The What Now and Brain Busters presenter takes us on a trip down TV memory lane.
Growing up, Chris Kirk was a huge fan of What Now. Every Sunday morning, he would wake up early to watch Carolyn Taylor and Jason Fa’afoi entertain the nation, delighting in every chaotic, gunge-filled moment. With such a soft spot for the longest-running kids show in New Zealand, it was a dream come true when Kirk joined What Now as a presenter in 2015. “It still blows my mind that I grew up watching the show, and now I’m in the position where I am able to host the show,” he says. “It’s the coolest feeling in the world.”
Kirk also hosted kids quiz show Brain Busters, where he puts clever kids (and the occasional nervous journalist) through a set of tough mental and physical challenges. After a stint behind the camera as a What Now live producer, Kirk returned to presenting What Now earlier this year, when the show pivoted to a digital first format. What Now’s YouTube channel is filled with fast and furious internet-inspired videos, like a helicopter dropping 375 litres of gunge, a delightful Dungeons and Dragons gaming session, and the charming Gaming with Grandpa series, with the enthusiastic Kirk still at the centre of all the chaos every Sunday morning.
Although the show has evolved a lot, what hasn’t changed for Kirk is the way What Now continues to connect with generations of young New Zealanders.“When they come up and talk to you about very specific moments on the show and you can see they’re such big fans, it gives you such a warm, fuzzy feeling,” he says. Kirk hopes to make the same positive impression on tamariki that What Now presenters had on him. “You don’t know what’s going on in their lives – they might be struggling at school or having trouble with friends. If you’re that friendly face to hang out with on a Sunday morning for an hour, then mission accomplished.”
To continue that warm and fuzzy feeling, we took Kirk on a fond trip down TV memory lane with our My Life in TV questions. Luckily, Kirk answered them so well that we didn’t have to use the gunge machine once.
My earliest TV memory is… Country Calendar on a Saturday night while eating fish and chips, waiting for Super 12 rugby to start. I remember watching with my brother and my mum and dad. And watching What Now on a Sunday morning, as well – with Carolyn Taylor, Anthony Samuels, Shavaughn Ruakere and Jason Fa’afoi, and then a little bit of Charlie, Serena and DJ Vinyl Richie.
The TV show I used to rush home to watch was… Yu-Gi-Oh, the animated TV series. I still have my Yu-Gi-Oh card collection, and I would be lying if I said I haven’t within the past few years bought some more Yu-Gi-Oh cards, just for that nostalgic factor. Having adult money is a dangerous thing.
My earliest TV crush was… Carolyn Taylor on What Now. I got a photo with her at the WeetBix Tryathlon in 2004 or 2005 at QEII here in Christchurch. That was a very special moment.
The What Now moment that haunts me is… Corey Jane, the great All Black and Hurricanes player, came on the show when we were filming live in Wellington one weekend. I accidentally called him Corey Flynn, who is another great All Black and a Crusaders rugby player. I still think about that to this day. Corey Jane was one of my favourite players, so to have him come on the show and hang out, just to then butcher the name and call him someone from an opposition team? Horrific.
The TV ad I can’t stop thinking about is… One that I always remember laughing at was a Toyota ad. The husband and wife are fighting over their morning ritual to see who will drive the car, and it just gets more and more crazy. There’s a hairdryer in the shower, they’re tripping down the stairs, then the house eventually blows up.
My TV guilty pleasure is… Grey’s Anatomy. I used to be obsessed with it. My mum really loved it, and that’s how I got into it. It would come on at bedtime, and I remember trying to sit quietly, arms folded, not breathing, hoping mum or dad didn’t see me on the couch.
My favourite TV moment from my own career is… I was very lucky to interview Zach Galifianakis and Zoe Saldana for a new animated movie called Missing Link. I was called into a meeting with the big boss on a Thursday morning at nine o’clock, and she said, “Chris, we need you to fly to LA… tonight”. I hopped on a plane, flew to LA and did this interview, and a day or two later, flew home. They were both so nice. I remember giving them a bottle of gunge. I was really worried about getting the gunge through customs, because I know America can be very strict with that kind of stuff. I just packed it in my luggage, and was like, “I’ll see what happens”. Will it arrive? It was all good.
My favourite TV character of all time is… Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He’s the villain who becomes the hero, one of the greatest character arcs of all time in TV. It’s one of my favourite shows.
The most stylish person on TV is… Hilary Barry. The woman is a style icon, the mother of the nation. She’s an absolute queen.
My favourite TV project that I’ve ever been involved with is… Brain Busters, but specifically our te reo Māori episodes. Brain Busters has a te reo segment as part of the show, but we wanted to add even more. I’m not a fluent te reo speaker, so we brought in Sonny Ngatai, who is a fluent presenter, and joined forces. The tamariki on the show were from kura kaupapa and immersion classes, and it was such an awesome experience to watch the show and realise that the only words spoken in English were “Brain Busters”. So much went into that behind the scenes, so to be a part of it was amazing.
The shows I wish I was involved with are… Survivor and Celebrity Treasure Island. I am Survivor-obsessed. Being Jeff Probst would be my dream job in TV, and I love the game as well. If any CTI producers are reading this, I would love to be on that show. I don’t know if I quite qualify for the celeb status, but if they want someone who’s going to play the game hard and is not afraid to be a little bit of a villain, I’ll do it.
My most watched TV show of all time is… If it’s not Survivor, it’s Game of Thrones. Mainly the first six seasons, because we don’t like to talk about seasons seven and eight so much. You never knew who was safe, or who was going to be sitting on that iron throne. It keeps you on your toes, and I love that fantasy genre.
What I wish people knew about What Now is… That it’s more than just one day a week. A lot of people ask me, “what do you do for the rest of the week?” I think a little piece of you dies inside every time someone asks that question. They think you just film the show and go on your merry way, but that’s not quite how it works. There’s an amazing team at What Now who are here throughout the whole week, who help make the show possible.
My controversial TV opinion is… The ending of Lost was actually good. The whole purgatory set up, I thought was brilliant. The more off-the-rails the seasons got, the more I started enjoying it.
The show I’ll never watch, no matter how many people tell me to is… Breaking Bad. It’s got seven or eight seasons or something and the idea of just starting from episode one, season one seems so daunting.
The last thing I watched on TV was… Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Netflix live action version. Season one is pretty good, but not as good as the OG animated series. As a big fan, it gets my approval.