15 Feb 2023
First five names announced for 2023 Best Foods Comedy Gala!
The New Zealand Comedy Trust is over the moon to announce the first five names who will take to the stage at the 2023 Best Foods Comedy Gala - Becky Lucas (Australia), James Nokise, Lloyd Langford (Wales), Guy Montgomery and Two Hearts. This night of world-class comedy, hosted by Melanie Bracewell, will open the 2023 NZ International Comedy Festival with Best Foods Mayo on 5 May in Auckland and 6 May in Wellington.
For the first time since 2019, international comedians will grace the Gala line-up. The first two international acts are Australian comedian Becky Lucas and Wales’s very own Lloyd Langford.
Becky Lucas is back in the Festival for the first time since 2019. A crowd favourite, she’s been seen on Conan, Last One Laughing hosted by Rebel Wilson, and was a writer on the Emmy-nominated series Please Like Me. She’s opened for high calibre comics including Conan O’Brien, Nick Kroll, and Beth Stelling, released her debut novel Acknowledgments and hosts her podcast The Becky & Cam Hotline. On NZ screens she’s been seen on 7 Days and Patriot Brains.
Back in the Gala line-up for the first time since 2016, Lloyd Langford has been a long-time crowd favourite in Aotearoa. He’s performed all around the globe, from the Christchurch Buskers Festival all the way to Zurich and on the Hammersmith Apollo stage. He’s written for the likes of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Rhod Gilbert’s Growing Pains, and now living in Australia, he’s become a regular on Have You Been Paying Attention? Australia.
Joining the line-up are local legends including multi-award-winning comedian, podcast host and social commentator, James Nokise. Winner of the prestigious Fred Award in 2019, he’ll be bringing his signature political satire to the Gala stage once again. James has performed stand-up across the globe, including Edinburgh, Perth and New York, and he’s the host of the critically acclaimed RNZ podcast Eating Fried Chicken in the Shower and TVNZ show Yours Faithfully.
Billy T Award winner, writer and another podcaster supreme, Guy Montgomery also joins the Best Foods Comedy Gala line-up. Guy is taking over our screens - recently as a contestant on Celebrity Treasure Island in 2022 and Taskmaster NZ in 2021, and soon to be seen in Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee on THREE. He’s toured around America with his podcast The Worst Idea of All Time, recently filmed a comedy special for Paramount+, and performed at Just for Laughs Montréal in 2019.
Rounding out the first names in the line-up is comedy-pop-duo sensation and newlyweds Two Hearts (Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore), whose pop bangers have become iconic Aotearoa earworms! They’ve been nominated for the Billy T Award separately and as a duo. These two were very busy keeping audiences laughing through lockdown with their Twitch Karaoke extravaganzas.
This all-star line-up will be filmed exclusively for THREE, with even more local and international names still to be announced, for Aotearoa’s biggest night of comedy.
2023 is a landmark year for the NZ International Comedy Festival as we celebrate 30 years of great laughs. The 2023 NZ International Comedy Festival with Best Foods Mayo runs from 5 – 28 May – look out for the full programme launch in March 2023.
BEST FOODS COMEDY GALA - AUCKLAND
Friday 5 May, 7.30pm
The Civic, Auckland Live
Cnr Queen Street & Wellesley Street West, Auckland CBD
BEST FOODS COMEDY GALA - WELLINGTON
Saturday 6 May, 7.30pm
Michael Fowler Centre
111 Wakefield Street, Te Aro
