Paul Henry, the Hollywood A-Listers, the Oscar party and the Mayor's house

Paul Henry. Photo / Doug Sherring

He's just returned from a six-week sojourn in the US where he's been carefully orchestrating his big break into Hollywood, but when I caught up with Paul Henry this week, it was a certain star-studded pre-Oscars' party that was uppermost in his mind.

Henry, dubbed "the funniest man you've never heard of" by his Hollywood reps, was a VIP guest at the exclusive Hollywood Reporter Big 10 party hosted by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at his official residence Getty House last Thursday night.

The bash honoured this year's Oscars' nominees and more than 400 guests, including Sharon Stone, Heather Graham, Mila Kunis and Piers Morgan. They sashayed up the black carpet to pose for waiting snappers.

Henry was one of the guests. The former TVNZ Breakfast star attended the bash with his Hollywood manager Andrew Goodman, whose cousin Ethan Goldman is the Senior Vice president of Series and Development at Ish Entertainment, the production company that's pitching Henry to agents and network execs in Los Angeles and New York in the hope of putting together a deal for a new television show.

"My cousin Andrew introduced me to this wild man," Goldman said, "who we were surprised to discover is the most famous person in New Zealand. Paul was the top TV morning personality in that fine sheep-laden country and he was basically run out of New Zealand after creating an international incident by making fun of an Indian minister named Sheila Dikshit. You do the math.

"Now Paul is taking his caustic but hilarious call-it-as-I-see-it brand of humour to an unsuspecting Hollywood. After having spent several days with Paul in New York, it's safe to say this man will stop at nothing short of world domination," gushed Goldman.

World domination may be a long way off just yet, but entry to the exclusive pre-Oscars bash is at least some way to making it big in Hollywood.

"It was a pretty cool party," Henry told me. "The food was catered by this famous chef [Suzann Goin] and there was no red carpet. That's so yesterday. It was a black carpet. And everyone's Aston Martins were valet-parked.

"As we walked up the carpet and through the Mayor's house, the party was out in the garden under a giant white marquee with candles everywhere and bowls of L'Oreal products on the tables. It was amazing."

Henry said he looked around and he knew there were lots of famous faces, "but I didn't know any of them. They all looked famous".

Actor Bill Paxton was there with former Desperate Housewives stars Dana Delany and Kyle MacLachlan. Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines rubbed shoulders with supermodel Milla Jovovich, Cuba Gooding Jr, Patricia Arquette and comedian Bill Maher.

Fashion designer Vera Wang was there, so too Paris Hilton's parents Kathy and Rick. Jane Seymour, John Stamos, writer Sebastian Junger, director Wes Craven, actresses Virginia Madsen, Jenna Elfman and Viola Davis were there with Anna Paquin's True Blood co-star Alexander Skarsgard.

Academy Award nominees Amy Adams and Hailee Steinfeld and Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin were the star attractions. Showbiz execs like Fox Seachlight's Nancy Utley, Disney's Rich Ross and Sony Pictures Classics Michael Barker also joined in.

But it was British CNN anchor Piers Morgan that Henry bailed up.

"He arrived with Sharon Stone because he had just done an interview with her on his new talk show," Henry enthused. "He was putting on a brave face. I mean, his ratings have plummeted since he interviewed Oprah. CNN must be wounded".

Ratings and television viewers are Henry's lingo now. And it appears he knows what he's talking about.

Ish Entertainment founder Michael Hirschorn, who has signed Henry to his television production company, told the New York Observer last month he is working with the former TVNZ star on a variety of fronts: "the reality side, the talk-show side and the scripted side".

Hirschorn said the most likely scenario would be a talk-show of some kind.

"Paul intuitively understands what TV is and needs to be in 2011, i.e., not the Today show circa 1992." "He's a little bit unique, in the sense that he comes from halfway around the world, and essentially nobody's heard of him before".

He said prestigious casting agency CAA has shown interest and reactions from TV executives have been enthusiastic. "It's 'We love this guy. What can we do with him'?"

-Herald On Sunday / View