Welcome to episode 203 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat.

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

Dave Armstrong has such a long list of credits that it’s arriving in a separate podcast series that will run for dozens of weeks…

He is a columnist, playwright, satirist, TV and film script writer as well as being a writer and editor for hire.

His latest piece of work to plug is the play The Surprise Party which debuts at Circa Theatre in Wellington right around the time you hear this conversation.

I’ve wanted to talk to Dave for this podcast for YEARS. But I wanted to meet him first. And, oddly, we had never met. We have both worked for the city’s newspaper, we’re both into music and film and a variety of cultural connections and pursuits, we both know Danny Mulheron!

Despite knowing a lot of Dave Armstrong’s work – or work he’d been involved with – we met for the first time, just briefly, a month or so ahead of this conversation (which took place in the dying weeks of 2019). It was long enough for me to ask him if he was keen to have a chat for my podcast. And for him to give me his business card. Yes, an actual business card! I loved that!

So, a few weeks on from that first meet we sat and chatted for hours – mostly with the tape-recorder on. Most of what we talked about you’ll hear here – which is SOME of what Dave has achieved. From playing with iconic bands in the 1980s to writing scripts for some of our best known, most loved TV shows and writing plays and movies and columns and basically anything that needs to be written.

We talked about satire and comedy, we talked about that horrific Garrick Tremain cartoon (well, we didn’t just narrow it down to one!) And, yeah, we had a great chat. One that I hope you enjoy listening to.

Also, did I mention that The Surprise Party is on now at Circa Theatre in Wellington. Can’t wait to see it. Can’t wait for you to hear this conversation…

This is episode 203 of Sweetman Podcast – my conversationwith Dave Armstrong.
You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron