Nights

It's time to get your kilt on, because this weekend Scotland is coming heading south for the Hororata Highland Games, the largest Scottish celebration in New Zealand. From caber tossing and something called the "stone putt", to Highland dancing and pipe bands, it'll be a Scottish feast for the senses. Cindy Driscoll from the Hororata Community Trust joins me on the line to tell us more.

We all know this is going to be a huge weekend in the political world, and for the country. But for many of us, the real battle is happening elsewhere. The All Blacks take on Scotland, Wellington Phoenix face Auckland FC, the Phoenix women are also in action, the Black Caps take on India, and the Kiwi Ferns face Samoa. But arguably the main event is the Rugby League World Cup semi-final, with the Kiwis taking on Tonga. And according to the experts, this one is right on a knife-edge. Joining Emile for what we're sure will remain an entirely civil conversation .... from Tonga's Radio Nuku'alofa it's Ramanlal "Lala" Vallabh, and from RNZ Pacific it's big Kiwis fan Atereano Mateariki.

Well, it's time for a change of scenery ... to breathe in some of that country air. Yes, right now we're going to head to the farm to hear from one of the up-and-coming voices in auctioneering. My next guest is has just taken out the 2026 Heartland Bank New Zealand Young Auctioneers Competition. Dylan Forde joins Emile for a chat.

We've done it. We're here. We've made it to election eve. The debates have been debated. The hoardings, defaced, the babies are covered in lipstick and tomorrow we finally find out what the next Parliament will look like - if not QUITE exactly who forms the next government. Here for a bit of reflection on this long, arduous journey we've all been on, and what's still to come, is The Spinoff's editor-at-large, Toby Manhire.

He's one of the great comedy minds of any generation - the man behind a laundry list of quotes that resonate throughout popular culture, decades after they first went to air ... But the American writer and actor Larry David, head writer and showrunner of Seinfeld, creator and star of the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, is an unlikely success story - due in large part to his own, many self-destructive qualities. Now 79 years old, he made the unexpected decision to greenlight a biography, Emperor of Nothing: The Making of Larry David. The author of the book is Blake J Harris - he joins Emile for a chat.

Nights' resident screen critic joins Emile Donovan to review: IN CINEMAS Wild Horse Nine (written and directed Martin McDonagh). Two CIA agents working to destabilise the left wing Allende government in Chile in 1973 take a week long break on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) where their pasts and futures will collide and one (or both) may not make it back to Santiago. Stars Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich. PAID STREAMING TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is a new "hub" launches on Friday on the HBO Max streaming service. Launched as a cable channel in 1994, TCM has been a favourite destination for film buffs and marks a commitment from HBO Max to support their definition of classic cinema. Launch titles include big titles like Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain, North by Northwest and Gone With the Wind. FREE STREAMING Campaign (directed by Tony Sutorius, 1999). In in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the key electorate of Wellington Central during the first ever MMP election in New Zealand where voters were introduced to the concept of strategic voting.

Everyone loves a good story, but the best ones usually have a bit of scandal, mystery, disaster and downright weirdness thrown in. Long Story Short is the podcast from award-winning New Zealand journalists Eugene Bingham and Adam Dudding. Each episode takes a sensational crime, scandal, catastrophe, or something just plain weird, unravels it, then pieces the whole story back together. And the second episode - the first part of a two parter - from season two is out now. Adam and Eugene join Emile in the Auckland studio.

Christian Smith dials in from London with news from the other side of the world.

An election gives us the numbers, but it doesn't necessarily give us a government. Under MMP, what happens next can involve days or even weeks of negotiation as parties work out whether they have the numbers to govern, and on what terms. So how does that process actually work, and what rules are everyone playing by? Dr Dean Knight is an expert in constitutional law at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington - he joins Emile for a chat.

It's time to showcase another unusual museum here on RNZ Nights. It's our regular segment we call Nights at the Museum. And tonight we're headed to a place packed with wooden faces, painted smiles and more than a century of history. Our feature museum is Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky, the world's only museum dedicated entirely to ventriloquism. And Museum curator Lisa Sweasy joins me on the line now from Kentucky.