Beyond a Joke!

Television (Full Length) – 1996

This 1995 documentary chronicles the origins of New Zealand humour, and features classic TV comedy moments from Fred Dagg, Barry Crump, A Week of It, McPhail and Gadsby, Billy T James, Pete & Pio, the Topp Twins, Gliding On, Lynn of Tawa and Funny Business. Tom Scott, John Clarke, David McPhail and Jon Gadsby talk about the nature of New Zealand satire; Pio Terei, Peter Rowley, and Billy T James producer Tom Parkinson discuss the pros and cons of race-based humour; and the Topp Twins explain the art of sending people up, rather than putting them down.

I think that perhaps the way we tend to talk in New Zealand, there's a shyness about it. There's a way in which we can be imaginative, but only if we are allowed to pretend that is not what we’re doing.
– John Clarke, early in this documentary