In 1994, local children's television took a somewhat sinister turn during an episode of The Son of a Gunn Show. Host Jason Gunn and puppet sidekick Thingee were in full flight entertaining the after-school crowd, when one of Thingee's eyes popped out if its socket. Ever the professionals, the pair soldiered on without missing a beat. The eye-opening footage didn't actually debut until a nighttime bloopers show, a few weeks after the event - but it remains imprinted in the minds of generation of Kiwis.
See Thingee's eye pop here:
Upstaging the 1983 crowning of our first ever Miss Universe was never going to be easy, but The Miss New Zealand Show 1984 managed to become just as memorable - for all the wrong reasons. After a promising start (including a dance routine set to Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun) the show encountered something of a hitch during a live broadcast segment, when host Peter Sinclair announced the wrong winner. After a swift swapping of sashes the real Miss New Zealand was eventually revealed - though not before some agonizing moments of on-air back peddling.
See an excerpt from The Miss New Zealand Show 1984 here:
During the 1974 Commonwealth Games, a classic New Zealand sports blooper was captured when, while holding a 187.5kg barbell over his head, weightlifter Graham May passed out and fell flat on his face. Mercifully uninjured, May went on to win gold in the super heavyweight (110kg+) division - but not before generating a TV legacy that would follow him for years. The mustachioed Kiwi's face-plant became a staple of blooper reels worldwide: from the long-running 'It's moments like these ...' Minties ad campaign to the title sequence for ABC's Wide World of Sports on US TV.
Watch Graham May's famous face-plant here:
Throughout the show's 15-year run, the annual Holmes Christmas party episodes, usually broadcast live from the roof of the TVNZ building, provided some great humorous moments - most of them intentional. 1997's guests included tearaway teenage twins Sarah and Joanne Ingham, who had whipped up a media frenzy earlier that year after stowing away on a Malaysian container vessel. Interviewed by Holmes at the party, the twins displayed their trademark laconic style, taking lack of enthusiasm to a whole new level with a series of stony-faced monosyllabic replies, while Sir Paul valiantly attempted to keep the conversation going. Excruciatingly brilliant viewing.
See the Ingham Twins at the Holmes 1997 Christmas episode here: