Rather than being 'starstruck', award-winning New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo has herself truly struck star status.
Her sitcom Starstruck became BBC Three's best-performing comedy, earning a second series before it even premiered, and The Guardian named Matafeo "arguably the breakout star of 2021".
Starstuck season two is available for streaming on TVNZ On Demand, and airs weekly on TV2.
Already a standup success before Starstruck, she won the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award for best show in 2018 for Horndog - she was the first New Zealander to win it, and the first person of colour to win it for a solo show. And she starred in the movie Baby Done, released in 2020
Photo: Supplied
Based in London since 2016, she says it feels strange to now own her own flat in London.
In the warm-hearted Starstruck series Matafeo plays a character not too-far removed from real life: a Kiwi living in London who unknowingly hooks up with a famous actor, with much romcom confusion and hilarity following.
"A common take on that character (in Starstruck) is that she's a total mess, out of control, she makes wild decisions. I think she's a character who's so possessed, and really happy with who she is, and I think that's weirdly rare to see in female protaganists," she says.
"I feel like that in standup too - in my show Horndog there is a moment where things start to fall apart, but it's obviously so overly rehearsed, totally orchestrated, completely planned - me acting, me crying on stage, and the amount of times that people would think it was real and be so quick to believe that.
"I would love to think it was my pure acting skills, but I do think part of it is this expectation that women are never fully in control of something - the idea that a woman has control of the situation and is doing something purposely and is in control - it's so easy for people to believe the opposite. So that was what made it effective when I did that in the live show, and with Starstruck it's a lot of people describing her as a mess."
Looking back now at what she has already achieved in comedy and standup she says with bemusement: "I have pride in it."
Before this: "I've never been able to really be proud of stuff I've done because, particularly when you're in comedy and you're in your 20s, you're always hustling to do a next gig or write your next gig in a show, and it's kind of a hamster wheel of always trying to create stuff.
"Covid put the breaks on it for about five months ... we were about to shoot Starstruck the first series, and I really did truly think 'oh that's it, that's done, the world's ending, I'm going to retrain."
She's now appearing in guest slots for gigs like The Graham Norton Show, and is in an enviable position when it comes to taking her next steps.
After arriving in London, Matafeo flatted with comedian Nish Kumar and went out with another comedian James Acaster. She laughingly warns against letting comedians into your life.
"I've been on record as saying no-one should ever go out with a comedian - including myself - I wouldn't recommend it.
"No - I think comedians are great, but I think there are a lot of relationships where you meet because you are doing the same thing, and it's the equivalent of meeting someone in the office and hitting it off - but I think for me maybe I should branch out."
A scene from Starstruck Photo: Supplied
Matafeo says when she began to put in the hard yards toward making it as a female comedian in New Zealand many people's reactions to her chosen trade and the strides she took were somewhat lukewarm.
"The opportunities aren't necessarily limited, I think there's such an amazing comedy scene in New Zealand. I started comedy in Auckland and there were a lot of opportunities to perform and make work.
"But particularly when I started comedy, there was just this attitude that it was embarrassing that you were a New Zealander trying to do comedy, and it would pale in comparison to anyone from any other country. There wasn't a lot of pride, I think."
"When I first started - around 2007, 2008... there were five regular female comedians who would regularly gig at The Classic, and from then on it's got a lot better. But it was a strange moment to begin in comedy when there were so few women doing it in New Zealand."
Working in Edinburgh before Starstruck gave the opportunity to present hour-long sets that were "purely you", and to really show your stuff as a writer and performer, she says.
Along the way there have been shows that have performance that have been flops, audiences that haven't laughed, and she still feels anxiety over the looming possibility of a dud night.
"I have had a lot less anxiety the past couple of years not doing standup, I will say that. Far less adrenaline coursing through my body all day. I don't think I ever got the tools to deal with that, but that's also part of the appeal - the relief [after a good show]."
