Justine Smith on 7 Days, Surviving as a Female Comedian & Her Incredible Adoption Story
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How did Justine Smith react when she first realised industry mistreatment of younger women?
There aren't a lot of women who've been around in comedy for a long time and it's... I feel bad because I wish that I'd realised sooner what was going on so I could have been a better, bigger sister. The perpetrators, they also hid that a lot from me by being mates with me because I was older and not a sexual target for them. I was out of that loop. I didn't realise what those dudes were up to. I turned that guilt into absolute... rage at those men.
Yeah. And what were the steps to change things?
Well, they don't work anymore in our industry. You know, I'm not a fan of cancel culture, but sometimes it's necessary. If I had complained about my treatment back then, I wouldn't be here. I've had outros like, and they'd be going, yeah, yeah, she was so great. And he'd come out and go, yeah, Justin Smith, yeah, what a piece of... I've never had that go. I never would. You know, like, awful. And so now I've turned that into being someone that I really hope those girls can come to, and they do. I feel like if I move to Japan tomorrow and never had anything to do with the industry again, those women, we're in safe hands with those wahine.
This week on Between Two Bears, we talk to Justine Smith.
Justine is one of New Zealand's top stand-up comedians. She's a Billy T Award winner and has been head writer of Seven Days, the first woman in that role. 30 years in the game and still the funniest person in any room she walks into.
But the story behind the laughs is something else. Adopted, raised in Christchurch, she moved to Auckland as a teenager and spent years in hospo and didn't walk into a comedy club until she was 26. In fact, she nearly didn't walk in at all. She ran away twice before she finally did it.
This one goes deep on the life, the craft and what it actually took to survive and then reshape an industry that wasn't always kind to women coming through.
You're going to love this one. Between Two Bears is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One New Zealand connects New Zealand, while Between Two Bears connects New Zealanders. And together, we're New Zealand's most trusted connection platform.
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R18, bet responsibly. And Steve and I are also proud to be dressed by Barkers. Check out their range at barkersonline.co.nz. Enjoy! Justine Smith.
Hi. Welcome to... You gave me a little fright. Sorry to frighten you like that. Shouting at you. Yelling at me across the table. Welcome. Thank you.
You texted our Charlotte this morning saying you were weirdly nervous for this, which really surprised me. I actually found it hard to believe because for a living you are on stage making people laugh.
Well, Charlotte has a broken girl code. I'm nervous. I was a bit nervous, I think, because it's always weird going to something that you don't prep for. Like my whole life is having a prep. I've got my set ready. And, you know, pretty much I'm kind of in control of the situation. So... Yeah. Be good interviewers, please.
I know what you mean. Sometimes we are interviewed by others and it's very unsettling for me. I like to be in control. Yeah, it's weird. But we did hear you've warmed up for us with an interview with the mother of the nation, Judy Bailey.
Oh, my God. I know. The Judy Bailey. Because I say yes and no to interviews. around Comedy Fest because they like to truck me out, you know, let me do lots of, not let me, get me to do lots of, you know, interviews and stuff. And when they said, with Judy Bailey, I went, wait a minute, the Judy Bailey? And they went, the Judy Bailey. And so I had this wonderful, like, two-hour Zoom with Judy Bailey with the glorious, beautiful, she's always so well-presented, you know, silver hair. And there's a lot of good things about me, right? But poised and elegant. they're not really adjectives that are going to be used for me you know so when I'm talking to a woman like that I always feel like a bloody truck driver from you know like gore or something but she was no no shade truck drivers she was in fact that sounds quite hot but um but she was so lovely and we ended up doing this deep dive that um I've never done before you know we talked about
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How did Justine Smith react when she first realised industry mistreatment of younger women?
0:00–47:34
2
What is Justine’s adoption story and how did she reconnect with her birth family?
47:34–55:08
3
How did Justine handle sexism and degrading intros early in her comedy career?
55:08–58:08
4
What were Justine’s worst heckles and how did she learn to manage hecklers?
58:08–59:30
5
When and why did Justine go full-time into comedy and what changed after she quit hospitality?
59:30–1:03:43
6
How has Justine’s friendship with Dai Henwood shaped her life and how do friends support someone with cancer?
1:03:43–1:47:43
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Between Two Beers Podcast
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