Tell us about your show, A Complete Idiot’s Guide to New Zealand.
With standard downunder directness, this show does exactly what it says on the tin, making it potentially the most international comedy show at UK festivals this year, written in the world’s southern most capital, debuted in Iceland, and now zig zagging around old blighty.
What inspired you to write a show about your home country’s quirks?
I was sitting in a cafe in Wellington a day before performing my solo show ‘Globetrotter’, and staring at an email from the Reykjavík Fringe needing to know the name of the brand new show I was taking there. In a moment of blind panic I figured if I could take a show about the rest of the world to New Zealand, I could definitely take a show about New Zealand to the rest of the world.
What sort of unique insights about New Zealand can audiences expect from your show?
I went full rabbit hole on this one. Why did we almost change our national flag to a drawing of a bird with lasers for eyes? Are Kiwi Fruit really just Chinese Gooseberries in witness protection? Is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu actually the longest place-name in the world? Or did my cat walk across my keyboard?
How much research went into creating this show? Did you learn anything during the process that surprised you?
There was a lot of fact checking accepted truths, or things I had hunches about. Like if you go by capital cities, Scotland is genuinely closer to Algeria in Africa than New Zealand is to Australia.
What is your favourite New Zealand fun fact?
New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where you can be legally married by a minister from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
You’ve already started touring this show. How has it been received so far?
So far it’s been to Reykjavík, Edinburgh, Bristol, Leicester, Glasgow, and deepest darkest Northumberland. I even performed it as an extended closing set in front of a well lubricated audience in Doncaster on a Wednesday night. They’d already been pretty rowdy, and in the worst pep talk I’ve ever heard the compere turned to me 5 mins before I was due to go on and to tell me that there was no way the show was going to work in that environment. At the time I can’t say I disagreed with him. I’ve never been more happy to be wrong!!!
What do you hope people take away from the show?
I just hope I don’t put anyone off visiting, as I’m pretty sure the New Zealand Tourism Board has ways of making people disappear.
What are your hopes for the show going forward?
I’ve had some conversations about taking the show to Canada and Eastern Europe so they’re now on the to-do list.
What advice do you have for other people hoping to perform similar shows?
Keep it honest. If you write about something close to your heart, the rest comes easy.
Sully is touring A Complete Idiot’s Guide to New Zealand throughout 2024.
Check his tour dates and book your tickets here.
You can keep up with Sully’s work by following him on Facebook and Instagram, and checking out his website.
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