“I’m a professional talker. There’s actually not much I haven’t spoken about yet,” she says.
Dating dilemmas, her struggles with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, and even blunt advice to her childhood self (“Stop trying to lose weight. My god, seriously, was I put on earth to try to be smaller? It’s so boring!”) are peppered throughout her stand-up routines, radio segments and everyday conversations.
Her latest New Zealand International Comedy Festival show, Sproull On The Prowl, is about getting back on the dating scene after 15 years.
What’s it like to return to the dating world – and dating apps – for the first time in more than a decade?
The 36-year-old says the word “interesting” comes to mind.
“I think a lot of my girlfriends are looking for their husbands, whereas I’m not, so I feel quite easy about it.”
Hayley Sproull is unleashing her dating dilemmas in Sproull On The Prowl. Photo / Michelle Hyslop
This ease often turns into the perfect opportunity to bank some comedy gold.
“I’ve literally had a guy leave a date, and the first thing I did was open my notes app and quickly write down everything I found hilarious about that interaction. Then months later, I’m like, right, I need to write a new comedy show about being single – that guy’s really given me a good 10 minutes of content.”
It’s not all courtship comedy though. Sproull says many of her interactions have been perfectly … fine.
“I’ve gone on a lot of like respectful dates. You’re like, isn’t that nice? Not right for me, but I’ll recommend you to a friend.”
The Toi Whakaari-trained actor was a self-confessed Shakespeare superfan growing up, but the comedy buzz was always bubbling under the surface during her drama school days. Her foray into TV first started like many other young Kiwi comics: writing for Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce’s Jono and Ben.
Since then, she’s hosted and been a part of TV shows here and abroad.
There has been a lag in screen jobs of late (Sproull describes the industry as “fickle”), but that’s about to change, as she’s set to host the reboot of classic Kiwi series My House My Castle.
“When The Great Kiwi Bake Off was cancelled, and Have You Been Paying Attention? didn’t get renewed, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess it’s all over.’ Now I’m like, ‘She’s back!’,” she says.
The balance between working on screen and on stage is a careful one.
“I actually felt for a while that I’m a TV gal now, like this is what I do. And I actually paused making comedy shows for about four years because I was too busy and thought this is my life now.
“Then I got the bug again. I just needed to be in front of a live audience and got back into making comedy shows every year.”
Promotional material for My House, My Castle, which originally ran for 10 years from 2001, says it follows “everyday New Zealanders as they search for smarter, braver and more creative ways to put a roof over their heads”.
And Sproull’s own parents know a thing or two about that: they took up her offer of moving from Featherston to live with her in her renovated cottage in Auckland at the end of last year.
“I feel like for some people that’s a nightmare. But for me, I’ve always been really close with my parents. They just weren’t sure where they wanted to go, and then I was like, ‘Well, I’ve got space’,” she says.
“Mum cooks and cleans, and my dad vacuums and does the lawns. We have lots of dance parties in the lounge, and lots of laughs. Yesterday, mum was on her way to put something in the garage, and she stopped by my bedroom, and we just talked for an hour and a half on the bed, which was nice.”
Hayley Sproull says she’s a “professional talker”. Photo / Alyse Wright
Unsurprisingly, Sproull says her family is close, and while her brother, Sam, lives in Melbourne, they still catch up plenty.
“We’ve always felt like a little special unit of four, you know? When partners come in, we’re like, ‘Who’s this? Who’s infiltrating the Sproulls? How dare you!’” she laughs.
Her other family is one she joined almost four years ago.
Sproull admits it was never her dream to be on radio. But being live on air five mornings a week is a gift for someone who loves to tell a story and she says her ZM co-hosts, Carl Fletcher and Vaughan Smith, are two of the best mentors she could ask for.
“Fletch, in particular, he’s just got it down. He’s like the conductor of the whole show. Any time you’re lost, I just look at Fletch on my left and be like, ‘What do I do? What’s happening now?’”
Hayley Sproull joined Carl Fletcher and Vaughan Smith on ZM in 2022. Photo / NZME
Even before they worked together, Fletcher says he was blown away by Sproull’s comedy songs on the keyboard. Now, he gets the impromptu karaoke on the daily.
“She’s very funny and professional – a hard worker that just doesn’t stop. She’ll work four different jobs in a day, and I personally cannot relate due to being incredibly lazy.”
He says in the early days of the show, he loved when Sproull would say something way too personal or outrageous for radio, not knowing that’s not something they would usually say.
And as she – in her words – sets out on the prowl once again, both on stage and off, Fletcher has given his mate one dating tip.
“My advice was to stop cooking these guys from Tinder a five-course dinner, because a guy coming over at 10pm doesn’t want a lamb roast.”
My House My Castle starts on Three and ThreeNow on April 8.
Hayley Sproull performs at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in May. Tickets can be purchased at www.comedyfestival.co.nz.
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.