Commit to the Bit

For the ‘Comedy’ issue, we ventured into the field to do some first-hand research. What makes people laugh? 

Armed with free chips coated in mayonnaise, we headed into the gallery at the Michael Fowler Centre, pretending we were the eye of God to watch the Best Foods Comedy Gala. We’ll be real, it was no Met Gala. Instead of red carpet couture, it was a showcase of comedians crossing the plainly lit stage in millennial fashion and skinny jeans. And we were easily the youngest people there. 

While we laughed out loud at some of the sets, there were just as many where we cringed and shared a grimacing glance. Far too many acts relied entirely on discussing parenthood—either the exhaustion of being a parent, the thinly veiled bullying of teenagers (sorry you can’t understand Gen Z humour, Martha), or the joy of being a childless millennial. Gen X humour, we’ve realised, dodges important politics and instead relies a little too heavily on joking about marginalised communities, or activities that are criminalised. 

We tried out some comedy supposedly catered to our generation at the O-Week Comedy Night. While there were laughs—Chris Parker’s jokes always land well with everyone, even if he’s a bit repetitive—it still didn’t feel like it was for us. We still couldn’t see anyone of our generation reflected in the line-up. Gen Z has more mental health problems than any generation, so if anyone needs laughter, it’s us. 

When we watch a funny TikTok, it barely garners a smile. But when we watch someone make a fool of themselves on stage, in a theatre full of people, we find ourselves compelled to burst into laughter, unable to stop the smile and laughs. Laughter is good for us. Sometimes we need to take a break from crying to boygenius and head to a comedy gig. 

In this issue, we went on a search to find comedy that we could see ourselves reflected in, and that was funny without being offensive (and often, is still funny while being political). We wanted to find the secret to having a good laugh. Maia loves making fun of New Zealand politicians, while Fran loves to laugh at cats and capybaras with hats on. We think that, after the past couple of years we’ve had, we all deserve a chance to laugh at the state of the world, our parents, the mouldy housing crisis, and ourselves. 

In Salient’s first-ever ‘Comedy’ issue, we want you to have fun. We’ve got double the puzzles. Phoebe talks to queer comedians in the Wellington scene, while Pippi investigates which of her friends might be secretly hiding a double life as a stand-up comedian. Bridget reviews the gayest online comedy specials a Google search can find. We’ve also got a hilarious quiz and a review of pranks committed by you, the readers. 

While we’ve been joking around being little silly guys, the News Team has been hard at work, analysing the uni with a microscope. We show you Salient’s budget breakdown, giving you the ins on where the money is going (hint: not bailing out VUW). Ethan breaks the news on over 200 job losses proposed by the university to fix a $33 million hole. Shit’s fucked, man. Seems like the government’s treatment of tertiary education as a business has finally caught up with us. Give your lecturers some extra aroha this week. Also, Niamh dives into the funding debacles behind the closure of the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies. 

Have a good laugh this week, survive assessment season, and then take a fucking break. You know we will be. 

Arohanui, 

Maia and Fran xoxo