Young Comedy Billionaire, eh? That’s what kiwi comic Joseph Moore is calling his show for MICF. “The title comes from my lofty ambitions in comedy,” says Moore, one of the performers in New Zealand’s popular stand-up show FanFiction. “You don’t get anywhere in comedy by wishing. But with only 10 nights at a 50 seat venue it’s not going to happen this year!” FanFiction has become a source of talent for this year’s MICF by the looks of things. From what Beat hears, it sounds like the comedy scene in New Zealand is going gangbusters and is very youth-driven. “It’s really taken off over the last two years,” agrees Moore. “There’s a solid established scene. It’s a weird time in New Zealand cos all of a sudden there’s heaps of work. Lots of TV work. Just when you think it might be time to move over to Australia.”
Is there a distinctively kiwi style or anything that Moore would say defined NZ comics? According to him, they’re all sweet. “We’re likeable and nice. We have different approaches but we’re similar in that we’re a nice bunch. We all rub off on each other. We learn a lot from each other. Lots of New Zealanders are doing comedy. And yes, we all love Cal Wilson. It’s great seeing how she’s made a name for herself over here.” Moore is definitely keeping himself nice. “I like to be as likeable as possible. I am as nice as possible. I don’t cover awful stuff. I don’t want to make people squirm or question me as a human. I don’t want to compromise my reputation as a lovely well-rounded guy.” How does he make being a lovely well-rounded guy funny? “My comedy is personal but told through general observations. Stuff about popular culture. I have opinions but my show isn’t about me saying any of those things.”
Moore wrote comedic plays with an old school friend for few years which led to work writing for television. He had already performed stand-up in the New Zealand comedy festival and liked it. “I missed the festival vibe so I entered RAW in 2010 and started doing stand-up after that,” he says. He says he’s had an ‘awesome’ introduction to comedy: Wil Anderson saw FanFiction while on a trip to New Zealand and invited the comedians to perform at MICF, at his own expense. After writing for television Moore is looking forward to performing his solo show and saying what he wants. “A lot of my days are spent trying to make other people funny,” he says. “I’ve spent a lot of time writing jokes for other people. I love doing stand-up. Doing my own one hour show I can be myself.
“I love that a lot of the new school US comedians are coming through,” he notes. “They talk about popular culture, they’re self-obsessed. They talk about 21st century problems. The show I’m bringing to Melbourne is about my obsession with hip hop. I’m a white middle class boy and I’ve always wanted to make beats. I resigned myself to never being the front man of a band but I spent a lot of time in my bedroom and stored up a lot of music that I use in the show. It’s quite technical. I use a laptop. I do some things with my voice. There’s a slight vibe of a party in my show, a small neurotic party. I have a natural nervous energy on stage and I play that up a bit, it’s part of the act. I’m trying to come across as confident, trying to have the confidence of a rapper but in myself I’m actually quite uncomfortable.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
