From performing risky stand-up comedy to embracing the virtues of a quality woollen carpet, host of new show My Dream Green Home Rhiannon McCall is a creative force and a fast learner. She talks to Haley Munro.
Before she became the host of My Dream Green Home, Rhiannon McCall had one single pot plant that she somehow managed to keep alive. Now she’s dreaming of growing a vege garden – or maybe just herbs to start with. “They’re a bit heartier, you know,” she says, passing on some of her newfound eco-wisdom. “They can survive better.”
My Dream Green Home launches tonight and involves a team of experts (a renovator, a landscaper, the Two Raw Sisters) who each week are sent to help a family or group transform their home into something more eco-fabulous.
McCall is new to the world of eco-homemaking but when it comes to picking up skills and adapting quickly, the actor-turned-comedian-turned-TV presenter has form. Best known as a reporter on Seven Sharp, McCall has appeared on 7 Days, Shortland Street, and as a stand-up at this year's NZ International Comedy Festival where she performed what was billed as “a bold and chaotic hour of feminist comedy” called Toxic Shock Bimbo, which canvased everything from McCall’s recent endometriosis diagnosis to that time her dad took her to the David Bain trial. “It was the first comedy show that I’ve sort of been myself,” she explains when we meet at Scratch Café, just inside the large revolving front doors of TVNZ.
Having grown up in Christchurch, a kid who loved to show-off, tell stories and make people laugh, McCall moved to Auckland 10 years ago with a little theatre experience but no drama school qualifications at all. She managed to film a few self-tapes with the help of friends and from there joined an agency when she was around 22.
She says she has learned to adapt over the course of her career; though balancing acting, writing, and TV presenting with comedy has been a challenge on occasion. The New Zealand entertainment industry is small, and with many competing for the same parts, it has proven very hard to land roles. “I feel really grateful that I was able to land My Dream Green Home,” she says. "But I've auditioned to host so many other TV shows, and you know the rejections far outnumber the successes.”
'I keep ploughing through'
Resilience is a quality McCall also cultivated on-stage in the ruthless world of stand-up. What does she do when a joke falls flat? “I keep on going,” she says. “I keep ploughing through. I went through a stage in my comedy where I used to comment on it. I used to say to the audience like oh, did you guys not get that? Or try and make a joke out of them not laughing. But I don't think that's useful, I'm trying to stop that habit... Because you never want to make the audience feel bad. And if a joke flops, it's usually the comedian’s fault... I think in comedy you get a very thick skin because jokes flop all the time. And you just have to keep on moving”.
During the audition process for My Dream Green Home, McCall was asked if she had any knowledge about sustainability or eco-living and responded, “I’m keen to learn.” And what she quickly learned was that her lifestyle before filming the show was not as sustainable as she might’ve hoped.
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But that’s okay. The show, she stresses, is about making incremental changes.
“It's not aiming to tell people off if they aren't living the green life,” says McCall. “It just gives people small tips. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Like, I won't get a coffee now if I have to get it in a single-use takeaway cup. I only do keep cups and if I leave my keep cup at home, well then I'm not getting a coffee that day. I try and walk more. I'm lucky I live close to TVNZ so, I already walk to work. But if I don't have a big grocery shop to do, I'll walk to the supermarket.
Affordable lifehacks for Kiwis
Horticulturist and urban architect Bayley LuuTomes told McCall while filming that the desire to save money can also help many of us behave sustainably without realising it – bringing a drink bottle from home to use throughout the day, for example, because it’s cheaper than constantly buying new ones. Or doubling up on errands to save petrol.
“We engage with sustainability in ways that we're not even aware of,” says McCall.
The show offers Kiwis affordable lifehacks that can be related to everyday lives. And it offers dreams too. I ask McCall, what would her dream green home look like and she doesn’t hesitate to share the vision. She’s “desperate” for that veggie garden (though doesn’t currently have room for one), and a house with double-glazed windows and natural wool carpeting. “On My Dream Green Home, I learned a lot about something I never thought about which is the fabrics that people use in their homes," she explains. "So, I love like woollen carpet. It sounds so lame and simple, but now I think it's something that I would like and need.”
And there’s one other thing. “I would love a natural pool,” she says. I don't know if you've seen these? Basically, people make a pool, but it's kind of like a fancy pond, so it cleans itself. It doesn't have chlorine. There are fish. There are bugs. Yeah, I would love one of those.”
My Dream Green Home starts tonight (Wednesday June 19) at 7:30pm on TVNZ 1, or TVNZ+.
