The adage ‘If you didn’t laugh, you would cry’ has been carried around the world in recent years.
But finding shared humor in life’s absurdities, especially in our darkest moments, is a universal theme. That’s why the local comedy Good Grief has struck such a chord with viewers at home and abroad.
Created, written by and starring real-life sisters Eve and Grace Palmer, Good Grief follows two sisters who inherited Loving Tributes from their grandfather.
Ellie (Eve Palmer) wants to continue the legacy of their koro, but Gwen (Grace Palmer) wants to sell and flee to Bali.
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Meanwhile, Dean (Josh Thomson), their regular celebrant, just wants the spotlight — or part of the company. But endless empty tissue boxes, make-up mishaps in the morgue and general chaos don’t exactly inspire confidence in Loving Tributes from its living clients, leading to plenty of humorous situations.
Thomson says the Palmers and writer Nick Schadel have conducted a “very sensitive investigation” into the world of funeral homes.
“They said there’s a lot of black humor in the funeral industry because that’s just how they deal with it. Someone has to do it. You have to be respectful – and they are – but it’s a coping mechanism.
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Josh Thomson, of Good Grief, says dark humor in the funeral industry is “such a good outlet, just to get that endorphins into your body.”
“It’s a job I wouldn’t want to do,” Thomson sighs, “and if they can laugh a few times while doing it, they deserve all they can.
“And it’s such a good release, just to get those endorphins into your body. It makes a big difference.”
Now entering its second season, Good Grief was picked up by the American network AMC, which airs shows such as Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul.
“They have it on their streaming platform, which is really cool. It’s also so cool for them (the Palmers) to make a web series — really cheap during a pandemic — and then for a major US streaming service to say, ‘Hey, this is really top-notch. We want it.”
In season two, Thomson’s character Dean goes on “a pretty big emotional journey.”
“It’s so nice because, especially this season, they’re really throwing things at me,” Thomson laughs. “I may or may not do some jazz scat.”
Dean always tries to sell CDs of his funeral performances or promote his vocal skills, but Thomson doesn’t share his character’s passion for singing.
“It’s not that I don’t like it,” he says, “but if you’re a great Polynesian man, everyone thinks you’re going to be great.
“I’m okay, but I have cousins and when they sing, I just leave the building because it doesn’t make sense. They are so good. Everyone is so good.”
Thomson has been busy in recent years with his appearances in Don’t Make Me Go and filming How To Please A Woman and Young Rock in Australia. But it was a challenge to be away from his wife Liz and two young children for a long time.
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Good Grief stars Josh Thomson, Sophie Hambleton, Eve Palmer, Grace Palmer and Vinnie Bennett. Thomson loves his job and says, “finally having a lot of work is really good.”
“It was pretty tough and if there hadn’t been video calling, I wouldn’t have done it. But I’m really lucky,” he says. “I pushed long, long, long and to finally have a lot of work is really really good.”
Thomson has also just completed a nationwide tour with 7 Days and is featured in the new local comedy show Laughs Unleashed.
“I haven’t done stand-up on TV in a long time, so yeah, I was just having a lot of fun and it was really stupid.”
Thomson says there are many new comedians on Laughs Unleashed, as well as several familiar faces.
“There is such a huge amount of talent now and everyone is really good. It was really easy 20 years ago to be good because everyone was so bad.
“But now everyone is so good and there are so many different kinds of voices and styles. It’s really great to be a part of it and to see everyone grow.”
Thomson can also be seen in the latest series from Taskmaster NZ, but can’t reveal too much about the third season, which also stars Chris Parker, Paul Ego, Justine Smith and Kura Forrester.
“I can say it’s going to be an incredible show. It has things in there that are the funniest things I’ve ever seen on TV.
“Seeing people melt, seeing people doing everything wrong, seeing people getting everything right. And just seeing how people make great things out of nothing. It was really so much fun to be a part of.”
Good luck, TVNZ+
Laughs Unleashed, TVNZ 2, Fridays and TVNZ+
Taskmaster NZ, TVNZ 2, Wednesday and TVNZ +