Comedian Rhian Wood-Hill brings his dad story to Whanganui

Wellington comedian Rhian Wood-Hill was 21 when first met his father.

"I grew up in a very white middle-class family and didn't really have much to do with my dad's side of the family," he says. "I knew of him.

"I think one of the major things is my stepdad and mum are both sort of well-to-do high-school teachers and my biological father is ex-Mongrel Mob, he's been in jail half my life."

The dynamics around all of that, what went wrong and the discovery of his Samoan identity form the basis of How I Met My Father.

Wood-Hill is bringing his hour-long story-telling show to Lucky Bar + Kitchen in Whanganui this month as part of a national tour.

"It's a comedy-esque show but I haven't pulled punches when I didn't need to pull punches," he says.

"There'll be some dark stuff but that'll be two minutes then it'll be comedy for 10 minutes.

"I don't particularly go to comedy shows where it's an hour of just laughing. It becomes very much the same. I like to have a bit of light and shade to it."

The show was originally performed for the Wellington Fringe Festival but Wood-Hill has developed it since and got other people on board such as director Jonny Potts.

"I mean, it's such a big story for me," he says. "I didn't want it to be four nights and that's it."

Wood-Hill comes from an acting background, only turning to comedy in the past few years.

"I always absolutely loved watching [comedy] but never thought about doing it," he says.

"Usually people get into comedy because their mates say they're funny.

"It wasn't until I made a couple of jokes to friends and they said 'you suck at this'. I wanted to prove them wrong."

*Rhian Wood-Hill will be performing How I Met My Father at Lucky Bar + Kitchen, 53 Wilson St, on Friday July 28. Bookings can be made through eventfinda.co.nz. Pre sales are $12 while cash door sales will be $15.