Alice Snedden

Last updated

Alice Snedden
Born1987/1988 [1]
Auckland, New Zealand [2]
Occupation(s)Comedian, writer, actress
Years active2016–present
Relatives Warwick Snedden (grandfather)
Martin Snedden (uncle)
Michael Snedden (cousin)
Nessie Snedden (great-grandfather)
Colin Snedden (great-uncle)

Alice Snedden is a New Zealand stand-up comedian, television writer and actress. First working as a writer on New Zealand comedy shows such as Funny Girls , Jono and Ben and 7 Days , Snedden created the series Alice Snedden's Bad News, a documentary-comedy series written by and starring herself. In 2021, she co-wrote the BBC comedy series Starstruck alongside Rose Matafeo, who co-wrote and starred in the production.

Contents

Early life

Snedden grew up in Auckland, [2] the youngest of five children in a Catholic family. [3] [4] Her father Patrick Snedden ran a publishing company, [4] [2] and since has had positions including the chairman of The Big Idea, Housing New Zealand Corporation, Auckland District Health Board and director of the Ports of Auckland. [5] [6] Snedden comes from an extended family of professional cricket players, [7] including Warwick Snedden, Nessie Snedden, Colin Snedden, Martin Snedden and Michael Snedden. Snedden attended the University of Otago, first studying physical education and politics before deciding to study law. [1] Snedden graduated and was admitted to the bar, however has never practiced law. [1] The night before she was admitted to the bar, Snedden performed her first stand-up comedy set. [1]

Career

To save money for a trip to New York, Snedden got a job at The Basement Theatre in Auckland. [1] Comedian Eli Matthewson encouraged her to try out for the comedy improv show SNORT (which included a cast of Rose Matafeo and Laura Daniel), which developed Snedden's love of comedy and improvisation. [1] When Snedden travelled to the United States, she enrolled at the Upright Citizens Brigade. [1]

After returning to New Zealand, Snedden met with producer Bronwynn Bakker in order to write for season two of the Rose Matafeo comedy show Funny Girls . [1] Bakker was impressed by Snedden's pitches, and employed her for both Funny Girls and Bakker's other comedy programme Jono and Ben . [1] In 2016, Snedden became a columnist for Stuff and the Sunday Star-Times . [1] During the same period, Snedden began to work for the panel show 7 Days , first as a writer and later as a recurring panelist. Snedden was the head writer for episodes of Funny Girls and Jono and Ben, [8] and became the head writer for Golden Boy (2019).

Snedden performed her first stand-up show, Alice Snedden: Self-Titled, at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in 2017, [9] later bringing the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2018. [10] Snedden was nominated for the 2018 Billy T Award. [11]

In 2018, she became the host and writer of Alice Snedden's Bad News, a documentary comedy series focusing on New Zealand political and social issues. [12]

Snedden co-wrote the BBC series Starstruck alongside Rose Matafeo, [13] who she had hosted the podcast Boners of the Heart together with since 2016. [14] [12]

Personal life

During her 2019 show Absolute Monster, Snedden discussed coming to terms with her bisexuality. [15]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRole
2020 Baby Done Antenatal Teacher

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2016 Funny Girls VariousActor (1 episode). Head writer (1 episode)
2016–2020 7 Days Self - Team member12 episodes. Writer (51 episodes)
2016Stake OutParking Warden1 episode
2017 Jono and Ben Head writer (3 episodes), writer
2018 The Project Self - Whip Around Reporter1 episode
2019 Golden Boy Head writer (8 episodes)
2018-2022Alice Snedden's Bad NewsSelfCreator and host (20 episodes)
2020EducatorsMidwife5 episodes
2020 Frankie Boyle's New World Order Writer (2 episodes)
2021 Starstruck Amelia2 episodes. Writer (12 episodes)
2021 Have You Been Paying Attention? SelfNew Zealand version

Related Research Articles

The Billy T Award is a New Zealand comedy award recognising up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997 when Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour shared the award. The Billy T was shared between two comedians until 2001 when it became a solo award.

<i>Jono and Ben</i> Satirical news and entertainment show

Jono and Ben, previously titled Jono and Ben at Ten, was a satirical news and entertainment show hosted by Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce in New Zealand. The show aired on Three on Thursday nights at 7:30pm, and was filmed the night before in their studios in Epsom. The show combined pre-filmed comedy sketches, pranks and parodies, linked together by segments filmed in front of a small studio audience. A third presenter, Guy Williams sat in a chair to the right of the stage and provided comic foil for the hosts. In 2015 the show moved from 10pm to 7:30pm and was extended to run for an hour; due to the timeslot change, the show was renamed Jono and Ben.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Matafeo</span> New Zealand comedian, actress, and TV presenter

Rose Catherine Lettitia Matafeo is a New Zealand comedian, actress and TV presenter. She was a writer and performer on the New Zealand late-night comedy sketch show Funny Girls. In 2018, she won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for her show Horndog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Montgomery</span> Comedian from New Zealand

Guy Montgomery is a comedian from New Zealand. He was the winner of the Billy T Award in 2014 and the Fred Award in 2023.

The Fred Award is the highest honour at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival, awarded to the best show written and performed by a New Zealand comedian.

Sindhu Venkatanarayanan is an Indian born British stand-up comedian and actress who lives and performs in the United Kingdom under the name of Sindhu Vee. She starred as Mrs. Phelps in the 2022 Netflix adaptation of Matilda the Musical.

Funny Girls is a New Zealand sitcom sketch comedy television series starring Rose Matafeo and Laura Daniel. It premiered on 23 October 2015 on Three and ran until 2018.

Laura Daniel is an actress and comedian from New Zealand. She currently reports on television show Seven Sharp. Previously, she has starred in the television series Funny Girls and Jono and Ben. She is in a relationship with fellow comedian Joseph Moore with whom she performs as the comedy duo Two Hearts. The couple were married in December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nic Sampson</span> New Zealand actor, comedian, and writer

Nic Sampson is a New Zealand actor, comedian, and writer known for his roles as Chip Thorn, the Yellow Mystic Ranger on Power Rangers Mystic Force, Detective Constable Sam Breen on The Brokenwood Mysteries, and for the New Zealand sketch show Funny Girls.

Hayley Jayne Sproull is a New Zealand comedian, actor, scriptwriter, television show host and radio show co-host. She is the host of The Great Kiwi Bake Off and the New Zealand edition of Have You Been Paying Attention?.

Karen Maine is an American film director and screenwriter known for Obvious Child and Yes, God, Yes.

<i>Baby Done</i> 2020 film

Baby Done is a 2020 New Zealand comedy film directed by Curtis Vowell, and executive produced by Taika Waititi, written by Sophie Henderson, and starring Rose Matafeo.

Starstruck is a BBC comedy series created by Rose Matafeo, co-written with Alice Snedden, directed by Karen Maine, and starring Matafeo and Nikesh Patel with Minnie Driver in a special guest starring role. A second series was commissioned before the first series aired. Series one premiered 25 April 2021 and series two was released on 2 February 2022. In June 2022, the series was renewed for a third season, and it was released on 28 August 2023. The series received positive critical reception.

Emma Francesca Sidi is an English actress, comedian and writer for radio, stage and screen.

Angella Dravid is a New Zealand stand-up comedian, writer and actress.

Brynley Alexandra Stent is a New Zealand actor, comedian and scriptwriter. She appeared on the first season of the New Zealand adaptation of Taskmaster and played the character Kelly-Anne Johnson on long running New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. She won the 2021 Billy T Award for best breakthrough comedian for her show Soft Carnage.

Christopher Parker is a New Zealand actor, comedian, writer, TV personality, and podcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michèle A'Court</span> New Zealand comedian and writer

Michèle Edith A'Court is a New Zealand comedian, writer and feminist. She has toured New Zealand and international venues with her standup comedy shows and in 2010 was awarded the Female Comedian of the Decade at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards. A'Court has appeared in many TV shows since the late 1980s including What Now, 7Days and The Project. She is a regular columnist with The Spinoff and the author of two books. She was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the entertainment and comedy industries, in the 2023 New Year Honours.

<i>Guy Montgomerys Guy Mont-Spelling Bee</i> New Zealand TV series or programme

Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee is a New Zealand television comedy panel show on Three created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Sanjay Patel. The show is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedians participate in a series of rounds, where the goal is almost always to spell words or names in rounds that are "designed to be infuriating to take part in and entertaining to watch". The winner of each episode competes again the following week, and the loser of each episode must wear a dunce cap in the Dunce's Corner.

Justine Smith is a New Zealand comedian, writer, and actress.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kilgalon, Steve (8 September 2016). "Why Alice Snedden finds law and comedy much the same". Stuff . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Mulligan, Jesse (26 April 2017). "Bookmarks: Alice Snedden". Radio New Zealand . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  3. Snedden, Alice (March 2018). "Pride and the Church". Tui Motu Magazine. 27 (224). Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  4. 1 2 Reed, Megan Nicol (30 March 2019). "The Confession Box: Alice Snedden". New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  5. Mulligan, Jesse (22 March 2017). "Bookmarks: Patrick Snedden". Radio New Zealand . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  6. "Episode 3: Healthcare Inequity - Alice Snedden's Bad News". Radio New Zealand . 17 August 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  7. Husband, Dale (25 February 2017). "Pat Snedden: Are we brave enough to make the changes we need?". E-Tangata. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  8. "Alice Snedden - Funny As Interview". NZ On Screen. 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  9. Brooks, Sam (17 May 2017). "Comedy Festival: Alice Snedden comes out swinging, Paul Williams makes a mark, and Eli Matthewson gets deeper and darker". The Spinoff . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  10. Lee, Veronica (17 August 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe 2018 reviews: Rosie Jones/ Marcus Brigstocke/ Alice Snedden". The Arts Desk . Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  11. Brooks, Sam (13 October 2017). "The 2018 Billy T nominees are here, and they're pretty damn great". The Spinoff . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  12. 1 2 Ryan, Charlotte (22 August 2020). "The Mixtape: Alice Snedden". Radio New Zealand . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  13. Mangan, Lucy (25 April 2021). "Starstruck review – Rose Matafeo stars in a millennial fairytale". The Spinoff . Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  14. "Rose Matafeo and Alice Snedden share their biggest Boners of the Heart". The Spinoff . 22 July 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  15. Richardson, Jay (22 August 2019). "Comedy review: Alice Snedden: Absolute Monster, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh". The Scotsman. Retrieved 6 March 2022.