Dai Henwood's recipe for success

Stuff.co.nz

Bad news is apparently good news for comedians.

The world is gripped by a recession, world leaders are gathering to discuss how to avert potentially catastrophic climate change and the war on terror rages on. 

But New Zealand comedian Dai Henwood says he's never been busier.

Speaking on the phone after an early morning run - part of a new touch-rugby training regime - Henwood said he was "flat out" in the midst of the busiest year of his life

Comedy was thriving because "basically people want to drink and laugh", Henwood told Stuff.co.nz, with a particular demand for stand-up.

"So if you tell jokes or sell booze you're sweet," he said.

A recent tour to Christchurch saw 2000 people turn up over two nights, he said, with a crowd eager for a laugh and a beer.

"It's the adage of the more they drink the funnier we get really so it's good to see people buying booze."

In his seventh year as a professional comic, Henwood is wrapping up the popular TV3 show 7 Days, has just released his own self-produced standup DVD and has several gigs coming up.

The success comes in spite of an admission that being a comic, particularly in New Zealand, is a tough gig.

"It's hard, you've got to be committed and put in a lot of work," he said.

However, his unique brand of character-based comedy had seen him travel the world with shows at events like the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.

It was tough performing overseas where crowds struggled to understand the Kiwi accent, forcing the fast-talking former Billy T Award winner to slow down to a speed where "if some of my mates heard me they'd think there was something wrong with me".

This was a lesson the son of Wellington's first female District Court judge, who has a degree in eastern religion from Victoria University, said he'd learned after some hard gigs.

"Everything in your nature just wants you to start talking faster and get off. Audiences are like dogs in a way - if they smell fear they're not going to start laughing."

He said if someone was bombing, the audience was more likely to feel badly for them.

"It's definitely a very uncomfortable feeling because I think no one in the world really enjoys being completely embarrasses in front of a hundred people."

Henwood said people expected him to be constantly funny, and it could be frustrating when people thought they could match him.

People corner him in pubs and try and tell him the most "filthy, full-on" jokes.

"Inevitably they're always really racist or really sexist and you've sort of just got to nod."

He said he used to take offence and argue with them because "racist and sexist people piss me off a lot" but he has cooled down and turned it into part of his routine.

"You quickly realise you can't change those people's opinion in a pub."

A fan of Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell and Aussie comedian Carl Barron, signing with a record label (EMI) and releasing his DVD was a career turning point as he was allowed the creative freedom to put out what he pleased.

Dai Another Day is in stores now and harks back in part to 1980s and 1990s New Zealand, with Henwood even reintroducing old alter-egos such as P Funk Chainsaw - "a massive black wrestler trapped in  a small white man's body".

Henwood has previously outlined his passion for the era of big moustaches, big hair and outrageous fashion.

"I got into wearing some pretty fruity stuff [back then]: I rode the Hammerpants bandwagon, I rode the Hypercolour bandwagon, pretty much rode every bandwagon," he told The Listener.

As he prepares to open for former Seinfeld comedian Jason Alexander and to front a Christmas comedy gala for TV3, his hectic schedule shows no sign of slowing down.

And with his career reaching new heights, Henwood explains: "I'm just a Kiwi trying to have a good time."

Luckily for those of us that enjoy a laugh, he's taking us along for the ride.