Under the radar in Japan
Tim Lambourne was the face of Kiwi youth TV. Now he’s a nobody in Japan, he says. Glenn McConnell reports.
For two years at the dawn of this decade, and perhaps at the peak of local TV, Tim Lambourne could be seen every day in the foyer of TVNZ in Auckland.
He would arrive in reception before 4pm and begin to plan how he would fill three hours of live television. Then he would go live on air and ‘‘no one would care what we said’’, Lambourne recalls.
It was 2011 and TVNZ was keen to get into the youth market by launching TVNZ U. It brought on a crack team of young local talent and gave them a shoestring budget to make innovative and engaging live television.
‘‘We just had to have fun,’’ Lambourne says. ‘‘We had to be fun, there were no rules, we could just do what we wanted.’’
The U Live couch would be about banter, celebrity gossip and the pros and cons of shaving over a pimple. In the background, as the show came to its end, you could see the rest of the TVNZ staff making their way out of the building.
But if his U Live viewers saw him now, would they recognise him? His short haircut has been replaced with flowing long hair which reaches below his shoulders.
But in bars, people still say ‘‘you were on TV,’’ Lambourne jokes, adding he’s not sure those 20-year-olds still remember his name.
His days were five years ago now. The cast, which also included comedian Rose Matafeo and presenter Matt Gibb, have gone on to careers across the arts.
When Lambourne started the gig, it marked a major career shift. He’d been a 3 News journalist but he didn’t stay long: ‘‘I got a little disenchanted.’’
‘‘TVNZ U was just pure entertainment. It took me six months to come to terms with the fact it no longer mattered what I said. It was anything goes.’’
Now, Lambourne is returning to journalism. He’s hosting a four-part TVNZ series about Ma¯ori businesses in the global economy, called Gate to the Globe.
‘‘I still want to tell stories,’’ he says. ‘‘Everything I do, whether it’s photography, music or film and television is telling stories.’’
Lambourne does a lot. He arrives off a plane from Queenstown to talk about his latest gig.
He performed at Rhythm and Vines as 2017 came to its close, where he was seen hanging out with Swedish pop
UThe Miniaturist, Monday, 7.30pm, SoHo
Romola Garai, Anya Taylor-Joy and Alex Hassell star in this BBC period thriller based on the popular 2014 book by Jessie Burton. Set in 1686, it’s the story of Nella Oortman (Taylor-Joy) who arrives in Amsterdam to begin her life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. However, when her husband presents her with a wedding gift of a cabinet that is a miniature replica of their home, she finds the tiny creations mirror what is happening within the household and appear to predict the future.
The Summit, Monday, 8.30pm, Ma¯ ori TV
Nick Ryan’s 2012 tale recounts the deadliest day on the world’s most star Tove Lo. Between the catch-ups, performances and weddings – ‘‘all my friends are insisting on getting married right now’’ – Lambourne finds the time for interviews like this.
Despite claiming this is his downtime, he’s a busy guy. Although most of his work is in New Zealand, Lambourne lives permanently in Tokyo, Japan, with his partner.
‘‘I have to start from scratch, this is a holiday. A holiday where I get paid because I have a structure to support me, there’s stuff I’m working on,’’ he says.
Back home in Tokyo, Lambourne DJs and makes videos. Although he’s appearing on television in New Zealand and being booked for major festivals like Rhythm and Vines, in dangerous mountain, when 11 climbers mysteriously perished on K2. ‘‘Tells a multifaceted story that deals with more than the expected peril and exhilaration of adventure tales,’’ wrote Los Angeles Times’ Kenneth Turan. Japan, life is harder and quieter.
Luckily, he says, ‘‘it’s quite cheap to eat’’.
‘‘So, that’s nice. I cook a lot but yeah, most of my projects are kind of based over here. I’m trying to switch that around, but it is only one flight.’’
Lambourne’s last DJ gig in Tokyo was at a cafe, he says. So, why not stay in Auckland? He’s evidently in demand here. Why play cafes when you could work more on television and build off those big gigs?
‘‘You probably shouldn’t frame it like I’m playing gigs,’’ Lambourne warns, downplaying his own success with an almost brutal humbleness.
‘‘I want to work my way up. I’m still just at the bottom of the pile in Tokyo. I’m pretty happy.
‘‘Tokyo is very much about quality and hierarchy and longevity. I want to respect that rather than come in all
Would I Lie to You, Thursday, 7.30pm, UKTV
Rob Brydon is back to host the 11th season of this award-winning British comedy panel show. David Mitchell and Lee Mack again captain the teams, with the celebrities scheduled to appear including Jo Brand, Bob Mortimer, Ade Edmondson, Richard Osman and Katherine Ryan. guns blazing saying, ‘I’ve done that there’.’’
Living offshore also provides another benefit – ‘‘it’s good to make yourself scarce’’.
‘‘You know, it makes people appreciate you more. Genuinely, I think if you’re always around, people get a bit sick of you.’’
And so after his new show airs, a lot of which was filmed overseas as Lambourne explored where the products of Ma¯ori business end up, he will be back in Japan.
This New Zealand celebrity life will be halted, the parties with pop stars, interviews and photo shoots will be put on hold as he makes a career out of DJing in Tokyo.
He describes the DJ scene there as amazing. ‘‘There are amateur DJs working in their bedrooms who are better than anyone else I have ever heard,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s amazing as a fan of music just going out to a bar or nightclub and hearing the best DJs in the world who have no following,’’ the former George FM host says.
Saying goodbye, doesn’t seem to be an issue for Lambourne, either. He’s casual in the face of questions about whether he’s leaving the fame, jobs and gigs behind. At our Auckland interview, he lies back on a K Rd staircase and says: ‘‘That is where I want to be, I want to be better.’’
❚ Gate to the Globe
premieres Wednesday on TVNZ1 at 8pm.
"Tokyo is very much about quality and hierarchy and longevity. I want to respect that rather than come in all guns blazing." Tim Lambourne