It’s hard to know who the real Tom Sainsbury is.
“People think I’m much more of a party kind of person than I actually am ... they think that I love to go out and have a drink and all that kinda stuff.”
Speaking to Paula Bennett on her podcast
Will the real Tom Sainsbury please stand up – Ask Me Anything with Paula Bennett
NZ Herald
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“I’m much more shy, retiring, and an introvert.”
To be fair, the sheer breadth of characters the comedian portrays across his work in film, TV, social media and theatre is hard to keep track of.
And that’s before you even take Small Town Scandal into account.
The award-winning mockumentary podcast is now in its third season and once again features Sainsbury voicing dozens of different characters.
“You just focus on a character at a time, because otherwise your mind goes into this soup. I can’t read from beginning to end and just jump from character to character.”
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Like Boomer Dad and 80s Mum from Sainsbury’s popular social media posts, the Small Town Scandal characters are all fictional. But there was a time when his most-recognised work involved parodying real-life politicians.
Sainsbury says there are two reasons why he’s pulled back on content that satirises real people.
“My audience is actually strangely bigger in Australia at the moment,” he says.
“There’s quite a few in the United Kingdom. I know lots of them are expats, but sometimes local references just don’t hit the mark with them. They’re not watching the local news.”
The other reason we don’t see Sainsbury’s version of Christopher Luxon or Nicola Willis is because of the negativity that brewed when he parodied the likes of Bennett and Simon Bridges.
“When I do it, I know there’s still love behind it. It’s usually about what they’re saying and doing rather than who they are as people.”
But not everyone in comments sections approached his political parody content with the same level of playful endearment.
Sainsbury says some of the comments were “vitriolic and toxic”.
“In the end I’m like, I just don’t want to put this out in the world if people are using it to create hatred.”
Listen to the full episode for more from Tom Sainsbury on:
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- How he actually builds characters and stories
- Adapting Small Town Scandal for television
- Managing creative impulse in a public-facing career
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.