Rose Matafeo
Romantic oversharing delivered with the frantic energy of a cartoon character.
2 specials · 2021–2024
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Rose Matafeo performs like the most energetic person at a party who just decided to tell you her entire romantic history. She moves across the stage with a loose, bouncing energy, matching a fast-talking delivery with large, cartoonish gestures. She stretches her vowels, shoots wide-eyed, shocked glances at the front row, and will occasionally pause a breathless monologue to sincerely ask the audience, “Was that good?” She uses every inch of a theater stage, sometimes projecting a massive, unedited Notes app entry onto a screen behind her just to prove exactly how obsessive she can get.
Specials
On stage
The New Zealand-born, London-based comic created and starred in the BBC television series Starstruck, playing a version of the messy romantic lead she perfected in her standup. Winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2018 moved her into major theaters, but her live act hasn’t softened into a comfortable victory lap.
She remains a comic who uses the stage as a place to loudly and publicly overshare.
She frames a bad kiss or a teenage fixation on early-2000s indie rock as a matter of life and death. The material relies on her total unwillingness to let a perceived slight go, unpacking her own obsessive tendencies in real time. When the confessional stories get too tense, she breaks the mood with a pivot into physical silliness, suddenly executing a choreographed dance routine or acting out a breakup as if she were a melodramatic movie star.
Turning points
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Wins Edinburgh Comedy Award for Horndog
Matafeo won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for Horndog, becoming the first New Zealander and the first person of colour to win the award for a solo show.
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Creation and Premiere of Starstruck
Matafeo co-wrote and starred in the rom-com series Starstruck for BBC and HBO Max, earning international acclaim and multi-season renewals.
At a glance
Fans also like
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Ed GambleBoth competed together on Series 9 of Taskmaster and have repeatedly collaborated across comedy podcasts.
Podcasts
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Boners of the Heart · co-host
Also on screen
- 2015–2018
- Funny Girls
- 2018–2019
- Squinters
- The Breaker Upperers
- Baby Done
- 2021–2023
- Starstruck
A clip to start with
Rose Matafeo - Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow 2018