If you haven’t heard the name Gianmarco Soresi, you may have seen his clips. 

The American stand up comedian is a staple of shortform video platforms, with over two million follows across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. 

He’s become known for his crowd work and his distinctive physicality, clambering over chairs and folding himself up as he performs. 

And he’s bringing it to New Zealand, performing two shows at the Sky City Theatre in Auckland tomorrow night. 

Soresi’s style leans towards “wholesome boundary-pushing", which he told Andrew Dickens he plans to push as many as he can whilst performing in New Zealand. 

“Some of it’s traditional, the edgy, the political, but some of it’s emotional, some of it’s like, oh you, you don’t talk about people’s dads like that.”  

These days you’ll see plenty of comedians complaining they can’t joke about anything anymore, but Soresi is among those proving otherwise. 

“I honestly think it’s what I talk about,” he told Dickens. 

“Even when it’s about edgy things or whatever, it’s usually like me, it’s making fun of myself or using myself as the ruler to examine other things.”  

You have to bring your own humanity into it, Soresi explains.  

“I find that if you’re honest about how you fit into the world, you find people aren’t necessarily mad, they might disagree with you, but as long as you’re like, taking in your own foibles as you discuss the topic, you can talk about anything you want.”  

LISTEN ABOVE