A musical journey through erotica, a clowning parody of the lives of office workers, and a fight against a city council over a parking fine have been shortlisted for New Zealand’s top comedy prize. Hayley Sproull, Alice Snedden, and duo Trygve Wakenshaw and Barnie Duncan have been announced as the nominees for the 2024 Fred Award at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. The award will be given out tonight at Auckland’s SkyCity Theatre at Last Laughs, the final event of the festival.
Sproull is best known as one third of ZM’s Breakfast show, Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley, and as co-host of the Sex.Life podcast. Her show, Wild Flutters, takes a deep dive into the different types of erotica as well as discussing her own sex life and romantic entanglements.
London-based Snedden is known for co-writing and directing the Rose Matafeo-led BBC series, Starstruck, and recently wrapped up her long-running news comedy series, Alice Snedden’s Bad News. Her show, Highly Credible, largely revolves around her belief her car was stolen, and fighting against a series of parking fines she received for it. Trygve Wakenshaw and Barnie Duncan have teamed up for their show, Different Party, an hour of physical comedy and clowning that follows two hapless office workers at a leather interiors company.
Wakenshaw previously won the Fred Award in 2014 for his show, Kraken, and Duncan, who recently had a recurring role on Shortland Street as Holden Barns, was nominated in 2019. Snedden an.
