Comedian Celeste Barber talks high kicks, Vogue covers and her love of New Zealand

The queen of comedy is coming to Kiwi shores to make us giggle with some food for thought.

Celeste Barber, known best for her Instagram celebrity parodies and comedy series How Not to Behave, feels like New Zealand’s Aussie older sister — hilarious, mildly inappropriate and standing up for what’s right. And now? Our relative from over the ditch is coming to visit for a tour that is tipped to be one hell of a laugh.

“I need you to know that New Zealand is my most favourite place in the world,” Barber confesses. “I’m obsessed with New Zealand”, before hinting at enjoying a more permanent stay on our shores.

“We’re looking to maybe relocate for a chunk of time,” she says. “I always just want to be there longer. So we’re going to look at hopefully making that happen.”

As we patiently wait for the comedian to sign immigration papers, we do have her for a brief amount of time as she brings her hilarious show Backup Dancer to New Zealand, stopping at Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch from August 2 to August 4.

As for what to expect from the show? Well, according to the comedian, it’s got surprises at every turn.

The star is set to cover some pretty topical political stances, such as freeing the nipple, inappropriately texting therapists and childhood dreams that have crashed and burned.

Celeste Barber is coming to New Zealand for a slew of shows in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

“People get to have a little look into the inside of my brain as a 15-year-old when I really wanted to be a backup dancer for Janet Jackson”, she shares, before adding: “I’ll be high kicking my way across the stage!”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Celeste Barber show without heaps of laughs and some food for thought. The comedian has paved her way in the comedy business by being a firm advocate for women, addressing body shaming, equal rights and gender discrimination with a side of laughter, which she calls “the greatest equaliser.”

“I’m someone who always goes into anything with a sense of humour,” she says, “and I know I respond to things better when I’m kind of disarmed or laughing.

“So, instead of kind of just preaching it, I like to go in with a joke and like to show the absurdity of what women are expected to look like and the way women are expected to live their lives just to be counted as a human.

She goes on, “because they are big issues, I don’t want to beat people over the head with it. But I also want to make sure that I cut through and I make sure that women — [the] majority of women — who do not feel represented, feel represented and don’t feel ashamed and feel a little bit good about themselves.”

Emily Ratajkowski and Celeste Barber. Photo / Instagram

Now an industry regular, Barber first started making waves on Instagram, making body comparison videos between her and big-named models, such as Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowksi.

The parody clips highlighted the unrealistic body expectations placed on women and went viral for her hilarious yet real representation of society’s view on women’s bodies.

“When I started doing it, there wasn’t anything really like that on Instagram. It was a real platform that was just pushing that narrative of, you know, body shaming.

“The absurdity of it all and this ridiculous idea that it’s so important how a woman looks, I just found that quite hilarious”, Barber confesses.

“I just remember being inundated with these unrealistic images that were being sold to us as realistic, as ‘this is what you look like when you drop your kids off at school, right?’ And it’s like ‘no, that’s not what I [or] anyone looks like’.”

This, Barber says, is when she called “bullshit” on the whole thing.

Now, the social media star has gone viral for her parody skits and has been catapulted from comedian to superstar, even gracing the covers of some of the world’s biggest publications, like Marie Claire and Vogue Australia.

“Now I feel like I’m in and I can blow it up from the inside”, she quips, hoping to transform the discourse on women’s bodies within the society that sets the standards.

Celeste Barber in Marie Claire magazine. Photo / Instagram @celestebarber

And the comedy queen has no intention of slowing down any time soon.

“I’m very excited to get back on the road touring,” she says, before adding. “I have a film coming out”, Australian feature film Runt alongside Jai Courtney and Deb Mailman.

“And then I’m going to spend an extensive amount of time probably just lying face down for a while, screaming into a pillow and looking at buying some property in New Zealand.”

Secure tickets for Celeste Barber’s Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington shows on August 2, 3 and 4 at celestebarber.com.