It comes after six years of writing about and researching the story. Sampson learned about the 1904 marathon while trying to find inspiration for an Edinburgh Fringe show, standard practice for any UK-based comedian. His life changed when he stumbled across a tweet urging people to read about the insanity of the race. “It was on a day when I was really despairing about what my show was going to be,” Sampson said. “And then I started reading the story and thought, ‘This is insane, I can’t believe I’ve never heard about this’, and then I could really see myself doing it.”
Nic Sampson’s latest show is inspired by the 1904 Olympic marathon. Photo / Darren Skene
In the chaos of the 1904 marathon, only 14 of 32 competitors completed the race. Before proper regulation of the sport, poor planning and intense heat led to racers running through dust clouds during the hottest part of the day, while trying to dodge traffic and wild obstacles after the course led them out of the stadium and into uncleared streets.
Sampson said multiple themes in the story – such as the corruption involved and the “stupidity” of the race – are more relevant now than ever. “There’s this whole story about them like testing out purposeful dehydration just because they think that humans potentially don’t need water to perform well, and I just feel like we’re going in that direction again – sort of ‘Let’s go against every sort of common sense thought that we have’.”
Given it was only the third modern Olympics, Sampson believes there was much naivety among competitors who didn’t know what they were getting into. “The organisers seemed to just only care about white Americans coming out on top. And as long as that happened, it didn’t really matter what that took.”
He said the story of Felix Carvajal – a Cuban who wasn’t invited to the race, but travelled to St Louis of his own accord to take part – resonates with him most. “For me, when I read the story, he is the heart of it, and that’s what really made me go, ‘Oh, I’d love to do this as a show’, because clearly there’s villains and there’s heroes and underdogs and evil … It’s just a fantastic story which is made a lot better by the fact that it really happened.”
After getting support from frequent collaborator Rose Matafeo, Sampson dived into the project. When Covid cancelled the Fringe, he tried to turn the story into a screenplay, before he realised it would be “unfilmable” without a massive budget. He went back to the solo show format and took it to the Fringe post-pandemic, where it garnered glowing reviews from the Daily Mail and the Telegraph, earning “cult-hit” status.
Reviews for Nic Sampson’s show MARATHON, 1904. Image / Supplied
Despite making a big splash, it wasn’t an easy experience for Sampson. “It was just me just running on the spot for an hour in this tiny little room. I got Covid halfway through the season, and then when you’re recovering from Covid and doing a show where you’re running, you just drip buckets of sweat.”
It was enough of a hit to earn him a run at London’s prestigious Soho Theatre – before picking up attention back home when Silo got in touch to turn it into a play. Sampson used elements from the abandoned screenplay to flesh out the story to multiple characters, but since he is UK-based, he has left it to the creative team and performers to bring it to the stage. It’s the first theatrical work Sampson has written, but the latest move in a packed career.
After starring as a Power Ranger as a teenager, Sampson went on to stand-up, becoming a core original member of improv group Snort alongside Matafeo, Chris Parker, Laura Daniel and Eli Matthewson. Earning a Billy T Award nomination in 2015, Sampson also served as head writer on Jono and Ben and worked on sketch show Funny Girls, with much of the Snort crew working on both shows.
Nic Sampson and fellow members of the comedy improv troupe Snort in 2020.
Reflecting on the immense success the Snort alumni have had, Sampson said hanging out weekly with the same people allowed them all to thrive. “I think once we all found each other and started doing the shows, it just became a sort of self-fulfilling machine of encouraging each other and learning from each other.
“But, I mean, we were just kids, man,” he jokes. “It sounds like one of those BBC music documentaries, and they’re like, ‘We didn’t really know what we were doing.’ We were just hanging out in the Basement every Friday, just f***ing around, you know?”
Since moving to the UK with his wife pre-Covid, Sampson has endeavoured to maintain links to New Zealand. A regular on the first six seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries, Sampson said he’d likely have kept returning to film the drama if Covid hadn’t meant he was written out.
His Aotearoa connections proved beneficial in finding his feet in London. After a brief role in the first season of Matafeo’s BBC sitcom, Starstruck, Sampson joined her and Alice Snedden in the writers’ room for the final two seasons. “It just felt like we were working on Jono and Ben or Funny Girls but, like, with a budget,” Sampson said. “It’s obviously a very different show, but the working relationship is the same.”
He remains busy. At the time he spoke with Canvas, Sampson was working on post-production for the upcoming BBC sitcom Opening Up, which he co-wrote with comedian Amy Gledhill (of Taskmaster and Last One Laughing fame) and again reunited him with Snedden as director. “I’ve never worked on something that’s all my thing from start to finish, and it’s been amazing,” Sampson said.
Nic Sampson performing Yellow Power Ranger at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe. Photo / Supplied
His past has also been a source of opportunities (and embarrassing anecdotes) in the UK. In 2006, Sampson played one of the leads on Power Rangers Mystic Force, a wizard-themed season he describes as “weird” even by the standards of the long-running franchise.
After moving to England, Sampson was invited to his first “Comic Con” type event in Coventry. “I got picked up from the train station, and the other guy in the car was the voice actor of the robot dog from Doctor Who. They took us to the Travelodge where we were staying, and there was a TGI Fridays attached to the Travelodge.
“I said, ‘Do you want to go get some dinner’, and he wanted to go to bed. So, I went to the TGI Fridays and ate alone.
“The next day, I went to the convention, and as soon as I walked in the door, someone was like, ‘I recognise you’. And I was like, ‘Yeah, Power Rangers’, and he was like, ‘No, you were eating alone at the TGI Fridays last night’.”
Nic Sampson at a convention for Power Rangers.
Awkward interactions aside, Sampson said conventions and meeting fans have been wholesome, and he’s always surprised by how much the show means to fans. “It’s so cool to be passionate about anything, you know? I wish I was. The marathon is probably the closest I get. If I was to get to meet Felix Carvajal, I would love to.”
MARATHON by Nic Sampson will show at Q Theatre, Auckland from November 12 to December 6.