When pub politics show Back Benches started, its producers at times had to wrench prepared talking points away from MPs.
Eight years on, MPs have mostly got the hang of the programme's somewhat chaotic, anarchic format, which tries to cut through the spin while making politics fun.
Filmed on Wednesday nights in the Backbencher in Wellington, it screens a few hours later on Prime.
The show started as a live broadcast on the now defunct TVNZ7 and now screens on Prime.
Co-hosts Damian Christie and Wallace Chapman help the show's producers choose a list of topics, on which a panel of MPs is grilled and audience participation encouraged.
When Signal visited the show recently, Labour's claims about Chinese house buyers were still hogging the headlines, and the Serco prison scandal had emerged.
Despite the controversial topics, the show was a bit less rowdy than usual, with a smaller attendance than usual, Christie said.
Fronting up were: National's Barbara Kuriger, Labour's Sue Moroney, Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox and Richard Prosser, of New Zealand First.
The show can be tricky for National MPs, who are often arguing their corner alone against a bevy of MPs from a range of opposition parties.
For that reason, says Christie, the show tries to ensure right-wing views are represented in the guests invited to speak.
Invited guests mingle with the rest of the audience, but have been asked to speak on a particular issue.
Tomorrow night, prison reform advocate Kim Workman has been lined up to give his view of the Serco scandal.
For Chapman, a favourite part of the show is seeing audience members from different ends of the political spectrum mingling and talking.
A pub is much more conducive to discussion than social media forums such as Twitter, the pair say, because it is harder to be rude to people in real life.
Chapman fondly recalls the ''amazing'' sight of former GCSB head Sir Bruce Ferguson engrossed in conversation with one of the men who popped the Waihopai spy balloon.
And it's not just about getting the political types talking - the show pulls in people who do not usually engage politically at all.
One audience member, a truck driver, told Wallace he did not understand any other political show.
While it is an irreverent show, Chapman takes his role seriously, believing it engenders the democratic ideal of participation of the masses.
And that is more important than ever, he believes, as we are ''entering an era of highly messaged politicians''.
While the MPs have been trained to leave their talking point papers at the office, many are still likely to rattle off the party lines.
Partly, Christie says, that's because they don't always know what to say in the quick-fire run of the show, and partly because they don't want to court controversy.
The show's producers had a tough time booking National MPs for a couple of months before the 2011 election, as National was nervous about MPs going off-script.
''An inexperienced backbench MP doing an hour of live TV is a real potential liability,'' Chapman says.
An election provides a fresh crop of back bench MPs, and Chapman reckons he's been able to spot the bright stars early in their career.
Mostly, journalists focus on ministers, and know little about the MPs aspiring to take a place on the front bench.
A couple of bright young things Chapman recalls noticing were Paula Bennett and Hekia Parata, both now prominent in Cabinet.
And sometimes the show hosts an MP whose fortunes have turned in the other direction - recently Judith Collins appeared on the show.
Choosing the topics is an important element, because not all political issues are easy to engage with, the pair say.
Chapman is based in Auckland, but spent more than two decades in the South Island - in Dunedin and Nelson.
He says he gets sick of Dunedin being ignored in Auckland and Wellington, and tries to reflect regional concerns.
At one stage, the show toured the regions, but had not done so for quite a while, partly because of the expense.
• Back Benches screens on Wednesday at 10.45pm on Prime.
