As one of the country’s top comedians, Te Radar has carved out his corner of New Zealand entertainment as the go-to guy to host any rural event. Growing up on a dairy farm in North Waikato, he certainly has the credentials for the job. But he admits despite his love for most aspects of farming, there’s one obstacle that keeps him and his wife Ruth Spencer from leaving the City of Sails.
“I thought I wanted to get into the rural life, so we bought a lifestyle block, but it’s really time-consuming!” the 54-year-old laughs.
“I’m looking out the window now and I’m thinking, ‘I really need to go fix that fence.’”
While he may cheerfully grumble about the work, he says as a live performer, it is fulfilling to have something tangible to show after a hard day’s work.
“I can work for weeks and I have got nothing to show for it,” he tells.
“I’ve spoken at all these events and I’ve done all this stuff, but if someone says, ‘Show me what you’ve achieved,’ I don’t have anything. I like to go out and mow the lawn or build something because then I can go, ‘I did that thing.’”
A creative partnership in life and work
Not just partners in life, Te Radar and Ruth, 49, work closely together on most of their projects. The prolific pair always has something in the works and when they chat to the Weekly from their West Auckland home, they’re buzzing about their new book Kiwi Country: Rural New Zealand in 100 Objects.
While many others have highlighted the great Kiwi innovations, they felt no one had really properly celebrated the history of the humble everyday objects that form part of the tapestry of country life. Though they mostly agreed on the list, the only item that they almost came to blows over was the Wilson letterbox.
The great Wilson letterbox debate
Explains Ruth, “He was like, ‘That’s not a common rural thing.’ As soon as we started looking into it, I said, ‘See, it’s the actual iconic thing.’ They’re made for rural specifications because there are specific rules the Post Office has for what they’ll deliver to.”
Te Radar smiles, “I can’t unsee it now – I see hundreds of them. And as it turns out, we have one!”
Discovering hidden stories
Sharing the history of New Zealand in entertaining ways is their bread and butter, but even Te Radar and Ruth were surprised by some of the stories they uncovered in their search.
“I grew up looking across to a mountain that had a trig station on it and I knew what they were for, but I didn’t realise how much history was involved,” shares Te Radar.
“We have this history of sending men out by themselves to live for really long periods of time.”
Collaborating without clashing
While some couples couldn’t handle working so closely, for most of the 15 years they have been together, Ruth and Te Radar have been collaborators. Their secret? The 10 metres of corridor that separates their two offices.
“We put ourselves in separate rooms and email,” he admits.
Ruth adds, “Over the course of time, we have found what our strengths are. He’s a better editor than I am. I’m better at putting bulk words down. And I do most of the looking. I enjoy trawling the archives and I have my tricks for using [online archive] Papers Past.”
Family comes first
When it comes to drawing a boundary between work and home life, they agree it isn’t hard to call time on the workday, as they would much rather spend their evenings with their 10-year-old daughter Audrey. Her current obsession has taken over their household.
“She’s very into popstar Taylor Swift, so now we are as well,” says Te Radar.
Ruth confesses, “We’ve watched the Eras Tour on TV. She had a Taylor Swift- themed birthday party. And we’re also going to see an impersonator. It’s all Taylor all the time.”
Sharing a slice of rural childhood
While the pair enjoy sharing Audrey’s interests, they also love that they can give her a small slice of the outdoorsy childhood that they both loved.
Te Radar exclaims, “I’m not sending her out to feed the calves on Christmas! But her little primary school, even though it’s right on the edge of Auckland, is essentially a rural school, so there are chickens and alpacas – it’s nice.”
Kiwi Country: Rural New Zealand in 100 Objects by Te Radar and Ruth Spencer (HarperCollins, rrp $20.99)
