‘Hardest year of my journey’: Dai Henwood shares cancer update

Comedian Dai Henwood was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2020 and a three-part documentary about his experience hits screens this month. Photo / Woman’s Day
As he prepares to unveil a warts-and-all documentary, the comedy legend shares his feelings on living with an incurable disease.
When Woman’s Day catches up with Dai Henwood at his local cafe in West Auckland, he is looking healthy and happy, although the comedian quietly admits: “This has been the hardest year of my whole journey”.
That journey, of course, began in 2020, when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. It has since been classed as incurable.
“I did a lot of chemo at the beginning of this year, but then I got a tumour that’s sort of closed off my windpipe and collapsed a bit of my lung,” reveals Dai, 46. “When things impact your breathing, it’s much more visceral, so I’ve been in radiation and that has its own side effects.
“I’m starting to come right now… Just in time to do some more chemo! I’ll be up to round 30 of chemo in two weeks.”
Apart from the occasional cough, Dai shows no outward signs of the cancer wreaking havoc on his insides. His eyes still have that mischievous glint and the smile lines scattered sparingly around his face are evidence of his willingness to laugh.
The beloved star has been on the promo trail for a while now – first with his book The Life of Dai, then his stand-up tour Dai Hard and now Live and Let Dai, a three-part documentary about his harrowing cancer experience.
“I’m so proud of it,” he says. “It’s emotional and confronting, but in a good way. I think it’ll be a really good resource for people.”
Asked how the doco came to be, Dai explains: “After doing the interview with Jaquie Brown [where he disclosed his diagnosis on The Project last year], I realised sharing my story was relevant to others. It was actually having an impact on people. That made me go, ‘Maybe I could make something that could help people as well as being entertaining’.”
His eyes suddenly welling up, he continues: “I also wanted to make something that documented this for my kids to show how I went through this, if I get better…”
Taking a deep breath, Dai adds: “Or if the worst-case scenario happens and things get shortened a bit, then they can see how I carried myself and actually see the realities of it when they’re old enough.
“My mum and my kids are in it, so it gives a real feel for me as a person. I’m a very open book, so it’s very honest. I impart some of my ideas on life and death. It’s visually so beautiful – you could almost watch it with the sound off!”
The 7 Days and Taskmaster NZ star knows how important comedy is as a tool, especially when talking about hard stuff.
“It’s that thing of being able to have light through very heavy things. A lot of the darkest, heaviest things have been dealt with through comedy.”
Meanwhile, meeting so many doctors, nurses and scientists, via his treatment and the doco, has seen Dai reassess his role in society. He filmed at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, where they’re doing trials on his type of bowel cancer.
“Seeing these humans dedicate their lives to trying to find this crazy drug that can save lives… A big existential thing for me is how I thought I wasn’t doing anything for society as a comedian. Look at firefighters – they’re saving people from buildings. People are developing drugs for unique diseases.”
But Dai has had a eureka moment. Smiling, he recalls: “I did a gig and a woman came up to me afterwards to say, ‘My husband died a few weeks ago and this is the first time I’ve felt a release from it.’ I was like, ‘Oh, comedy is important’.”
Dai is about to embark on another 7 Days tour, while going through chemo at the same time. He’s also counting the days before his annual family trip to the NRL Grand Final in Sydney next month, where he relishes the time spent with his beloved wife Jo and their adorable kids.
He’s devoted to his whānau and has made an active decision not to be a “bucket-list cancer patient”, frantically trying to tick things off in a hurry.
“I just want to be a happy, boring dad who is here making the school lunches and walking the kids to school,” Dai says. “We still have awesome adventures, but cancer has crystallised for me that happiness has nothing to do with where you’re going or what you’re buying.
“I have this wish that if people actually spent some time to find the beauty in the world, and the beauty in themselves and other people, there would be less hatred in this world because they’d realise we’re all just the same.”
Live and Let Dai premieres Monday, September 30, on Three and ThreeNow.