Bridget Jones.
The Project’s Jesse Mulligan is the nice guy of TV. But his most embarrassing moment is telling an unfunny dirty joke to Ryan Gosling, writes
Something strange happened when I Googled Jesse Mulligan. Type in anyone’s name, and somewhere on the page, you get a selection labelled ‘‘People also searched for…’’ – the search engine equivalent of ‘‘Like this? Try this’’.
For Mulligan, there were three suggestions: Mike Hosking (of course), Toni Street (sure) and Ryan Gosling (wait, what?).
When presented with the evidence, Mulligan seemed equally confused, until he let the truth slip.
‘‘I mean, I have hung out with Ryan Gosling a bit...I’ve been go-karting with him, I’ve been to his house, I’ve been to a stag do with him. But this is all a few years ago. It’s not the kind of thing Google would know about.’’
That’s right, it turns out Mulligan’s most embarrassing moment is delivering a misplaced dirty joke in front of friend-of-a-friend and Hollywood hunk Gosling. ‘‘I delivered the punchline and there was just silence. Someone coughed, my face flushed and someone changed the subject.’’ But then again, he also had a very ‘‘male’’ high point with the Oscar-winner.
‘‘When I was single, we were on a bus, full of men on a stag do and we went past this group of girls and someone said we should see if they wanted to jump on the bus. I stood up and said I would do it. Stopped the bus and I went out and said, ‘we’re a really nice bunch of guys, do you want to come on and have a drink?’ They walked onto the bus, and I walked on to the chant of ‘Jesse, Jesse’, with Ryan Gosling giving me high-fives.
‘‘But I wouldn’t want to overstate our friendship – I haven’t seen him for 10 years. Hopefully he remembers me as the get-the-girls-on-the-bus guy, and not the dirty-joke guy.’’
To be honest, neither story really marries up with the picture often painted of Mulligan. He’s TV’s nice guy, the gentle herder of his merry team, the really-quite-lovely alternative to that ‘‘other’’, nowdeparted current affairs host.
‘‘I almost never have arguments with people,’’ Mulligan confirms, and it’s hard not to believe him. But none of that is to say Mulligan doesn’t have a backbone, or opinions – he does, and they are getting stronger.
It’s been almost a year to the day since Mediaworks launched The Project, a new take on the 7pm current affairs slot long held by Campbell Live.
Mulligan and his co-hosts Kanoa Lloyd and Josh Thomson seem to have created a show that has made an impact on the world away from the lights and cameras of the studio. And Mulligan has worked out the secret – don’t try to change the world, instead, focus on the causes and topics you’re passionate about.
‘‘We had a few moments last year where the show really lifted off. We did a piece calling for more DOC funding. It was great for the show, but it was also great for actually changing the world. That happened. Kanoa has had a few really great pieces like that as well, so I think if we can have a solid and funny show five nights a
People working here described it as like working in a cult - in a good way - because everyone's so joyfully happy to be at work. There's none of that weird office politics that comes with most jobs, and almost all media jobs." Jesse Mulligan
week, and pepper that with something that transcends the show and becomes news outside of that – which probably happened half a dozen times last year – then we’d be in a really good space.’’
Much was made of The Project‘s early return to screens this year - it had a three-week headstart on its TVNZ rivals. However ratings suggest it wasn’t the golden ticket - numbers were down on the same time the year before, and obviously the hype over a new-look Seven Sharp has dominated headlines. But Mulligan doesn’t buy into the chat about turf wars – he leaves that to the show’s bosses.
For him, it was a case of driving around his children in the family’s big new car ‘‘like a school bus’’ one minute, then next, he was back at work doing the jobs he loves.
Jobs, not job. Mulligan is busy – TV by night, RNZ by day, and writing during the spaces in between.
‘‘To be honest, I feel like every year has been bigger than the last one. In terms of pure work output, 2017 was pretty massive. But people assume I work harder than I do,’’ he says.
‘‘If you can work out how one day works, then you just roll that out 300 more times. Get up, get the kids’ breakfast, take them to school and kindy, and then hit RNZ at 10 o’clock, do my show there, then bike up to TV3 to get there in time for a 4 o’clock meeting and then be there until the end of the show and then jump on my bike and head home.’’
He’s happiest at home in Auckland’s Grey Lynn with wife Victoria and their three kids. They are the ones who also make it all possible, he says in his nice-guy way.
‘‘It’s quite easy to leave in the morning, do radio and TV and come home at 8pm.
‘‘People say how do you do it? And I could say, ‘I bike here and I bike there’, but the reason I can do it is because I’ve got this amazing woman at home looking after three children and getting them where they need to go. If you could mention that, then that might ensure she stays there.’’
The problem comes when you have to fit something else in – like a haircut, or an interview – but Mulligan’s doing everything he’s always wanted. Food reviewing was the first dream, from his dirty-poor days in London literally salivating over other people’s writing of meals he could never savour.
‘‘RNZ was unexpected. I probably would never have had the confidence to put my hand up and say I could do that.
‘‘RNZ people are so smart. And they all pay attention to the world. I’d probably lost a bit of that curiosity.’’ He’s been the RNZ afternoon host for two-and-a-half years now, and describes the job ‘‘almost like doing a degree’’.
The Project helps to reinforce it all. It’s also helped bring out the opinionated side of him.
‘‘I hate to use words like conservation or environmental, because those are bland words, but those are areas which, if you know anything about them you know how urgent they are and how much sense it makes to do something about them. So if you do enough interviews on those subjects, you can’t help but be a believer.
‘‘When you say opinionated, I think of someone who had big opinions, without much knowledge. Hopefully, I am informed. I have this rare privilege of hearing more about these topics than most people do.