Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Paul Henry On Working With David Attenborough!

Episode Date: July 30, 2023

We talk to the legendary Kiwi TV host Paul Henry about what he has been up to and his brand new TV show "TRAITORS"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Henry, good morning. Good morning. It is lovely to see you. We always love catching up with you. He's back. He said he wanted to go back. You said you were in retirement or semi-retirement, weren't you? Yeah.

So what I said when I left was I will never again do daily, weekly or monthly TV. Gotcha. Or anything daily, weekly. Monthly TV? You won't even commit to one a month? No, because you know yourself, you know, if you do one a month, you might as well do one a week because the amount of effort, you know, to do one a month. If you're doing one a week, you might as well do one a week. Because the amount of effort, you know, to do one a month. If you're doing one a week, you might as well do one a day.

So kill me now. So it's one a year. Is that what you've committed to? A project. I always thought if the right project came along, and it really didn't. And then at Christmas, I was just phoned up and I was all ready with my no. And they said, oh, we've got this show and this happens and this happens. And we've got 19 contestants and this.

And I was just ready to go. And they said, we want you to host it and we've just sent you the British one. Just watch it. Don't say anything now and get back to us and let us know. And so I, halfway through the first episode, I phoned up and said, I'm in.

Wow. This is a new show called Traders. I mean, you just lost a voicing gig today, FM. So, you know, you needed a job. I know, I know. I was just thinking, funnily enough, at the time, I was thinking, what am I going to do for wine money? Now, Paul, I imagine you are getting people from New Zealand

must be phoning you all the time to host things. Well, they had stopped. Yes, they were, and I've received countless offers since I retired, but they were slowing up because you can only say no so long before people think you are an absolute. Well, if they ever phone up and say, hey, we've got the hits breakfast, would you like to do it? Another no would be much more.

But if they said, you know, we want a third person with the Jono and Ben. Yes. I'm in. But only once a year. Not monthly. Not even monthly. So the show's called The Traders and it's based on

as you say, a hugely successful show overseas and a lot of sort of lying and sort of conniving behind the scenes from the contestants as well and probably yourself too as a host. No, I don't lie about anything. My job is to run the game. So it's my game and And it is a game. It's not like, like we have some games within the game, but essentially, this was one of the things I love about it. Once it starts, you can't stop it for the crew. I mean, this is a 40 camera shoot. You know, this was a huge production. And you're in a lodge in the middle of nowhere 19 contestants you start with

and you press go and that production just rolls and it has to roll for the following 10 days until the end oh non-stop has to has to be it's all in real time and the contestants they're not starved for food we feed them very well they're not starved for accommodation we accommodate them very well but they are starved for anything that they can trust and anyone that they know the only time they're allowed to mingle with each other is when we're shooting it as soon as we stop shooting they are locked in blacked out rooms and that's where they sleep in their own minds until we wake them up or until we finally unlock the door let them out and allow them to mingle again and then construct the next day there's a fine line between kidnapping and reality tv very very fine line uh so you don't do any lying as the host you're saying but i wanted

to support your put you on the on to the test here now so i've got three statements about Paul Henry. Two is truths and one's a lie. Now, Jono, you need to work it out. Won't I instantly know? You'll know, but Jono doesn't know. Hopefully you'll know. Jono needs to work out which is the lie and which are the two truths. Oh, I like this.

Okay. Paul's real name is Paul Henry Hopes. Paul is a collector of fine watches and owns over 100 watches and Paul one of his first jobs was working with David Attenborough on the BBC Now he's not giving anything away So what does

John O have to do? So John O needs to work it out Are you going to ask Paul any questions you want? Can I just say too, Paul explained the format of his show beautifully, yours has been a little shaky. This is not a little bit shaky. This is not a 40 camera shoot. I'm still finding it hard to follow.

And if he can ask me any questions, why wouldn't he just say which one's a lie? Okay, well you can do that. Do I come on to your show and tell you how to write yours? No, fair enough. That's because Paul didn't invite you on the show. Maybe I'll come on series two and tell you how to do it.

You just go off the show. I'll come on series 2 I'm going to go I do know Hope is your real surname Well it's not now but it was So that's the truth I know you did time overseas didn't you broadcasting For many years I'm going to say the David Attenborough one Yeah he's right

So you don't collect watches I'm quite keen on it though Now just you've sparked an interest in collecting fine watches. I might go in and buy a hundred after this. I do feel like I see you in the airport with a Tag Heuer watch or something. I don't know why watches aren't really cheap now, because no one needs one. So you worked with David Ambrough, though. Yeah, that's the truth.

Yeah, I did. Lovely gentleman. Yeah, I mean, I was krill when I worked with him. I was his projectionist for a while, so he would sit there, but he was like Jesus Christ, and I was like dust. Dust under the feet of Jesus. He would walk over me in his bare feet on his way to the screening room, and I would go, oh, step harder, Mr. Applecrust. You're still living in the States? Yeah, partly.

I partly live here, partly on the boat, partly in the States. So I'm at the moment living on my boat in Fiji, but came back for the week. Every time I see you, Paul, I look at a human being who is just living life as they should. Do you feel you're living the perfect life for you? Yes, but the thing is, the more opportunity you've got, the more things you're actually missing out on at any given time. Because what you learn as you get older, and I know I'm looking at you guys now and

you are getting older. Yeah, that's true. You may not behave like it, thank God. But as you get older, you realise how much you now can't do and like i say the more opportunity you've got to do anything at all the more you can't fit in and is that is that with your decision making saying yes to jobs and things like that you just want to do what you want to do because you've only got so much time like you guys right you're becoming rich because you're paid so fabulously well but you're making the classic mistake. You're making money by selling time. And the trouble is you both only have one set of time each. So to become truly wealthy or to have a truly full life,

you have to be able to leave the money-making to something other than you selling your time. You need to be able to make money whilst you're living your life with your time. Do you know what I mean? Jeez. And most people make money by selling time. They exchange time for money. He's gonna get watches after that too. Look at the time, all the talk of time.

Oh you're right, I'm fixated on it now. I once went into a shop, there was a shop that I went into with this woman with enormous fake breasts in America, in Redondo Beach in America, what shop? Yeah. And I went in because in the window they had a Rolex Explorer, one of the original ones, in its original box. Now, Rolex brought out the Explorer as part of the promotion of Sir Edmund Hillary's Ascent of Everest. Oh, right. And I thought, boy, that's something to get. This is one of my biggest regrets in my entire life because it was, I think it was something like 4,000 US

or something like that, which at the time seemed, you know, how do you know if that's the right amount or not? But subsequently I've discovered that was like giving it away. Oh, really? And I didn't buy it. I went and I tried it on and I looked at the box and it just looked like something, and I really wanted it. Got bamboozled by those enormous fake breasts.

I quite literally got bamboozled. Now, before you go, Paul Henry, the one thing that we did want to bring up, now, we had you on your show, it was a couple of years ago, I came after a text that you sent to Jono. Oh, yes, I've always wanted to ask you this. Now, we feel like this,

we've got a theory about this text. So you text me out of the blue, it was during the COVID times, and I hadn't heard from you in a while. And it's not something I don't imagine you guys are frequently. It's probably like your jobs. You're not doing it weekly, monthly or anything like that. You guys are texting.

He sends me one text every couple of years. No, that's right. You had come back from the States during COVID times. And you had landed in New Zealand. They shipped you on a bus off to an emergency hotel. And you had sent me a photo. And it was a photo of a toilet stop on the side of State Highway 1. And you were like, effing socialists.

And I thought, hey, Paul, how are you? Would love to chat with you. Now you're back. Now, I thought maybe that must have been meant for John Key and not John O. And you'd sent it to the wrong person. And then I put you in a position where you're like, oh, now I've got to go on this radio. You're right, I do frequently text John Key F'ing socialists

But no, I just sat there And in my head I just thought You have got to be shitting me As this bus stops In front of cordoned off Portaloos At like 4am outside of Hamilton of hamilton not even in hamilton although i'm not quite sure what's outside and i just and who do you text when you're

i was like mate you didn't he didn't he got in my head he was like it was meant for john it was close john oh john key close in there and contact list. Close enough when you're dyslexic. But, you know, it was so typical of socialists. You know, none of the socialists were in the Port-au-Luz. They cordoned them off for everybody else to be forced to go into them. Honestly, just this country. So what's happening later this year in the election, Paul? What's your prediction?

You know, it should be easy to say say absolute fact, National will romp in. But at the moment you look at it and you think, actually, it's not going to be a romp. I still think National will win. Please, God, let them win. We've got to get rid of this control of tyranny that we have. The country is in a shambles, no matter what the current regime say about it or what the reasons are, there's no excuse for it at all. So we've got to get rid of them. But that doesn't mean I'm hugely hopeful for the people that may go in. You've got to come back and do some election coverage, surely. No.

Really? I'm not paying enough attention to it. I'm just not. What can you do? I mean, what can you do? We borrowed $60 billion, and what have we got to show for it? Some portaloos on the side of the state highway 1 Paul Henry we do love catching up

with you this new series on 3 looks very fascinating I'm sure it's going to be huge thanks for your time Brilliant thank you guys