2024 wrap up

Woah 2024 was a ruckus ride – a year that felt like three smushed into one, packed tighter than a lift trying to fit the listed capacity. 13 people fit in the lift my ass. To commemorate the flurry that was last year, I thought a quick sprint through 24’s antics might be in order.

Most people have opted for sharing photos of their year – but I’m dumb and forgot to take many.

So here we go… and yes it is a bit of a hefty list.

Improv

This year has been a COLLOSAL one for improv. I have done improv here and abroad, studied at the world famous iO Theatre in Chicago, performed in a range of festivals, and started a new improv company with some truly awesome improvisers. Some highlights include:

• Taking my comedy duo (Mo and Ralph) Chaos Theory show to the NZ Fringe Festival. Starting strong with a musical number and (mildly successful) tearaway pants, this show saw the two of us try to tackle simultaneous Harolds (something we lovingly refer to as the FrankenHarold).

• Mo and Ralph appearing on standup/ line-up shows – showing people that improv IS funny!

• Starring in my first long-form narrative show, It came from beyond the script – a horror improv that had a week run at BATS.  I was also in a banger of a narrative improv show where we tried to plan a murder in Murder Club.

• Studying improv at the iO Theatre in Chicago for the five-week intensive!  

• Whilst in Chicago, Mo and Ralph took a brand-spanking-new show to the iO Festival. Improv with a twist, we had the wild idea of using a fuck-off-sized wheel of fortune to determine the fate of our show – and it was about as chaotic as you would expect.

• Performed for the first time with my husband at the improv smackdown show, Late Night Knife Fight.

• My comedy podcast group Muunboot took a wild show, Welcome to the Shmuckpad, to the NZ Improv Festival. The show was advertised as us doing a living room format – but halfway through the show it turned into more of a Saw movie.

• Leading a workshop as part of the NZ Improv Fest for Māori and Pasifika improvisers, which was my first foray into teaching!

• Starting a new improv group with Ralph and Joel called Catfish Trifecta (brought to you by Luxury Improv Company). We have started monthly shows – including a surprisingly coherent ‘under the influence’ drunk show and a xmas smackdown show.

Standup comedy

It’s also been a crazy year for standup for me! At the start of this year I was still very fresh to standup, with only six months under my belt (or whatever the saying is). This year I have regularly performed on standup shows and reached some pretty cool milestones. Highlights include:

• Winning Best Newcomer at the Wellington Comedy Awards! This was a real shock and absolute delight to win – even though I got way too drunk at the award ceremony, told a knock knock joke and had the mic taken off me!

• Started regularly performing in pro shows – including the Matariki showcase to an audience of over 200 people (I think).

• Doing the Gauntlet – 10 days of standup comedy in a row!

• Started MCing comedy gigs, including Femmes and Thems, Sidesplitters and NZ Comedy School gigs.

• Getting nominated for the Best Newcomer (Lower North Island) for the NZ Comedy Guild Awards. Super cool to be nominated, albeit confusing as to how that happened!

• Performing standup for the first time at The Classic in Auckland and at The Globe in Palmy – two vastly different vibes. I also performed standup in Chicago!

Experimental shows and other antics

In addition to my jampacked year of improv and standup comedy, I have also managed to squeeze in some other antics – including:

• Confusing Fringe audiences with our experimental comedy Wet Soup shows. These two back-to-back (almost) sold out shows were jampacked with improv, messy and visceral comedy, and wild premises.

• Directing my first ever show! I was incredibly lucky to be able to direct Ginge & Minge's NZ International Comedy Fest show Fame or Die.

• Putting on a wild Halloween show, Monster Mash, alongside fellow comedian and producer Summer, and a banging cast. The show was wild, well received and has been nominated for Best Show at the Wellington Comedy Awards.

• Competed in the NZ 48 Hour Film Festival again! This is always a highlight in the year!

• Started recording a new podcast which we are going to launch this year! It may or may not have something to do with musicals – so watch this space!

I’m sure I have missed something, but this is now starting to look like a very dry novel so I’ll cut it there. I managed to power through 87 shows this year. Next year I’m aiming to do 100 shows, so let’s see how this goes!