Still being in active chemo doesn’t allow for much planning, he explains.
He decides on a short-term goal he wants to achieve – be it a trip with his family, or a gig he wants to tour – and works with his oncologist to devise a treatment plan around it.
He’s just returned from touring with 7 Days Live, where he was undergoing chemotherapy around his shows and in various cities across the country.
Looking at Henwood, face full of joy as he recalls the laughs he had on that tour, it’s somewhat unfathomable that he’s just been through his toughest chunk ever.
Over winter, Henwood suffered a series of unexpected hospitalisations and fluid on his heart and lungs that required surgery, and took a toll on him.
Henwood says the surgery and subsequent recovery were harder than expected, and he took a long time to feel himself again.
“You basically take it scan-to-scan with your oncologist, and you devise a plan.”
And he’s got a new one; summer with his family, topped and tailed with chemotherapy.
“One more round of chemo before Christmas, then taking my daughter to Rotorua for a little daddy-daughter trip – everything’s about small time frames,” he says.
“Then it’s all about Christmas and New Year. Then I’ll do a bit of chemo after that.”
Dai Henwood at Piha, which has become an important place of rest and recovery. Photo / Supplied
Henwood also has a beach plan with fellow comedians Ben Hurley, Jeremy Corbett, Paul Ego and their families. It’s a yearly ritual that he cherishes, and Henwood says he finds a special kind of solace at the beach.
He says while his plan gives him time to enjoy these kinds of moments, it also gives hope of advances in prognosis for those with bowel cancer.
“I’ve always got my eyes out for anything that’s on the horizon – a new drug trial or something like that.
“At the moment, I’m just keeping things at bay and really hoping that one of you scientists out there, if you’re watching, just work that bit harder, mate,” he says with a laugh.
And that iconic Henwood, throw-your-head-back laugh, has been crucial to helping him face cancer head-on.
“I’ve got a WhatsApp group that supports me through things. I recently had scans that weren’t ideal, so treatment needs changing – you have these ups and downs, and laughter is everything to me.”
He credits his best friend, comedian Justine Smith, as one of those key people in his community.
“You have bad things on this journey, and then I’m at home afterwards, and I’m just reading messages people are sending and having an honest, deep laugh.
“I find laughter so healing, and that’s why I always think laughter is what I need most in the hardest situations.”
Henwood has even found those moments in the hospital’s chemotherapy room, proving there’s no such thing as a bad time for a giggle.
“I go in there and sure it’s bloody tough for everyone who’s doing it and not everyone’s in a good mood, but there’s still laughter. I’ll share a joke with a couple of the people I know, and they might say something funny to me. Laughter is how you can deal with very hard situations.”
One of the hardest things the comedian says he’s facing is the lack of progress when it comes to bowel cancer treatment, which he says hasn’t changed much since his diagnosis five years ago.
“So I’m trying to keep this classic car on the road until a mechanic has an answer.”
7 Days Live on tour in 2024. Photo / Supplied
Henwood’s used to not having all the answers. But when he can’t find them, often one of those cherished comedy pals can.
Like when he started in comedy, and threw up before every single show.
Just 18, he so desperately wanted to be able to have a career that it consumed him.
That was until good friend and fellow comedian Michelle A’Court reframed his pre-show panic into something more palatable, explaining, “nerves are the same feeling as excitement”.
“If you just think about it being excited rather than nervous, it sort of changes it. And once that clicked, it made it a bit easier.”
He still threw up, though.
Nearly 30 years later, Henwood is a stalwart of New Zealand comedy and an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for services to the entertainment industry.
But he still feels like a newbie and reckons titles like “comedy statesmen” should be reserved for the likes of Jeremy Corbett, 63, who, he wants on the record, is much, much older than him.
“The strength of New Zealand comedy, the diversity of New Zealand comedy – it’s in such a strong place”. Photo / Supplied
Going back to those chunks of time, Henwood is making a plan for four months’ time. He has just been named as the host for the Best Foods Comedy Gala in May next year.
He calls the gala “a buffet for comedy fans to see a lot of the people who are performing at the gala and taste test them” and says hosting the gala is a full-circle moment for him as a comedian.
“When I came through in comedy, there was quite a cultural cringe time in New Zealand. New Zealand comedy and music were a struggle to sell. People loved a comic who had an Irish accent or something like that.
“Now to see the strength of New Zealand comedy, the diversity of New Zealand comedy, it’s in such a strong place, and it’ll be awesome for your average New Zealanders who are watching and going, ‘oh wow, these Kiwis are as good, if not better than the internationals’.”
So what’s his legacy in an industry that’s so drastically evolved, but also given him the career he once threw up for?
“I think my comic friends would remember my legacy as being wholly inappropriate, but always very fun.”
For Henwood, he says it’s also about what comedy has given him – this life. Thirty years on, he still can’t quite believe he gets to call this a job and these people his friends.
“When I come off stage, and I’ve had a show where we’ve had an awesome bunch of Kiwis come along, I go back to a hotel room or wherever I’m staying, and I just feel so happy, so lucky.”
Dai Henwood for Reset
Tickets to the 2026 BestFoods Comedy Gala, May 1 in Auckland and May 2 in Wellington, hosted by Dai Henwood are on sale now at comedyfestival.co.nz