Meet Awatea Henry: Kiwi Comedian and Aspiring Pro Boxer
A king in the ring, a classic joker and skit-king is our champ, Awatea Henry! With over half a million followers and over 22 million TikTok likes to his name, Awatea has carved out a Kiwi niche in the market and built an audience of mates that love his straight-up, relatable, comedic skits 😂🎥
Awatea’s content cheekily hits the nail on the head of growing up in New Zealand and his recurring takes on killing time with the boys and Kiwi parents have kept viewers returning, highly engaged and eager to see more 👀
Not only is Awatea punching high with content, but he's also a two-time New Zealand boxing champ, competitor, and coach. Let’s hear more from him… 👏
What different types of content do you create and why do you enjoy creating?
I create skit comedy content specifically in Kiwi humour style. I feel like everyone can watch my videos and relate to at least one of them!
Outside of that, I’m also a boxer and I really enjoy running as well – I'll run marathons, I'll box in the ring.
Creating content is so fun to me because it doesn't feel like a job. When people come up to me and say they really enjoy my content or they get something from it, that's quite validating and it gives me that push to keep going.
Where do you get your comedic inspiration from? Can you give us some insight into your creative process?
My biggest inspiration would be my parents, they’re just naturally really funny. Especially my dad growing up, he was always that typical NZ dad. He actually got me into skits because I started to mimic him for the first probably year or two!
I also used to look up to all the content creators – Cougar Boys, Jimi Jackson – they were big inspirations too. I always watched them and I wanted to do that as a kid, so now that I'm doing it too I feel really blessed.
In your opinion, what is one misconception about Kiwi humour?
I would say the biggest misconception is that it can't stand on the world stage. I reckon Kiwis are some of the funniest people out there. Our humour is super dry but I crack up at Kiwis and Aussies the most!
“My goal is to try and be the best content creator I can be.” - Awatea
Where does your passion for boxing come from and what part does it play in your life?
My passion for boxing comes from my parents. Growing up, they both boxed! Growing up, I used to watch my mum do the weight cuts, do the fights, do the sparring and that inspired me to get into the ring.
I remember I was crying once to my mum because I really wanted to fight. I was nine years old and she said “you have to wait until you’re 10”. So as soon as I turned 10, I jumped in that ring and I lost. But it was fun! Since then, I've had over 70 amateur fights, 2 national titles and, you know, just shy of the Commonwealth Games a couple of times!
You learn a lot from boxing. It really is a discipline-type sport. You discover different parts of yourself and once you step out of the ring, you feel like you can accomplish anything.
We often see your family appear in your content, how important is whānau to you?
Whānau is really important to me. That's why I actually started to bring my dad into my food reviews, because he's such a natural in front of the camera.
I've started to get my sister involved as well, because I can see that she's got talent and a good sense of humour as well!
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Or are you more of a “go with the flow” kinda guy?
I think I'm more of a go with the flow kind of guy, but as of recently I've started to set some goals for myself! I think that's important to success now instead of trying to be too cruise-y with it.
My goal really is to try and be the best content creator I can be, and start switching to some vlogs too! Because, you know, I want to be able to just chill sometimes and not have to make a skit five seconds.
“When people say they enjoy my content, it gives me that push to keep going.” - Awatea
To see more of Awatea, visit him on social media or check out his talent page.
