' It was real anti-comedy. He would barely do any jokes ` it was all just nothingness, you know. Yeah, but really funny. Taika's the most successful example of someone who's got a very definite sensibility. Like, you can tell it's his work when you see it in film, as you could when he was doing stage stuff, like with Jemaine. Go crazy and wild for the Humourbeasts! (CHEERING) And they came up with that name cos they were going to Edinburgh, and they wanted something that sounded good with a Scottish accent. It was, like,... (SCOTTISH ACCENT) Humourbeasts. There's Maori drama, and that would be very serious, often dealing with things like abuse. And there's Maori comedy ` like, lots of jokes about being thieves or glue-sniffers. # So where do my Maori go? # (STRUMS CHORD) We don't really relate to being thieves. You know, like I don't. You know, and sick of that stereotype. Not that I don't laugh at those jokes, I do, but I wouldn't wanna make them myself. # Maori girl. (LAUGHTER) BOTH: # Maori girl, I see you walk on by. # Stop, Maori girl. # Haere mai, oh, my. # (LAUGHTER) And we were also making fun of Maori theatre. Maui kei te mihana, he tipua no tua whakarere. Taika and I tend to, like, write things we wanna be. So, like, we wanna be Maori legend. It's set in the '80s, and all he wants to do is just, sort of, moonwalk. And his mother doesn't know what to do with him, so she sends him to his nanny, who lost her legs at Chunuk Bair. Nanny, why have I got a mum who's on the DPB? And then between them, they play all these different characters, including all of Maui's brothers. And they used puppets, and all the brothers are called Bro. And when Maui fishes up the North Island, one of the brothers says, 'Oh, Maui, you're a legend.' (LAUGHS) Why are you dying your pubes, Clint? To cover greys. I lived with Taika when he was making The Strip, and he was, like eating the protein` He had to get muscly. He waxed. He was a pretty small guy. He had to get his bum waxed, I believe. Two, three and shimmy! And pump it! Come on, guys! Do you wanna be in this routine or not? Well, it is kind of lame. It was that time that he said, 'I'm gonna try directing.' You know? Yeah. Like, 'I don't want people to make me do these things.' Yeah. Kia ora. My name is Boy. Welcome to my interesting world. New Zealand hasn't really had a chance to... to show its funny side in film that much. It's not autobiographical, but, yeah, you know, we shot in the house I grew up in and stuff like that. Kiwis definitely wanna see themselves, but they also wanna see themselves in a more original way. What Taika's doing, again, is this sort of insider humour. And I did read a review of Boy by Leone Pihama, an academic, and she was very excited about going to see this film. Her kids had seen it three times, and they knew all the jokes. And she sat there, and then saw the Maori grandmother leaving her kids at home, and she thought, 'Oh no,' you know, 'here we are ` these same stereotypes that are used to punish us.' But I honestly believe that's kind of missing the point. Stay home, cos no bloody good anywhere else. (LAUGHTER) It didn't have the malevolence of The Half Gallon Jar. And I think it's important, because it obviously struck a chord and chimed and resonated with people because it was something people could relate to. I think what New Zealanders really responded to with Wilderpeople was the kindness in the humour. That's how New Zealanders, I think, actually want to be represented. # Ricky Baker, now you are 13 years old. # You are a teenager, and you're as good as gold. # Happy Birthday had a copyright on it, and they went, 'Oh, God, now we've gotta pay for this.' And so while they were working out what they were gonna do, I was just mucking around on a little keyboard. And then Taika went, 'Hey, can you just do that again?' So, 'Oh, this is what I've worked out.' 'Oh, well, we'll just do that.' It's really unusual to be able to do that, yeah. But he creates that environment where you can, but it's still gotta kind of control there. Vladislav! (WOMEN MOAN) Oh. (HISSES) Sorry. Sorry! He is a brave practitioner. Cos he said there shouldn't just be one type of Maori film, and that's what he's proven. Hollywood worships Taika. I don't know how Taika feels about this, but I would consider Thor a Maori film. Because it's got his sensibility all the way through it. He kind of opened the door to a kind of humour, perhaps without intending. Yeah, he's the main protagonist, I think, in bringing people like me into the fold. Kia ora, kia ora, kia ora, and welcome to the opening episode of Brown Eye! (CHORAL MUSIC PLAYS) (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) Brown Eye, when that started, that was, like, 'OK, well, this is Maori comedy, 'but let's give it a level of sophistication. So do you know what? 'I don't want that hori laugh any more.' So, here's a $25 million question ` how about a new flag? I don't want the default position to be, 'Oh, we're at the bottom of the pile, 'and we're just laughing with it.' We're gonna be smart too. It was like a fist in a velvet glove. Now we cross live to our entertainment correspondent, Wahine Jones. Wahine, do you read me? Tena koe, Nathan. I read you loud and clear, unfortunately. She was based on my love for broadcasters like Carol Hirschfeld and, you know, those old kind of BBC women. Hurricane Motherhood is defined by atmospheric and social pressure. It's already wiped out several towns. 'She's an award-winning broadcaster who's been relegated to three minutes on this show,' and she's miserable, but she's a consummate professional ` she'll do those three minutes, like, complete justice. Women writers, girl musicians and female athletes, they're all going to be known as writers, musicians and athletes from now on. It's a lot like Chinese restaurants being called restaurants in China ` confusing, but only if you're stupid. You know, I said some really full-on things. (LAUGHS) But you put it in that voice ` 'White supremacy and patriarchy are real. Goodnight' ` people, like, they... they let it land. For me, I was, like, 'This is the biggest Trojan Horse I've ever seen in my life.' Once I clocked that, it was game over. (DOORBELL CHIMES) Will you both stop eating all the chips? We're under surveillance. What, your phone taped to a shelf? Very funny. You shouldn't be eating junk food. Aren't youse entered in the Iron Maori Marathon tomorrow? (BOTH LAUGH) Within Maoridom, we get either thought of as being an antipodean episode of Cops or we get, you know, the sacred elder at the beach, looking to the horizon, doesn't do anything else. We humans are just a meaningless dot in the cosmos. My web series of Aroha Bridge, as the writer and the creator, I wanted to show, sure, there's a whole set of other problems that y'all don't have to worry about, but we do have to navigate the same everyday dysfunction as you. Look, sometimes bad, confusing things happen in life. Like you kids being born. And then there's that second layer that makes me maybe a bit more proud, that is really loaded. Kowhai, this video's pretty political for a song called Dogs Are Cool. And again, it's, like, if you've got a 'ba-doom-crash' at the end of it, people will take it. (FIRE CRACKLES) (CHAINSAW BUZZES) (LAID-BACK MUSIC PLAYS) (MUSIC CLICKS OFF) So, what do you guys think? If you're not harnessing this moment of digital democracy, you're not doing it right. (BABY BABBLES) Good doesn't need to be complicated. That's why at Karicare Toddler we focus on nutrition and leave out the added preservatives. Karicare Toddler milk - only what matters. * And for me now, I'm all just about unconditional love, positive vibes and not getting myself into any petty drama. (LAUGHTER) And on that note, I just wanna say... to all of you fucking bitches at Petone Warehouse,... (LAUGHTER) ...in the car park, judging me when I walk in, I can see you. (LAUGHTER) The more of a profile you get, the more you feel responsible for everything you represent. For me, it's been tricky... of late to think I have the entire... voice of Maoridom on my shoulders. Kia ora, Bronson. 'Writing for Jono and Ben, I put my 'Bronson character on mainstream television.' NEW ZEALAND ACCENT: 'Bronson's like this.' And I love him to death. It's lovingly based off my uncle. When I do him on stage, I just look like me, but I do him, and you imagine Bronson. For TV I had to put make-up on and a beard and a beanie, and I looked like a man. I thought it was great. I was really happy with it. And then it went on TV, and people on Facebook were commenting, 'This is racist.' I was, like, 'How?' You know, somebody said, 'Oh, she's doing blackface.' And I was, like, 'No, just my face.' That's so bad, to tell people to chill about racism. (CHUCKLES) You know, like, you can't. On the flip side of that, I come out and I always start my stand-up with a bit of a mihi, and I speak in Te Reo Maori. And I see people going, 'We're with you.' And I love that. You know, everyone's, like, 'I'm doing night classes.' All I can represent is what I know. So here's what I know. And I'm happy to share that. Hello. I'm Jamaine! I'm James! And I'm Pax! And we are... Our audience is a lot more brown people than normal comedy audiences. Yeah. Which is, um, awesome. (LAUGHS) Yeah. Boys, have you come for a reading? Yeah, man. I mean, not me. I'm not into this whole mumbo jumbo. I'm just here to support my boy, you know? Yeah. 'Our purpose or what we try and do is just contribute to the conversation through our 'performances and just hope that' things advance in a way that it creates a society where everyone feels included. We just wanna be funny. Yeah, we just wanna be funny and just be funny brown faces in the forefront and in the mainstream, to just normalise this so that other brown kids go, 'Oh, he's a comedian. That's awesome.' Minimum wage. (LAUGHTER) Marginalisation. White girlfriend. And freedom to do whatever she likes with zero consequences. (LAUGHTER) We are almost like the gateway drug` (LAUGHS) To other comedy. Yeah, to these communities who feel like comedy is not for them, coming into town, watching a comedy show and going, 'Oh, this is dope.' But then they get addicted, and they're just, like, 'Give me some more comedy, man.' (BOTH LAUGH) 'Give me some of that Brendhan Lovegrove, man. I need it.' When you're a Maori or Pasifika person, you're constantly being reminded that your ancestors, they survived for you to do this. You know, so, even if that's walking up to the shop. (LAUGHS) You are creating so that your future generations don't have to think about it. You know, I'd love to see brown performers able to do stuff that isn't about... the racism that they saw growing up or deal with. I'd love for them just to be able to be free to just make jokes about whatever the hell they want, as opposed to it being a coping mechanism. (LAUGHS) What we need is just to make heaps more stuff so that these stories can just be seen as stories, you know, as opposed to the, um, singular definition of a whole group of people. That's not possible. Pakeha never have to do that. Captions by Faith Hamblyn. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019. If I spoke to a group of majority white people and told them that it's easier for them to get a job, cos their name's Greg, and my name is a long-ass ethnic name, it'd get tense, but in comedy it doesn't. Yeah, in comedy you can, like, Trojan Horse it in. People laugh. Yeah. They let it in, and you're, like, 'Bang!' Yeah. They don't even realise that the thought's in their head now. It sounds kind of wrong, like I'm putting ideas in their head without consent. (ALL LAUGH)