Rose Matafeo: ‘When you walk into a pub quiz and see a table of old geezers, you’re screwed’ Culture | The Guardian

The Kiwi comedian on Junior Taskmaster, her love of games, and her bizarre childhood Christmases featuring… the lollyman

Some of Rose Matafeo’s Christmas traditions might sound slightly odd to non-Antipodean ears. The 32-year-old comedian grew up in Auckland: her father is Samoan, her mother Scottish-Croatian. “Because my parents are Rastafarian, and I was brought up Rastafarian, it was seen as a bit of a pagan ritual, as my dad would say,” she recalls. “So we never had a Christmas tree. And on the day, as kids, we would go to the $2 shop, which is quite a famous shop in New Zealand, and we’d all buy each other a $2 gift. And mum would get each of us kids a big packet of crisps, a 2.25-litre bottle of fizzy drink and some sweets. That was kind of Christmas.”

That sounds… sort of brilliant? “When you’re a kid that’s the jackpot,” she nods. “You’re like, ‘My own personal crappy food! That I don’t have to share with my brothers at all!’ It’s crazy.”

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