Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy

The story of women's comedy from the fraught emergence of stand up through to women getting to hold all the creative cards in the making of their own comedy programmes.

With New Zealand having first planted its comedy roots in character and sketch-based humour, Funny As charts its evolution to stand-up comedy and more intimate, realism based performances. But as digital platforms emerge, and new talent comes of age, are we seeing a return to the character comedy of our past?

With Māori and Pacifica performers having played a significant role in New Zealand’s comedy story, this episode showcases the brilliance of Māori and Pacific Island comedy and examines the challenge of confronting racism through humour.