Abby Howells
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Abigail Mai Howells is a New Zealand comedian, actor, and writer. She was the winner of the
Billy T Award The Billy T Award is a New Zealand comedy award recognising up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997 when Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour shared the award. The Billy T ...
in 2023.


Early life and education

Howells was born in and grew up in
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
, New Zealand. She attended an all-girls high school, where she acted in school productions of ''The Wizard of Oz'' as the Cowardly Lion and in '' Seussical'' as Horton the Elephant. She received a
bachelor of arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in film and media studies from the
University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...
, and a masters in creative writing (specifically
screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, dev ...
) from
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
's International Institute of Modern Letters in 2014. At Victoria, she wrote the screenplay ''Standing Up'', which won the Brad McGann Award. Howells completed a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in theatre studies from the
University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...
; her thesis, titled "Performing Prison: How Is Life on the Inside Portrayed to the Outside World?", explored how incarcerated women are portrayed in film and television.


Career

Howells was a founding member of Discharge, a female comedy collective. She served as head writer for the group, penning the shows ''What is This? Woman's Hour?'' (2012), ''Benedict Cumberbatch Must Die'' (2014), and ''28 Days: A Period Piece'' (2015). In 2014, Howells wrote ''Crossbow Cat'', which won the Auckland Festival's Judges' Choice and People's Choice awards, and
audio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
''The Crash'' in 2015, which aired on
Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...
. She presented her solo show ''Glocknid: Dwarf Warrior'' in 2014, which won the Best Newcomer Award at the 2015 Wellington International Comedy Festival. She portrayed Beatrix in Trick of the Light Theatre's ''Beards Beards Beards'', which toured the United Kingdom, and her play ''Attila the Hun'' was part of the 2017 Young and Hungry Festival. In 2018 she performed ''White Men'' at the Dunedin Fringe Festival. Howells acted in ''Fold'' by Jo Randerson in 2018, and ''
The Bald Soprano ''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at th ...
'' in 2019. After starting stand-up in her 20s, Howells quit comedy for seven years following sexual harassment from another comedian and bad experiences with on-stage harassment; during this period she completed her PhD. Howells's show ''HarleQueen'', inspired by her experiences as a woman in comedy, won the Director's Award at the
New Zealand International Comedy Festival The New Zealand International Comedy Festival (NZICF; sometimes the NZ Intl Comedy Fest) is a comedy festival in both Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. The festival is run by the New Zealand Comedy Trust, and is held across three weeks duri ...
in 2021; she also performed the show at
Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
. In 2023 at the NZICF, she wrote and performed ''La Soupco'', which is "based on a screenplay Howells wrote when she was 11 years old... a post-World War II nautical-themed romance set in Spain for little reason, where the characters don't have names". For the show, Howells won the
Billy T Award The Billy T Award is a New Zealand comedy award recognising up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997 when Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour shared the award. The Billy T ...
. The ''
New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand ...
'' wrote that ''La Soupco'' "strikes a wonderful balance between a theatrical concept and traditional stand-up". In 2024, Howells and Angella Dravid formed an improv group called The Improfessionals and performed at the NZICF. On television, Howells has appeared on '' 7 Days,'' ''
Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee ''Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee'' is a New Zealand television comedy panel show on Three, created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Sanjay Patel. The show is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedian ...
'', ''
Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand Prime time, prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital. The show was first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992 and is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, be ...
'', and '' Taskmaster New Zealand''. She also acted in the
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
film '' The Royal Treatment'' (2022). Howells directed the second season of comedy
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
''Did Titanic Sink?'', hosted by Tim Batt and Carlo Ritchie. She has been a guest on ''Backyard Stories with Claudia Nankervis'' and '' The Worst Idea of All Time''. She has cited ''
Blackadder ''Blackadder'' is a series of four Period piece, period British sitcoms - ''The Black Adder'', ''Blackadder II'', ''Blackadder the Third'' and ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' - plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC1 from 19 ...
'' and
Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a semi-fictionalized version ...
as influences. , Howells is represented by Token.


Personal life

Howells is open about being autistic, explaining that "It takes the pressure off me a little bit. I can really relax and just be myself... I don't have to process everything I do through a 'would a 'normal' person say this?' lens." She is interested in the Titanic disaster. , Howells is in a relationship with Robbie Nicol.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howells, Abby 21st-century New Zealand comedians Contestants on New Zealand game shows Date of birth missing (living people) Autistic entertainers Living people New Zealand women comedians New Zealand dramatists and playwrights New Zealand people with disabilities People from Dunedin University of Otago alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni Year of birth missing (living people)