STARSTRUCK - ROSE MATAFEO and NIKESH PATEL INTERVIEW

The hilarious Rose Matafeo and Nikesh Patel are delighting North American audiences with their comedy series, “Starstruck”.

Comedian, writer and actress Rose Matafeo has been lighting up the airwaves in Europe and Down Under, and now she’s bringing her relatable sense of humor to North America in her new series Starstruck.

Starstruck  ( seen on HBO Max in the States and on Crave TV in Canada) follows Jessie (Rose Matafeo), a millennial living in East London. She is juggling two dead end jobs and navigating the awkward morning-after-the-night-before when she discovers the complications of accidentally sleeping with famous film star Tom (Nikesh Patel). The cast includes Sindhu Vee, Emma Sidi and Minnie Driver. The uproarious series is guaranteed to resonate with viewers in the U.S.

Hailing from New Zealand, Rose Matafeo’s critically acclaimed show Horndog won the best comedy show award at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was nominated for the best show at Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She has recorded the show as a special for HBO MAX. Matafeo is a regular face on British TV. In the U.S, she has performed a stand up slot on Conan. In New Zealand Matafeo is the lead writer and star of the sketch show Funny Girls which is in its third series, and a regular on panel show 7 Days. She also starred in the feature Baby Done. Matafeo is also co-host of podcast Boners of the Heart. Her own sitcom, Starstruck, has been commissioned by BBC3 in the UK and HBO Max in the US, and has been picked up internationally by ABC in Australia, and TVNZ in New Zealand.

Nikesh Patel has been establishing himself as one of the UK’s most versatile actors with projects spanning theatre, TV and film. 2020 saw Nikesh co-star as ‘Foaly’ in the Walt Disney fantasy film Artemis Fowl based on Eoin Colfer’s best-selling novel which was directed by Kenneth Branagh. In 2019 Nikesh starred in Mindy Kaling’s ten-part miniseries Four Weddings and A Funeral, the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and London Has Fallen opposite Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart in the film directed by Babak Najafi.

I spoke with Rose and Nikesh about their new series, the fun they had shooting it and why it is so relatable.