The comedian Radar has been the guinea pig in a television experiment. Armed only with a few basic necessities, can he live off the land - and will this eco-doco series make entertaining prime-time telly? JOANNA HUNKIN reports
KEY POINTS:
As the rain pours down on yet another miserable Auckland day, Radar - or Andrew Lumsden as he's known to his mum - is unperturbed, sheltering under the flimsy canopy of a local cafe awning. After 10 months of living in a tent, he's used to the sound of rain on canvas. In fact, he quite enjoys it.
The unusual living arrangements, documented in the new Sunday night series Off the Radar, saw the comedian up sticks to a lifestyle block in Kaukapakapa, foregoing such modern luxuries as electricity and supermarkets, to see if it really is possible to live a sustainable lifestyle in the modern age. To live off the land and - quite literally - reap what he sowed.
But as the comedian discovered, it's one thing to plant a garden, quite another to make it grow.
"I thought it would be easier - TV lies to us!" he cries in mock indignation. "A lot of these programmes on TV have people who are terribly proficient. They plant a garden and two weeks later there's this lush abundance. I like to think that there's a bit more realism in mine."
After a series of trials and errors - and some help from the friendly locals - Radar says he got the hang of it eventually.
"I don't want to give it away, but I didn't die," he deadpans.
In fact, he ate surprisingly well. Particularly as he had no fridge in which to store leftovers.
"I really missed the fridge. I ate a lot of food," he laughs. "Basically, you'll make a meal at night, eat the rest of it in the morning, and then if it's not too hot, eat it at lunch time.
"I thought, somewhat naively, that maybe I would get a little bit fitter. But I actually think I put weight on. Which is probably quite a triumph."
Produced by Jam TV, the award-winning team behind Off the Rails, Ice and Intrepid Journeys, Off the Radar began filming in September last year, just two weeks after Radar signed on to the project, replacing Marcus Lush who withdrew due to radio commitments.
Understandably, Radar had never contemplated living in a paddock before, but admits he didn't take much convincing.
"It was all done over a lunch deal," he says with a rather bemused look. "There was some alcohol involved. I don't know that I considered the ramifications of accepting the whole living in a paddock thing. I just thought it sounded like one big adventure."
That sense of adventure meant Radar took on the challenge with gusto, revealing himself to be a surprisingly proficient hunter, gatherer and general handyman. "I grew up on a farm and was always helping my dad build stuff and make things," he explains. "But I didn't spend a lot of time with my mother in the garden, much to my annoyance. That would have helped."
Fortunately, gardening was only part of the mission, which saw Radar build and plant vegetable gardens, rear cattle, raise chickens, hunt wild animals and use a composting toilet in a bid to live a sustainable lifestyle.
Sustainability may be a popular catchphrase of the green movement but Radar says you don't have to be a greenie to adopt some sustainable habits.
"When it comes to the green politics of it and the people who are sustainable for environmental reasons - global warming and that - I'm more of an agnostic in that area," he says.
"I'm more at the practical level of things. I want to know where my food comes from. I'm a big fan of local produce and farmers' markets, not because of reducing food miles, but because it brings you in touch with what you're eating."
A former Herald columnist, and regular on the local comedy circuit, Radar's trademark glasses and thick, fittingly bucolic, sideburns may well be familiar to readers. But the 13-episode prime-time series is set to cement Radar as a household name.
"Sunday nights at seven o'clock - it doesn't get any more in the living rooms of people," he laughs. "It's kind of weird, I would never consider myself a wholesome family entertainer."
With a second documentary series, Homegrown, also set to debut in the coming months, it appears the comedian has finally been accepted into mainstream television, though he says that has never been a primary goal.
"I guess I've made stuff before and haven't understood why it wasn't put on in a better time slot," he says thoughtfully. "In a way, everyone wants people to see their work. If, through this, people start to go through my back catalogue of work and it gives me a chance to do what I really want to do - which is to continue making funny, informative documentaries - that would be great."
While the filming of Homegrown took Radar away from his tent and paddock on occasion, he was determined to spend as much time there as possible, even when the cameras weren't there to film him.
"There were a lot of long nights alone in the tent, which I really enjoyed. I didn't do a lot of camping as a child so it was really exciting," he laughs. "No one would have known if I had [snuck back home], but I would have. If you sneak back home, what's the point?
"Most of the memories I have of it were of the things that happened when no one was there. Like my cows nearly drowned! It was probably the funniest thing that happened in the whole show and no one was there to capture it."
To make the most of the experience - and fill viewers in on those moments when the film crew were absent - Radar spent his first four weeks back in civilisation documenting his story in print. The book, due out this Christmas, serves as both a memoir and a "how to" guide on sustainability.
Between that and the two television series, it seems the comedian is not just a blip on the public's radar, but set to become a firm fixture of our media landscape.
LOWDOWN
Who: Comedian "Te" Radar (Andrew Lumsden)
What: Radar lives off the land in the new doco series Off the Radar
When: From Sunday August 31, 7pm, TV One
Trivia: Lumsden was given his Radar nickname during his Otago university. He attributes it to the 70s trend to name boys Andrew. There were seven Andrews in Radar's uni hostel - none of whom were called by their real names.
