Do Go On - 51 - The Wiggles

Episode Date: October 12, 2016

The Wiggles are one of Australia's biggest musical exports... hear all about them on this week's episode! What makes Jeff so sleepy? Why skivvies? Does Greg smell? All these questions and more will be... pondered... Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: dogoonpod@gmail.comSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serengy Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.
Starting point is 00:00:20 If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Ahoy there, you're listening to Do Go On. My name is Dave Fornicki, and I am joined by Mr Matt Stewart and Miss Jess Perkins. Hello. Ahoi-hoi, to-to-to-t.
Starting point is 00:00:54 I put a bit of a hoary, like a slightly Irish-y sort of voice. I didn't mean to, but... Irish-y. I thought it was a pirate. Yeah, no, I wanted to be pirated, but then I... Now you think you sounded Irish. Yes. Can't Irish be pirates?
Starting point is 00:01:08 Well, I'm not saying they can't be. Hey, I'm not impressing anyone. Whoa. They can be whatever they want to be. Thank you. They can Riverdance and they can pirate. Oh, well. Well, and one of those things is valuable.
Starting point is 00:01:17 That's right. Piracy is more valuable than River Danes or no. Oh, wow. We're at it again. I know, 30 seconds in. Are we going well, Maities? We are me captain. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:01:29 I'm the captain. I like that. Boop boop. Yeah, I reckon you're the captain. Land. Land a Hoyer. Walk the plank, you bastard. You dirty dog.
Starting point is 00:01:38 You see, do you, Davey Jones. Locker. I love that phrase, Davy Jones' Locker. Yeah. You're Davy, Matt's Jones, and I'm the locker.
Starting point is 00:01:49 Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. If you tell, that's the secret, she will not, she will not tell anyone. Yeah, like the time you told me
Starting point is 00:01:55 about that rash you had. I didn't tell anybody that. What rash? Oh, no. Dave, did you have a ranch? He realized that I was looking at him, but hadn't addressed him
Starting point is 00:02:07 and he could get away with it. Yes, I had smallpox. All right. Guilty as charged. Research for the show is very intense. Yeah, I told you, we do work really hard at researching in this show. Maybe too hard. Maybe too hard.
Starting point is 00:02:21 I'd say not in my case. Okay, which is great because it is your turn to present a topic this week. Yes. I like that phrase to present a topic. I like that. Matt, you are the presenter. Have we not said that before? I'm sure we have.
Starting point is 00:02:34 He's presenting. No, I just like it. It makes me think of previous topic, David Attenborough, like we are. We're presenting. We're presenting. When he says they're presenting, it means something else. Very true, very true. Something a whole lot better than this show, but still.
Starting point is 00:02:54 Animal fucking. But Matt, is your turn to do a report? To do a go on. To do a present. And as always, you are about to apologize about the lack of research you have done. No, no apologies. Oh, great, great. You get what you deserve sometimes
Starting point is 00:03:13 Who our listeners get what they deserve? What have they done? Well, no, just in life, you know. All right, no, okay. Sometimes you give what you get, you get what you give. Again, they've done nothing to deserve a shoddy report. But having said that, it's a free podcast, so essentially, get what you're paying for. Is that what you're saying about?
Starting point is 00:03:35 Is that what you're saying? I'm not saying that at all. I love our listeners. How much? Enough to do a good report for them? Apparently not. Well, no, they disagree. I get nothing but good feedback. Yeah, when you're drunk, they love it. Yeah, we got a tweet this week saying, when you do your next drunk episode, like it's a thing that we do on purpose.
Starting point is 00:03:57 I love that. It's not just that our podcasting has to fit in around the rest of our lives. So sometimes one of us has been drinking that day. It can happen. And more often than not, in fact, 100% of the time it has been mistaken. about Stuart. Wow, that doesn't sound great, but I have a fun life, so I'm okay. Yeah, you're right.
Starting point is 00:04:17 I'll drink away the shame, which I think is healthy. Yeah, that's a good way to do it. Just repress it. All this talk about drinking is very appropriate for this topic. Is it? Well, the listeners at home will be like, oh, yes, this links up very nicely. But we do not as yet know. I see what he's done there.
Starting point is 00:04:37 He's segwaying. Saguang. Now as Jess says, we have no idea what you're talking about. And I find this to be one of the more exciting times in my week because we're about to talk about something. I'm about to learn about something. I don't know what it is. That's exciting to you?
Starting point is 00:04:50 Yeah, it is. I'm the nerdy one on the show. We know that. Matt's the cool boy. Jess, you're the joyful soul. Aw. That's the best one by far. I know, that's much better than a nerd.
Starting point is 00:05:02 What was Matt? The cool boy. That's pretty great. I was expecting an insult, so thank you. Yeah, that's right. Sometimes... I was waiting for something. I give compliments when they're least expected.
Starting point is 00:05:12 When I'm in the middle of an argument, I say, God, your eyes are beautiful. And they're like, oh, I'm trying to rob this bank. All right. Is that what you're getting an argument about? Hey, don't rob this bank. I don't think it's a good idea. Well, we do think it's a good idea.
Starting point is 00:05:25 God, your eyes are beautiful. Oh, right. I'm really thinking of my life choices. And then they leave, and I go on with my day. Uh-huh. Silent hero. And here I am. That was my morning, so...
Starting point is 00:05:38 Wow. It's good to be here. It's weird you hadn't yet mentioned that. Well, I like to slip my stories in when people least expect it. People are like, give us all your money. And I'm like, did you know that one time my parents owned a chow-chow dog? And they're like, this is not appropriate. And then they leave and I've saved the situation again.
Starting point is 00:05:56 It's very good. Wow. Is that a made-up thing? No, they owned a chow-chow. Do you know what a chow-chow? No, what's a chow-chow? It's like an edible dog. No, it's it.
Starting point is 00:06:06 Chow-chow down. A dog that's got like a bowl built into it? They're quite a rare. What is wrong with him? Get over here, chow chow dog. It's dinner time. What are we serving up today? Like it's got a bowl that's stuck taped to his back.
Starting point is 00:06:24 Stuck taped? Yeah, stuck taped in. What are we? What's a chow chow dog? I was one of those, you know when you go, you see, I don't know, maybe you have, have a Chinese temple or something in that vein and it has. dogs guarding it. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:41 They're models of Chow Chowh Dogs. They're like an ancient sort of Chinese dog. And they're quite rare, but you can get them here. And, yeah, my dad loves them. We had two when I was growing up. Cool. Yeah, both had... All their names.
Starting point is 00:06:53 Chinese names. Ming, is the first one. And the second one was May Lee. And they have purple tongues. What? And one time when my dad took the dog to the vet, just for an annual checkup, the vet was like, he was a new vet. He was like, what's wrong with this dog?
Starting point is 00:07:07 I think it's dying. It's got a purple tongue. tongue. And the senior vet was like, no, that's just what they look like. Yeah, have you ever looked at its tongue before? Dave's dad? Your dick? No, no, my dad was confused. Just the vet. Oh, the vet was confused. Pay attention, Matthew. Look, I have to be honest, I do zone out a lot when Dave talks.
Starting point is 00:07:27 I know, mate, I know. Story of my life. Another story he'll tell in another inconvenient. The boring story of Dave's life. Well, that was a little too far. Jesus. But we're not here to talk about my dogs. All your boring life.
Starting point is 00:07:44 Well, if we had a Venn diagram, the dog chat and the boring life does cross over quite a lot. We're here to talk about Matt Stewart's topic. I thought you'd be rejoicing in my boring conversation because it puts off the time you have to talk about something. No, no. I can't wait to talk about this very interesting topic. You sound enthusiastic.
Starting point is 00:08:06 Here's the question. We always start with a question. Regular listeners would know that. And that is a question about the topic that I ask these guys, right? And then they answer it, and that's a really fun way to get into the topic. Very good fun.
Starting point is 00:08:20 Can I just say that it just accidentally happened because I decided to represent the first report with the topic just as a way to get into it, and it just happened from it. It was really organic. That's what I liked about it. Organic. Now it's forced, but it started in an organic way.
Starting point is 00:08:36 The first episode was, We're only 50 episodes since then. It's all scripted. Very artificial. We don't even record this in the same room anymore. Yeah, no. We read from a script. We record our bits separately.
Starting point is 00:08:46 Line. Do go on. Sorry, that's what I was going to say. Do go on. Matt, what's a question? Question this week. Which Australian band performed 12 sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York City in 2003?
Starting point is 00:09:02 2003. An Aussie band? An Aussie band. Twelve. at the MSG. That's like one of the the pinnacle, maybe would say,
Starting point is 00:09:10 a performance. Is it an older band that were doing a, like... Like a comeback? Yeah. No, they were sort of moving
Starting point is 00:09:18 into their peak. In 2003. They'd been around 10 years or so. Who was big in 2003? Oh, Aussie bands. Well,
Starting point is 00:09:26 the big Aussie bands are always the powder fingers. The silver chairs. I mean, silver chair were big, I believe, in their first album overseas, but I don't think in 2000.
Starting point is 00:09:35 three, they'd be big in the US. In the US. Oh, is it Jet? No. Because they had... They were quite big, yeah. They saw a few million albums in the US. I saw Jet at the Palais Theatre when I was like 17.
Starting point is 00:09:48 Did you? It was so good. Yes, I reckon they'd put on a good show. They're a good Aussie rock and roll band. Their first album was very good. Anyway... I think... Australian, Australia.
Starting point is 00:09:58 Yeah, what genre? Are they rock band? Of sorts. But I'd think... All right, Olivia Newton, John. Their market is young. I repeat, Libby and you John. I know.
Starting point is 00:10:10 Is it the Wiggles? It is the Wiggles. I don't think I ever would have thought that. That's amazing. This is from the hat. This is from the hat. Because I nearly picked this one up. Oh, lucky.
Starting point is 00:10:23 Did you pick it up? I snatched it first. Pick it up and put it back down. Yeah, picked it and put it back down. When you get a double pick, that's the worst. Yeah. Although it gives you a chance to make a choice. Chance to choose.
Starting point is 00:10:35 But now you've got just a sloppy second. No, not at all. And this one was put in the hat by Nick Jumanos. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Nick. His Twitter handle, The Nick of Crime. Oh, that's good. Very good.
Starting point is 00:10:50 Is Nick possibly six or under? The Nick of Crime makes me feel like he might be older. Seven. Yes. The Wiggles, very good. 2003, still kicking it. It's a 12. I like that you said, in a way,
Starting point is 00:11:05 were a rock band. In a way, they see themselves... They've got an electric guitar. They see themselves as rock and roll roots. Yeah. Ruted in rock. Routed in rock. As we all do.
Starting point is 00:11:16 We all do. Oh, mate, I rooted in rock so good through a lot of my university days. Good heaven. Great. Doesn't fully make any sense, does it? No. Or in any way. All right, great.
Starting point is 00:11:29 Did you guys get into Wiggles as kids? I was about to say because no, but they were active during my... time. I think I saw the... I think my mum's told me a story of taking me to the Wiggles and me falling asleep. Nice. But, you know, that's, I'm sure that that must be a slightly depressing part of their job where they look at and maybe a good fraction of their audience is asleep at any one time. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:51 Especially when they sing their little lullaby songs. Especially fucking Jeff. I listen to an hour long interview with one of the, one of the, with their manager. And he was talking, he was saying, you know, the kids, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, a little bit of an hour. the most honest audience you'll get. There's no bullshit. He's like, if I go see a band, I'll clap at the end of a song. No matter why.
Starting point is 00:12:14 He's like, kids don't do that. They'll either dance if they enjoy it or they'll fall asleep if they're Dave Warnocky. He said that, which was obviously that cut. He's still thinking about it's 20 years later. Yeah, which I thought that was kind of interesting. I was going to bring that up later in the fun facts, but yeah. I was a tastemaker as a six-year-old. cousins who were really into it who are a bit younger than me.
Starting point is 00:12:38 So I was exposed to the Wiggles, but I was like a little bit too old for the Biddle. Exposed to the Wiggles? Yeah. Oh, no, no, no. The Wiggles' story began in 1991 when Anthony Field was studying to become a preschool teacher at Macquarie, Macquarie University. Anthony's the Blue One. He's the Blue Wiggle. He likes to eat.
Starting point is 00:13:03 That's Anthony's thing. He likes to eat. That's his thing. He likes to eat. Oh, right. That's an interesting. thing to like. I mean,
Starting point is 00:13:08 he's always eating. We all got to do it. Yeah, we all got to sleep too, but everybody bloody teases Jeff all the time. That's true. Anyway, go on. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:13:15 short straw there, Jeff. Yeah, sorry, man. So a lot of, a lot of, my main source for this was like a little, a short memoir written by Anthony's brother.
Starting point is 00:13:26 Who played Captain Feth's Sword? No, that's what I thought as well. It wasn't his brother. I always thought that as well, but apparently not. So then, who's Paul in this story? Just Anthony's brother. Paul, um, is Anthony's
Starting point is 00:13:37 Anthony's brother who goes on to manage the band in the mid-90s until today. He never plays Captain Feathersword? No, neither of his brothers. John, another one of his brothers, wrote a lot of the songs. But he's never performed in the band. I was sure it was as well.
Starting point is 00:13:53 I was sure. So maybe... No, surely one of them... Wasn't one of them to sneak off and come back on as Captain Feather Sword? Well, that was another theory. That was another theory. People would be like Anthony would sometimes play
Starting point is 00:14:03 Kevin Feather-Sort, but no. Captain Feather-Sort's his own man. Look, let's... Sorry, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I mean, a lot of that is wrong. Anthony had just gone back to study at Macquarie University after taking a couple of years off to focus on his band The Cockroaches.
Starting point is 00:14:20 Do you know? Sick. He used to be in a band called The Cockroaches, and they were starting to get some real success. They had a... Their self-titled debut went platinum. What? Really?
Starting point is 00:14:31 Yeah. That's quite a big deal. Yeah, yeah. What did he play in the band? Guitar, he was lead guitar Interesting His brother Paul Who went on to manage the band
Starting point is 00:14:41 Was the lead singer Cool And their other brother John Was another guitarist in the band They're a six-piece band Another member of the band Was named Jeff Fat On keyboard
Starting point is 00:14:53 Yeah And they also had a roadie named Greg Page Oh hello They had heaps of success in Australia Including a top ten hit With the song She's the One
Starting point is 00:15:04 Really? I've been listening to it, yeah. Is it good? It's, yeah, it's not, you know, it's, that sort of pretty poppy pub rock sound, I guess. Cool. I've listened to it a bunch of times this morning trying to get into it, but, you know, it's fine. It's a fine song. Really forcing yourself to like something, that's the way to do it, I reckon.
Starting point is 00:15:25 They had another, they had another bunch of charting songs, no other top ten ones, but another few in the top 40, top 30. So is this late, early 90s? Like, wait up. Hey, what now? That's my favourite now. What does that mean? Hey, what now? Hey, what now?
Starting point is 00:15:41 Hey, what now? Is that what it is? What now? They also had a song. Punctuation is very important. They also had a song called Do the Monkey. Do the monkey. Is that like their transitional song?
Starting point is 00:15:56 Yeah. And they re-recorded it as the Wiggles. And they still called it, Do the Monkey? Yeah, yeah. That's what I was singing. actually know that song? What about, do they still do Hey What Now? No, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:16:08 They never re-recorded. Or she's the one. A bunch of the songs, they did, like, they reworked, changed the lyrics to make them more child-friendly or whatever. Wow. So the cockroaches were, you know, that classic sort of pop band writing songs about girls and stuff. And then they changed them all.
Starting point is 00:16:22 Chugger, chugger, big red cock. I mean, car. That's much more child-friendly. No, Dave. Think about it. Your face is so creepy. They also guest-hosted Countdown three times.
Starting point is 00:16:35 What? As the cockroaches. As the cockroaches. They performed on there a bunch of times. What? I always thought that they were like a band that never got anywhere and then somehow became these multi-millionaires doing kids stuff. But they were actually quite...
Starting point is 00:16:50 Yeah, well, I was going to say, I wonder why they transitioned into children's, but I bet Matt's probably got the bloody answer. They had some other singles that I like the names of them. I want a leather jacket and bingo bingo. So it feels like there were like some... Halfway. Halfway between...
Starting point is 00:17:06 Always like a little bit. I want to leather... I imagine seeing a whole song about how you want a leather jacket, but you just... Just get one. And so I went to the shop and I bought one. And I bought one. And now I've got one.
Starting point is 00:17:19 Bingo Bango. I'm a leather jacket owner. Apparently they had a great, great live show, you know, energetic and that sort of stuff. I sold out tours. What? But they... They never went here. huge.
Starting point is 00:17:32 Sure. They weren't at Madison Square Garden. But they never went huge. They never were big outside of Australia. And their popularity sort of waned as they went on. They released four albums and none of them were as successful as the first. Wow. But they did have a following.
Starting point is 00:17:49 So that was when Anthony went back to uni, I guess. He was starting to look to the future. This is what Anthony said at university. He said at university there were maybe four or five guys in our course and over 400 women, which was a bit overwhelming. I think the blokes got together as a bit of a bonding thing. That's what he said. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:15 And that handful of blokes included the musicians Murray Cook, who was the bass player for finger guns. Oh my God. That's a thing. That's the thing. Yeah, which is a thing they do, which is interesting. That's so funny. And Greg Page was also studying there. who was a roadie for the cockroaches
Starting point is 00:18:31 and singer for dead giveaway. It's a bloody dead giveaway. So they're all in bands anyway. Yeah. And so they sort of got... Did they not have other things to do in the 90s? No, everybody's in a fucking band. I was in a band and that was in the 2000s.
Starting point is 00:18:46 I was also in a band. Good point. In fact, I was in over 10 bands, over 10 years. Were you really? Yeah. That's a lot of bands, Dave. You have commitment issues. Did any of the band members go on to form a big...
Starting point is 00:18:59 A big churber? Children's group. No, I am thinking of calling my group. A moly-doulies or the... High-five. High-five. Yeah, were you in a band with one of the original high-five members? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:10 Wow. I was. Good for you. Ask no more questions. Let's move on. All right. All right. So they started, because they had this music connection,
Starting point is 00:19:19 they started jamming in their lunch breaks and that sort of stuff. And that ended up turning into, they started going busking for fun, the streets of Sydney. and Anthony brought in his brother John on guitar and Jeff Fat, so they weren't at uni, so he brought great names. So great.
Starting point is 00:19:36 Jeff Fat. Obviously, the cockroach man. He played accordion while they bust. And during these busking sessions, the group first played what would become one of their signature songs? Fruit salad? Hot potato. Oh, hot potato.
Starting point is 00:19:50 Hot potato. Apparently it started with John, just started doing a call and response thing to the crowds. Oh, nice. And he's started with hot potatoes. I know what I'll get this crowd going. Hot potato.
Starting point is 00:20:03 Maybe they're outside a shop that's selling hot potatoes. And the shop also sells cold spaghetti. Cold spaghetti, cold spaghetti. Wow, I want to go to this shop. Mash banana. It's a very eclectic menu. I can't remember what other things that are on there. Ooh, wiggie, wiggie, wiggie.
Starting point is 00:20:20 Oh, wigi, wiggy, wig. Why do we know? It's so weird that we know these songs. No, it's not. No, it's not at all. We're all walking up at that mall in the 90s. Yeah, that's true. It was really catchy.
Starting point is 00:20:30 It's been in my head for 25 years. Oh, wig, wig, wig, wig. During his studies, Anthony weren't all about child development and how children think. And he saw his new band as a great chance to put some of this knowledge into practice. Kids love hot potatoes. And mashed bananas. Cold spaghetti, not so much, but... Interesting.
Starting point is 00:20:49 As he recalls it. Two out of three, A bad. He recalls, he said, we used to wear different coloured shoes. shirts, not skivies, but we wear shirts with very busy patterns. We thought that was kind of bright. Murray, Greg, Jeff and I were all rock and rollers. See what I was saying rock and rock and rock. We could put a bit of music that had rock and roll beat
Starting point is 00:21:11 and also incorporate what we'd learned about children and what they'd respond to. And that was the first Wiggles album. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Do they ever find a leather jacket? They never did. Who at any point thought Skivis were.
Starting point is 00:21:26 less creepy. Different colors is great. I think it's good to be identifiable by color. What's the top we could wear? T-shirts. Polo shirts are the color, maybe a shirt. Obviously, skivy is the most appropriate choice. Well, obviously you've never studied at Macquarie University because unit one of early childhood development is kids love skivis.
Starting point is 00:21:45 You should dress like a pedophile. Is that what it is? Is that what it is? Do pedophiles? I feel like they do. Do pedophiles have a uniform? Because they'd be a lot easy to identify. they did and I think it's something that we should consider.
Starting point is 00:22:00 Skivis. I'm okay with throwing skivis under the bus and sacrificing them to pedophiles for a pedophile uniform unless you want to invent a different type of clothing specifically for pedophiles. Anyway, that's a topic for another day, I suppose.
Starting point is 00:22:16 What, the pedophile clothing? Yeah. Well, she'll be in next week. Jessus report. It'll be in there. It'll be in there. You'll see. They needed a name for their band
Starting point is 00:22:28 And they took it from one of the songs That John Field had written Which I think might have been another cockroaches song That was reworked and it was called Get Ready to Wiggle Oh boy Oh, they are so rock and roll They thought that
Starting point is 00:22:42 Some bands do drugs, some bands wiggle A bit of horizontal wiggling Hey baby Ooh Hey what now They thought that They They thought that Wiggling was a good description of how young children danced.
Starting point is 00:22:59 That's what they thought. Oh, I just, I saw a little clip of them guest hosting Countdown, and they came back from a break or whatever, or from a clip. And Jeff is pretend to sleep on the couch. And Anthony's like, oh, wake up. No, no shit. As the cockroaches. That's very funny.
Starting point is 00:23:21 They've been doing that schick for a long time. It's a good schick. It's a good schick. Loves to sleep that guy. He bloody loves a nap. He loves a nap. Nah, but narcolepsy is a serious condition and we should be more mindful of his needs. He's seriously ill.
Starting point is 00:23:34 It has been for a long time. The face is so smug. The first album only costs like three or four grand to record. Was that all? And they didn't really expect it to be any sort of a hit. They were just having a good time. They weren't doing this for the money. No.
Starting point is 00:23:51 They were doing it because they loved potatoes. Kids. Music. Oh, sorry. And they loved entertaining the kids. Children, yeah. I bet they did. Crazy fucks.
Starting point is 00:24:03 Oh, she's turned. That is a turn and it's, I mean, I imagine that that would have been a real full-on thing early days for them. Hey, no, we're cool. I know you've never heard of us, but let us come to your school and wiggle with your kids. Yeah, whatever, that's a bit. But, you know, but, you know, but. Hey, it clearly worked. They made it work.
Starting point is 00:24:23 And maybe that, yeah, maybe they were the ones bold enough to do it, you know. I certainly wouldn't want to have to entertain children all the time. They're like the worst. But I would also like to sell out 12 shows in a row at Madison Square Garden. I just like my neck to be warm. Well, there's something in it for everybody. Guys, let's start wearing colourful skivies. So the album was quite cheap to record.
Starting point is 00:24:49 They didn't expect it to be a hit. They were just, they just were thinking, oh, we'll be stoke. if it even gets released. Just want to get near some kids. That's what I were thinking. Just called the Wiggles? Like a self-titled? It's called the Wiggles.
Starting point is 00:24:58 Yeah, self-titled debut. Just want to get close to some kids. They approached the ABC to see if they would release the album because at that stage, probably still are like the big children's entertainment releaseer of stuff. What's the word for the publisher? Publisher or Record label or whatever. The head of the ABC that time was Merrill Gross. I didn't notice that was a great name.
Starting point is 00:25:23 as I wrote it down. Merrill. Merrill Gross. Miss Gross. Miss Gross. Fuck, yes. So she was the head of ABC music and as luck would have, she just got the job. But previously she'd worked at festival records where the cockroaches were signed. So she already had a good relationship with them and knew that they could,
Starting point is 00:25:44 they could make a bloody hit record. It's all about who you know. They deliver the goods. All about who you know. So she signed them up. At that stage, Pretty much everywhere, children's entertainers tended to be solo acts, and they'd been told that they were never going to make money as a band.
Starting point is 00:26:03 Spreading the cash across multiple performers just wouldn't work, because it just wasn't that kind of cash in it. But they were like, fuck it, let's go for it. Who cares? It's not about the money, money, money. That's not one of theirs. That's Jesse Jay. But that could be, O Wiggles, if they said,
Starting point is 00:26:20 We don't need the money, money, money. We just want to make the world. But they change the lyrics. It's not about the cherries, cherries, cherries. They're not all food related, mate. Food or that big red car. Which can deliver the food. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:26:35 They, in a way, they created Uber. Eats. Did you guys know that Anthony's interest is food? I did. I told you that. Yeah, but I might edit that out. I could sound like I did a little more research. I could be wrong, but I'm not 99% sure that.
Starting point is 00:26:53 Here's a thing I haven't mentioned at this point. Up until this stage, there are a five piece. Yeah, I was thinking that. Greg, Anthony, Jeff, Murray and Philip Wilcher. Oh, Philip. Philip Wilcher. Phil? What is Phil?
Starting point is 00:27:08 Oh, no, he's the fifth beetle, isn't he? Oh, Phil Will. Here's the fifth wiggle. No. After the wiggles performed at a childcare centre in Randwick. Oh, no, he said something inappropriate. He touched a kid. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:27:21 Why does this? This doesn't have to be it. about. Oh, no, even better. He decided to quit the band to pursue a career in childcare or just like a normal accounting job. Classical music. Okay. Is that actually?
Starting point is 00:27:34 That's a little bit more admirable than a fucking accountant. Yeah, it's true. He apparently after, he just felt uncomfortable about performing live and resigned for the group, supposedly, because after that performance in Randwick. Just had a bad gig. This was in the weeks leading up to the release of the album. We've all had bad gigs. Yeah, he got heckled by three-year-olds. Heckling's thrown me out, you know, and I've sort of left and gone, do I want to do this?
Starting point is 00:28:01 Actually, one of my worst gigs was at a childcare centre. Yeah. As an Easter bunny, genuine fact. And it was horrific. And I nearly got fired. Why? But I was able to convince the childcare teacher to feel sorry for me, so she didn't complain about how badly it went. Oh, that's nice.
Starting point is 00:28:22 So. Why was it bad? Oh, they just didn't care about the Easter money. Kids don't care about stuff like that. It must be even tough for the wiggles now to compete with the bloody iPads. You know what I'm saying? Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Fuck off.
Starting point is 00:28:35 I've got an iPad, mate. I'm playing the wiggle app. Got the wiggle app and that's much more interesting. It's interactive. Yeah, I get to wake him up when I choose, not when you bloody decide. Four versus in. Wow. Same every time.
Starting point is 00:28:48 Every time. Predictable wiggles. So I feel Phil Will's pain. But if I stuck it out of the Easter money, I'd probably be a million by now. Apparently, Jeff also found it a bit weird performing in front of kids. You reckon it took him a couple of years, or it took him a long time to get the language down right. Like, everyone else was sort of...
Starting point is 00:29:07 Good evening, Melbourne. Stop, fuckers. Are you ready to fucking rock? Yeah, he had the time... Stop, come. From his cockroaches' keyboard days, where he'd be like, yeah. Oh, right.
Starting point is 00:29:20 Whoop. Yeah, when he say, hey, yeah, what? I want to let the jacket. Keyboarders are the coolest members of the band, and I will be on record saying that. Nope, I think they are. Oh, definitely. I think they are definitely the coolest.
Starting point is 00:29:33 That is never... It's very hard to look cool behind a keyboard. No, but some people, some can do it and have done it in the past. I've never seen it. Nope, it can be done. It can be done. It's fine. The hardest thing about playing keyboard or piano live is I think keyboard and piano is the most versatile
Starting point is 00:29:46 instrument, but performing live, people can't see what you're doing because it's horizontal and... flat but if you're on the drums you can see the people hit guitar bass singing you can watch them do it but it's very unanimated keyboard if you're and it's all you can see is just the shoulders going up and down
Starting point is 00:30:05 and that sort of weird happy singing voice if they're doing backup singing I'm only going off the video I sort of Jeff fat playing for the conradges but he made it look he made it look pretty good grand piano is a different thing like people rocking out of grand piano can look right or you know
Starting point is 00:30:21 any sort of real piano Yeah, you have to be a... Nick Cave looks pretty cool at times. At all times. At all times. Piano or not? That's true. He makes the bagpipes look cool.
Starting point is 00:30:35 He might be the except in there. Which is amazing. He's got this great dance move that is no good on a podcast, but it's my favourite. We'll just commentate. Oh wow, it's like he's putting on his backpack. He's like, it looks like he's... He's putting on his backpack. I think it looks like he's skipping on a surfboard.
Starting point is 00:30:52 Yeah, totally. Like he's, yeah, some sort of skis or something. It's the best. I'm not nailing it, but oh, man, it's my favourite move in the biz. I think you have now, because I look at you like you're a lot cooler now. Yeah, I find you a lot cooler now. If only you played piano. The coolest instrument.
Starting point is 00:31:10 As we have a step list. No, it's a very versatile instrument, but hard to be entertaining while playing. No, but some people can and have done it in the past. Jess, what instrument did you play in the band? Was it drums? drums are cool drums are cool jess are very cool jess
Starting point is 00:31:25 don't be down on yourself jess drums are cool sometimes I played tambourine when there wasn't keyboard in the band oh that's a classic thing to give to someone with nothing to do one time I saw a band play
Starting point is 00:31:37 and this woman had a microphone but she didn't even do back up she just played tambourine the whole time and it felt very token like I want to be that woman a professional tambourine
Starting point is 00:31:50 tambourine player. Fuck yes. I hope she's getting a smaller cut because she's doing a lot less than everyone else. What's the thing? A lot of it is listening to the manager, Paul Field. The brother.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Yeah, he was giving advice out about, you know, music biz. And he was mentioning that often bands, like issues get created in bands when, you know, some are writing the songs
Starting point is 00:32:17 so they get the publishing rights. They'll get a bigger cut of the money coming in because they've written the songs. Apparently early days, the Wiggles decided that they were going to split it evenly no matter what. So every song was co-write. Which he reckons is one of the reasons why they've had such longevity. They haven't had issues with.
Starting point is 00:32:38 Yeah. That's a smart way to do it. Whether it's Greg Jeff or Jeff Gregg. Yeah. Leonard McCartney. Yeah. No, we got it. We got the reference.
Starting point is 00:32:47 I don't think you did. We were here for that podcast. In fact, I presented that podcast. So we were here for that. Anyway, around the time after that dude left, they decided it was a good chance to maybe freshen up their image, not too long after that. And what better way to do that than with skivies?
Starting point is 00:33:06 What were they wearing before? It's just shirts. They're wearing shirts. There's clips you can see. I've watched a few clips. It would be much better. Having a great time. No, the skivies obviously very iconic.
Starting point is 00:33:15 Very loud. I think it's the block colours like. Like Jeff said, you could have done that with... Polo shirts, T-shirts. I reckon it's either a skivie... Polo shirts feel more like dodgy uncle than skivis to me. Yeah, I think it's either... Skivis are so weird.
Starting point is 00:33:31 Long-sleeves skivis. And also, they're in... Like, they're performing an hour-long show live in a long-sleeve skivie under those stage lights. Ugh. Yeah. I think it should either be skivies or, like, suit jackets. Yeah. Because there's got to be long-sleeve because you get more colour.
Starting point is 00:33:49 They should have been in black skivis and berets and little round glasses and then just doing beat poetry. Speaking of skivis, Skittledoo, but, bah, bah, bah,
Starting point is 00:34:00 cherries and banana. Our friends in Aunty Donner just came back from L.A. And did, have they told you about how they went to some magic? Magic. I saw a photo on Facebook. And they, so there's a sign,
Starting point is 00:34:14 at some sort of place where you go and see magic or something. Yeah. And there's a sign out the front saying. What do you mean like a theatre that has a magic? Yeah, I guess so. It's like a magic castle or something. And there's a sign out at the front that says you must be wearing a shirt and tie or a suit, a jacket and tie. But below that, it says an alternative is you can't wear skivies or turtlenecks, which are basically the same thing.
Starting point is 00:34:37 Yeah, it's the same thing. It's the different names. So they all wore matching turtlenecks. Like a brown, a greeny khaki brown. A thing of beauty. So good. So, so good. What legend.
Starting point is 00:34:49 So it's fine when they wear it But not the Wiggles I see how it is Auntie Donna can do No wrong In my eyes Yeah Jess is Just as a
Starting point is 00:35:00 She's an Aunty Donna completer They would not They could do no wrong They can do no wrong So they performed a childcare centre It'd be fine No problem It'd be so fine
Starting point is 00:35:08 Oh okay In fact That would be a great show Look I'd say that's probably a bad idea But Yeah probably Probably with some of their content Uh
Starting point is 00:35:17 In a move that This is some of my finer writing at late at the night. In a move that rocked the preschool music world. They changed from wearing the bright multicolored patterned shirts to one specific, to one specified color for each wiggle. They went to a Sydney department store and each picked out a color. Murray went red. Jeff went purple.
Starting point is 00:35:41 Good choice, too. Greg went yellow. Yep. And Anthony went. Blue. Green. Excuse me? What?
Starting point is 00:35:48 My blow. There was no. I should have known. I should have known because you pause. I should have known it was a trap. It was a trap. It was no blue. Oh, that would look silly.
Starting point is 00:35:55 Green, yellow, red and purple. I reckon it's weird without green because you've got... No, blue's good. It's not purple already. It's weird to go purple before green, isn't it? Yeah, it is. Green is the next logical state. That's the number of the fourth colour.
Starting point is 00:36:07 Outside of the primaries. Yeah. Green's got to be the next one. Yeah, that's the best secondary colour, right? So Jeff fucked it up when he picked purple, basically. I want purple. Oh, for fuck's sake, Jay. For fuck's sake.
Starting point is 00:36:18 blues right there jeez you fell asleep during the fitting and now you won you won purple this guy fucking know safe safe and fuck sake
Starting point is 00:36:28 for fuck sake Jeff might be it maybe he's a big fan of the phantom well actually one week when I was away
Starting point is 00:36:37 you talked about the phantom being the worst superhero and I was yelling at the radio whilst because I was listening in the car the phantom is my personal favorite superhero of course it is
Starting point is 00:36:45 so purple actually now you say it is In a colour. And Jeff, you're a great man. And they do go on Skivie Challenge. Are you going to wear purple? Well, yellow.
Starting point is 00:36:58 Greg. Greg. Greg. That was always my favourite as a kid. Yeah, the front man. I loved him. I always liked Anthony. He was the, yeah, it's all good. Anthony, which is what color?
Starting point is 00:37:07 Blue. I was a Murray man. Murray. Okay, well, that works all. You can be red. Because he's the guitarist, the cool. Yeah, he's a cool funny one. So none of us like Jeff.
Starting point is 00:37:14 He's the Chandler Bing of the group. He's not the funny one. He's the funny one. Is he funny? He's very. But the point is none of us like... He came up with the Dorothy, the dinosaur, laugh. Which I didn't know.
Starting point is 00:37:24 It was a thing, but I read that last night. What do you mean? She's got an iconic laugh? Oh, doesn't she like... I won't try and do it. It's like a high-pitched sort of giggle she does, I think? No, try it. Come on, I don't know. No, but I'll do it wrong.
Starting point is 00:37:36 I don't know. But because of... Is that funny, is it? Coming up with a laugh for a character. That's one of it. Many very quirky attributes. Oh, he's so funny. He's a real card.
Starting point is 00:37:48 He's so... So funny. But he, so his, his wife to make the Dorothy, the dinosaur outfit. He's married. And, yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:57 Bonshell. Sorry, ladies. And he, but because of that, because of the green of Dorothy, the dinosaur, that's why Anthony changed from green and picked blue.
Starting point is 00:38:07 Sure. Oh, see, that makes, all right, good. Justify. But, but, D, O, R, O, T, H, Y.
Starting point is 00:38:14 My grandma's name's Dorothy, and that's how I learned to spell Dorothy. Dorothy. dinosaur Rompomp a stomp Hey! Okay maybe I did that A bit of rock and roll
Starting point is 00:38:24 Yeah they're pretty cool Rompomper Stomp Hey That was definitely a cockroach's song Yeah that definitely was They self-funded a video clip For the whole first album What like an hour long
Starting point is 00:38:36 Or several clips Yeah just all all on the same set Oh wow One take It should be cut up They had put the basic sets And costumes together Themselves
Starting point is 00:38:46 And then this Paul Field interview it was like tongue and cheek obviously but he was like I don't know
Starting point is 00:38:53 what all this hype is about Beyonce's lemonade visual album we did it 20 years ago oh Paul
Starting point is 00:39:00 just on a smaller budget what a character another card that's a band full of bloody car yeah it's the fields
Starting point is 00:39:06 they're just a funny bunch oh they are the Wiggles then began touring around Australia playing for like you know
Starting point is 00:39:13 play group associations and mother's groups and preschools and community Mum's like throwing their undies up at the stage. They drove themselves around.
Starting point is 00:39:26 They were their own roadies. Do they have like a van? Yeah, they were going around with two vans. Greg in one van with the PA and then the others in the other van with the props and costumes. Greg is such a loner. He's like, guys, there's still two other seats up front. Now, Greg, you'll be right. It was like, this is...
Starting point is 00:39:44 But there's four of you. You could just go two and two. See you there, Greg. See ya. Oh, fuck. You didn't give me the address. Fuck off, Greg. Keep up, Greg.
Starting point is 00:39:55 You're all a bit squished at the front. There's plenty of room next to me. I've got treats. No, I'd rather share a seatbelt with Jeff than getting the car with Greg. Yeah, thanks, Stinky, Greg. Thanks for no thanks, mate. That was one time. Fuck off, Greg.
Starting point is 00:40:10 Full Greg. Is Greg the former roadie? Yeah, he is, yeah. So that's why they were like carried in yourself, mate. Yeah. You know what you're doing. He gets there to a little. hours before everyone else was set up.
Starting point is 00:40:19 Aw. But through those times, they were playing three or four shows a day up to 26 days in a row. What? Hectic. And the shows were like around an hour long sort of thing, so pretty full on.
Starting point is 00:40:32 I reckon they were drinking a lot too? Because we've been on tour. We know what tours were bloody like. Yeah, and they would have been in their 20s still. Yeah. But the cockroaches were a band for about nine years. They knew what they were doing, I suppose. Anthony must have been, he must have started that band very young.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Because he doesn't seem that old now. I thought they're only in their like mid-40s. No. That doesn't add up though. No, it doesn't do that. Jeff is much older than the others. He's in his 60s. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:03 You're kidding. Yeah, it's amazing. Oh yeah, I feel like Anthony might be 50 now. I think they're all in their mid-50s. Right. Yeah. You know what? He's still a massive babe.
Starting point is 00:41:11 One of fun. Anthony. Which. Oh, fun of fat. Oof. Yeah. Anthony Blue?
Starting point is 00:41:19 Blue. I struggle with the names. Sure. We'll just call them hot wiggle. Hot wiggle. Just keep up, blue. Hot blue wiggle.
Starting point is 00:41:30 Each year they would release a new video and album and then tour for about 10 months on the back of it to promote it. That's incredible. That's exactly what Beyonce does. She releases an album, videos and tours. They really did set the precedent. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:43 Come on, Beyonce. Rip off. For Beyonce. Figure out your shit. They end up. I hate that people think that she's some sort of visionary. No. She's done nothing original.
Starting point is 00:41:52 Oh, my God. They performed to children, and her first band was called Destiny's Child. Oh, my God. You're right. It all lines up. You're right, Dave. When you're right, you're right. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:42:03 She had that big song. Hot potato. Yeah. Wow. That put it on the map. That's what got Jay Z interested. All the cold spaghetti. All the cold spaghetti.
Starting point is 00:42:14 All the cold spaghetti. All the cold spaghetti. Oh, the culting games. Put a red car on it. Put a red car on it. I'd be like it then you should have put a big red car on it. Yeah, it doesn't work. So, and they started doing even more than one album a year.
Starting point is 00:42:29 Like, they were pumping them out. Funny, yeah, anyway. Apparently, in 1994, in one tour, they performed 63 shows in 17 days. No. No. Oh, man, it's the one. No, thank you. And Greg was on his own.
Starting point is 00:42:46 whole time. It's very sad. He would fart all he wanted. They would not talk to him. Don't look at his, don't look at him. They'd reject his calls. He'd stay in a separate hotel. No, he'd stay in a motel
Starting point is 00:42:59 and they'd stay in a hotel. Hey, he's a... He'd stay in a caravan park. Sleep in the van with the PA. Mate, we just, we can't be sure that it'll be safe. You better just sleep in a van with it. You stay here. Hey, better just be safe.
Starting point is 00:43:15 We can't afford. We can't afford any security. Maybe you guys could sleep in a four-star hotel instead of five-star and we could afford security. Oh, we wish we could, mate. We wish we could. You know that's not how children and entertainment works. Our hands are tied. Hey, did you guys know that the original big red car video featured a big red car made of plywood constructed by Jeff?
Starting point is 00:43:37 No. Facts. Great fact. Great fact, Matt. Did you write, you show me that you wrote? He wrote, fact, in capital. letters. Is it an exclamation mark?
Starting point is 00:43:47 No, no, exclamation mark. He never uses them. I don't feel like he said it with an exclamation point. That was a flat. It was a flat fact. He held up a finger that looked a lot like an exclamation point. I feel like everything I say has exclamation. You write a lot exclamation.
Starting point is 00:43:59 Oh, all the time. And then sometimes I just write little compliments in there for myself just to read. Like, hey, Jess, you're doing a really good job. So I'm like halfway through the podcast, I just see a little note. It's like, hey, keep up the good work, you little superstar. You're a human wave sunshine. I'm like, thanks past me. That is a great tactic for keeping up.
Starting point is 00:44:14 I don't actually do that. That's really nice. Can I just say, so they've released multiple albums, and we can still own their name about three songs. Are all albums, like, full fresh tracklisting? They do a lot of traditional songs, like reworking. What do you mean traditional? I feel like it.
Starting point is 00:44:32 Probably like Twinkle Little Star, maybe. I don't know if that was one, but stuff like that. They did a version of Octopus's Garden, because I have Henry the Octopus. Oh, yeah, that makes sense. And it might be Henry that sings it maybe. Yeah. So they do cool stuff. They do one about roosters and ducks.
Starting point is 00:44:52 Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, cockad doodoo. Oh. And it goes quack, quack, quack, a doodily do. How do I don't? I just, it's funny that I've known all these songs. Every time I start them, you know. Back in my hand. Brain.
Starting point is 00:45:11 A quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. Cocker do, do. Actually, I used to watch the show. Did you just confirm that that was a Wiggle song, not a cockroach's song? That was... It was probably a rewere. That would have gone down a storm at like a Newcastle. A doodoo.
Starting point is 00:45:25 Yeah. R-SL tour. At first, the four Wiggles would play all the characters in their shows. Murray would play Dorothy the Dinosaur. Loll. Jeff would be Henry the Oaktopus. And Anthony played Wags the Dog and Captain Feathersore. So they didn't trust Greg with a second character.
Starting point is 00:45:41 I noticed that. They hate Greg so much. Greg. Greg, just look after. for the PA, mate. You're the sound man. I mean, you're the front man, but you're the sound man. Anthony's got two characters.
Starting point is 00:45:51 I mean, I could, that's a lot of pressure on him. I could do one of them. Greg, can you just? You think you could do wags the dog? Come on. Hey, boys. Greg, Greg, Greg, he can do wags. Yeah, no, you're all.
Starting point is 00:46:03 I'll just, I'll just mind the PA. Oh, you're a funny fucker, aren't you, Greg? You're a piece of shit, but you're a funny fucking, Greg, you stinky bus. You are this close to being kicked out of the band of just being the mixing man, all right? If you're lucky, we'll let you mix. Your second character is the PA security card. And he has no lines. So aggressive.
Starting point is 00:46:25 If you didn't have such a beautiful, goddamn singing voice, Greg, you'd be out on your ear. Oh my God, you do things to me when you sing, though. Oh, wow. Eventually, this was proving to be a bit much. So they brought in a man named Paul Paddock. Paul was Wapper trained. Oh, hello.
Starting point is 00:46:44 You know, WAPA. Western Australian performing arts. He's a trained actor. He's a trained actor. So he was obviously qualified to be a dinosaur and a pirate or whatever. Did you write it like that too? Yeah, did. Although he was told that he'd have plenty of time to rehearse his roles,
Starting point is 00:47:03 he was, he basically, they got to the venue the night before it. It's a bit late. We'll run through it with you tomorrow before we go. And then sort of gave him a quick. run through and then it was just shows on. Impro. And he's... Yes, and. And he was just like having to keep up. Like, ah, ha, I'm a dog.
Starting point is 00:47:22 That's so great. He'd never met the other three. Oh, my God. They wouldn't let him meet Greg, because he probably wouldn't have been in the band if he'd met Greg. Probably would have been like, oh, who's this dickhead? You let him be the leader? No, thank you. But then Greg would start singing and he'd be like, I understand. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:47:38 I need a couple of minutes. I need a cold shower. I'll be in my home. hotel room. I'll be in my motel six. Anthony has since said that Paul came back maybe a stone lighter, which I think his olden days took for weight. Yes. But he loved
Starting point is 00:47:54 the experience. Definitely, definitely a measurement. He had a pocket full of stones. Old and day time. He dropped he danced out, one of them fell out. But he loved the experience. And the boys said to me, we got to keep him. He's really funny and it's been bloody brilliant
Starting point is 00:48:12 ever since. That's what Anthony So does he actually play all the characters? No, he plays Wags. He plays, I think he's the pirate, I think he's the, I think he does a bit of everything,
Starting point is 00:48:23 but now, now they've all got their own actor. Yeah. But did he perform with them for a long time? It still was. So he's like a, he is the fifth wiggle. In some ways, I guess.
Starting point is 00:48:33 Yeah. Depending on what you mean by fifth wiggle. He's the George Martin fifth wiggle. Whereas, uh, Nigel, classical music guy. whatever his name was.
Starting point is 00:48:45 Philip? Philip. I think it was titled Phil. Philip. No, it was Philip Williams. Phil Will. Phil Will. Phil Will.
Starting point is 00:48:53 Philip something. The classical guy. He's more the... Chopin. Shophan. It was Chopin. Shopan. By 95 and 96, the Wiggles were performing 500 shows a year in Australia.
Starting point is 00:49:05 The fuck! That's a lot. By 1995 and 96, the Wiggles were performing 500 shows a year in Australia. What? What? Insane. In Australia, does that mean they're doing tours as well? Yeah, including tours and stuff.
Starting point is 00:49:19 No, but do you mean that they're going overseas as well? Oh, no. Oh, right, sorry. At this stage, it was, yeah, nearly all still in Australia. That's multiple shows a day. Greg was saying that this is a quote from Greg. You can't be trusted. I wouldn't fully, I mean, if you can.
Starting point is 00:49:34 Take this with a grown assault. Yeah, grain of salt, bloody block your nose while we go. Stinky Greg. I was like shit. That's awful. He gets sick. He goes, we might play three shows in Lithgow. one day, three the next
Starting point is 00:49:46 in Bathurst, four shows in Dubbo then the same in Young and Griffith. That's a very interesting quote classic Greg. In a day. No, this is each day. Yeah, each day. They're not doing town to town They're not doing 20 shows in a day. No, no, no, but I mean...
Starting point is 00:50:01 Each of those stops in a day, yeah. One after the other, just going to a town and just smashing out. But you can because it's children, so you can do a 10 a.m. show. That's true. 12. 2, 4, out. They're basically working like real people doing a job. Come on, Greg.
Starting point is 00:50:20 Come on, Greg. No way. No, no, no, no. Wash you, scimpy, Greg. That's insane. But he was saying, and then, and Griffith, they had sold out four shows of a thousand people. So that wasn't starting to play to big... Oh, so it's not like they're like, well, we've got to keep going because we only sold 30 tickets
Starting point is 00:50:36 today. They're not grinding it out. They'd be making good money. That's incredible. Why would you need to push it that hard? Yeah, that's the thing. I'm saying, like, they're lucky because you can't do that with comedy because, like, you can't do comedy at 11 a.m. Trust me. So you do, like, the most we would do... They do in Edinburgh.
Starting point is 00:50:51 Yeah, that's true. The most we'd do on two shows, and you'd have, like, a 6pm and a 9pm. And, like, one show is exhausting, doing two nearly killed me. And how many minutes did you do? Four, one-hour shows for kids. And they're jumping around and singing. There's no break for these kids. I walked a couple of metres, because I like to move around the stage a bit.
Starting point is 00:51:14 That's... I can't even. That's insane. No wonder Greg smelt like shit. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, but the others, they kept it clean. Yeah. I don't work that hard, but I smell great.
Starting point is 00:51:24 Just a couple of squirts. Just a couple of squirts in your pits there, Greg. They wouldn't let Greg have deodorant. Oh, that's probably fair. Well, it's their own fault there, isn't it? Yeah. Self-inflicted. But the touring kicked off album sales to another level because they were...
Starting point is 00:51:38 Oh, selling merch at the gigs. They were selling merch. They were selling Dorothy Tales. Dorothy Hats. Yes. Tapes, CDs, and they'd lug around some suitcases for... Sorry, I'll stop you there. You mean Greg would luck around some suitcases.
Starting point is 00:51:52 But their albums are starting to go off. They hit gold, platinum slash multi-platinum status. Cool. In Australia, platinum is 70,000 units. That is incredible of that. That's amazing. So around this time, they were trying to get themselves onto the TV as well. ABC was sort of showing some of those clips that they'd filmed.
Starting point is 00:52:18 But they were building up such a big audience, and they created and self-funded. This is something they also talk about. They always self-fund. They never borrow money to make things or cut deals, so someone else has creative control. And that was something that they'd learned from the cockroaches days where one of their labels was overreaching a bit
Starting point is 00:52:36 and making them, you know, go in directions. They didn't necessarily want to do. They didn't want to be slaves to the man. Yeah. Good on him. Good on him. Which is, yeah, kind of a thing. It also means you get a lot more money back.
Starting point is 00:52:49 That's right. You get all of it. I don't think we'd take that sort of approach, though. Like, if anybody wanted to give us money to do this, we'd be like, yeah, whatever you want. Yeah, I'll wear a skivie. Oh, I'd wear a skivie. If I was being paid. Fuck yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:04 Oh, fuck yeah. No questions asked. Skivie me up. I've won a skivie for free before. Hey. We've got a couple in our costume. Use. There we are.
Starting point is 00:53:14 We made a sketch where we were all wearing skivis. And we were talking about turtlenecks. Great. The turtleneck is a beautiful piece of fashion. You got to hold out. Probably if you did it for free. Evan, again, talking about stuff we're going to cut out. But Evan was like never, you know, he normally very quickly cut together sketches.
Starting point is 00:53:36 He just, it was always on the bottom of the pile. I'm not even sure if it ever got cut together. It was very fun in a while, so anyway. What the fuck? Oh, yeah. So, yeah, they were keen to get a TV show together. They self-funded one in 98, which got interest from Channel 7. They broadcast it.
Starting point is 00:53:56 And also on the Disney Channel, which had just launched here in Australia. Wow. And then from there, things started happening in America. The show was broadcast with Fox Kids. And then they started to perform in some theme parks in the USA. but apparently a lot of those early audiences were tiny. Like, I read that they performed sometimes in car parks just a small handful of audience members,
Starting point is 00:54:21 which would be so weird, being big somewhere else and then go on there. Hey, look at me. Trust me, we're pretty good. We're pretty good. Yeah. Bring your kids. I think they'd probably blame Greg for not doing enough self-promotion.
Starting point is 00:54:33 Oh, Greg. Like, Greg, why hadn't you put our shit up on YouTube? On what fucking Greg? Greg. Doesn't exist yet. Yeah, you've always. got excuses. You always say that.
Starting point is 00:54:43 You said that about hoverboards last week. A piece of shit. In 99, their, like, their trajectory is just on the up and on the up. And they'd self-funded a second TV series, which was broadcast in the UK, Australia, and the US. And they'd started a tour overseas in the UK, on the USA and New Zealand. You know, smaller crowds, but starting to build them up a little bit. And in Australia, though, we're still touring everywhere. like right through the tiny towns that no one else would go and just packing out, you know, the little country venues.
Starting point is 00:55:19 When they went back to America, the Wiggles... Jeff, tell me the rumbling. Sorry. The wing, when they went back to America, they performed at Disneyland, which we talked to in the past. And we're filmed for a TV special in Australia. So they were over there, but it was for Australian TV. It was still way bigger here. than they were anywhere else.
Starting point is 00:55:42 But in the crowd that day were executives from the Lyric Studios, which is a Texas-based studio. And the vice president at the time, Debbie Rice. I like the cut of your gib, son. She said there was an audience. No. Someone did you see someone? Yeah, you've been praised by two separate people about your accent from last week.
Starting point is 00:56:08 And they said it was a Minnesota accent, which I definitely agree with. Yeah, great. I did watch Beverly Hills when I was a kid. And the two characters moved from Minnesota. Sure. Sure. All right. So the Texan lady, she said, there was an audience of American children mostly that had never seen the Wiggles before,
Starting point is 00:56:25 and they immediately got up and started dancing and interacting with the music. That's when I knew for sure. We had something that would be really big. Poo! And she just shot into the air. And all the kids run away. Like the Simpsons, Texas guy.
Starting point is 00:56:42 So following the Disneyland appearance, the wheels were signed to lyric studios, which was also the home of a little guy called Barney the Friendly Dinosaur. Oh, okay. Any memory of that? Yeah. I like me. Yes. I like me.
Starting point is 00:56:59 I'm the best that I can be. Two plus two is four. I can see why this is so popular. So, so yeah, which was. huge for them, obviously. And interestingly, I guess, you know, obviously the USA is sort of the home of entertainment, Hollywood and everything's over there. And traditionally they did not care for international preschool shows.
Starting point is 00:57:27 Huh. They apparently Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas the Tank Engine, they took that on, but they totally revoiced it. They took out Ringo Stiles voice and put an American in. Fat controller. They're like, I don't think the kids here are going to be able to understand what that English accent is all about. Same with Bob the Builder, apparently. Bob the Builder, can we fix it? I never even watched Bob the Builder.
Starting point is 00:57:54 Is it voice? It's an English guy, yeah. Yes, we can. I've got to hammer in a nail, are you, Governor? He never says Governor. Oh, I'm remembering it funny. Why would he say Governor? He's a tradie.
Starting point is 00:58:08 So there was, there was talk. that maybe they'd somehow dub it or something into American. That'd be amazing. The Wiggles, they, from their experience, they were like, as long as they can understand us, the children won't give a shit about the accent, right? The Wiggles stayed true to themselves. They self-funded their accents.
Starting point is 00:58:29 And then, yeah, once the Wiggles got out into the American, kid public. Kid public. They got right into it. They bloody loved. I think that's kind of, it's weird that, like, American, like, bigwigs are like, no, but the Americans won't understand you. And it's like, you.
Starting point is 00:58:49 I'm talking to you right now. Yeah, you will. You don't understand me. Look, I'm not getting any of that. Do you, I mean, can we get a translator in? We don't need to translate. I can understand you perfectly. I'm so sorry.
Starting point is 00:59:01 Hey, you look like a lovely person. Oh, my gosh. But these noises you're making are very confusing to me. But kids seem to love that. They do. They love the chugger, chugger, big red car. What does that mean? What does that mean?
Starting point is 00:59:14 Big red car. I don't know. I've never seen one of those. That's interesting. Was that some sort of kangaroo? I love these characters that you've created. Also, Dave, yours is quite sassy. Yeah, okay.
Starting point is 00:59:25 Is it a woman? I don't know what you just said to me, but I think the tone was offensive. So I'm going to stop you right there. Take a chill pill, a chillax shall be taken. And then maybe we can do business. Okay. Okay. these bloody brooks from down under
Starting point is 00:59:40 I mean Jesus Louise God do you want to be rich Come on I want some of this American Chichanga Have you heard of the Dorothy I mean not Dorothy
Starting point is 00:59:49 You know Al Dinosome What's the purple one? Barney Barney Barney Yeah Okay I understood that word
Starting point is 00:59:55 Because that's out word That's outward That's outward don't you take out word Okay Barney Okay you take that back My God That's outward for you
Starting point is 01:00:01 You Barney And sane And sane and it was, if they see them, they will love them. So... It's a weird fucking mantra. They said that to be everything. Yeah, they sat down and meditated on that.
Starting point is 01:00:18 Lyrics mantra was American. Fuck, yeah. America. So they were keen and they, they just, they believed. Were they keen for pain? They were keen for pain. Oh my goodness. So that's sweet.
Starting point is 01:00:31 Jeff Fat Paine. But they were going to, they wanted to connect, they wanted to hook the wiggles to the Barney freight train because Barney was huge. Sure. And that's what they did. So they tacked on wiggles, clips to the start of episodes of Barney or whatever. So the Barney videos would have a pre-roll, not pre-roll, but whatever back then, whatever the olden days thing was of the pre-roll. And that worked really well.
Starting point is 01:00:57 And it meant, you know, the kids will love and the hot potato. They want a more of a hot potato sort of stuff. Who doesn't? Once you have one hot potato, you're like, ooh-a-ma. I just got hungry for a potato. I'm just hungry in general. And then they started getting them to be a live support for Barney at his live shows. So in the intermission, there's an intermission at the Barney shows, they would play in that.
Starting point is 01:01:17 Kids got a pee. Went off. I imagine an intermission at a kid's show would be very difficult. Yeah, that would be no good. All right, everybody. Well, it's not really an intermission if you're just going to plug it with more entertainment, is it? It's just like, I guess it's Barney gets to go and, like, ring out is. Yeah, the Barney guy.
Starting point is 01:01:36 The Barney guy just gets hosers down. Yeah, bloody. It would be awful in that thing, I imagine. Gets hose down. They just have a big bucket of ice out the back around. Prepare the Barney. You know that people that wear those suits often wear ice vests underneath? Really?
Starting point is 01:01:49 To keep them cool, yeah. Apparently the tour, the Barney tour sold 60,000 tickets. So there was, like, a lot of people saw them. 60,000. A lot of new kids. Far out. I guess all kids are new in a way, aren't they? Wow.
Starting point is 01:02:05 That's beautiful. Thank you. So after that season, two Wiggles videos shot to number one and number two, top two in the Amazon charts. And then Walmart started stocking the Wiggles videos. And yeah, that was when they really kicked off over there. They started headlining their own shows from then in America. And during one of these first tours, the New York Times first wrote about them. and the quote was
Starting point is 01:02:36 they called them the band that rocks the cradle which is that's cool yeah it's cool but it's like they took the day off after that headline
Starting point is 01:02:44 the reference is to like a horror film right or like a anyway the hand that rocks the cradle was like a weird movie where a woman
Starting point is 01:02:54 try to steal a baby or something all right oh yeah and they also got included in the Macy's Day Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
Starting point is 01:03:05 Wow. Which apparently is a huge thing. And a big deal, millions and millions of people see it. Wow. Apparently, I read that millions of people see it live. That can't be right.
Starting point is 01:03:15 I think they'd lie in the streets. But millions of people. Televised, though. Is it televised? It is televised, yeah, but live, they said. And tens of millions watch it on TV. Millions watch it live. No, thank you.
Starting point is 01:03:29 Oh, crowds. No, good. No, that would make me so anxious. Things are still. gone great back at home in Australia in 98 in Adelaide the shopping centre appearance made TV news
Starting point is 01:03:41 because it had to be cut short because of dangerously large crowds for a shopping centre Yeah the Wiggles That's amazing Hey Jess I reckon you might have had some involvement In this is a nine-year-old In 1999 Anthony Field
Starting point is 01:03:56 was crowned Cleo Bachelor of the Year Mm-hmm Oh I remember like it was yesterday You voted? Oh mama He's hot He was already hot, and now he's got like a salt and pepper because he's a bit older. And he was Bachelor of the Year.
Starting point is 01:04:10 Yeah, what a weird. That seems strange. You know, I think you can have a boyfriend or girlfriend and still be nominated? He just can't be married. Yeah, not married. Yeah. So he could have been in a relationship for 10 years and his girlfriend could have been... No, no, he's the bachelor.
Starting point is 01:04:24 Yeah, that's a weird thing. That's a very old-school thing, but talking about it, like, marriage still... Now, he's still available because he's not married. Yeah. technically. And that is where Bionto was inspired by her song.
Starting point is 01:04:36 I think this paragraph must have been like this is from the Paul Field thing I think and I think it must have been written a few years ago and you'll probably
Starting point is 01:04:45 you'll, I think you might realize why. A duet's album was released called It's a wiggly Wiggly World which saw the Wiggles perform with some of their
Starting point is 01:04:53 dearest friends. Some of their dearest friends. Oh no, it's like Princess Diana Australian country legend Slim Dusty Jimmy Little Kamal
Starting point is 01:05:02 Christine Arnaud And Rolf Harris Okay Oh no Some of the dearest friends Rolls Harris Imagine you don't want to still associate yourself with that
Starting point is 01:05:15 Or Slim Dusty No he's a legend Yeah And yeah Was a legend I'd love to have a beer with Duncan I'd love to have a beer with Duncan I know
Starting point is 01:05:25 He's a fun He's a fun Let's drink in moderation And we never ever ever get rolling When drunk, we drink at the town and country Where the atmosphere is great I love to have a beer with Duncan Because Duncan's me mate
Starting point is 01:05:42 I know every word to that song I don't know why but I do Didn't even know that was Slim Dusty Yeah it is, okay great And then he likes to have a beer with Patrick Like to have a beer with Pat They drink in moderation It wouldn't even matter if the beer was flat
Starting point is 01:05:57 I want to drink with Slim It's so good The best one is Robert and he goes, I love to have a beer with Robert. Love to have a beer with Bob. We drink in moderation. He goes really cheeky.
Starting point is 01:06:09 He goes, just one more and back on the job. He's so cheeky. What a cheeky. What a learican. Just one more. All right, Slivert. In the early... Sorry, Jess.
Starting point is 01:06:21 Not at all. His other big hit was... Pub with no beer. It's all about beer with him. It's nothing sadder. Dreary or glib. No. I don't know that one as well
Starting point is 01:06:35 There's nothing so I'm turning or here Has it happened We're the pub with no bee That's great I reckon people in Ohio Would really love Slim Yeah
Starting point is 01:06:48 I think they can really relate To our Australian pub music Pub music It's the whole industry out here That's how the Wiggles got started Well the Wiggles were a pub rock band That's true I reckon our podcasts
Starting point is 01:06:59 We go even better We'd go even better overseas If we dubbed it Yeah I think you two should just speak in those accents all the times. I think, yeah, people overseas like to listen just from, just sort of relaxing, relaxing sounds.
Starting point is 01:07:11 It's just a sound scape. A babo-b-b-b-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo. To them, it's all bo-bo-bo. The laugh is not relaxing for them. It's kind of jolting. I thought that was a bird. Yep, there it is. It's a peaceful river with a bird.
Starting point is 01:07:32 And a really, really low sound coming from the other microphone. So the Wiggles started doing a lot of co-labs. Oh, Missy Elliott? In the early 2000s. Kleece? In the early 2000, they got together with the Crocodile Hunter. The Croc Hunter. Steve Irwin to make one of their most famous videos, which was called Wiggly Safari.
Starting point is 01:07:59 Oh, I don't even know that. That sounds great. It sounds so good. It was filmed at Steve and Terry Irwin's Australia Zoo, and apparently Steve, Terry and Bindy were big fans of the Wiggles. Oh, wow, yeah. Other big fans, there's heaps, and a lot of them, like, will come to the shows, apparently,
Starting point is 01:08:15 and then, you know, with their kids, obviously. Yeah. Like James Hetfield from Metallica. Apparently, he came one time, and Murray spotted him in the crowd, so he started playing Enda Sandman Rift, and then James Hepfield got up and gave him the sign of the devil. And the other kids were like, sit down. That's so cool.
Starting point is 01:08:35 Robert De Niro came in and wanted to meet them after a show one time. You're wiggling at me? You're wiggling at me? I'm wiggling here. That's so funny. Wouldn't you love to have that sort of star power where you could be like, I want to meet them? And they're like, yeah, no, sure, absolutely.
Starting point is 01:08:55 I'd love that. It would be. Actually, no, I'd hate that. It's a lot of pressure. I'd like Robert De Niro to want to meet me Yeah I'm wiggling there Imagine
Starting point is 01:09:06 That would be that would be apparently Apparently Anthony After that Anthony went to one of the other wiggled He was like Yeah this is great It's probably going to make the next time We meet a home and away star A little less exciting
Starting point is 01:09:18 Oh yeah no Good call When they were back in Australia They received the Arias an Outstanding Achievement Award. Wow. Australian Recording Industry Awards. Association.
Starting point is 01:09:36 It's Association. Association. I'd be the Award Awards. I'm so hungry. I'm so hungry. In 2005, Dream World on the Gold Coast, Australia's own Disneyland. Well.
Starting point is 01:09:54 Open. What? Disneyland, but better. Yeah, yeah. It's got the giant drop. What? I love. I actually. I've only ever been.
Starting point is 01:10:00 in the Disneyland? Dream World has tigers, to be fair. White Tigers. But I've been to two Disneylands, and they were much better than Dreamworld. Okay. Yeah, said it. Well, that's amazing. They must be amazingly good.
Starting point is 01:10:15 They are. They're the happiest place on Earth. They have a giant drop? Yeah. Really? So, but in Dream World, they were approached by Dream World to open a Wiggles World. What? Inside of Dream World.
Starting point is 01:10:30 Yes. And they did it. And it features... What a twist. Long story short. Long story short. They got off at a lot of cash and said, hell yeah. Wiggles World features a big red car ride.
Starting point is 01:10:41 Dorothy's Rosie T-cup ride, which is... That's adorable. Is it still there? Yeah, I don't remember seeing it last time I was there. But you probably... Because as you go as an adult, you don't look for... The really kiddy stuff.
Starting point is 01:10:53 The SS Feather Sword, like a boat, I guess. Has it still got Greg's Smelly Kingdom? Yeah. Just a really smelly room. It's out the back. Out the back with it. That's the janitor's closet. Yeah, it's got a big PA, though.
Starting point is 01:11:05 Huge. Beautiful sound, bassy, big basy sound. Yeah, so that's kind of cool. I did hear, like I was reading an interview with all of them, and they were talking about how they don't ever put their name to things they don't believe in. They put it, the SS Feather Sword. They're the real life Krusty the Clown, right? They just put, their name is on everything.
Starting point is 01:11:28 Yeah. At least in Australia. Yeah. They're like, you know, only healthy things like yogurts and fruit juices and stuff. But... Okay. Fruit juices aren't. They're not that healthy.
Starting point is 01:11:37 I don't think they are healthy, but still, they... It's better than a soft drink. Yeah, I guess so. So they definitely, they don't do anything that's like particularly bad, but they... So they want to do, like, Wiggles radiation cans. Yeah, I think they... I said no to that. I wonder if there's ever been a Wiggles McDonald's Co-Lab.
Starting point is 01:11:55 Yeah, I feel like that would make a wire of them. I don't think so. I don't think they'd go to that sort of stuff. Maybe the toys. Oh, yeah, actually. I'm really not sure. I don't know. I don't think so.
Starting point is 01:12:09 They started, they tested out the idea of franchising the band. They, and they thought the best way to do it was in a small market. So they went to Taiwan and put together a band who performed in Mandarin. And it was quite successful. They also put together a Spanish-speaking band of Australians, but to tour South America. Wow. And both went quite well, but in the end they decided,
Starting point is 01:12:35 and the feedback they got internationally was that they quite liked their videos and the non-English speaking markets just dubbed their voices into their local language but left the songs in English and saw them as like an educational thing helping teach the kids English. I reckon it's probably a bit like
Starting point is 01:12:56 how we tried to have Australian Top Gear You know? Like it's not the same. You can't capture that chemistry. Yeah. Because they just didn't seem like massive fuckheads. Yeah. I didn't see it.
Starting point is 01:13:12 I assume they didn't. They probably needed to do more of that. They got referenced a lot because they really got into, as Paul Field said, they really became part of the zeitgast. And they realized this one they were just getting referenced. on all sorts of shows. They've been referenced on ER, the West Wing,
Starting point is 01:13:32 Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, two and a half men, family guy, six feet under, arrested development, Saturday Night Live, Catherine Kim, and movies such as Knocked Up, life as we know it,
Starting point is 01:13:43 and just like heaven. And the Wiggles movie. And the Wiggles movie. They also appeared as themselves, obviously, on shows like The View Entertainment Tonight, today's show, Jimmy Kimmel showed,
Starting point is 01:13:55 the late late show with Craig Ferguson, the panel, enough rope with an end of denton. Remember the panel? Yeah, panel was a great show. Wow. Really good show. What a good show.
Starting point is 01:14:07 Greg, the yellow wiggles, started battling with health issues. Oh, no. I told you that at the start. He, apparently even from 92, he was having bouts of tiredness. Okay. What, that's not a surprise when you're doing 600 shows a week? Yeah, true. But more than the others.
Starting point is 01:14:23 Yeah, that's true. But it ended up catching up with him, and he was diagnosed with, a few different things, but yeah, it was like, it affected his balance. Yeah, he was quite unwell for a while. And here's a quote from Greg at the time. This emotional decision was one which was very difficult, as I've dedicated almost half my life to the Wiggles. And with a question mark over my health,
Starting point is 01:14:45 I feel that this is the right decision. I wish the guys continued success and welcome Sam Moran with open arms into the yellow skivvy. That'd be hard. I know he's a great performer as well equipped to be the Yellow Wiggle, and I hope the other guys will. talk to him like they didn't talk to me. Which was not, I thought that was nice.
Starting point is 01:15:05 Yeah. Of course they didn't talk to him. That would be, imagine how hard it would be taking over. Yeah, that was true. And Sam Moran, he's been around. He was like the understudy for Greg for quite a while. So he'd been around, he knew it all. But he had understudies?
Starting point is 01:15:22 He was worried about, yeah, like that's how big of the operation was. But he was worried about how the kids were going to take to him. Yeah. You know, he said, it helped the video that had Greg handing over the yellow skivy helped explain it to a lot of them, and he said most of them got it sort of thing. And also, like, to have a new generation of fans every, like, three years.
Starting point is 01:15:41 Because it's not like a certain amount of window where you are a big, big Wiggles fan genuinely. And now, obviously, I would say that I think the Wiggles are cool, but I don't, I'm not there. But I also think... Target market. I think the thing with, like, being a fan of something as an adult, is that you do get quite fanatical,
Starting point is 01:15:57 and you would like research and you know things about all the performers and stuff. And so you do get really attached to them. I think with kids, they're just kind of like, ah, cool. Another dude just. Whoa, he sings a song. Yeah, they're just playing their fun music and I like to dance and he seems nice. Like I don't think they're going to be like, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're not Greg. Wait, you're not Greg.
Starting point is 01:16:16 No, no, no, no. He'd go, hello, I'm Sam. They go, cool, you're Sam. Hi, Sam. Yeah, exactly. Kids are, kids are cool. Kids are all right. But apparently it was pretty brutal for.
Starting point is 01:16:27 Sam. Apparently they, like, he was known as the salaried wiggle. All of the other ones were, you know, were partners in the company. But he was just getting a wage. So they were all earning millions a year. His wage was like, you know, it was $200,000 a year, but he, like, they would sort of never, he was never fully welcomed into the band as a full member. So they'd drive the Aston Martins to the gig and he'd still get the bus. Yeah, but I'm like, he's earning 200,000 year, but still. Wow. Good point though. Shit. He's not getting a cut of all the Yeah, but why is she? He didn't create it.
Starting point is 01:16:59 Well, I mean, if you think of it as a band, if you join a band, that's how it normally works. Yeah, but he's joining a business. He's joined. They're more of, yeah. By this stage, they're an international business. Which is fine, but, like, making fun of him for it is like some sort of, it's like a, like a soft form of bullying. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:17:19 But he, you mean the other members made fun of him? Yeah, apparently. Oh, shit. Oh, so I think he meant the press was talking about. They were like, hey, celery man. I own you. Dance, piggy. So Greg, and Greg was obviously a full member,
Starting point is 01:17:32 but to leave, he decided to be bought out from his share. So he got bought out for $20 million. Wow. Five years later, he was feeling healthy, and he wanted to join the band back again. And he did. And that's when some stuff came out, like, about the salary, like nicknames and stuff like that.
Starting point is 01:17:50 Oh. And it sounded like Anthony sounded pretty cold around this time. And his brother Paul said that this, is the only time that they really felt backlash as a band in their whole career. This was the only time they really felt like, you know, apparently it was a really tough time. Apparently Anthony Field, in an interview, dismissed Sam as just a hired hand. Why are you asking about him? He's just a hired hand.
Starting point is 01:18:20 What Sam does now is Sam's thing. His contract has come to an end. Sam was just doing a job. He was a hired hand. I haven't spoken to him. Why are you asking me about him? I don't want to speak for a guy. I don't know how he feels.
Starting point is 01:18:33 So he's just, yeah, pretty cold. It sounds like maybe he was a bit fed up with questions. I don't know necessarily, but it's like, oh, that's not good PR for a big multimillion dollar company. And for Greg to come back, did he have to buy his way back in? He's been paid out, or is he now on a wage? I think, yeah, I think that's what happened to him, well so he was he was just back in on the salary I hope it was more than $200,000 a year
Starting point is 01:19:02 because if you've just been paid 20 million you'd probably be like well I probably don't have to do this anymore so that um in the years after Greg got back in the band the popularity was starting to decline a little bit like their income was still you know millions a year and they're still on like the BRW Australian entertainers rich list right up towards the top but the the the money was shrinking year after year. And something they've sort of mentioned was like, they were making $20 plus million a year,
Starting point is 01:19:33 but that was like the gross amount. You know, there's a lot of, they've got a big staff. They've got to pay for all the touring, you know, a bus. And there's a lot of expenses to go out as well.
Starting point is 01:19:44 I was saying even some of the years where they were bringing in 20 plus million, they were making a loss some years. What? Years they were investing in, I guess they're... Got to spend money and make money, baby. Exactly, baby.
Starting point is 01:19:56 Dave, say baby Oh, baby That's gross You asked for it I did Feel dirty Little dirty Baby
Starting point is 01:20:08 Like a baby Who shout itself Yep Yeah exactly So as they were starting to decline Some of the original members So we're back to the original four And they were starting to think about
Starting point is 01:20:22 You know the future You know they're getting a bit older Jeff You know Was pushing towards six and he and Murray decided that it was time. Greg wasn't ready. He'd only just come back to the band for a little while.
Starting point is 01:20:35 And they wanted to leave. What a surprise. What a surprise. Hey guys, I'm back. Yeah, we just disgust it. We're out. We're done. We're donezies.
Starting point is 01:20:43 You're the wiggles, Greg. You are the wiggles. Wiggle on. It's a bit Greg eventually decided that if the other two were leaving, it was best to do it all at the same time. And Anthony's like, oh, fucking hell. Well, Anthony, it feels like, in this research, it feels like Anthony is the band, kind of. He brought on his brother to manage, like, they, I think they're really the core of the operation.
Starting point is 01:21:08 But I think they also thought that it would be best to have one of the original members to sort of transition. And the replacement purple, red and yellow wiggles for the first time, the new yellow wiggle was a lady. And it's Emma? Emma Watkins. Emma. Then there's also Simon Pierce and Lachlan Gillespie. Lockland,
Starting point is 01:21:29 so now wake up Jeff is wake up Locky. Oh, I love the name Locky. That's very cute. Wake up Locky. Why don't they just change their names
Starting point is 01:21:38 legally to Jeff? Yeah, and Emma should be Greg. I'm Jeff. I'm Jeff. I'm Jeff. I'm Jeff. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 01:21:45 They're all Jeff. Jeff. Jeff. They do like a harmonizing Jeff. Like, Jeff. Yeah, that's why we're not a band. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:21:57 Yes. So. And did they bring them more success? And yeah, there's been a bit of a bounce in popularity, that sort of stuff. Which is smart. I mean, it's, you know, they're for kids. They were getting, they needed to freshen it up a bit. And is Anthony still there?
Starting point is 01:22:13 Anthony's still there until this very day. And didn't, I think two of them got married. I think Emma and Lockheed got married. Emma and Lockheed? Really? Do they talk about that on the wiggle? That was pretty much kept a secret for a long time It was very recently
Starting point is 01:22:32 They got married But it is the purple and yellow wiggle Yeah so Locky and Emma Yeah I remember seeing photos They had a secret love affair for two years But yeah now they're out and proud I think they're having a kid Oh really
Starting point is 01:22:46 I think they're having a baby wiggle Oh my God a baby wiggle What does purple and yellow make Is it brown? Brown Who brown Which is appropriate because maybe shit a lot. Okay.
Starting point is 01:22:59 What about, are they also... Are they also on a wage? Yeah, so they're all salaries. So the business is still run by those three... The three guys are still sort of running the show. They're the three partners. Oh, the Greg and... Greg, not Greg.
Starting point is 01:23:18 Murray, Jeff and Anthony. And Greg's out. Greg's gone. Do you reckon they also have... How many million bucks he got paid for? Do you reckon they all still have barbecues together? Like, are they mates? Do you reckon?
Starting point is 01:23:29 I think they're still mates, yeah. I believe so. I remember Murray being on Spicks and Spex. He's a funny fucker. Oh, hang on. Who's come back to the party? Said Murray was the funny one, you fucking piece of work. How dare you?
Starting point is 01:23:42 Hey, we can all agree. I can't believe you question me on that. You knew. I knew. There's only one thing we can agree on, and that is that Greg's males. Yeah, that's what we can all agree on. Apparently Murray was the one, whenever there were heated discussions. Murray was the chilled out.
Starting point is 01:23:57 Hey guys, come on. That sounds right. That sounds right. God, I love Murray. He's also 6 foot 5, Murray. That's very tall. That is no. Good head.
Starting point is 01:24:08 So when he was, when he was like Dorothy the dinosaur, that was a scary, hulking dinosaur. Dave looks like terrified because, not in the, like he's just realized 6 foot 5 is a height. Is he actually 6 foot 5? Yeah, he's very tall.
Starting point is 01:24:22 How does he not look weird next to the other ones? Like I imagine Jeff's. Are they all six foot four? Yeah, they're all six feet four. Greg's quite tall, but they do tower over him. Here's a photo. Greg's tall, Jeff's quite short, and Anthony's kind of medium height. So he was replaced by a tall man as well.
Starting point is 01:24:40 Which one's tall? The one who's clearly taller than the others. What's his name? Murray. The guitarist. Yes. The red one. The funny one.
Starting point is 01:24:51 Stop making noise. I've decided that I don't like him now. He's tall. He's my least favorite. Wow, you heightest. Come back, Greg. Greg looked tall. He looked lanky.
Starting point is 01:25:03 He's tall. But it's not as tall. Oh, my God. He just doesn't understand how height works. I'm offended by his height. You are. Look, he's all flustered. What about Jeff?
Starting point is 01:25:14 Is Jeff small? Jeff's pretty short. Jeff's pretty short. Okay, great. I think Emma looks like the short. What a way to finish. I think Emma might be the shortest. Yeah, that makes sense.
Starting point is 01:25:23 His Anthony. Yeah, Anthony. He's buff with tats on his arms. Easy. You love him. Is that why they had to wear skivies? Because he got, he roared it up. Also, they're the...
Starting point is 01:25:35 Nothing that hides muscles like a skivy. A tight one. That's why Arnold Schwarzenegger always wears skivis. That's a kindergarten cup. Lots of skivis. I found that there's this page that's, um, like, there's its own fun facts thing, and it's not as good as our fun facts. There's one fun fact here goes, uh, Jeff Fat, the Purple Wiggle.
Starting point is 01:25:54 He's not an arcoleptic, but, falls asleep all the time for real. So that's most people. Yeah, we all sleep. He falls asleep nearly every night. Nearly. Nearly. One night a week, he stays up all night. What's he do?
Starting point is 01:26:11 He's watching cartoons. Sick. He loves Top Cat. Apparently their revenue peak was $45 million in 2009. But they dropped, they suffered a drop every year until they retooled the group with the younger performers. Wow. But I mean, the drop still.
Starting point is 01:26:27 They still don't. Yeah, we're not making that. And also, this is other funny, Greg, the old yellow wiggle, is a huge Elvis fanatic. He owned the fourth largest personal Elvis collection in the world. What? That's crazy. Wow.
Starting point is 01:26:43 Yeah, anyway. Look, I really, we've got to, we got to fucking wrap it up. Wrap it up. So that was the Wiggles. Thanks so much. That was great. It was very interesting. Yes.
Starting point is 01:26:56 It was like, I didn't know a lot of us. The biggest surprise was that his brother wasn't the pirate. That, to me. Thanks for listening for the hour and a half since that fact. But that really peaked early. Hopefully we, I don't know why. I don't know if, I feel like some American listeners are probably like,
Starting point is 01:27:13 what's an Australian thing? And that may be why that was suggested by Nick. It's like the Wiggles. That'd be one of our biggest exports, for sure. Big exports. Sometimes they were on the Forbes rich list. Wow. And it'd be Wiggles.
Starting point is 01:27:27 Hugh Jackman Nicole Kidman in years that she makes big movies Headsworths Oh there are a few actors Yeah now the Hemsworth Why more actors
Starting point is 01:27:36 The music for some reason Yeah music's not so much Hmm There we go We have there I think our last number one over there Was Iggy Azalia Yeah
Starting point is 01:27:47 She was big Gautier was big Yeah One song Anyway Okay Okay That was great though man.
Starting point is 01:27:58 I really enjoyed that report, a good one. Me too. Well done, Matt. Hey, Matt, I'm proud of you. Thanks, guys. Matt, Matt, I'm proud of you. Thanks, Jess. I mean, a lot of that was taken from Paul Field's own bloody now.
Starting point is 01:28:09 Thank you, Paul Field. So, you know, and he was only ever going to talk about it in, you know, relatively positive ways. So it was interesting that he really let go about Greg. Yeah, why didn't he say all that horrible shit? Imagine the stuff he left out about how much he hates Greg. So I'd love to hear a, like, the unauthorised biography with all the real dirt. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:28:30 Get some dirt on the wiggles. Yeah, the real dirt. Apparently at this stage, no one's cared enough to do that, but it's really open. Yep in the market. Yeah. Wiggles's the real story. By Dave Warnocky. Yeah. It's your time to shine. It's just fan fiction. Hey, thanks so much for listening, everyone. You should always get on our thing and rate us highly. Oh yeah, we haven't said that in a long time. We always talk about our Facebook and Twitter, which is, at Do Go On Pod, if you want to suggest a topic.
Starting point is 01:29:00 Our Twitter is getting more and more followers, but our Facebook's pretty steady. Yeah, jump over to Facebook. Most of the world's on Facebook, so if you want to jump on there, like our page, you can email us. Do go on pod at gmail.com. We share a lot of fun things on Facebook, so you're probably missing out on some fire content. That's right. And as Matt said, we haven't, and as I said, we haven't mentioned it a long time, but it does help if you do rate us on iTunes or whatever medium you use to download the podcast makes people more,
Starting point is 01:29:30 I guess it makes people trust it more, doesn't it? It's something that just makes it easy to find as well. Yeah, it puts it up in the crazy iTunes ratings, that kind of thing. So if you do that, if you do enjoy the show every week, please do give us a good rating. It's always nice to read too, isn't it? Oh, I love it. Well, I want to go and put on my purple skivy. And you're going to look like a fucking pedophile, and I will not be walking anywhere near you as we go to get treats.
Starting point is 01:29:53 Oh, no, no one wants to look like that when they're getting treats. You big phantom fan. I love the phantom. I'll put on my fandom costume. Is that less? That's fine. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Starting point is 01:30:02 Well, we're off to get treats. Thanks so much for listening. We'll have a fresh new episode with the lovely voice of Jess Perkins next week. But until then, I will say goodbye. Later. Bye. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are and we can come and tell you when we're coming there.
Starting point is 01:30:35 Wherever we go, we always hear six months later, oh, you should come to Manchester. We were just in Manchester. But this way you'll never miss out. And don't forget to sign up, go to our Instagram, click our link tree. Very, very easy. It means we know to come to you and you also know that we're coming to you. Yeah, we'll come to you. You come to us.
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