The Cheap Seats NZ co-host Melanie Bracewell said Cal Wilson "was one of the first Kiwi women I saw on TV regularly being funny". Photo: Getty
Just two months ago, much-loved New Zealand-born comedian Cal Wilson and Great Australian Bake Off co-host was chatting away on a podcast about her grandmothers’ recipes, cats, art and learning to swim as an adult so she could be in the pool for her son, Digby.
Talking about her favourite recipes for sweet biscuits (including Lady Birds) Bakeology‘s Adam Miller asked her: “What do you think Digby [now 14] will remember you for?”
“I think it will be for pancakes because that’s a fairly regular weekend thing.
“And when you serve the pancakes you throw them like a frisbee, the first couple, and then if you’re going to have maple syrup on them obviously you don’t do that,” Wilson said during the August 31 chat at home.
“You always do the test pancake – hurl it across the kitchen.”
“We make a lot of gingerbread together. Well, we start making it together and he goes off with the lump of dough as any good child should.”
Wilson, who had called Australia home since 2003, died aged 53 surrounded by family and friends after a short illness at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney on October 11.
“A huge hole has been torn in the heart of our community,” her management, Token, wrote in a statement.
As hundreds of tributes were posted following the heartbreaking news of her death, Wendy Moore, group general manager, lifestyle, Foxtel Group, expressed a nationwide sentiment.
“We are all completely devastated to lose such an amazing, vibrant person. Cal joined our Bake-Off cast last year and instantly brought her unique sparkle to the show.
“Her professionalism, work ethic and genuine heart-warming humour instantly made her a favourite amongst cast and crew, as well as the Australian audience. We will all miss her so much, and our hearts go out to her family and friends.”
The Great Australian Bake-Off team at the launch of Bake-Off in June this year. Photo: Ten
By all accounts, the past two years may well have been her most captivating and entertaining for audiences everywhere, despite her continued presence on the comedy and writing scene for the past 20 years.
A gifted storyteller and writer, Wilson was invited to join the writing team for the 2022 BAFTA Awards ceremony, as well as having previously written on the series Mean Mums and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering.
Despite an aversion to the great outdoors, she bravely joined the cast of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! last year, which saw her take on all the usual hair-raising challenges.
Tweet from @Channel10AU
She was also a panelist on Ten’s Have You Been Paying Attention? and was part of last year’s 2022 premiere series of Would I Lie To You? Australia.
In April, artist Andrea Huelin’s portrayal of Wilson in an elaborate headdress won the Packing Room Prize, a subcategory of the prestigious Archibald prize for portraiture.
“I feel like she absolutely got me. What. A. Joy.,” Wilson posted on her Instagram at the time.
According to her management’s website, she is the Melbourne live show host of the worldwide, smash-hit storytelling podcast The Moth and in July this year she once again joined comedy phenomenon podcast The Guilty Feminist on tour around her native country, New Zealand.
That same month, she also joined forces with John Safran and Adam Liaw for Who the Bloody Hell Are We? – a series which took a look at Australia’s multicultural roots.
Wilson’s assignment was to focus on the Kiwis and their history with Australia.
August was another busy month, back on stage for her stand-up comedy Supposably [she appeared at the Melbourne Comedy Festival 14 times and was a member of its board] where she won over audiences with stories of Digby, and all those “little things” that annoyed her like “incorrect grammar. Overconfident inaccuracy. Crocs … bad parking and loud eaters”.
But it was her beloved cats, Barnacle, Kipper and Pirate and their antics at home which gave her a stack of joy, regularly commentating “Cat Olympics” on Instagram.
It got serious when she appeared on Ten’s The Project in April, after a theory emerged on TikTok that one of her cats looked like Hollywood actress Emma Stone.
She took it all with good humour, and smiling, simply said: “I kind of see it too, but I would really like Emma Stone to get off my kitchen bench, and please stop weeing in the pot plants.”
She also complained about how soup bowls should never have square corners.
Universally, comedians, actors and the wider community thought she was one of the kindest, nicest “shining lights” who leaves a huge hole in the arts community.
She was full of empathy, and reminded people of what was good in the world.
“Cal, wherever you are I hope you’re frolicking through an infinite supply of hot glue guns & sea of whacky, sparky, rainbow coloured things,” wrote friend and colleague and former MasterChef contestant and guest judge, Poh.
“It’s been nothing short of magical to be your friend.”
NZ actor Rhys Darby described her as “an amazing talent”.
“Such a quick brain and so much style and taste. This hurts hard,” he wrote.
Radio Hosts (L-R) Harlee McLeod, Melissa Femia, Kate Langbroek, Cal Wilson, Kate Ritchie and Rebecca Wilson pose at the ‘Stand Up In ’08’ celebrity comedy night in Sydney. Photo: Getty
Wilson was on ABC’s Spicks and Specks, Good News Week, Would I Lie to You and had her own Netflix comedy special.
In 2012, Wilson was a guest panelist on the UK comedy quiz show QI hosted by British actor and writer Stephen Fry.
Then in 2019, she became a published children’s author after penning George and the Great Bum Stampede and George and the Great Brain Swappery.
“Kua haere ia ki tōna moenga roa. Kua hinga te totara i te wao nui a Tane,” wrote one New Zealand-born Aussie entertainer on Wilson’s Instagram after her management announced that she had passed away.
“She has gone to her eternal rest.
“The totara tree has fallen in the forest of Tane.”