Meet 'the real David Shearer' - a natural comedian

  • Breaking
  • 20/10/2013

David Shearer says the wisecracking, self-deprecating persona he presented on Friday night's 7 Days was the "real David Shearer" voters didn't get to see while he was in charge of the Labour Party.

Mr Shearer read the opening monologue, but was interrupted by host Jeremy Corbett who asserted he was in charge.

"Oh bugger – not again," said Mr Shearer, before launching into a hearty laugh as the title sequence began.

Mr Shearer says without the pressure of being leader of his party, he's able to relax and be himself.

"I was walking around yesterday at a few functions and people said, 'Hey, you were really good on 7 Days last night.' I guess what happens is when you become leader, and particularly when you become leader when you're fairly new in politics, there's a huge amount of pressure that goes on you," he said on Firstline this morning.

"What you end up doing is looking at your feet rather than just relaxing and being the real David Shearer."

Later in the show Mr Shearer joked about the problems facing Auckland Mayor Len Brown and ACT MP John Banks, and had 7 Days regulars such as Ben Hurley and Paul Ego in stitches.

"You're pretty good at this," Hurley told Mr Shearer. "Where was this shit six months ago, mate?"

Mr Shearer says it's easy to see, in hindsight, where he went wrong as leader.

"I hate being in Parliament – well not hate being in Parliament, it's part of the job you know, but I'd much rather be out with people and dealing with people," he says. "That's what I love about politics – it's the people, not the kind of the performance part of it."

Mr Shearer is now the party's spokesperson on energy and foreign affairs.

3 News

source: newshub archive