James Roque

Acting

Skills

Accents

Acting Experience

Voice

Natural Accent

Creator

Creator

Biography

James is a Filipino-Kiwi comedian and writer, he started in comedy in 2009 at a ripe age of 18 years old. Since then, he has reached risen steadilty up the ranks of the New Zealand comedy industry.

James has opened for a number of world-class comedians inlcuding Nick Kroll, Ron Funches, Demitri Martin, and Ronny Chieng. In 2019, he was featured in Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Comedy Up Late and he debuted his latest show Boy Mestizo to sold out audiences in Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington and Auckland. Boy Mestizo garnered him a nomination for the Fred Award for Best Show in the 2019 NZ International Comedy Festival.

James’ NZ comedy television credits include writing and starring in Jono and Ben, Funny Girls, Only in Aotearoa and The NZ Comedy Gala, as well as being a panelist on the hit comedy panel shows 7 Days and Have You Been Paying Attention? NZ.

In 2020 he played the role of Ben in the TVNZ show Good Grief, as well as playing the role of Randall in TVNZ’s Last at Eleven.

James is also one-third of comedy trio ‘Frickin Dangerous Bro’ who in 2021 debuted their show Frickin Dangerous Bro: On The Road.

In 2021, he was also one of four judges on Masked Singer, NZ.

Comedy

Comedy

Biography

James is the Filipino step-son of New Zealand comedy. A 15 year veteran of comedy, he has climbed the ranks to become a household name in New Zealand. In 2019, his show Boy Mestizo garnered him a nomination for the Fred Award for Best Show at the NZ International Comedy Festival and went on to become his first stand-up comedy special. In 2022 he toured his show Badong around New Zealand, Melbourne and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In 2023 James was handpicked to be part of the New Faces International Showcase at the prestigious Just For Laughs Montreal comedy festival.

James’ New Zealand television credits include being a core guessing panelist on The Masked Singer NZ, as well as being featured on TVNZ’s Have You Been Paying Attention? NZ, 7 Days, Jono and Ben, Funny Girls and the New Zealand Comedy Gala. James has opened for some of the most popular comedians in the world including Ronny Chieng, Nick Kroll, Demetri Martin, and Ron Funches.

Through his comedy, he has amassed a following of over 200,000 people across Tiktok and Instagram combined. In 2023, he moved to Toronto, Canada with an eye on the future.

As well as a solo career, James is also one third of the sketch group Frickin Dangerous Bro, alongside Pax Assadi and Jamaine Ross. The trio debuted their TV show Frickin Dangerous Bro: On The Road in 2021. He was an integral part of cult-hit improv troupe SNORT which ran for many years as a weekly show at Auckland’s Basement Theatre.

Outside of comedy, James has also been involved in theatre. He is a co-founder of Proudly Asian Theatre, a theatre company dedicated to showcasing more Asian-NZ stories onstage and and has played the lead role of Sidu in Indian Ink Theatre Company’s Kiss the Fish, which has toured New Zealand and USA.

Check out James’ 2024 comedy special BADONG here. See James in the Just for Laughs New Faces of Comedy series here.

Testimonials