Comedian Ben Hurley chats to Mark Story ahead of his gig at Napier's Cabana tonight.
How has your beard influenced your career?
Strangely, quite a lot. It really helped people identify me in the early days of 7 Days. I wasn't the short one or the old one or the Pak'nSave
one, I was the bearded one. I now even have jokes about it. I've had it so long that my kids have never seen me without it so if I ever shaved it I think they would freak out. Unfortunately, it's going grey at an alarming rate so I'm going to have to make a decision soon or else I'm going to look like Santa.
To you, what's/who's the hottest new comedic talent on these shores?
Great question! One of my favourite things about touring is that I get to choose a really great support act from the newer generation of talent. For this tour I have Sera Devcich who I think is one of the funniest new faces on the circuit. I also think Mel Bracewell, Paul Douglas and David Correos are all great. You may not have heard of all of them but I'm sure you will soon.
Is anything out of bounds for a Kiwi audience?
Not that I've ever done one but an Erebus joke is pretty difficult to get over the line with a Kiwi crowd. I've seen many try and fail. Amazingly, a reference to the death of Princess Diana still elicits a mostly negative response. I guess after 20 odd years, not enough time has passed. Conversely, even people from Christchurch are ready to have a laugh about the earthquake and that was far more recent. It all depends on how good the joke is. There's an old saying in comedy "Anything can be funny in the right hands and anything can be unfunny in the wrong hands".
When did our species first laugh, and what's your guess as to why?
A laugh is a reaction to a pleasant surprise. We laugh at a joke because of the twist in the end of a story, or the explanation of a concept, that you didn't see coming. Any disruption to the expected equilibrium of reality that doesn't induce a fight or flight response usually results in a laugh. Evolutionarily speaking, only the great apes, including humans, have reached the developmental height of being able to laugh. So, in answer to your question, it was probably someone falling over or farting or something.