The mid 2000s were groundbreaking times for New Zealand stage and screen works from artists of Pacific Island descent.
The Naked Samoans, with Elizabeth Mitchell brought us hit animated TV comedy series bro'Town in primetime. Film Sione's Wedding and its sequel followed, and were huge, while Toa Fraser's drama No.2 debuted at Sundance.
Back in the theatre, groups like the Laughing Samoans and Kila Kokonut Krew were breaking barriers and taking their work overseas.
All this before social media even existed - and when being on primetime television was a really big deal
At the NZ International Comedy Festival in May the Naked Samoans will reunite for the first time in seven years. They join a new generation of makers and comedians.
So on Culture 101 we thought it a good time to talk about what's changed, with a panel.
Sieni Leo'o Olo (best known as Bubbah) is a Samoan comedian who started in theatre with Massive Company and, by the Covid years was performing her own show My Ode to South Auckland for gold-coin entry in her backyard (it went on to the Basement Theatre). She's become more widely familiar on screens from Comedy Central's Sis, Taskmaster, the Tiktok friendly I Got You and as the delightful Tina from Turners in the car auction ads. She also stars in upcoming docudrama with Greenstone and TVNZ Don’t.
Hailing from Wainuiomata and of Fijian and Māori descent, Joe Daymond is no longer - as he's often been called- a rising star in our standup comedy scene. He's played the Sydney Opera House and Hollywood Comedy Store and has just finished a massive national tour ahead of a 10 date five state tour of Australia in May.
And finally, one of the six Naked Samoans: Oscar Kightley. Born in Apia, raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, Kightley is a journalist, presenter, director and actor who was made a member of New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009.
