Youtube VideoWhen Paul Henry was signed up by MediaWorks to host the drive show on RadioLive, there was an understanding he’d be involved in the occasional TV project as well. But aside from an interview on 60 Minutes, the bespectacled cackling offender has been slightly conspicuous by his absence on the telly. That will all change on Friday night when a self- (and dwarf) deprecating skit about his fictional quest to make the autobiographical potboiler What was I thinking into a movie airs on The Jono Project on TV3.
Whatever people think about Henry, he is an entertaining man and satire appears to be his natural habitat. Often—and, most recently, quite famously—that veered towards offensiveness, which is why it was a dangerous game having him front a news show. So no doubt he’ll be revelling in the fact that he’s been given a chance to be his normal controversial self in a slightly more appropriate format (the crux of the skit is that Peter Jackson was unavailable to direct, so he had to settle for Jono instead).
The radio ratings for Henry’s show won’t be available until the next lot of research is released (MediaWorks’ publicist Rachel Lorimer puts it nicely and says radio ratings are like a series of end-of-year exams and TV ratings are like daily internal assessment), so there’s no way to tell how he’s tracking. But perhaps this first foray back into the world of TV is a sign of things to come. Henry would certainly be a fitting contender for 7 Days, or as a host of a chat show in the style of Graham Norton. But Campbell Henry Live would surely be the best option.
