KEY POINTS:
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Ibiza, London, San Francisco, LA ... It might sound like a typical Kiwi's year-long OE, but best mates Mike Jonathan and Bodie Tihoi Taylor took a month, a video camera and finished with an impromptu haka at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion.
"That was probably the most
chauvinistic episode," groans Jonathan of the LA excursion that made it into their new travel show Bro-tour.com (tonight, Maori TV, 8pm). And who knew Hef was Maori?
Apparently the point of their escapade was not to meet hot women, although that's what happened when Taylor laid eyes on his future bride in London (she was part of the welcoming group doing a powhiri for them at New Zealand House).
The idea was to meet prominent Maori across the globe, such as Gordon Hatfield, Stacey Daniels, Awen and Natashya Guttenbeil, Temuera Morrison, Rena Owen and Scotty Morrison, plus interesting locals they just happen to know.
In LA, that meant getting the inside tour from a local Apache Indian friend named Bird Runningwater, a promoter of indigenous films.
The premise might sound familiar to those who watched The Mo' Show or The Tem Show but Bro-tour was made with less money in less time and with more of a casual approach.
Each episode ends with the boys, dressed in black singlets and shades, reflecting on their travels back in Aotearoa.
"When [Temuera Morrison, who appears in the second episode] saw our show he said 'Aw, that's sort of how I wanted my show to be'," says Jonathan.
The title also directs viewers to their website, where they will post details of the contacts they make after each episode screens.
Most of the interviews were pre-arranged but some hook-ups came about spontaneously. Owen surprised the boys by taking them to the Playboy mansion, despite making it clear she didn't entirely approve of the place. Her security guard husband was working the door.
"We take the piss a lot out of people and ourselves," says Jonathan, who may be the one who says, "Whose nono is that?" as the camera zooms in on a woman's derriere in tight pants. "Aw, it's Auntie Rena's!" (Cue uproarious laughter.)
"We're just ourselves. Some little kid talked to me in Spanish in Ibiza and I didn't know what to say so I replied in Maori. The look on his face!
"So I think we're pretty natural on screen. It's typical Maori humour.
"Maori are so natural at doing things off the cuff and whether it's funny or not, as soon as they crack up laughing, everyone else does.
"One pretty cool experience was doing bombs off this huge ship in Ibiza.
"There were guys down the bottom diving in but, being good old Maori boys, we go right to the top and do bombs into the ocean.
"So it's about still being a bro, a Maori boy no matter where you go."
Jonathan and Taylor both worked behind the camera for years before an acquaintance in the industry offered to fund the 28-day tour and help them make it into a TV show.
Although it's not a Maori Television initiative, it features a smattering of te reo, plus a few more modern Maori terms.
Playboy bunny Brande Roderick, for example, is described as "one wahine ataahua!" and invited to New Zealand: "Uma rapete, come have a cuppa tea at my house."
Viewers can check the website for the Bro-tour glossary.
For novice cameraman, Kodie Roberts, the show was a chance to get some experience. "It is kinda home video. It's casual as," says Jonathan, who runs Rotorua-based production company Haka Hula Films.
"Some of the sound is quite crappy as well. But that's all right. That's kind of the look I wanted.
"There's no use going over there and saying to someone, 'Oh, can you just do that again?' when the action's happening. So really you have do be on form. If it looks crap, if it was bumpy, if it was too dark, sweet as."
What: Bro-tour.com
Where and when: Maori Television, 8pm, tonight
