‘Joe and Koro’ has the makings

Press, 21 April 1977, Page 15

‘Joe and Koro’ has the makings

By

KEN COATES

I like it. I like it. Television One’s new series, “Joe and Koro,” looks as though it could just have the makings of some genuine home-grown comedy that is really funny, instead of producing embarrassing cringing from viewers. 'The first of the new nsie-episode series was screened on Tuesday night and it was with some misgivings that I awaited yet another New Zealand effort aimed at successfully capturing that elusive quality — successful comedy in a familiar setting. It was the all-important support of good dialogue which lifted “Joe and Koro” out of the mundane. What a delight to experience two or three good belly-laughs during a New Zealand comedy. I particularly liked Koro’s wry comments — e.g., his habit of telling some people he came from Tiki Tiki, when really he was born and bred in Wellington and had no vearning to return to the marae from whence he came, as many pakehas would have it. There is. of course, a slight problem about terming “Joe and Koro” a New Zealand production. It is splitting hairs, but the fact is that it was written by an Englishman, Graig Harrison, a lecturer

in English at Massey University. This probably explains to a large extent the quality which the series has of looking perceptively at both Maori and pakeha characteristics and laughing at them. "Joe and Koro” is based on a stage play called “Ground Level” which won the J. C. Reid prize, and was staged at Auckland’s Mercury Theatre. The Maori actor, Rawiri Paratene. played Koro in the stage version too. The programme has been regarded as a challenge by the producer, John Whitwell, producer of “Country Calendar” for some years, who says he has been determined to try to capture and present New Zealand hvmour. “Joe and Koro” is certainly not without blemish, and it is to be hoped that settings rise above the traditional New Zealand boozeroo type. It is after all, not all that hilarious that someone is sick into an ornamental fish pond. Incidentally, tropica) fish would not be kept outside, would they? There were some dreadfully awkward moments during the production when actors stood stiffly around waiting for the next move. And actors in some of the minor roles said their lines with about as much conviction as an unwilling third-former at a school concert.

It seemed for one awful moment that the actor John Bach, would merely give a repetition of his “Close to Home” role, but mercifully he turned out to be excellent. The series can be expected to look at typical Kiwi foibles and point them up. One which received nice treatment was the “snobby attitude”, highlighted by Koro’s honest admission that he worked in a fish and chip shop, rather than saying he was a “marine retailer.” The party needed to hav» much more abandon — n view of Koro’s firewater — and there was an extraordinary lack of body contact about the whole evening. Still ... it was promising. * « * It was good to see the British comedy, “Moody and Peg” slotted in later than "Joe and Koro.” The Thames Television production had an elaborate and beautifully contrived build-up as the two mis-matched flat-mates were fully introduced with events leading to both ending up in the same flat. This comedy is perhaps rather heavy-handed at times, but it does have the virtue of delightfully naive touches from the contrast between the worldly Roland Moody and the spinsterish Daphne Pegg.