Melanie Bracewell

Last updated

Melanie Bracewell
Melanie Bracewell at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.jpg
Bracewell at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Born (1995-07-19) 19 July 1995 (age 29)
Beach Haven, Auckland, New Zealand
Employer MediaWorks New Zealand
Awards Billy T Award (2018)
Comedy career
Medium
  • Stand-up
  • Television
  • Radio
  • Impressions
Years active2014–present
Relative(s)
Notable works and roles The Cheap Seats
Website melaniebracewell.com

Melanie Rita Bracewell (born 19 July 1995) is a New Zealand comedian, actress, and scriptwriter. In 2018, Bracewell won New Zealand's Billy T Award. She currently[ when? ] co-hosts The Cheap Seats on Network 10 in Australia, and was a contestant on the fourth series of Taskmaster NZ .

Contents

Early life and education

Melanie Rita Bracewell [1] was born on 19 July 1995. [2] She grew up in Beach Haven in Auckland's North Shore, and is a niece of Test cricketers John Bracewell and Brendon Bracewell. [3]

Bracewell attended Birkenhead College, [4] serving as deputy head girl, [5] then studied Communication and Media Studies at the University of Auckland. [6] [ self-published source? ]

Bracewell became interested in comedy as a child and, as a teenager, wrote a comedic blog. [7] [8]

Career

Bracewell moved into stand-up comedy. [7] [8]

She also worked as producer of the breakfast show on Radio Hauraki and appeared as a contestant on the Australian TV quiz show Have You Been Paying Attention? [8] [9] She co-hosts the Australian comedy television show The Cheap Seats alongside Tim McDonald.

In 2019, Bracewell began writing for the TV show The Project in New Zealand. [8] She has also written for the series Wellington Paranormal . [10]

In 2020, Bracewell received international coverage when videos and photos of her impersonating Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern went viral. Ardern responded with: "You do my makeup better than I do." [11] Bracewell and Ardern later met and posted a TikTok video while Bracewell was dressed as Ardern. [12] [13]

In 2020, Bracewell starred as Karen in The Eggplant, [14] [15] a New Zealand teen drama crime-comedy series released to TVNZ OnDemand and YouTube. [16] [17]

Bracewell appeared on the panel show Patriot Brains in 2021.

In 2023, Bracewell and Ray O'Leary hosted one episode of the podcast Bananapod before it went into hiatus. [18] O'Leary later revealed that the podcast was a task for Taskmaster NZ, which is why no further podcasts were released. [19]

Controversy

In 2019, Bracewell shared a screenshot on her Twitter account of a sexually explicit message which she said had come unprompted from someone in the Reddit cricketing community. A Reddit user later found a post from Bracewell in a subreddit soliciting sexual messages. A moderator from the Reddit cricketing community then contacted Bracewell asking her for details of who sent her the private message. She subsequently apologised and admitted her post was a joke. After her apology, she received criticism on social media with some accusing her of lying about sexual harassment and stereotyping Indians. [20] [21]

Recognition

In 2014, Bracewell won 7 Days Comedy Apprentice; the following year she won the Raw Comedy Quest and in 2016 won Best Auckland Newcomer at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. [22]

In 2018, Bracewell received the Billy T Award for the country's best emerging comedian. [23] [7] The same year she won Breakthrough Comedian of the Year at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards. [24]

In 2019, she was short-listed for the Kevin Smith Memorial Cup for Outstanding Artist Achievement, Best Female Comedian and Bizarre Moment of the Year at the New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards. [25]

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References

  1. "ABN Lookup". abr.business.gov.au. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  2. Bracewell, Melanie [@meladoodle] (19 July 2022). "I am 27 years old today and my dog doesn't even know" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 19 July 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023 via Twitter.
  3. Poor Uncle John, Melanie Bracewell, Twitter, 7 April 2020
  4. "Coming-of-age comedy show from North Shore's Melanie Bracewell". Stuff. 28 April 2017.
  5. "Melanie's a crack-up". www.northsidelive.co.nz.
  6. "Melanie Bracewell". LinkedIn.
  7. 1 2 3 "Melanie Bracewell named New Zealand's top comedian with Billy T Award for 2018". Stuff. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Dann, Jennifer (28 January 2019). "Melanie Bracewell on comedy: 'You keep dying over and over again'". NZ Herald. ISSN   1170-0777 . Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  9. "Melanie Bracewell – Melodrama". Theatrepeople. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  10. "Melanie Bracewell on cracking the Aussies and getting paranormal". Stuff. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  11. "New Zealand comedian spends lockdown impersonating Jacinda Ardern". the Guardian. 15 April 2020.
  12. "Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets her impersonator". Stuff. 17 July 2020.
  13. Rizzo-Smith, Julian (20 July 2020). "TikTok's Jacinda Ardern Impersonator Just Met Her Biggest Fan". Syrup. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020.
  14. "A comedic investigation highlights online harms in web series The Eggplant". www.flicks.co.nz.
  15. "The Eggplant – A Kiwi teen-drama comedy series". Unite.
  16. "The Eggplant – A drama-crime-comedy online web series". www.dia.govt.nz. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  17. "The Eggplant : Keep It Real Online". www.keepitrealonline.govt.nz.
  18. shows.acast.com/bananapod
  19. O'Leary, Ray (5 September 2023). "Ray O'Leary on X: "Apologise to your followers for asking them to listen to a banana themed podcast so you could win points on a comedy show. Best apology wins. Your time starts now #taskmasternz"". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  20. Palmer, Scott (13 July 2019). "Comedian Melanie Bracewell's fake erotica admission outrages cricket fans". Newshub . Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  21. Howie, Cherie (13 July 2019). "Comedian Melanie Bracewell angers Reddit over erotic cricket tale". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  22. "Comedian Melanie Bracewell produces uncanny impression of Jacinda Ardern". NZ Herald. 31 March 2020. ISSN   1170-0777 . Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  23. "Billy T Award". NZ Comedy Festival. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  24. "2018 Guild Awards". New Zealand Comedy Guild. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  25. "2019 NZ Comedy Guild Awards handed out | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 7 April 2020.