Tom Sainsbury

Theatre

Sainsbury established himself as a playwright in New Zealand, producing over 50 plays. Notable theatre works include And Then You Die, The Christmas Monologues, The Mall, Loser, A Simple Procedure, and Sunday Roast. Several of these plays have been performed internationally.^[1][6][7]

He has also written, co-written, and performed in numerous live comedy theatre productions, including The Opening Night Before Christmas, Infectious, Camping, D.O.C.ing, Giggly Gerties, Dynamotion, Gays in Space and Hauraki Horror. These productions frequently featured collaborations with other New Zealand comedians, including Kura Forrester, Brynley Stent and Chris Parker.^[8][9][10]

Sainsbury is a four-time winner of the Playmarket Young Playwright of the Year. He has also been a three-time finalist for the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. His play The Canary won the Playmarket 2010 Special Prize for an Auckland Playwright.^[6]

Film and television

In 2010, Sainsbury and Madeline Sami co-wrote Super City, a TV comedy series set in Auckland, New Zealand. It won the 2011 SWANZ Best Comedy Script award and was optioned by American network ABC in 2012.^[2][6]

Sainsbury has written and collaborated on many New Zealand web series and comedy shows, including International Emmy Awards winner INSiDE.^[2][6][11]

As an actor, he has appeared in Shortland Street as Jason Kirkpatrick and in TV comedy series including Educators, Under the Vines, Sweet Tooth, and Wellington Paranormal.^{[2][12][13][14]} In 2020, Sainsbury co-wrote and starred in the horror comedy feature film Dead.^[15] He also appeared in Pork Pie. In 2023, he wrote, directed and starred in the horror film Loop Track. ^[2] In 2024, he appeared in The Rule of Jenny Pen.^[12]

He created and starred in Small Town Scandal, a television comedy programme based on his podcast of the same name, broadcast in 2026.^[16]

Comedian

Sainsbury has worked as a comedian in New Zealand since 2014..^[17]

From 2017, Sainsbury gained widespread recognition for short-form comedy videos released on social media, which combined character comedy with satire of New Zealand culture and public figures. His most viewed videos from this period featured impersonations of politicians, including Paula Bennett, Simon Bridges and Jacinda Ardern.^[18][19][20] These performances often made use of wigs, costumes, and Snapchat face-manipulation filters. While political impersonation formed a notable part of his early online output, Sainsbury later shifted focus toward broader character-based and narrative comedy.^[21]

His social media work earned widespread recognition, including being named the New Zealand Herald's Entertainment Hero of the Year in 2020.^[22] The same year, he released a non-fiction book called New Zealanders: A Field Guide, which expanded on characters developed in his online comedy and offered satirical descriptions of familiar New Zealand archetypes.^[23][24]

As a comedy personality, he has appeared on numerous New Zealand comedy panel shows and entertainment programmes including Jono and Ben, 7 Days, Have You Been Paying Attention?, The Masked Singer, Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, and Taskmaster New Zealand. In 2021 and 2022, he appeared as a regular team captain on TVNZ's revival of Give Us a Clue and co-hosted the competitive cooking series Snack Masters.^{[2][12][13][14][25][26]}

In 2023, he received the Rielly Comedy Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand for his contribution to New Zealand entertainment.^[27] That year, he also released the fictional comedy murder-mystery podcast series Small Town Scandal that was produced and distributed by New Zealand Media and Entertainment.^[28][29] In 2024, the series won both ‘Podcast of the Year’ and ‘Best Comedy Podcast’ at the New Zealand Radio & Podcast Awards, and was subsequently announced for television adaptation.^[30][31]