Why staying Humble is Frickin Dangerous Bro

Jamaine Ross, James Roque and Pax Assadi form Frickin' Dangerous Bro. Photo / Supplied

You wouldn't think spilling sauce on your shirt right before a big gig would be a good thing, but that's exactly what brought the lads behind Frickin Dangerous Bro together.

The trio - made up of James Roque, Pax Assadi and Jamaine Ross - was backstage at a gig when one of them dropped sauce on his shirt, prompting a quick mission to The Warehouse to get a replacement.

That one random event, and other backstage escapades like it, is what spawned their friendship. Years later the trio still crack up laughing about those early days.

When we meet, most of the afternoon is filled with laughter - real, knee-slapping belly laughter. When one starts, the others are set off, even when it's something that isn't necessarily a laughing matter.

Speaking about their struggles pursuing comedy as the children of immigrant parents, Roque and Assadi crack a joke a minute.

Roque moved to New Zealand from the Philippines at 8 years old and started pursuing comedy at 17. Assadi was born and raised in Auckland, but his Pakistani mum and Iranian dad came to New Zealand as refugees in the 80s "to give their kids a better life".

Their parents are "typical immigrant parents", in the sense that they want the best for their kids. They wanted them to be doctors, lawyers or engineers - "so we wouldn't have to struggle financially".

"Then I became a comedian and struggled financially. So they love that," laughs Assadi.

Roque can relate: "I was doing stand-up and going to drama school so that was two things I had to bring to them. I was really scared to broach the subject with them, it was a hard thing I had to chip away at."

"That's the ethnic 'coming out'," laughs Assadi. "Imagine ethnic kids who are gay and also want to be a comedian."

"Their parents will be like, 'I understand the gay thing, but a comedian?'" Roque adds.

Then Assadi impersonates his parents: "You want to kiss a man? That's no problem. But no benefits, no security, no KiwiSaver?"

The three of them crack up laughing again. Hard as it may have been then, their parents are much more accepting now they've proven they are successful and can make a decent living from comedy.

The three of them have successful solo stand-up careers and, as a trio, regularly play to sell-out crowds around the country. They were nominated for the Fred Award for Best Show of the 2018 NZ International Comedy Festival, and have made appearances on shows like 7 Days, Jono and Ben, Funny Girls, Only In Aotearoa and The Spinoff TV.

"So now I have two kids and a wife and I'm able to support my family...my parents are a little more chill about [comedy]," says Assadi.

Eventually, Ross, whose mum is Māori and dad is Pākehā, cuts in: "Can we talk about me now?"

And Assadi jokingly rolls his eyes: "Yeah, let's talk about you - parents let you do whatever you want, proud of you no matter what, blah blah blah."

Ross, who is Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Kahungunu, doesn't argue with him. He admits: "My mum, she's just proud of anything I do. Anything. I could go to jail and she'd be proud that I'd made it to a good jail."

But while they each have different cultural backgrounds, they found common ground in their experiences growing up brown in New Zealand and exploring how they are perceived by other Kiwis, and by their own people.

Spinoff:

As a result, their comedy is often a commentary around those misconceptions and "how you have to act as a brown person".

But, as Ross says, "there'll also just be [a skit] about a guy who can't beatbox properly". So its social politics meets...well, whatever they think is funny.

Humble, their fourth show as Frickin Dangerous Bro, played to sell-out crowds at this year's Comedy Festival and was so popular they're bringing it back for a limited run at the Basement Theatre.

It comes after previous shows like Greatest of All Time and Money in the Bank, in which they took on personas of being "braggy rapper-type dudes". Humble is an attempt to tone that down a bit - or so they say.

"We wrote it to try and humble ourselves - and it turned out to be our greatest show ever."

LOWDOWN:
Who: Pax Assadi, James Roque and Jamaine Ross
What: Frickin Dangerous Bro's latest show HUMBLE
Where: Basement Theatre
When: Next Tuesday - Saturday