We hear from this year’s Creative Comedy Initiative funding recipients, Vaughan King and Alan McElroy, who are travelling from the future as two washed up comedians to go back in time to fulfil their ridiculous bucket list.

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We hear from this year’s Creative Comedy Initiative funding recipients, Vaughan King and Alan McElroy, who are travelling from the future as two washed up comedians to go back in time to fulfil their ridiculous bucket list.

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During what hours of the day do you feel most inspired?

Vaughan King: In the morning in the shower, just a shame my pen is not waterproof.

Alan McElroy: Usually while Vaughan is in the shower, he has all of the good ideas but can't write them down, because he thinks aloud, I steal them.  Good job his pen is not water proof.

How would a good friend describe your aesthetic or style?

VK: Low key with just a touch show-off

AM: Usually with the words ‘shut up’ or ‘calm down’ in there somewhere

What aspect of your creative practice gives you the biggest thrill?

VK: When a joke just happens on stage that surprises me, nothing better than the feeling of being on form and 100% genuine.

AM: Laughs are great but making people spit or choke on their drinks is always fun…a snot fart is a bonus

How does your environment affect your work?

VK: I’m very lucky as I live in a pool house ... that’s right just like Magnum P.I. .......... travelling around NZ fighting the crime of not laughing. The same thing right?

AM: If my environment is a stage then that has a positive effect.  If I’m on the bus, ‘working’, then I’m just really annoying.

Do you like to look at the big picture or focus on the details?

VK: The BIG picture for sure ...... why look too close? No one looks good on HD.

AM: Depends how big the picture is? A0 is pretty big and then I don’t have to focus on the details, because they are enlarged.

What's your number one business tip for surviving (and thriving) in the creative industries?

VK: It’s a small country so don’t walk over people..... Help them up with you and I guaranty they will help you up down the track. Just be a good guy / gal

AM: What Vaughan said but with better grammar.  Good spelling is important because when people look at the details on your A0 poster and see that you can’t spell…they’ll think that your mental

Which of your projects to date has given you the most satisfaction?

VK: I think it is stand up comedy over all as it has been a long and very eventful 15 years of ups and downs, but I have met some amazing people and done some fun tours.

AM: My first one hour show last year, it completely sold out and that was a relieving and great experience

Who or what has inspired you recently?

VK: The new ones do......I popped along to a Monday raw night at the classic to watch the next bunch of comics that are just starting their journey, knowing what they have ahead of them and knowing only a few will stick it out makes me grateful and in awe of people willing to start.  

AM: Watching Vaughan in the shower, like I said earlier… makes me appreciate what I have.

Tell us a bit about your background.

VK: From drama school to being a mime and on to any acting I could do then having a career in stand up,  it makes me think that this is either what I was born to do or a stepping stone for the next amazing part of a very lucky life.  So background / looking to what could be next.

AM: There’s a yellow wall, a giant plant and a weird man looking suspiciously back at me.  He is having a coffee, looks like a flat white.  He’s not happy anymore, don’t know if it is because I’m looking at him or he has a bad flat white.  I think it’s me looking at him.  My background is going to change soon.

What makes you laugh?

VK: Giving my mate Tarun frights...... I have a facebook page called ...Vaughan Kings ‘Tarun Mohanbhai Fright Club’ where I have set up my Iphone and given poor Tarun frights ...... it’s so funny and I’m not the only one who can’t stop laughing .... Have a look and you will too.

AM: Watching Vaughan in the shower

How did you get into comedy?

VK: In 1999 I had just finished doing a musical West Side Story in New Plymouth, at the after party I said to someone that i would like to move to Auckland to try stand up just so I could put it on my CV, the party went into the small hours of the night, the next thing I wake up the next day with all my stuff in a friend’s car about an hour from Auckland, I lived in a garage for a short time until I got into a flat, after trying stand up and not being very good I got stubborn and kept at it until I was. Now I can’t think of a better job.

AM: In Dublin, when I was at university, a friend put my name on the list for an open mic night and told me about it on the day, so I panicked attacked my way through an amazing first gig.

Tell us about your show – from inception to conception

VK: Alan McElroy and myself thought we would come up with a bucket list show, writing with Alan has been very easy and smooth as we seem to have been on the same track with this show from the start, but it has changed a lot, the first draft we ended going back too far in the time machine until we are sperm then do a big song and dance number about being sperm and not wasting your life from a very young age. Now we have kept the craziness but lost the sperm, we still have the time machine so we enjoy what that has done to our show. Anything is possible.   

AM: Vaughan and myself had a weird idea about doing a show about bucket lists and were giving the Comedy Creative Initiative and spent the $9000 award on hiring Ben Crowder as a director and then our powers combined to create a Captain Planet of a hilarious show.  AND THAT SHOW IS CALLED, ONE BUCKET, TWO COMEDIANS!

What are the strengths and challenges of comedy scene in NZ

VK: The strengths I think are that it is a very supportive community kind of like a family with a few more drunk uncles

The challenges are different for everyone but mine have been getting over the “tall poppy” attitude most of us are raised with, so pushing my brand early never happened as I thought it was a bit rude to be proud and a bit of a show off. Looking back I know things would be so different now if I have.

AM: Being from Ireland, my Maori isn’t up to scratch.  Kia Ora was a fruit drink when I was young so when I’m greeted with that traditional greeting, I naturally reply with, “no thanks, just a cider”.

Tell us a bit about your recent and upcoming projects.

VK: One Bucket Two Comedians has taken a lot of my time and mind so I’m looking forward to seeing it grow into a peace that could be a fork in the comedy road for us or just another feather in our comedy hat. I do like how this is open to be a changing time or change nothing and just have a ball making people laugh.

AM: Well, One Bucket, Two Comedians will keep us busy for another week!  Hopefully that opens up some new doors for me.  Other than that, loads of stand up coming up.

If you could go back and choose a completely different career path to the one you've chosen, what would it be?

VK: Hard question as I can’t imagine doing anything else but I think I would have made a great stay at home Dad. I don’t have kids but I think I would have been a good Dad.

AM: I like drawing pictures and sometimes colouring them in so any level in that area from doodler to architect!

What place is always with you, wherever you go?

VK: Taranaki is and will always be my home and I will end up there. Go the Naki!!!

AM: IRELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's the best way to listen to music, and why?

VK: Driving anywhere in NZ is the best way..... Just stunning and with the right sounds its unbeatable.

AM: Nude because it’s how the Cookie Monster listens to music

You are given a piece of string, a stick and some fabric. What do you make?

VK: A booby-trap and catch a kitten...... I love cats.

AM: A tank, cannon and a Swiss army knife, I’ll MacGyver the s*#t out of it.

What's the best stress relief advice you've ever been given?

VK: You can’t control what other people do or say but you can control how you react to it.

AM: Having a drink with friends

What’s great about the comedy festival? Tell us about the 2013 Creative Comedy Initiative

VK: We are so lucky to have this funding and are looking forward to all the madness that is in our heads come to a stage ......the Creative Comedy Initiative is so important to comedy in NZ as we all need to open our minds every now and then and let it flow, sometimes without some backing and support we can get hung up on the money side and not be able to use that energy to create.

AM: For me, seeing Wellington for the first time, I love it here.  It’s also great catching up with other comedians too and performing a lot!

Can’t tell you more about it than Vaughan did but I can tell you where it was spent…every $2 store in Auckland.

What’s your big idea for 2013?

VK: We are going to take people into our flat when we are 65 years old then back in time to get on with living the way we all should, with a can do not a didn’t bother. We will help others do some off their bucket lists and Alan and I will do some of ours. It’s more of an event / show.

AM: Bring One Bucket, Two Comedians to a few cities around NZ and personally, watch the maggot of a baby that my wife and I produced grow up and get a job in some child labour friendly factory.

Vaughan King & Alan Mcelroy One Bucket, Two Comedians

BATS, Wellington, May 7-11
The Basement, Auckland May 14th-18