Rose Matafeo

Rose Matafeo

Date of birth: 25-02-1992
Rose Matafeo started doing stand-up comedy at 15; and she went on to win best newcomer at the 2010 New Zealand International Comedy Festival, and the Billy T Award, which recognises up-and-coming Kiwi comedians, in 2013. In 2018 she won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for her show Horndog, which had previously been nominated for the Barry Award at the Melbourne Comedy Festival the same year.
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Rose Matafeo: On and On and On

Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Thoughts and ideas come cascading out of Rose Matafeo at such a cracking rate, she appears to be racing through two shows’ worth of material in one.

Driven by her freewheeling, chaotic energy, her first show since 2018’s Horndog will certainly appeal to fans of Starstruck, the BBC romcom she created in intervening years, as it revolves around how she doggedly pursues romance above almost anything else.

However, the story of her involuntary singledom is so much more than a catalogue of ex-boyfriends and bad dates would be. Instead, it’s a more personal look at her place in the universe, what drives her and why she isn’t coupled up, taking in some astute observations about the wider world along the way.

She has an arms-length relationship with self-analysis, adopting a silly voice when she mentions ‘healing herself’, as she’s not really at ease with such concepts.  And her cleaner, a no-nonsense Cockney geezer, seems better at doling out advice than any therapist.

That said, Matafeo does turn to online relationship coaches despite thinking it all a scam to prey on the desperate at their weakest ebb. The comic doesn’t seem to be at that nadir, but she’s keen to understand why she’s still solo and takes the audience on the same journey of discovery with a winning honesty, tinged with self-deprecation.

If she doesn’t quite find the solution, that’s fine. ‘I’m very bad at endings,’ she says at the start – which is a lie as far as the show’s concerned, as it wraps up very eloquently. Likewise, she laments that ‘endings give things meaning’, but there’s plenty of meaning to be found amid what superficially seems like a random download of the comic’s insecurities.

Matafeo contrasts dating and dumping in your 20s, when you have a malleable personality, to doing the same in your 30s when any traits are now set in stone, and it is definitely your actual self that is being rejected. She talks eloquently, too, of the solitude of London, where she now lives and where it’s so easy to get lost in the crowd.

The lively show gambols from the ridiculous to the sublime, with a side order of whimsy, too. We learn of her first encounters with posh people – they are not native to her New Zealand homeland – the dumpster fire of thoughts she has committed to the iPhone Notes app, and how googling in incognito mode reveals your true self. She fears for the state of self-absorbed Gen Z, though the youngest adult generation was probably always this, and  bashes Taylor Swift fans for being basic.

Consistent with the perpetually insecure self-analysis, Matefeo offers a running commentary on the gig, highlighting which bits go down well, and which don’t but are staying in just for her. It’s overused, taking the audience out of the moment when they are so on her side, especially as  there’s nothing here you could ever identify as letting the charming show down.

The emotionally intelligent narrative of the comedian’s romantic aims shifts under us, but remains essentially the same, even with a supposed big reveal close to the end. It’s an invigorating ride from a comedian in total command of her work, if not her love life. 

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Published: 14 Aug 2024

Starstruck

The elevator pitch for Starstruck might well be…
25/04/2021

Past Shows

Edinburgh Fringe 2016

Rose Matafeo is Finally Dead


Edinburgh Fringe 2017

Rose Matafeo: Sassy Best Friend


Edinburgh Fringe 2018

Rose Matafeo: Horndog


Edinburgh Fringe 2019

Rose Matafeo: Horndog


Edinburgh Fringe 2023

Rose Matafeo: Work in Progress


Edinburgh Fringe 2024

Rose Matafeo: On and On and On


Agent

We do not currently hold contact details for Rose Matafeo's agent. If you are a comic or agent wanting your details to appear here, for a one-off fee of £59, email steve@chortle.co.uk.

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