Dai Henwood on ONZM honour and life: 'Dad would be very proud of the boy he raised'

Comedian Dai Henwood, who is one of the New Zealand entertainers listed in the King’s Birthday Honours, says he thought the initial email about being made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) was a joke from his mates.

Henwood, who has been in and out of hospital the past month due to complications from his metastatic bowel cancer, says the news gave him pause to reflect on his accomplishments ahead of going into surgery.

“I thought it was a bit of a gee-up from my friends actually,” he told King’s Birthday Morning with Paddy Gower.

Related stories:

“I was sort of sitting in hospital in that crazy sort of menu of ups and downs of life dishes, I'm sitting in the ED ward at Auckland Hospital, there's a guy just being wheeled out of my room who's handcuffed to his bed because he's come from prison.

“The chaos of all the nurses going around and I'm reading this e-mail going ‘Congratulations. You're an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit’ and sort of the ups of that compared with the absolute craziness of reality - life has certainly been a roller coaster.”

The 47-year-old, who has worked on stand-up stages and TV for more than 25 years, was awarded for his services to the entertainment industry and charitable fundraising.

“The fact that I've spent half of my life travelling around Aotearoa and the world making people laugh and more recently making a couple of resources through a book that I wrote and the doco series on my cancer journey, which have helped some people, and I don't often put a lot of … standing on awards that I've got and honours and that, but this one did really make me go, ‘wow, I'm proud of myself’.”

He says not enough Kiwis are openly proud of themselves.

“I've talked so much about reflection… take a moment to look at yourself and have a bit of a big up session. Tell yourself how awesome you are.

“Kiwis, we’re so humble. We're often the head down, you know, we like to pass off our achievements on to others and that is a good trait, but actually look at yourself, give yourself a pat on the back and tell yourself you're awesome.”

With his dad, actor Ray Henwood, also an ONZM and his mother, former judge Carolyn Henwood, a dame, Henwood joked he has now “completed the trifecta”.

“Part of me did go ‘oh shivers. I've got this ONZM just for talking rubbish and Mum's got an honour for actually doing these heavyweights things, with youth justice and being a judge ... and running theatres and so forth’,” Henwood says.

“Going into comedy, it's no sort of small feat being able to actually earn money where you can contribute to a family and kids and so forth, because it's not a linear journey.

“It's got a lot of ups and downs and especially in New Zealand, you've got to have many strings to your bow to make a career out of it, so I feel very blessed that they [his parents] backed me 100 percent and really helped me.”

His father died at the age of 82 in 2019. Henwood now thinks of him whilst gazing at the stars.

“I was out on a clear night a couple of nights ago and just looking at the stars and thought, ‘oh, if Dad was here today, he would be super proud of me’ not just of the honour, but sort of how I've carried myself through the cancer diagnosis I've had and sort of where I've landed as a husband and father.

“I know Dad would be very proud of the boy he raised.”

Henwood says his body had been responding well to treatment with cancer drug cetuximab, which Pharmac publicly funded in 2024 for a group of bowel cancer patients, but he now has to deal with some fluid around his heart and lungs before going back on it.

As a result, he’s had to cancel some of his shows. But he hopes to back on the road when the time is right and he’s back on track.

“Unfortunately, I've just had to put that [drug treatment] on hold while I deal with these complications. Then, fingers crossed get back on it, keep knocking this cancer back and bringing smiles both to myself and others for a long time to come.”