Weekend Rewind: Billy T Live, early FOTC, and A Bit After Ten

Flight Of The Conchords.

Opinion

As the 2015 Comedy Festival begins, NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner looks back at how stand-up comedy has been presented on New Zealand television over the years.

Much of New Zealand's television comedy has been sketch-based, or sitcoms, with a healthy dollop of topical satire. Our broadcasters and producers have seemed a little more reluctant to transfer stand-up comedy from the live arena to the screen. But we have had some successful forays into this area, with the series A Bit After Ten and Pulp Comedy, as well as assorted specials.

Sketch comedy was the staple of comedy legend Billy T James' many TV series, but he also wove some stand-up as well as musical performance into his shows. In April 1990, after a period of ill health, he made a triumphant return to stand-up with the TV special Billy T Live. Sadly it was a last hurrah for James, whose transplanted heart gave out on him the following year, but it's a worthy swan-song.

You can see Billy T Live here:

Three years after Billy T's final special, TVNZ commissioned the stand-up comedy series A Bit After Ten, which ran for two seasons and gave many of today's well-known comedians their first break into television. This episode was the first semi-final from the talent quest style show. Among others, it features Michele A'Court, and a very hairy Jon Bridges.

Watch A Bit After Ten here:

The next stand-up comedy series after A Bit After Ten was Pulp Comedy, which ran from 1995 to 2003, and featured a huge range of comedians, both new and established. This episode from 2000 marks an early screen appearance for Flight of the Conchords. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie are in parody mode with versions of songs that will later appear in their first HBO series and on their debut album. Mike King hosts the show, John Glass reflects on bachelorhood and kissing etiquette, and Chris Brain manages to reference bikers, the Wiggles, Bill Gates and Star Wars.

View Pulp Comedy - Flight of the Conchords here:

This 2003 episode of Pulp Comedy features future movie maker Taika Waititi in his stand-up comedy days. He appears as his off-the-wall character Gunter the German "joke" teller - a strange blonde-wigged, buck-toothed persona. Comedian Fiona MacKinnon is in more conventional territory, while Andrew Clay has tattoos and one night stands on his mind.

Watch Pulp Comedy - Taika Waititi here:

Veteran comedian Mike King was a regular on Pulp Comedy, and in 2001 he went one step further and produced his own live stand-up comedy special An Audience with the King, recorded at Auckland's St James Theatre at the end of his "Laugh Out Loud" national tour with Te Radar. No stereotype is left unbruised, as King gives his non-PC bro-down on everything from Westie pick-up lines, to sport and childbirth.

You can see An Audience with the King here: