Comedian tells of booze battle

‘‘As soon as I was on the stage, I was fine.’’

James Nokise can point to the moment, some 68 weeks ago, when his life changed.

On March 7, 2016, the Wellington comedian was officially diagnosed an alcoholic.

Every seven days since then, Nokise notches up another week of being sober. He describes 2016 as the most hellish time of his life: going cold turkey to give up the drug that had been in his system for 15 years.

Fifteen years is also the length of time that the 34-year-old has been making people laugh through his stand-up performances which have touched on everything from sport and politics, to gangs and stereotypes within Pacific Island culture.

Throughout his career, alcohol has accompanied him on stage like a friend. Bars and licensed premises have been Nokise’s workplace. He was drunk when he decided to become a comedian in 2002 - at 4am, when he was boozed in an Auckland bar with a bunch of international comedians, and thought being a performer sounded like fun.

The life of a performer is such that Nokise was always given free booze before a show. The Billy T James nominee would arrive at a bar to perform and his favourite drink was in the dressing room, waiting for him. During a gig, a bartender would top him up on stage. He romanticised alcohol, often drinking a beer in the shower in the morning, and making sure a bottle of wine was at home at night.

‘‘The idea of the artistic flush was very appealing to me,’’ he reflects. ‘‘It’s a trap that a lot of performers get into. You think you need the booze to perform.

‘‘(My partner) Anya thinks that I crossed over about 18 months ago. I’ve always prided myself on my alcohol consumption, my ability to consume and not get really out there. That’s what I think surprised everyone about me being an alcoholic. I’m a very quiet drunk.’’

Early last year, though, Nokise couldn’t get out of bed, struck by depression. He had no idea what was wrong, and why he couldn’t snap out of his malaise. He had been suicidal once before, in London a decade ago, and those same feelings came back.

‘‘When I was down, this was what confused me. My show was selling out, and I was getting good reviews. I was with my fiancee. But I couldn’t get out of bed.

‘‘As soon as I was on the stage, I was fine. The adrenalin kicked in. I knocked all my shows out of the park. But I couldn’t get out of bed the next morning and I couldn’t see the link.’’

Sitting in a Wellington cafe, downing his third macchiato, Nokise talks about the pain of going cold turkey. ‘‘It was a genuine nightmare.’’

Now, life couldn’t be better. Nokise’s solo theatre show, Rukahu, opens in Auckland this week, and he has been rehearsing his stand-up show, Britain: Let’s Talk about Golliwogs, exploring race relations in the 21st century, which he will perform in Britain in August. He thinks it helps that he is of mixed race, so he can talk about how we generally struggle to talk about race.

Growing up in Lower Hutt and then Newtown, Nokise was usually kicking a ball, or running on a sports track. His father was a Samoan Protestant minister, while his Welsh lineage comes from his mother’s side.

A natural writer and performer, he discovered comedy while studying theatre at Victoria University, where he met fellow comedian Ben Hurley.

His first gig was ‘‘clumsy’’ and a bit long. He was the ‘‘rookie’’ at a gig in 2002 when Hurley was on stage, along with Flight of the Conchords, performing in front of 60 people.

Talking to him, you get a sense that Nokise’s career is on a high right now, and without alcohol in his system, he is in what he calls a creative phase.

On to his sixth show this year, he says: ‘‘I didn’t mean to be this busy. I’m plugging a new production each month.’’

He may be a recovering alcoholic but he openly has addiction tendencies, drinking five coffees a day, and playing back-to-back video games in his downtime.

And there’s a sense that while life is looking up, Nokise is still healing.