Away Laughing - Series Two, Episode One

Away Laughing was an early sketch comedy show for both TV3 and Wellington production company Gibson Group. In this first episode from the second series, spies, skateboarders, Kiwi mateship, and All Black Buck Shelford are the butt of jokes. Along the way, Murray Keane plays both an Australian mocking New Zealand place names, and a true blue Kiwi; a trio of firefighters make idiots of themselves in a classroom; kids argue about the best kind of lunch; and onetime Telecom promo man Gordon McLauchlan (David Downs) interviews two gorillas about Telecom's privatisation.

...there's not a second to waste moving double beds, sofas, backdrops, etc on and off the revolving stage. Performers dash back and forth. A skateboarder is hastily being transformed into a clown. A live teddy bear waits in the wings with a girl in pyjamas. Two minutes later the bear is lying on the floor rapidly being skinned by Wardrobe and helped into a smart business suit.

– Writer Noel O'Hare watches Away Laughing's very first night before a live audience, The Listener, 6 May 1991, page 68

Key Cast & Crew

Hori Ahipene

As: Bazza, Hori, various roles

David Copeland

Director

Murray Keane

As: Blind Mate contestant, schoolboy, Australian, various roles

Dave Gibson

Producer

Glenn Wood

Writer

Brett Marquet

Writer