The Questionnaire

What are you plugging right now?

The Future Quiz, which is a quiz/ comedy show. There are no wrong answers and it’s going to be mayhem. It’s part of Ha! – The Classic Comedy Summer Fest. I also have a monthly new-material night on the first Wednesday of every month, where I shamble about and have a special guest do a spot and it’s a lovely time. You should all come along.

What’s your most embarrassing moment?

‘I think comedy is a beautiful thing, which can be used to help us all understand each other better and feel connected to something bigger than ourselves.’ because I can get caught up in liberal self-righteousness as much as the next hipster, but if I’m truly honest about it, I’ll tell you a story. I was on the Tube in London once and I overheard a snippet of three people’s conversation. One of the three said, ‘‘She’s just suffering from ungrateful bitch syndrome’’. And the other two laughed. That is the living person I despise more than any other being on this Earth. I think about that person almost daily. I think comedy is a beautiful thing, which can be used to help us all understand each other better and feel connected to something bigger than ourselves and, for better or worse, I have given my life to it. So to come face-to-face with someone employing ‘‘comedy’’ in the absolute opposite way of what I hope it can be, and what it can do for us, planted in me a silent fury that I have yet to exorcise. You can’t just say a mean thing and put ‘‘syndrome’’ on the end and that’s the joke. Think more.

Rhys Mathewson is the host of

as part of Ha! – The Classic Comedy Summer Fest, Friday, January 27, to Monday, February 6. For more information, see comedy.co.nz

Future Quiz The