This much I know: Paul Casserly

Paul Casserly.

A few words from Paul Casserly, creative powerhouse.

Theatre is like TV but with the temptation of the fridge or hob (on which to make popcorn) removed. Also there's no smoking, so it's the healthy choice when it comes to entertainment. That and the fact it's raw, you can see the working parts without the editing and the wide shot and the drone. Being involved from the get-go is fascinating, I love seeing the first sketch of the staging and being part of someone's grand design.

No one needs to throw things at TV thanks to Twitter. My mum has a problem with Mike Hosking's designer jeans but I'm coming round to them. I figure we're all going die, so why not wear some silly jeans that people can complain about? It's not a bad legacy.

I've just finished working with a brilliant young satirist by the name of Ben Uffindell, on a series for watchme.co.nz called The Civilian. He answers the question perfectly, of what needs satirising in New Zealand right now, as does his website, thecivilian.co.nz.

In terms of personal satisfaction or affecting some change I've managed to sidestep anything of importance, being somewhat magnetically drawn to shits and giggles, but I've just found out that a project I worked on for a few years has reached the finals of the New York TV Awards. It's a doco series about the Dunedin longitudinal study. A
bunch of social scientists have followed 1000 people born in Dunedin for 40 years and they've mined all that data for all sorts of nuggets. Incredible.

The piece of technology I would cling to if all else vanished is my radio. I love radio. Did I mention there's a new series of Go Ahead Caller, my radio/politics piss-take that airs on RNZ National? It's coming up this month. You can hear the last series on the RNZ website.

I'm always in a way better mood when I have money in the bank. I think this goes back to the calm that came over me when I used to slot 50c pieces into those cardboard sleeves the ASB gave kids in the 1980s.

What's changed for better in the music industry is access to music is truly amazing now but musicians don't get paid like they used to meaning that many of them become Uber drivers, which means that cab drivers don't get paid what they used to. Seems like all the money is going to smart alecs in Silicon Valley. Apart from that it's sweet as.

If I could forever be one age in my life it'd be when I had blond hair, a cool pedal car, and ate only carbs and sugar.

As I age I increasingly feel like I have a hell of lot left to learn. I didn't possess that feeling when I was 30.

If I were a musical instrument I would be a lute, played by the late Angela D'Audney, circa 1982.

At school, if I'd had more confidence I probably would have made a great bully but I didn't have the gumption. The nuns once accused me of writing the F word on the blackboard, but sadly it wasn't me. There was something really cool about seeing that word scrawled in three-foot high letters. It was the most exciting thing that happened in my childhood. I reckon the kid that did it went on to become a big success. He/she probably has a Range Rover and a bach in the Coromandel next door to Sue Moroney.

The thing I love so much that all else fades into insignificance is the deep-fried pickles at Siostra in Grey Lynn.

Paul Casserly is the AV designer for The Voice in My Head, May 24-June 4, 6.30pm, Basement Theatre, Auckland. The longitudinal study series launches on TV One this month.