Meet the man who sold his name… twice. He’s the founder of Good Times Comedy Club and he’s got things to say about Christchurch, comedy, Comet the dog, and kiwi.

OK Mr man-of-many-names, let’s start with the basics – why are you called Snap? It’s just my name, dude. I had weird parents.

Cool. And Rusewebsites? That’s not even my last name! Well legally that’s my name, because I was signing a lot of contracts and changing my name again legally would have been a nightmare. But that contract is done and I re-sold my last name to Game Kings who make Kiwis Versus Morality. So I go by Snap Versus Morality now. That contract is up though so if you know anyone...

What’s the short version of your comedy story? I actually started out in radio as the drive announcer on Pulzar FM. I decided to try my hand at stand-up and a few months later toured the country. Since then I’ve just been desperately trying to build an industry here so I don’t have to move to Auckland.

You’re a pretty snappy dresser. Where’s your favourite place to shop? Honestly, EnCompass at the Tannery. You just go in there and tell him you want jeans, then he gives you the best jeans of your life. It’s dope. And for fancy stuff it’s definitely Man About Town, which just opened but sold me the lightest pair of shoes I’ve ever worn.

How would you describe the soul of Good Times Comedy Club? Alive? I’m just stoked it’s alive. I think overwhelmingly we’re welcoming, but a really core part of our soul is that we see the potential for a better comedy industry and a better world, so we are constantly actively trying to achieve that.

What’s hot at the club this winter? Everything. It’s all hot baby! We’re rolling out karaoke every Friday and Saturday night from 10pm ‘til late. How Queer on July 2nd features Neil Thornton from Wellington who is absolutely brilliant. And we’re working on a soon-to-be-announced festival, so keep your eyes out.

Who’s the best comedian you’ve ever seen live? You’re a real son of a gun for asking this, I know most of the acts I’ve seen. Raw talent it’s Urzila Carlson and Brendhan Lovegrove, best solo show I’ve seen is Justin ‘Rusty’ White. For me, though, James Nokise is the best comic I’ve seen live.

And who’s an up-and-comer on the Christchurch scene we should be looking out for? Jadwiga Green. Hands down. 2020 winner of Best Comic at the Good Times Comedy Awards, 2020 winner of Raw Comedy Quest, and winner of the Director's Choice Award at the 2021 NZ International Comedy Festival. Jadwiga will be an international success and I’d stake my career on it.

What’s your favourite guilty pleasure? Who gets pleasure out of something they feel guilt from? Like it or don’t, ya PHUCKing pansy.

What are you binge-watching at the moment? Nothing. I spend my weeks desperately waiting for episodes of Taskmaster and New Zealand Today.

If you could invite anyone, living or dead, to a dinner party, who would it be? Buddy the dog. He got famous for playing himself in Air Bud, but he also played Comet in Full House. He’s a good boy.

What comedy projects have you got coming up in the second half of 2021? PHUCK Entertainment is rolling out some new panel shows at Good Times which I’m really excited about. We have this new festival at Good Times, and I can’t wait to really tell people about it. I’ve also decided to start working on a new solo show myself, but I make no promises it will happen this year.

You’ve got friends coming from out of town. Where do you go and what would you do to show off the city in…

Two hours: Street art tour. It’s weird we don’t promote the fact we’ve always been Aotearoa’s greatest source of artists, so I like to show that side of our city… Hahaha honestly who does this? I’d just get high with them or go grab a beer.

A half-day: Willowbank. Seriously, a year pass is so cheap and they have capybara now. The kea are still the best bit, and kiwi still suck.

24 hours: Just go on a pub crawl and then sleep away the leftover hours. There’s so many good bars, and they’re real good to drink in. Probably find some time to introduce them to my dealer so they’re all sorted for their holiday?

Where do you go to…

Morning coffee: Max Dose. Best coffee in town.

Get away from it all: Home. Or Supakarts. You wanna block everything out, then go race a go kart for a bit.

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