“I broke his heart, and then he got really drunk and said, ‘I can’t believe you haven’t got trains, man’. He was really looking to connect over it.”
He laughs, but there’s a layer of empathy there too.
Jase Hoyte and Mike Minogue. Photo/ Supplied
Minogue says the problem with this particular approach to radio came recently when he and co-hosts Jason Hoyt and Chris Key simply ran out of lies to tell.
They had to pivot to what was the unknown for them – talking about their actual lives. These days, he says the ratio is about 80/20, with the “rubbish” still making up the bulk of the show.
The new on-air territory comes with a line he does his best not to cross. He checks with his wife, Zara Minogue, before any on-air confessions that might put strain on their nearly 15-year relationship.
The couple met on the set of The Hobbit, where she worked in the art department, and he was a facilities manager on the production.
As their romance blossomed, so did his career as a writer, producer and actor, playing Officer Minogue in the Taika Waititi mockumentary film What We Do in the Shadows, which eventually earned him a reprised role in the hit spin-off TV show Wellington Paranormal.
Karen O’Leary and Mike Minogue in Wellington Paranormal. Photo / Supplied
Despite the credits sitting next to his name, Minogue says this was never the plan – there was no plan.
“I gave no thought to having a career at all. I try and just do what I enjoy, and I don’t think about down the road, or where this is going to lead.”
Becoming a father to the couple’s now 6-year-old daughter has seen him prioritise a degree of stability and financial security in his career, but his ethos remains largely the same.
“Have a great life and try to contribute,” he says.
“All I’m doing is gathering stories. I’ll say yes to everything because it might go terribly, but what a great story that would be if it went terribly. It might go great, and what a great story that would be if it goes great.
“There’s no real failure. The only failure is not doing something.”
Minogue knows he’s been one of the lucky ones in the local entertainment industry, and there came a point when he looked around and felt called to give something back, and “stop just doing shit for myself”.
So acting was put on pause (though he says he’d be shocked if he didn’t reprise his role in Wellington Paranormal in the future) and Frank was born.
Minogue is the founder and head of development at the boutique talent agency.
He could see an opportunity within the management industry to give more support to actors and other creatives and to do things differently – people just hadn’t bothered to try.
“I’m there to give [actors] as many opportunities as I can, but have them be really thoughtful about what their career is going to be and make conscious decisions to improve in as many areas as possible, so that you’ve got the best chance at having a life in the arts.”
He says one of the issues in the industry is actors have no say in their own success, and are at the mercy of those behind the cameras, making them sitting ducks.
“It’s waking up and hoping other people are going to choose you every single day – but that’s crazy.”
His goal with Frank was to change that. He wants to empower actors to work on multiple things that will get them paid, while they also write and audition for roles.
“Deliver better product, deliver better programmes, better writing, better acting, so the audiences love what we make more, so that makes more money, so we can then feed it back – it’s an ecosystem,” he explains.
Minogue says one of the keys to his team’s success is having the right people in the right place, like senior talent agents Robyn Davies and Darnell Dixon, who manage their talent, so he can help that ecosystem thrive.
“My role is to give them everything that they need to be able to support the talent we’ve got on the books while I’m doing things like doing this deal with TVNZ.”
That deal is a partnership between TVNZ+ and Frank Podcasts, which sees the likes of Between Two Beers, Party Science and Extremely Casual Gamers podcasts available to watch on TVNZ+.
Mike Minogue and Jaquie Brown at the Hunt for the Wilderpeople 10th birthday on April 7. Photo / Hope Patterson.
Minogue says the major benefit of podcasting is that talent can record an hour podcast once a week, make some cash and focus their week on writing, acting and development – all of which bolsters Frank’s complete package approach as well as an actor’s longevity.
“The money is in podcasting, and podcasting is going to continue to grow, so what we want to have is a sustainable arts industry where talent stays in it,” he says.
“What we get at the moment is really talented people who get into their mid-thirties, and the market decides whether they should be actors or not, or whether they can be artists or not. So they’re taken away from the thing that they love, and the country loses out because you’ve not got these people making art.
“We want more art created by as many people who want to create art, and podcasting gives you the ability to be able to pay to create that art.”
So what’s next for the man hellbent on changing the face of the industry that built him?
“My goal is to improve the industry from top to bottom. We’re swinging big, but it’s already started.”
Jenni Mortimer is the New Zealand Herald’s chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.