Articles

Humourbeasts article from 2004

TOLERANT BEASTS
By Julie JACOBSON.
Mar 1 2004
Dominion Post
(c) 2004 Independent Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Duo Humourbeasts take a slightly impolite poke at Maori myths. There might be a message, but mainly it’s `stupid comedy’.

JEMAINE CLEMENT’S Y chromosomes have gone walkabout. The 30-year-old actor, half of comedy duo the Humourbeasts, is full of the joys of X and relishing his role as the grandmother of bad-as teen Tutaeiti in their new show The Untold Tales of Maui.
Partner Taika Cohen plays the young punk. Differently each night, apparently. And he adds new characters. The play, directed by Oscar Kightley, has already toured Auckland, Whangarei and Taupo. The same old, same old, doesn’t appeal to Cohen. It can be difficult for an old kuia to keep up.
“I think he does it on purpose,” says Clement.” He’s always throwing in new things without warning me. But it’s quite fun.”
The Beasts have grown up together, hence the tolerance.
Both studied drama at Victoria with Clement dropping out to cash in on TVNZ’s obsession with home-grown comedy, appearing in several episodes of Skitz, something that now makes him wince with embarrassment.
“It was my McDonald’s job after university. I quit, Taika stayed.”
They appeared in the first Bacchanals play, a rock’n'roll update of Euripides The Frogs, at Victoria and continued after “school” to write and perform together, with others and individually.
Clement and Bret McKenzie - another Vic old boy - formed Flight of the Conchords, a musical comedy act currently taking Europe by storm, while Cohen - as Taika Waititi - is wowing audiences in Berlin and LA with his film-making prowess.
It was last year, after months of idle threats, that the two Cs finally got together for long enough to produce the Maui story, a piece commissioned by Wellington-based theatre company Taki Rua and the third they have co-written.
Set in the 80s, when Michael Jackson was in his ascendancy and his moonwalking was nothing more whacko than a weird dance, The Untold Tales takes a slightly impolite poke at the age-old myths of Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga.
Tutaeiti is the mokopuna of Tutaenui. He’s a troubled teen whose mama abandoned her family - “he would have worshipped Michael Jackson,” says Clement, “he was the coolest guy.”
His koro, Tutaenui Sr, wants him to chill. He takes him on a journey back to his forebears, to a time when the sun rarely appeared (no, not last month), and to the legendary teachings of the tohunga, here interpreted along the lines of a karate teacher.
Cohen and Clement share, at last count, 11 roles. Unsurprisingly, more characters may be included for the show’s three-night NZ International Arts Festival run.
National leader Don Brash could be one. The Humourbeasts haven’t performed since the one-rule-for-all furore broke out.
“It’s not exactly PC but it’s not Don Brash material either. Maybe he’ll make it in, though political satire isn’t really what we’re about,” says Clement. “There are some messages, but sometimes we’re taking the piss. It’s more stupid comedy, really.”
However, several morals do shine through, though it’s left to the audience to head them in the right direction, either on the night or during a season depending on reaction.
A variety of puppets, plus some bizarre papier-mache heads used to represent Maui’s four mortal brothers, enhance the deadpan absurdity.
It’s not Whale Rider, obviously, and despite the couple’s offshore celebrity - the Flight of the Conchords has BBC and television contracts lined up in the UK and Cohen’s film-making career looks set to keep him busy this year - there are no plans to tour The Untold Tales of Maui outside New Zealand.
“We’ve pretty much both got other careers really. Taika’s just really talented. He’s one of those `there’s nothing he can’t do’ sort of people and I think he wants to concentrate on his film work. And we (Conchords) got nominated for the Perrier (past winners include Stephen Fry and Billy Connelly) last year and we’ve just picked up so much stuff from that, so that’s where we are at right now.”
It’s also a very parochial piece of theatre. Though originally conceived as a universal work, the comedy has taken on such a New Zillin slant it is unlikely the humour would be understood by anyone outside the loop.
“A lot of the jokes are very specific. And that’s what makes the comedy. Although it needs the same sort of conflict that drama does there’s just too many references that people wouldn’t get, whereas they might get the dramatic components of it,” Clement says.
The duo wanted to include more mythology into the show but after skimming through hundreds of versions of the same legends, settled for less.
Clement suggests checking out Tane Mahuta Grey’s Te Ao Marama for a more artistic interpretation.
“We just took the funny bits. His is more physical theatre and I understand it’s a really beautiful piece. Ours is the opposite.”
WHEN & WHERE
The Untold Tales of Maui plays at the Heineken Festival Club from March 2-4.