To demonstrate Visa’s commitment to making the New Zealand International Comedy Festival as entertaining as possible, we threw caution to the wind and headed for the studio with a comedian, tankful of gas and no idea what was going to happen.

Using laughing gas was a risky choice: it wasn’t strictly legal, we didn’t know if it actually makes people laugh, or if it even lets them function properly.So, we threw caution to the wind and headed for the studio with a comedian and a tankful of gas to see what would happen. We drafted up a basic script and started ‘experimenting’, starting initially with no laughing gas, then a little bit, and then a lot more. After filtering out the incoherent parts, we presented the ads to a nervous client, who bravely agreed to let them go to air.

At the time of entry, the festival has not begun and ticket-sales figures are unavailable.