Two days before his dream came to life, Williams lost one of his biggest cheerleaders.
Paul Williams has written and stars in New Zealand Spy. Photo / Jason Dorday
Williams has wanted to play James Bond since he was 16 and posted about it on Tumblr, although he reckons The Crown’s Josh O’Connor looks cool walking around in a suit, so he could take over the role in a pinch.
His love isn’t for Bond’s slick pick-up lines, beautiful women or sexy heroics. Nah, Williams likes the day-to-day admin of being a spy.
“My favourite scenes aren’t always the action and fighting and chases. It’s the little bits, where he’s checking into a hotel,” he says. “And I love trains.”
It sounds like the sort of dry, throwaway one-liner Williams might say during his stand-up shows or as Jeremy Wells’ offsider on Taskmaster NZ. And before we talk about his new TV comedy, New Zealand Spy, there were suggestions that Williams can sometimes maintain that persona in interviews. Not today. Today, he is painfully honest.
Writing the show was difficult. Post-production has been hard, too. Last night, he was working on the score in the middle of the night, with just his baby son to keep him company.
Williams, 33, says those were the moments – at the beginning and end of making his first TV comedy – that made him think, “well, [I’m] definitely never doing this again”.
“But then during the filming, it’s like, yes! Hope to do more of this.”
Filming involved some of the funniest people in the Commonwealth decamping to New Zealand in late 2025 to be part of a laugh-filled summer camp, playing dress-ups in vintage costumes and pretending to save the world one joke at a time.
On screen, Williams is joined by The Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas, his brother Guy Williams (for one brilliant scene) and two of his best friends – Rose Matafeo and Australian comic Sam Campbell – for a whole lot more. And that’s just the tip of the comedian-casting iceberg.
Aussie Andy Lee (of Hamish and Andy fame) said yes before the show even had funding, and national treasure Bret McKenzie replied to the job offer with a perfectly understated, “yeah, keen”. That one blew Williams’ mind.
“Bret is one of the main reasons I probably do comedy. Flight of the Conchords was so big for me,” he says, before explaining how he and his brother “semi-stalked” McKenzie as teens.
He told McKenzie this at the end of their first day of filming and immediately regretted it. McKenzie, however, calls it “very flattering”.
“Paul is obviously a very talented writer, as well as a brilliant comedian, and comic actor.
“There’s no doubt he could work anywhere in the world, and we’re lucky to have him in Aotearoa,” McKenzie says. He found watching the younger comedians “inspiring”.
All the while, Williams was mourning his dad.
Comedian Paul Williams (far right) wrote and stars in NZ Spy alongside Rose Matafeo, Joe Thomas and Bret McKenzie (seated).
“It was a weird thing where [I was working with Bret], my absolute hero. It’s a dream come true that he’s doing this show. But at the same time, you’re kind of like, the saddest you’ve ever been.”
Other people on set lost loved ones around the same time. Williams wondered if the production was cursed.
Except being on set was the very best place he could be at the very worst time. He was playing make-believe with his best friends. And in between takes, he was able to be a man grieving the loss of his dad, surrounded by those same best friends. Making New Zealand Spy became a welcome distraction.
“On set, I would be able to just focus on what we were doing. And then I’d go to the bathroom, and you’d be alone for a second and, yeah …” Williams says through fresh tears.
“I’d drive to the set, basically crying. And then [filming] was so fun. And then I’d drive home crying again.”
Williams’ father Gary died just a few days before filming began for New Zealand Spy. Photo / Supplied
Gary Williams’ death made headlines. Paul, Guy and their sister Maria are all comedians and have used him as the inspiration – and punchline – for jokes over the years. Fans felt like they knew the man who raised them.
But the timing of his death seems almost impossible when you watch New Zealand Spy. It’s a show so full of silliness and joy; a show that delivers all of that, even though it came to life under the darkest of shadows.
When Williams talks about the comedy series, he doesn’t mention that shadow, at least not until he’s asked directly about Gary.
He doesn’t feel the sadness linger when he watches what they made during that time. He remembers filming as “everyone just kind of making my dreams come true”.
But when he does talk about Gary, the loss hovers just below the surface. And sometimes well above it.
Williams has written on social media about his dad’s death, but more importantly, about his life. That being with him was where he felt safe. How seeing Gary’s photo in a cricket almanac one time made him seem like Michael Jordan in his eyes. He wrote about the things he knows he’s inherited from his dad (“His love of sports, his love of never throwing anything away and his love of saying ‘okay, okay’ when someone tries saying something sincere”), and the many more he wanted to learn from him.
Losing a parent hits you in a specific way, and in another way again when you welcome your own children without them here.
“My baby actually reminds me of him. A lot. Because my dad looked like a baby, is what I’m saying. They had similar amounts of hair,” Williams says of his son, August, who was born earlier this year.
“[Gary] was excited to be a granddad.”
Williams reckons his dad would have been excited for New Zealand Spy, too. He was excited for everything his kids did.
Like watching Guy and Maria’s TV documentary about their joint ADHD diagnosis over and over. (Williams hasn’t seen it, but he thinks his brother asked him to be part of it. “Maybe it’s a sign that I am severely ADHD – I don’t know if I responded. The fact I’m the only one who hasn’t been tested probably speaks volumes.”)
Or when Williams was in high school, making songs and sharing them on YouTube.
“Obviously I was shameless enough to put them online, but I was always maybe semi-embarrassed. I hate the sound of my own voice so I hate hearing them back.”
Tough luck I guess, because almost every night he would hear Gary playing them in their Nelson home – volume up, no headphones, just a look of pride plastered across his face.
“I think he would have really liked [New Zealand Spy], to an annoying level … I’m sure he would have probably watched this to death, which would have been good for ratings.”
Williams with the cast of Taskmaster NZ. Photo / Matt Klitscher
The series is a masterclass in fun. In it, Williams, Matafeo and Thomas are the only three applicants to a newspaper ad looking for new spies. Their boss, McKenzie, sends them on a mission that uncovers a plot by some naughty Aussies who want to ruin New Zealand in the most dastardly way possible – via our farms.
Set somewhere between the 1960s and 70s, it’s teaming with dry (very Flight of the Conchords-esque) jokes, sight-gags, physical comedy and characters that are both endearing and just really, really bad at their jobs. It feels like a show created in another time but also like nothing else on telly right now. Familiar but fresh. Austin Powers but funny.
The idea came during lockdown, when Williams, Campbell and a bunch of other creatives would write a piece of work on a dictated theme every week. New Zealand Spy and Williams’ character Michael Riviera (honestly, what a name) came from a prompt to write about a heatwave. In the show, there’s a lot of snow.
His wife, actor and writer Simone Nathan, knew it was something more the moment she read it. Williams says they share comic sensibilities.
He wrote the script while he and Nathan were living in London, biking to the British Library every day, only taking breaks to buy samosas nearby. He made final script tweaks while performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year, tapping away late into the night after coming off stage. He filmed it while mourning his dad. And he is finishing the last of the music in the dead of night while on baby duty.
Unfortunately, the youngest family member hasn’t quite figured out what a good punchline is yet. He’s not the perfect audience member. But give him time – chances are, it’s in his genes.
“Occasionally he’ll do something that’s … well, it’s hard to know if it’s a laugh or he’s in pain from gas or something,” Williams says. “But I’ll take all the laughs I can.”
New Zealand Spy starts on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+ on April 29. Paul Williams will perform his show Don’t Look At Me at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in May. Visit comedyfestival.co.nz for details
Bridget Jones joined the New Zealand Herald in 2025. She has been a lifestyle and entertainment journalist and editor for more than 15 years.