The 2025 New Zealand International Comedy Festival opened its Wellington run with a bang on Saturday night at this year’s Best Foods Comedy Gala. The chill in the air was no deterrent for the 1000-plus audience, who laughed and cried from laughing as some of the NZICF’s wide and wonderful performers strutted their stuff.

Hayley Sproull, our evening’s host, opens the show with an explosive musical number about DINKs – Double-Income No Kids – which culminates in quite some beautiful chaos involving a keytar; and we were off to the races. She’ll jump in across the show for further stand-up segments, her Wellington past really making her storytelling hit closer to home for some of the audience.  

A bevy of stand-ups, sketch artists and mimes from across the motu and abroad follow; and mad props to this year’s festival, it is a well-balanced and equally strong line up across the duration. Forgive the précis – a lot of them grace the stage!

Eli Matthewson’s bit about Berocca and oral sex physically makes me chortle then physically makes me cringe (what a mental image), before Felicity Ward’s – over from Australia in Wellington for two nights only (sorry, you’ve already missed them!) – meandering piece about glasses-buying and ADHD is very close to the heart if you’ve ever found yourself with a neurodivergency.

Kajun Brooking, whose wordplay is fantastic, leads the audience in an Aotearoa pastiche of a well-known song and encourages the audience to get in on the action. Abby Howells follows up with an understated performance that heavily features Adam Lambert.

The wickedly fun physical moments within Barnie Duncan’s set break us from the ‘more traditional’ stand-up beats before we’re thrown back in with Henry Yan’s dry, witty and awkward – this is a compliment – storytelling about sharing Ubers.

A big and bold performance about international discoveries from Joanna Cosgrove – not all that surprising, considering, as she told us, she’s been to clown school twice – leads us into Chopper who I’m sure you’re familiar with; he holds us in suspense with a bit about a certain American disaster and blimps.

Tape Face, who is celebrating 20 years of comedy this year, brings some audience members up for a delirious sketch/mime moment, one that is impressive in both its complexity and execution. That’s followed by Josh Thompson, with some very visceral but very relatable gastro experiences.

Wellington’s own Alayne Dick – go and see her show in Auckland this fest! – features perfume buying, small towns and a relationship with her father that I very much empathise with. James Mustapic gifts us his own brand of multimedia comedy with a unique slide into his DMs, and He Huang’s set is delightfully filthy.

Joe Daymond – you should check him out on TikTok, he’s a great follow – endears with a lengthy bit about Kiwi superheroes. The night closes with Mark Simmons, over from the UK with an understated, punny performance; one-line bangers that hit the crowd square in the face.

I step out of the Opera House into a crowd of comedians foisting show flyers upon us, a jar of mayo in my bag, and the overwhelming vibe that we’re so back.

The efficacy of curating a lineup like this comes down to the question: was everyone enjoying themselves? I can’t speak for everyone, though the laughter shaking the room was a pretty good indicator and I’ve certainly had a hell of a time.

The New Zealand International Comedy Fest is on until May 25, and I’m not kidding when I write that there’s something for everyone. From big venues to small, the more traditional to the absurd; there’ll be something that’ll warm your heart/ expand your mind/ make you giggle/ get you going. Book at comedyfestival.co.nz.

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One of the most important things that a comedian needs to do is find a way to connect with their audience.

You can have the best material in the world, but no-one will laugh if they don’t like you. This connection is complicated, however, in the case of a gala event, which draws a large and unusually diverse crowd of comedy fans.

Fortunately, there are a few tried and true strategies to help fast-track that sense of comic connection. [More]

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer