Tauranga folk are lapping up the opportunity to see one of New Zealand’s top comedians in action.

As revealed at the recent Tauranga Arts Festival launch, Hayley Sproull will be bringing her The Baroness show to Baycourt, and tickets are selling like hot cakes, said TAF general manager Sarah Cotter.

Speaking from her home in Auckland, Sproull said that when she performs in Tauranga (October 31) her womb will have freshly turned 36.

It’s relevant, she said, as The Baroness was based on her desire for her womb to remain perpetually “untenanted”.

“The Baroness is genuine,” she said. “My biological clock is silent as I don’t want to have children – which was the start of the whole Baroness show.

“The looming biological clock comes up in conversation a lot. A lot of women my age are either debating it or getting concerned. It’s a huge question for women of a certain age, but not for me. I have been clear on this from day dot. Even as a kid, I was not interested in playing families and babies. I am child-free, fancy-free and living a good life.”

Also hailing back to “day dot” was her propensity to be funny.

Sproull said she was never the sole, isolated, funny one in her family, growing up in Eastbourne.

“My parents are quite funny too and I just assume I have always been funny. People ask me when I started comedy, but it’s such a blurry line as I don’t know.

“I went to drama school thinking I was going to be a Shakespearean actress in London and then faced the startling realisation I wasn’t very good at it. I also realised I wanted to make people laugh instead.”

She was, however, selected to go to The Globe in London as part of the Young Shakespeare Company back in 2008, returning to study drama in Wellington and graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Acting.

Sproull suspected she has been naughty longer than she has been funny.

“I was good at tantrums and was an attention-seeking little brat. I was good at school in terms of the work, but wanted to spend time distracting people and being the class clown. I was sent to private school to sort me out, but that didn’t really work. My report card often said things like ‘Hayley needs to know when it’s time to stop talking’. I think it was written in the stars that I was going to make my living out of talking.”

Her shows can be said to be aligned with her personality.

“Yes, I am naughty, and all my shows are always a bit naughty, and naughtiness is encouraged in my audience. My shows feel more like a naughty night out than a sit-down hour.

“I am all for meaningful pieces of performance art. But that’s not what I do. I make people laugh, forget about strife and the struggles of the world, and give people a little mental escape. Life can be funny and silly.”

Life for Sproull began in Eastbourne, Wellington, which she was happy to call home for many years.

“Wellington screams creativity – the arty and the hipster, but also the government. The suits and the freaks co-exist and I have always loved that.”

Auckland called, however, back in 2017, when she felt the need to make money out of being funny. She landed a job in comedy TV writing and everything fell into place after that.

A google search pegs her as an award-winning New Zealand comedian, actor, scriptwriter, television show host and radio show co-host.

She’s the host of The Great Kiwi Bake Off and the New Zealand edition of Have You Been Paying Attention? When she finishes The Baroness tour in October she will head out on a Seven Days’ Live tour up and down the country.

The Baroness is fresh - debuting at this year’s NZ national comedy festival and performed in various locations throughout the North and South Islands.

The Tauranga Arts Festival team is thrilled Tauranga will feature as part of that circuit.

“Ticket sales indicate Tauranga people are hungry for Hayley,” Cotter said.

General feedback suggested The Baroness is worth getting excited about.

“I heard from someone who saw it in Hastings,” Sproull said. “She said she’d had to stay in her seat a little longer after the show as she’d wet her pants a bit with laughter. She’d probably had kids!

“I am really proud of this show. It’s a lot more stand-up based than my usual. It still includes music, but more musical comedy than in others.”

Cotter said Sproull is one of a number of comedians who are set to thrill the crowds at this year’s October 23-November 2 festival.