Guy Williams has gone from stand-up to "volunteer journalist". Photo / Supplied
For over a decade, Guy Williams has been one of the most recognisable comedians in New Zealand.
A former winner of the prestigious Billy T Award, Williams found fame as the co-host on Jono and Ben for the variety show’s seven-season run.
It was on that show that he started the segment New Zealand Today, where he served as a “volunteer journalist” investigating viral issues happening in small towns around the country.
It has since spun into its own show, which has run for four seasons.
Speaking to Paula Bennett on her NZ Herald podcast, Ask Me Anything, Williams said he enjoys going to small towns as they feel more like the real New Zealand.
“It’s kind of sad the way our bigger cities, we all have become through the internet homogenised. Everything I’m wearing is probably from overseas, but we’ve become such a victim of globalisation.
“When you land at Auckland Airport, the first thing you see is a Wendy’s and a Taco Bell. You don’t really feel that barefoot Kiwiana that we celebrate in advertising and that we think of New Zealand until we go to, at least Aucklanders, to their beach houses or you go to these small towns.
“I’m from Nelson, so I kind of grew up in that environment and it is wild. Whenever I tell people to visit New Zealand, I’m like, if you want a nice relaxing holiday, don’t go to the West Coast, but if you want to go off-road ... the most beautiful scenery and the most wild experiences happen on the west coast of South Island.”
During the segment’s four seasons, Williams has interviewed a number of people from across the political spectrum. He told Bennett that while his interviews can seem argumentative at times, his aim is always to have “a yarn and then moving on”.
He said social media has made people “tribal” at times, and that can limit the extent to which people enjoy having an argument.
Williams experienced that interviewing Leo Molloy during the 2023 Auckland mayoral election, which he remembers as a “weird interaction” that was then picked up online and by the media.
“It was the weird thing where you’re getting criticised by both sides and complimented by both sides. It’s really interesting the way those things get spun.
“The Spinoff was criticising me fairly for platforming, and then other platforms were criticising me for not being critical enough. But then other platforms [said] I ended his career or whatever.
“So you could read five different articles and have five different views on it. It was like looking at a magic eye or some sort of illusion.”
Williams said he does go into the interviews with a plan, but that can go off the rails – such as last season, when he interviewed the mayor of Invercargill, Nobby Clark.
This was after Clark had sparked controversy by using the N-word during official events.
“I thought we were gonna talk sense. It was gonna be a big misunderstanding and it was gonna mock him for what he did ... [it] could kind of like almost be a teachable moment for an older generation who doesn’t realise that word is,” Williams said.
The plan was even to get Clark to MC a rap concert after the interview as a form of redemption.
“And then it was just a disaster. It was supposed to be an hour interview, we were there for ages. And it was a scene. I got out a whiteboard at one point and started slamming my head into it.
“Not only did he say the N-word again in the interview, but then it was just a chaotic disaster. If he had a PR person, they might be able to help him out, but I didn’t realise where he was coming from and I just completely lost control of the situation.
“My director always jokes I always wanna hug them at the end and be like, ‘it’s all good, we’ve had our differences, we’ve worked it out and we’ve got a conclusion’.
“But with Nobby, there was no conclusion, there was no redemption. It was a bloody disaster.”
Listen to the full episode for more from Guy Williams about his recent ADHD diagnosis, more about his work on stage and off, and his new show, If You Mildly Criticise Me I’ll Say It’s Cancel Culture and Turn To The Alt-right.
Ask Me Anything is an NZ Herald podcast hosted by former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett. New episodes are available every Sunday.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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