Labour leader Andrew Little has had some behind the scenes help from an acting coach.
At his speech at the party conference yesterday, an unassuming figure in the back row turned out to be respected stage and screen actor and director, Ross Jolly.
"He had not seen me in live performance and he came along to see the live performance," Mr Little told Newshub.
Mr Jolly is best known for his work as John from Kiwi classic comedy Gliding On - but now he's been tasked with providing "thespian assistance" to the leader of the opposition.
"Coaching me, not in acting, no I can assure you of that, no just to give me a few tips on presentation style for those big set piece speeches," Mr Little said.
The Labour leader revealed Mr Jolly has been on hand for more than two years now - first brought in for Mr Little's State of the Nation speech in 2015.
"He's an absolute master of getting the best out of a performance and so he's been good for me," he said.
The top tips provided according to Mr Little are "breathing, pace and varying tone and pitch".
As for what the secret key to a good political performance is - Mr Little had this to say:
"Oh couldn't give that away you'd have to pay mega bucks for that "
He wouldn't disclose to Newshub how much he was paying Mr Jolly for his services.
Newshub.
