The Kiwi comedian on Junior Taskmaster, her love of games, and her bizarre childhood Christmases featuring… the lollyman

Some of Rose Matafeo’s Christmas traditions might sound slightly odd to non-Antipodean ears. The 32-year-old comedian grew up in Auckland: her father is Samoan, her mother Scottish-Croatian. “Because my parents are Rastafarian, and I was brought up Rastafarian, it was seen as a bit of a pagan ritual, as my dad would say,” she recalls. “So we never had a Christmas tree. And on the day, as kids, we would go to the $2 shop, which is quite a famous shop in New Zealand, and we’d all buy each other a $2 gift. And mum would get each of us kids a big packet of crisps, a 2.25-litre bottle of fizzy drink and some sweets. That was kind of Christmas.”

That sounds… sort of brilliant? “When you’re a kid that’s the jackpot,” she nods. “You’re like, ‘My own personal crappy food! That I don’t have to share with my brothers at all!’ It’s crazy.”