TV Review: Ben & Jeremy's Big Road Trip

<i>Ben and Jeremy's Big Road Trip</i>. Photo / Supplied

When I ring Jeremy Corbett for a quick interview, his cell phone zips straight through to voicemail.

"Hi, Jeremy speaking here," his taped voice says. "This is the fourth message I've recorded trying to make me sound cool. I think we can both agree I've achieved that."

It's a hilarious start to a pleasant chat with the comedian, who appears as one-half of a reluctant "bromance" in tomorrow's TV3 one-off Ben & Jeremy's Big Road Trip.

The other half is, of course, Ben Hurley, Corbett's mate and fellow comedian on TV3's Friday current affairs comedy show, 7 Days.

Directed by Wellington filmmaker, Jason Stutter (Predicament), Road Trip features Hurley as a broke, eccentric and cocky new comedian called, well, Ben Hurley.

Corbett plays himself as a struggling-but-in-denial comedian who, on the advice of his wife, played by his real-life spouse Megan Nicol, branches out his act by turning himself into a more marketable presenter/comedian.

Corbett agrees to take on a gig for a television science documentary, which involves a road trip from Auckland to Invercargill while wearing a sleep-monitoring device.

The only catch is, Corbett has to convince the uber-cool Hurley to take part to secure the gig who only does so after Hurley is offered a supporting role for the legendary John Clarke in Invercargill.

So, the boys head off on their road trip, one in the name of science, the other to get to the other end of the country for his own benefit.

Trouble arises from this bizarre situation, as do encounters with a hot hitchhiking traffic warden, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, scary gang members who want to talk about feelings and a surprisingly hilarious and hair-obsessed Simon Barnett.

Although the real-life Corbett can pull off a cool voicemail message - even if it did take him four attempts - the supposed exaggerated version of himself he plays on Road Trip is more of a "computer-game-obsessed loner.

"I said to Megan, my wife, 'That is not me'. You know, I'm not like that," he says.

"She turned around and said, 'Actually, you are'. Everyone who's been a part of it has said the character is more like me than I think.

"I guess I just thought I was a little bit cooler."

Despite discovering he's a bit of geek, Corbett said putting together the comedy special with Hurley was a great experience, largely improvised..

"For me, laziness is the mother of invention," he says. "I'm just not disciplined enough [to read from a script]."

Hurley, he says, was fantastic to work with.

"If someone asked who I would want to have a bromance with I wouldn't have picked Ben," he says. "But really, no, we're mates. We met doing the comedy thing in the comedy industry and he's great, I can say enough good stuff about him. He's awesome - but don't tell him that."

One of the important aspects about Road Trip for Corbett is the serious message behind the jokes - don't drive when tired.

The show was made, says Corbett, to bring the message of driving safely across to New Zealand, but the only way to get people to listen was to make it funny.

"Most people got the idea that to get the message across we need to entertain first, to get them to listen to you.

"We were all conscious of that. I hate watching stuff that tells me how to behave, so I think this has enough of a message in it. It's common sense really - if you're tired, don't drive.

"You've got to live your dreams," he adds. "And you can't have a dream without going to sleep. How's that for bringing the message around?"

-Herald On Sunday / View