Kiwiblog

TVNZ reports:

Prime Minister John Key’s appearance on Late Show with David Letterman may have cost taxpayers up to $10,000.

Not really.

“I’ve been informed that Tourism New Zealand have a PR company. They’re on a retainer. They pay them every month, irrelevant of what I do.”

“Apparently, when the Letterman show was on, that was one of the projects they worked on. They would have made the payment whether I was there or not.”

So in fact no extra money was spent. Not that I would have had a problem if there had been – as a tourism promotion, $10,000 would have been ridiculously cheap.

In fact one 25th the cost of the $250,000 spent in 2002 on a Discovery documentary about NZ, starring Helen Clark. And that was in an election year.

I have no problem with either expenditure if they are genuinely deemed a worthwhile tourism investment.

Around 125,000 have watched on You Tube the clip of John Key on David Letterman.

That’s a huge amount. As a comparison Barack Obama earlier in the week has had around 335,000 views. And that is for the President of the United States – a country with around 80 times our population.

Bill Clinton got 12,000 views in the same week, and most Top Tens seem to get around 10,000 views.

Around 1,400 people have commented on the video also.

John Key doing the Top Ten. They chatted for quite a bit about New Zealand first so the segment is almost five minutes long.

The ten are:

10 The Auckland Airport now has a cinnabon
9 We have the loosest slot machines in the Pacific Rim
8 Only a convenient 20-hour flight away
7 It’s like England without the attitude
6 Down there Leno’s on at 9 o’clock
5 Get the whanau together, stay in a bach, crack open the chilly bin and slap on your jandals
4 Visit in the next 30 days, I’ll pick you up at the Airport
3 70% of our energy is generated through renewable hydropower – look they don’t all have to be jokes
2 We drive on the left side of the road, like the British and Lindsay Lohan
1 Unlike most of the world, we still like Americans

No 2 and No 1 were my favourites.

NZPA report:

Prime Minister John Key is going to sell New Zealand to the worldwide tourism market when he appears on a top US television show next month.

Mr Key is booked for the Late Show with David Letterman while he is in New York to speak at the United Nations.

He has a guest appearance on the show’s cheeky “Top Ten” slot.

“It’s an opportunity to promote New Zealand, it’s gold when it comes to New Zealand from a tourism point of view,” Mr Key said today.

“This is a show that millions of people watch worldwide, it really is a magnificent opportunity.”

I love Letterman so this will be good watching.

I’m not sure whether Key will get to write his own top ten, or if the Late Show writers will provide the script, but in case either of them are looking for inspiration feel free to leave your suggestions below for possible inclusion on the top ten list. I’m guessing the topic will be something like “Top Ten things about being the Prime Minister of New Zealand”.

Just two rules:

1. This is for a US audience, so stuff about local issues won’t work
2. They are meant to be funny

The archive of previous top tens is here.

David Letterman had the top ten reasons Britney Spears should be made US President:

Britney Spears’ 10 presidential pledges:

1. I’d be the first president to wear eye shadow since Nixon.

2. We would only invade fun places, like Cabo.

3. Free pie for everybody!

4. My situation room would be a cabana at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

5. I’d lure Osama Bin Laden out of hiding with the irresistible scent of my new fragrance Circus Fantasy.

6. Every presidential news conference would feature costume changes.

7. If I was president America might have a more coherent fiscal strategy.

8. I would challenge US to put a nightclub on the moon by the end of the decade.

9. Three words: Vice President Diddy.

10. Finally the media would pay some attention to me!

Britney Spears would probably have a more coherent fiscal strategy than both Presidents Obama and Bush.

Watching Letterman from last week, and they had on pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles, from Flight 1549. It wasn’t unexpected but very cool to see the massive standing ovation they got from the studio audience. Was a fascinating interview too, as they talked about those few minutes. Skiles has a very good sense of humour.

Totally unrelated to that is great service tonight from Hell Pizza. One of their delivery cars got a puncture and arrived 15 minutes later than notified when booked online. There were several things they did that was really good:

1. They phoned me to let me know it would be late
2. The phone call was before the scheduled delivery time, not after it
3. They explained why there was a delay
4. The delivery person also apologised
5. The gave me a voucher for a free double pizza and free delivery by way of apology (which is worth more than my original order of just a snack pizza)

I didn’t expect anything at all. A 15 minute delay isn’t much, and I was just grateful for the heads up. But their excellent regard for customer service certainly means they’ll remain the preferred brand.

Helping out a good cause. After all we just had the Kiwi Fisherman on there. There is also a facebook group.

Just watching David Letterman from last night,. He just announced the it is Saddam Hussein’s birthday and he would be 71 today – pause – if he hadn’t been hanged. That’s so bad taste, but nevertheless very funny.

The video above shows John McCain responding to Letterman’s hassles about his age. Very funny.

Later in the show he is interviewed more seriously, and talks about how the Republicans partly lost in 2006 because they let spending get out of control, and uses as an example they authorised $3 million for the study of DNA of bears in Montana. He then quipped he didn’t know whether this was a paternity issue, or a criminal issue. Audience loved it.

Hat Tip: Rob Good

David Letterman has the cast of Battlestar Galactica on his show to read out the top ten reasons to watch the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica.

It starts in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait. Unlike Lost, which has started to lose the plot, BSG have been smart in doing just four seasons so it will hopefully go out on a high.