FAQ

We have a mix of objective and subjective criteria.

Objective:

• The park must be on (or very close) to a bus route.
  Some comedians don’t drive & buses are an economical alternative.
• There must be nearby parking.
  This is so we can load / unload our sound and light gear.
• The performing area (including audience area) must be visible from the road.
  This is a safety issue.
• There must be a well lit path to the road.
  Again, for safety.
• There must be a suitable area for the audience to sit and watch the performers.
• The park must have public toilets close to the performing area that close no earlier than 8:30 PM. If there isn’t a sign, the closing time can often be found on Google Maps. Some parks have toilets which close at 7 PM, we disregard those parks.
• We don’t perform in the CBD
  1. Go to Eventfinda and drill down on comedy in central Auckland. The vast majority of shows are in the CBD, we see little point being lost in the crowd and would rather take the LOLs to the audiences.
  2. Many of the parks we would consider lack nearby parking.
• In the past we strongly preferred parks within 8 km of the CBD. This may have been a tactical error, but we wouldn’t want to go much more than 30 km.
  For transit time.

Subjective:

• We like to walk the ground and consider how we feel about it as a performing site.
• Where will the stage go, how does that relate to where the audience is likely to be?
• Is the park well maintained? One park we really wanted to use was effectively a building site.

Fantastic. Before suggesting it to us, please consider:

• Does it meet our objective criteria?
• A new park requires either reducing the frequency for each park or retiring an existing park. Point Chev has replaced a nearby park we realised wasn’t a good choice.
  If replacing, which existing park should it replace and why?

Currently we perform in five parks. See the Parks page for details:

• Potters Park, Balmoral / Mt Eden:
  This was our original park, it has a hillside so people can sit higher than the performing area and shade for those hot evenings.
  Our criteria for choosing parks was heavily influenced by our experience there.
• Jellicoe Park, Onehunga
  Like Potters Park it has a hillside forming a natural amphitheatre. There’s a little less shade, but it’s a great place to perform and watch.
• Selwyn Domain, Mission Bay
  A more-or-less flat area on a well drained thin layer of soil, over sand.
  We can perform there as soon as 1 hour after moderate rain.
• Heard Park, Parnell
  A nice boutique park in the middle of a restaurant area.
  There is permanent seating that is normally ample for 20 – 25 people and, as always, bringing your own chair or sitting on the ground is an option.
• Outside Pt Chev Library
  Like a smaller version of Heard park it has permanent seating.
  We jokingly refer to this as “The park with no name” it’s situated between Pt Chev Library and Pt Chev Plaza. When we couldn’t find it on maps & asked the library staff what it was called, they eventually decided it had no name.