Dai Henwood

Dafydd Morgan Henwood was born on 7 February 1978. His father was the actor Ray Henwood and his mother is Judge Carolyn Henwood, later Dame Carolyn. He said his great-grandfather was the Welsh international rugby player Dick Jones.

He attended Wellington College for secondary school and studied theatre and film at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with a BA in eastern religions. It was while at university that he first performed stand-up comedy.

Henwood's television career began in 1999, when he won Best New Face on TV2's Pulp Comedy. He won the Billy T Award in 2002 for The Story of Funk, performed as the wrestler P Funk Chainsaw, and the Fred Award in 2007 and again in 2015. In 2016 the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand gave him its Rielly Comedy Award.

In 2004 and 2005 he toured the shows The Hot Steppa and Champagne Table Tennis and performed at the Tokyo Comedy Store, in Melbourne and around Britain. He returned year after year to the New Zealand International Comedy Festival with shows including Dai-namic Scenarios, Shabba, Dai Another Day, Ideals vs. Reality, Fonzie Touched Me and Adapt Or Dai. In 2008 he was invited to the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal and recorded a televised gala special.

On television he was the gadget reviewer on TV3's Sunrise, hosted Insert Video Here on C4 from 2007, and fronted two series of the comedy travel show Roll The Dai. From 2009 until 2022 he was the weekly captain of Team Two on TV3's 7 Days, filming more than 150 episodes, and he continued to make occasional appearances afterwards. He released the stand-up DVDs Dai Another Day in 2009 and Adapt or Dai in 2013, and his memoir, The Life of Dai, was published by HarperCollins in June 2024.

Henwood was married to the art teacher Joanna 'Jo' Kelly, and they had two children, Charlie and Lucy. He was a well known supporter of the New Zealand Warriors rugby league team.

He was diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in 2020 and kept the diagnosis private for about two years while continuing to perform. In January 2023 he spoke about it publicly on The Project, saying he had realised that hiding it was not authentic. In 2024 he shared his experience in the three-part docuseries Live and Let Dai and in his autobiography. Ongoing treatment forced him to cancel the later dates of his tour Dai Hard in May 2025, and he later described a series of unexpected hospital stays and surgery for fluid around his heart and lungs.

He became an outspoken advocate for bowel cancer awareness and screening and for men's mental health, supporting Radio Hauraki's Day in Loo campaign and hosting the Cancer Society's The Comedy Treatment fundraiser for Daffodil Day.

Dai Henwood died on the morning of Tuesday 10 November 2026 at Auckland Hospital, aged 48, after living with colon cancer for six years. His management, Notorious Comedy, announced the news the same day, saying he died holding the hands of his family. He was survived by his wife Jo, his children Charlie and Lucy, and his mother, Dame Carolyn Henwood. His death was reported by RNZ, the NZ Herald and Stuff, and funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the first reports.

Henwood was regarded as one of the defining figures of New Zealand comedy over a quarter of a century, from his early wins at Pulp Comedy and the Billy T Award to his long tenure on 7 Days. His decision to speak openly about advanced bowel cancer made him one of the country's most visible health advocates, and he said he was proud that his openness had helped others facing the disease. In the 2025 King's Birthday Honours he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the entertainment industry and charitable fundraising, an honour he said he accepted after more than half his life spent making people laugh.