A collage with a group of five people posing on stage, and three smaller photos of smiling groups and individuals, all part of "The Spinoff Live" event. Green accents decorate the collage.
Design: The Spinoff

MediaJuly 29, 2025

All the backstage selfies from The Spinoff’s live events, ranked

Community manager
A collage with a group of five people posing on stage, and three smaller photos of smiling groups and individuals, all part of "The Spinoff Live" event. Green accents decorate the collage.
Design: The Spinoff

Season two of The Spinoff Live event series is now on sale, and we couldn’t think of a better way to highlight this than shamelessly leveraging The Spinoff’s most popular format and Kim Hill slaying with a half-smirk.

There I was, trapped in a dressing room with Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Kim Hill. The vibes were immaculate. The chat? Surprisingly dirty. All I kept thinking was, I gotta get this selfie. It was the first event from season one of The Spinoff Live. I had been tasked with setting up 10 events across Auckland and Wellington to see if anyone would come to see our writers in the flesh. Toby, or not Toby, that was the question.

In the end, our Wellington events sold out, and the Auckland events were bursting at the seams. Today, we are launching the first events for Season two of The Spinoff Live. Join us in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (with more shows to be announced) to hear some clever Spinoff people and special guests debrief on the state of the world.

In Wellington, we’ll be staging a live version of Joel MacManus’s popular column Windbag; In Auckland, our new video journalist Robbie Nicol will be lifting the curtain on his attempt to explain the world in his series Now You Know; the Gone By Lunchtime crew are bringing their popular political analysis to WORD Christchurch; and in November we’re running the first ever Big End of Year Spinoff Pub Quiz in Auckland. Tickets to all these events are on sale now.

I tried to take a selfie at each of the shows in season one. Head of audience Anna Rawhiti-Connell offhandedly remarked to me that I should rank them, and as stipulated in my contract, I must obey. So to celebrate the launch of our new events, here are my selfies from the last ones, ranked. Note this is no reflection of the shows themselves, all of which were equally fantastic.

See you soon.

10 & 9. Singles Club Launch Party and Help Me Hera live in Auckland

Good start, no selfies at these ones.

8. Help Me Hera live in Wellington

Three people sit around a wooden table with snacks, drinks, and a phone. One person takes a selfie, smiling, while the other two also smile at the camera. An empty drying rack and bulletin board are in the background.
Ben, Madeleine Chapman and Hera Lindsay Bird

We did two live versions of Hera Lindsay Bird’s popular advice column, in conversation with Mad Chapman. I’d missed the moment at the Auckland version of the show, so in Wellington I was determined to get a pre-show snap with these two legends. Only one problem: I’d never met Hera, and Mad and I were still warming up. I interrupted their conversation to make it all about me (deeply embarrassing), resulting in an awkward and out of focus photo of Mad, Hera, Ben and a clothes horse.

7. Year in Review in Wellington

Five smiling people pose for a selfie indoors. One person holds up a peace sign. They are casually dressed, most in denim, and appear to be in a friendly, relaxed setting.
Clockwise from left: Ben, Maria Williams, Joel MacManus, Charlotte Cook and Anna Rawhiti-Connell

Much less awkward but a bit buttoned up. Why didn’t we do a silly one? Maria Williams is very silly and Joel MacManus was wearing a hat with a propeller on it for goodness sake. We could have hung onto his arms and pretended like we were all flying away together. By this point, I had nailed the perfect time to get a selfie, moments before chucking everyone on stage. The perfect time for me, but probably the worst time for everyone else. Such is life. Charlotte Cook looks remarkably poised for being roped in that afternoon.

6. The Fold live in Wellington

Four adults stand together indoors, smiling at the camera. Three men and one woman are in casual attire, with the woman wearing glasses and a yellow plaid shirt. The background shows a purple door and some office furniture.
Clockwise from left: Ben, Bernard Hickey, Duncan Greive and Lucy Blakiston

Can you believe we got four generations in one photo? Chills. Lucy Blakiston and Spinoff staffer Te Aihe Butler separately made the joke that it was their dream blunt rotation. I don’t want to speculate on Bernard Hickey’s dream blunt rotation, but I do want to point out the vintage box TV on the wall of the Hannah Playhouse green room. Not sure why Duncan Greive looks so uncomfortable.

5. The Spinoff Book Club in Wellington

A group of seven smiling adults pose for a selfie in an indoor room with blue walls and a bulletin board in the background. Some people hold books, and one person flashes a peace sign.
Clockwise from Ben: Susanna Andrew, Carl Shuker, Duncan Sarkies, Melissa Oliver, Courtney Johnson and Claire Mabey

This photo has it all — confusion from Duncan Sarkies and Carl Shuker. Susanna Andrew leaping into the frame. The gang signs from Claire Mabey! Especially pleasing are the books gripped by Courtney Johnson, Melissa Oliver and Duncan. They’re book people and they’ve brought books. It’s book time.

4. Year in Review in Auckland

Four people smiling indoors, some wearing festive accessories: one has reindeer antlers, another black horns, and another a Santa hat. They stand in front of a wall covered with colorful posters.
Clockwise from left: Ben, Hayden Donnell, Anna Rawhiti-Connell and Emma Wehipeihana

Worn down by a long year, here are two media rockstars, one real-life doctor and me, all willing to dress up, nut up, and face an equally drained Auckland audience. It should be noted that the premise of these two shows was to recap the entire year, by far the most prep-heavy of the formats we trialled across these events. Nothing scares Anna Rawhiti-Connell, though, in a suit that was described as “red with the blood of her enemies”. Horns, bells, hat, shaka.

3. Best TV Show Ever in Auckland

A group of six people smile and pose for a selfie in a hallway covered with colorful event posters. One person is holding up a peace sign, and another is holding a snack bag and a drink. The atmosphere is cheerful and lively.
Clockwise from left: Ben, Stewart Sowman-Lund, Kura Forrester, Rhiannon McCall, Alex Casey and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith

“Can I throw lollies into the audience?” Alex Casey asked me. “Will they like the show more?” She is dressed in props boy’s original shirt and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith is dressed as the dog that learned to drive. Of all the selfies this one is framed the best between two walls of Q Theatre posters. Note the shiny flatscreen TV on the wall, we’re not in Wellington any more. Stewart Sowman-Lund with the collared shirt of a senior journalist and Rhiannon McCall with the tall drink of a comedian.

2. Gone by Lunchtime live in Wellington

Five people stand closely together, smiling at the camera under purple lighting. One person in front holds a clipboard and a drink. A screen with partially visible text is in the background.
From left: Ben, Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas, Kim Hill and Annabelle Lee-Mather

The event that started them all. Back when I still thought The Spinoff was fancy. Look, I put a blazer on and everything. Toby and Ben are serving unexpected fierceness, or maybe the lights were in their eyes. Kim Hill slaying with the half smirk, and a coquettish look from Annabelle rounds it out. Truly 10/10, no notes.

1. Gone by Lunchtime live in Auckland

Three people pose for a selfie in dim lighting. The person on the left flashes a shaka sign, the person in the center smiles at the camera, and the person on the right makes a peace sign with their fingers.
Te Aihe Butler, Ben Fagan and Jin Fellet

Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire were sick at this show. Very sick. Toby described Ben as being held together purely by pseudoephedrine and he himself had brought back some kind of European pox from a recent trip. Minutes before going on stage he turned to me and rasped out one word “Water”.

I held my breath in and out of their dressing room so a selfie was out of the question. A more fitting end to these 10 events was a hasty, dark piccy in the ops box at the back of Q Theatre with podcast manager and all round gc Te Aihe Butler, and senior producer/when-she’s-involved-all-my-problems-melt-away Jin Fellet. It’s fun to take a swing at a big project like this, or in Te Aihe’s words “it would have been hard for someone not as good as us”. Thanks to everyone who was involved.

The first events from season two of The Spinoff Live are on sale now.