| coats of the apocalypse... present ROCKET! |
| Written by Luke Oram | |||
| Thursday, 07 May 2009 18:18 | |||
 Sometimes waiting on an interview can be like the opening throes of a blind date. It was only upon arriving at Ponsonby’s Good One café that I realized I had no idea what my interviewees, comedy troupe COATS OF THE APOCALYPSE, looked like. The press shot for ROCKET!, the Coats’ boxing-inspired show had shown only Ben Kettell’s swollen, black-eyed mug connected to a novelty boxing glove... Which didn’t give me much to go on. I had about as much faith in getting it right, as the guy in the corner clutching a heavily-photoshopped Facebook headshot of 300lb Betty Crocker from Homelyville, Herne Bay. Which is why it was infinitely helpful of the lads to show up accompanied by their comrade Andrew Killip, resplendent in boxing gloves and Balboa-style gym hoodie. The Coats Of The Apocalypse present their sophomore comedy fest show ‘ROCKET!’ from May 20-23, boasting an interactive journey through the rollercoaster ride that is professional boxing.
COUP DE MAIN: I’m not sure that I want to go to a show about boxing, which boasts audience participation... What’s the deal? BEN KETTELL: We just go through everything we’ve learned about boxing through movies. 'Rocky'. 'Million Dollar Baby'. 'Raging Bull'. 'Once Were Warriors'... CALUM BECK: ...apparently the key is getting a catchy theme tune involved... BK: ...we go through each stage. First off, finding yourself... finding yourself an arch rival... CB: ...rising up from the streets... BK: ...becoming a world champ... going to prison for a crime you didn’t commit... CDM: I couldn’t help but notice this statement in your press release: “Look out David Tua, Shane Cameron and Tony Veitch; ‘COTA’ is going to let ROCKET! loose on the sporting world.” You probably wrote that before the Vietch-gate shenanigans. Is that gonna be a fine line? Any Tony Vietch jokes? BK: ...There’s one or two... CDM: Must have been like striking gold when that went down... BK: Well, we were trying to involve New Zealand boxers in the show, and you’ve got your two big ones; David Tua and Shane Cameron and jokes are always better in threes, so we thought, "Bugger it, we’ll throw Tony Vietch in there". CB: I really hope he does show up.  CDM: Tell me about your toughest crowd. BK: Last year I was doing a comedy festival show called LOL with a good friend Sam Spooner. Three nights, amazing. Last night, there was a medium sized crowd, but then we had these two horrible, vicious hecklers – my mother and father. CDM: Seriously? BK: They came drunk. I was telling them the night before, that the audience was real quiet. But they took it the wrong way – every time I said a joke I got this vicious heckle. Great. Thanks Mum and Dad. CB: ...It was a bit like a R-18 Waldorf and Statler. CDM: We know that current events are the equivalent of gold, for comedians. Obviously, everyone’s making swine flu jokes and recession cracks this time round – what are your picks for next year’s topical material? CB: Legalisation of marijuana. Yeah. That’s gonna happen. BK: The reuniting of Nirvana. CB: Something about Iran. BK: Yes, yes. I can see the death of a New Zealand celebrity, not looking at John Rowles...  CDM: Is there a pinnacle in the comedy business? Like a comedy hall-of-fame? CB: Probably someone like David Cross saying in an interview, “Those guys are rubbish". CDM: Do your friends ever try and offer you jokes for your shows? BK: My dad texts me. Twice a day. The most racist, horrible stuff in the world.  CDM: Do your friends pressure you to be funny all the time? BK: A lot of people are disappointed that we’re not ridiculously funny 24-7. I mean, we DO sleep. ROCKET! launches from May 20-23, 10PM, at The Comedy Underground, Wallace Trust Gallery. Tickets from Ticketek or through Comedy Underground. Click HERE for more info.
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