News

L.A.-based film and TV studio Happy Accidents is teaming up with New Zealand-based Kevin & Co on The Sanctuary, a new comedy series about an eccentric American billionaire living in hiding Down Under, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively reveal.

Developed with Warner Bros. Discovery Nz, the eight-part series follows Hunter, a U.S. tech billionaire who sells off an innocuous app, only to discover the buyer is a Russian-affiliated private military company looking to weaponize his technology. Terrified, he goes into hiding in New Zealand, and finds himself caught between the FBI, Russian assassins and New Zealand’s most passionate bird conservationists.

“Hunter decides to transform his luxury island retreat into a Department of Conservation (D.O.C.) sanctuary for the birds,” a plot synopsis reads. “But as his private paradise becomes overrun with both birds and bird lovers, he discovers that being a billionaire on the run isn’t...

Comedian, writer, and actress Yamaneika Saunders’ dynamic stage presence has captivated audiences across the country for over a decade. With countless credits and appearances across some of the biggest TV shows, she’s now taking her combination of high-energy improvisational observations and unique, bold perspectives to SiriusXM every week during “Off Topic with Yamaneika” on Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud Radio (Ch. 96).

Laugh Out Loud RadioStand-up & talk with Kevin HartListen on the App

Listen on the App

Off Topic with Yamaneika How to listen

Starting June 4, “Off Topic with Yamaneika” airs every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 3pm Et on Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud Radio, satellite channel 96 and streaming on the SiriusXM app.

Stream previous episodes anytime, anywhere, with the SiriusXM app.

What you’ll hear

Listen in as Yamaneika shares her bold and hilarious takes on pop culture, trending topics, and more — until she goes off topic,...

Watching an international version of Taskmaster has the uncanny quality of trying to explain a dream. The sets are the same, but also not. The theme music’s a match, but it’s playing over people and tasks you don’t recognise. The Taskmaster was there, but it wasn’t the Taskmaster, just some other tall man in a suit. And instead of the familiar comedian configuration of ‘two off telly, two off Twitter and one you’ve never heard of’, you (probably) haven’t heard of anybody.

Once you have your bearings though, free Taskmaster! Multiple new-to-you episodes to fill the gap while we wait for series 16. And it’s good stuff. The New Zealand version is particularly strong, with an excellent choice of Taskmaster’s Assistant and consistently funny comedians. Also, thanks to (the show’s own) joke that New Zealand has a population of just eight people,...

Exclusive: James D’Arcy and Ellyn Daniels (Funny Girls) are starring in an off-the-shelf comedy series from Burn These Words, a new UK production outfit established by former advertising executive Will O’Connor.

Created, written, and directed by comedian and actress Daniels, The Show tells the darkly comic story of sitcom star Hayley Harris creating a one-woman stage show following the death of her mother in North Carolina. It draws on Daniels’ own experience of staging a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

D’Arcy features as Harris’ brother, Edward, while other cast includes Nicholas Farrell. The Show was entirely financed and produced by Burn These Words during the pandemic.

O’Connor is now taking the finished product to market in the hope of selling it to streamers or traditional broadcasters. Helping him with the sales push is Andreas Lemos, a former...

Chance are you don’t know New Zealand comedian, actress, and TV presenter, Rose Matafeo (“Baby Done,” “Horndog”), a writer and performer on the Nz late-night comedy sketch show “Funny Girls.” January saw Rose star in the feature film “Baby Done” From producer Taika Waititi, while she has featured on BAFTA-winning “Taskmaster” (Ch4), “Have I Got News For You” (BBC One), and many more.

Continue reading ‘Starstruck’ Trailer: A Celebrity Hook-Up With An Aimless Millenial Becomes Something More On HBO Max at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Taika Waititi’s New Zealand-based production outfit, Piki Films, is bolstering its roster with feature comedy Baby, Done. Production is currently underway in Auckland with Rose Matafeo starring. The actress had a role in Piki’s local summer hit The Breaker Upperers which recently debuted on Netflix. She’s joined by Harry Potter and Girlfriends star Matthew Lewis in the film directed by Curtis Vowell (Fantail).

Matafeo plays Zoe, a tree surgeon who becomes pregnant by her longterm boyfriend Tim (Lewis) and subsequently freaks out as she tries to rush through her dreams before she turns into a mother.

Written by actress Sophie Henderson (Human Traces), Baby, Done is a semi-autobiographical story inspired by her and Vowell’s own reaction to starting a family. This is the duo’s second feature together after 2013’s Fantail, which took a People’s Choice Award at Melbourne International Film Festival.

Vowell says,...