Repressed Memories is a comedy show with projector media of James Mustapic’s childhood.
Jodi Bryant catches up with 2023 Celebrity Treasure Island winner and comedian James Mustapic ahead of his Whangārei shows.
Celebrity Treasure Island 2023 winner James Mustapic is pondering the sight-seeing opportunities ahead of his two-night comedy show in Whangārei this month.
Well, it depends what you’re into … beaches, shopping, museums, art galleries …
“Oh, I’m into all of those!” he enthuses. “I spent a bit of time over the holidays in the north – I have an uncle who lives in Taipa and I’m definitely keen to explore a bit more. I have a friend from Celebrity Treasure Island who lives up in Waipu who I’d like to catch up with too.”
And who might that be?
He giggles: “That would be Mr Blair Strang.”
Wait-what?!
Let’s rewind a bit here. James and Blair didn’t get off to the best start on the popular TVNZ show last year. While many know Blair Strang as Rangi off Shortland Street, his identity was met with bemusement by the younger competitors of last year’s Celebrity Treasure Island (CTI), with Mustapic resorting to calling him “Shorty Street guy”.
“The friendship developed when I (as captain) swapped him over to our team on the show and I think, at the time, we sort of had this ongoing banter, and I thought it would be quite funny to bring him over to our team. But it turned out, he was not enjoying being on that team and he was so grateful to be brought over. The friendship grew from there and we send each other text messages and things.”
When it’s pointed out that Blair, 51, was a bit of a Shortland Street legend back in the day, Mustapic, 28, admits he still hasn’t watched him on the show but would be doing so in the future. Another surprising text buddy he made on the show is prominent Māori activist Tāme Iti, with the 72-year-old kaumātua taking the recently captained Mustapic aside to give him a confidence pep talk for his leadership during Tāme’s exit episode.
“Tāme has come up once or twice when we have the occasional get-togethers and we chat online,” says Mustapic, adding that the cast are all part of a group chat but not everyone responds.
Since winning the $100,000 prize money for his chosen charity, Gender Minorities Aotearoa - a nationwide transgender organisation run for transgender people, including binary, non-binary and intersex - Mustapic has been busy making TV documentaries and writing and touring for his show.
Repressed Memoirs is an hour of projector-based stand-up comedy delving into the silliest and spookiest repressed memories from his life. It features some new jokes, as well as some of the best gags from over the years of performing with some hilarious behind-the-scenes gossip from all of his escapades.
“It’s a best-of show from over the years of me doing stand-up but also stuff about my past year as well,” describes Mustapic, who grew up with his mum and sister.
“I had an interesting childhood. There were some hard times and it’s all made for great comedy but it wasn’t too depressing so don’t be put off coming to the show!”
Although Mustapic’s mum Janet has always been his biggest fan, he says she wasn’t going to watch the final of CTI.
“She was actually going to go to singing practice. I had convinced her that I hadn’t won and she really believed it. So then I had to convince her to watch it!”
But even he never expected to go so far on the show. “It’s my favourite show. So the whole time I kept saying that I wanted to self-eliminate, so that I could go home and watch,” he laughs.
Mustapic admits he takes after his mother. “I do feel like I’m becoming my mother as I grow up. My sister and I are also very similar and a lot of people think that we’re twins. I’ve made fun of my mum so much, it’s one of those things that you do things ironically so many times in a loving way; I’d mock my mum so many times and now I’ve just become my mother. She is funny but I’d say she’s more funny when she’s not trying to be. She’s a crack-up.”
Mustapic’s beloved mum gets her own air time soon, albeit a little reluctantly, after he nominated her for his six-part show called James Must-a-Pic His Mum A New Man, in his pursuit of a worthy suitor for his mum. While he won’t give any spoilers ahead of the TVNZ+ show beginning in March, he reveals the comedy/reality show goes to extreme lengths in the quest and he’s hopeful of a second show if it goes well.
As a child, Mustapic was always performing skits and making movies with an old video camera. This carried on throughout his teenage years, though he admits they were “pretty terrible” and nobody watched them.
Then in 2014, he began making Shorty Street Scandal on YouTube, making a mockery of scenes from his favourite soap. This grew in popularity over the years, before he ventured into stand-up comedy and tv work, including last year’s Queer Academy series in which James guided the audience through various topics including STIs, coming out, fashion and choosing your own family.
He credits his hit show Abandonment Issues, based largely on iconic 2000s television moments, as one of his proudest achievements. Looking for closure for his abandonment issues, James revisited the New Zealand celebrities and popular culture that shaped his childhood but had since disappeared into obscurity.
While most celebrities were game to take part in the show, Mustapic revealed in a previous interview that former Sticky TV and C4 host Drew Ne’emia was the only one who didn’t.
“He hates me very much,” he said in 2022. “I’ve made fun of his music career too many times. He has blocked me on every platform. There is an episode about him but he did not want to be a part of it.”
Others were happy to get over their past confrontations with Mustapic to feature on the show. The show’s second episode saw him reconnecting with former Sensing Murder star Sue Nicholson, who he’d had a feud with after making fun of her on Seven Sharp.
He says the two are now friendly and revealed that she had since texted him to say ‘You’re lucky I didn’t smack you one like Will Smith’.”
Known for his deadpan delivery and self-deprecating humour, Mustapic has steadily been accruing fans and is a two-time Billy T nominee. His dry wit made him a fan-favourite on CTI but viewers may remember his struggle with anxiety which saw him carrying out some OCD procedures.
“I was very stressed the whole time on the island, but I hope people know I was also having a delightful time. And I loved scheming, and being sneaky and just having a laugh.”
Though he still gets anxious before each show, he’s since learned to handle it better.
“It’s definitely got better over the years, I used to not be able to eat at all but now it’s all good really. There’s one method that’s called having a glass of wine,” he laughs. “But apart from that, I try to remind myself, it’s just an hour and people are there to see me and they’re excited.
“I’m performing in Whangārei (for the first time) because I’ve had lots of friends who performed there and they really loved it. For my stand-up, I’ve mainly done the main cities of Aotearoa and I wanted to go to smaller places.
“Hopefully the Whangārei audience will have lots of laughs and will learn more about my life and take a look inside of my mind while enjoying multiple media elements and all that jazz.”
So does he consider himself a veteran camper now he’s spent three weeks roughing it on an island?
“Absolutely not!” Mustapic laughs. “I tell ya, I don’t have much interest in it, but slightly more than I used to and I think if someone invited me, I guess I could be interested in going… but maybe glamping.”
Repressed Memoirs is at OneOneSix Bank St on February 15 and 16 at 7.30pm. Tickets can be obtained through Eventfinda.
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