Steve Wrigley: The First Time

In last year’s New Zealand International Comedy Festival, two big names in New Zealand Comedy, Steve Wrigley and Simon McKinney teamed up for the hugely successful show: Doomed to Awesomeness. In this year’s festival the two will be squaring off against one another as they are both nominees for the prestigious Billy T James Award.

Steve Wrigley has been a fixture in New Zealand comedy since the late 1990s and in that time has built up a reputation as an improv extraordinaire and master story teller. He’s bringing his unique style of standup comedy to audiences in both Auckland and Wellington in his first full length comedy show – Steve Wrigley: The First Time.

“Simon and I are great mates, I loved doing our show together last year but I suppose it is an added edge that he’s up for the same award as I am. We obviously learned a lot from each other last year and it’s cool that we’re both up for the Billy, I’m really looking forward to his show.”

Steve’s been compared to Robin Williams and Andy Kaufman by the Dominion Post, he’s headlined New York Comedy Clubs and he’s won numerous awards in the New Zealand comedy scene but he thinks that trying to win the Billy T award will be his hardest journey yet.

“I’m really excited about my show. I’ll be doing two full seasons which is something I haven’t done for a while, and my recent trip overseas has given me a wealth of material to work with.”
That trip overseas saw Steve flying to the United States to see his girlfriend who he spends half a year away from, a difficult situation for both of them. “While it is hard, it does provide me with that tortured grief that every stand-up comic needs.”

Steve’s trip took him via Amsterdam, London and L.A’s notorious airport, LAX. All three places provide a fair amount of ammunition that he’s stored up and ready to fire in his show. “Things kept going wrong while I was away, be it my run-in with the dwarf customs officer in L.A or yodeling Swedes in my hostel room, I couldn’t just go away and have a nice normal trip, I had to make life difficult for myself.”

Show Duration: 1 hour.