So lately I've been getting into Viva La Dirt League, mostly the various video game logic videos, but I recently started watching through their Bored series, which is about working in retail.
A ways in, they introduced Byron the delivery guy. And like, I know New Zealand is small and New Zealand comedy is specific and I shouldn't go comparing all ginger* Kiwi actors who are gifted physical comedians and skilled at bringing earnest emotion to even the silliest roles they play to each other, but.
This feels exactly the kind of work young Rhys Darby would have gotten and absolutely killed at if youtube had been an established thing then. Which is to say that Byron is doing a great job, and should be compared favorably to Rhys, who I know is basically Aotearoa's dad. And originally this post was just supposed to be about how people who like Rhys should check out Byron, but I had a peek at Byron's imdb page.
He was also in Uproar, which wasn't the most surprising thing ever because small country is small, but then I went to look at the full Uproar cast page and this happened:
I haven't seen it so idk what his part is, but I cackled seeing him credited right after Rhys. So my original point stands, and if you like a) sketch comedy, b) New Zealand comedy, or c) comedy about gaming and gaming-adjacent pop culture, you should give VLDL a watch. And if you like those things and Rhys, keep an eye out for Byron, who is very different in a lot of ways but has a lot of the things that matter in common with Aotearoa's comedy dad.
*yeah yeah he's blonde now, but in this house we remember Ginger Rhys.
