One Kiwi, One Samoan, One Hour

Wellingtonians James Nokise and Nick Rado are representing New Zealand comedy at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and PHB Free Fringe.

Energy is oozing from every pore of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The event is best described as insanity on a stick. Hundreds of performers from all over the world have converged on Scotland’s capital to take part in this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and amongst them are New Zealanders.

Breaking through the massive entertainment contingent are Wellingtonians Nick Rado and James Nokise. The two are the front of the show ‘One Kiwi, One Samoan, One Hour’. Their show engages the audience with stories of their childhoods, travels and New Zealand.

The two-man-show is part of the PHB Free Fringe, a part of the overall Fringe Festival action.

James said the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was a “Mecca” for entertainers and the PHB Free Fringe is a chance to be part of the international performer community.

Content for the duo has not been hard to come by with an impromptu stop for James, of Samoan descent, by London’s Heathrow customs.

“I spent three hours in Heathrow. They could not find Samoa on a map. When you travel and you’re a beige dude things get pretty real.”

There is a lack of knowledge about the existence of Samoa, he said. Three people walking into the show thought it was about a kiwi cooking a salmon for an hour, said James.

The comedic team are using their time at the international gathering to boost Wellington’s comedy scene on their return.

Nick described Edinburgh as a comedy boot camp. “You go back (home) and your act is sharper. From doing three gigs in a month, the workload increases to three gigs in a day.”

Edinburgh provided a learning ground where the men were surrounded by their contemporaries. They were able to pick up ideas on how and where to run successful comedy gigs. Nick and James are responsible for bringing comedy to several of the smaller centres in the lower North Island, including sites on the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa. This follows the United Kingdom trend of taking big name acts out into the smaller centres.

James said there was a sense of pride in helping Wellington’s comedy scene grow and attending Edinburgh was part of that. “We like coming to Edinburgh. We learn a lot.”

With it just being the first days of the festival it is hard to pick what will be the major learning curve but there is always something that sticks out, he said. “I’ll see a show of they’ll be something and my mind will just be brimming.

“We’re just having fun at the moment.”

ENDS

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