The Aussie comedian who fell in love with Christchurch and NZ comedy
A budding Australian comedian is set to debut her first hour-long comedy show in Christchurch after falling in love with New Zealand comedy.
EJ Mann says she fell in love with the New Zealand comedy scene in 2023 while on holiday with her partner.
To make the most of the opportunity of being overseas for the first time, Mann booked some gigs in Christchurch, and it was here that her love for all things New Zealand comedy was formed.
“Both the comedians and the audiences were so good, so welcoming,” Mann told
“Some songs that I haven’t been able to get to work over in Australia they found hilarious in New Zealand. It was just an awesome reception.”
She is still amazed a year on that New Zealand crowds appeared more receptive to her work than in Australia.
“I did a couple of shows over the course of a week and everyone was there to have a good time, to have a laugh, and were just loving every moment of it.
“Maybe there is a bit of Flight of the Conchords, Urzila Carlson in my stuff that people seem to connect with. People were so welcoming and loved being there.”
Mann said she didn’t know anything about New Zealand comedy or the scene before performing there.
After seeing the positive response to her shows, Good Times Comedy Club in Christchurch invited her back, saying she could come back and perform if she put an hourlong show together. “I took it up as a bit of a challenge and that’s how I started writing my hour.”
Using the knowledge she was coming back to Christchurch, Mann has spent the last year creating her new show, which will be performed for the first time in the garden city.
Written specifically for her return to Christchurch, the show is called Magpie, and will see Mann talk and sing about what it means to come out as a lesbian in 2024.
“It is about my year of living like a magpie,” she said.
“When I started comedy I set out to live more bravely, or do things with confidence. That was doing comedy, coming out, getting married. So it is about my year of living like a magpie and the hilarious things that happened during that year.”
Mann is a musical comedian and the new show will also contain about 10 songs.
“Everything links to all the songs. So I might talk for three or four minutes, have a song, then talk for another three or four minutes.”