“Jemaine’s Clement’s ordinary life”
He recalls having to fight to get non-white actors cast as he and McKenzie’s girlfriends in the show, an option that appeared not to have been considered. “They were all white, every single one of them. I said at one point, ‘You don’t have to audition only white people, it’s supposed to be set in New York, not everyone’s white.’ And so we had this big discussion about, ‘So what do you mean, do you mean is it an interracial story?’
“I said, ‘No no, just that not everyone’s white here, if you look out the windows you’ll see that. So every girl doesn’t have to be white.” Actually, this problem still exists, he says. When people of colour are cast, show runners will often look for a reason or backstory for their inclusion in a way they wouldn’t for a white actor.
Clement is Māori, from Ngāti Kahungunu. He has personally not experienced industry racism, probably because he looks white, he says. At least, nothing’s ever been said. “Usually with the kind of work that I’ve done I’m just some weird guy.” He has addressed racism in his work, but says it’s not deliberate. “I never really think about what I am trying to do with comedy, it just occurs to me and whoever I’m writing with and if it’s funny to us then it will make it into our work.
“We’re not really trying to do it in an important way, but I guess it’s always around, part of my point of view as a mixed race person is being more aware of that than other people might. I think New Zealand thinks about these things quite a lot too, and that’s probably informed me and my friends who I work with.” (Waititi, notably, started a national conversation in 2017 when he said New Zealand was “racist as f…”.)
Clement has also gone into bat for women comedians, saying it’s because they are just as funny. “When we first started Paranormal most of the scripts that came back the first time didn’t give Karyn any jokes. And I would say, give her just as many jokes as Mike, she’s just as funny as Mike. Don’t just make her the one that’s serious and saying, ‘Don’t do that, guys,’” he says.
“But that’s because I want the show to be funnier, as well. It’s funny if they’re both funny, you know, not just a funny guy and a woman that’s answering to him. Lots of comedy duos have one who does the jokes but for this I want them both to have the jokes ’coz there’s more jokes.”
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