The self-proclaimed ‘Big Dog’ of comedy Kipling Davies-Colley is performing in the Whangārei Fringe Festival

A self-described 'weirdo' in the 'Nerd Herd' at school, Kipling is returning to Whangarei to prove himself.

Jodi Bryant talks with former Whangārei Boys’ High School student Kipling Davies-Colley ahead of his first solo one-hour stand-up comedy show during the Whangārei Fringe Festival.

In the old school hall at Whangārei Boys’ High School, a teenage Kipling Davies-Colley would gaze up at the framed photos of past students who’d become war veterans, sports personalities and politicians. But there was one who stood out: comedian Billy T James.

“He was this Māori kid who had this cheeky grin on his face, and I thought ‘that’s so cool that you can be recognised and celebrated’,” says the now 26-year-old award-winning comedian.

Davies-Colley now ranks himself as the fourth best comedian to emerge from the school, behind Billy T, Sean Collier and Anthony Crum. There may be a few others, but he admits he’s purposefully left them out just to wind them up. That’s part of his humour.

Davies-Colley is described as having a 'boyish charm that's really witty'.

Now Wellington-based, the self-proclaimed “Big Dog” of comedy is performing in the Whangārei Fringe Festival and concedes he has something to prove to his hometown audience.

“I look back to high school and I was definitely not the big dog. My group of friends were called the ‘Nerd Herd’, and I want to show everyone that actually I am cool. There is definitely an undertone about me being, this is who I am and I’m happy with it.”

The name ‘Big Dog’ came about simply because a socially awkward Davies-Colley decided to give himself a nickname and started introducing himself as “Big Dog” at parties. Ironically, he has since been described as “a Jack Russell with a mic”.

“Other comedians have described me as a high-energy comedian. I don’t know if that’s the nerves or ADHD.”

Diagnosed last year, he says he’s still figuring it out.

“A high portion of stand-up comedians are on the spectrum in terms of neurodiversity, but I think it’s helped my comedy and the way I think, the fact that I’m wanting to go, go, go and have no fear.”

Or so it seems. Davies-Colley also describes himself as a “pretend extrovert”.

“People see me on stage and there’s so much energy coming at them but, off stage, definitely I am someone who needs a lot of downtime. A lot of comedians get off the stage and it’s an outlet to recharge,” he explains.

He didn’t get into comedy until age 21. A theatre student throughout high school, Davies-Colley studied spatial design at university and currently works in communications for a government agency.

Of his spatial design qualification, he says, “It was a really good creative outlet, and I think I learnt a lot about how to be creative and use it for comedy and my daily job. I also used comedy for spatial design, like how to make people enjoy a space more.”

Then he attended an open mic night and decided he too could make people laugh.

Former Whangarei Boys' High student Kipling Davies-Colley hopes for big laughs ahead of his first solo comedy show.

“Although at high school, I was a weirdo, people used to think I was funny, but I didn’t realise that until I was at uni. People in Northland are naturally hard case and witty, and I realised that once I got to Wellington. They weren’t keeping up. People started to say, ‘Kipling is a funny guy’, which got to my ego a bit.”

His first show was at a tiny Wellington bar called the Cavern Club where there were about 10 people in the audience, which matched the number of amateur comedians.

He recalls: “I was so nervous. I didn’t take the mic off the stand because I was shaking. When you’re doing stand-up comedy, you’re performing as yourself.” However, it received a positive response.

He began performing a show a week which progressed from there and, recently he returned to Whangārei with Eli Matthewson as part of the line-up for Laughs on Tour.

He also emceed for Ben Hurley who was one of the first stand-up comedians Davies-Colley had seen live when he performed at Tutukaka for a Coastguard fundraiser.

The self-proclaimed “Big Dog” of comedy is performing in the Whangārei Fringe Festival.

“I told him that I remembered him so vividly and he told me to bugger off for reminding him how old he is.” The two are performing at a show together at the end of this month.

He describes his humour as “very, very silly”.

“Rhys Darby was my absolute favourite stand-up comedian growing up but now I’m a big fan of Guy Montgomery. I’d like to think I’m more manly than this, but I’m told I have a boyish charm that’s really witty.”

Critically acclaimed as “effortlessly charismatic”, “a natural at crowd engagement” and “unpredictable”, Davies-Colley navigates his audience on a journey of idiotic silliness and adventure, including finding his inner “skux” – ‘Someone who is very cool, confident and good with the ladies, which I definitely am not’.

Nominated for Best Up ‘n’ Comer, Best Show and Best MC and, having won Best Joke at the 2020 Wellington Comedy Awards, he guarantees he has at least one good joke.

For Best Joke, he recalls using his spatial design degree to make pretend book covers over the top of a bunch of $1 “hodge-podge” recipe books he’d got from the Salvation Army. He plastered his face on the cover and his name as the author of his own biography and tucked them into the back of his pants and would pull them out and hand them to the audience.

His material derives from everyday happenings which he jots down in his phone and can sometimes never fully decode later.

“But as well as the day-to-day, there’s a whole range of happenings, like the antics of my 18-month-old nephew and relaying stories of growing up quite rurally and being on Country Calendar.

“The good thing about stand-up comedy is you can prepare it all you want but you never know what people are going to laugh at, that’s part of the excitement.”

He has now performed over 300 shows across the country and in the lead-up to his October 10 Kipling DC – Big Dog show, which will be his first solo comedy hour, he’s feeling more nervous than usual about performing in his hometown, especially as his family have hardly ever seen him perform. However, Whangārei is one of his favourite places for stand-up.

“Obviously tall poppy syndrome exists but people are much more willing to laugh at themselves. When you can make fun of yourself and make fun of each other, it’s one of the biggest signs of respect we can give to each other.

“I think we’re a bit more relaxed as well. We’re on Northland time, we’re here to have a good time and chill. Once you get over the Brynderwyns it changes quite dramatically.”

Info on Davies-Colley’s October 10 show and other events in the Whangārei Fringe Festival can be found at: whangareifringe.co.nz