Finding the humour

Being a step-parent isn’t easy at times and 30 year old Brightwater-raised comedian Ben ‘Tito’ Caldwell knows that all too well.
His wife had three adopted kids when they first met, all of them have special needs. To complicate things further, they added another two children between them.
His life over the past four years makes up the backdrop of his brand-new show, Stepping Up, which will make its debut at Ghostlight Theatre during the Nelson Fringe Festival.
Tito didn’t really comprehend the gravity of change he experienced in such a short space of time until he started going to counselling to deal with stress, anxiety and depression.
“I’m a pretty easy going person, annoyingly so for my wife, and I came into our relationship thinking that everything with the kids would work itself out. Looking back, it was naive to think that. I became a dad to them pretty much overnight.
“I’d gone from being single and not having to think about anyone else, to all of a sudden having to think about how my decisions would affect four other people, now six, and it’s still taking some time to adjust to that,” says Tito.
Always looking at things from a comedic angle, Tito says comedy has helped him through the difficult times and being able to laugh and joke about some of the more stressful experiences has been therapeutic for him.
While in Nelson, Tito will also be running a stand up comedy workshop for people interested in jumping up and giving it a go. Having run workshop for The Comedy Hub based in Palmerston North, he believes that anybody can be a comedian.
“If you’re passionate about it, that’s half the battle. I try to teach people real basic fundamentals, and if you have a good base to build upon then generally people are successful.”
Tickets for the show on Friday, May 4, at 10.15pm and the workshop are available from Eventfinder.