While Mike may have a new mission, he doesn’t pull any more punches now than he did when he was doing stand-up. He also chairs The Nutters Club radio show, now on NewstalkZB. Mike visits schools and towns around New Zealand with the charity he founded, The Key to Life. “I’d used those words and I’d encouraged other people to use those words. I feel bad every time I hear the words faggot or poofter,’” says Mike. What I can’t stand is how society treats me. “I said it must be tough to be Māori and gay and he said, ‘No, I’m sweet with my sexuality. A pivotal moment came during one of his early school visits, when a school counsellor asked him to talk to a gay Māori boy who was having recurring suicidal thoughts. ![]() Mike’s own experience of depression and drug addiction led him to his new role. The son had left a note saying, ‘Sorry I let you down, Dad.’ “We have to stop judging kids and start doing a better job of loving them.” “Three weeks later, he found his son dead. The dad said the friend was a selfish little bugger who just wanted attention,” says Mike. “I remember meeting a father who said his son told him he had a friend who was having suicidal thoughts. ![]() He used to be fully behind New Zealand’s ‘stay staunch’ culture, but now believes it’s the path to despair, depression and suicide. Since leaving comedy, Mike has toured the country giving more than 180,000 schoolchildren the powerful message that life should be about loving yourself rather than hardening up. And instead of trying to make audiences laugh, Mike’s aim is to bring young people hope. Now Mike’s more likely to be found on a school stage than in a TV studio. For a self-doubting kid with no friends, discovering he was funny proved to be a ticket to money, fame and – perhaps best of all – the feeling that at last people liked him.īut five years ago, he gave it all up. Mike has brought his message of hope to more than 180,000 schoolchildren and was a finalist for Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.Ĭomedy was Mike King’s dream job. If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please call 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-80 or go to /resources.One of the country’s most well-known comedians, Mike King now dedicates his life to changing the way Kiwis think about mental health and suicide. F1dQEjT5GVĪt time of death, Knight had recently wrapped filming on “First Time Female Director,” the feature directorial debut of Chelsea Peretti, which was his first film credit. Jak Knight was a hysterical and honest comedian. On television, he performed on shows such as “The Meltdown With Jonah and Kumail,” “Adam Devine’s House Party” and His half-hour stand-up special premiered on Netflix in 2018 as part of the streamer’s “Comedy Lineup” series. He performed at the 2015 Oddball Comedy Festival, and opened for comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Joel McHale, Eric Andre, Moshe Kasher, and Aziz Ansari. He was also credited as a writer on seven episodes of the show’s second season, which aired this May.Īs a stand-up, Knight was named a 2014 Comedy Central Comic to Watch and a 2015 New Face at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival. Starting in 2021, Knight was a producer and regular performer on “Pause With Sam Jay,” a late night show hosted by his fellow comedian Jay. Moving Company,” and as an executive story editor on a season of “Black-ish.” He wrote for Bill Burr’s Roku Channel sketch comedy series “Immoral Compass,” and began working as a writer and producer on “Big Mouth” in 2018, for which he also voiced the character of DeVon, an arthritic 13-year-old. Prior to “Bust Down,” Knight worked as a writer on the 2013 Fox animated series “Lucas Bros.
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