Y'all love getting sweaty and proud for our Summer/Pride season, cosy and reflective in our Winter/Matariki season and experimental and fresh in our Spring/Fringe season. Now get ready to be at your merriest, hottest and unhingiest this December at Basement Theatre’s new Silly Season!
For our newest season, join us for 14 events across 3 weeks loaded with improv, stand-up, quizzes, drag, playreadings, markets, poetry, podcasts, and an Artist Christmas Party full of chaos, cheek and cheer that office dwellers could only dream of.
From 6-21 December, Basement’s mainstays are all together in the whare presenting their Xmas specials - No Homo, Bull Rush, What The Quiz is This!?, Live Reel, Wife Guys, Rawdog Gaysian Playwright Challenge, Hoani Hotene’s Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Rats in the Gutter, Male Gayz, Asian Comedy Takeover, Dirty Passports, No Drama and the fabulous Hugo Grrrl. December at Basement is notorious for being a silly, fun and outrageous time, so expect these all-stars’ wildest shows yet.
Escape your end-of-year duties for a festive festival stuffed with Tāmaki’s amazing artists. Book tickets today for Silly Season at Basement Theatre and have your last yaps, laughs and antics for 2024 with us!
BASEMENT THEATRE SILLY SEASON - 06-21 DECEMBER
No Homo: Queer Comedy (Christmas Special), Friday 6 & Friday 13, Join your host James Mustapic alongside some of the best and brightest LGBTQ+ comedians our country has to offer, as they rejoice in the year that’s been, with some holiday cheer and cheeky tales that are sure to leave you feeling merry and bright.
What The Quizmass Is This?!, Friday 6 & 7, Cabaret superstar and quiz maestro Nomi Cohen is back with another musical pub quiz! For those quiz virgin Mary’s, It’s a music quiz with LIVE PERFORMANCE where you compete (for real) as a team to win prizes! Like a pub quiz, but with live music and more chaos.
Jingle Bull (Rush), Friday 6 & 13, Putting a festive twist on improv - grab your gladrags and gather your mates for two nights of never-before-seen, totally made-up, improvised comedy.
Wife Guys, Wednesday 11, New Zealand’s best female comedians performing in drag as New Zealand’s worst male comedians. In this Christmas special, all profits from this show will be donated to Women’s Refuge. Featuring Brynley Stent, Rhiannon McCall, Kura Forrester and Janaye Henry.
The Rawdog Gaysian Playwright Sleigh-Balls Deep Xmas Challenge, Wednesday 11, A bunch of Gaysian (or Sleighsian?) writers choose a Christmas trope they truly despise, and over just three stressful days before opening, create a monologue or scene based on it to the best of their abilities.
A Very Live Reel Christmas, Wednesday 11 & Thursday 12, Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers! It’s Christmas time, and Live Reel are celebrating the only way they know how…by performing Die Hard and Love, Actually from memory with some of Auckland’s funniest people.
Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Thursday 12, There’s plenty of people who will say ‘comedy isn’t a “real job”’ but this is the only show which tests comedians to see if their capable of doing anything else. Through a series of quizzes and improv situations, each comic will be vying to see who can walk away with the Champions title of "Employee of the Month".
Rats in the Gutter Live, Thursday 12, Johanna Cosgrove (THREE’s Madam) and Samuel Te Kani (Metro Mag, The Spinoff, VICE) are Rats In The Gutter - Tāmaki Makaurau’s most searing, outrageous, hilarious podcast about love, life and dying in the sinking ship, Auckland. Kiss 2024, your mental health and the world goodbye in this December live show.
The Male Gayz Live, Thursday 12, Chris Parker and Eli Matthewson bring you a Fact of the Gay, a Queen of the Week, pop culture updates and the random ramblings you know and love LIVE. Come on down and join the chorus line!
Xmas Asian Comedy Takeover, Friday 13, A cracking lineup of your favourite comics tackling the tears, tantrums and… turkey (? Probably not) of the silly season!
Dirty Passports: XXXmas Special, Friday 13, What better way to celebrate the end of the year than stuffing your stockings with some spicy stanzas from the city’s ho ho ho-iest poets? A celebration of Aotearoa’s finest BIPOC storytellers and spoken word artists, curated by and featuring 2020 National Slam Champion Nathan Joe.
Silly Season Markets, Saturday 14, If you want to get your claws on local & homegrown goods for prezzies, we'll have some of Tāmaki's coolest makers providing the goods. From upcycled clothing to candles, tattoos to tooth gems, zines to personalised poetry, and much much more! We can't wait for our whare to be filled with cute arvo summer vibes.
Artist Christmas Party, Saturday 14, Being an artist is a job and they deserve a Christmas Party too! Basement Theatre is throwing a whole-venue party for the freelancers, artists, independent, and WFH folk of our city to let their hair down and celebrate their hard mahi. Featuring DJs, bands and a special music guest - we can’t wait to party with you!
Naughty! A Christmas Drag Extravaganza, Tuesday 17 - Saturday 21, Celebrate this festive and fierce drag spectacular sure to make the Yuletide gay. ‘Naughty’ is a holly, jolly ordeal that promises to be a not-so-silent night out. Expect outrageous costumes and outlandish gags. It’s a high-octane, high-quality, hilarious drag extravaganza.
