Kiwi comedian and actor Cori Gonzalez-Macuer is inviting any “twits” living in Queenstown to come hang out when he brings his stand-up show to the resort this Saturday.
Following a tour around the country earlier in the year, Gonzalez-Macuer is in the midst of a series of “picking a town to go to” shows – one-off gigs every couple of months, wherever takes his fancy.
While he has well and truly cemented himself in the fabric of the country’s creative community, winning the Billy T James Award in 2006, writing and producing for 7 Days, and playing ‘Nick’ in both What We Do in the Shadows and Wellington Paranormal, nothing beats the buzz of unadulterated stand-up comedy.
“It’s kind of like therapy, I guess, and people pay you,” he says.
Born in Santiago, Chile, Gonzalez-Macuer moved to Wellington when he was six.
He stayed in the capital to study at Victoria University, where he fell in with a crowd experimenting in live comedy.
“I was at university doing theatre and a couple of my friends from my class were sort of doing stand-up and I went along and thought that I was funnier than everyone on, so that’s how I started doing it,” he says.
Beginning regular stand-up gigs, he cut his teeth playing with self-deprecating humour and sarcasm, which would eventually become part of his signature style.
“It’s quite observational, I think, so I just talk about what’s happening in the world,” Gonzalez-Macuer says.
And while his comedy, which he’s taken global, performing in the UK, USA, South America and the Middle East, has evolved into being “quite dark” at times and occasionally a tad “offensive”, it’s all in the name of laughter.
“Just making people laugh is a good feeling, and also – you just get to rant.”
Among the slew of national stand-up gigs, Gonzalez-Macuer is keeping “busy with TV”, including recently writing his own series for the box.
“Me and my friends just sold a TV show pilot to FX in America, so we’re working on that at the moment.”
The upcoming Queenstown show will feature a mish-mash of old material and newer segments – with a few potential twists depending on the atmosphere, he says.
“I haven’t been down since before lockdown and so a lot of it’s about that and getting back into life.
“I’ve always got kind of a blueprint for what I’m going to do for every show, but then every town is a bit different and also when I get there, sometimes you can just feel the vibe from the audience and you might have to swap some things around.”
Gonzalez-Macuer says he’s looking forward to sharing the stage with a few local comedians, who will be opening the show this weekend.
“There’s always something going on in Queenstown and days don’t really exist there, every day’s like a party, it doesn’t feel like real life.
“I love it.”
Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Yonder, Saturday, 8pm. Tickets $23 via Eventfinda
