16 May 2025
WELLINGTON WEEK THREE SHOWS
Kia ora!
Can you believe that the final week of the NZ International Comedy Festival is already here?! Check out our spot light of awesome shows happening in the final week of Festival in Pōneke!
BATS STAGE
Alayne Dick & Viki Moananu - We Need to Talk (20-24 May 6.30PM)
Not to be mean but…your fav gossip loving, gays are talking about you again. We Need To Talk is your messy group chat come to life, where everyone gets unhinged nicknames and we talk trash while also being deeply serious. When are we joking and when are we being genuine? Who’s to say.
Laura Lexx - Slinky (20-24 May 8PM)
As seen on ‘Live at the Apollo’ and ‘Mock The Week’
Winner 'Best Show' in the 'UK Women in Comedy' Festival' in 2024 - join multi award-winning standup star and viral sensation Laura Lexx with her highly anticipated NZ debut show, 'Slinky'.
BATS DOME
Florence Hartigan - Me, My Mother and Suzy Cato (20-24 May 8.30PM)
A nostalgic journey through the era of Britney Spears and low rise jeans, Me, My Mother and Suzy Cato is a tale of past demons, future hopes, and the universal struggle of the family we need versus the family we get.
Shoshana McCallum - Merely Beloved (20-24 May 7.00PM)
Performed and written by International Emmy Award Winner Shoshana McCallum, Merely Beloved is a darkly funny and deeply compassionate interrogation of one of the most important questions in the universe; where does love go when we die?
BATS STUDIO
Kajun Brooking - Kajun Brooking Escapes the Hood (20-24 May 7.30PM)
Born into a neighbourhood where gangsters drink Moccona because it has more MMM, comes an epic tale of one man’s mission to escape the Hood. So come out to the show and find out how Kajun escaped a life of poverty, gangs and violence and replaced it with the life he had always dreamed of where he can afford to buy food, shelter and Lego.
Liv Ward - EPIC WAY! I'm Gay? Oui oui faguette™ I LOVE KIM HILL (1999 version) (20-24 May 9PM)
JOIN THE LOBSTER (and Liv) ON A COMEDIC, AND BORDERLINE TRANSCENDENT JOURNEY FROM THE SOUTHERN NECROPOLIS OF TE UMUKAHA (TEMUKA), INTO UTOPIAN FAGUETTEDOM™. LED BY EVERYONE’S FAVOURITE SPIRITUAL GUARDIAN/RADIO NZ HOST, KIM HILL, WILL THE LOBSTER FIND LIV BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE? IS LIV A FAGUETTE™? WILL KIM HILL FINALLY DEFEAT MIKE HOSKING TO WIN BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR?
FRINGE BAR
Comedy gold and comedy coal, each night is a guaranteed gamble!
Jenny Tian - Jenny's Travels (20-23 May 7PM)
Jenny’s had one of the most original experiences ever: moving to London as an Australian. She’s frozen her eggs, re-downloaded Hinge and is ready for an adventure. Join her as she shares her stories of phone snatching, cultural oddities and ~finding herself~.
David Correos - Noise Zealand (20-24 May 8.30PM)
David Correos, has created some of the most unhinged, volatile, and reckless comedy over the years. 2025 promises to be all those things and more. This is David’s comedy noise spectacular! Think Fred Again in scale, and David Correos in funny.
A fire line-up of women, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming funny folk will come together for two nights only across Auckland and Wellington to celebrate comedy in all its forms!
Hosted by Kirsty Webeck. Featuring: Schalk Bezuidenhout, Tom Cashman, Sera Devcich and more!
TE AUAHA, TAPERE NUI
Jen Brister - Reactive (20-21 May 6.30PM) - SOLD OUT
Jen Brister is Reactive - or so she's been told. Apparently you don't have to respond to every little thing around you. Finding herself in a constant state of exacerbation at the state of the world and people in general, Brister has been told she needs to chill the hell out. Can Jen find her zen? It seems unlikely to be honest...
Nazeem Hussain - You Paid for This (20-23 May 8PM)
Festival favourite Nazeem Hussain is back for another hour of great comedy! Don't miss this great show.
Host of New Zealand Today (TV3 NZ/YouTube). As seen on Taskmaster NZ, The Hundred with Andy Lee (Channel Nine), Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee NZ, Mondays Experts with Tony Armstrong (ABC TV).
Ray O'Leary - Laughter? I hardly know her! (22-24 May 6.30PM)
Ray O’Leary (Taskmaster, Have You Been Paying Attention?) pulled a man from a wrecked car and as the man lay dying, he used his last ounce of strength to ask Ray (Nominee 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award for Most Outstanding Show) to tell his children that he loved them. And Ray (sold out tours to Melbourne, Edinburgh and more) will get 'round to it but first he has to do this comedy show.
Rosco McClelland & Tom Houghton - U.K Double Header (24 May 8.00PM)
Not one but two Festival Headliners packed in to one show. Featuring The Honourable Tom Houghton from England, star of Netflix’s The Circle, former resident of The Tower of London and viral social media sensation plus recent winner of the 2025 Sir Billy Connolly ‘Spirit of Glasgow’ Comedy Award, Rosco McLelland.
TE AUAHA, TAPERE ITI
Mark Simmons - Jest to Impress (20-24 May 6.45PM)
Sold out at our 2024 Fest - back, by public demand, with a new show packed with stunning one-liners. As seen in the NZ Comedyfest Gala.
Korero Paki (20-24 May 8.15PM)
Crack open a cold one and get set for a night of mean kōrero and wild comedy from this spontaneous tira whakaari. Joined by guests from the fest, delight as our performers talk sh*t, share off the cuff stories, and take the show to wild places through improv. Like all good garage parties, this show will be jam-packed with crack up storytelling, cheeky banter, and plenty of laughs.
Joana Joy - Miss Tai Whanganui 2009 (21-24 May 9.45PM)
"Hot, intelligent, and funny? Yeah Right." Best Newcomer nom (NZICF 2024) Joana Joywas crowned 'Miss Tui Whanganui 2009'. Fifteen years since winning the title and cheeky pash out the front of Countdown, she's been pondering all that's funny 'bout beauty, small town Kiwi culture, and attraction.
TE AUAHA, GALLERY
Sameena Zehra - Homicidal Pacifist: Dust off your Guillotines (21-24 May 7.00PM & 24 May 5.30PM)
Three haunted sock puppets leading government. Shit-for-brains liberals peddling ‘both sides’ fucknuggetry as the people march for peace and their governments pour gasoline on fire. And wt actual f is a ‘lesser’ evil? Sameena Zehra is back to explore whether it's time to dust off your guillotines (even for a pacifist, it’s definitely time) with dark comedy & delicious storytelling that will make you gasp and guffaw as you channel your inner homicidal pacifist to pen a culling list of your own.
Ocean Denham - A Hot Girl and her Suzuki Swift (21-24 May 8.30PM)
A HOT GIRL AND HER SUZUKI SWIFT is a hilarious 60-minute show where Ocean Denham looks inward to determine whether parallel parking should just be illegal - it's so hard to do. Ocean believes her basic bitch mentality helps her with life's bigger issues, more than just her parking skills. You may pity her, you may love her, but you will never want to be a passenger in her car. Strap in for an unforgettable night of laughter, spectacle and pure entertainment.
The Opera House
Guy Montgomery - I've noticed so many things, it'd be unfair to keep them to myself (23 May 7.30PM)
Hello, I'm Guy Montgomery. People often wonder what I get up to when I'm not relaying my observations about the world to them and I'm finally ready to talk. The truth is whenever I'm not relaying my observations, I am out in the community, harvesting a fresh crop of bespoke observations. That's what this show is about.
Melanie Bracewell - A Little Treat (24 May 7.30pm)
Bad day? Time for a little treat. Good day? I think that deserves a little treat.
With the end of her twenties rapidly approaching, Melanie Bracewell unpacks the last decade of her life. As seen on Taskmaster, 7 Days and Wellington Paranormal, you don't want to miss Bracewell's latest offering. Go on, you've earned it.
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There you have it, an exceptional final week of comedy in the capital city. Support live comedy and get along to some show!
