Nic Sampson: From Power Ranger to Comedy Powerhouse

Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, and welcome, Screen Rats, to another episode of Television Times.

It's very close to Christmas, isn't it?

Two weeks now, two weeks.

Really not long.

It's really come around quite fast this time.

And yes, I know everyone says it, but it really does feel like, especially this year, that you blink and it's Christmas.

I was in Edinburgh, I blinked, it's Christmas.

That's what it feels like.

So I got back, got into the swing of things, then it's my birthday, it's not a big deal, and then it's Halloween, and that comes around, and then it's my twin's birthday in mid-November, so it's presents and toys and talking to family members, trying to get gifts, and then it's Christmas.

It just really just keeps going, and I've also got another birthday of my eldest son just after Christmas in early Feb, so that comes around fast as well.

So it's this window of like four or five months, so it's just like, just every other week, there's something to organize, you know?

And yeah, I don't know, and this Christmas, the only thing I guess that's changed, a bit of a trigger warning for any children present, get them out of the room, because I'm going to talk about Elf on the Shelf.

Now, I'm not a big fan of Elf on the Shelf.

I did do it, it wasn't because of social media or anything like that.

It sort of snuck in, in a kind of North American way.

My wife's Canadian, and I guess they do that kind of thing over there.

And I'd never heard of it, but you know, they're everywhere now, right?

And everyone's forced into this extra work that you have to do.

I did it for a few years, it was kind of fun, kind of got fucking annoying after a while, right?

But this year, I was sort of saved by Tesco, I guess.

It's a bit sad, I guess, that it's kind of ended, but you know, we went, I went with my kids into Tesco, and there was just a sea of the elf on the shelves, right at kids' height at the checkouts.

I thought, well, that gives the game away, doesn't it?

That's pretty silly.

And my daughter then asked me, you know, is the elf on the shelf real?

And instead of circumnavigating that problem like others do and saying, well, you know, the real one comes and these are just toys, I just went, yeah, I guess it's time to tell you.

So that felt a bit, she was okay with it, like all these things.

My oldest found out about the tooth fairy as well.

So, you know, these do feel like lies you tell kids, and I don't love that, but I guess we're all complicit in this stuff.

Otherwise, you know, what are they going to go to school and tell the others that it's not true?

And, you know, keep a little magic in childhood, right?

Especially these days.

So, you know, that's ended.

We're still doing Santa.

And for some reason, ages and ages ago, I started saying to my youngest boy, ho ho ho, I am Santa, Santa Maria.

And the Santa Maria thing stuck.

And we don't even know what it means or where it came from.

But he says that now every time.

And it's funny because I feel like in 50 years time, he'll just say that for some reason and it will make him laugh.

And I don't even know what it means.

But like I say, it seems like it was summer a minute ago.

And in the summer, I was in Edinburgh.

And in Edinburgh, I did my show.

After my show ended, I went and saw all the shows I didn't get to see because it clashed with my own or I just didn't have time to go and see them.

And one of the shows I wanted to see, and I was trying to get to see the whole time, I didn't get around to it, was Nic Sampson's show.

And his show was all about him being a Power Ranger in the TV show Power Rangers Mystic Force, which was out about 20 years ago.

And you know this guy's face.

You know his face.

He's in loads of stuff.

He's been in Starstruck, the Rosemata Feo TV show over here on the BBC.

He's in The Broken Wood Mysteries, something I mentioned that I've never seen.

But now for some reason, I come into my lounge and I put the TV on, and it's always on in the background.

It's on UK TV all the time.

And the film Baby Done, which was very, very good.

And he was also in the TV show Funny Girls and part of the comedy troupe in Auckland called Snort.

But his show in Edinburgh was so tight and so clever and so different to everything else I saw.

It was great.

It was very hard to describe.

And it was all about Power Rangers.

And I'm too old for Power Rangers.

It wasn't my generation, but I was still gripped by it, you know?

And yeah, I really enjoyed it.

And it was great to watch him do improv.

And I used to love improv, right?

I used to love it.

I used to go and see the comedy store players all the time in London, Paul Merton, all that crowd.

And I kind of, it fell out of favour with me, you know?

It was kind of overdone a little bit.

And you could really see those improv skills in his show.

Although his show is properly scripted, I did actually also get to see Nic in Kyle Smith, Bino's show, Cool Story Bro, which was on at midnight.

It was him and Rosamatta Feyer.

It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

And I think watching him, watching that troupe, and especially watching Nic, kind of made me like improv again, appreciate it again.

And yeah, it's something that happened this year.

And I think when I used to work in Edinburgh and you'd get like, you know, the Oxford Imps and the Cambridge, whatever they're called, come, I just thought, oh, fuck this.

This is also hack and old fashions, you know, but the thing they bring to it, I really enjoyed.

And, you know, I talked to him a little bit about that.

And this was a conversation we had online, remotely after Edinburgh, way after.

It was like late October or something.

So yeah, this is me talking to the wonderful and very nice man that is Nic Sampson.

It's Nic, Nic, Nic, Nic, Nic Sampson.

Roll up, roll up and welcome to another edition of Television Times with your host, me, Steve Otis Gunn, where I'll be talking to someone you do know or someone you don't.

It might be funny, but it might not be, but it's always worth tuning in for.

So here we go with another episode of Television Times.

Pleased to meet you in person, properly.

Yeah, you too, man.

Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you.

So you were at the Fringe this year?

Yeah, you passed me by while I was flying my show and just about the time we were chatting, you walked past me.

I almost said hello, but you were very busy.

And I was like, I'm not hustling him now.

Oh my God, that would have been awful if I was like really rude to you.

Yeah, I mean, your show, let's get straight into it.

I saw, I think about 60 shows while I was there myself.

And I don't know if it's just that I saw yours in the latter days, but it really stuck in my head, really stuck in my head.

And I wasn't a Power Rangers guy or anything, too hard for that, but it was that perfect mix.

And what was funny today was while I was looking at a bit of research is there's this really funny line that you said in one of yours about wanting to get run over just so you could cancel the show.

And I was thinking, do you know what, I completely relate to that.

Oh, yeah, there's nothing quite like the thrill of canceling something big.

It's like the ultimate version of like getting out of a party invite, I guess.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

I always have that feeling where it just, I'm just like, oh man, I wish I didn't have to do this.

And then I have to catch myself and be like, I don't have to do this.

I don't have to do this at all.

I could do so many other things.

And then as soon as I start doing it, I remember that I love it.

And so you've got to push through that.

It was a very, very strong show, man.

I mean, I liked all the aspects of it.

And it was that, am I allowed to talk about it?

Obviously, are you taking it out?

Are you doing something with it after?

Yeah, I'm hopefully doing a few more shows of it in London next year.

And then, yeah, see what happens.

But yeah, we can totally talk about it.

It's not like, I don't think it's a spoiler heavy show.

No, no, it's just because it's that perfect sort of mix of improv, acting, tech, not used and overly used, but in a really clever way.

And also that sort of, are other people going to turn up or are they not?

That kind of thing that was left hanging at the beginning.

You realize, of course, no, but it's just really, really funny.

And that I can't get my head around that Mind Palace bit that you did, because it gets so full on and we're all sitting there going, hey, this has got long, isn't it?

He's actually really going for this.

And it just was like a proper piece of theatre in the middle of a comedy show.

It was, I just can't get it out of my head because I didn't see anything else like that, obviously, that had that element.

Yeah, I'm the only show with the Mind Palace.

That bit is my favorite bit, I think, from the show.

And it didn't come out of writing the show.

It was a bit that I'd sort of been thinking about for a couple of years, actually.

But because it's so involved with, I say that I'm going into my Mind Palace to remember someone's name and then it ends with me fighting a war inside my mind.

And it's something that I thought it sounded funny, but then as soon as I contemplated doing it for the first time, I was just like, well, it's either going to go great or it's going to really, really bomb.

So the first time I did it, it was a really surreal out of body experience.

And thankfully it went all right and then I found the courage to keep doing it.

But yeah, thanks.

I really loved it.

But yeah, I'm really glad you liked it.

Is that how you remember your show in general?

Do you sort of remember it as a sort of journey down a high street, pick this up, do that?

Do you do that or do you just remember it?

Oh yeah, I write it out as a script and because I'm also a screenwriter.

So I write it all out and edit it as I go and then learn off that.

Most people tend to just do like little bullet points and then talk around it, but I think I don't like that.

I like to know exactly what I'm saying and then I can improvise around it.

It blows my mind when I hear like, you know, people go on stage, I kind of know what I'm going to talk about, but I'm just going to kind of riff for 50 minutes.

I don't know how you do that.

Yours is quite cue heavy as well.

So, you know, you need to be in certain places by certain points.

And yeah, I really like that integration of the sort of phone calls and stuff, because normally, if I'm honest, that stuff's kind of annoying.

But in your show, it wasn't.

Oh, good.

Oh, good.

Yeah.

Oh, my last show was quite tech heavy as well.

I guess, I think it comes from me preferring to do traditionally, like I started out as an actor, so I've always preferred doing like plays and like live theatre and stuff with other people.

So when it comes to creating my own comedy, it tends to be written in a way where it's like, it would be great to have someone to bounce this line off, you know, and react to it or me react to what they're saying.

So that's where I think where the tech stuff comes in, is a way of doing that.

You can really tell like when you come from an improv background because you're bigger than the room, like the show is bigger than the room it's in, if you know what I mean, it just seems, you know.

I love that, love the sound of that.

No, it's like seeing a really good band in an intimate space.

It's kind of that vibe.

It's like, this is quite a big show for such a tiny room.

That's why I was thinking, show seems big, you seem big as a character.

Yeah, I enjoyed that part of it.

But because you are an actor as well, because you've done quite a lot of straight acting as well, I mean, non-comedic acting.

But I don't know the Brokenwood Mysteries, I don't know that show.

Is it even on here?

I'm not sure.

But I looked at some of these.

Yeah, it is actually.

It used to be on UK TV drama.

The clips I saw, that's also quite quirky and cute as well.

Oh, yeah.

It's not just like heavy drama.

I'll get some jokes in anywhere if I can.

I'm like, no, this is someone's died.

You need to be serious.

What was the distance in time between being a Power Ranger at age 18 to going into improv?

Was it something you did already or?

I studied improv at high school and really loved that.

That was like my favorite thing to do on a Wednesday afternoon.

And then, yeah, I did Power Rangers after I left school.

And then I sort of spent a couple of years, like just trying to be a proper actor.

But there were not many roles going in New Zealand.

And I ended up working at a bakery for a while and just like, yeah, not really getting the incredible roles that I truly deserve.

So I started writing stuff for me to do at like a local theatre.

And then I just really enjoyed that.

Yeah.

And that's sort of where my interest in writing came from.

Just sort of out of necessity, I guess.

Are you from Wellington or just grew up in Wellington?

I'm from Wellington, yeah.

The only city I've ever been to is, I don't know if it was like that when you were growing up, but more CD shops, more music shops than I've ever seen in my life.

Yeah, RIP.

But yeah, they used to be everywhere.

It was incredible.

A great time to be a boy with a Walkman, wandering around.

Yeah, I did that.

I've only been to New Zealand once, it was a long time ago.

And that's all I did.

I used to buy CDs and I was so happy I bought a CD Walkman with me.

So awesome, isn't it?

So you filmed in Auckland, so before this bakery, so obviously you get your TV money, and then is it true that you just rinsed through it in the hotel?

Yeah, well mostly.

I mean, what they did was, when I moved to Auckland to film the show, they put us up for like three weeks in a hotel, and they gave us some money to relocate, and then they were like, do you have to pay for your own accommodation going forward?

And I think the thought was that we would move into like a flat, or you know, just, but I was like, oh, can I just stay here in the hotel?

And they were like, yeah, it's your money.

It's what you want.

It's weird that you didn't get accommodation.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, it seems like a very glamorous thing, Power Rangers.

But the reason they film it in New Zealand is so that they didn't have to pay anyone any money.

Like, it's an incredibly cheap show.

Like the first season, the sort of, you know, the big Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season, there was like a big dispute because it was not a sag sanctioned show.

So yes, they didn't get paid properly.

You don't get residuals or anything from it.

So, yeah, I mean, for me, as an 18 year old, I was like, I'm a millionaire.

I mean, 18 is quite young to stay in a hotel.

I'm just trying to think like what age I would have had a hotel room for the first time.

It probably wasn't that young.

Oh, yeah.

I love a hotel.

I still love a hotel.

Oh my God.

It was incredible.

They would make you bed every day.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's the best part, isn't it?

Like going out and then, I mean, I sort of always clean the room a little bit, but the idea of coming back and there's just like new towels and you get used to that.

Yeah.

Especially when it's your first, this is my first place away from home.

It's like my first job.

Yeah.

It was just like such a weird experience to then finish it and be like, well, I'm going to go work in a bakery.

Is it just the one season you did?

Yeah, just the one season.

Most of the seasons are either one or two seasons, and then they sort of recast it.

Keep the actors young and fresh.

It's sort of like a whole new version of the show.

So our one was, I mean, you saw the show, it's all, that was all stuff from the show that I show in the show.

Are they the real props, or did you manage to?

No, they're just toys that I annoyingly had to buy off eBay.

I had to pay more than I thought.

I was like, these are, I should own, these are mine.

Yeah, you should.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I actually just found out, so Power Rangers, I think the show's maybe finished now, like it's just wrapped up forever.

Has it?

Possibly.

Because what's happened is they've sent all the props and all the costumes to this big auction from the last 30 years.

And so you can buy like my costume from the show now.

And all these Power Rangers fans are messaging me being like, just so you know, your costume is for sale.

We will try and help you buy it if you want.

Like, we'll let you bid on it.

We don't want it.

We're just very nice to them.

But I just have such a...

Like on one hand, I would love to have the costume as like something to, you know, like maybe, I don't know, show to someone one day.

They'll be like, yeah.

But on the other hand, I don't want to pay goddamn money for my own costume.

So I think I'm going to pay like $50.

It's going to be my, my highest bid.

Do you do conventions and Comic Con type things?

I have done a couple.

Yeah.

Very strange, but fun.

Yeah.

You know, because I did one in Florida, like two years ago, and it was only Power Ranger fans.

It was like three days of Power Ranger fans and 30 Power Rangers in this hotel.

So you get to meet all the other cast that you might not have met before.

Yeah.

But what's just strange is you walk into the hotel and suddenly, everyone in the hotel knows your name.

Everyone's going, oh, Chip, Chip Doran.

Such a great character name.

Yeah.

It's like an AI name.

Yes, exactly.

But yeah, it was just a really bizarre experience of talking to people about this show that, for me, it was like 18 years ago.

I can't remember any of them.

But these people are just obsessed with it, and they know all the facts and they want to talk about it.

So you're just sort of scrambling to keep up and trying to pretend like you know what they're talking about.

Like, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, it's great.

Because you, I wouldn't say you lambasted, but you poke fun at it in your show.

So did you have any worries about them having a problem with that?

The people behind Power Rangers?

Were they okay with you taking the piss lightly?

Oh, you mean the people, like the people behind Power Rangers?

The honchos, yeah, yeah.

Did you pass it by them or they have no idea?

I think they have no idea.

Yeah, I was like, I did think for a second, because Disney owned it when I did it.

I did think, you know, is the mouse going to come for me for my cutting tatai?

But I think the answer is they don't care.

I think they've got bigger fish to fry.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And you know, I think it's all pretty tame.

This clearly comes from a place of love and you, you know, you do have fun with it and the other people in the room that really remember it as well.

They're just, it's just a lot of love for it.

Yeah, it was great.

It was amazing.

I didn't really, it was weird.

I didn't really think about the fact that there would be lots of Power Ranger fans there.

So I just didn't think that there would be any in Edinburgh, but a bunch of them turned out.

Yeah, I mean, it's perfect age group, right?

I mean, I went to see a Nikki Smedley show.

She was Lala as a television.

Yeah, I heard about there was a yellow television show as well.

I was like, God damn it.

And yeah, and her show was obviously rammed.

And I didn't watch Teletubbies, obviously.

I found it hauntingly disturbing.

But, you know, same thing, sort of love for it, you know, for that late 90s, early 2000s, whatever, you know, TV show for kids.

That's because all those kids are now growing up having babies.

Which leads perfect to that movie you're in, Baby Done.

There we go.

That's a good link, isn't it?

I love that movie.

I remember watching that.

Oh, it's great, isn't it?

Oh, it's so good.

And you've worked with Rose Lowe, right?

Because I saw you, you even did an improv when I saw Kyle's, what's it called?

Cool Story Bro.

Cool Story Bro.

Cool Smith Bro.

That's what she called it.

Cool Story Bro.

That was a fucking disaster that night, wasn't it?

The mics are all over the shop.

That was the first one.

Oh, that one, yeah.

I was watching these guys behind me with, everything was really loud and Rose came out and we were...

It's just a mic.

Oh, really?

It was hard to tell how much of a, how annoying that was from the stage, but yeah.

That seemed a little...

Well, the next night we did it, there was a fire alarm and we had to...

Oh, really?

You even get to do the show.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

And that's late.

What's it like doing improv at midnight?

That's pretty hardcore.

Yeah, it's pretty hardcore.

Yeah.

But improv's...

Yeah, it's cool.

Improv's cool and I like doing it late night because you can have a few beers and just sort of...

Yeah, it was great.

It was really, really good.

I enjoyed it a lot and I'm not a massive improv fan.

These...

It's not that I don't like it.

I just...

You know when you've seen so much of it?

And I worked on The Fringe myself as an op and I used to watch the Cambridge...

What's it?

Oxford Imps and the Cambridge Blardy Blas and I watched so much of it.

It was like...

Yeah.

I need to break it.

It can be punishing.

It can be.

Yeah.

I mean kudos to you guys for being able to do that late at night like that.

And it seemed...

Yeah, it was really properly off the cuff.

You could tell.

And it was impressive that you and Rose did that as well.

I guess you're friends with Kyle.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I met Kyle just doing improv over here.

But me and Rose, yeah, we've known each other for a long time.

I think we met when...

I think she was like 17, and she was doing comedy at the one comedy club in New Zealand.

Yeah.

I think we met.

The one in Auckland.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've been to that one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Still going.

Still going.

Still the one club.

Still the one club.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

I think we've maybe got one more.

I saw some clips today or yesterday of funny girls.

I've never seen that before.

Yeah.

There were a couple of clips on there.

You know, like with Sketch, it's like how is it aging?

And there's this clip on there about, was it Try Not to Touch Your Phone?

Oh, yeah.

I watched it three times.

That is perfect.

That's still applicable.

I know it's nearly 10 years ago, but...

Yeah.

Gosh.

Is it nearly 10?

I think it's 2014, 2015.

Is that right?

Yeah.

You're right.

God, you're right.

Yeah.

That show was great.

We were working on this other show, which is like a weekly topical comedy show called Jono and Ben.

And it was like the sort of New Zealand version of Ant and Dec, but with the head sketches in it and stuff.

What happened was like in the break between seasons of Jono and Ben, they got some funding to make a sketch show.

And so we made it using all the camera gear from Jono and Ben to save money.

Like we got like no money to make that show.

And it was just made in the off season.

Like it sort of is a little break, but it became like a project that we were way more invested in.

We would write sketches during Jono and Ben and then we would write them for Funny Girls.

That's like borrowing a projector for engine.

Yeah.

I enjoyed that.

And of course you've worked with her a lot because you're in the movie, maybe you don't, and even in Star Trek.

Yeah, it's all nepotism.

She was my flatmate.

So you're friends aren't you?

That's how it works.

I mean, I've seen you in loads of stuff because you're a person whose face I know, if you know what I mean.

That's the dream.

I've got a little favor to ask you.

Could you please follow us on social media?

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I remember this being massive.

Emperor.

That's a big old movie.

Yeah, I was on that.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, that's a big deal.

I remember that.

You remember that?

I remember that.

Yeah.

That is crazy.

I haven't seen it.

I have a little folder of movies I really want to watch.

Yeah.

And then sometimes two years later, there's still one knocking about in there that I haven't got around to for this way.

Oppenheimer is going to be there for a while.

I haven't got that kind of time, but I do want to watch it.

I want to get around to it.

It's in my get around.

Yeah, do Oppenheimer, then do Emperor back to back.

I think that would actually work because Emperor is set after the events of Oppenheimer.

There you go.

I need to take a day off.

We watched the first 20 minutes of Oppenheimer, me and my wife, and it was like, I just found it so boring.

I don't know if you liked it, but it's just not, I can't.

Yeah, I wasn't super jazzed about it.

I enjoyed Barbie though.

So there you go.

I guess I know what side I'm on.

It's just too much work sometimes, isn't it?

These three movies.

I love a movie that's 90 minutes, dude.

That's it.

It's all you need.

Maybe 145, but yeah, I felt like with that movie, I was just like every scene felt like it was just getting started and then the scene would end and then it would be another scene.

Oh, really?

It was just like every scene would be like, we've got to talk and then there would be another scene and they'd be like, we've only got a day and then like, then it would cut.

That was the intention, I guess.

But it was just like, I couldn't sort of felt very so tense.

Building a bomb is tense, but yeah, I guess so.

No, I wasn't into it either.

And I wanted to, I really wanted to.

So I think that in my box as well as Elvis movie, which I don't think covers his questionable tastes in younger women, but I will get around to that at some point.

There's a lot of them.

I found out that Charlie Chaplin was one of those recently.

I had no idea.

Charlie Chaplin liked very young girls.

I had no idea.

They're all terrible, Nic.

All terrible.

There is terrible.

I'll cut this because nothing to do with you.

But I'm just finding out about my hero Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin is on the list.

He would have been cancelled.

Absolutely.

Yeah, Emperor was a World War II historical drama and it filmed in New Zealand.

And it had Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox from Lost in it.

And I was in it as one of Matthew Fox's guys that follows him around.

And the role was called Lieutenant Red.

And so when I got the audition for it, I was like, I've got red hair.

This is perfect.

There's only one other actor in New Zealand who has red hair, who looks like me, he's like the same age group.

So we both went head to head for it.

Did you really?

Yeah.

I got it.

And then they have these things in movies called stand-ins, where they'll hire someone who looks a bit like you to stand in your costume, so they can light it and set the scene.

And I got a stand-in for that movie.

And it was the guy who I beat out in the audition.

So he would come and stand on the set, and then I would be like, I'll take it from here, mate.

You go sit down.

And then I had like one line.

My line was like, right away sir, or something like, yeah, it was crazy.

But yeah, okay.

So funny kind of funny story about this emperor is that I ended up going to Toronto International Film Festival for the premiere.

They didn't like invite me to go, but I just, I just...

Me and my friend.

I tell again.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Me and my friend just like flew over because we were in the movie and we were like, if we fly over, they'll let us go in the red carpet.

And they did.

They were like, yeah, absolutely.

We're not going to pay for you, but you can come over.

So we got to walk with red carpet with, you know, Tommy Lee Jones and Maggie Fox and stuff.

And we chatted to a bunch of people.

We chatted to like E Canada and just like, pretended like we were big roles in the movie.

You know, they're like, so tell us about Lieutenant Red.

Like, oh my God, he's this great character.

He's, you know, he's a bit of a troublemaker, but he's, you know, he's, he really cares about Matthew and he wants to win this war.

And so then the movie happened and then premiered and stuff.

And then like about a year later, I got an email from E Canada being like, we're coming to New Zealand to interview stars for The Hobbit.

And we want to do like a little fun thing with you where you walk around the outside of the Sky Tower, which is like this big spike, this big building in Auckland.

And you can walk around the outside of it in like these orange jumpsuits.

So we went up and did this little fluff piece with me and this reporter from Canada.

And then we did an interview at the top of the Sky Tower.

And she was like, so Nic, your last role was this big role with Tommy Lee Jones and The Emperor.

Tell me, like, what are you up to now?

I was like, oh, I work in a steak house.

I think she just thought, like, he'll be talking about how he's in The Hobbit and stuff.

I'm not in The Hobbit.

I wish I was in The Hobbit.

So they just assume anyone who's an actor in New Zealand would be in The Hobbit, like...

Yeah, which is a fair assumption, to be honest.

A few years ago, everyone that lived in Northern Ireland was in Game of Thrones, clearly.

So you can walk on the outside of that.

Yeah, you can.

It's great.

I highly recommend it.

You don't mind heights?

No, I don't love heights, but I was willing to do it.

It must have been a windy microphone.

Yeah, I think it was a clear day, if I remember.

You can actually jump off the outside.

There's a bungee jump, but...

No, thanks.

It's not for me.

Yeah, not for me.

I have bungee'd in New Zealand.

Of course I have in Taupo.

Is it in the movie Baby Down?

Taupo bungee?

I feel like I might.

There is a bungee.

I think it's Queenstown.

Oh, is it?

Because it was over a river.

Oh, you might be right.

I wasn't there for that.

Have you ever done that?

Or is that just for tourists?

I've never done any of that stuff, no.

No, no one ever does.

Sounds scary.

It is.

It's scary.

I think the ones in London are shit.

Off of a crane in Acton or something.

They do them, don't they?

I bet it sounds the worst.

It's not quite as glamorous.

Yeah, that seems like the worst one.

New Zealand River.

Oh, you know what I'm watching right now that's set in New Zealand is Alone Australia.

Season two is in New Zealand, in the southwest, somewhere south of Greymouth.

But I don't know where it is.

I can't work it out.

But they're all just alone in, obviously, because that's what it's called, in this fucking like nowhere with storms coming in.

And you know how New Zealand always looks beautiful and you know, it's a stunning place, right?

Yeah.

Not stunning on this show.

It's just rain and wind.

That's in New Zealand, I know.

It looks horrible where they're staying.

I mean, there's nothing there.

It's just trout.

Yeah.

Well, at least there'll be no natural predators.

Yeah.

There'll be no bears or anything.

Peek, peek.

Nick, what's your favorite jingle?

Favorite jingle?

I've got a couple.

So there's one for Venleray Blind Services, which goes, Venleray Blind Services, if it doesn't say service, it's not.

Blind Services.

Yeah.

For like blinds, like for you.

Oh, I'm thinking for people who can't see.

Blind Services.

Yeah.

I'm actually just now wondering if it was for blinds.

It couldn't be.

No.

Blinds Services.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then, oh yeah, there was another one for Skyline Garages, which was, gotta get a garage, gotta get a garage, gotta get a skyline.

Because I just didn't know what a cottage was, but it's a garage cottage.

It's funny what goes in.

I've got very young kids and they'll be walking along the street and often they'll just go, trustytraders.com and I'm like, what's that?

I think it's on Channel 5 in the morning.

Yeah, it's a real skill to be able to write.

It's just a jingle that sticks around forever.

New Zealand, we've got this kiwi burger, which is like a, it's like a Big Mac, but it's got like a, it's got beetroot and fried egg in it.

Hasn't got the bird meat in.

No bird meat in.

But no, no, no, that would be bad.

But it has a rap, there's like a rap that goes with it.

Yeah.

I think it's like Kiwis love, hot pools, racing schools, McDonald's, swimming schools, hot cricket bins, chilly winds, fast skis, golf tees.

It goes on and on, but as a kid, it was on the box, so you would learn it.

Oh, really?

Then you would sing it at school.

Nice.

So, Nic, why don't you pick a number between 1 and 22?

Oh, okay.

15.

What invention from television would you like to bring to life?

With the Power Ranger thing.

It's quite a good question, isn't it?

Well, I was really into that show SeaQuest DSV as a kid.

Did you watch that?

It was like Star Trek, but under the water.

Yeah.

And they had a dolphin that could talk.

They could talk to the dolphin.

What, like a?

You seem like some sort of collar.

That was just what popped into my head.

So, yeah, we'll go with that one.

Dolphin chat collar.

Okay.

Elon Musk, if you're listening.

Yeah.

Let's still do that.

Sure he is.

Very smooth, aren't they, dolphins, very shiny.

Have you touched one?

Yeah, I went, I swam with a dolphin in, oh, Napier in New Zealand.

And Napier, is that the earthquake town?

Yeah, and they had a dolphin and you could get in with it.

It was just like a big tank.

The dolphin was just like shitting the whole time.

All right.

It was really sad.

I just always want to touch one because it just looks so plastic.

I have fed one, but I didn't touch its head.

Byron Bay in Australia, there was one that used to come in and swim in and you could feed it in the morning.

It's my only interaction.

All these things are best done not in London because I'm just going to say there's dolphins apparently occasionally in London.

What, in the Thames?

Yeah, occasionally.

It comes on the news, doesn't it?

There's a dolphin in the Thames and then the next day there's a dead dolphin in the Thames.

What's the TV show that scared you the most when you were a kid?

The X-Files?

Yeah, I remember staying up for a couple of episodes of the X-Files and just being absolutely terrified.

There was one where some people started spontaneously combusting, and that was like the episode was like, why are these people catching fire?

And I was so terrified that that was going to happen to me.

And then just like anything to do with aliens, I find really scary.

Scary?

Yeah, you're not fascinated by it.

Oh yeah, no, I mean, yeah, fascinated and scary.

Scared first, fascinated second.

Yeah, I mean, it would be good to be in the generation that sees it for the first time, but not in a sort of independent way.

I always feel like they're getting us ready for some information, but I'm not a conspiracy theorist, so I'm not sitting around thinking they're here or anything.

But I always think it would be like really cool for us to get the signal and hopefully them be friendly and not look like us.

What if they did?

Oh, sorry.

A bunch of Irish people get off at UFA or something.

I read a thing that was like, if we saw proof of aliens, it would be a bad sign for the future of our race because it would mean that, because there should be more aliens.

If we see one, then it means that statistically, we're never going to get there to the point where we can travel between stars and so that we're doomed.

I'm not really sure how it works out, but...

I don't know which scientist it was, said something recently that made me, it felt like massively agoraphobic.

Like they said, there's only one thing worse than there being aliens, and that's us being alone.

And I was like, fucking alright, mate.

It just felt really dark.

Like we're just this planet in a big black void, all just sort of alone.

And that just felt really horrible.

So yeah, I don't like any of it, to be honest.

I don't need these things at 3am popping in my head.

Well the X-Files is a great one.

I love the X-Files.

I collected the DV.

I think I had the VHS, mate.

I might have had the VHS.

Where they had like 3 episodes on each cassette or something.

Yeah, I need to get into watching the X-Files, probably.

I thought about that, like a re-watch, yeah.

Is there anything that scares you now?

Like, that's a childhood one.

But as you watch anything as an adult and go, oh, fucking hell, no thanks.

Stuff with ghosts, I still find quite scary.

Like mirrors at night and things on the door.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just find, if someone has a ghost story and tells it to me, that terrifies, that like chills me.

I love hearing them, but I always, for some reason just...

Have you seen any?

No, no.

I don't even believe that they exist, but I just find the stories of them scare the shit out of me.

Yeah, it's weird, isn't it?

Cause it's like, it really is the proof of doublethink, because I definitely don't believe in them, because we have all this technology and phones and everything.

And the best examples we still have is like these weird black and white photos of like Victorian ghosts on staircases.

And I've spoken to Danny Robbins and, you know, I'm not sure he really believes either, but like, I don't believe it and you can't really prove it.

But like you, if I hear a really spooky one and I'm in the house on my own in the daytime like now, and I listen to something about, you know, I will fucking hear creaks and I will think there's someone in the kitchen and you'll hear it all.

So I think you can kind of, because I know myself just by listening, you know, like if you listen to a story like that, you will then be sort of on high alert and you will start to feel that there's something going on that isn't.

I think that's what all these people feel though.

Yeah, I think that's what it is.

It's always explainable, in my opinion.

But you know, I'd love it to be true.

I mean, it would be amazing.

But sadly, yeah, I'd love to have an experience like that.

I'd love to be spooked.

Do you've done stage?

You're on the theatre, isn't it?

Theatres are full of ghosts apparently.

Yeah, every one of them.

Yeah, all of them, mate.

Apparently.

Even new one.

You build one tomorrow, it's got a ghost in it.

It's true.

Okay, last question.

You got time for one more?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, cool.

What do you think will be the top TV show in 2050?

Oh, that's a great question.

2050.

It'll probably be, well, we'll be underwater, so it'll be some sort of projection thing that you play in your house, and it swims around you, I think.

Oh, okay.

And then, you know, I think probably Married at First Sight.

Yeah, it'll just be that show.

Still Married at First Sight.

Married at First Sight Australia.

That will be my guess.

If there's one thing that's going to sort of outlast the apocalypse, it'll be Married at First Sight.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Well, thank you very much for coming on Television Times.

Thanks so much for having me, Steve.

What a pleasure.

You're very, very welcome.

Thank you very much.

Cheers, bro.

That was me talking to Nic Sampson about his life in television and up there at the end of a finish during his show.

Really cool guy, really love to chat to him.

He's a real talent and you can really see it when he's on stage.

It's a joy to watch.

Check out all his TV shows, re-watch Starstruck, check out Baby Dan and watch The Broken Wood Mysteries.

But now it's time for today's outro track.

Right, today's outro track is called Too Hot for Humans.

It's a catchy little ditty from the album We Argue in Silence, which I recorded in America in 2009.

Available everywhere, Spotify, Amazon, you name it.

And yeah, I love this track.

It's just about being somewhere hot and where people probably shouldn't live because it's too hot to be there.

As simple as that really.

There's a dog in the background, which was my wife's ex-dog, no longer with us unfortunately.

And yeah, all real samples.

And yeah, I really enjoyed making this track.

It didn't make sense at the beginning, but it turned into quite a catchy tune.

Anyway, so let's get on with it.

This is it.

This is Too Hot for Humans.

That was Too Hot For Humans from the album We Argue In Silence, which you can get anywhere you get music.

That was remastered in 2022 and recorded in America.

And just go check it out, check out the whole album.

It's out there.

Thanks for listening this week.

I hope you enjoyed my chat with Nic and come back next week for another great episode, another Antipodean guest.

Until then, thanks for listening and bye for now.

Look into my eyes.

Tell all your friends about this podcast.