How James Mustapic gets away with making fun of C-list celebrities

New TVNZ collection Abandonment Points tracks down forgotten celebrities from Aotearoa’s TV previous. Stewart Sowman-Lund asks its host how he navigates the razor edge between imply and humorous.

Comic James Mustapic has made a profession out of poking enjoyable at New Zealand’s C-list celebrities. Now, in his new TVNZ OnDemand collection Abandonment Points, he has to fulfill them face-to-face for the primary time. The brand new six-part collection options encounters with the likes of NZ Idol stars Michael Murphy and Ben Lummis, Sensing Homicide “psychic” Sue Nicholson and Goal host turned NFT entrepreneur Brooke Howard-Smith.

Not all of Mustapic’s company have appreciated his jokes about them previously. In 2019, for instance, he was embroiled in a well-publicised feud with Nicholson after saying on nationwide tv that she ought to have received “best actress” for her efficiency in Sensing Homicide – a job which Nicholson, on the very least, would deny concerned any performing.

“What a PACK OF WANKERS on 7 Sharp tonight taking the PISS out me,” the psychic medium wrote on her Fb web page on the time. “I wasn’t the only one on Sensing Murder, this is called bullying.”

Mustapic has additionally claimed former Sticky TV host Drew Neemia hated him after he was focused by the comic in a collection he made for The Spinoff. A future episode of Abandonment Points will deal with this, however Neemia’s unlikely to seem.

Regardless of Mustapic’s public historical past with many concerned in his new collection, the comedian informed me he managed to lock in just about all of the company he needed for the present. “I envisaged six episodes from the start and then thought we’ll have to change some depending on whether the talent said no to being a part of it. But we ended up doing all six,” he says.

Very like his earlier work, Abandonment Points sees Mustapic tread a really tremendous line between making enjoyable of his company and having amusing with them. The jokes by no means come throughout as spiteful or misplaced – that is actually not a roast – however it’s not all the time clear whether or not the visitor is in on the gag. On display, Mustapic is calm, collected and somewhat bit awkward. However he admits that, internally, he did really feel some nerves making the present. “Sometimes I write these questions and then when I’m in person with them I think ‘no, that’s terrible’,” he explains. “There’s something about being in the room with them.” 

Within the first episode, for instance, Mustapic will get NZ Idol runner-up Michael Murphy to signal the winner Ben Lummis’ CD. An prolonged sequence in episode two sees Mustapic meet with a clairvoyant referred to as Sheena, who claims she’s had an encounter with the solar god Apollo. “Was he hot?” Mustapic asks deadpan. “He was hot alright, he was the sun god,” replies Sheena with out lacking a beat. She is there to show the comic the right way to ship like to Sue Nicholson through the “astral plane”.

Many of the company, Mustapic explains, went into the present realizing that there was doubtless going to be a little bit of mild mockery. “I didn’t tell anyone what my questions were going to be,” he says. “There were some guests who were very onboard, like Jason Faáfoi. He was very much like ‘hey, make fun of me as much as you want’.” Michael Murphy was equally up for it: “If I asked him a mean question he leaned into it, which made me feel it was fine.” Goal’s Brooke Howard-Smith was completely happy to dissect the long-lasting “panty sniffer” saga and open himself up for ridicule on his NFT side-hustle. As for clairvoyant Sheena, Mustapic reckons that they had a great rapport however says: “This is bad but they probably won’t know how to use the TVNZ OnDemand app.”

Mustapic says he loved when his company leaned into the absurdity of the present. “If I was a celebrity on this show I think that’s what I’d like to do,” he says. “With each episode, I did definitely think about how far I would go.”

Nonetheless, he admits that some folks weren’t completely impressed, hinting that maybe Sue Nicholson wasn’t fully completely happy along with her look on the present – regardless of claiming she needed to place the pair’s beef behind her. “We did have a few issues along the way,” Mustapic says. “I think we’re on good terms, but let’s just say that episode went through many, many rewrites. It didn’t quite go to plan.”

Not one of the company who’ve appeared to this point have gotten in contact to complain, he says, though former New Zealand Idol decide Paul Ellis wrote a disapproving touch upon Fb.

“I didn’t even make fun of him!” Mustapic tells me, bemused. And it’s true, he didn’t. Possibly being made enjoyable of is preferable to not being remembered in any respect. 

Abandonment Points is streaming now on TVNZ OnDemand, with new episodes each Friday.