Wellington Paranormal (2018-2022)

One half of one of New Zealand’s best-known comic duos is set to launch his first homegrown TV show. Jemaine Clement shows Greg Bruce around his Wellington roots.
"
Do you feel like you've found the thing in life you were meant to do?"
I asked Jemaine Clement as we wandered down a hill on the residential edge of Wellington's city centre, where he had just been showing me a house he used to live in with Bret McKenzie.

"
No,"
he said. "
No, no. I don't think I'll ever find it."


He thought for a second, then said, "
I guess when I'm writing shows I do feel like, 'I know how to do this.'"


"
So you don't feel like writing is it?"
I asked.

"
Yeah, because I get bored writing as well, after a while."


He said: "
I think it's just a feeling that — I'm not sure if everyone has it but I'm sure most people have it — like that there should be something else I'm supposed to do."


I didn't tell him, because I didn't think of it until just now, that most people are actually spending most days sitting at their desks clicking between Twitter and a variety of Microsoft programs while staring out the window and dreaming of performing smash hit comedy songs for crowds of 20,000 people at London's O2 arena while also starring in smash hit television shows and a variety of blockbuster movies.

What the people who dream of those baubles are probably not also dreaming of, though, is the demands accompanying them, which go far beyond turning up with just a guitar, your amusing face and heroically fleshy lips to be adored by the multitudes. When he and McKenzie were deep in making the television series of Flight of the Conchords, he says, the stress was intense.

"
Not just acting and being on a TV show but also trying to record an album's worth of music simultaneously. That was too much. And I would also think of [American comedian] Dave Chappelle and how he quit his show. Like, I could 'Chappelle'. And I looked up to him for leaving it.

"
I probably wasn't really close to leaving it but it was good to know that it had been done."

[size=150:16142a6p]Wellington Paranormal: Inside Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's latest venture
DANI MCDONALD
December 18 2017


[size=85:16142a6p]Director, actor and musician Jemaine Clement is part of a film crew that follow Wellington "
police"
who investigate ghosts, werewolves and zombies for their upcoming television/ reality show Wellington Paranormal, a spinoff to What We Do in The Shadows.

Undead members of the Wellington public will feature on a local police mockumentary after getting up to mischief in suburban areas.

Wellington Paranormal is the latest television spinoff created by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, after the success of their 2014 horror comedy film What We Do In The Shadows that followed vampire housemates (Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh) as they try to cope with the complexities of modern life in Wellington.

The six 30-minute episodes are due to air on TVNZ 2 in mid-2018, and follow What We Do in the Shadows' police unit members Mike Minogue and Karen O'Leary, as they hunt out ghosts, werewolves and demonic possessions. They were the cops that were hypnotised to not see the blood or dead bodies in the vampires' home.


[size=85:16142a6p]Left Wellington Mayor Justin Lester chats with Jemaine Clement New Zealand comedian, actor and musician in Opera Lane.

The pair are under the watchful eye of Sergeant Maaka Pohatu, who performs in Modern Māori Quartet during the day.

Clement said paranormal activity was rampant in Wellington.


[size=85:16142a6p]Jemaine Clement New Zealand comedian, actor and musician in Opera Lane, has seen some dodgy stuff.

"
It's surprising how many demonic possessions there are,"
he said, straight-faced.

"
There was a very tense situation at the Bucket Fountain – I can tell you it involved a possible Gateway from Hell. We're very concerned about this kind of stuff."


One or two werewolves pop-up from the original movie, as well as a vampire – understood to be Cori Gonzalez-Macuer's Nick – and they're causing "
a lot of trouble"
.


[size=85:16142a6p]Wellington Paranormal follows officers Minogue and O'Leary.

The film crew has followed the "
Wellington Paranormal Unit of the New Zealand Police"
for about a month, with just a week left of filming, Clement said.

"
We had an incident with some zombies which got pretty tense there. So luckily they're taken care of. A couple of crew members were turned into zombies – I think. It's hard to tell sometimes.

"
Also, some very worrying things have happened in Lower Hutt as well. There was a party in Khandallah that got a bit out of hand, too, with some undead member of the Wellington public."



[size=85:16142a6p]Actor and comedian Cori Gonzalez-Macuer is understood to feature in the spin-off series.

That party was in an abandoned house in Woodmancote Rd, Khandallah. Locals have considered the five-bedroom, musty house to be haunted.

They made to sure to have the property blessed after hearing stories of an old lady called Mrs Pack, who was thought to inhabit the house.

Wellington's recent sunny weather has been a bonus for the mockumentary-makers as they follow the Police Paranormal Unit.

"
It's good, it's been very sunny. That's good for following werewolves, because its hard to find werewolves when its cloudy,"
Clement revealed.

"
Yeah, 'cause the moon doesn't come out. You want clear skies for finding werewolves.

The supermoon earlier this month was also very beneficial to the team. "
That was a very intense night,"
Clement said.

Producer Paul Yates, the third member of the New Zealand Documentary Board (alongside Taika Waititi and Clement), said the series was similar to What We Do In The Shadows, but more documentary style.

"
It's like Police Ten7 meets The X-Files,"
he said.

He said they were "
taking the mickey out of"
police television reality shows.

"
There's one of those shows in every country in the world,"
he said.

Yates said Waititi was providing creative input into the script.

"
He's been slightly busy with some hero movie,"
he said.

Waititi, still in the States, has been enjoying some R&
R, before his "
big year, next year"
, Yates said. He wouldn't elaborate on what Waititi was doing in 2018.

"
He's got lots of stuff on,"
he said.

When asked whether Wellington Paranormal was different to the US version that Waititi had discussed previously, Clement said, "
The American one is about vampires in America. Our one is about cops."


Wellington Paranormal is scheduled to air on TVNZ2 in mid-2018.

- Stuff

Acclaimed documentary-maker Jemaine Clement talks about how the idea for Wellington Paranormal came about.

Cin Cin #wellingtonparanormal2

Bloody awesome week in Wellington getting creative and shit with these guys #wellingtonparanormal2

[size=150:2zdfi02e]National portrait: Karen O'Leary - Paranormal but very normal
ANDREA VANCE
August 18 2018

Did you ever go to see a comedian, and then try to share the jokes with your friends the next day? There was an electric bike and Jemaine Clement in a ghost house. And oh, you really just had to be there.

That's exactly what it is to interview Karen O'Leary. She makes you laugh and laugh and laugh, but, like all the best comedians, when you've recovered your decorum, you're not really sure why.

"
Jemaine [Clement], who is so well known, but he is actually kind of shy,"
she says about working with the creator of the TV show Wellington Paranormal.

"
If any of the takes got ruined it was because of him, because he's got this great laugh. He'd be behind, watching the screen and laughing like [O'Leary makes a noise like a pencil scribbling on paper] ... I can hear your duck laugh, Jemaine ... "


Does he sound like Muttley from Dastardly and Muttley? "
More like [she rasps like Donald Duck] heh, yeah, that's a better version of it."


I don't know how I'm going to describe that laugh, Karen. "
I don't know either. But that's not my job, my job is just to be a famous aaact-ooor."


Being a famous actor – on films like What We Do In the Shadows and spin-off series Wellington Paranormal – isn't her day job though. O'Leary, 40, is a respected early childhood teacher.


[size=85:2zdfi02e]The ''famous aaact-ooor"
Officer O'Leary. The real O'Leary toyed with joining the police in her youth.

She toyed with joining the police – like her eponymous character Officer O'Leary. But instead, she enrolled at Victoria University, dropping out of a politics degree after a year.

"
I guess I care what happens to people and politics is a vehicle for what things are going to have an influence on communities and society."


Her conversation is peppered with political references and she's open to running for office.

"
I'd never say never, there is potential for that. I'd have to have a really, really good PA because I'm not very organised and I think politicians probably have to answer their emails ... oh they don't? ... Put me down for the next election then. I'm going to make my own party."


She disagrees with most of National's policies and says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is "
a breath of fresh air"
. But O'Leary is firmly behind teachers' demands for better pay.

"
Full credit to them. I think [striking] is a really valid thing for them to do, in response to the conditions that they have been putting up with for years.

"
It was sad to hear the minister of education [Chris Hipkins] saying it is out of kilter with what everyone else is getting. It wouldn't be out of kilter if they'd been getting what they deserve and what was appropriate before now."


Teaching almost didn't happen for O'Leary – she was kicked out of training college. "
I was in a position where I wasn't really open to the notions of authority.

"
And there was a tutor that really questioned the legitimacy of being a homosexual and obviously I had an issue with this. So I raised the issue.

"
I was very worried and frustrated, in a course where we were learning how to be really great teachers for children, that this notion of homosexuality being a bad thing was part of what we were listening to from a professional academic ... I thought that was really wrong."


The profession was right, but the timing wasn't, she says. A short stint with a commercially run early childhood centre ended with a payout when she challenged a bullying culture. "
I think it's really important. When things aren't fair, I don't like it when people aren't nice to other people."


Then, a chance encounter on a bus landed her some relief work in a community-based centre. Seventeen years later, she now runs the centre out of a cosy suburban villa.

O'Leary is an ardent advocate of the value of early learning. "
We are still seen as the poor cousin of education, but actually we should be seen as the kaumātua – we are the ones who shape children who are confident, who can problem-solve and know how to learn."


She's serious about the principles – but her lessons are a riot of fun and joy. "
There are not many jobs when you turn up to work and you are greeted by people who are really happy to see you and you are happy to see them. I'd rather do that than fracking."


For sing-alongs, she becomes Captain Electric, a superhero in a silver cape with a guitar. He used to wear an orange jumpsuit: "
I left it down in the basement at work and it got all mouldy."
He sings about scary Mrs O'Leary, and the wheels on the Wellington buses that no longer go round.

"
For children to learn at their best, if they are having fun they are learning way better than if they are not having fun."




​O'Leary's always been a performer, teaching herself to play guitar at aged 10. But she only dipped her toes into acting when the mother of one of her charges, casting director Tina Cleary, suggested an audition. She landed the part of Officer O'Leary in the now-cherished vampire mockumentary What We Do In the Shadows.

"
On the first day on the set, I was so nervous I thought I was going to be sick. Because I had no idea what I was doing and all of a sudden I was hanging out with bloody Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi – I mean you don't just go and do that of a Saturday, do ya, and without knowing anything?"


Her doltish on-screen partner is played by Mike Minogue. "
You know when you just get on with someone straight away? He put me completely at ease because he was just so friendly. We had this silly banter, and then I fell asleep because I was so nervous. I started nodding off in the chair … and he took a photo, he's still got that photo and he's used it a couple of times to remind me."


The six-part spin-off Wellington Paranormal just finished an acclaimed run on TVNZ and seems likely to land a second series. The show sends up fly-on-the-wall cop-umentaries, and follows O'Leary and Minogue as they police demons, werewolves and the undead. The pair don't write the scripts – but they do improvise.


[size=85:2zdfi02e]Created by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, Wellington Paranormal spoofs police reality shows.

"
Heaps. Jemaine is so open to that sort of thing. He's certainly not a precious director. Sometimes the lines he's written he'd be like: 'What is this? That is terrible, I don't like it.'

"
There is a really good mixture of really good scripted jokes, and then a lot of me and Mike bumbling our way through things."


Fans are calling for another film. "
Witches, we haven't done witches. Goblins, taniwha. Leprechauns. National Party politicians. A haunted Judith Collins. I'd be terrified. Sorry, Judith, I've never met you, I shouldn't say such things, I just don't agree with some of your ideas. Most of them. All of them."


O'Leary won't be moving to Hollywood, or even Auckland. Wellington is where she grew up and still lives with partner Kerryn, their two sons, and Daisy the dog.


[size=85:2zdfi02e]Karen O'Leary, Mike Minogue and Maaka Pohatu star in Wellington Paranormal.

She adores her parents, Steve and Ann, who live close by. And she still plays for the soccer team – Brooklyn Northern United – she joined at 15.

"
Best club in New Zealand, probably. I used to play half-goal, half-striker so I could score the goals and then save the goals. But our other goalie went overseas so now I'm stuck in goal all the time."


In between teaching, soccer and doing the Stuff quiz ("
if we get below 12 we feel a little bit disappointed in ourselves"
), she's also dabbled in kick-boxing. "
Have I told you once I hit the captain of the women's All Blacks? Farah Palmer. Yeah, she wasted me. She was dancing in my space. I was such a dick. I said to her: 'You're dancing in my space.' I must send her a card to say sorry."


As for the electric bike? Well, you just really had to be there.


[size=85:2zdfi02e]Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's 'What We Do in The Shadows' mock-umentary introduced Karen O'Leary's character.

Wellington Paranormal 2 - Day 1: Minogue and O'Leary and the tiny documentary crew are back on the streets of Welling Town investigating more spooky paranormal events.
For the record, that portaloo in the background is not haunted. And what's that on the patrol car?

Wellington Paranormal crew on a shoot at Oriental Bay just now.

Wellington Paranormal star Mike Minogue on show's success and why shopping is now fun
Sarah Nealon
Oct 03 2019

Things that go bump in the night have brightened up the days of Wellington Paranormal star Mike Minogue.

The supermarket shopping has gone from a chore to a pleasure for the actor following the success of the show.

"I've done a little bit of stuff before but not tonnes," says Minogue. "It's the first time really I've been dealing with people recognising me.

"The most fun about that is being in the supermarket and the kids just staring at you – which is better than you staring at a kid in the supermarket."

"But they love it. Children love the show. When I was a kid it was Billy T James and I just absolutely loved it. I used to do stuff off Billy T for assemblies and things like that with a mate of mine.

"So I'm really happy that kids have got a Kiwi comedy that they really love. That's been awesome."

Wellington Paranormal, the spin-off TV series from New Zealand mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows, stars Minogue as a police constable, Officer Minogue, with Karen O'Leary playing his work partner Officer O'Leary.


Mike Minogue says he and Wellington Paranormal co-star Karen O'Leary are good friends in real life. "We’re definitely mates. I think that’s part of the reason the show is successful."

On-screen, the pair are assigned to the police Paranormal Unit and must deal with supernatural occurrences in a bid to keep the public safe.

The show was created by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.

As far as what viewers can expect this season, Minogue isn't giving much away.

"What's the same is we're just as thick," he says of his and O'Leary's characters. "What is new is the size and scope. There's a lot more ... I mean the monsters are pretty amazing and so there are a lot more visual effects, I think, in this one.

"There is a bit more Officer Parker, Tom Sainsbury's character."

As in season one, Flight Of The Conchords' Jemaine Clement has been hands on.

"He was really good," says Minogue. "He came back and he directed one or two episodes. He's across all the writing and producing and everything like that. It's absolutely his show. I think people can feel that when they watch it. And he's a joy to have around."

Besides acting, Minogue's involvement in the film and television industry includes work behind the scenes.

This year he was a producer on Coming Home In The Dark, a yet-to-be-released psychological thriller film starring Erik Thomson (800 Words) and Daniel Gillies (The Vampire Diaries).


Karen O'Leary, Mike Minogue, and Maaka Pohatu from Wellington Paranormal.

On the personal front, Minogue maintains a friendship with his Wellington Paranormal castmate Karen O'Leary.  

"She came round to my house and I've got some lovely photos of her and me with my baby," he says.

"I saw her last week and I'll see her again next week. We're definitely mates. I think that's part of the reason the show is successful.

"You can sort of see that we do actually like each other. We have a ball."

Minogue, 42, and his wife have also welcomed their first child – a daughter named Frances.

Baby Frances, who is named after people on both sides of the family, arrived in June.

So far, sleep deprivation hasn't been an issue for the actor, unlike many new parents.

"It hasn't been too bad because we've got a bit of a sleeper," he says. "And also, my wife's doing all the work. So I've found it really easy."

Wellington Paranormal, TVNZ 2, Wednesday October 16

‘Wellington Paranormal’ Returns For S2 Next Month So Whip Out The Ghost Hunting Gear



By Steffanie Tan
09/10/2019

The second season of Wellington Paranormal, the unholy What We Do In The Shadows spin-off, will hit TVs next month. Well, this month if you’re in New Zealand. Next month if you’re Down Under.

Created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, the mockumentary follows coppers Officer O’Leary (Karen O’Leary) and Officer Minogue (Kyle Minogue) as they investigate a string of paranormal activities.

If you’re unfamiliar with Wellington Paranormal, Officer O’Leary and Officer Minogue are the incredibly switched on cops from What We Do In The Shadows.

Anyway, the task force is headed by Sergeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu) who recruited the officers because of a rise in paranormal activity across Wellington. Think werewolves, projectile-vomiting drunk teenagers / demons, aliens, weird cults, creepy clowns, and zombies. The whole gang gang!

Season 2 will have 13 episodes all up – seven more than season 1.

SBS Viceland confirmed they’ll be streaming season 2 in November. The network didn’t provide an exact date but they’ll release “more details soon” so we’ll keep you updated.

Is this the year Wellington Paranormal reaches the world?
By Russell BrownOct 12, 2019

The second season of Wellington Paranormal ramps up the special effects, but in an understated way.

Fans of Wellington Paranormal (TVNZ 2, Wednesday, 8.30pm) will spot fairly early on in the first episode of its second series that its creators have set themselves a challenge. It’s implied that there are monsters on the way – and this is a show that does not have a monster budget.
In the event, giant monsters do very much appear on screen, although a good visual joke is employed to keep down the special-effects minutes.

“We’re on an NZ On Air budget and they’re extremely good to us, but we’re competing with international shows that have massive budgets,” says series producer Paul Yates. “We had a little money for special effects this time around, but we still wanted to keep the low-fi approach that suits the vibe of the show. But it was a little less stressful doing the special effects, yes.”

Some things haven’t changed: the What We Do in the Shadows spin-off is still spearheaded by the hapless officers Minogue (Mike Minogue) and O’Leary (Karen O’Leary), although Sergeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu) and Thomas Sainsbury’s cowering Parker play more prominent roles, but the whole thing feels more sure of itself.

“Now that we know what it is a little more, I think we just wanted to solidify what worked,” says Yates.

“We like to think, being comedy professionals, that we know what’s funny – but you never know until you put it on air and see people responding to it.”

The show’s executive producers, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, are still involved, Waititi by phone and email – “a lot” – and Clement more directly, polishing scripts and furnishing lines on set. “There’s a lot of improvising. The actors had a much better sense of their characters and what worked. We started with the script and then we’d go wandering.

“We had a lot of material to draw on in the edit, which really helps to enhance your comedy.”

This season of six episodes (a Christmas special and a further six episodes next year will follow) also includes some notable cameos. In the sixth episode, for example, we meet O’Leary’s mother, played – and this seems wholly natural and right – by Linda Topp.

This may also be the year that Wellington Paranormal reaches the world. The contract for FX Networks’ What We Do in the Shadows TV series has prevented Paranormal from being offered outside Australasia, but that may change later in the year. We can only hope the Documentary Board has alerted the Tourism Board.

lucky.purre I am so blessed to be working with Hollywood Actor Jemaine Clement in NZ Comedy Documentary series Wellington Paranormal, such a great memory. I waited so long to post this pic, finally here it comes, starts 16th October 2019, TV2, 8:30pm #WellingtonParanormal #Season2 #Episode2 #morephotosanddetailscomingsoon