Australian sportswriter Phil Jarratt, author of surf memoir

‘‘Bill Murray wasn’t quite famous yet when I met him in Sydney in the ’80s. He was on Saturday Night Live but not yet a Ghostbuster, and he’d just finished making a movie called Where the Buffalo Roam in which he played the guru of gonzo, Dr Hunter S Thompson. Thompson had got my phone number through a mutual friend and told Murray to look me up to, ah… ‘get connected’. Being a method actor, he was still in character as Thompson, and he led me on a wild ride through various bars and drug

Actor Rawiri Paratene explains why he hasn’t retired:

‘‘Some juicy apple will present itself, and I’ll just take it and munch before I realise.’

James Millar has a weird relationship with his character, Miss Trunchbull:

‘‘I remember when I was away from it for like 10 days, I actually found myself missing her... I think spending that much time getting into the mind of someone else, you get used to them as a companion in a really strange way.’’

Irish comedian Ed Byrne on NZ audiences:

‘‘In your country, if you ask questions of the audience, they don’t want to answer you. They’re scared of the spotlight. I’ve never had a major heckling problem there. The weird thing in New Zealand is that there’s such a marked difference between weeknight gigs and weekend gigs. During the week, New Zealand audiences are really reserved, as if they’re not allowed to enjoy themselves. I imagine them sitting there going, Oh, my God! It’s Tuesday night! What am I doing, outside the house? It’s not a Friday!’’

Composer Hans Zimmer on deciding on what to put into his live show:

‘‘I didn’t want to include Gladiator, but everyone else said ‘you’ve got to do it’. I remember one of them going – ‘but they play it at ice hockey games!’ I don’t know why that convinced me, but it did.’’