Comedian Jonathan Falconer is debuting his two-night comedy show, 2 Wings to Fly, at this year’s Dunedin Fringe Festival.
Falconer, who hails from California but has lived in Dunedin for seven years, said he used to be "checked out politically".
"I never cared about it, didn’t want to talk about it, never even had any opinions."
He had felt disengaged with politics as it was very hard to know what the right political policies were because it could be complex, he said.
And, a lot of times, political arguments could descend into argumentative and unpleasant conversations that had never brought him any joy.
But politics were important and controlled the way our society was run, he said.
"I thought about a way to stop people from being disengaged, like I was, and I thought a comedy show where we have left-wing and right-wing comedy could be a way to bring people together around comedy," Falconer said.
For the right-wing set, he would even "try and defend racism, to a small extent".
The show would also poke fun at New Zealand politicians, such as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
"Or as I like to think of him, ‘Lux Luther’," Falconer said.
"He used to be the head of Air New Zealand, and I think he is kind of running the country the way that you would fly an aeroplane — 99% of the decisions are up in the air."
The spirit of the show was not to prove either political side was better, instead to try to represent both ideals "as best as I can in a funny way", he said.
"My only angle is togetherness."
The final night of 2 Wings to Fly is on today at Moons Restaurant and Bar at 5pm.
