POKING THE BORAX

In the style of Ali G and Borat, new UK comedy sensation Jocelyn Jee Esien travels New Zealand in the guise of her three most extreme characters.

Will New Zealand fall for her? Will we be able to handle the heat? She’s poking the borax in extreme and hilarious ways in this brand new camera out stunt comedy show.

Jocelyn’s three characters travelled New Zealand over summer with a film crew, supposedly documenting their attempts to make an impression downunder. Would we Kiwis handle their heat?

The characters are Zimbabwean political mover and shaker Didio Amabo, filming a documentary about building connections between New Zealand and her native Zimbabwe.

There’s Titchy, the world’s first hermaphrodite rapper, who films music videos for his/her debut album.

Rounding out the trio is Pammie Du Vois, a wannbe socialite and celebrity, bringing her internet chat show to New Zealand.

The characters meet unsuspecting Kiwis all over the country, from sheep shearers at the Reefton A&P show to dinner with Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt in Bluff; from swimming with the dolphins in Kaikoura to rapping with hip-hop artist Savage in Manukau City. No New Zealander is safe. Everyone is a target for Jocelyn’s outrageous comedy characters.

Jocelyn herself says, “the people of New Zealand do not know that they are one person.... me!”

Jocelyn and her production crew travelled the country undercover, never appearing as Jocelyn in public in case someone recognised her as one of the three characters. This is a “camera out” show, where the participants were always aware they were being filmed for a new TV show. What they didn’t know is that the characters they were meeting were all being played by one woman. In one memorable episode, two fair dinkum Westport whitebaiters have the pleasure of meeting all three characters in quick succession, and they didn’t twig that they were all the same person.

During the production of the series the true-nature of the show was kept secret from all the people the crew met. Such is the kind-spirited nature of New Zealanders, no one suspected that the characters weren’t who they said they were. That is until a Dominion Post reporter dug a bit deeper and exposed the true nature of the show with a front-page story, the headline of which inspired the title of the series for its New Zealand broadcast: “Are they poking the Borat?” Caught out by the media exposure, the production continued but plans were radically changed for the North Island leg of the shoot ... often for the better!

Jocelyn Jee Eisen is a hit British comedian who loves getting out and about as her comedy characters. She starred in the hit BBC comedy series 3 Non Blondes, where she developed the art of hidden camera character comedy and had her own follow up sketch series Little Miss Jocelyn where she developed more iconic characters to fool the British public in character stunt comedy. Now she brings her talents to the people and places of New Zealand. How will we handle the heat?