A Bloke called Johnno

This video will send you into fits of laughter or apolexy as the PM stars in a video skit to promote Napier.

The Dom Post reports:

The prime minister laughs, jokes and pokes fun at himself during a session with Australian comedian Peter Flaherty, whose character Shaun Wayne bears a certain resemblance to celebrity cricketer Shane Warne, in a video clip going online today.

The unscripted seven-minute video was shot during Napier’s Art Deco Weekend last month as part of a $100,000 campaign to market the city to tourists from the east coast of Australia.

“I work for the Government,” Mr Key tells “Shaunie”, during their chat in the back of an art deco car. The Australian does not realise he is talking to the country’s leader.

The subject of the Government’s new BMWs crops up. “They’re nice. They’re good value,” Mr Key says. “I heard that nice prime minister talking and he didn’t have a clue what was going on. He bought 34 of them and he didn’t have a clue what was happening.

“Honestly, the things they try and whip through, sometimes it’s beyond me.

“It would probably be better if they were Holdens. I’ve had Holdens all my life. The Calais.”

Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott and her staff were delighted with the video but worried that, after Mr Key saw it, he would not approve its release.

After he gave the go-ahead, Mrs Arnott said: “It was wonderful that the prime minister understood very well what we were trying to do. He entered the spirit of things wholeheartedly.

I loved it. I am sure some sour pusses will say he should not be doing such things, but really it is 10 minutes out of his schedule, and I love having a PM who can take the piss out of himself.