December 18, 2024 • 10 mins
Most Kiwis will know the name Mark Hadlow.
The NZ Order of Merit recipient is best known internationally for his roles in King Kong and the Hobbit, but he has his fingers in many pies.
In 2017, Hadlow had a one man show called MAMIL (Middle Aged Man in Lycra), exploring the male midlife crisis and the way many of them turn to road cycling.
The show received rave reviews, touring the country for eight years.
Seven years on, Hadlow has created a sequel – GOMIL, standing for Grumpy Old Man in Lycra, premiering in Christchurch in early 2025.
He told Heather du Plessis-Allan that it was great being back in the saddle – literally.
“The show opens with a big sequence, so it’s really interesting getting back on the Pinarello again,” he said.
“Oh goodness me, that was fun.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now most keywis will know the name Mark Hadlow. He's
a New Zealand Order of Merit recipient. He's been in
King Kong, He's been in the Hobbit. He's an actor, comedian, singer, writer,
producer and director. Frankly, what is he not? He's also
a grumpy old man in Lykra, at least on stage.
You might remember. Back in twenty seventeen Mark had a
one man show called Mammal, which was middle aged man
and lycra. It's all about the male midlife crisis and
(00:21):
you know, turning to the road, cycling to relieve it
and stuff. He's now giving us Mammal two Gommel, which
is Grumpy old Man and Lykra and it's coming to
the Isaac Theater next year. Mark Hadlow is with us now, Mark.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Morning, and how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm very well. Thank you. You've done the show before
having you've done it in Nelson, didn't you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We opened it at Nelson about three weeks ago and
loved it. Yeah, it was great being back in the saddle.
Oh dear Lordie.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
When you say back in the saddle, do you mean
back in the saddle on stage or literally cycling saddle.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
No cycling baddle? Yeah is it? Those show opens with
a big sequence, so it's really interesting getting back on
Pinarello again. Oh my goodness, mate, are you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Are you spending long enough in the saddle to get
us all butt?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It was very sore, It was very short in thin.
When I got back on for rehearsals, I said to
Gregory Cooper, I said, who was drinking? I said, Gregor,
I don't think I can do this again. It's too sore,
it said, Just man up, will you?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
And you haven't gone for one of those gel padded
butt things.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
No goodness, you know that's cheating. That's very cheating. Oh yes,
because you've got to develop your your bottom muscles. If
you don't, it ends up. You can't make contact with
a seat. And the show is a little bit quick
to get in and off the saddle, so if I
got a gel seat, I might slip off. That would
be really painful down in amongst the engineering of the set,
(01:44):
and I would be crushed. So I've got to be careful.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So I take it from the fact that your butt
muscles are not actually attuned to the bike, you're not
actually a road cyclist at all. In real life.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I am a little bit not as much as I
used to be, but I am about to get back
into it. There's some lots of now for me to
go and do some promotional stuff. And Scottie Broll and
I have been read it to a sort of a
pilot for a little TV thing called to a Demoto,
which is going to be very exciting. We're very excited
(02:14):
about that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Mark. I'd love to get into road cycling. I really
would like to, but it freaks me out. I just
get maybe I'm consuming too many stories about people being
knocked off their bikes. But do you not worry about it?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Nah, because you've got to have a bit of common
sense and you just ride sensibly. I remember when I
was a kid. You ride on the left hand side
of the road. That's where you ride. You don't ride
in pairs, you don't ride in threes, you don't ride
in fours. You just obey all of the road rules. Simple.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
But Mark, what about the numpties in the cars? A
You're going to open their door just as you come
and then you're into them.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, that's common sense awareness. You see a car parked
up on the left, you know you look in it.
You see, if someone's there, you've just got to apply
common sense. Seriously, that's it. And also not being numpty.
Yeah the cleet, care for your clique and where where
and where like, because chafing is not worth it.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I love you actually turning into quite the road cyclist here. Well, okay,
so if you if you are a road cyclist, which
is what at least one half of the content of
the show, what about the other half, which is having
a midlife chrisis?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Half? Have you had a half?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I was just gonna say, have you had the midlife
crisis as well?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh? I had those. I've had three or four along
the way. I think this time it's about a little
bit of the older perspective from Wayne. Did you see
the show? Did you see Mammal? No?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Never?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Okay, Well in Mammal we had other characters was called
Wayne who had a very very distinctive riding pedling technique
and it was very funny. It is very funny, and
it's actually based on someone I knew when I joined
a peloton when I was doing the Hobbit. That's how
this all eventuated. The Hobbit, I went with Titling and
(03:56):
I met Mike Mike had this extraordinary peddling style, and
I said, that's got to be in the show. So
he copied it. So he'll probably sue me one day
for Oh, what's the pit hoop star? It's called knees
a kimbo?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Oh is it knees splayed?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
But I do that, Mark? Is that not?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, that's okay, I do it all the time. Maybe
we should go riding sometimes together and compare his splade knees.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, now I'm going to be really embarrassed about this.
Speaking of the hobbit, have you got anything to do
with what's going on at the moment with with with
coming back around and doing all the Lord ring stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
No, I haven't. I've heard of it, but no, not really.
I don't think they're anywhere near any casting decisions whatever.
And I'm not I'm not at I don't know anything
about it. I'm too busy trying to get Gomel off
the off, the off the cab rank. So you know
that's going pretty well. So, I mean, obviously it's exciting. Heck,
(04:54):
anything that come out of some of that stable is wonderful.
I mean anything, yeah, do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
It's still got the appeal that it had back in
the day.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I think so because you know, I mean anything to
do with Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, you
know we're talking about. You know, the fan base in
itself is enormous. There's millions of people who the writing
and let alone, what what Peter and Fran and Philip
(05:24):
can come out with, and of course involving Andy serkis
so you know, I mean it's a great it's a
great start. That's that's a core basis to kick anything off.
And I think anything about anything that's produced or in
New Zealand in the film industry has to be it
has to be an advantage, you know, as long as
New Zealanders are involved obviously, which is a great thing.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You need the work aids quite to bring the work here.
How's it going, by the way, with theater at the moment.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
That's pretty hard. Finance is obviously a major concern. Funding
has dried up a bit. We're not a bit a
lot and people are being obviously a little bit coy
about buying tickets to get to anything that's live. And
you know, the priority here is making sure whatever we're
putting on is quality. It's got to have you know,
(06:13):
significant you know, significant content, gravitas, et cetera, if you'd
like to call it. And it's also about professionalism. We've
got to see some talent and you've got we've got
to have work for the talent that's coming up through
musical and I'm seeing a lot of young actors now,
both of all the genre, of all the diversities coming up,
and there's some extraordinary stuff. But how they get that
(06:34):
out there is just really hard. The outlet. You know,
something that I'm trying very hard to keep repeating, which
is about getting people into a theater, getting people into
any venue for live entertainment, specifically acting. We're not seeing
awful lot of it out there, but everyone's trying very
(06:55):
hard to get things up and running.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Do you think that part of what you're battling is
increasing isolation? You know, us us isolating ourselves because we
I mean, you see this with the kids nowadays, right
they just basically go home after school and lie all
evening in their rooms with their phones, and I think
adults are doing it as well.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I think you've hit the nail on the head. I
think it is about that. I think it's and with
that and what's coming with that is, of course, our
loss of being able to communicate to each other. Because
we're doing it all through a phone. We're losing the
ability to be able to actually put words together, to
talk to someone, to look someone in the eye and say, gosh,
you look great today, or what's wrong? Can I help you?
(07:32):
We're missing a lot of that from our psyche, our social,
our social you know, reasoning. So more communication and that's
what theaterre does, that's what we do with I mean
shows that, like what we're doing gommele is not about
anything other than actually the social issues that are happening
(07:54):
for the older generation as they get near retirement age.
This is what gombal Too two is about. And it's
some really important stuff about kids, grandparents, about kids, parents,
It's about all that and that's about communication. Boom boom boom.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Speaking of the phones. Though, So I went and stalked
you on your social media and I didn't realize you
were in the navy.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah still I am, I know, I yeah, I How
did you get.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Into the navy? Are you actually trained or like I was.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
In the navy when I left school. I joined the
New Zealand Navy when I was sixteen, went into the
Navy three and a half years left and then joined
the reserves back in two thousand and seven, I think,
and then and then, and then dubiously lost a little
bit of my rank due to a really bad thing.
What did you do? I was naughty. I went over
(08:50):
the top ten. Oh, I can't say, because it's actually
it's the Official Secrets Act. No, I'm kidding. No, I
went to a little but overboard at a function I
was doing, so I got reprimanded by DCN and so
I got told to that i'd been naughty.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Did you have too many sherbets?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, no, no I didn't have too many sherbets, but
most has had a lot of sherbets. And I went
up on the table and said up, and I shouldn't
have said. And then I got, you know, the Deputy
check the Navy was not happy with me, and so
I stood in front of him and I apologized and said,
there's nothing I can say, sir, I did overstep the mark,
(09:32):
and I apologize. Well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Judging judging by the uniform you had on in the
Instagram picture, you look like you're still pretty senior. Like
it's a pretty flash uniform.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know, well, I think I'm the oldest lieutenant in
the ryle using a Navy reserve.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Just because the Navy uniforms are so flash it looks
flashy than it actually is.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
They do look good.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Before I let you go, how's your house because I
still got hit by a mud slide.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Oh fine, absolutely fine, And it's beautiful place, beautiful place
out of my valley. Of the view when you wake
up in the morning looking across the whole of the
able Tasman is absolutely sensational. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Well, if it's back and hold that, that's probably because
your wife sorted it out.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. When I get to Auckland with Gommele,
I'm going to ring you and we're going to go
out for a ride seriously, and we're going to tour
later in the year. So but christ Church is going
to get it in February.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I will do it with you and then you can
judge my leg style for me.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Make wait to see Okay, thanks Heaven, look back.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
To yourself a and have a merry Christmas. It's Mark Hadlow.
Mark's doing Gommle Mamltwo Gomal grumpy old man and Liicra
it's going to the Isaac Theater in February from February
ten to twenty one, and then after that, as he said,
touring the country as well.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Now most keywis will know the name Mark Hadlow. He's
a New Zealand Order of Merit recipient. He's been in
King Kong, He's been in the Hobbit. He's an actor, comedian, singer, writer,
producer and director. Frankly, what is he not? He's also
a grumpy old man in Lykra, at least on stage.
You might remember. Back in twenty seventeen Mark had a
one man show called Mammal, which was middle aged man
and lycra. It's all about the male midlife crisis and
(00:21):
you know, turning to the road, cycling to relieve it
and stuff. He's now giving us Mammal two Gommel, which
is Grumpy old Man and Lykra and it's coming to
the Isaac Theater next year. Mark Hadlow is with us now, Mark.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Morning, and how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm very well. Thank you. You've done the show before
having you've done it in Nelson, didn't you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We opened it at Nelson about three weeks ago and
loved it. Yeah, it was great being back in the saddle.
Oh dear Lordie.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
When you say back in the saddle, do you mean
back in the saddle on stage or literally cycling saddle.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
No cycling baddle? Yeah is it? Those show opens with
a big sequence, so it's really interesting getting back on
Pinarello again. Oh my goodness, mate, are you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Are you spending long enough in the saddle to get
us all butt?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It was very sore, It was very short in thin.
When I got back on for rehearsals, I said to
Gregory Cooper, I said, who was drinking? I said, Gregor,
I don't think I can do this again. It's too sore,
it said, Just man up, will you?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
And you haven't gone for one of those gel padded
butt things.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
No goodness, you know that's cheating. That's very cheating. Oh yes,
because you've got to develop your your bottom muscles. If
you don't, it ends up. You can't make contact with
a seat. And the show is a little bit quick
to get in and off the saddle, so if I
got a gel seat, I might slip off. That would
be really painful down in amongst the engineering of the set,
(01:44):
and I would be crushed. So I've got to be careful.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So I take it from the fact that your butt
muscles are not actually attuned to the bike, you're not
actually a road cyclist at all. In real life.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I am a little bit not as much as I
used to be, but I am about to get back
into it. There's some lots of now for me to
go and do some promotional stuff. And Scottie Broll and
I have been read it to a sort of a
pilot for a little TV thing called to a Demoto,
which is going to be very exciting. We're very excited
(02:14):
about that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Mark. I'd love to get into road cycling. I really
would like to, but it freaks me out. I just
get maybe I'm consuming too many stories about people being
knocked off their bikes. But do you not worry about it?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Nah, because you've got to have a bit of common
sense and you just ride sensibly. I remember when I
was a kid. You ride on the left hand side
of the road. That's where you ride. You don't ride
in pairs, you don't ride in threes, you don't ride
in fours. You just obey all of the road rules. Simple.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
But Mark, what about the numpties in the cars? A
You're going to open their door just as you come
and then you're into them.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, that's common sense awareness. You see a car parked
up on the left, you know you look in it.
You see, if someone's there, you've just got to apply
common sense. Seriously, that's it. And also not being numpty.
Yeah the cleet, care for your clique and where where
and where like, because chafing is not worth it.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I love you actually turning into quite the road cyclist here. Well, okay,
so if you if you are a road cyclist, which
is what at least one half of the content of
the show, what about the other half, which is having
a midlife chrisis?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Half? Have you had a half?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I was just gonna say, have you had the midlife
crisis as well?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh? I had those. I've had three or four along
the way. I think this time it's about a little
bit of the older perspective from Wayne. Did you see
the show? Did you see Mammal? No?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Never?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Okay, Well in Mammal we had other characters was called
Wayne who had a very very distinctive riding pedling technique
and it was very funny. It is very funny, and
it's actually based on someone I knew when I joined
a peloton when I was doing the Hobbit. That's how
this all eventuated. The Hobbit, I went with Titling and
(03:56):
I met Mike Mike had this extraordinary peddling style, and
I said, that's got to be in the show. So
he copied it. So he'll probably sue me one day
for Oh, what's the pit hoop star? It's called knees
a kimbo?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Oh is it knees splayed?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
But I do that, Mark? Is that not?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, that's okay, I do it all the time. Maybe
we should go riding sometimes together and compare his splade knees.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, now I'm going to be really embarrassed about this.
Speaking of the hobbit, have you got anything to do
with what's going on at the moment with with with
coming back around and doing all the Lord ring stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
No, I haven't. I've heard of it, but no, not really.
I don't think they're anywhere near any casting decisions whatever.
And I'm not I'm not at I don't know anything
about it. I'm too busy trying to get Gomel off
the off, the off the cab rank. So you know
that's going pretty well. So, I mean, obviously it's exciting. Heck,
(04:54):
anything that come out of some of that stable is wonderful.
I mean anything, yeah, do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
It's still got the appeal that it had back in
the day.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I think so because you know, I mean anything to
do with Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, you
know we're talking about. You know, the fan base in
itself is enormous. There's millions of people who the writing
and let alone, what what Peter and Fran and Philip
(05:24):
can come out with, and of course involving Andy serkis
so you know, I mean it's a great it's a
great start. That's that's a core basis to kick anything off.
And I think anything about anything that's produced or in
New Zealand in the film industry has to be it
has to be an advantage, you know, as long as
New Zealanders are involved obviously, which is a great thing.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You need the work aids quite to bring the work here.
How's it going, by the way, with theater at the moment.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
That's pretty hard. Finance is obviously a major concern. Funding
has dried up a bit. We're not a bit a
lot and people are being obviously a little bit coy
about buying tickets to get to anything that's live. And
you know, the priority here is making sure whatever we're
putting on is quality. It's got to have you know,
(06:13):
significant you know, significant content, gravitas, et cetera, if you'd
like to call it. And it's also about professionalism. We've
got to see some talent and you've got we've got
to have work for the talent that's coming up through
musical and I'm seeing a lot of young actors now,
both of all the genre, of all the diversities coming up,
and there's some extraordinary stuff. But how they get that
(06:34):
out there is just really hard. The outlet. You know,
something that I'm trying very hard to keep repeating, which
is about getting people into a theater, getting people into
any venue for live entertainment, specifically acting. We're not seeing
awful lot of it out there, but everyone's trying very
(06:55):
hard to get things up and running.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Do you think that part of what you're battling is
increasing isolation? You know, us us isolating ourselves because we
I mean, you see this with the kids nowadays, right
they just basically go home after school and lie all
evening in their rooms with their phones, and I think
adults are doing it as well.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I think you've hit the nail on the head. I
think it is about that. I think it's and with
that and what's coming with that is, of course, our
loss of being able to communicate to each other. Because
we're doing it all through a phone. We're losing the
ability to be able to actually put words together, to
talk to someone, to look someone in the eye and say, gosh,
you look great today, or what's wrong? Can I help you?
(07:32):
We're missing a lot of that from our psyche, our social,
our social you know, reasoning. So more communication and that's
what theaterre does, that's what we do with I mean
shows that, like what we're doing gommele is not about
anything other than actually the social issues that are happening
(07:54):
for the older generation as they get near retirement age.
This is what gombal Too two is about. And it's
some really important stuff about kids, grandparents, about kids, parents,
It's about all that and that's about communication. Boom boom boom.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Speaking of the phones. Though, So I went and stalked
you on your social media and I didn't realize you
were in the navy.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah still I am, I know, I yeah, I How
did you get.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Into the navy? Are you actually trained or like I was.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
In the navy when I left school. I joined the
New Zealand Navy when I was sixteen, went into the
Navy three and a half years left and then joined
the reserves back in two thousand and seven, I think,
and then and then, and then dubiously lost a little
bit of my rank due to a really bad thing.
What did you do? I was naughty. I went over
(08:50):
the top ten. Oh, I can't say, because it's actually
it's the Official Secrets Act. No, I'm kidding. No, I
went to a little but overboard at a function I
was doing, so I got reprimanded by DCN and so
I got told to that i'd been naughty.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Did you have too many sherbets?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, no, no I didn't have too many sherbets, but
most has had a lot of sherbets. And I went
up on the table and said up, and I shouldn't
have said. And then I got, you know, the Deputy
check the Navy was not happy with me, and so
I stood in front of him and I apologized and said,
there's nothing I can say, sir, I did overstep the mark,
(09:32):
and I apologize. Well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Judging judging by the uniform you had on in the
Instagram picture, you look like you're still pretty senior. Like
it's a pretty flash uniform.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know, well, I think I'm the oldest lieutenant in
the ryle using a Navy reserve.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Just because the Navy uniforms are so flash it looks
flashy than it actually is.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
They do look good.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Before I let you go, how's your house because I
still got hit by a mud slide.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Oh fine, absolutely fine, And it's beautiful place, beautiful place
out of my valley. Of the view when you wake
up in the morning looking across the whole of the
able Tasman is absolutely sensational. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Well, if it's back and hold that, that's probably because
your wife sorted it out.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. When I get to Auckland with Gommele,
I'm going to ring you and we're going to go
out for a ride seriously, and we're going to tour
later in the year. So but christ Church is going
to get it in February.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I will do it with you and then you can
judge my leg style for me.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Make wait to see Okay, thanks Heaven, look back.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
To yourself a and have a merry Christmas. It's Mark Hadlow.
Mark's doing Gommle Mamltwo Gomal grumpy old man and Liicra
it's going to the Isaac Theater in February from February
ten to twenty one, and then after that, as he said,
touring the country as well.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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