Frickin Dangerous Bro are solid gold stars, there’s no doubt.  

I wish New Zealand was bigger so it could better sustain, elevate and develop their careers.

The comedy sketch trio from Auckland, made up of James Roque, Jamaine Ross and Pax Assadi earned plenty of belly laughs from a unfairly thin house on the opening night of their latest show, Legacy, at BATS.

A Frickin Dangerous Bro show feels like you’re at a party with some hilarious friends, one of those moments where you find yourself thinking: “I would pay to hear these guys talk”.

Now you can, and you should. [More] 

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Having just wrestled with what makes sketch comedy work, or not, upstairs at The Koru Hour, I am delighted to be treated to a prime example of the genre in Frickin Dangerous Bro’s new show, Legacy. 

Jamaine Ross, Pax Assadi and James Roque – who also have solo stand-up shows in this Comedy Festival – present as a somewhat chaotic trio who are making it up as they go along, cracking each other up in the process while winning us over with their self-effacing braggadocio and pointed politically challenging banter. Being from three different cultural backgrounds, their being ‘people of colour’ as opposed to the predominant whiteness of their audience is constantly referred to.

We’ve been asked, on arrival, to write down what legacies we’d like to be remembered for and/or pass on to the next generation, and some of these are randomly picked to be riffed upon throughout the show. All three men have hit an age when they’re thinking about what they want to leave behind and these are also revealed and played with over the hour. 

But first we are treated to a bitter-sweet video account (directed by Jamaine) of how Frickin Dangerous Bro, as finalists for the coveted Fred Award at the 2018 NZ International Comedy Festival, broke up – then got back together for this very gig.  

It seems almost accidental that their loose and hilarious banter becomes punctuated with superbly crafted sketches, delivered with impeccable skills. In this mode it is never about them; the point of the sketch takes precedence.

When the sketch “dedicated to all the parents out there” starts out with Pax and Jamaine playing out a classic police interrogation scene, I think they’ve gone off track – but no, the role of a child in this scenario is brilliantly realised by James.

The sketch set in the future sees James as an old man in a rest home, visited at long last by his grandson (Jamaine). It’s the caregiver (Pax) who reveals the secret of how to unlock the old man’s memories, leading to impressive physicality.

A series of seven ‘micro sketches’ offer bits of ideas they couldn’t be bothered turning into real sketches. They range from ‘Why Santa Claus Has to Be a White Guy’ through ‘The Crips Visit the NZ Blood Foundation’ to ‘Frickin Dangerous Bro’s Annual Terrorist Sketch’. Each one is a gem, albeit unpolished which is part of its charm.

Their TNN News channel exposes ‘old rich white guy’ News and Weather with an agenda. A Men’s Rights conference tellingly (and showingly) unpacks the “Not all men!” defence against Feminist assertions. And what played out on TNN as iction is revealed as fact with a salutary replay of Duncan Garner ranting about Nelson’s Māori Santa (remember that outrage?).

Legacy proves to be a hugely entertaining way of satirising today’s world by way of encouraging us to consider what each of us might do to make it better. Frickin Dangerous Bro is a force to be reckoned with – and you will have great fun engaging in this reckoning.

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