An episode with Frickin Dangerous Bro

Frickin Dangerous Bro, from left, James Roque, Pax Assadi and Jamaine Ross.

Frickin Dangerous Bro formed as a stand-up comedy crew over a meal at Denny's.
This week the trio debuted as hosts of Maori Television's sketch comedy show
Only in Aotearoa, Jamaine Ross tells Russell Brown.

So, a Maori, a Filipino and a Pakistani-Iranian walk into a bar ...

Ha ha. When we got together my wife said to me, "that sounds like the start of a joke" and I was like, okay, I don't know if I can finish that joke without sounding racist

Was it brown solidarity that brought you together?

Kind of. We all had similar experiences in our pasts - growing up as young brown people in New Zealand. So we kind of bonded over that - and then bonded over other dumb things like basketball and cartoons. And comedy, of course.

What's your pitch for Only in Aotearoa? Why should people watch it?

Because it's fresh, new comedy. When we talk about it we say it's told from a brown perspective - and it kind of is, but it's also just whatever's funny. We've chosen the funniest things that 10 people in a room could come up with and turned that into TV. The only thing that'd stop something getting on the show would be it not being funny.

It's not just you three bros. You have women writing on the show too - Amanda Allison and Coco Solid.

What I said was, let's try and have more women than just one. More than just the token woman writing. Working with Amanda, she's had lots of experience over the years and she was saying she's been the token woman so often.

On a personal level, your beard is part of your brand. Do you nurture it and tend to it?

My beard exists out of pure laziness. I can't be bothered doing anything. I did start using beard oil at the suggestion of [fellow comedian] Jamie Bowen and my wife liked it, but I was just too lazy to carry on the regime of combing it with the beard oil every day.

His beard's really well-tended.

Yes. It's so good. He really looks after it. I'm jealous, but I can't be bothered.

I don't suppose you met American rapper Action Bronson while he was here? You guys are like beard brothers.

Nah, I didn't. But this year Tony Woods, the African American comedian who came to the Comedy Festival, walked into the green room and for a moment he actually thought I was Action Bronson and was about to say hi before he remembered "Oh, I'm in New Zealand. Action Bronson won't be here".

What else have you done this week?

I'm a director and editor on Jono and Ben, so I directed some stuff with Guy Williams.

Does being an editor give you a particular take on television?

Absolutely. Once you start working in TV you never watch TV the same again. You see every single mistake - it's very annoying. But also, I worked in TV as an editor before I did comedy, so I came into comedy with all these other skills and so now I can do all those other parts. It's a weird journey for me.

You've got quite the range of skills. Was that intentional or did it just happen?

It kind of just happened. Ever since I was young I wanted to be an actor. Then I decided I wasn't good-looking enough, so I thought "I'll work behind the scenes". Then as I went on a friend said "You're funny, you should do comedy", so I started doing comedy. It's all been weirdly organic and somehow I've been able to achieve some things. I've carved out a good place.

Lowdown

Only in Aotearoa (hosted by Frickin Dangerous Bro) plays on Thursday nights, Maori TV @ 9.30pm.