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The Spinoff
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Fury of the Small: Shoppe till you droppe
In the third episode of Fury of the Small, our goblins don disguises and delve into the human village of Hamindell. Fury of the Small blends radio drama, improv comedy and tabletop roleplaying into a unique audio experience. In our story, four stalwart heroes delve into a goblin den seeking fame and fortune. Months later, four avenging goblins step into the human world seeking retribution. All that follows is decided by the roll of the dice! Episode three begins with our goblins swapping the wilds of the woods for the dangers of the human town. Donning gnomish disguises they must bypass lowly guardsmen, break & enter local shop(pe)s and risk life and limb to resource themselves for the long winter ahead. Scritches leads the way. The elder goblin's abiding fascination for human civilisation luckily means that he knows Hamindell like the back of his hand, but all is not as it was in the sleepy hamlet. A dark revelation lies at the heart of these twisting, cobblestone streets. One that will set our lowly heroes on a path directly into a collision course with fate. Fury of the Small is a limited series Dungeons & Dragons podcast produced by The Wild Magic Tavern, in partnership with The Spinoff. It stars Brynley Stent, Arlo Gibson, Ella Hope-Higgginson, Tom Eason and Paddy Carroll with sound design by Te Aihe Butler.
The Spinoff
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Our reviews from week two of the NZ International Comedy Festival
Boners, mums and bad audience behaviour filled our nights in week two of the biggest comedy event of the year. Brynley Stent – Bonetown Bonetown. A safe place to share your bones. Brynley Stent as our game show host, comically skulking around the stage in her Maleficent horns and a black Lycra one piece and devilish tail, accidentally breaking her sexy demon character to explain rules and then quickly transitioning into the best witch cackle I've ever heard. The rules: It's a basic game of 'Would you rather' but with a fun twist: What would you rather bone? It was up to our panel – Kura Forrester, Chris Parker, Olga Koch, Courtney Dawson and Nicko Vella – to decide. Sex with Sonny Bill or freshly washed sheets? A crisp Coca Cola or the feeling after a deadline has been met. Going on a rollercoaster ride continuously because the operator keeps letting you ride or the gender pay gap. The panel guests were asked to choose two 'bones' and then make their call. Discarded bones were then swiftly placed into a cauldron which lit up and made a demonic noise a lot like a guttural 'Singapore'. Pretty quickly, the audience caught on to and repeated it every time a bone was thrown in – very The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Perfect. In the end, the winning bone was A nasty girl who looks chopped – translating to when a mean girl goes out looking unattractive. Not a cool girl who is super drunk, which is what I thought. Bonetown was fun! And although a little late for an old granny like me, it was totally worth it. The rapport between the panel and Stent felt like we were all in on a little secret, part of a crew. Like a funny little hug with the devil. / Eli Rivera Dan Boerman – Folds A Fitted Sheet On His Own When I saw Dan Boerman fold a fitted sheet on Cuba St in April, after weeks of seeing posters plastered across the capital and breathless Vic Deals reporting, I think I might have been the only person there who reacted with complete, unadulterated rage. How dare a comedian (and a man, no less) organise a bit that I would find extremely funny, and then try to sell me tickets to his show?!?!??! What happened to pure, goofy fun with no strings attached? The only option from here was to go to his show and see if my anger was justified. Evidently, the folded sheet stunt worked out, because Fringe Bar was just about sold out. But the problem with Gen Z-geared advertising is that you will have Gen Zers come to your show, and bring their lack of etiquette with them: one lad in the front row tried to butt in every five minutes, others had phones going off, and two girls thought it was all good to have a few chinwags throughout the whole thing. Boerman was great at riffing with the audience, but the near-constant disruptions definitely slowed down the jokes and stopped some trains of thought. In the moments where no one was trying to force themselves into the show, Boeman was very funny. He seems like the kind of guy I would have worked with in hospo and been kept alive by with some much needed banter in the kitchen. So, Boerman, I forgive you – and I hope you can forgive the Gen Zers you turned into fans along the way. /Lyric Waiwiri-Smith James Mustapic – All Good If Not I have been a fan of James Mustapic's work for longer than I've been a fan of any other local talent. Way back in 2014, I was procrastinating my uni assignments by watching Shorty Street Scandal episodes over and over. I first became aware of The Spinoff in 2015 because Mustapic posted that his videos were being shared there. In short, I'm a big fan of the format – Mustapic performing jokes through the medium of powerpoint and short video clips – and have seen a handful of his shows over the past decade, some decidedly stronger than others. But this year, with All Good If Not, Mustapic has produced his best show yet, and one that will surely count as one of the best in the festival. It began as should be expected from Mustapic at this point – with the slideshow powering up and an awkward review of an earlier gig being dissected. The next hour covered Mustapic's sweet spots: his mum Janet's life, his dad (who is estranged and had many issues with Mustapic's TVNZ show, James Must-a-pic his Mum a Man), and his grandma's emails. If it was just that, All Good If Not would have still been worth a ticket. Mustapic has nailed his chosen format and knows better than anyone that sometimes the funniest moments come from those not trying to be funny at all. Example: his slow live and verbatim readings of his grandma's emails (which were projected on the screen behind him) were some of the highlights of the show. But Mustapic has always been a great multimedia performer, especially when it comes to playing the jester – positioning himself as a mere observer of others and lobbing (very funny) grenades at those around him. Where All Good If Not felt new and elevated was in Mustapic's candid moments of self-referential comedy. In speaking to his own feelings and insecurities, Mustapic has found a way to gently bridge the gap between himself as the all-seeing-eye of NZ culture and the audience, who want to get to know him. In All Good If Not, Mustapic assesses himself the same way he assesses Sensing Murders's Sue Nicholson: critical, deeply cutting yet with a deep appreciation and love.
NZ Herald
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Sketch, stand-up and improv comedy with Brynley Stent, Donna Brookbanks and Eli Matthewson – Billy T' Billy
Ahead of the festival, the NZ Herald is spotlighting some of the festival's performers in Billy T' Billy, a podcast bringing comedians together for a look at the industry. And for the final episode of the season, comedians Brynley Stent, Donna Brookbanks and Eli Matthewson talk about their experiences working in different forms of comedy. All three were members of Snort, an improv troupe who performed at Basement Theatre in Auckland most Friday nights for 10 years. Matthewson said the friendships formed between the members was one of the lasting aspects of that troupe. " It provided this opportunity to let loose and it's amazing how I think everyone kind of figured out who they are as comedians through just doing those shows. '$5 cash on the door. It was all in an ice cream container. I remember one night everyone was sitting on the, we had like 200 people in absolute fire risk that were sitting on the floor. It's truly some of my most special memories.' Brookbanks said: 'I think that's what you were saying about how we all kind of found our comedy voice through that, is I think that's another thing that made Snort work so well, aside from the friendship, was that we were all so different in terms of comedy style.' Many of the members went on to write for sketch shows Jono and Ben and Funny Girls, which aired on Three. Stent said working on those shows meant pitching 'some of the weirdest shit'. 'One of my most vivid memories from [those] times is just doing alts, which is where they'll have a script and then you come as the writers with 10 different alternative jokes for every joke, and you pitch them. 'So you go around the circle and you say them out loud and I reckon 90% of them stink up the joint. And so like you have to say to some of your most like best friends, slash the people you respect the most in the industry, you just have to say these jokes and have crickets.' Matthewson said it's a skill that's applicable to working on solo shows: " I tend to go through all my stand-up bits and I approach it the same way. I am like, 'okay, have I thought of every angle?', and I try and beat the jokes that I have." Listen to the full episode for more of the pros and cons of sketch, stand-up and improv.
