Money Talks: Comedian James Mustapic on Celebrity Treasure Island, expensive blueberries and why he’s sticking with NZ

James Mustapic. Photo / TVNZ

If he wasn’t quite a fully-fledged celebrity before, winning TVNZ’s Celebrity Treasure Island has given comedian James Mustapic the kind of fame that comes with being beamed into the living rooms of Kiwi families around the country.

It’s unfamiliar territory for the up-and-coming young comedian, who now faces the challenge of turning fame into fortune.

“Look I begged to get on the show. I really wanted to do it ...but I was definitely not a celebrity,” he says.

Mustapic is this week’s guest on the Money Talks podcast, talking financial security, career plans and spending habits.

In fact, his Celebrity Treasure Island win did deliver an impressive $100,000 for his chosen charity, Gender Minorities Aotearoa, but for Mustapic himself the payoff is likely to be in the public profile it delivers.

Managing the ups and downs of cashflow in a comedy career is not easy, he says.

”I do try to be sensible with my money because I worry, who knows what will happen in the next months,” he says.

“It’s weird. It’s like, you can, you can get paid a thousand dollars for 10 or 15 minutes of talking on stage, not often but occasionally, and it’s crazy, that’s a very large amount of money to get per minute of work, but, then, yeah, you might not have any gigs for weeks.”

Mustapic says his biggest expenses are food and drink.

“I don’t cook very often,” he says. “So I’m just often spending a lot on food. At the moment I’m buying many packets of blueberries per week, just because I enjoy them.”

In fact, his blueberry bill probably comes close to the $60 a week new Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spends on his grocery shop.

“I’ve probably spent close to $60, well, maybe, $30 or $40 on blueberries each week.”

Mustapic, who grew up in Dunedin but is now Auckland-based, admits the prospect of trying his luck on the comedy circuit in the UK or Australia is tempting.

“I’ve had a couple of friends move to Melbourne and they’ve had quite big success over the year, which is really cool, but I think my comedy has been quite New Zealand-specific, with making fun of New Zealand celebrities and things.

“That would be hard to transfer and I feel like I’d have to start again over there,” he says.

“I feel like I’ve slowly kind of been working up in the New Zealand comedy scene and more people are starting to know me. I think it would be probably not the best move right now to just have to start from scratch. But yeah, it is definitely something I think about it sometimes.”

Mustapic kicks off a new stand-up comedy tour of New Zealand this week.

Listen to the full episode below to hear more from James Mustapic.

Money Talks is a podcast run by the NZ Herald. It isn’t about personal finance and isn’t about economics - it’s just well-known New Zealanders talking about money and sharing some stories about the impact it’s had on their lives and how it has shaped them.

Money Talks is available on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.