There is a pub opposite the New Zealand Parliament called the Backbencher. Every week when Parliament is sitting a live political panel show is filmed there. MPs from all the main parties appear on the panel and answer a topical mix of questions.
I've watched the show quite a few times and wanted to go and see it live at least once before leaving Wellington. Helen, Harry, Emily and I all made it along last night. You can see proof here (depending on whether access to NZ tv on demand is blocked by country)
When I booked the table for dinner they didn't tell me we'd be right in front of the audience camera all night. We lived in slight fear of being put on the spot either with about something we'd never heard of or to give a political opinion, fortunately we managed to avoid eye contact every time the roving host came near.
It turns out that a pub is actually a really bad place to watch a live show being recorded. Although you can't really hear it on the recording, there was so much background noise it was hard to follow some of the debate.
As well as the panelists, we saw the Speaker of the House who popped in for a drink and after the show we got chatting to the main host, Wallace Chapman, for about 10 minutes.
Another entertaining evening in my last week (I'll try and post about the last few weekends and the other evenings this week, which have all been pretty packed, but no promises that I'll manage to find the time).
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