Ask a stupid question

Jono's New Show returns with not a female presenter in sight. Photo / Suppplied

In retrospect, it may have been a stupid question, admits Jono Pryor, recalling his disastrous interview with boxer David Tua for his upcoming series Jono's New Show on C4.

"I said to him: 'Have you ever felt like a poo in the middle of a boxing match?' He just stared at me for about 15 seconds. I thought he was going to punch me in the face. Then he said: 'That's the stupidest question I've ever heard', and stormed off. So, we didn't really get the interview.

"That's probably the worst thing that has gone wrong," he adds. Except, perhaps, for the series' name. Jono's New Show won the Best Entertainment Programme category at last year's Qantas Awards. Shouldn't this season have a new name?

"Jono's New, New Show?" he offers. "Yes, it's quite possibly the world's dumbest name."

Host Pryor, 27, is joined this season by comedian/presenter Dai Henwood and Matt Heath and Chris Stapp from Back of the Y and Deja Voodoo fame, as well as veteran Jimmy the Dwarf. The show features interviews with such luminaries as Chris Martin from Coldplay, Lily Allen and ... er, Vanilla Ice, and street-busking performances by top New Zealand bands the Mint Chicks, Op Shop and Nesian Mystik.

Prank calls, hidden cameras, bad taste galore - with Pryor billed as ringmaster of his own anarchic circus.

Matt Heath and Stapp's segment in the show is purportedly a quest for New Zealand's biggest dicks. Heath describes it as a "Tourettes-like rant. Like watching the news with your dad, or talkback radio. It's for anyone in the world who lives in an urban environment and gets aggravated by his fellow humans. Hypocrites, laziness, people who stand still on escalators."

Heath and Stapp have also had a few "Tua" moments in the past.

"We're pretty fast runners, but we've been held up by the police a few times," says Heath. "Once we were working with some guns and we had a helicopter circling overhead, then a police car came skidding up and a cop jumped out and yelled, 'You could have got a cap in your chest.' I mean, what's that? It was like he had the line all ready." There's a boyish mischievousness about their brand of humour. But when informed that the show has dropped all its female presenters (Vicky Lee and Joe Cotton) - as revealed in Spy last month - Heath sounds genuinely surprised.

"That is odd. What happened to the chicks? Maybe there's an issue there." Despite the lack of female role models, Pryor hopes the latest version of the show will be more accessible. He admits he is feeling the pressure after last year's Qantas win.

He talks of broadening the show's appeal - cutting out some of the swearing. So, are the bad boys going soft?

"Well, it's not mainstream by any stretch," laughs Pryor. "It's not for the whole family - unless they are pretty deluded."

* Jono's New Show returns to C4 tomorrow at 8.30pm.