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[Music]
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kiwi's Love at
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First like Finn we're making
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[Music]
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waves generate switch online
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[Music]
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today Michael gelvin welcome to my
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podcast thank you Dom it's a great
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pleasure to be here I've um I've it's a
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great pleasure to have you here I've
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been so excited about this all week I
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had a few people asking me um who have
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you got coming in for a chat this week
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and I um to a few of those people I said
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Michael Galvin and they they had a look
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on their face like Michael galin Michael
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galin I know the name and then you say
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Dr Chris Warner and everybody every
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single person knows exactly who you're
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talking about okay that's good that's
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good is it yeah it's been around for a
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while so you know yeah May May 25
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1992 that's when shortland Street
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started and you were there for 5 years
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then had a three-year break and you've
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been back non-stop since 2000 that's
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correct yeah yeah and just some of the
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story lines by the way this is this is
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um Dr Warner not you Michael gin oh my
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god um five marriages over 20
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romances including one in episode one
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which we'll get to uh six children a car
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crash resulting in drug addiction nearly
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getting murdered by his brother-in-law
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losing his wife to his drug addicted
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brother uh ending up in jail after being
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framed for murder surviving Cancer and a
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heart attack a controversial abortion
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storyline um and 2024 ended with your
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son taking you hostage and threatening
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to stab you in the
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neck I I think he left out being shot
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through the heart as well yeah I was
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shot through the heart but here I am I'm
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I'm stronger than ever yeah yeah it kind
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of sounds a bit crazy when you string
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them all together like that but um the
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the fun thing about that is that when
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you're in the middle of a story line
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you're just focused on the storyline you
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know F focused on making it as real and
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as credible as you can and um and I
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think we get away with making these
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things work really well and look
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realistic the only problem is when you
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do what you've just done and like string
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them all together and look back on
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someone's life and say how many people
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do you know have been married is it five
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or six I felt I feel I've been married
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six times but um I'm not the best person
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to ask you that that's over 30 years and
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um the last episode with your your son
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taking you hostage and threatening to
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stab you on the neck episode
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8,078 wow um is that what it was okay
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yeah how many of would you have been in
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you had a threeyear Hiatus like 5,000
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6,000 I don't know yeah maybe five or
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six even if it was just like one scene
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or yeah yeah I'm usually somewhere in
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the episode even if it's just you know
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popping in just in one scene or two you
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know that's a great thing about Shand
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street is that it's kind of real swings
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and roundabouts in terms of the story so
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you might be very busy you know with a
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quite intense storyline like I was at
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the end of well it wasn't really the end
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of last year but the Christmas
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Cliffhanger that we shot halfway through
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the year with you know all the Warners
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coming back and we're deciding what to
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do with Harry and should we put her in
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prison and and then in a situation where
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I'm at the moment when we're introducing
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the new characters for the new Blood
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season I'm not quite so busy because
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we're wanting to really push story lines
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with them so I'm more of a kind of a
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support player in those but it's really
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nice to be able to do both do do you
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prefer being the center of a story arc
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or do you like um just having a having a
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breather I like both I like both yeah
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yeah it's great it's you want you want
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the um you want the variation cuz it can
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get exhausting if you're the center of
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the story for too long and and that does
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happen with our characters you know the
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writers will fall in love with a with a
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certain character and it's usually a she
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and they'll they'll just give her
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storyline of her storyline and she'll
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just have month after month after month
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after a month where like she is just
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working you know 10 hours every day and
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it it can get too much so it's better
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when you can when you can mix it up so
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so we're we're recording this at about
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midday on a Friday and you had you had
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work this morning
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you came straight from surgery so to
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speak so the like the the episode the
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stuff that you were filming this morning
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like how how many weeks from now will
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that be on screen oh look that's not
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going to be on for a few months we're at
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the situation now because shortland
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street is only um when it when the new
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season begins it's only going to be
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played three times a week but we're
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actually shooting four time we're
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actually shooting four episodes a week
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so we're kind of getting really ahead of
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ourselves yeah it means it means we'll
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probably have finished shooting the year
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worth by maybe July so we're actually
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really far ahead um we used to only ever
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be um you know kind of two months at the
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most because of because we were shooting
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five episodes a week and they were
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playing five episodes a week when when
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it came to co we got down to about like
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one and a half weeks between when we
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were shooting it and when it was going
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on air and that was too close man that
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was too that was a bit crazy bit
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stressful but um at the moment it's
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because it's kind of difficult because
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you're shooting we're shooting in summer
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but really it's going to be not played
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till winter so that kind of affects the
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way when you you know you're shooting
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outside and you got big coats on and all
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the rest of
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it listen it's remarkable you know this
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this TV show that's been going what 33
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years now um and just the whole broader
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you know shortland Street or South
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Pacific pitches team like the the amount
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of content that you guys are producing
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it's incredible it's so much right yeah
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oh yeah um and how how was that last
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year the like the it was sort of knife
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edge stuff right as to whether or not
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Shand Street would continue and the
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compromise was a drop back to three
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episodes a week I think I think look I'm
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not privy to these decisions I I only
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know what everyone knows about these
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things and yeah it looks like they've
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been you know been cutbacks all over
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with TV andz and so now we're down to
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three and as to how long it's going to
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go for I mean I hope it goes forever
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obviously but there's no there are no
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certainties in life and it's C certainly
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not in in this industry as you know yeah
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yeah no must must be been quite
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distressing
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for I guess I guess I guess it is I
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guess it is you're super chill and
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you're quite well I I don't know if I
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most of the people I mean the thing
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about the TV industry is that is that
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most jobs don't last for very long you
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know you'll do a show and that'll
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that'll be like shooting for seven
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months and then you'll leave and do
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something else and maybe if if it's a TV
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show maybe you'll be back next year or
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maybe you won't so I I feel like most
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people in our building are used to the
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idea of jobs not lasting forever and
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it's only people like me who are used to
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the idea of this thing going on
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indefinitely so so I think if anyone's
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going to be suffering it's me but um
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until it actually happens I'm fine yeah
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oh that's a good attitude what's what's
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your relationship with the show like how
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often how often do you watch it I try
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yeah I try I try to keep up with it I
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must I go through phases to be honest I
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might you know watch it for a few weeks
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and then drop off and and then not see
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it for a few weeks I certainly watched
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the um all the stuff the Christmas Cliff
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stuff which I thought was just fantastic
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it's nice it's nice to watch it and be
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you know be inspired by it and see that
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see everyone else doing terrific work
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you know I love it I love it can are you
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able to watch it objectively or do you
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just like see see your your flaws or
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things that you could I feel I can watch
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other people's scenes objectively I I
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certainly can't watch my own scenes
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objectively I'm generally just thinking
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like how bad I look it's like oh really
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you could have sucked your tummy in for
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that one or you know you could have
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lifted your chin a bit you know I'm just
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thinking that kind of stuff it's very
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superficial thing but yeah that's all I
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noticed I think yeah it's funny to hear
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that you know if anyone would be used to
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that or used to the idea of sing
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themselves on on screen it's you you've
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had more screen time than anyone but uh
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it's refreshing to hear that you were
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used to have those
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self-conscious yeah no definitely no
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okay um we'll cover off a little bit of
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lwh hanging fruit then I want to go back
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to the early years of Michael Galvin
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um the the the deck pack is that the
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most iconic please tell me that's not
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your penis I think it has become that it
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is now supplanted you're not in
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Guatemala now Dr opata yeah which is
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weird which is weird certainly when we
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did it when I got the script I I was
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like oh great that's really funny you
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know I just I just got to do it the
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right way and so we did it we ended up
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doing three takes of it because it's
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like oh no you know it was like
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Goldilocks one was too much one was not
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enough and the last one was right and
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then um and then we didn't think anym
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about it and then it kind of Hit the
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Airways and you you know was on screen
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you think I wonder if there'll be any
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reaction and the reaction was absolutely
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nuts and I can't quite put my finger on
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it so to speak but I think it's that I
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think it's that word penis because it's
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a funny word it's kind of a rude word
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but it kind of isn't and you're kind of
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not allowed to say it but you kind of
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are because it's just an anatomical
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thing you know so I think it hit that
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sweet spot of being rude but not too
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rude and also I guess yeah and I also I
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guess I it's it's a um it's a relevant
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thing dickpics and so but it hasn't
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really been addressed and certainly not
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on shortland street and this was
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addressed in a kind of an amusing way so
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but when when you're when you're doing
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that scene um like how much practice do
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you put into the delivery of it or the
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execution of the line you you you just
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you don't want to you can't over prepare
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for that kind of thing but you want to
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give it enough energy so that so that
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it's amusing but you don't want to give
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it so much that you're remove moving
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yourself from the reality of the scene
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you know it it always has to be a
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reaction that someone would actually
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give in real life you know but the fact
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is in real life sometimes we're
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unintentionally funny so that's the kind
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of the place you want to be you want to
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kind of you want to be this as this this
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this character who is unintentionally
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funny but of course the actor is trying
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to make it funny you know but you always
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want to play it straight you want to
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play it straight and how many takes uh
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well just three like I said yeah yeah
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because um because we just had to cuz I
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think the first time I I was over
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excited about it I overplayed it and
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then I underplayed it and then the last
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one the director quite liked and and the
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the the like the camera people on the
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other side of the camera like are they
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like how do you keep a straight face are
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they laughing no they're pretty used to
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that kind of stuff yeah you the the the
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crew are great about if there's
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something funny in the scene usually the
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people wait at the end of the scene
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that's when they'll let the laugh out
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you know we have so much that we're
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shooting that that the the crew are
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really great about just not about just
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wanting to you know make sure we're
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getting through it and um yeah yeah and
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then but the and the other thing about
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that was when it ended up on the Kimmel
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show and Alec Baldwin was playing Chris
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water and I'm like and I still to this
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day I can't I can't I can't put that
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anywhere in my head I don't know where
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to put that that's just so weird and so
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unexpected and kind of is it a good
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thing or a bad thing I don't know I just
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it's just a strange thing is the only
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yeah yeah you saw that
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hewin on the Kimel show yeah I loved it
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it made me sort of proud to be a kiwi
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okay good good good good but then then
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the way they they managed a perfect
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reproduction of our set you know they
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obviously just used the the screenshot
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of our but it was like they were in our
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set too you know Alec bordwin and Jimmy
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kall it was just yeah it was too much
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yeah was that amazing for you or no no
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it wasn't amazing it was just well it
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was amazing but not necessarily in a
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good way it was just strange like I said
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and it was just kind of like it's not
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our little show shouldn't be on that in
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that environment you know and H and also
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I felt they were kind of being a bit a
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bit unfairly kind of mocking us when as
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if we weren't in on the joke you know
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which we were we knew it was a funny
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scene but um as I say it's funnier if
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you deliver it straight and I felt they
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thought that we were that we were we
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weren't aware of that it was funny but
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oh no it's it's it's a very funny show
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and I feel like it's got funny
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as it's got on like it's it's definitely
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a show that doesn't take itself too
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seriously yeah it always says I mean
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goes anything that goes for 30 years
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it's going to have ups and downs and
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yeah and we did and and certainly when
00:12:10
we had um you know Doo and Desi oh you
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you I don't know if you watched the show
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but yeah certainly there are characters
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that come and go that are that are
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really funny and and and beef up the the
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humor and also for for me you know
00:12:22
sometimes they they let me do some funny
00:12:24
stuff so that's nice yeah oh yeah um
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it's speak funny stuff like that and
00:12:28
also I supposed speaking of like um you
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know Jimmy Kimmel and late night
00:12:31
American talk shows Conan O'Brien oh yes
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so he he was on the show last this was
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an amazing moment yeah it was F first of
00:12:39
all how tall is that guy so tall he's so
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tall he would Tower over you even he's
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just so tall yeah but he's just so
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bright you know he's amazing they tried
00:12:49
to kind of bamboozle him by well it was
00:12:51
kind of he was in on the joke but by
00:12:53
just like flooding him with all this
00:12:55
medical dialogue these these crazy
00:12:56
medical terms and he just nailed it you
00:12:58
know he had one nights to learn all he
00:13:00
just nailed all of it he's uh he's quite
00:13:02
incredible but he's he's very funny like
00:13:04
he comes on to he comes onto the set and
00:13:07
everyone in the building I mean usually
00:13:08
when we're shooting something there's
00:13:09
like the shooting crew maybe at the most
00:13:11
maybe 15 people but you have seen like
00:13:14
it's just everyone in the building
00:13:15
there's like 150 people there and so
00:13:17
that's kind of slightly intimidating for
00:13:19
a start like shooting a scene but he's
00:13:21
able to just on the one hand entertain
00:13:24
everyone and just come out with these
00:13:26
funny lines and just kind of live up to
00:13:28
that image we all have on him but then
00:13:30
for me the the great part was cuz it was
00:13:33
just me and him and the scene and so we
00:13:35
were waiting you know behind the the
00:13:37
scenes as it were to come on and I was
00:13:39
just able to ask him about stuff and you
00:13:42
know the
00:13:43
Simpsons and and he was just so is that
00:13:46
what you asked yeah I couldn't help it
00:13:48
he was probably sick of but I it's so
00:13:50
cool that he was the head head writer
00:13:52
when on when the Simpsons wrote the um
00:13:55
the monal episode which is one of my
00:13:57
favorites so yeah so but I was to be
00:13:59
able to ask him about you know the other
00:14:01
other soaps that he did for part of this
00:14:04
crazy show that he's got but just
00:14:05
talking to him and he was just so
00:14:07
forthcoming and and just nice and he'd
00:14:09
ask me questions as well like he's just
00:14:12
he's just one of those nice guys that
00:14:14
that's that could just just it could
00:14:17
just all be about him but he's chosen to
00:14:19
go the other way yeah it's just lovely
00:14:22
yeah you love Simpsons hey I read some
00:14:24
old interviews about you you Simpsons
00:14:26
obsessed yeah yeah no they cuz used to I
00:14:29
think back in the old days you know when
00:14:32
everyone watched TV it was either on the
00:14:33
other channel against the Shand Street
00:14:36
or sometimes it was after Short Street
00:14:38
it was on at a very similar time and it
00:14:40
was really one of those um water cooler
00:14:43
shows which don't really exist anymore
00:14:44
and the next day you'd come into work
00:14:46
and you did you see the Simpsons did you
00:14:48
see that it was so funny and it kind of
00:14:50
it changed mainstream comedy that's for
00:14:53
sure made it allowed to be a bit kind of
00:14:55
sharper and a bit nastier in a way yeah
00:14:59
the term that you just said water cooler
00:15:00
show that's that's a thing I haven't
00:15:02
heard in a while and I suppose you don't
00:15:03
have water coers anymore because
00:15:04
everyone's got their own you know Frank
00:15:06
and green bottle of water um but also
00:15:09
yeah just the fragmentation of um the
00:15:11
media that you've seen over the last um
00:15:12
three three decades you don't have those
00:15:15
shows anymore everyone's streaming their
00:15:16
own thing in their own time yeah yeah
00:15:18
and um and you know shows like shte
00:15:20
street is as popular as they are it's
00:15:22
not it's not the same as it used to be
00:15:24
cuz yeah there there so much competition
00:15:26
so many other streamers and everything
00:15:28
yeah yeah but you know luckily sh
00:15:30
Street's really holding its ground and
00:15:32
has still got a a really strong
00:15:34
viewership so that's kind of reassuring
00:15:36
in a
00:15:37
way it's a wonderful show and it's a
00:15:39
wonderful um piece of the New Zealand
00:15:42
Fabric and I I suppose like from my
00:15:44
personal perspective as someone that
00:15:45
hasn't watched it religiously in a very
00:15:47
long time um there was like a sense of
00:15:49
like alarm or Panic or sadness from me
00:15:51
last year when I heard that it might be
00:15:53
on the chopping block or and you know
00:15:54
ultimately drop back to three nights a
00:15:56
week like it's um it's what don't
00:15:59
necessarily realize you know what you've
00:16:00
got until it's too late exactly we got
00:16:03
and we you know the country needs we
00:16:05
everyone needs their own you know
00:16:07
homegrown drama and everyone's you know
00:16:10
Aussie's got two and England's got you
00:16:13
know four h so we we need it you know we
00:16:17
need we need it we need it obviously for
00:16:18
the industry so that there's always
00:16:20
something there employing people but I
00:16:22
think we need it for culturally we need
00:16:24
it so that people are always being can
00:16:26
turn on this TV and see themselves
00:16:28
reflected back you know which I think sh
00:16:30
Street has done a really great job at
00:16:32
being able to reflect all of New Zealand
00:16:34
you know yeah much as you can we'll take
00:16:36
a a detail from Short Street but I do
00:16:38
want to get back to that because um yeah
00:16:40
when it launched I think it was a time
00:16:41
where there was this real sort of
00:16:43
cultural cringe thing in the country and
00:16:44
new zealanders um we felt awkward about
00:16:47
seeing ourselves on screen um so I want
00:16:49
to like get into that and what that was
00:16:51
like being in the firing line yeah oh
00:16:54
very much so yeah this is this is the
00:16:56
thing I keep harking on about is that
00:16:58
that some of the the because when it
00:17:00
came out okay I admit it it wasn't very
00:17:03
good and when it started uh but the
00:17:05
thing that people that we got really
00:17:07
criticized for was our accents you know
00:17:10
the these accents that you and I are
00:17:12
talking in now these kiwi accents people
00:17:14
were not used to hearing them so so in a
00:17:17
way we we all just as a country had to
00:17:19
get over that and just start
00:17:22
appreciating these voices as our own
00:17:24
voices and these stories as our own
00:17:26
stories and that happened and I really
00:17:28
feel it happened because of shorten
00:17:30
Street you know five nights a week
00:17:31
people got got used to it you know and
00:17:33
then they started to love it because
00:17:35
they they got used to themselves you
00:17:37
know it was uh but certainly when it
00:17:39
came off there was a big cultural CR you
00:17:41
know all the it's not a thing anymore
00:17:43
but but for quite a while all the all
00:17:45
the um all the radio announcers all the
00:17:47
TV announcers they all had to talk a bit
00:17:49
like this like they' been to rer or
00:17:51
somewhere in England you know everyone
00:17:52
spoke like this and you know Short
00:17:55
Street I hope kind of cured us of that
00:17:58
yeah and yeah I I watched episode SE
00:18:01
season 1 episode one of Shand Street
00:18:03
last night was that um well I had this
00:18:05
Vision in my head that it was um
00:18:07
appalling like yeah because we just
00:18:09
remember it being being terrible but
00:18:11
it's I thought it was quite good yeah
00:18:13
look I'm glad you said that because I I
00:18:15
just just now dropped in the thing that
00:18:17
wasn't very good when it started but
00:18:19
then yeah well I for some um because
00:18:20
it's just hit YouTube I had to rewatch
00:18:22
the first ones and I was like this is a
00:18:24
this is fine what what was everybody
00:18:26
being so nasty about I think it's just
00:18:28
the cultural cring I'm glad you said
00:18:30
that yeah yeah no no we'll get back into
00:18:32
that like it's straight into it like
00:18:34
it's you know you're you're having sex
00:18:35
with a yeah aerobics instructor in
00:18:38
episode one season one and like there
00:18:40
you've both got your torsos out it's a
00:18:42
very very steamy I yeah an actual nudity
00:18:45
in there right nearly yeah well you saw
00:18:47
her naked back which which you don't see
00:18:49
very often anymore yes on sh Street
00:18:52
anyway yeah so back to Chris Warner but
00:18:54
first of all U Michael Gavin so um yeah
00:18:56
tell us about your early years so you're
00:18:57
born in the UK
00:18:59
your dad had what was your dad something
00:19:01
in the government something he was he
00:19:02
was an economist and and um at the time
00:19:05
he was an economist and so he was over
00:19:07
there working for Gat or some
00:19:09
International agreement I can't remember
00:19:10
but it was great because a Mento was
00:19:13
born in London so I've got a a UK
00:19:15
passport and also so as my daughter so
00:19:17
that's cool because I was born there um
00:19:19
yeah then and then uh yeah he had a
00:19:21
great career he was he was the head of
00:19:24
the prime minister's Department under
00:19:25
Robert moldun who old people will know
00:19:28
who that that is and young people won't
00:19:30
and then he was the head of Treasury so
00:19:32
he he he he was a very um significant
00:19:35
person around Wellington circles so I
00:19:37
was very proud of him but it but it kind
00:19:40
of encouraged me like both of my
00:19:41
brothers are in the in the Civil Service
00:19:44
uh but I I kind of wanted to go do
00:19:46
something else you know so that that
00:19:49
that was different from that so that
00:19:50
maybe one of the reasons I'm an actor is
00:19:52
is just to do something that was
00:19:54
different from that yeah what are your
00:19:56
Recollections of the early years in the
00:19:58
UK how old we when you moved to New
00:19:59
Zealand I have no none I was two so I
00:20:01
have no I have no Recollections yet
00:20:04
although I was watching this um Beatles
00:20:06
The Beatles documentary when they were
00:20:08
um up in the um you know they're
00:20:10
shooting the uh what's called get back
00:20:13
the the one get back and they were in
00:20:16
London and they were doing the concert
00:20:18
on the roof and and that they were
00:20:20
shooting the London streets and I was
00:20:21
like I could have been on that London
00:20:24
Street because I was in London at that
00:20:26
exact time so I was looking for myself
00:20:28
but I wasn't there well my mom at least
00:20:30
so there was a todle of there with a
00:20:31
with a quiff a quiff of here there was
00:20:35
are you are you a beetles guy yeah yeah
00:20:37
yeah crazy beetles fan crazy obsessive
00:20:40
Beatles fan that Peter Jackson series
00:20:42
get back some people complained it was
00:20:44
like um like to Peter Jackson in terms
00:20:46
of the length but for me not long enough
00:20:48
I loved it the interplay between um i i
00:20:51
s of bought into this narrative that um
00:20:53
like John and Paul had some beef and
00:20:55
they hated each other and then you see
00:20:56
the interplay between them and it was a
00:20:57
wonderful relationship sh was I'm glad
00:20:59
so you're beetles fan too oh massively
00:21:01
I'm get Goosebump oh good on you wasn't
00:21:03
it amazing and and also that how
00:21:05
unfairly maligned Paul had been like you
00:21:08
know they were like oh he's just a
00:21:09
control freak but he was clearly just
00:21:12
trying to keep the boat afloat and
00:21:14
everyone else is like about it and that
00:21:16
Wonder there's a wonderful conversation
00:21:18
that you didn't see but you could hear
00:21:20
they obviously recorded it where he's
00:21:22
talking to John Lennon and he's saying
00:21:24
you're the you're the leader of this
00:21:25
group come on you know you're the leader
00:21:28
we to follow you and so it wasn't like
00:21:30
he was trying to take over at all he was
00:21:32
just trying to keep it going and and and
00:21:34
and and he was trying to kind of G John
00:21:36
Lin along who yeah yeah it's wonderful
00:21:39
about all
00:21:40
day yeah and Yoko just like sleeping
00:21:43
there like a
00:21:44
cat yeah Lu she luckily she wasn't
00:21:47
singing yeah have you seen that clip of
00:21:49
her singing along with the the Chuck
00:21:51
Barry performance and I have yes
00:21:54
yeah I mean there's some things you can
00:21:56
write off his art and there's other
00:21:58
things that's just poor singing um okay
00:22:01
so yes you born in London move here to
00:22:03
Catholic Family yeah Catholic yeah big
00:22:04
on the Catholicism you know we're quite
00:22:07
quite a staunch Catholic Family I got
00:22:09
church every Sunday and all of that and
00:22:12
Confirmation and uh what's the other
00:22:14
thing confession all of that all of that
00:22:17
weirdness all of that Catholic weirdness
00:22:19
yeah you you still what do you consider
00:22:21
yourself now no no no uh agnostic I
00:22:25
don't know yeah agnostic means I don't
00:22:27
know so I don't know know yeah it was
00:22:30
very I got to University and I was still
00:22:32
all kind of yes I believe in God and all
00:22:35
the rest of it and and I just in a
00:22:37
philosophy J because I studied
00:22:40
philosophy and and the and the
00:22:41
philosophy Jor just said oh you know if
00:22:43
you believe in God is probably because
00:22:44
you were brought up to believe in God he
00:22:46
was just talking generally I'm like no
00:22:48
no no I believe in God because God is
00:22:49
real and then I thought wait a minute
00:22:52
he's and I thought about it and I
00:22:54
thought he's probably right I probably
00:22:55
that is probably the only reason I
00:22:57
believe in God and all these other
00:22:58
things cuz I was brought up to believe
00:22:59
in them and then I thought well what
00:23:01
I'll do is I'll just kind of put that to
00:23:04
one side and if it's true I'll be led
00:23:07
back to it you know this kind of
00:23:08
allseeing all powerful om omnip kind of
00:23:12
single omniscient single being and I
00:23:15
haven't really been LED back to it so I
00:23:18
I had a similar upbringing very
00:23:19
religious family the whole the whole
00:23:21
work what religion Catholic here okay uh
00:23:23
yeah yeah yeah so first communion
00:23:25
baptism confession the poor pre like
00:23:29
10-year-old Dom didn't have a lot didn't
00:23:31
have a lot of good [ __ ] to share in but
00:23:34
I um I I I sort of gave it up as soon as
00:23:36
I was old enough to make my own my own
00:23:37
decisions really because I realized I
00:23:39
don't know like the I think the essence
00:23:40
of of the Bible and the Ten Commandments
00:23:42
is good it's basically don't be an
00:23:43
[ __ ] um but I realized you you can be
00:23:46
you can be a bad person and go to church
00:23:48
every weekend and you can be a good
00:23:49
person and not go to church every
00:23:50
weekend oh yeah AB do you still have
00:23:52
like um elements of Catholic guilt and
00:23:54
stuff and you find like a very much so
00:23:57
yeah yeah you are kind of you do have
00:23:59
that innate feeling that things are your
00:24:01
fault sticks with your ey yeah yeah no
00:24:03
it's hard to it's hard to shake off yeah
00:24:05
definitely definitely I I think there's
00:24:07
a lot of a lot of bad things about it
00:24:09
and some good things too but yeah it's
00:24:11
not my own daughter I didn't raise with
00:24:14
any kind of religion or anything and
00:24:16
just let her Discover it if she's going
00:24:18
to and yeah cool yeah so you get a pH
00:24:22
Philosophy degree yeah yeah and and then
00:24:25
what do do you because you you get the
00:24:27
Philosophy degree then go to drama
00:24:28
school the amazing drama toy I applied
00:24:31
for toy farari and which wasn't toy
00:24:33
fatti then it was just New Zealand drama
00:24:34
school and I didn't get in and so I was
00:24:37
like oh and so I I spent a year uh in
00:24:40
the civil service at the external Aid
00:24:42
Division and um I hated it and then I
00:24:46
reapplied for drama school and luckily I
00:24:49
got in and I guess until shortland
00:24:52
Street my life was kind of full of these
00:24:54
um kind of deadlines that i' give myself
00:24:57
cuz like if I didn't get into drama
00:24:58
school that second time I'd be like I'm
00:25:00
going to do something else and and then
00:25:02
when I got out of drama school I had a
00:25:04
few jobs and then have you know a big
00:25:05
period four five months with nothing and
00:25:07
then I'd like I'd have a deadline okay
00:25:09
so if I don't have a job by this time I
00:25:11
got to start doing something else and
00:25:13
luckily each time something would come
00:25:16
up but uh yeah and then sh Street came
00:25:18
up and then there were no deadlines
00:25:20
anymore it's um yeah it's not a career
00:25:22
path for the faint is it I had um I had
00:25:24
cam Jones on the podcast last year who
00:25:26
played Dallas uh and like you he went to
00:25:28
toy fatti um and and he's still like
00:25:31
chasing that acting dream like he spent
00:25:32
some time in LA like on the on the
00:25:35
audition treadmill he's in Sydney at the
00:25:37
moment like it's horrible it's horrible
00:25:39
he keep he keeps moving the goal post
00:25:42
yeah it's it's it's horrible it's
00:25:43
horrible like um our our uh our producer
00:25:46
Oliver driver who's also a friend of
00:25:48
mine he's he's got a great quote he just
00:25:51
says saying you want to make a living as
00:25:52
an actor is like saying you want to make
00:25:54
a living as a Lotto winner it's like
00:25:56
saying that it's like saying yeah I'm
00:25:58
what I'm going to do with my life is I'm
00:25:59
going to win Lotto and then because it's
00:26:01
it's you're just not in control of of of
00:26:04
luck of of good fortune or bad fortune
00:26:07
you're not in control of that you know
00:26:08
and I you know and there's a lot of talk
00:26:11
around isn't there about manifesting and
00:26:14
you know and it will and it will happen
00:26:16
it will happen but I've just seen too
00:26:18
many super talented people you know who
00:26:21
you can't fault as having a negative
00:26:22
attitude or whatever it is who just are
00:26:25
not have not made a living you know in
00:26:27
their my age and and they've just and
00:26:30
they're really poor and they can't
00:26:31
afford a car and they certainly can't
00:26:33
afford a house and they're terrific you
00:26:36
know really talented people but it's
00:26:38
just it's just the cruelty of the
00:26:40
profession especially in this country
00:26:41
you know because the the pay rates are
00:26:43
so much lower because the population's
00:26:45
so much lower so yeah economies of scale
00:26:48
um yeah you must have seen yeah some
00:26:51
like incredibly talented people who you
00:26:53
thought are that person's going places
00:26:55
and then the flip side of that as well
00:26:56
someone's like H I did not see that
00:26:58
coming yeah okay so he's got his own
00:27:00
show in the States now okay okay
00:27:03
right KJ
00:27:05
or no no they are all actually terrific
00:27:08
they are all actually terrific it's but
00:27:10
yeah just go to show I suppose the
00:27:11
lottery aspect of um this career part
00:27:13
yeah it is a lottery although KJ is
00:27:15
extremely good-looking and so is Martin
00:27:17
Henderson and you know I think that that
00:27:19
helps yeah atstar he's got a great he's
00:27:22
got a great quality too you know he got
00:27:24
got a
00:27:25
sexy quality about him yeah yeah that
00:27:28
kind of confidence helps but but you're
00:27:30
right there's no people come through and
00:27:32
I go wow that person they're going to
00:27:34
set the world on fire and then you just
00:27:36
don't hear of them again it's uh it's a
00:27:39
cruel profession and it's not fair it
00:27:41
really isn't I mean life isn't fair but
00:27:44
acting certainly is even more unfair
00:27:46
than life well you learn that when you
00:27:48
get to our age like into your 50s you
00:27:50
realize you know yeah bad things happen
00:27:52
to good people [ __ ] happens to everyone
00:27:54
yeah yeah um yeah okay so you you
00:27:57
graduate from TW which like so yeah I
00:28:00
suppose like knowing that about you now
00:28:02
like I watched um episode one of
00:28:03
shortland Street and I thought this
00:28:05
guy's [ __ ] good like you first of all
00:28:07
you got to be good to get into toy fat
00:28:09
yeah so it's like no I sort of I suppose
00:28:11
I watched it from a p um protective sort
00:28:13
of aspect it's like like none of us that
00:28:15
were sitting there criticizing it could
00:28:17
have done any better like this was this
00:28:18
was top-notch acting at the time yeah I
00:28:21
that's what I you you're watching it
00:28:23
again yeah then it is interesting I I
00:28:25
did think the same thing I was like oh
00:28:26
it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered
00:28:28
it and some of it was great and but I
00:28:30
certainly didn't remember it some of it
00:28:32
as being great I think um yeah I think
00:28:34
you're right I think that was it was a
00:28:35
cultural cringe at the time that was
00:28:37
just like wanting to diss it yeah yeah
00:28:40
so you you're dailing some um some
00:28:42
theater shows you did the evly brothers
00:28:43
show with Tim Barm yeah yeah yeah and um
00:28:47
shark in the park which I remember no
00:28:49
one El New Zealand cop show said in
00:28:51
Wellington no one else would remember
00:28:52
probably no unless you were actually on
00:28:54
it then you remember it but it's only
00:28:55
the people who are on it who remember it
00:28:56
that's right and I even this it's funny
00:28:58
because we had an actor on yesterday
00:29:00
Called Bruce Phillips it's lovely lovely
00:29:02
brilliant actor from Wellington he says
00:29:04
I remember I was in your neighborhood
00:29:06
watch episode in neighborhood watch was
00:29:08
the sitcom written by Roger Hall who's a
00:29:10
very successful comedy playwright in New
00:29:13
Zealand it's like oh God that's right
00:29:14
but these are all things that happened
00:29:16
before Short Street the interesting
00:29:18
thing for me is that like coming out of
00:29:20
drama school or even when I join drama
00:29:22
school the picture in my head of of of a
00:29:25
career as an actor in New Zealand was
00:29:28
focused mainly on theater I thought well
00:29:31
I'll mainly do theater and then I'll
00:29:33
pick up the odd TV job because that's
00:29:35
all they were and there weren't many of
00:29:37
us wanting to be actors and then
00:29:39
shortness stre came along and after I
00:29:41
don't know if they still exist but
00:29:43
certainly after SCH streen had been on
00:29:45
for a couple of years all these drama
00:29:47
schools started to pop up everywhere
00:29:49
because kids were suddenly thinking oh
00:29:51
you can make a living as an actor you
00:29:53
know it's not just about those plays
00:29:56
that I'm never going to go and watch
00:29:57
it's like the TV which I watch every
00:29:59
night oh there's some kiwis and they're
00:30:01
actors and well I can do that too and so
00:30:04
I so shorton Street For Better or Worse
00:30:06
definitely introduced that concept of
00:30:09
being having a career as an actor I I
00:30:12
feel whereas before it was it was um it
00:30:15
was a kind of a very Fringe kind of
00:30:17
theater thing it suddenly was more
00:30:19
mainstream yeah which probably is a bad
00:30:21
thing yeah well there was so little um
00:30:23
New Zealand made TV shows at the time eh
00:30:25
and and the ones that were they were
00:30:27
they were you was sort of H and misses
00:30:29
as with that they're going to be
00:30:30
successful like I'm thinking Melody
00:30:31
rules which I think started about the
00:30:33
same time as Shand Street um then there
00:30:35
was gloss in the late 80s which was
00:30:36
reasonably successful gloss preceded sha
00:30:38
Street and that was a big deal at least
00:30:39
in Oakland it didn't quite kind of
00:30:42
Ripple out inside of Oakland so much but
00:30:44
definitely in Oakland because when we
00:30:46
started shortland Street we were kind of
00:30:47
hanging around with all the gloss people
00:30:48
like you know Simon press and all that
00:30:50
and G Ling and and that was exciting
00:30:52
because they were really famous in in
00:30:54
Oakland and we were kind of like you
00:30:56
know maybe we were going to be that
00:30:57
famous maybe we weren't and that was
00:30:59
exciting exciting times yeah yeah so so
00:31:02
um you were living in Oakland you were
00:31:04
living with um Martin Chalker yeah who
00:31:06
who ended up um he went for the same
00:31:08
role as you but he's he's had a great
00:31:10
career yeah a great film career over in
00:31:12
Europe he's done terrifically well but
00:31:14
yeah weirdly it was down to me and him
00:31:16
for Chris Warner and we were flatmates
00:31:18
um and you know I I got that I always
00:31:21
say you know I won the battle but he won
00:31:22
the war is because he's had a brilliant
00:31:24
career over in you know over in Europe
00:31:26
doing all these wonderful film and
00:31:28
everything he wouldn't he came back and
00:31:30
he did like months as this character
00:31:32
called lard dods who was a proctologist
00:31:34
and he was brilant and very funny but
00:31:36
but Maron is not the temperament to do
00:31:39
what I've done which is just like you
00:31:41
know stay with the same role and he he
00:31:43
he's a very he that that would that
00:31:46
would bore him he loves to have you know
00:31:48
new challeng and new yeah variety yeah
00:31:51
me it's not that I don't have challenges
00:31:53
because I do but they challenges within
00:31:55
this kind of um you know the same
00:31:58
character yeah I think longevity in any
00:32:01
sort of career takes a certain amount of
00:32:02
mental tenacity as well which um I
00:32:04
suppose you need to be the right person
00:32:05
to do it yeah there are definitely types
00:32:08
who are suited to it you know there's a
00:32:11
um oh I can't remember the name of the
00:32:14
film it's a wonder it's something like
00:32:15
hero Love Sushi or something it's this
00:32:17
wonderful film about this um this
00:32:20
Japanese Chef who's got this tiny it
00:32:22
seats four people that's this tiny sushi
00:32:24
restaurant in a train station in in
00:32:26
Tokyo and it's the the the waiting list
00:32:29
is three years long because he is the
00:32:32
best sushi chef in the world and so you
00:32:36
wait and you finally and and and he's
00:32:37
just and he so he just does the same
00:32:40
thing he only serves sushi but he's just
00:32:43
kind of dedicated his life to perfecting
00:32:46
it and you know there are artists like
00:32:48
that because like when I was over in
00:32:50
London my partner was an artist and she
00:32:52
was she loved this artist called Morandi
00:32:54
who was I I can't I think it was Spanish
00:32:56
but he would just paint these paintings
00:32:59
of kind of slightly abstract paintings
00:33:01
of bottles and that's all he'd paint and
00:33:03
that's that was all he ever did and
00:33:05
people would say can you paint this can
00:33:06
you paint that and he was very famous
00:33:08
but that's all he did because that's he
00:33:11
wanted to get that right you know what I
00:33:12
mean and I kind of feel that maybe I'm
00:33:15
of that temperament where it doesn't I'm
00:33:18
really happy to be in the same role
00:33:20
because it's always changing because
00:33:23
people are always changing and people
00:33:24
are coming in and I like the idea of
00:33:28
just doing one thing and exploring the
00:33:31
different facets of it you know and
00:33:33
maybe perfecting an area of it and then
00:33:35
trying to perfect a new area era of it
00:33:37
and some people have that temperament
00:33:39
and some people don't but I do also I
00:33:41
suppose yeah that threeyear break I'm
00:33:44
I'd imagine I'm probably projecting here
00:33:46
but I'd imagine that gave you some
00:33:47
clarity so you have 5 years of Chris
00:33:48
Warner three years in the the Wilderness
00:33:51
and then you're like [ __ ] that yeah
00:33:54
there's a lot of that a lot of that yeah
00:33:56
and and kind of it's reassuring too CU
00:33:57
it's like I I don't have that thing at
00:33:59
the back of my mind saying ah you should
00:34:01
have at least given it a go you know cuz
00:34:03
I gave it a go I went to the wrong place
00:34:05
I I tried to do it in London instead of
00:34:07
LA and London was certainly at the time
00:34:09
was not set up for people from the
00:34:11
outside you know they've got enough of
00:34:13
their own people someone like La is
00:34:15
always looking always looking outside
00:34:17
you know for the for the for the newest
00:34:19
arrival that's gonna get everyone
00:34:22
excited but yeah no it did not work out
00:34:24
for me I was so poor and um and uh so
00:34:29
when I got the call I did have to think
00:34:31
about it I was like oh that's a bit of a
00:34:33
you know it's a bit embarrassing to kind
00:34:36
of it's like admitting defeat you know
00:34:38
like coming back with your tail between
00:34:39
your KN yeah yeah but really yeah but
00:34:41
yeah that's how I thought but I got back
00:34:43
here and I realized that thing that you
00:34:45
know you just have to keep reminding
00:34:46
yourself in life is nobody cares
00:34:49
nobody's watching your life and judging
00:34:51
you because they're just watching their
00:34:53
own life you know nobody gives a [ __ ]
00:34:55
about that kind of stuff because nobody
00:34:58
spends that much time thinking about you
00:35:00
because they're too busy thinking about
00:35:01
themselves you know I just fell into
00:35:03
that trap of of just thinking oh wow
00:35:06
everyone's going to think this and
00:35:07
everyone's going to think that well well
00:35:08
that you know the brutal truth is
00:35:09
they're not thinking about you at all
00:35:11
you know just do what you're going to do
00:35:13
that is that is um I'm finding
00:35:15
personally like one of the joys of
00:35:16
getting older like you you have you
00:35:18
realize on everyone's busy thinking
00:35:20
abouts um they not like an arrogance to
00:35:24
think everyone's thinking about you it
00:35:25
is that's exactly what it is and also um
00:35:29
yeah also anyone that thinks poorly of
00:35:30
you it's like well [ __ ] those people
00:35:32
you're not you're not doing it for them
00:35:33
anyway are you no no and usually it's
00:35:35
more of a statement about them and than
00:35:37
it is about you 100% yeah so um yes a
00:35:41
short Street starts on May 25 uh 1992
00:35:46
yeah so when does it sort of start like
00:35:48
beginning of 1992 is that when it sort
00:35:50
of when would we start shooting it yeah
00:35:51
when it would have been a few months
00:35:53
before that yeah so you turn up hung
00:35:55
over to the audition to the audition I
00:35:57
was hung over yeah not not to the first
00:35:58
day of shooting to the audition and
00:36:00
that's I'm sure that's why I got the job
00:36:02
you know cuz I didn't have that that
00:36:04
kind of anxious energy that you have
00:36:07
when your audition and certainly at the
00:36:08
time you know when I had more energy
00:36:10
because you know in my early 20s I had
00:36:14
too much energy and and it just it just
00:36:16
kind of knocked the uh the top off it
00:36:19
and the other thing was is it lowered my
00:36:21
voice you know so I had because you know
00:36:23
was Chris Warner is supposed to be Mr
00:36:25
Sexy And so just without even trying I
00:36:27
was just more relaxed and and my voice
00:36:29
was just lower and I was like this is a
00:36:32
really good idea getting hung over for
00:36:34
this audition how did you this so you do
00:36:37
you know you apply for drama school you
00:36:38
miss out you go back you do it threeyear
00:36:41
course then you you know you hustle
00:36:43
around then you have this big
00:36:44
opportunity why do you get pissed the
00:36:45
night before I I don't know I think
00:36:49
maybe I was getting pissed quite often
00:36:51
at the time and so you know um I I think
00:36:57
yeah see nobody at the time nobody knew
00:37:00
it was going to be what it was it was
00:37:01
just another show and it was like oh
00:37:04
it's they're going to make a uh the New
00:37:05
Zealand neighbors and it's like are they
00:37:08
really you know okay and everyone
00:37:10
auditioned for it because you know you
00:37:13
wanted to be on that train like uh like
00:37:16
I've said this before but I hope you
00:37:17
don't mind me repeating but everyone a
00:37:19
lot of people thought they were too good
00:37:21
for it but they still audition for it
00:37:23
you know in the hopes that they would
00:37:24
get it and be able to turn it down and
00:37:25
say oh no no I'm not doing so um but
00:37:28
everyone audition for it but it was just
00:37:29
another show no nobody knew that it was
00:37:31
going to still be going in 33 years time
00:37:34
you know it was it was just another show
00:37:36
and and for all we knew it it could have
00:37:38
just been a a fizzer like so many other
00:37:40
kiwi shows well you you predicted at the
00:37:42
time that the show would be dead within
00:37:44
a year did I say that there was a quote
00:37:46
I read somewhere oops did I say that
00:37:49
happily wrong I was trying to cover my
00:37:51
ass and and not sound like I was big
00:37:53
noting it or yeah so so so the the the
00:37:56
production you get the RO production
00:37:57
starts um what's the feeling like on the
00:38:00
set great the feeling on the set is
00:38:02
great we all just thought we were
00:38:03
brilliant you know cuz we were getting
00:38:04
all this positive feedback and and the
00:38:07
producer who who was the creator over it
00:38:09
Karina denave she's a dead now but
00:38:13
wonderful wonderful woman and she was
00:38:15
really inspiring and get us and she kept
00:38:17
coming back oh the networker watching
00:38:19
the the network thinkers brilliant you
00:38:21
know and we're all so excited and then
00:38:23
all these banners up around town you
00:38:25
know they really pushed the show all
00:38:27
these ads for it on TV and the banners
00:38:29
and everything and we're like woohoo and
00:38:31
was like we were so excited and we and
00:38:33
we all got together into the studios we
00:38:35
watched the first night together on TV
00:38:37
and I was like ah laughing along oh look
00:38:39
at you and then we all went into out
00:38:41
into town and and like Yahoo and it
00:38:43
wasn't until then that we realized that
00:38:45
that people did not like this TV show
00:38:48
they were like oh and and slowly you
00:38:50
know over the week and the reviews came
00:38:52
out and we were all kind of like you
00:38:53
know crawling back into our shelves just
00:38:55
going okay maybe it's not the amazing
00:38:57
thing we thought it was going to be but
00:39:00
but the the view cuz back in the day
00:39:03
they would they would publish viewing uh
00:39:06
figures and they were done in kind of 10
00:39:09
minute chunks because that's usually
00:39:11
because you'd have like 10 minutes of a
00:39:13
show then you have ad break you know so
00:39:15
so every half hour was divided into
00:39:17
three and so the viewing figures for the
00:39:19
opening night of Short Street was the
00:39:21
first one the first 10 minutes were
00:39:23
phenomenal like everybody tuned into to
00:39:26
see was like and then it kind of then it
00:39:28
was kind of cut by a half as people and
00:39:31
then by the last viewing thing was
00:39:34
nobody was watching it so everybody kind
00:39:36
of tuned in and went should we watch the
00:39:40
next okay and then just gave up and it
00:39:41
thought nah it's not very good we we we
00:39:45
we'll flag it so maybe this is about the
00:39:47
time you made the quote about it it's
00:39:48
not going to last a year um based read
00:39:51
the reviews yeah yeah how how was that
00:39:54
time for you I mean like it didn't all
00:39:55
hinge on on your performance obviously
00:39:57
you're part of like a big a big team
00:39:59
it's an ensemble absolutely yeah but was
00:40:01
that was that hurtful or did oh we had
00:40:04
someone like you know Katarina a
00:40:06
producer I mentioned before she she was
00:40:08
very look don't worry about it don't
00:40:09
worry about the reviews of course they
00:40:11
hate us it's because they they're a soap
00:40:13
we're soap everyone always hates soap
00:40:15
don't worry about it that doesn't count
00:40:17
the reviews don't count what counts as a
00:40:19
we you know slowly build an audience
00:40:21
which is exactly what happened you know
00:40:22
what a leater well yes she was brilliant
00:40:24
she was brilliant she was brilliant
00:40:26
Fearless uh and she and so that's what
00:40:29
happened you know and it started off
00:40:30
mainly with the the kids because they
00:40:33
were more open to it you know they were
00:40:35
more open to seeing these kiwis and kiwi
00:40:38
accents and they they really liked that
00:40:40
they liked that that there were these
00:40:42
you know people their own age like
00:40:43
Martin Henderson he was only 16 at the
00:40:45
time and and an dchen who played Kirsty
00:40:48
she was just a little older and and they
00:40:51
loved them you know that was like Kylie
00:40:52
and Jason but the Kiwi version and and
00:40:54
the kids were open to that you know the
00:40:56
adults weren't
00:40:58
but but generally because of their
00:41:00
enthusiasm the ratings got better and
00:41:02
and that was infectious and and slowly
00:41:04
it became and by the end of the first
00:41:06
year where I thought it was going to die
00:41:08
the opposite thing happened and it was
00:41:09
huge it was really huge yeah it got um
00:41:13
it got very very massive um yeah I
00:41:16
wonder if there's an element yeah
00:41:17
something you said before about um you
00:41:19
being a soap things so soap's
00:41:21
automatically get sort of panned I had
00:41:22
um Dame Julie Christie on the podcast
00:41:24
recently okay and she talked about sort
00:41:26
of um your cultural cring and just some
00:41:27
of the negative feedback she's had um I
00:41:30
feel like there is sort of an elitism
00:41:31
there
00:41:32
oh yeah you know I feel like like like
00:41:35
in terms of awards and stuff I feel like
00:41:37
like shortland Street doesn't maybe get
00:41:38
the flowers it deserves for what it's
00:41:40
I've always I've always I've always felt
00:41:42
that you know watching it watching it
00:41:43
the the way I do I thought you know when
00:41:45
I mean you know there's a lot of it
00:41:48
there's a lot of it you know there was
00:41:49
there's only three episodes a week this
00:41:51
year but it used to be five and same
00:41:53
amount of drama though I believe this
00:41:54
year a same amount of drama just
00:41:56
squished into three epis 40% less
00:41:58
episodes but 100% more
00:42:01
drama right so each episode is more
00:42:03
dramatic that's right yeah well we got
00:42:05
to do that in a way because you want to
00:42:07
keep people hanging on you know it's
00:42:09
like the whole thing of the Christmas
00:42:10
Cliff at the end of the um of the year
00:42:12
it's got to be big so the people come
00:42:14
come back if you've only got three
00:42:15
episodes a week you got to make them a
00:42:17
bit more Punchy just to get you know
00:42:19
hold people's attention um but what were
00:42:21
we talking about before before Oh we
00:42:22
talking about how like I feel like it's
00:42:25
overlooked for awards yeah yeah and and
00:42:28
so all right so there's a lot of it and
00:42:30
so you know so some episodes are
00:42:32
obviously better than others you know
00:42:35
but when it's really good the good
00:42:37
episodes I personally and obviously I'm
00:42:39
biased it's it's good or if not better
00:42:42
than other any other kiwi show you know
00:42:44
and like our uh the Christmas Cliff that
00:42:47
we did um last year the one with um
00:42:50
where harise with and drwan Harper and I
00:42:53
thought that was fantastic it was so it
00:42:56
was heartbreaking so so moving and and
00:42:58
and and my story line was all these
00:43:00
Warners coming back and and it was so
00:43:02
cool I you know I I feel we are not
00:43:05
given the Kudos we we uh we deserve yeah
00:43:09
and I I know that you don't say that
00:43:10
from a selfish perspective this is you
00:43:12
no I'm The Wider team around you yeah
00:43:15
all the all the terrific work I see from
00:43:16
all my you know all my fellow actors and
00:43:19
the crew and directors and the writers
00:43:21
you know just really trying just to get
00:43:23
it as good as they can yeah um so I've
00:43:27
got a quote from you um oh no this is
00:43:30
this is like from this is uh 1997 so
00:43:34
this is uh what 29 29 years ago okay so
00:43:37
I just left I just I'd left Short Street
00:43:39
at this day after four years on Shand
00:43:41
Street there was so much of me and Dr
00:43:43
Warner I wasn't sure where he ended and
00:43:45
I began okay yeah
00:43:48
yeah I I don't care about that anymore
00:43:51
that doesn't as a question you know that
00:43:54
where do you start where does the
00:43:56
character again that doesn't I don't
00:43:58
find that interesting really it's kind
00:44:00
of you you use so much of yourself in
00:44:03
any role you know like I did a little a
00:44:06
guest rooll this year uh last year I did
00:44:10
a guest rooll on brokenwood because Tim
00:44:12
Bal who is the showrunner on on
00:44:14
brokenwood he's an old old friend of
00:44:16
mine they' been trying to be on and it
00:44:17
was kind of interesting to do that and
00:44:19
to realize like to play a different
00:44:21
character who was very different from
00:44:22
Chris Warner but to realize you w't even
00:44:25
use yourself you know and and even the
00:44:27
characters who who you know transform
00:44:29
the actors who transform themselves for
00:44:31
characters in the end it's you can only
00:44:34
use you you know um so so yes of course
00:44:38
it's it's good to to make a to draw a
00:44:41
line and go well this person is have has
00:44:44
these responses and I have the opposite
00:44:46
response but uh but ultimately it's
00:44:48
always you yeah I wonder if if at the
00:44:51
time you thought that because it was um
00:44:54
you were so famous when when do you
00:44:55
think you were you were the show was at
00:44:57
its peak do you think that would have
00:44:58
been like 1997 or after 2000 when was
00:45:01
the shortland street magazine out there
00:45:02
was a magazine yeah that was that was
00:45:05
that was a kind of 94 95 I I you know I
00:45:08
don't want like to use the word Peak but
00:45:10
you know in terms of the quality of the
00:45:12
show but maybe in terms of the the the
00:45:16
it did have a peak in the
00:45:18
mid90s and uh and then I left and then I
00:45:21
had another Peak I feel somewhere in the
00:45:23
in the 2000s you know with the Joey
00:45:25
storyline because it I'm I'm just
00:45:27
talking about the ratings here I'm just
00:45:29
talking about the ratings yeah the
00:45:30
ratings were very strong after about the
00:45:33
first year and a half they were really
00:45:35
strong and then they might have tailed
00:45:37
off and then after the Joey storyline uh
00:45:40
Joey was the was a serial killer um that
00:45:45
that gave it a new lease of life and and
00:45:47
the ratings were back up to where they
00:45:49
used to be the Joey the great thing
00:45:51
about the Joey storyline okay so what
00:45:53
happened was Joey was this sweet sweet
00:45:55
lovable nurse and he was a serial killer
00:45:59
but the great thing about that story
00:46:01
line was they they they established all
00:46:03
these these deaths happening on Short
00:46:05
Street all these murders and nobody knew
00:46:07
who was doing it including the cast and
00:46:11
the writers so they just established all
00:46:14
these deaths and then they went now who
00:46:17
are we going to pick to be the serial
00:46:19
killer so it was kind of like a Russian
00:46:21
Roulette thing at work whereas are you
00:46:23
going to get the bullet and be the
00:46:25
because of course if you're the serial
00:46:27
killer well then you only got another
00:46:28
three months on the on the show you know
00:46:30
what I mean and um and Johnny Barker who
00:46:33
played Joey so well he's he's now a very
00:46:35
successful director but they chose him
00:46:39
and he was like oh guys it's me I'm the
00:46:41
serial killer which in one sense was
00:46:43
terrific because it gave him a an
00:46:45
amazing kind of acting challenge but on
00:46:48
the other sense meant that he was only
00:46:50
going to be there for a few months but
00:46:51
the thing I liked about it was that
00:46:53
literally nobody knew who the serial
00:46:55
killer was cuz the writers didn't even
00:46:57
know you know they just kind of
00:46:58
nominated someone yeah what's that like
00:47:01
for um some of the people you've you've
00:47:03
worked with like when you when you get
00:47:05
this yeah if if you're a long character
00:47:07
and you've been written written out or
00:47:08
you being Ked off it's hard if it's not
00:47:10
your choice it's very hard do you yet
00:47:12
they have a conversation with you first
00:47:13
you're not just reading your script and
00:47:15
that would be cruel yeah no I don't I
00:47:17
don't think it's I think I don't think
00:47:19
in the 33 years it's ever they've ever
00:47:20
been quite that harsh certainly with the
00:47:22
guest that can definitely happen with
00:47:24
with with guest characters or characters
00:47:26
that have been there so long that they
00:47:27
might just suddenly go oh I'm I die you
00:47:30
know but if you've been there for say
00:47:32
let's say over two years they they they
00:47:35
C they call you call you down and have a
00:47:37
chat we there there are we have a
00:47:40
division corecast and guest cast and so
00:47:42
if you're corecast they'll definitely
00:47:44
have a chat to you about um about you
00:47:47
know getting rid of your character and
00:47:48
it's almost always to do with the story
00:47:51
lines they just can't think of story
00:47:53
lines for your character and you may be
00:47:55
a Terri in terrific actor and it's often
00:47:57
the case a terrific actor and a and a
00:47:59
lovely character but they just they just
00:48:02
run out of storylines for you so yeah
00:48:04
what's never personal I guess
00:48:06
say they they say I feel sometimes it is
00:48:10
but no one's ever going to admit that
00:48:12
well yeah definitely feel sometimes it
00:48:13
is but no one's going to admit to that
00:48:15
but and certainly you take it personally
00:48:18
you know um but yeah it's it's it's
00:48:20
always hard hard when it's not your
00:48:22
decision it's hard enough when it is
00:48:24
your decision but when it's not it's uh
00:48:26
yeah yeah I want to retract that last
00:48:28
statement actually like my n used to say
00:48:31
to me you know if you work hard and
00:48:32
you're nice to people you will go places
00:48:34
actually D he he said the same thing
00:48:36
similar sort of advice from his dad his
00:48:38
dad's like if you're easy to work with
00:48:39
you're going to go a long way it does
00:48:41
help um so if you're a pain in the ass I
00:48:43
suppose you
00:48:44
know yeah I feel we both know people who
00:48:47
are [ __ ] pains in the ass who've done
00:48:50
really well you know they unfortunately
00:48:54
it's not as simple as just yeah and then
00:48:56
also unfortunately sometimes you know
00:48:58
that that um that narcissistic
00:49:00
borderline psychotic personality
00:49:02
actually does extremely well uh in life
00:49:05
but you know you make your decisions
00:49:07
about your own behavior not necessarily
00:49:09
based on is it going to profit you you
00:49:12
know you do it because you want to be
00:49:14
the you have to live with you you know
00:49:16
you want to be able to do that so I I
00:49:18
feel you you make your decisions based
00:49:20
on that rather than is this going to get
00:49:22
me a job or it's going to make me Rich
00:49:25
yeah for you and I you I don't know this
00:49:26
is like a a hangover from the Catholic
00:49:28
thing or just being like a a decent
00:49:30
person but if I ever sh interaction with
00:49:32
someone like it kind of ruins my day
00:49:34
yeah you know what I mean you don't feel
00:49:35
good about yourself if you yeah no but
00:49:38
there are people out there who who who
00:49:40
that just that that just that's water
00:49:42
off a duck's back they and some and
00:49:44
other people who Delight in that they
00:49:46
Delight in in aggravating people you
00:49:49
know and it's kind of like a superpower
00:49:52
to to be that way because most of us are
00:49:54
not like that but those people that
00:49:56
don't care about who they upset that
00:49:58
it's you know they're dangerous they're
00:50:01
and sometimes they're dangerous because
00:50:03
they're so effective you know but you do
00:50:05
as a you know you have to avoid them and
00:50:07
learn how to deal with them because
00:50:09
they're everywhere yeah in every
00:50:11
industry so um did the fame ever get
00:50:14
annoying for you did it ever reach a
00:50:15
early on it it really did yeah and I I
00:50:17
got very precious about it and um yeah
00:50:20
it was really annoying I hated it yeah I
00:50:23
hatte well no I loved it sometimes of
00:50:25
course because you know we all love
00:50:26
praise and attention but then i' i' you
00:50:29
know when I wanted it to stop it
00:50:31
wouldn't it would keep going into times
00:50:33
when I didn't want it to be there and um
00:50:36
and I can't remember when I twigged but
00:50:39
I think maybe it wasn't until I came
00:50:41
back that I that the the easier you are
00:50:46
about it the easier it is you know what
00:50:48
I mean I'd kind of like you know have my
00:50:50
cap on on my sunglasses and being avoid
00:50:52
oh no don't you know ignore me ignore
00:50:54
you know don't notice me and and and
00:50:56
then I'd get all kind of oh you know
00:50:57
this is my time off and I look back now
00:51:00
and I just cringe and I just it's just
00:51:02
if someone sees you and they say hi and
00:51:05
you just say hi back and can I have a
00:51:07
photo sure it's even easier now you
00:51:09
don't have to sign you know that takes
00:51:11
maybe four seconds to sign something and
00:51:13
a photo takes even less and it's just so
00:51:15
easy and if you are if you receive it in
00:51:19
the way it's intended which is always
00:51:21
with Goodwill people always have good
00:51:23
willll when they go oh hey hey can have
00:51:25
a photo you know it's always a positive
00:51:27
interaction from their part and then
00:51:29
it's up to you to determine does it stay
00:51:32
a positive reaction or does it turn into
00:51:34
this ugly nasty thing where you go oh no
00:51:37
this is my time off you know or do you
00:51:39
just go yeah sure great great and then
00:51:41
you appreciate them because they're
00:51:44
appreciating you and and it's all nice
00:51:46
and then it's over and done with you
00:51:47
know the the times I remember where it
00:51:49
became a real problem is where I'd go no
00:51:51
no no and then they then they'd get
00:51:53
really belligerent about it was like
00:51:54
well come on you're on TV you know I
00:51:56
don't know you know this is this is my
00:51:58
time etc etc and then it was a problem
00:52:00
and if I just gone sure you know sign
00:52:03
this thank you for watching it would
00:52:04
have all been over in a few seconds and
00:52:06
it would have been a really pleasant
00:52:07
experience for both of us and it just
00:52:09
took me a little while to click the
00:52:11
other thing that I had clicks to is that
00:52:15
is that forget about being shy you can
00:52:18
call yourself a shy person that's fine
00:52:21
but just don't be shy and and I realized
00:52:23
it was as simple as clicking as but Swit
00:52:27
cuz that's the other thing I thought
00:52:27
about myself oh I'm a shy person I don't
00:52:30
like all this unwanted attention and I
00:52:33
was mainly through watching some like
00:52:35
Tim wara who had been kind of dealing
00:52:37
with it for a lot longer than us Tim
00:52:40
Morrison this is because he started the
00:52:42
show with us and he was just he was just
00:52:44
so gracious and and and he' just be a
00:52:46
normal person when you talk to him but
00:52:48
say the same a bunch of people will be
00:52:49
like oh hey Tim or you know H or
00:52:52
whatever it is and he'd go ah and he'd
00:52:53
rise to the occasion and he'd be really
00:52:55
funny and he tell and he'd be the he'd
00:52:58
kind of command the attention and they
00:52:59
loved it and that's what they wanted him
00:53:01
to be and I just thought it's not that
00:53:04
hard you know if someone you don't have
00:53:05
to be clever or funny or anything you
00:53:07
just have to match that energy so if
00:53:09
someone comes at you this really excited
00:53:12
energy oh hey hey it's you and you're
00:53:14
kind of meeting that with this kind of
00:53:16
like oh yeah but you know I'm a really
00:53:17
shy person especially if there's a group
00:53:20
of them it's like it just feels rude you
00:53:23
know and whether you are a shy person in
00:53:26
real life or whether you where you fit
00:53:28
on that introvert extrovert Spectrum who
00:53:30
cares it's just really as easy as
00:53:32
flipping a switch and going I'm G to be
00:53:35
and so there's a group of them oh good
00:53:37
day good day hey what's your name and
00:53:38
it's so simple and it just and it's and
00:53:41
it just makes the whole thing a whole
00:53:43
lot better and I I realized there were
00:53:45
just a few really simple things that I
00:53:46
had to do in my relationship to this you
00:53:49
know whatever you want to call it
00:53:50
celebrity and it just made everything so
00:53:52
much better for me and also for those
00:53:55
people that I was interacting with and
00:53:57
and it was so easy to change was was the
00:54:00
thing you know we carry around these
00:54:03
ideas of who we are and if you just let
00:54:06
them go life can be so much better yeah
00:54:09
that's 100% true we we you tell yourself
00:54:11
stories and you can tell yourself a
00:54:13
different story especially you you're
00:54:14
you're a trained
00:54:16
actor today I'm going to be a non-shy
00:54:18
person yeah yeah yeah yeah the best
00:54:20
thing of course is no stories but we we'
00:54:22
all we all carry around these stories
00:54:23
but if you can let go of them ah you
00:54:26
know it's it's it's you're just doing
00:54:28
yourself a massive favor yeah it's great
00:54:30
advice so what what do people say when
00:54:32
they come up just y out chis or that's
00:54:33
just Chris Chris or or or Scher Street
00:54:37
you know charer Street hey you know like
00:54:40
that's my name I like it's cool I don't
00:54:42
mind and also yes that's the other thing
00:54:44
and people say Chris and I'd go you know
00:54:46
this is back in the early the Early
00:54:48
shameful days and I'd go and I go my
00:54:50
name's Michael you know I'm an actor I'm
00:54:52
playing Chris and I'm like oh you
00:54:54
[ __ ] [ __ ] you know it's people
00:54:56
Chris is great great Chris I I answer to
00:54:58
both that's what I say I answer to both
00:55:00
because people at work call me Chris you
00:55:02
know other actors call me Chris and I
00:55:04
know because I do it I call sometimes
00:55:05
call other actors by their character
00:55:07
name it doesn't mean anything you know
00:55:09
so that's great people can call me
00:55:10
shortland street or Chris or whatever
00:55:13
sometimes do people people do call me
00:55:14
Michael they say hi Michael and I if I
00:55:17
don't know them and it's kind of weird
00:55:18
it's like I almost prefer it when people
00:55:20
say Chris CU I know where they're coming
00:55:22
from you
00:55:23
know um I've spoken to Tim and he said
00:55:25
for maybe 10 15 years after once we're
00:55:27
warriors he goes every week when the
00:55:29
rubbish truck went past the guy on the
00:55:30
back of the truck would yell out cook
00:55:32
the man some eggs outside his house yeah
00:55:36
do you eat the penis thing or not so
00:55:38
much no I really don't I really don't I
00:55:40
thought I would and I really don't I
00:55:42
think maybe because it's a bit Rudder
00:55:45
people don't quite want to say it um
00:55:48
yeah yeah oh that's funny yeah yeah Tim
00:55:50
is he's always just been a great model
00:55:52
of you know how to behave in in our
00:55:56
situation yeah I got I got a great
00:55:58
respect for Tim yeah um no a confusing
00:56:00
thing to go through go to CU like a lot
00:56:01
of yeah a lot of people probably find it
00:56:04
hard to like imagine now just how big
00:56:06
Shand Street was and uh you were you
00:56:08
were you were slightly older um but I'm
00:56:10
thinking for like car Bernett and Martin
00:56:12
hon it was like must have been a very
00:56:14
confusing time going straight from
00:56:15
school to being household names yeah
00:56:17
yeah would have been really rough for
00:56:19
them yeah I know it was I know it was
00:56:21
yeah and they had their own you know
00:56:23
problems associated with it yeah it was
00:56:25
and nobody had really it had never
00:56:27
happened in our country in quite that
00:56:30
same
00:56:31
way that whole kind of you know um TV
00:56:35
star thing for one of a better phrase
00:56:38
yeah and because you know back in those
00:56:40
days there were three channels and some
00:56:42
people had sky but not many and so there
00:56:45
were there were three channels and TV 2
00:56:47
and TV one were by far what you know the
00:56:50
the most popular channels more than TV3
00:56:53
and so everyone watch and if they didn't
00:56:55
watch it they saw the promos for it and
00:56:58
they they knew they didn't like it but
00:57:00
they knew what was happening on it and
00:57:02
they knew the faces you know because our
00:57:04
faces were over all over the there's the
00:57:06
other change in now was the women's the
00:57:07
women's magazines you know which were
00:57:10
which have kind of been uh been
00:57:11
superceded by social
00:57:13
media back then you know pre-social
00:57:16
media the women's magazines were massive
00:57:18
Women's Day Women's weekly and that well
00:57:20
you know yeah yeah yeah you're massive
00:57:24
um and again like sh I'm pleased they
00:57:26
still going I'm pleased they survived Co
00:57:28
and sort of hang still there hang on and
00:57:31
you know Sebastian who's the editor for
00:57:32
the women's day and he does a phenomenal
00:57:34
job with very limited resources and a
00:57:35
very small team um to keep this product
00:57:38
coming out week after week but yeah that
00:57:40
was Messa for a time like JJ JJ and
00:57:42
myself like when we were when we were
00:57:44
married we do stories we were sort of
00:57:46
like d list I feel like it was like all
00:57:47
blacks shortland Street maybe cricketers
00:57:51
netballers and then like radio people s
00:57:53
of D or E lists but we we got paid like
00:57:55
seven Grand to
00:57:57
for some sh shitty story about our
00:57:59
relationship did did you sell your
00:58:01
wedding yes in real life you must got
00:58:04
paid bank got so much money for it I'm
00:58:07
not allowed to say how much but so much
00:58:09
it's ludicrous how much money they had
00:58:11
yeah way way more like cuz then I I like
00:58:16
more recently I tried to I can't
00:58:17
remember what my excuse was but like I
00:58:19
don't know maybe 10 years ago I tried to
00:58:21
do a similar thing and you know sell a
00:58:23
personal story and they were offering
00:58:25
about a fifth of what we got for the for
00:58:27
the winning which was yeah they just had
00:58:29
so much money because they because they
00:58:31
sold so many magazines you know was the
00:58:33
thing yeah now there was that little
00:58:35
sweet spot but now we've got social
00:58:38
media which I'm not kind of on in any
00:58:41
significant way so I've I've kind of
00:58:43
missed that boat yeah in terms of the um
00:58:46
publicity side of it like you you must
00:58:48
have seen so many changes in that time
00:58:49
like how how's that dance sort of sort
00:58:52
of changed like at the moment we're
00:58:53
doing this podcast which is a long form
00:58:54
chat um through the the window your
00:58:57
publicist is sitting there did you like
00:58:59
try and like avoid it and weasle your
00:59:01
way out of doing it in the early
00:59:03
days like radio interviews this was the
00:59:06
thing this was the thing like early on
00:59:09
you'd kind of you had to do publicity as
00:59:12
it related to the show so you do an
00:59:14
interview about your story you know but
00:59:17
anything that was about your personal
00:59:19
life like um you know a marriage for
00:59:21
example or you you with your
00:59:22
relationship with JJ was it was like um
00:59:26
you got money for that because that was
00:59:28
your personal life and and you kind of
00:59:30
were protective about it you you kind of
00:59:33
didn't want yeah you you you didn't
00:59:36
really it was kind of a necessary evil
00:59:39
but now people with the the whole insta
00:59:43
phenomenon and all the social media
00:59:45
things which I do not you know I'm I'm
00:59:47
very ignorant of them but it's very much
00:59:49
a matter of people are kind of their own
00:59:51
publicists and they're and they're
00:59:53
offering that up they're offering up you
00:59:55
know this personal information that we
00:59:57
used to be so protective of people are
01:00:00
just offering it up because then they
01:00:02
get more viewers and then they can get
01:00:05
you know a a sponsorship deal and maybe
01:00:07
they'll get you know $5,000 for a post
01:00:10
but part of that is that they need to
01:00:12
offer up their private life and here's
01:00:14
with me and with my child and and so
01:00:16
that kind of and I'm not I'm not judging
01:00:18
that in any way like I say I'm it's just
01:00:21
something I'm not good at um and I
01:00:23
suppose it's the modern day version of
01:00:24
you and I selling stories it is but I
01:00:27
felt that was that wasn't every week you
01:00:29
know that was once or twice a year I
01:00:31
would have sold a story every week if I
01:00:32
could you okay well I you know I only
01:00:34
sold maybe two in my whole time there
01:00:37
and there there was there was a wedding
01:00:39
one and there was another one when Lily
01:00:40
was small we and we sold that one
01:00:42
because we knew we'd get a phenomenal
01:00:44
amount of money and um so and but that's
01:00:48
not that wasn't every week you know and
01:00:50
now people have just kind of uh yeah
01:00:52
it's just it kind of blows my mind
01:00:54
slightly that that's that change that
01:00:57
people people kind of are their own as I
01:00:58
say are their own publicists yeah oh
01:01:02
social media that's another aspect I
01:01:03
didn't think of so like when it first
01:01:05
started I suppose the only sort of
01:01:07
criticism you'd get would be maybe a
01:01:09
letter that someone wrote into the TV
01:01:11
guy or or something and then suddenly um
01:01:14
there's yeah bio Myspace Facebook and
01:01:17
all these other platforms um yeah how
01:01:20
how was that for you like suddenly
01:01:21
people commenting on your your hairstyle
01:01:24
I remember when I came back in the early
01:01:27
O's and there was I can't remember it
01:01:30
was it was early in the century and I
01:01:33
and and and um I can't I I can't
01:01:36
remember the exact name of it but you
01:01:38
know emails were a thing and and um you
01:01:41
know internet Pages were a thing and and
01:01:43
there so there was these comments about
01:01:46
like short street that kind of thing and
01:01:49
um anyway it was a response to whatever
01:01:51
the previous shorten Street episode was
01:01:52
and I was like oh I wonder I wonder what
01:01:54
that's like and it was like you know cuz
01:01:56
I'd had a big scene the night before and
01:01:58
I was like okay that's positive comment
01:02:00
positive comment and then it's like wow
01:02:02
he got fat and I'm like okay and then
01:02:04
the next one was ah saw Chris trying to
01:02:07
cry the women do it so much better I'm
01:02:09
like oh okay and the next one is what's
01:02:11
with a stupid accent and I'm like okay
01:02:13
I'm GNA stop reading these now you know
01:02:15
because I just I don't want to let that
01:02:18
into my head and uh and that's kind of
01:02:21
been my relationship to social media
01:02:23
ever since I kind of I don't really
01:02:26
really want to to know about that stuff
01:02:29
because it really affects it will affect
01:02:33
my ability to do my job you know if I'm
01:02:35
hearing all these criticisms because you
01:02:37
know you could have 10 positive comments
01:02:39
and then one person will say and this
01:02:41
person will not know what they're
01:02:43
talking about but nevertheless the
01:02:45
negative one will stick in there and so
01:02:48
um yeah and so I just kind of left it
01:02:50
and I and I didn't engage with it and i'
01:02:53
really glad I've I've done that that
01:02:56
takes a certain amount of strength way
01:02:57
because it can be you know people say
01:02:58
don't read the comments and it's um the
01:03:00
best advice ever but it's easier said
01:03:02
than done you want to know feels like
01:03:04
your ears are burning in a way you want
01:03:06
to know what people are saying about
01:03:07
it's just a habit and you're right
01:03:09
you're right you do it's a habit you
01:03:10
need to develop but I'm glad I'm glad
01:03:13
I've I've developed that habit yeah yeah
01:03:15
good for you um so how old are you what
01:03:17
are you 59 59 are you [ __ ] you look
01:03:20
great thank you so do you
01:03:22
I'm just a couple of gents in our 50s 50
01:03:25
52 next week so one thing I've learned
01:03:28
is no one no one gets um the privilege
01:03:30
of living to their 50s without going
01:03:32
through some adversity like you're
01:03:33
getting kicked in the guts once or twice
01:03:35
what about you what's the biggest
01:03:36
adversities you've been through you've
01:03:38
been through a marriage breakup as well
01:03:40
e was that that was horrible that was
01:03:42
horrible yeah that was really really
01:03:44
awful we're in a great place now yeah uh
01:03:50
yeah I I don't want to talk too much
01:03:52
about that because it feels unfair
01:03:54
to um
01:03:56
yeah that was that was that was nasty
01:03:58
because it was my decision you know what
01:03:59
I mean and so as you're talking about
01:04:01
the Catholic thing I was kind of felt so
01:04:04
guilty to kind of you know ruin
01:04:07
this this family but then you know about
01:04:10
kind of a year and a half
01:04:13
and it started to come right you know
01:04:15
and and I
01:04:17
was the pain was healing a bit and and
01:04:20
ever since then you know I've had a
01:04:22
terrific relationship with um you know
01:04:24
my daughter's ex we we're good friends
01:04:27
and very very respectful and kind to
01:04:29
each other and uh she's a terrific
01:04:32
terrific woman and awesome awesome mom
01:04:36
um yeah I I feel like
01:04:40
big the big demon for me may be uh uh
01:04:45
anxiety I suppose you know i' I've I
01:04:48
hate to use you know I hate to call
01:04:52
myself an anxious I'm not anymore anyway
01:04:55
but but
01:04:57
certainly yeah okay so my my stock
01:04:59
phrase is I suffer from a condition The
01:05:03
Human Condition You know I I just think
01:05:06
anxiety happens to all of us and so does
01:05:09
sadness you know or and of course the
01:05:11
sadness can turn into depression but but
01:05:14
but looking back I have to be honest
01:05:16
that I have been an overly anxious
01:05:18
person and I'll give you an example when
01:05:21
when we came my first scene that I shot
01:05:24
when we when I came back to Short Street
01:05:27
and I was just so I just had so many you
01:05:29
know we're talking about the story so
01:05:30
many stories in my head about what are
01:05:32
people going to say and they're going to
01:05:33
judge me and they're gonna hate this and
01:05:35
and my first scene was an operating
01:05:38
scene and I was operating on this lovely
01:05:40
actor Chris Hobs I I was operating on
01:05:43
his brain as I had the scalpel and um
01:05:47
and something about like the fake blood
01:05:49
and the the the claustrophobia of having
01:05:52
this mask and breathing Mo carbon
01:05:54
dioxide and all this stress and I had a
01:05:58
panic attack that was so severe I passed
01:06:01
out so I'm on I'm on set and they're
01:06:03
shooting and halfway through the scene I
01:06:06
just hear this kind
01:06:08
of sound and I'm like that's weird and
01:06:12
then I can't see anything everything's
01:06:14
fuzzy and then I just felt feel so
01:06:18
relaxed so relaxed I'm like oh this is
01:06:21
lovely and then two seconds of that and
01:06:24
then I wake up with a
01:06:26
really saw a head because I banged my
01:06:28
head on the way down and then I realized
01:06:30
I passed out and then I'm like oh my God
01:06:34
and the horror of it and the shame of it
01:06:36
you know what I mean just overwhelmed
01:06:40
by nothing nothing nobody did that to me
01:06:43
except me you know what I mean and it
01:06:46
happened twice it happened again and it
01:06:48
was just like wow what what is going on
01:06:51
that I can sabotage myself that severely
01:06:55
you know and it's just that it's just
01:06:57
those those thoughts and things and so
01:06:59
you know those things are always a you
01:07:02
know if it doesn't make you if it
01:07:04
doesn't kill you it makes you stronger
01:07:05
you know it encourages you to address
01:07:08
the way you're behaving or the way
01:07:10
you're thinking and yeah but yeah that
01:07:14
that that that has been a big uh yeah
01:07:17
and then yeah so so that that I guess
01:07:19
that was the main that was the main kind
01:07:20
of you know dark Beast I've had to um uh
01:07:25
defeat
01:07:26
yeah yeah and of course the the flip
01:07:27
side of anxiety is depression you know
01:07:29
because you you get that and when that
01:07:32
goes away in order you're kind of left
01:07:34
with a void and you know I don't know
01:07:36
your experiences these things but you
01:07:38
see we all experience them this is the
01:07:41
thing of people to say oh I'm a
01:07:43
depressive you know oh I suffer from
01:07:44
anxiety it's like well who doesn't you
01:07:47
know what I mean we all do and it's it's
01:07:49
The Human Experience it's The Human
01:07:51
Experience and and um it's I guess it's
01:07:54
a matter of agree but um yeah yeah
01:07:58
thanks for sharing that J how did you um
01:08:01
like did you tell anyone at the time
01:08:02
what did you say well it was pretty
01:08:04
obvious because I passed out in front of
01:08:06
everyone and there was no and you know
01:08:08
and people like they make excuses and
01:08:10
like oh you must be exhausted or
01:08:13
something they try to find a physical
01:08:14
reason for it because that's not as
01:08:16
shameful as the fact that no I just
01:08:18
freaked myself out so much I passed out
01:08:21
you know uh and so people would kind of
01:08:25
make um well what what actually happened
01:08:27
was I so I did this and then we we have
01:08:29
a nurse on set who um who who helps us
01:08:32
with the kind of the medical dialogue
01:08:33
and make sure the medical things right
01:08:35
and she was kind of like oh you know
01:08:37
took me to the room you want a cup of
01:08:38
tea and I okay well we'll reschedule the
01:08:41
scenes because I had like four or five
01:08:42
of these scenes in a row in the
01:08:43
operating theater well we'll reschedule
01:08:45
them and maybe you can do them tomorrow
01:08:46
and I was like if I don't do them now
01:08:48
I'm never going to do them so I just had
01:08:50
to pick myself up and go back in there
01:08:53
and and they gave me I I did the
01:08:55
operating theater scenes but I did it
01:08:57
sitting down on a stool cuz often
01:08:59
doctors do that anyway and and that was
01:09:02
good because there was less distance to
01:09:03
fall and just simple things like that
01:09:05
meant that whole anxiety spiral wasn't
01:09:09
quite so bad and and you know I learned
01:09:11
to I learned to deal with it I learned
01:09:13
what to do when that when I felt it
01:09:15
happening you know it's a very strange
01:09:17
thing it's always the stories that kill
01:09:20
you like you you get the you have the
01:09:23
chemical surge the feeling itself but if
01:09:26
you just let the feeling be eventually
01:09:29
it f and it fades quite quickly
01:09:31
sometimes sometimes it doesn't but it
01:09:33
fades quite quickly what what when you
01:09:35
get into trouble is when you engage the
01:09:37
story with the feeling and you go oh my
01:09:40
God this terrible thing or this other
01:09:42
thing this terrible thing that's going
01:09:43
to happen oh my God I'm going to pass
01:09:44
out again how embarrassing will that be
01:09:46
la la la la if you can just you can't
01:09:49
control your feelings but you can
01:09:50
challenge your thoughts and that that
01:09:53
that's been a big thing for me too just
01:09:54
go okay just accept it okay this is
01:09:56
happening in my body this this OV
01:09:59
excitement you know this kind of
01:10:01
chemical rush but that's okay that's
01:10:03
that I can't do anything about that and
01:10:05
that's fine that's not going to hurt me
01:10:06
what's going to hurt me is is what's
01:10:08
happening up here
01:10:10
own this was at a time um it's worth
01:10:13
time stamping this so this is the early
01:10:14
2000s this is before John kwin did his
01:10:17
campaign this is before Mike king became
01:10:19
an like it was
01:10:21
um no one was talking about this sh like
01:10:24
there be some people listen into this
01:10:25
now that that um I feel like it's easy
01:10:27
for us to have this conversation now it
01:10:28
is easy um but there's still a lot of
01:10:30
people that would consider it Brave this
01:10:32
conversation that we're we're having now
01:10:34
so there's still work to be done but at
01:10:35
the time massive amount of work to be
01:10:37
done imag those John Ken commercials I
01:10:41
thought they were just terrific yeah
01:10:43
that someone like oh yeah I'm choking up
01:10:45
I'm choking up someone like him of his
01:10:48
standing and his his kind of masculine
01:10:51
standing and he does that beautiful ad
01:10:54
with his son climbing on the branch and
01:10:56
he helps him and then he oh and then he
01:10:58
fs and he helps him
01:11:00
again choking up it's just that was so
01:11:03
that was a profound profound thing and
01:11:05
it had to be someone like him someone of
01:11:07
his Ma you know as I say that masculine
01:11:10
standing of this Mighty or going
01:11:15
sometimes it's too much sometimes you're
01:11:16
too sad you don't know what to do with
01:11:18
it and sometimes you're too afraid and
01:11:21
you don't know what to do with it and
01:11:22
that's okay it all happens to all of us
01:11:24
and I just got those just profound that
01:11:28
those those simple ads I think that's
01:11:29
just some of the best TV I've ever seen
01:11:31
just just for what it says and you know
01:11:34
about 10 seconds the Prof how profound
01:11:37
that was yeah good on him yeah and the
01:11:39
personal risk involved to him as well
01:11:41
because it's like um no one nobody
01:11:43
talked about this stuff seen as being
01:11:44
weak absolutely so for him to like put
01:11:47
his put it all out there and say hey I'm
01:11:49
I suffer you know he must have had so
01:11:51
many voices so many his mates going hey
01:11:53
mate that's cool but just don't don't
01:11:55
make a TV ad about it you know no no
01:11:57
mate he must had so many of those voices
01:11:59
going hey it's cool you know we all know
01:12:01
that you're like that but you know
01:12:02
there's no need to tell everyone about
01:12:04
it he would have had so many of those
01:12:06
and he just went no no no I I need to do
01:12:08
this for the for everyone you know I say
01:12:10
people like me but that's everyone
01:12:12
that's all of us we all feel these
01:12:15
things you know did you did you did you
01:12:18
see a therapist or anything at that time
01:12:19
or did you sort of work it out on your
01:12:21
own yes I think I did actually I think I
01:12:24
did and it was really really unhelpful I
01:12:27
saw like the good ones were all were all
01:12:32
busy and I ended up seeing a jungian a
01:12:36
yian psychologist and it was just so
01:12:39
unhelpful and he was just and he was
01:12:42
just asking me about my dream I had to
01:12:43
write down this the dream thing and and
01:12:45
it was all just so academic and just I
01:12:48
just needed someone to go look you know
01:12:50
when you're feeling overwhelmed do this
01:12:52
and this you know take a breath you know
01:12:55
allow your your attention to go from
01:12:57
your thoughts just into your body into
01:13:00
your breath you know which is like now I
01:13:02
meditate a lot and it's just brilliant
01:13:05
it's just brilliant I love it it's and
01:13:07
it's so helpful it's so helpful what
01:13:10
sort of what sort of meditation do you
01:13:11
do well i' I kind of I've I've been
01:13:13
inter interested in a long time and so I
01:13:16
I did I did um transcendental meditation
01:13:19
for a bit a long time ago and then other
01:13:21
things and then various mantras and the
01:13:24
the place that I've Got to Now now is
01:13:26
just just to do nothing so it's harder
01:13:30
than it sounds and I kind of think
01:13:33
that's the best thing of all because
01:13:35
sometimes the thing that stops people
01:13:36
from meditating is it's like it's kind
01:13:39
of this thing you're doing and I can't
01:13:41
concentrate on that one thing for 20
01:13:44
minutes and picture myself on an ocean
01:13:46
and it's tiring and it's ex and you're
01:13:47
absolutely right but if you just so if
01:13:50
you just let all of that go and just
01:13:52
kind of relax and so my meditation I do
01:13:54
now is kind of it's more like sunbathing
01:13:57
you know it's just like you know when
01:13:58
you're sunbathing you don't have to be
01:14:00
doing anything else you're just H you're
01:14:02
just soaking up the sun you know it's
01:14:04
like that and I just and it just it's
01:14:07
great I love it yeah you don't have to
01:14:10
realizing that the less you do the
01:14:12
better and yeah that that's the big
01:14:14
thing for me the less you do the better
01:14:16
and that's I've you know through more
01:14:18
reading I realized that that's the the
01:14:20
Zen Buddhist thing of do nothing you
01:14:23
know do nothing and it's like well how
01:14:24
can you do nothing but when you try it's
01:14:27
interesting you know and the other thing
01:14:30
is to be um like I I read a few um quite
01:14:33
a lot to be honest of uh spiritual kind
01:14:36
of teachers and things and the the thing
01:14:39
that the really good ones come back to
01:14:40
is that it's your journey and you you
01:14:43
decide and you're the you're the kind of
01:14:45
the boss of it and you know these
01:14:47
spiritual teachers can say whatever they
01:14:49
want but you decide the path or it's
01:14:53
decided for you but you I shouldn't say
01:14:54
you de discover the path yeah that's a
01:14:57
bit fruy isn't it sorry no no no no not
01:15:00
at all no I'm just I'm intrigued I I am
01:15:02
you're trained um in TM Transcendental
01:15:04
Meditation about 15 years ago I've sort
01:15:07
of fallen off um it's supposed to be 20
01:15:09
minutes twice a day yeah and uh you have
01:15:11
a mantra and the idea is no thoughts in
01:15:13
your head and if a thought comes in you
01:15:15
just pause remove it and carry on um
01:15:19
yeah I just stopped doing it for
01:15:20
whatever reason life gets in the way but
01:15:21
I had I had some plane flights yesterday
01:15:23
and I did it twice and it felt really
01:15:25
good okay cool felt really good but it's
01:15:27
um do you do it like um religiously like
01:15:30
da no I don't I don't I I I now that
01:15:33
I've kind of discovered this whole do
01:15:35
nothing do nothing version it's a whole
01:15:37
lot easier so I sometimes I do it at
01:15:39
work just if I've got five minutes and
01:15:42
and sometimes at at home because it's so
01:15:44
much easier than like a mantra or
01:15:47
something sometimes I can do like 40
01:15:49
minutes quite easily because you're just
01:15:52
sitting there really you're just sitting
01:15:53
there and relaxing that's what you're
01:15:56
doing as you're relaxing how's how's
01:15:58
your your mental health now you like are
01:16:00
you in a good place I feel like I'm in a
01:16:01
really good place yeah really good place
01:16:03
I'm not and I feel that that the that
01:16:05
the meditation has a lot to do with it
01:16:07
of of course these things come up these
01:16:09
the anxiety or the sadness it comes on
01:16:12
but um but I know what to do with it now
01:16:15
I know I know that the the what I need
01:16:17
to do is allow it you know allow it
01:16:19
allow it and don't bu into the stories
01:16:22
that's the big thing just allow the
01:16:24
feeling and don't buy into the crazy
01:16:27
stories the brain the brain is
01:16:29
incredible it works over time Terri
01:16:32
someone said to me once like if you're
01:16:34
um if you're going to entertain the
01:16:36
absolute worst case scenario or
01:16:38
catastrophize which is what the brain
01:16:39
tends to do you're also obliged to you
01:16:42
know figure out what if it all goes
01:16:44
right yeah um but your brain only ever
01:16:46
goes to the absolute worst Rock Bottom
01:16:49
case scenario 100 100 yeah and I guess
01:16:52
you know as we evolved those kind of
01:16:55
people survived you know the the people
01:16:57
sitting around the campfire going [ __ ]
01:16:59
what if a tiger came along well I know
01:17:00
if I build this thing then the tiger
01:17:02
won't be able to get us you know those
01:17:04
those people survived but we're not
01:17:06
we're not in that world anymore you know
01:17:08
you seem light today like when you
01:17:10
walked on today you just sort of had a
01:17:11
like a spring in your step you and I
01:17:13
have gone to the the same gym just a
01:17:15
Jets just one of those $10 a week Jets
01:17:17
Jets gym for a number of years there was
01:17:19
a period there maybe it was when you
01:17:21
about the time of your marriage breakup
01:17:22
I don't know but there there was a time
01:17:24
period of time where i' see you in the
01:17:25
gym and I think looks like Michael's
01:17:26
carrying a bit of a bit of a weight on
01:17:28
his shoulders heaviness about you oh
01:17:30
definitely yeah it was that was a rough
01:17:32
time yeah yeah that was a bad time that
01:17:34
would have been about 15 years ago yeah
01:17:36
yeah I think I think I was going to Les
01:17:37
Mills then and I think you probably were
01:17:39
too yeah yeah yeah yeah I could afford
01:17:42
Mills then now it's
01:17:43
jet yeah definitely no definitely uh
01:17:46
definitely a lightess and and it's as I
01:17:49
say I'm sure it's the the meditation and
01:17:52
and and I guess my life is simpler than
01:17:54
than it was then yeah and I don't not
01:17:57
carrying that burden of guilt in the
01:17:59
same way yeah yeah we're all works in
01:18:02
progress though way and you figure these
01:18:03
things out as you you get along
01:18:04
absolutely I'm I'm a slow learner very
01:18:07
slow Le so am I yeah that's something I
01:18:08
yeah definitely slow this is and this is
01:18:11
the thing about sha street is like you
01:18:13
know a character will keep making the
01:18:16
same mistakes and some like oh but this
01:18:18
is like their story line I had that
01:18:19
other time you know other actors and
01:18:20
I'll go yeah but that's life that's like
01:18:24
how many of just keep repeating our
01:18:26
mistakes and just you know relationship
01:18:28
ways just keep ending up with that same
01:18:31
type and it's the absolute wrong type
01:18:33
you know what I mean that's what I love
01:18:35
about one of the things I love about sh
01:18:37
street is that it's totally feasible for
01:18:39
us not to learn Life Lessons you know
01:18:42
and it's lovely when we do but most of
01:18:45
the time we don't we just repeat our
01:18:46
mistakes well yeah even if it's a fresh
01:18:49
mistake you know right from wrong and
01:18:50
you might end up doing the wrong thing
01:18:51
anyway absolutely that's um yeah you you
01:18:55
you yeah you were choking up a little
01:18:56
bit before talking about um the John kin
01:18:58
are you are you quite an emotional
01:19:00
person these days I I'd like to
01:19:05
think I'm openly emot I think I'm open
01:19:08
to have you always my feelings well I
01:19:10
guess that's part of being an actor
01:19:12
really is that you is it in a way that's
01:19:15
your job is to feel things so I I guess
01:19:18
there I guess you don't have a choice if
01:19:19
if you if you're an actor you you have
01:19:22
to feel things and and maybe that's why
01:19:24
you gravitate to acting in the first
01:19:26
place is because you wanted a place to
01:19:28
put all these excessive feelings you had
01:19:31
maybe I don't know you're you're you're
01:19:34
you're a dad of one got one daughter yes
01:19:37
one is a lot that's my that's my uh
01:19:40
thing I like to say one is a lot is so
01:19:43
you've been Chris Chris Warner longer
01:19:45
than what she's she's been alive so
01:19:47
she's not dead and and Dr Warner I guess
01:19:50
um so she's flying the next soon going
01:19:52
to UNI how's that going to be that's
01:19:53
right that's W yeah yeah I'm I'm sure
01:19:55
I'll be very bereft you know cuz you
01:19:58
know my life is it's kind of simple
01:20:01
simplified down and I got sha Street you
01:20:03
know I've got her and um and and now
01:20:06
she's GNA go live and and uh you know go
01:20:09
to UNI and so and uh yeah that'll be a
01:20:13
real that'll be a real challenge for me
01:20:15
but luckily I'm now at this stage where
01:20:21
I get that life changes you know what I
01:20:23
mean I get I get the that
01:20:25
happens and so that's a kind of a I feel
01:20:29
it was hard one that
01:20:31
um that understanding that life changes
01:20:34
and that's a good thing you know what I
01:20:36
mean and so yeah I definitely I'll be
01:20:38
sad and I'll miss her and I'm expecting
01:20:40
to be I'm expecting it to creep up on me
01:20:44
when I least expect it you know because
01:20:45
that's how these things work you think
01:20:47
oh no I'm fine about this but then
01:20:48
something will happen I'm sure and I'll
01:20:49
be like oh no she's I can't cook tea for
01:20:52
her anymore and they'll be whole lot of
01:20:55
that whole lot of that oh yeah yeah I
01:20:56
can't imagine like um you just how
01:20:59
devastating that would be like the the
01:21:01
day you phone in for a chat or something
01:21:02
she blows you off or you know yeah I had
01:21:05
a moment and I think it was during Co
01:21:07
where it was the first time she wasn't I
01:21:09
can't remember how old she was but it
01:21:11
was the first time you know cuz she'd
01:21:12
you know go between me and her mom and
01:21:15
and she and because it was just me and
01:21:17
her there was always very close
01:21:18
relationship but was the first time that
01:21:20
she was just doing some stuff and I
01:21:22
think maybe she was talking to her
01:21:22
friends on the internet and she um she
01:21:25
closed the door of her of her bedroom
01:21:27
and it was the first time she ever did
01:21:28
it and I was like oh okay okay so okay
01:21:31
so you be in your space and I'll be in
01:21:33
mine because previous to that point
01:21:35
would always be interacting you know and
01:21:38
um and that started an
01:21:41
avalanche at the time was good and then
01:21:43
but then this Avalanche came of like
01:21:46
realizing that that that thing that you
01:21:50
have with a
01:21:51
child that can't last forever you know
01:21:54
and that she has to find her own self
01:21:56
and be her own person and and and that I
01:22:00
I'm not yeah that was a big that was a
01:22:02
big deal that was a it was a crisis it
01:22:04
was a real crisis and I wasn't expecting
01:22:06
it I thought I'd be fine but I really
01:22:08
wasn't yeah and uh and that took a lot
01:22:10
of getting through you know
01:22:14
poorly not her fault if she hear well
01:22:16
hopefully she won't have the Catholic
01:22:18
guil thing that's no she won't she won't
01:22:20
no but what was your relationship like
01:22:22
with your own parents
01:22:24
really good I guess um your dad's not
01:22:28
around anymore right no he died yeah did
01:22:30
he get to see did he get to see you as
01:22:32
as Chris yeah he did he did proud he was
01:22:35
proud yeah he was he was always a a
01:22:38
distant as probably an un unfair thing
01:22:40
but you know men of that generation very
01:22:42
kind gentle man lovely man um but you
01:22:45
know they always it was always kind of
01:22:47
at a distance and that's how it was I
01:22:49
don't I don't have those those same you
01:22:51
know horror stories that that so many
01:22:54
men our age or older have about their
01:22:56
fathers about them being you know
01:22:58
bastards basically you know he was a
01:23:01
lovely a lovely lovely man but it was
01:23:03
kind of um he had a very busy job you
01:23:06
know and so he was he was doing that and
01:23:08
and my parents separated when I was 11
01:23:10
and it was my mom who moved out so then
01:23:12
I didn't have her in my life all the
01:23:14
time either I just would stay with her
01:23:16
once or twice a week so so yeah so that
01:23:20
was when I was 11 so so it was a kind of
01:23:23
a yeah there was a slight distance yeah
01:23:26
with both of them I think yeah yeah yeah
01:23:29
it's a strange time yeah it was sort of
01:23:32
um a time where women were the
01:23:34
Homemakers and men were the bread wers
01:23:36
so this was in the 70s so yeah it was it
01:23:39
was quite rare it was very rare for a a
01:23:41
divorce to happen but you know it it
01:23:43
needed to happen and um yeah and and so
01:23:46
she had to move out yeah did they did
01:23:49
they have I I had Martin Henderson on
01:23:50
the podcast last year and his um he
01:23:52
reflected on his parents divorce and the
01:23:53
impact it had on on him and he had guilt
01:23:56
feelings like maybe he could have done
01:23:57
maybe he was responsible for them
01:23:59
breaking up you you didn't yeah how did
01:24:01
you reflect on that time I feel yeah it
01:24:04
it really affected me but I don't know
01:24:06
exactly how and I couldn't really
01:24:09
pinpoint it as saying guilt feelings I
01:24:11
don't think I had those but
01:24:15
um I don't know I don't know but I yeah
01:24:19
I
01:24:20
haven't maintained a relationship you
01:24:23
know like I broke up from Lily's mom and
01:24:27
the relationship to that was maybe five
01:24:29
or six years and I haven't maintained a
01:24:32
really serious one since and I'm not in
01:24:34
a relationship now so I guess maybe that
01:24:37
has something to do with that you know I
01:24:40
have to say I'm very very happy you know
01:24:42
I'm not complaining about this I I'm
01:24:45
genuinely regard myself you know as as
01:24:48
calm and happy because when JJ and I got
01:24:51
married we're both from broken homes so
01:24:53
my parents broke out here and we will
01:24:55
like well [ __ ] we're not going to make
01:24:57
we're there are all sorts of stats that
01:24:59
show if you're from a broken home it's
01:25:01
more likely you're going to follow but
01:25:03
we sort of thought that makes no sense
01:25:04
like we're going to learn from their
01:25:06
mistakes and do better yeah yeah it
01:25:09
sucks he it's hard yeah like I have to
01:25:11
say I I'm like that but both my brothers
01:25:14
and my sister they had the same
01:25:15
upbringing as me and they've been in the
01:25:17
same they've had marriages go go their
01:25:20
marriages have lasted decades all three
01:25:22
of them you know so it's not as simple
01:25:25
as your own situation you know they
01:25:28
they've got wonderful all three of them
01:25:30
have wonderful marriages that have gone
01:25:32
on for decades and um so yeah it's just
01:25:35
kind of there's that that's one thing
01:25:38
what happened to you but there's also
01:25:40
your disposition you know as a human
01:25:42
being your makeup yeah would you would
01:25:45
you um consider getting married again
01:25:48
are you hoping to are you holding
01:25:49
holding hope to find that one true I
01:25:51
have no hope I have no hope I that
01:25:54
sounds like a sad thing but whenever I
01:25:57
say it I kind
01:25:58
of I just feel are you on your own at
01:26:01
the moment yeah yeah yeah cuz no I'm not
01:26:04
on my own I got two cats
01:26:06
yeah I'll edit that out I I'll do you a
01:26:09
solid Ed I think there's a big
01:26:11
difference between being alone and being
01:26:13
lonely like lonely loneliness is awful
01:26:15
awful but there is nothing wrong with
01:26:16
being alone I'm never I'm never lonely
01:26:19
yeah I did my the the time I felt lonely
01:26:22
was as I say you know when
01:26:26
when I felt a distance from my daughter
01:26:28
you know what I mean and then and then
01:26:30
those thoughts would come oh you're
01:26:32
going to be alone la la la la la but I
01:26:36
love being by myself you know and I've
01:26:38
got great a bunch of great friends out
01:26:41
there that I really should connect with
01:26:44
more you know and this is one of the
01:26:45
things about my daughter kind of moving
01:26:48
on is like well that's what I should put
01:26:51
my energy into cuz yeah and that's a
01:26:54
that's a wonderful thing and that's a
01:26:56
very that's a that's a great wealth you
01:26:59
know if you've got friends and you can
01:27:00
maintain those friendships that's a
01:27:02
great wealth yeah 100% you've been
01:27:05
you've been really open and honest here
01:27:07
today and I I can't thank you enough for
01:27:08
that are you good at having these
01:27:10
vulnerability sort of conversations with
01:27:12
your matate yes yeah yeah that's not a
01:27:15
problem I don't know what it is yeah
01:27:17
I've never suffered from that and my my
01:27:21
male interactions have never suffered
01:27:23
from that kiwi thing and maybe because
01:27:24
it's all my mates are actors and we all
01:27:26
it's aan thing yeah I don't know maybe
01:27:28
we all overshare anyway but I I don't
01:27:31
really feel there's anything I can't say
01:27:33
to them yeah and and and that way I
01:27:35
guess I'm I'm lucky and that I I don't I
01:27:38
don't those walls aren't up really in
01:27:41
any of my and and all of my close
01:27:44
friends to be honest are I'm just
01:27:46
thinking are male and there's no yeah
01:27:50
none of those Wars yeah like I say maybe
01:27:52
maybe I'm lucky just just just cuz thing
01:27:54
being an actor and as I say being thrown
01:27:57
onto your emotions all the time what are
01:27:58
you feeling what are you feeling you
01:27:59
know feel more and and also just go on
01:28:02
and on about themselves anyway and what
01:28:04
they're feeling I don't like that I
01:28:06
don't I feel if we did it this way you
01:28:08
know shut up oh you're are you're
01:28:10
dramatic by Nature I guess yeah I'm I
01:28:13
still struggle with that vulnerability
01:28:15
piece with my friends but I'm trying I'm
01:28:16
trying trying to get better with it but
01:28:17
it's like it's hard and also if if
01:28:19
you're out with your friends and you're
01:28:20
having a good time it's like oh you
01:28:21
don't do it then never yeah you maybe
01:28:24
that's my is it's the timing issue a bit
01:28:26
of that's a timing issue exactly a bit
01:28:27
of deorum okay if everyone's having a
01:28:29
laugh okay what what is if anything what
01:28:32
is the wh if that keeps you up at
01:28:35
night oh there's none of those anymore
01:28:37
there's none of those anymore because
01:28:39
I've I've answered them all I've gone
01:28:42
you know what if I was still married or
01:28:45
what if you know I guess it would be
01:28:47
that but I'm like I know why I'm not and
01:28:50
I I'm really at peace with that all
01:28:52
those questions
01:28:54
maybe there I'm just trying to think
01:28:56
what if oh I see I I guess I guess the
01:28:59
fears that I have now are about uh my
01:29:02
daughter and what if this yeah no those
01:29:04
are the things that keep me up what if
01:29:06
this doesn't happen for her what if this
01:29:08
happened to her and you know the worst
01:29:10
case scenarios now are kind of
01:29:12
transplanted onto her and her life and
01:29:14
I'm thinking what if that happened oh
01:29:16
God what if that happened you know where
01:29:18
of course you're worrying about the
01:29:20
future yes absolute waste of time but
01:29:23
but I do I do do that way less than I
01:29:25
used to but yeah yeah no those are my WS
01:29:28
is is there a mistake that you wish you
01:29:30
could go back and correct there's
01:29:32
probably about a thousand but you know
01:29:35
you can't you can't correct them you
01:29:36
can't correct them yeah I don't I have
01:29:39
no sympathy for people who's what are
01:29:41
the people oh no regrets no regrets I
01:29:43
guess no regrets is different from
01:29:44
saying I never made any mistakes you
01:29:47
made a lot of mistakes but you made them
01:29:50
because that's who you were then you
01:29:52
know you only had that level of
01:29:54
awareness yeah if you could be with
01:29:57
anyone doing anything right now who
01:29:59
would it be and what would you be
01:30:00
doing I'm enjoying this with you I
01:30:04
really am come on I'm having a great
01:30:06
time this has been wonderful I've really
01:30:09
enjoyed this okay I know what you're
01:30:11
okay I'm sorry I'm try I just I just
01:30:14
I've just kind
01:30:15
of I try not to think I try to enjoy
01:30:18
what I'm
01:30:18
doing being in the moment I I know I
01:30:21
guess I guess being at Disneyland with
01:30:23
my daughter yeah okay let's say that
01:30:25
Tokyo Disneyland with my daughter we
01:30:27
went uh this year it was so much fun so
01:30:30
okay yeah I'd rather be doing that fair
01:30:32
enough that's um that's so so special
01:30:34
cuz she's at that age now where you
01:30:35
don't know what's you know I'm sure if
01:30:38
there's a free trip to Disneyland up for
01:30:39
grab should always take it but I I did
01:30:42
worry cuz I was like are you sure you're
01:30:43
not too old and it's like well I'm like
01:30:46
59 asking her that it's like n it's fun
01:30:49
it's great fun no matter what your age
01:30:51
yeah but yeah but she said that age now
01:30:52
where it's like that I'm just going to
01:30:53
go to Rhythm and Vines I don't want to
01:30:55
go oh yeah but you can do both you can
01:30:56
go to Rhythm and Vines and Disneyland
01:30:57
and enjoy them both yeah uh what's your
01:30:59
biggest frustration about the society we
01:31:01
live in so not being
01:31:05
political let's just say people voting
01:31:08
against their own interests that the the
01:31:11
fact that with all this craziness
01:31:14
craziness on the internet that people
01:31:17
are drawn into these really toxic
01:31:21
situations and then through that end up
01:31:25
making real decisions which is what you
01:31:27
do when you vote against their own
01:31:30
interests yeah I find that hugely
01:31:33
frustrating and I don't know what me as
01:31:35
a person what I can do about it I'm
01:31:37
still in the process of figuring out
01:31:40
what I need to do about that but yeah
01:31:43
it's hard isn't it it's hard because
01:31:44
it's there's some things that are just
01:31:45
too big or out of your control yeah so I
01:31:48
fig all you can do is like get your own
01:31:49
house in order absolutely feel the same
01:31:53
three words to describe you um
01:31:57
happy
01:31:59
um
01:32:00
lazy no I'm not lazy there's there's
01:32:04
yeah yeah I'm glad you retracted that
01:32:06
because there's there's no way you can
01:32:07
be lazy I suppose I've been watching I'm
01:32:09
not lazy I'm not I've been watching um
01:32:11
like some of your work which you've done
01:32:12
for like three DEC decades now with a
01:32:13
different sort of lens over the last
01:32:15
couple of days and just like imagining
01:32:17
how like I could learn that dialogue and
01:32:19
do that stuff like the the the stuff
01:32:21
that goes off screen like um yeah it's
01:32:23
not job for a lazy person no you're
01:32:25
right you're right certainly Charlotte
01:32:27
Street isn't a job for a lazy person and
01:32:28
and also because the thing about
01:32:30
Charlotte Street is that you're not
01:32:32
you're not pigeon hold in any area
01:32:34
you're not kind of doing a light
01:32:35
romantic comedy although sometimes you
01:32:36
are you know you're not doing a heavy
01:32:38
drama although sometimes you are you
01:32:39
know and you get massively huge
01:32:41
storylines you know I had a suicide
01:32:44
storyline I had had a story story about
01:32:46
my son dying you know these big things
01:32:48
and you need to cancer you know having
01:32:51
my head shaved and that because and and
01:32:52
you need to give them your absolute
01:32:56
honesty so that the people who are
01:32:58
watching it get something from it and so
01:33:00
that they feel validated and and and
01:33:03
less alone that's the big thing we we go
01:33:05
through these we pretend to go through
01:33:08
these problems so that people watch them
01:33:10
feel less alone when they go through
01:33:12
them you know and I feel that's a great
01:33:13
thing to that shaa street office and
01:33:16
have you noticed I'm really avoiding
01:33:17
those questions because I can't think of
01:33:19
three words okay okay let's rephrase
01:33:22
that then so um would say positive I say
01:33:24
I'm a positive person what about if so
01:33:26
say your your mates were sitting in here
01:33:28
um like what what three words would they
01:33:30
use to describe you I don't I don't know
01:33:32
I don't know um uh yeah yeah yeah I
01:33:35
guess i''d say positive
01:33:38
or umy I don't know um
01:33:42
overweight no I'm not accepting that I'm
01:33:44
not acting that what what about generous
01:33:46
or kind yeah I hope so I hope so I hope
01:33:49
so yeah I hope so but you it's you
01:33:52
should it's good saying that about
01:33:54
yourself you know what I mean because if
01:33:57
you think you are you're probably not
01:33:58
you know that's a good point I okay
01:34:01
three words to describe Chris Warner
01:34:03
Chris Warner um H okay
01:34:09
um sure of
01:34:12
himself like decisive is what I should
01:34:15
say you know it took me a long time to
01:34:17
say that word which shows you that I not
01:34:19
decisive but he is decisive he's
01:34:21
decisive um he is
01:34:24
he is Rich and by I don't just mean like
01:34:28
in terms of he's very rich MoneyWise but
01:34:30
he grew up with that so he has us he's
01:34:33
not aware of how wealthy he is and he's
01:34:35
not aware so privileged let's say
01:34:37
privileged and he's not quite aware of
01:34:39
of that you know but he operates easily
01:34:42
in that in that high futin world of the
01:34:44
wealthy people where I would just flail
01:34:47
um and and uh um romantic like loving
01:34:53
loving he loves he loves his family sh
01:34:56
Street are his family and he loves them
01:34:58
and then his romantic love too he can't
01:35:01
ever escape that he's a romantic he's
01:35:02
looking for that perfect relationship
01:35:05
yeah always
01:35:06
always are you proud of yourself am I
01:35:09
proud of
01:35:10
myself that's a
01:35:13
great I'm not ashamed of
01:35:16
myself it wasn't the question that would
01:35:19
be weird when are you ashamed of
01:35:21
yourself I wouldn't admit to it if I was
01:35:25
I would say start asking people that I
01:35:27
Are you ashamed of you should be why
01:35:30
aren't you ashamed you should say why
01:35:32
aren't you ashamed of yourself that's a
01:35:34
Paul Henry question that one isn't it
01:35:35
that's a Paul Henry question um are you
01:35:39
uh I I don't I to be honest I'm just I
01:35:42
just try to not to look at myself from
01:35:44
the outside too much and kind of have
01:35:47
those opinions about whether
01:35:50
I'm I feel I feel I don't don't I feel
01:35:55
I'm at a place I feel I'm lucky let's
01:35:58
put it that way I feel I'm lucky I don't
01:36:00
look at my life and think oh [ __ ] I wish
01:36:02
it was this or [ __ ] I wish I had that I
01:36:03
think [ __ ] I've got this beautiful child
01:36:06
and this great relationship with her and
01:36:08
this wonderful job that I love
01:36:11
and am I proud yeah I don't really think
01:36:13
in terms of I don't feel like I achieved
01:36:15
that you know I okay no no fair enough
01:36:17
no yes I'm proud
01:36:19
of I'm proud of the fact that I really
01:36:22
took being a dead serious I'm proud of
01:36:24
that and put a lot of energy into that
01:36:26
and I'm proud of I the fact that I
01:36:27
really took really take my job seriously
01:36:31
and I put a lot of energy into that yes
01:36:33
so no yes I am I'm proud of those things
01:36:35
yeah yes so something like this today we
01:36:38
we've been sitting down for God I don't
01:36:39
know maybe an hour and a half like just
01:36:41
reflecting on your career and also parts
01:36:43
of your life like um yeah you you should
01:36:46
feel proud of yourself I reckon thanks
01:36:48
man thank you thank you do do you like
01:36:50
doing this you enjoy this or I'm having
01:36:52
a great time I believe that it's an hour
01:36:54
and a half I feel sorry for you because
01:36:56
I've just been like going on and on it's
01:36:58
like you I think about doing one of
01:37:00
these things but then as soon as I get
01:37:01
here and I go I'm an actor of of course
01:37:03
I want to talk about myself all the time
01:37:06
does it have to win can we just keep
01:37:07
talking about me all day no no no but
01:37:09
it's um oh [ __ ] we've been gone forever
01:37:12
yeah but talking about talking about
01:37:13
yourself is one thing but um yeah like
01:37:15
in a wide running ranging chat like this
01:37:17
it's not just the greatest hits of
01:37:18
someone's life you know you you focus on
01:37:20
some of the some of the the crunchy
01:37:22
stuff of life as well which is never
01:37:24
that easy and yeah you've been really
01:37:25
open today it's been so cool oh thanks
01:37:27
you make it easy make it easy oh thanks
01:37:29
Michael hey um last one can you um
01:37:32
Envision a day uh where you'll say
01:37:34
goodbye to Chris Warner and how would
01:37:36
you want his story to end yeah okay so
01:37:39
my answer to this question I mean it's
01:37:41
going to happen one day this is how I
01:37:43
want
01:37:44
my last scene to go it's like this I'm
01:37:47
in I'm in it can be any room I don't
01:37:50
mind it can be like you know Chris's
01:37:51
office or somewhere and then and sudden
01:37:54
goes he
01:37:55
goes there there's no roof and then I go
01:37:59
that wall there there's not why are
01:38:01
those people filming us is this and so
01:38:04
um I'm kind of serious and I'm kind of
01:38:07
not and so I'm kind of I'm not serious
01:38:09
at all but it's like so I totally blow
01:38:11
the whole thing of like so I ruin it for
01:38:13
everyone basically I destroy the whole
01:38:15
the whole existence of Short Street by
01:38:17
going oh it's just pretend oh my God
01:38:19
this whole thing has just been pretend
01:38:21
and then I go you know like the TR show
01:38:23
and I walk behind everyone I'm like what
01:38:26
so we're just filming this and it's like
01:38:28
what is this and then we're like yeah so
01:38:31
okay that's not a very serious answer
01:38:32
but would be it would be a perfect bow
01:38:35
if like if you were there if you were in
01:38:36
the last scene of the last episode if
01:38:39
the show was ever to end you know what I
01:38:40
mean I would like that I would like that
01:38:42
yeah cuz I was there in the first one
01:38:44
yeah no that's that's my answer because
01:38:46
it's like I don't want the show to go on
01:38:47
if I'm not in it basically I'm I'm
01:38:49
pretty narcissistic in that way yeah
01:38:52
yeah it's been a hell of a career and um
01:38:54
and you're a good person as well to back
01:38:56
it up thank you Don Michael gelvin AKA
01:38:58
Dr Chris Warner thank you so much for
01:39:00
being on the podcast thanks for having
01:39:01
me
