Matt Stellingwerf is a fast rising star on the international comedy scene, and highly regarded by his peers. Matt has won four NZ Comedy Guild Awards, been nominated for several others, and was nominated as Best Newcomer at the 2014 NZ International Comedy Festival.
Matt was a 2015 & 2016 nominee for the prestigious Billy T Award. A renowned MC and compere, Matt is a 3-time nominee for Best MC in New Zealand.
Hamilton-born and Wanganui-raised farmer's son and trained criminologist, an award-winning bar fly...and genuinely lovely guy, Matt Stellingwerf is a man of contradictions.
He expertly brings these contradictions to the stage with his typical low-key style and confidence, finding the humour in topics as diverse as love, mental illness, sex, drugs, and this crazy interview he once conducted with a serial killer on Death Row!
Matt now brings a worldview inspired by alcoholic shearing gangs, bizarre Dutch relatives, and criminological theory to the stage and attempts to answer some of life's enduring mysteries. So come along, grab a brew and have a laugh!
He has toured extensively, performing throughout NZ, Australia, the USA & the United Kingdom.
On television you may have seen him on Maori TV's Crack Up, Rhys Darby's Short Poppies, TV3's AotearoHA: Rising Stars and getting shot with a crossbow in a strip club on TV ONE’s Coverband.
Raises the comedy bar...and erudite satire superstar" - Theatreview
"Matt Stellingwerf’s show Bachelor of Arts left me feeling vindicated as an educated liberal; empowered as a woman; confused over my personal level of racism; and disappointed with the lack of lateral thinking I approached my tertiary studies with. Stellingwerf’s comedy is intelligent, clever and thoroughly researched...all the while being really likeable" - Libel
"...an intellectual ‘Fonze’...extremely laid back and relaxed with the audience, seamlessly having banter and keeping his cool" Keeping Up With NZ
"Thor & Wendy had a baby...and it was raised by Stephen Fry & George Carlin!" - Random (but totally awesome and correct) Twitter User
Photographer: Kate Little Photography
"With his unconventional look, Stellingwerf has turned the progressive jazz scene on its head."