Bubbah makes history as first Samoan South Aucklander to perform at SkyCity Theatre

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South Auckland’s Actor, Writer, Comedian and full time Shnack - King Uluvale aka Bubbah is back! She’s leaving the kuā backs to entertain us once again, at SkyCity Theatre no less. The first Samoan, South Aucklander to do so, and who better than Bubbah to break it in for the rest of us brownies.

After leaving the industry last year to move back home to her village of Utuali’i, she’s making her comeback with a one-and-a-half-hour special at the 2026 New Zealand International Comedy Festival. Promised to be just as funny and lemaffs as her last show ‘Pure Mature’, so buckle up baby! No kids, NO elders, you’ve been warned!

When asked what this opportunity meant to her, the South Auckland icon said the recognition felt different this time.

“It means I’m getting somewhere. It means I’m being heard,” she says. “I’m really grateful for the backyard shows, they definitely helped me find my style as a comedian.”

Those early backyard gigs shaped a voice that remains central to her work today. Her humour draws heavily from lived experience, growing up brown and in South Auckland.

“It’s not about colour, I think it’s about culture for me personally,” she explains. “A lot of my stories exist because I was broke and brown and ulavale so I always make sure it’s accessible for people like that because I know they’ll get what I mean.”

That connection with her audience is what drives the work. And if her last show ‘Pure Mature’ is anything to go by, we’re in for a ride. As PMN’s Taelegalolo’u Mary Afemata wrote, the show was “real, raw, and ‘roasting with love’,” blending “South Auckland pride with chaotic brilliance,” leaving crowds in fits of laughter.

The young comedian, known for her iconic Backyard shows, found that performing to audiences in central Auckland sometimes left her feeling a little misunderstood.

‘I made a joke about picking onions… but people in Ponsonby have never had to pick onions for rent.’

After realising the communities that would actually understand her weren’t able to come all the way out to the city to see her, she set out to make sure the people she wrote her shows for could be there. And thus, the birth of the backyard shows.

She hosted hundreds of people in her backyard for a gold coin entry. Her shows that followed were even subsidised for Samoans and Islanders.

Now our girl takes on the SkyCity stage, a full-circle moment from backyard shows to one of the country’s biggest platforms. Tickets will go fast, don’t miss it.

Show details coming soon!