'Pretty terrifying': Matt Heath's near-death experience in a monkey suit

Matt Heath tells us about his busy life on television, including the local actor who left his father stunned, “come burger” and the time he saw Chandler Bing in a bookstore.

Matt Heath is undoubtedly the only person on Earth to speak about the cult comedy series Back of the Y and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in the same sentence. “A lot of people never understood that we were making fun of bogans,” he says of the 2001 late-night series. “And actually, I think we all became what we were parodying for a while. moment there. It’s like Nietzsche said: “Do not fight monsters, lest you become a monster.”

This blend of low culture and intellectual philosophy inspired Heath's new book, A Life Less Punishing: 13 Ways To Love the Life You've Got. Although he admits that some casual Radio Hauraki listeners may be cynical about the fact that he wrote a self-help book, the two years he spent writing and researching gave him many tools to deal with it. “Even if people think I’m rubbish, it doesn’t matter. I actually have a chapter on how to stop worrying about it.

Although the book contains numerous expert interviews and extensive research, Heath also weaves in anecdotes from his own colorful television career, including heckling the premiere of his own film The Devil Dared Me To in front of Berlin audiences. “There’s a story where I humiliated myself in front of Hilary Barry that people might like,” he laughs. “There are also a lot of stories that we had to abandon because they are all from a very specific time.”

On that note, we asked Heath to bring out even more of his favorite TV memories, including a near-death experience in a monkey suit and meeting Chandler Bing in a bookstore.

My first television memory is… America's Greatest Hero was my first television obsession. It's about this guy who gets an alien superhero costume, but he immediately loses the instruction manual. And so the entire time of the series, he's just flying into walls and he never figures out how to use the suit. I made myself a little Great American Hero costume to wear to school, which caught the attention of the bullies. It was a good time.

The show I rushed home from school to watch was… I was a huge fan of After School with Olly Ohlson. There was a show called Fang Face that was a huge ripoff of Scooby Doo about a werewolf called Lord Fangsworth who would turn into a werewolf even if he saw a picture of the moon. Olly Ohlson wrote songs for all the shows, and he wrote one for Fang Face that he played on his guitar. This seems crazy now.

The TV moment that haunts me is… I was a monkey on fire in a show called Balls of Steel in London. I was on fire, but my helmet was knocked all around, so I couldn't see through the monkey suit's eyes to find my way to the extinguishing pool. And so I was just running around the studio, but no one could see that I was in trouble because I was jumping around waving my arms and acting like a monkey. The burn time was getting really painful when I finally got tackled by the stunt coordinator in the extinguishing pool. It was a pretty terrifying moment.

My first TV crush was… There was this British sitcom called Me and My Girl, about this guy whose wife had died and he was trying to raise his daughter called Sam. I was very attached to Sam. It also had a great theme song. I was very theme-based when I was a kid.

The New Zealand TV advert I keep thinking about is… Cadbury Creme Egg “Don’t Get Caught”, that was a fantastic jingle. Especially because it changes tone right in the middle, very good.

My guilty television pleasure is… Friends. I was so angry about it for a really long time because I thought it was a Seinfeld ripoff. And then I noticed that even though I hated him, I watched him. And then I kept watching it, and then I realized I kind of liked it. I once saw Matthew Perry at a Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles. He was taller than I thought and he was buying a stack of books. I said “that’s a lot of books” and he said “that sure is”.

My favorite TV moment of all time is… When Jim Hickey said “the bad weather has gone burger, and the good weather has come burger”. It was so strange, what was he doing eating hamburgers? I love when people laugh on live TV and realize they said something weird but they have to get on with their lives.

My favorite TV character of all time is… Leon Black of Curb Your Enthusiasm, JB Smoove. He's just such a brilliant character. The second he joined Curb Your Enthusiasm, the show became brilliant. There's no better combo than him and Larry David.

The most stylish person on television is… I thought Fallout was an awesome series, so I'm going to say Lucy from Fallout in the blue and gold outfit 33. If I was a kid, I think I would like to wear this outfit with the utility belt and jumpsuit. I think it's quite elegant.

My favorite Taskmaster NZ task was… When you had to travel back in time. I built an ancient Roman trebuchet and made a Roman outfit with a broom on the head. I think I came in last on this one, but it was still fun building this huge trebuchet.

My favorite TV project that I have worked on is… Taskmaster was the most fun game I've ever had. We still have a WhatsApp group called The Five Friends because we get along so well. We were just texting each other today, even though it's been years since we did the show. The days I teamed up with Urzila were some of the funniest times, where my ribs literally hurt from laughing so hard. It was just amazing – I would have paid to be on that show.

The TV show I wish I could have been on is… The mysteries of Brokenwood, for several reasons. The first is that it’s my dad’s favorite show, so he’d be thrilled. I also really like these murder mystery type shows. Jason Hoyte was in Brokenwood Mysteries and when he met my dad he was the most amazed he'd ever been.

My most watched TV show of all time is… I will never stop re-watching Community. It’s such an awesome show and my kids and I really bonded. If we can never decide what to watch, we'll always just pick a favorite episode of Community, like “The Asscrack Bandit” or something.

My most controversial TV opinion is… Jim is something of a bully on The Office US. He's a bit of an asshole, especially when they're really harassing Andy. His pranks are pretty fucked up, it's actually borderline psychopathic what he's doing, torturing Dwight like that.

A show I will never watch, no matter how many people say I should be… Married at First Sight, because I know so many people who have wasted a huge part of their lives watching it. I was talking to a friend yesterday who estimates he lost 27 hours to Married at First Sight. I love reality TV but I get too easily drawn into it.

The last TV project I worked on… I have this animation company and we do children's TV shows, so the last one would be Welcome to Cardboard City, season four for TVNZ.

The last thing I watched on TV was… This is a bit of cheating, but over the weekend my youngest son and I watched all the new Planet the Apes movies to prepare for the latest one. So it was pretty epic, it was old school sleeping on the couch while we all watched them. A very intense, monkey-focused weekend.

A Less Punishing Life: 13 Ways to Love the Life You Have by Matt Heath is now available in bookstores nationwide.