Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Flightless Bird: Lord of the Rings

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier still finds himself stranded back in New Zealand, waiting for his new Visa to be issued so he can make more American Flightless Birds. Cut off from America, he decides to do one of the most touristy things he can imagine: he sets off for Matamata and the tiny sleepy village of Hobbiton. Left over from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, he goes to meet Hobbiton general manager Shayne Forrest, who takes Farrier around the most incredibly detailed living film set he’s ever seen. Farrier discovers that Hobbiton has recently opened up a Hobbit house, so Farrier goes inside to experience it with an American man called Matt. Outside, Farrier is lucky enough to meet Pickles, Hobbiton’s one and only rescue cat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm David Ferrier and New Zealand are accidentally marooned in America and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Now when I took my trip back to New Zealand in December last year, I looked around the plane like I usually do just to see what people were watching on their in-flight entertainment. Usually it's a variety of things, we've all done this. Some people are watching rom-coms, others are deep in a thriller, the occasional awkward man watching a sex scene, or plenty of people are just watching Big Bang Theory. But I noticed something truly remarkable on this flight to my homeland.

Nearly everyone seemed to be watching the same thing. Legend tells of a ring created by an ancient evil that gave its wearer the power to enslave the world. That thing was Lord of the Rings. So many people on this flight to New Zealand were watching Lord of the Rings and it reminded me that a lot of people, a lot of Americans from what I could tell, still come to New Zealand in part because they're fuelled by Peter Jackson's famous trilogy released in the early 2000s. Here we were I thought to myself over two

decades later still thinking about hobbits and orcs, Frodo and Gandalf. You shall not pass! I guess it's not surprising those three films got 30 Oscar nominations between them in 117 it's fair to say they left a pretty big cultural footprint and as I watched all those people watching Gollum on their tiny airplane screens I realized that when I landed I'd have to do something very important for Flightless Bird. I'd need to do an episode on Lord of the Rings. I would go to Hobbiton, the set left over from the movies that's still going strong today. The Shire is one of New Zealand's biggest tourist attractions, visited by hundreds

of thousands of fans every year. So, get those hairy feet, precious rings and alphias ready, because this is the Lord of the Rings episode. I'm a flightless bird that's down in America. Okay where do we all stand on Peter Jackson's trilogy of Lord of the Rings films? I've never seen them. This is great. Never seen them. Never seen them? Where were you in life when those movies were coming out and did you feel they were big

at the time? They were big. They were huge. I must've been in high school, maybe end of middle school, high school. I mean, most people I know have seen them. I was never drawn to that kind of. Are you not a fantasy girl? Fantasy. You don't do fantasy.

But I love Harry. You do Game of Thrones. And I like Game of Thrones. So it feels like racism. So you're with these New Zealanders making this giant film. You see, you've never seen any of Thrones. It feels like racism. See, all these New Zealanders making this giant film. You see, you've never seen any of them. What about late night scrolling through things on, you sort of popped on a bit of Lord of the Rings

or accidentally watched some at a friend's house? Never. Never. Okay, Rob, I should note that you are dressed currently. Explain yourself. I love Lord of the Rings, yeah. But tell people what, it's an audio show so tell people what's happening Rob came in like I normally do Rob came in in normal

clothing and then slowly stripped off the external layer of jeans and the top to reveal that he's dressed as a little tiny hobbit and and for a while I was I didn't really notice that you were you just have looked you suited it was just like here's an outfit, your little cape on, and do you wanna tell me about the ring you're wearing around your neck? Yeah, I've got an actual ring that's inscribed, like the movie, on a necklace around my neck.

Okay, so- Is that happened in the movie? The ring's a big deal in the movie. Can you give me like a just base? Okay, so I've gotta say something as well. I haven't really watched them either. Whoa. Wow. Can we do what you both know about it then? Yeah, that's actually quite a good idea.

Lord of the Rings is about a band of hobbits led by Frodo. Okay. Elijah Wood. Love him. On your show. Yep. And they have to find a ring to save the world. There's a little creature called...

Gollum. Gollum. He has the ring at some point and it makes him go crazy. So Elijah Wood has to find Gollum, get the ring off the little guy. Sauron is the big bad guy and he has just a big eye in the sky, a big evil looking eye. Okay. And I think it's about little hobbits defeating big evil and Gandalf is a wizard. Yes, I've heard about him.

Little hobbit. I don't know why there are three of them. They're each three hours. Right. They're famous for having the extended cuts. So the extended cuts are more like four hours each. And so you'll get people who will marathon these Well, it's a full journey for them to get the ring

How hard can it be to get the ring off Gollum and then throw it in the fire? They have guys coming after them to every time he puts it on it calls to the bad guy But he has to throw the ring Monica I'm the same as you. For whatever reason, I don't gravitate towards fantasy. I'm not knocking Lord of the Rings, good on it. Didn't watch it. And there's the other thing, Amazon tried to bring it back.

They did the most expensive thing they've ever made. And I think the really interesting thing about that, and I have to be careful because I have this in New Zealand, I have a lot of friends that worked on it and are in it. It didn't take off in nearly the same way. The show? Yeah, the show. I mean, who's saying, did you watch that Lord of the Rings show? No one's really talking about it, despite it being the most expensive show ever made.

And yet these films that Peter Jackson made two decades ago are still being talked about. I was looking on the Alamo's website the other day and they were doing, you know, here's an anniversary screening of the two towers So they're still around Is it called the two towers? There's three of them. Okay one of them I'd maybe I do know more about it than I thought the two towers is one of them second one The second one was it before after 9 or 11. It was 2000. Well, it's a book. It's JRR Tolkien The movie came out in 2002 It's a book. It's J.R.R. Tolkien. But the movie, the movie.

The movie came out in 2002. 2002. Right after. I actually never made that association in the culture. But OK, so Rob, just really quickly, how did you become obsessed? You just went to the movies. You love the films. What's your relationship? In like seventh grade, I read The Hobbit, and that was one of the first books that I really loved. Yeah. And The Hobbit and that was one of the first books that I really loved. Yeah.

And The Hobbit is the prequel. Yes. To all of this. It's Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins. Right. We should mention that The Hobbit, Peter Jackson, who's obviously an incredibly talented man, he loved that universe so much he went and made another trilogy called The Hobbit. Right. Have you seen The Hobbit, Monica? Nope.

It's not up your alley? I just haven't ventured into this world at all. Oh, well this is exciting then. another trilogy called The Hobbit. Right. Have you seen The Hobbit, Monica? Nope. It's not up your alley? I just haven't ventured into this world at all. Oh, well this is exciting then. My hope is that at the end of this episode, we're both going to be so interested that we'll watch it. I like to think that anyone listening is going to feel the same way and they'll be like, holy shit, I want to be in this world.

Or rewatch it. I want to read them. I want to rewatch. I mean, most people have seen, it's bizarre that two out of three of us in here have not seen them. Most people have seen them. It's sacrilege that I haven't seen them all.

I feel like, are you doing it on purpose? Are you like, is it bucking the system? No, I just, I've watched the first one at some point on TV with ads. So it's about six hours, nightmare. But I just, I've watched bits of the others but never sat down and really given them a go. Okay.

Well look, when I was in New Zealand, I sort of thought I needed a Lord of the Rings because it was comical how many people on the plane were watching Lord of the Rings and I realized that Americans are still coming to New Zealand because of that movie and they're getting hyped by watching, it's also a great thing to watch for a 12 hour flight because it pretty much takes up the whole 12 hours if you do the extended cuts of all three films. And I just realised New Zealand is on the map for these movies and so I was like I've got to go to the set where this thing was made and just see what happened. It's 6.30 in the morning in Auckland, New Zealand and I've just been picked up by an

American called Matt. He's taller than me and he's one of those Americans who's just very enthusiastic about life. Matt moved to New Zealand recently but he's never come to Hobbiton. He's agreed to let me tag along as he experiences it for the very first time. What are you expecting? What are you thinking? I'm expecting small holes in hills and tight spaces. It's a two-hour drive to Matamata, a small town nestled in the center of the North Island with a population of just over 9,000 people. It used to be mostly well known for farming and breeding fancy racehorses. Then Hobbitonon came along a film set brought to life

So Lord of the Rings fans can feel like they're actually in the Shire As an American in New Zealand, you're sort of doing the reverse of what I do in flight of the spirit You're an American who's come to New Zealand Any sort of things stood out to you that you've found Sort of unusual about the way New Zealand does things in either a good or a bad way? Like what jumps to mind? I mean always my answer to that I start with the demeanour of people, the lack of abrasiveness from people. I find people to be a bit more personable and less, I don't know, I think

that has to do with like less individualistic. There's more of like a camaraderie here amongst people. Matt and I spent the drive talking about what it's like being an American in New Zealand. Like me in America, he finds lots of things different and strange and is slowly adjusting. He spent time working in hospitality, so has had to adjust pretty quickly. Do you miss things like tipping? Tipping? Oh, tipping, like oh, tipping, like restaurant tipping. What other tipping is there? Like cow tipping?

I don't know why my initial thought was cow tipping when you asked about tipping, but here we are talking about cow tipping. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise his mind went to cow tipping. During the 70s it became a bit of an urban myth in America, fueled even more in the 80s with movies like Tommy Boy and Heathers which both featured a healthy dose of cow tipping. Oh my god, shh, she's sleeping. What you do, you put your shoulder into her and you push. And they fall over. So restaurant tipping, do you miss that?

I do, but I don't miss the wages. I missed the tips because they were hefty, but I relied on tips. I couldn't rely on a livable wage. It's quite refreshing to actually get paid what you should be getting paid and not having to, you know, going into a shift every day and hoping and not knowing if you're gonna make money. Before we know it, we see a sign for Hobbiton. We've pulled off the main motorway.

We don't have freeways in New Zealand, and we're winding down a fairly narrow road surrounded by a lot of grass and a lot of sheep. 20 minutes of this and we see the main gates of the movie set. We've arrived. This is like cliche textbook New Zealand, right? Can you describe what you're seeing right now? I'm seeing sheep on a hill in fucking Hobbiton. It's literally Telly W. Land. I fucking tell you.

There are about a hundred sheep staring at us right now. The first thing that strikes me at 8.30am in the morning is that Hobbiton is really busy. We drive past about five giant tour buses and we're waved through several already full car parks by a guy in a vest. This place is packed. There were 158 locations used to shoot the Lord of the Rings films in New Zealand, and Hobbiton is definitely the most famous. No, you know what I imagine happened?

I imagine they got like the bulldozers in after the movie stopped and then someone who now owns the place goes, wait! Don't touch it. I've got an idea. I haven't, don't fucking touch this. Who wants to get rich? Picture this. Hobbiton. And now it's Hobbiton.

And now that fucker's rich. We head towards the front desk to meet up with the big cheese of Hobbiton. My name's Shane Forrest and I'm general manager of tourism out here at Hobbiton Movieset. He loads us into a little van and we set off on the short drive to the Shire. We've been operating out here at Hobbiton Movie Set, tours for just over 20 years, about 21 years now. So it started in 2002. It was originally the remnants left over

from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So Hobbiton for the Lord of the Rings was built just to be here for the duration of filming, which was only a few months and then pulled down. But in that time, the first movie hit the cinema and the locals recognized the mountain ranges in the back of the Shire in the movie on the big screen. And they realized Hobbiton was on their back doorstep.

So the Alexander family had people knocking on their door asking if they could come and have a look around. That's how tourism started. So yeah, the first eight or so years, it was just through the remnants, cattle stop, that was just through the remnants of Hobbiton. But then in 2008, 2009 was the big breakthrough

when Sir Peter Jackson came back, said he wanted to rebuild for the Hobbit trilogy the Alexander family said yep sounds perfect but can it be built permanent so Peter Jackson said I was thinking the exact same thing that's when the movie set was built permanently for the Hobbit trilogy and left behind is a little bit of a monument to Middle Earth which is pretty special for us here in New Zealand. So in short they built Hobbiton for the first Lord of the Rings movie on some guy's farm and the whole thing was going to be torn down afterwards. Then the movie came out, got huge and people started freaking out about Hobbiton. So they kept it and started charging people to visit. Pretty much like what Matt theorized in our drive here. When Peter Jackson decided to

make another three movies for the Hobbit trilogy the set got even fancier and here we are a private farm owned by the Alexander family which also happens to be the Shire, one of the most well-known movie sets on the planet. We've just driven through the gates of the Alexander farm so this is the 1250 acre farm with 13 000 sheep 300 angus beef cattle still farmed on a daily basis by the Alexander family and it's just a short trip out through this rural New Zealand site to the movie set. I mean this is classic New Zealand isn't it? I mean I've got an American with me here and is sort of blown away by the sheep and the landscape. Yeah it is, it is really

quintessential Kiwi countryside out here, the beautiful rolling green hills. Well it's not quite as green as it usually is, it's a little bit hotter at this time of year. So we do get a little bit dried out in the grass, but still pretty good. But the beautiful rolling hills, the scattered tree lines and the mountain ranges you see as we come around this corner, that's the reason they chose this location out here in the heart of the Waikato. Shane tells me that as far as tourists go, about 20 percent are from New Zealand and about 15% are from America.

Then it's pretty much people from everywhere else. He parks up the van and we head towards a gate that leads directly into Hobbiton. You enter the same place that Gandalf does in the movie and walking into this place it does take your breath away. It doesn't feel like a ride or an attraction or even a set. You're literally just walking into the Shire This world opens up around you rolling hills with little hobbit gardens and hobbit houses with hobbit smoke coming out the chimneys It's hard to explain but it just feels real You must have seen some amazing reactions from mega fans that come in here like people must lose their shit

Yeah There are these people that grow up reading the books and then watch the movies multiple times a year. The biggest fan I've had out here is a gentleman from Germany that came in. He walked in saw a Hobbiton in front of him started hyperventilating and kissing the ground and he started hyperventilating so much he actually had a nosebleed. So we had to take him out of Hobbiton and get him nice and well established and bring him back in again.

I love that a fan loved it so much he started bleeding. There are 44 hobbit holes across 12 acres of Hobbiton. You could easily lose a day in here. And they're smart in how they run it in that they purposefully leave the tour group separated out so you feel like you're here on your own. It's not like the Star Wars thing at Disney where you're tripping over people the whole time. But as you look aroundpping over people the whole time. But as you look around there's just the little hobbit holes scattered throughout and as we're talking before

you feel like you could see a hobbit around here at any minute. There's the clothes hanging up on the lines but someone was actually employed in the movies to walk from the hobbit hole to the clothesline over and over again so all the tracks got a nice natural flattened look to them. So that's part of the process as well, teaching people about how this movie set was created. And then the smoking chimneys which is really nice, basically an open fish smoker, there's some wood chips on the inside. There's the team that go through in the morning, light those up and just continuously top them up throughout the day. But that's really nice as well, we try and engage all the senses out here at Hobbiton, so as you walk through you get the smell of burning wood as well, which make this feel like a real living village.

I turn to Matt, and while he's not a giant Lord of the Rings fan, his mouth is literally hanging open. It's lacking that gimmicky thing. It's way more authentic than that. It's not a movie set. It's way more immersive than that. There's so much detail around us. Little hobbit clothes lines and little hobbit clothes, tiny spades and little wheelbarrows.

I meet up with Josie Keene, who's fiddling with some tiny Hobbit books. She's the set decorator here at Hobbiton. I came on a tour seven years ago and I never left. I'm serious, like I was on a working holiday and I came on a tour and my tour guide was like, wow, you nerd, you should work here. And I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't realise you could just apply for a job. I thought you were kind of disappointed. Yeah, and that's how I started in the arts department.

I realized that despite being in New Zealand and in the Shire, I'm beginning to be outnumbered, outgunned by Americans. Any quirks in New Zealand that you find quite funny compared to America? You notice how the water level in our toilets is way lower than it is in America? I think honestly, the major difference was the first time I walked in a mall and everyone

was barefoot. That was weird. I wouldn't do that in a major American city. We love our bare feet. Yeah, no, I loved it too. I was just kind of discombobulated. It was really strange. As we walk along a hobbit path past multiple hobbit holes we bump into Kate.

She's a conductor, making sure the tour groups are in the right place. And she's also American. And apparently she was also in one of the Lord of the Rings movies. I was basically hired because of my height. They hired us to be the villagers in the background here. So what movie are you in? I was in The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies. So you were shooting here.

How long ago was that? Maybe 2011. So you were here while they were shooting, roaming around being a hobbit. Yes, they dressed me up and I got to be in the scene where Bilbo had his auction out front. They were selling all his furniture. I was one of the hobbits at the auction. I think it's surreal because you're sort of still at this place. You're in the film, but now you're working at this place still. Does your reality sometimes get a bit fucked up?

So am I in the movie? Is this real? What's real? What's not? I actually love the experience in the books and the movies so much that I applied for a job here. It's not hard getting staff for this place, is it? Nope. We love our jobs. Looking at all the Americans gathered around me, I start to get confused about where I am. My worlds are colliding. I wonder if it's some kind of honey trap for Americans, drawing them in like Gollum to that ring. And I'm terrible with accents. Where are you from originally? I'm from Ohio in the States. What do you miss from the Midwest?

There's a few foods that I will go back and bring with me here. What's an exact one? What food would you sneak back into New Zealand? Don't have to sneak. It's not illegal. It's great. Where I am from, we have what they call Cincinnati chili, which they actually add a bit of cocoa to the chili and it's a great addition so I always get that when I

bring it here. We continue on into this big open field. I'm told this is the Padi fields where Bilbo had his 111th birthday. This the Padi tree, which is apparently one of the most famous trees in the world. The fact this pine tree was fully grown here a few decades ago is part of the reason Hobbiton's here in the first place. When they were scouting the movie, they saw the tree and were like, let's land there and look at it.

As we walk on, I hear a rusty old meow and this old motley cat idles up to us. So Pickles our cat. She was discovered during filming, filming I believe when someone was coming into work and saw her on the side of the road in a box. So they picked her up and raised her and she entertains tourists. She's about 14 now. She'll sometimes lead groups or she'll go sit on top of a mailbox where she knows she's going to be photographed because she's just used to it at this point. She's really taken to the fam well I think, gracefully. I pat Pickles the rescue cat. Pickles as in she was in a pickle.

And then we keep walking around. We go to Bag End to Bag Shot Row. This is where our second most iconic hobbit hole is here. This is the home of Sam and his wife Rosie. So Sam of course, spoiler alert, gets his happy lever after at the end of Lord of the Rings, settles into number three bagshot row here. Now this whole time we've been walking past all these Hobbit holes, their round brightly coloured doors have been shut. You can't go inside because there isn't really anything inside, this is fake. But back in December they opened a new thing in Hobbiton where they dug deep into the hill and actually built in a whole Hobbit house. I'm a bit scared to say this but it's basically the perfect house for Monica Padman.

They excavated the hillside in the Matamata township. They built all the interiors and then down in Wellington they did all the soft furnishings, the beds, the furniture. So there were three builds happening simultaneously then they came came back together, rebuilt it all in one spot so we could make sure the project was finished in nine months. And now it's pretty exciting to be able to venture beyond the doors and see how a real Hobbit family would live. I'm not a giant fan of this particular series, but I'm excited to go inside. So in a bit, this six-foot-two Kiwi opens the door of a tiny hobbit hole owned by the Proudfoot family and steps inside.

Oh, it's exciting stuff. Clifhanger? Clifhanger. Oh my gosh. So cliffhanging is these episodes get. I can't wait to hear about it. You would, I mean, we'll get into it, but it's really cool, like it is really neat in there. The thing about it and it's hard to get across in audio, you walk in there and it is like

you were in the movie. There's no signs or ropes, it's just the movie. But does it feel amusement parking? Not at all, not at all. See that's what's interesting. No you're literally, you are just in the world of the Shire and there's rolling hills and landscapes. It's massive. You're surrounded by it. Yeah. And it's a bit like, if you go to Super Mario Land at Universal, you're sort of surrounded, any park, right?

Like you're surrounded by the park. This is naturally done. So you're surrounded by hills. It's not like you look in the background and there's a normal human house. It's just purely little hobbit holes in the ground. And also, do you know what I'm talking about? When I say hobbit hole, is this making sense?

I feel like that's like a small hut. It's a small hut. It's a small hut. Yeah, it's a small hut, but it's built into the ground. So there'd be like a rolling hill, but the door goes into the hill. Oh, that's cool. Yeah.

And so the magical thing, what's just happened, you can open that door now and you go, holy shit, I'm actually going into the hill. Wow. And there's a whole house there with rooms and bathrooms and dining tables and it's all there. But nobody lives there. No, no one does. No one does.

No one lives there. Okay. But they make it look like it is lived in. And so as I was saying, they have, they light the chimneys every day. There's like a little smoke machine. So smoke's coming out of the hill from the little hobbit house. It is really stunning what they've done. I'm surprised they wouldn't make a place. Aren't they doing that with Disney sort of?

Oh, you can go and live there. Yeah. I mean, that's what an American would do. That's what an American would think is like, we're going to sell these lots for millions and people are going to live in this place. People would do it. No, they would. And I sort of, another thing I was thinking about that's sort of different to how America

would run it, and I always find this interesting. So they made a decision not to have any characters. So you don't get a little Hobbit actor popping out of the hole. But that somehow makes it even more believable. Because I find it so funny when you're at like, there's nothing better, we get like a Star Wars thing. And like, there's a real, they got like a real bad Luke that comes out and you're like, and these sets are amazing. And they're built probably like billions of dollars go into it. And then we got little man comes out and you're like, and these sets are amazing and they're built, probably like billions of dollars go into it. And then we've got little man comes out and you're like, Oh God, this is like a bad birthday party. Yeah. But I look at Rob sitting over there now and I'm like, fly him to New Zealand, put you in a hole. If you came out of one of those holes,

I'd maybe buy it. They have one in San Diego. They built one that you can rent on Airbnb. A little hobbit house. A little hobbit house, yeah, that's built into a hill. Oh. That is really neat, actually. I've wanted to stay there. Yeah, you should go and check it out. They have a friend's apartment on Airbnb also. Oh, that theme, little worlds.

Okay, a little potential Christmas present for Rob. Ha ha ha. ["Jingle Bells"] Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Flightless Bird is brought to you by Helix Sleep. Now, probably like you, I love sleeping so so much. And I love sleeping on a good mattress which is where Helix comes in. I got a Helix mattress about two and a half years ago now. It arrived at my door like a small miracle and off I went. The Helix lineup offers 20

unique mattresses including the award-winning Luxe collection, the newly released Helix Elite collection and a mattress design for big and tall sleepers like me. If you've got kids there's even a mattress made just for them. To find the mattress for you, you just take the Helix Sleep Quiz and find your perfect mattress in under two minutes. And your the mattress for you, you just take the Helix Sleep Quiz and find your perfect mattress in under 2 minutes, and your personalized mattress is shipped straight to your door free of charge. I took the Helix Sleep Quiz and was matched with a midnight mattress because I tend to sleep on my side and I was straight into it, old mattress out the door. The fact is everyone's unique and everyone sleeps differently, that's why they've got different mattress models to choose from, each designed for specific positions and feel preferences. And if like me your spine needs

some extra TLC, they've got you. Every Helix mattress has a hybrid design which combines individually wrapped steel coils in the base with premium foam layers on the top. Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders and 2 free pillows for our listeners. Go to helixsleep.com slash bird and use the code helixpartner20. This is their best offer yet and it won't last long. With Helix, better sleep starts now. Support for Flightless Bird comes from Factor. Now, something bad happened to me when I came to America and as quite a lazy person, I started to eat out a lot or I'd order in but it was really unhealthy food like pizza and burgers and once you've tipped, that all got very expensive as well.

Enter the recent delight in my life that is Factor. They're delicious, ready to eat meals delivered to your door in a way that fits your schedule. Every fresh, never frozen meal is chef crafted, dietitian approved, great for me thank you, and ready to go in just 2 minutes. As someone who doesn't like spending time in the kitchen, this is heaven. Factor meals are ready to heat and eat, so there's no prepping. Also, there are more than 60 add-ons to help you stay fueled up and feeling good all day long. I love this aspect. Think smoothies and midday bites and stuff like that. So in short, what are you waiting for?

Get started today and get after your goals. It's the perfect solution if you're looking for fast, premium options with no cooking required. This is good news for me. It's less expensive than takeout and every meal is dietitian approved to be nutritious and delicious. So head to factormeals.com slash bird 50 and use the code bird 50 to get 50% off. That's code bird 50 at factormeals.com slash bird 50 to get 50% off. Okay so do you want to come with me into the Hobbit hole? I do, I do, I'm really excited. This is exciting stuff. I'm going to venture into that Hobbit hole soon, but first there's this Lord of the Rings meme that's always made me absolutely lose it. It services every few years doing the

rounds and inevitably I get sent it again and again because people I know know I love it. It services every few years doing the rounds and inevitably I get sent it again and again because people I know know I love it. The video is titled The Lord of the Rings but with female interactions only. It starts out with the iconic Lord of the Rings score, massive and huge. Then it cuts to all the instances of females interacting with other females across the 9 hour 18 minute runtime. And it's this. Where is mama? Shhh.

That's it, 3 seconds. A tiny girl says, where's mama? Her mother shushes her and the credits roll. The point is when it comes to the Bechdel test, the Lord of the Rings doesn't fare particularly well. In saying that, the meme is not entirely accurate. YouTuber Yomalich commenting, you missed two more scenes. The girl has a scene where she talks to her mother and then there's another where a woman

thanks Erewyn for bringing them to Helm's Deep. All three are in the second movie and all three are about two seconds long, and the other two are only in the extended version. I suppose a lot of people would call the meme woke, as it's making the point that a lot of the Lord of the Rings is just men talking and talking, kinda like I am now. But I just find this clip very funny and could watch it all day. Where is mama? I also find it very funny that the little kid who says where's mama is my friend Olivia

Tennant. I think my friend Kayla was the first to send it to me. She's a Lord of the Rings fan so she probably follows some kind of Lord of the Rings account and sent it to me. She's a Lord of the Rings fan so she probably follows some kind of Lord of the Rings account and sent it to me. Liv Tennant gets sent that meme a lot. Now I thought about tracking down one of the giant lead role Lord of the Rings actors for this episode but I realised that if you want Frodo then just listen to the Elijah Wood episode of Armchair Expert. I wanted to talk to Liv, now 33 years old, living happily in New Zealand with her husband and kid. I wanted to know about that meme scene. I was nine when I filmed it and I

played Freida who was a Rohan child. What was it like being an actor at nine? Do you sort of remember the day you got that role? Was that a big deal? Not a big deal? What was that like? I'd done a couple of projects before I'd done like an ad an anti-smacking Campaign quite dark and I'd done an episode of Zena Which is classic and then I auditioned for this with my real brother because he is also an actor They wanted a brother-sister combo. But then the awkward thing was I got cast and my brother didn't. But we now realise that that was probably because the boy that got cast as my brother in the movie looked

more like me than my real brother. It was very good matching. Liv appeared in the second film in the trilogy, The Two Towers. With all three movies shot together in 99 and 2000, there was no big concept of how they were going to do. It's not like the Marvel films where one comes out, they check the box office then the studio greenlights the next one. Peter Jackson shot all three at once. So Liv's mum, she had no idea what this role meant for her kid.

When I got the role my agent rang my mum and said you know Liv's been booked for this thing, the fee is going to be this and my mum's reply was oh Linda we won't be able to afford that. What? And my agent was like no no that's what she gets paid. You don't have to pay anything. My mum really didn't know how it worked at all. Now I wanted to know one main thing. I wanted to know what led up to that big meme moment in the movie from the woman herself.

I have to preface this by saying I'm not a Lord of the Rings fan. I have not watched the film in a long time. I'm not the person to ask. I know my name, which was Freyda. I know that I was a Rohan child. I know that Robin Malcolm played my mum. I know that the town of Rohan, the town, that's what I'm calling it, is attacked by… Orcs. Orcs. Or Urukai. Is that another type of…

No idea. I won't butt in. We're attacked. And so we are told to evacuate. There's a very emotional moving scene where my mother puts me on a horse and I'm crying and saying, I don't want to go. I don't want to go. And then I'm sent away with my brother on this horse. And then we are wandering for days and then there's a shot of Gandalf coming out onto a hill and looking out and seeing a small child on a horse.

And that's you. That's me. Cut to me eating soup in the Great Hall. Miranda Otto is there talking to me and that's the mean moment. And can you just take me through what the scene is? Yeah, yeah, sure. So we've arrived at the Great Hall.

We're being fed soup by Miranda Otto's character. I just say to her, where's mama? And she just says, shh. Where is mama? Shh. As you would to a traumatized child who was asking for her mother who she's been separated from.

Do you remember how many takes you did of that? Or was that one take wonder? We did that so much because I remember it, the soup got colder and colder and colder. And I do remember Peter Jackson coming over to us and being like, so you guys have got to look like you're starving. Because we'd stopped eating it. Cause I was like, this is gross now. And so then we were

just having to shovel down cold so yeah, think of the children guys. How often does that meme come around to haunt you would you say? Is it every month, every couple of years, every decade? Oh, every couple of weeks at the moment. Yeah, it's really doing the rounds. I have to say this surprised me the movie was released in 2002 that's 22 years ago she's 33 now and a few times every week she still gets sent that one line she uttered when she was 9. There's that thing of never read the comments I read the comments someone had been like this is Peter Jackson's children they were she was nine. Delete, delete, delete. I didn't reply to that person, but I'm not Vida Jackson's child. I wish I was. No.

Of course, nine-year-old Liv did a lot more in that film than that me moment. She tells me she shot for a total of 18 days over the course of a year, and that involved another key scene, one that was a lot scarier than cold soup. And then there's a shot of Gandalf coming out onto a hill and looking out and seeing a small child on a horse. And that's you. That's me. You're sort of a nine-year-old thrown on the back of a horse. Did you know how to ride a horse at that point?

Was that a new thing for you? It was a new thing with horses. They did give us a few lessons to get us all trained up. But I mean, I remember it as a nine-year-old the horse being absolutely huge and I think they probably were ex-racehorses so this horse was massive and for the shot where they needed me on this hill looking lonely that Gandalf looks out to so they put me on the horse with a stunt rider dressed as my brother's character.

And what they wanted was us on this hill, the stunt guy to fall off and me be left alone on the horse. And so they were like, yep, that seems fine. We can make that work. So they put us miles away from the crew and my mum who was my chaperone because I wanted this huge wide shot

to look like we were really alone, no one else around. And the stunt guy drops off and the horse starts to freak out. And so we're on top of this hill and the horse is freaking out and it loses its footing. And it starts going backwards down this hill. It just freaked out and it reared. And the crew and my mum just start sprinting

across this field expecting me to be flattened. And I remember it happening and just thinking, I just have to get off. And so I just swung my leg off and jumped down and sort of covered my head. Cause I just remember thinking these hooves are gonna just fall to get off. And so I just swung my leg off and jumped down and sort of covered my head because I just remember thinking these hooves are gonna just fall back on me. Yeah, everything was fine.

I was just lying on the grass. But my mum then said that they still needed the shot. So they said to me, are you okay getting back on the horse? And my mum being like, I'm not answering for Liv. She's just had this quite traumatic experience. She needs to call. And apparently I was just like, we can do it again. Save the day, you got the shot.

Oh, save the day, I mean. But at nine you are probably just like, okay, sure. There's a lot of people here. I'll do it. I thank Liv for her time and insight. And it's time for me to head back to Hobbiton. As I left things, I was about to stoop over and enter my first Hobbit hole. Stepping in, I wonder if Monica would have to bend over at all.

Walking down the front corridor, I'm in another world. The tiny corridor opening into a tiny Hobbit lounge. And yet it's all so vast down here. I thought it would be a dinky kind of thing but this underground burrow goes on and on. It feels like someone is living here. The lounge I'm in complete with a crackling fire and all the rooms coming off it, it feels lived in. It's been beautifully crafted and looked after and created by a majority of people that worked on the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogy. Sir Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh were involved as well

and Philippa Boyntz. So they could create a narrative of the Hobbits that would live here. In this case, it's the Proudfoot family. They live here with their two children and baby plus their grandfather. So- It's got a whole backstory.

Whole backstory. So it's very much a part of that glimpse of how a movie set is constructed. So there's a narrative that's created and then that informs the art department and all the theme that goes on in here. So there's no hobbits in here. The grandfather's not asleep in the bed,

but you feel like you could see a hobbit at any minute. Absolutely, I mean, the fire's on. It feels so lived in. You do not give me a chance to not believe this is real. It's relentlessly real. It's like I'm there. It's a lot. It is that thing where, yeah, if you were in America, there'd be a cone up or like some

little, you know, some white. It's like a thing like ushering you through. You know ushering you through 100%. We are a movie set. We're very different than a theme park. America does theme parks really, really well. But we are, we are different. There's nothing here to take you out of the experience.

The closest thing is probably the exit signs, but even they're sort of disguised. You won't even let me not believe it with the exit signs. It's a hobbit running through a hobbit hole. Shut up. And then when we come here into the hobbit hole, people are surprised that things aren't behind glass. You can actually physically touch and pick things up and get some photos and play with things,

sit down in the couches. As long as you remove your shoes, which Hobbits don't have, you can jump into the beds and get some photos as well. So people are, because we're trusting them and they're fans, they are very respectful. I turn to Josie, the set decorator who's followed us in, probably to make sure I don't pinch any tiny Hobbit props for Monica's eventual housewarming.

What do you make of, I mean this is your domain? Oh this is the dream. I get to craft things authentically and give that to people and watch them interact with it and feel like they're in a book series that I've loved my whole life. It's the playhouse that I dreamed of in my head as a kid and I get to work in it and make things for it. It's just the best. The day we opened, I just kind of lurked in corners to watch because I was so excited and I saw a whole bunch of people. This is dumb, but people my height. I'm a shorty. I'm not an average height person.

And I kept seeing people go, oh my gosh, the couch fits me. Oh, wow, the beds fit me. And I was just crying quietly in a corner because I was so overwhelmed. And it was the best feeling in the world. This world is kind of made for me and I get to make it for other short people and that means something.

We spend about 30 minutes existing in this hobbit house. I get into a tiny hobbit bank. I sit down at a tiny Hobbit dining room table, I sit on a Hobbit toilet, and I get into a tiny Hobbit bath. There's even a tiny Hobbit kitchen. I need like a Hobbit version of Gordon Ramsay right now. I need like a short little Gordon Ramsay running around. It is a messy kitchen, mid-cook. This is wild. Little pies fresh out of the oven.

The oven is on. Recipe book. And the oven's hot? Get out. I hold my hand to the oven and it's hot. That attention to detail is kind of crazy. I learn that 280 people work here to keep Hobbiton running. There's a whole team just to look after the various veggie gardens.

I can see where the German had a nosebleed. Finally it's time to go. We exit through the gift shop and there's everything from Harry Hobbit feet to the Lord of the Rings ring. Of course you can buy the films on DVD too. Matt has his eyes on a doormat. I think I should get or the thou shall not pass doormat which is so clever. Good gag isn't it? It's a good gag, yep. He ends up going with a baggy end tea towel as well and I realise New Zealand shares something with America, a love of gift shops. Maybe we aren't so different after all.

That was my experience at Hobbiton. That was fantastic. I love a gift shop. This gift shop was really impressive. I wonder if you could do an episode on gift shops even though like you said they're kind of everywhere. Americans do do them well. Yeah. And I just find it very funny. I did do a good gag with a friend where I said I was going to bring them something special from the Lord of the Rings Hobbit and gift shop and I bought them the two towers on DVD They sell those things here and I should know that it's all incredibly interactive, but you can't use the toilet you can't Yes, I sit in the dock. I was sitting on it, I was just posing, I wasn't taking like- I see, a poop. Where do you use the toilet then?

There you go, that's a good question. There's a little cafe outside Hobbiton and they have toilets there. Okay. But you can't do normal size shits in a tiny Hobbit toilet. Yeah, that wouldn't- Don't try.

That wouldn't work. But you can get in everything. I climbed in the bath, you can get in the beds, you can climb up on the bunks, it's very interactive. And they're not worried about liability or anything. This is New Zealand. I know. It's all I could think is I can't believe they're not making you sign a waiver.

If you climbed into that little Hobbit bank and I fell off the ladder and hurt myself, we have a thing called ACC and the government just covers all your injuries. So you can't sue in New Zealand. So I couldn't sue Hobbit and it just wouldn't legally be possible. But the government will go, yeah, we will pay for your rehab from the time you fell out of that like Hobbit bed for two months rehab. And that's all like built into the deal. So yeah, I think that's part of it. They let you do things you wouldn't normally do otherwise. Right. It's probably why when Tom Cruise made that Mission Impossible movie with the helicopters, I think the only place in the world where he was allowed to do those stunts in a helicopter was New Zealand.

Right. Got this weird loose thing going on. That's so interesting. I really loved your friend's acting story. How fun! So the weirdest thing is, she's not like a close personal friend, but I've known her forever. And when I first saw that meme, I didn't realize it was her. And then someone at one point is like, that's Liv. And I'm like, oh my God, it is Liv. I love how the decades on, she's still got people sending her like this annoying meme of her going, mama, where's mama? And her mom being like, shh.

But it wasn't her mama, it was a different person. It was kind of hard to follow. I mean, all these words and names, I get it because I love Harry so much. And if I'm talking to someone who doesn't get it, it's the same thing. I think Miranda Otto was the actor who played her mom. She couldn't remember what her actual mom in the film was called. So she was just remembering actors that she was playing with. But I thought she got taken from her mom. In the film she did. Right. And also in reality she got taken from her mom. In the film she did.

Right. And also in reality she got taken from her mom because they popped her on that horse. Oh my god, can you imagine the idea of seeing my kid fall off a horse? It is so dangerous. People die. Horses are wild. I always find it funny how, maybe it's not the same in New Zealand, like parents will happily let their little girl ride a horse.

And if that other kid wants to do, or that same girl wants to do motocross. Exactly. Don't even think about it. It's like horses are animals. They're unpredictable and wild. It's kind of mad. Can you look up how many horse deaths? Because they do, she was smart to cover her head because they kicked.

Oh, being able to swing her leg off and get off was an amazing thing. And then covering her head up. Also love that she just went and did it again. I know, I know. I would have totally done that. It would have been so people-pleasy. There's another thing she talked about, and she probably had an episode just on her own, but she also shot so many other scenes that just never made it into the film.

So she shot a lot, but there's so much that didn't even make it in just these little moments. Oh man. There's about 710 horse riding related deaths per year in America. In America. It's a lot. I mean, that's kind of a lot. If you fall off a horse, you really got to get out of the way quick because when they kick often they'll kick your abdomen and you internally bleed. Oh God.

Just cause that's the height that you're kind of at behind a horse. Or you're on the ground and they can't see you and they have such force. Yeah. No, they're strong things. I went through a stage when I was 10 of getting into horse riding. I had like a year of horse riding, equestrian. I was sort of before I'd had a growth spurt. So I to a stage when I was 10 of getting into horse riding. I had like a year of horse riding, equestrian. I was sort of before I'd had a growth spirit, so I was a bit smaller. I was scared of them. I think you're either a horse person or you're not.

And I was, it was a bit like, I don't trust you. I don't like the way you're looking at me. People love horses. There's a whole equine therapy. Do you know about this? Not really. What? It's, it's a whole method of therapy using horses and apparently they have some calming effects, healing powers. Healing powers. I mean, they are, in saying that my niece has a horse and she loves that horse. And there is something about the, they are sort of calm.

They're majestic. Big eyes. Yeah. And it's never tried to kick me, like very friendly. Yet. I saw, and I wonder if this is a dream or real. Sometimes you don't know. I know, I agree.

They take cats and dogs into hospitals to like jump on the bed and comfort people. I'm sure there was a hospital somewhere in America that was doing horse therapy. And I just remember this tiny old lady near death in a hospital bed. And it's just this giant horse next to her in the ward. Okay.

This is a dream. No, no, no. I'm seeing it. Yeah. Wait, really? You had the same dream? Yeah. Now I've seen a lot of photos of horses in hospitals.

It's a, no, they take them in. If I was the hospital director, I'll be like, if it goes well, great. But if they start kicking the IV machine and all that, also have you seen like a horse take a dump or a piss? Oh my God, it's horrifying. Can you imagine a horse emptying its bladder in a ward? That feels not good. In New York City, when you're walking through Central Park

because they have all the carriages and stuff, and it's just enormous dumps everywhere. Yeah, they've got to stop doing that. I put my animal rights hats on, but there's footage and when they make the horses do that in the height of summer and there's shots where they just get so fatigued, they just drop down like they're done. They really need to stop that horse drawn shit. But yeah, and all just shit everywhere. Yeah.

There were in an outfit in the hospital. There's a gown it's wearing. So maybe it's catching the shit. Is this the origin? The horse is off-rated? Maybe catching the shit. It wasn't a dream. Wow, that's, I was 99% dream on that.

I wish right now I'd teed up a horse, walk into the attic of a moniker. There's a surprise. Oh my God. It just poops immediately everywhere. Have you ever been on the back of a horse? Have you ever had a ride as a kid? I feel like I have at daycare.

Mm. If we went on a trip. Yeah, something like that. You know, you went on like all these day trips or whatever. I'm sure I was on the back of a pony. Yeah, right. I did one of those touristy things where you can go to like a little ranch in Hollywood and you can get horses and walk up the walking tracks

on a horse. And I feel like the horse I got was about 102. He was very sloppy on his feet and he insisted on walking on the edge of the path. And that felt bad. So I'm not gonna do that. I feel like those, yeah, I'm not gonna do that again. I've probably ridden two dozen horses.

Two dozen? All the time when I was little. Who are you? Vacations, that's not going to do that again. I've probably ridden two dozen horses. Two dozen? All the time when I was little. Who are you? Vacations. That's what we would do. Family trips. We'd do a little horseback riding. You're right.

On a trail, nothing crazy. Yeah, I can see you on, especially the way you're dressed right now. I can see you on the back of a horse. I would wear this when I went on. It would be, your cape would be trailing behind you. A lot of horses in Lord of the Rings. Okay. And I think thinking of Liv, Brave Liv on the back of that horse, I think that's something

probably that makes these movies so respected is they got the real horses and they got the real people. And I think there's something about those films when you watch them where, sure, there's CG, but it's also very grounded and real. And I think something about that has made these movies last so much longer and people love them so, so much. I need to watch and see what I think. Same.

Yeah. I think we need to come in report back. I mean, it's bad form that I did this episode without having watched the trilogy. But it's a lot of time. It's over nine hours, you know. You guys will like it. I mean, it's about a band of different species coming together to conquer evil. For one common good.

There's dwarves, there's elves, there's humans, there's hobbits. I like the idea of it. It's got that actor in it, Legolas. Orlando Bloom. Orlando Bloom. That was his big thing. And Viggo Mortensen. Viggo Mortensen. Yeah. But, you know, when these things are being shot in New Zealand,

and these actors just lived there for years, so you occasionally see these people wandering around. Does the New Zealand airport, kind of like the Roswell airport, is it immediate? In Auckland, I don't know if they do anymore, the main Auckland, they have- The Eagles? So Eagles are in Wellington.

Yeah, Wellington airport goes ham. So it's actually amazing. So they've got these giant Eagles overhead when you walk through arrivals and- Gandalf rides the Eagles. I think he's on the Eagle that's the old man I saw on top of the Eagle that's Gandalf. Yeah. So yeah and also New Zealand is very famous for its in-flight entertainment videos. You know how sometimes in an American airline you'll

get like a wacky video where they're not in plane seats they're somewhere else and they try and make it a bit cool and edgy. So in the old days they were all just like they're on a plane This is how you do your oxygen mask in your seat belt Yeah What New Zealand started doing our airline in New Zealand was doing and a lot of this was like really Solidified when Lord of the Rings came out doing wacky in-flight videos and so it ended up being a marketing campaign Whereas I can't I think Taika Waititi directed one of them

What and it's just they're in Hobbit land and they're putting on seat belts so they're on back of an eagle oh my god and that kind of I think made the other airlines and the other airlines never do it as well and I think E New Zealand doesn't do them that well anymore either but my point is New Zealand invented the wacky in-flight entertainment video and the airport is very lord of the ring. Lord of the ring. It is really cool. That's a massive giant eagle flying overhead Gandalf's on the back. Oh my god.

So New Zealand really does embrace it. And there is a guidebook you can buy where it basically takes you to all 250 locations. And there's people that come to New Zealand, probably that nose bleeding German who just spend their entire time in New Zealand seeing all the places. I know. I really like that. I like when there's something that brings people together. Yeah. That's really nice. There's so few things like that anymore. Totally.

I do want to go into one of those small hobbit holes. It's amazing. And it's hard to describe how lived in and magical it feels. You feel like you're in another universe and that's lived in and it's there. An interesting thing they did tell me is that it's not scaled as it is in the movie because they said if we made it the actual heights that Tolkien laid out for a hobbit hole, humans would go in there and you'd just be uncomfortable. You'd be bent over, you'd be banging your head. So they've scaled it up to a point where it still feels tiny, but it's like a human level where you're not crawling around having a nightmare. So they have done a very, so going in there, I was like, oh yeah, this is what the actual size would be like. It

feels small, but they're like, no, we've scaled the shit up because we were planning how it could have been if it was actually accurate. People will be having a horrible time. They'll be crawling around on all fours, bumping their head. I'd say like maybe four and a half feet and through a doorway. Like you have to like really- Get down. Get down, but you would have to crouch a little. You're not that short.

I just like doing jokes about height because you know, Monica Mell's- I am very short, so. And when that wonderful woman that was doing all the props and everything, she was just got really- Emotional. I think that's so sweet. Yeah. Just loved people feeling like, oh, this is a universe that was built for me.

There's something about seeing the fruit of your labor. She spends her life doing this bizarre thing and then seeing people like it. Just lose their mind. Yeah. It must feel so good. And I also love the other employee there that was in the movies, her scene shot there and now she works there. She's been doing that for like almost 15 years. What a life. Yeah, and it was funny, there are quite a few Americans that do work there

and I always sit in like, what do you like, what does your family think you're doing? They don't understand. They're like, you're working in the Shire, what the hell? What are you doing in New Zealand? It's just such a funny thing to do. I don't know. It sounds sort of appealing to me.

It sounds like if you need a break from the world, the real world, and everyone needs a break from the real world, because it's intense, that that's kind of a nice place to go or a nice place to work and sort of immerse yourself in. And correct me if I'm wrong, Rob, but like Hobbiton represents utopia, right? It's the way the world's meant to be. So being there, you kind of feel. Yeah. It does have a similar vibe to Teletubbies.

Just feels like, no, no, no, no, that's maybe that's bad. But you know how like Teletubbies is like, this is like heightened and magical. I hate Teletubbies. What are you talking about? They're so creepy. They are weird. And are they children? Yeah, well, I assume they were aliens from another planet or something. But like they were young.

Were they like youngish? I hope because they act, ooh, they're like, they're pedophiles. I feel like there's something there. They're grown men. There's something off. Well, men invented them. Yeah, they're pedophiles. I feel like there's something. They're grown men. There's something off. I feel like there's something. Well, men invented them. Yeah, they did.

I mean, no, there is, that was a bad comparison. Hobbiton is not like Teletubby land. I guess I just mean they're both heightened. They have hills and a sun. That's all. Yeah. That's all that is. I am never, now, and now when I watch Lord of the Rings, all I'm gonna see is Teletubby.

And it's tainted. They're like barely at the Shire in the movie. They're on their journey most of the time. I've got one question for you Rob about Lord of the Rings and it's something that I watched on YouTube but have just always found very funny. The very end, spoiler alert, very end, it all goes well on their journey. I think they succeed. The last 10 minutes the Lord of the Rings

I think the hobbits are in a little bed and all the main characters in the film come to greet the hobbits And it's just shots of okay. I'm gonna pull it up. Yeah, okay. I'm gonna pull out the final scene It's just cuz they like sleeping. I mean It's so like Okay, it notoriously had an ending where it ended for like a half hour. Where it just kept going and going and going. Final laws of the ring scene. It's very Jesus-y.

Gandalf? What the fuck is going on? Oh my God! Oh my god. Oh, there's tension with these two. I don't know what it is, but... Yeah, you're watching Sean Austin coming in now. You think it's over? Do they hate each other? No, they love. There's love in real life.

There's love in the world. Wasn't that amazing? Wow. I mean, it's hard because I have no idea what came before it. Yeah, it's just very beautiful. There's a lot of characters all looking at each other giggling, and it's fun. Giggling and gazing. And they're jumping on the bed.

You'll cry. There's like a whole nine hours leading up to that of their hard journey, and this is... Right. I mean, that's what I'm saying. Out of context, it looks crazy, but maybe... Has it intrigued you to watch it now? Are you the type of person who reads the last page of a book? No, never. What I just did is such bad form. Zach religious feel it's been out for so long.

I feel okay doing it. You know, my friend, Roosevelt, she sometimes will before a movie, we'll go to the Wikipedia page and read the Wikipedia page to see if she wants to see the movie or not. You were just talking about this on a fact check because we called my mom, Dax asked her about the Super Bowl. She said she was sort of half watching. She was watching something else. And then we got off and I said, yeah, she's always on many devices. And then often when we start a movie, she looks up stuff about the movie

as we're watching it. Yeah, actively spoiling it. I know. Because you know, Roosevelt would argue, I think that she has limited time. She doesn't want to waste her time. So she wants to have an idea. I'm sure she doesn't do this with everything. Right.

I would never misrepresent her. I feel I might be in this case. But reading a Wikipedia page is one of the funniest things I can imagine. Because that's like synopsis, reception, everything. I'm the kind of guy that when I'm watching trailers, I'll cover my ears and eyes for some trailers because it's coming too much away. You don't want spoilers.

I know. So interesting. Anyway, I'm sorry for spoiling the end of Lord of the Rings where they all live and are really happy. They're all happy. I'm sure some people die along the way. People die, yeah. People die.

Does Gollum live or die? I'm not going to tell you. Okay, fair enough. Well, I feel the same as far as the same amount of New Zealand, the same amount of American. Unchanged. Unchanged. But I am intrigued. Watch part one.

Yeah. Just three hours and see how you feel after that. And then you know you've got another two Lord of the Rings films, and if you really like those you've got three Hobbit movies. And then you know you've got another two Lord of the Rings films, and if you really like those, you've got three Hobbit movies. And then you've got a season of the Amazon show. Oh wow, wow, wow. Just content per days. And then you've got the books.

I feel like you're more American for having not seen it. I am actually showing my American colors by not having seen it. Yeah, it's true. You're definitely less New Zealand. You're less Kiwi. I'm less New Zealand, I'm more American. Yay.

I don't know how I feel about that. Thank you for coming on the journey into the Shire with me. Thank you Liv. Thank you, Liv is, she's the best. That was great. And Rob, thank you for dressing up and getting on theme with today's episode.

I hope that you wear it tomorrow. Can you fucking wear that tomorrow? That would be incredible. And that little line with all those holly, all those people from LA? Absolutely not. That would be so good. Thing is it suits you.

You'd kind of blend in. You know what? I don't think anyone would say anything. I agree. They're just like, you're a Los Villas resident and here you are. And try and pay for the coffee with your ring. Okay, bye. Bye.