Rose Matafeo-Things I’ve Learnt from the 60’s (based on what I’ve seen on television.)
Rose is a well-deserved rising star in the NZ Comedy scene, well worth a look now and certainly one kiwi girl you’ll be hearing about in years to come.
How many people can proudly say that they paid almost $20 dollars to sit and listen to their friend tell jokes for an hour? I’d say not many can, but I am lucky enough to know one of New Zealand comedy’s “wunderkids”, Rose Matafeo.
Performing isn’t something that is new for Rose- as well as being a star performer in school productions through her high school years she has been on stage in front of crowds doing comedy since she was as young as 16, as a graduate of the ‘class comedians’ (an initiative of the NZ Comedian Trust
-http://www.classcomedians.co.nz). Now at 18, this was Rose’s first hour long solo show for the New Zealand Comedy Month, after last year doing a show with her friend and co-comedian Heidi O’ Loughlin.
I think there are two very different types of comedians, firstly the comedians who rely on being crude and offensive and who use the “shock” tactic, the other comedians are those who rely on pure talent and cleverness. Not to say that the crude joke tellers aren’t talented performers. Rose is the latter, her wit is clever, thoughtful, relatable, and rarely offensive. She relies on her ability as an actress, singer, and ukelele player to capture her audience, and capture she did. Despite the show being an hour long, I felt it barely lasted 20 minutes.
A lot of Rose is put into her performance, well it is a known fact that about 90% of anecdotes told by comedians are usually fictional, Rose still manages to inject a lot of who she is in her stand up. And despite part of being her is still being just eighteen, Rose still manages to get a room full of full grown adults in giggles for what was pretty much the full hour.
Of all of the creative practices, comedy is one of the most risk taking. To stand up in front of a room of people and not know if they will laugh is a huge thing to do. Rose deserves a lot of applause for it. She is definitely going to be on the New Zealand comedy scene for a while yet, so keep your eye out!
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