Is It Just Me? - GUEST: Lara Jean Marshall from The Saddle Club 🐴

Episode Date: February 19, 2023

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Is it just me? A podcast by a couple of midges. Alright, it's time for the big guests that I've been mentioning the whole episode. Yeah. Jenna and I are quite excited. So, last year, how this came about, we got an all-staff email that just made mine and Jenna's jaws drop. It was one of those emails announcing a new staff member.

Yeah. And it basically said, oh, please welcome to Power FM, which is one of the stations that Kiss owns. Yes. A brand new radio announcer. Her name is LJ. Yes. As in Lara Jean Marshall, who played Lisa on the Saddle Club.

Oh, come on. Oh, come on. Jenna and I were big Saddle Club fangirls when we were children. And so we thought, should we just like shoot her a quick email using her internal work email address and say, want to come on the podcast? And we did and she said, sure. So here she is today, Lara Jean Marshall.

Welcome to Is It Just Me? Hi, Lara. Hi, guys. Does that song bring back good memories or bad memories, this song? Mixed memories. Yeah, I remember hearing, you know, people, you know, say it and sing it down the road to me. And I thought, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.

And, you know, they'd ask me to do the moves and I have, like, moves to go with it. Oh, my God. But then it brings back the beautiful memories of just being a kid and being with the girls and around the horses. So it was lovely. Did they tell you before you before you like sort of got cast on the show that you'd be required to sing the bloody opening theme song no we I went into it like not knowing you know how big it was going to be or anything and uh yeah the albums came later we had albums I loved the album

yeah I know this is kind of weird that right now we're just talking as two adults, but it's weird to know that as a child I had like posters of you and CDs. There was multiple, multiple albums. They saw a real cash grab there. Hold on. So I hate, no disrespect, Lara, but I have never seen, it's the Saddle Club. It's the Saddle Club.

And I just was not a horse boy, more into Pokemon, and no offence to you, I love what you did with the animals, but you were made to write albums? Yeah. We didn't write them, but obviously there was other people who wrote them for us, and we ended up with, like, three gold albums, and we sung around every Westfield. Yes, did you?

Yeah, we do, like, the whole signing and having the microphone. We had those headsets where they were like that, and they were, like, really cool. Yeah, we do like the whole signing and having the microphone. We had those headsets where they were like that and they were like, you know, really cool. Yeah, Britney vibes. And, yeah, there's quite some weird instances as well when, you know, I'd be going up an escalator and someone would just reach for my hair, like very weird things happening at these centres. But, yeah, it was a lot of fun, a lot of fun.

And I suppose even to this day you get a lot of people like us who are still, after all these years, like, holy fuck, it's Lisa from the Saddle Club. Oh, my God. Lisa, I can't tell you that with the excitement. Her name's not Lisa. Oh, sorry, sorry. Lara.

That's all right. Someone else called me Lisa this week. We had a guy come in and do an interview and he actually had this bargain at work with his mates and they're all putting their loves or their lives on the wall or something. And there was like Marco or Robbie. There was something else. And then there was Lisa from the Saddle Club. So he actually came in on an interview and he's like, can I hug you?

Can I give you a hug? And I was like, yeah, sure. And he's the same age as me. I love that. I'm telling you, it's just one of those things that sticks with you. If you're obsessed with it as a child, even though I'm not obsessed with the Saddle Club now, it just kind of sticks with you. I'm like, oh, my God, it's Lisa.

You also don't look like you've aged that much, by the way. You look exactly the same. Oh, thank you. It must be my mum's skin. Yeah, totally. Maybe. So, wait, did you know how to ride a horse when you got cast on the show? Was that how you got cast?

No, no, not at all. So basically Keenan actually got her role first who played Carol and I got my role and then they said, okay, we're going to train you up with the Lord of the Rings trainers for a month and so we did that. The Lord of the Rings trainers? Well,. And so we did that. The Lord of the Rings trainers? Well, I guess because they were big in the horse department at that point in time.

Those movies were big. Yeah, and Lord of the Rings was going on at the same time. So I was in love with Lando Bloom. So one of the guys actually grabbed his signature for me. Oh, that's cute. Yeah, loved it. Can I just point something out, Mitchell, that Jenna is actually

skewing a little saddle club today herself yeah did you did you put on this outfit knowing that you were going to be chatting to lara today because you look very subtle club it's a dry pink shirt yep you've got horseflies surrounding you know what's going on and she's got a salt lick on the desk lara i know well you know she's got that ponytail as on the desk, Lara. I know. Well, you know, she's got that ponytail as well. Lisa always had a ponytail, so she's looking more Lisa than I am. And I also don't think that you two have discussed how big of fans you actually were. So Mitch, you had posters.

Jenna went to all the meet and greets. How intense were you guys into this show when it was at its peak? It was just like my favourite show, my sister's favourite show. We loved it. And it was always starting as we got home from school because I was a country kid so the bus took forever. And if the bus was running late, I'd get so antsy. I'm like, oh, fuck, it's already started.

I'm missing the start of the Saddle Club. And I'd do that thing where I'd tape it on a blank VHS. I would tape the Saddle Club. I know because we had videos. Like I put all the tapes too. It's ridiculous. Now it's like how would we even watch that stuff? I know.

Were you the same, Jenna? Were you obsessed? Did you have posters? I loved the Saddle Club and the Saddle Club made me want to learn how to ride a horse. And did you? Yes, I did. I did equestrian and show jumping.

You did not. What the fuck? Why does Jenna have all these secret backstabbers? Yeah, Lara, Jenna's the type of person I'm like, oh, I've got to go get an ingrown toenail removed. She's like, I'll do it. I've got a podiatry ticket. We're like, what? Yeah, it, Jenna's the type of person I'm like, oh, I've got to go get an ingrown toenail removed. She's like, I'll do it. I've got a podiatry ticket. We're like, what?

Yeah, it sounds like it. Jenna, you're just a woman after my own heart. Yes, I know. Well, Jenna's a nepotism baby, so she had a very big house growing up, so she would have had her own stables. She is. She's a nepotism baby, and so she's very wealthy. So she had an estate.

So it makes sense, Mitchell. We should have put the two and two together that she would have had stables. I never had an estate, and I sense mitchell we should have put the two and two together that she would have stables so you and i'm not a nepo babe so you um you said mitch that you never really watched the saddle club right never my sisters did but i never watched it and i'm gay i don't know why i didn't watch it like i was i was trying to indoctrinate myself into straight culture i'm like i've got a lot pokemon and yugioh but i really should have been watching saddle club okay well i did dig up an old old scene from back in the day, a scene that Lara would have done.

It was Lisa arguing with her mother about whether or not she was going to boarding school. Her mother's trying to pull her out of Pine Hollow. She won't be part of Saddle Club. You're off to boarding school. Disgusting. All right, here's to Saddle Club. Here's a little trip down memory lane, Lara.

Your brother and I are just concerned about your priorities. I know. You're right. I shouldn't be putting writing before homework. I'll study harder, I promise. But I can do that without leaving. Please. I totally belong here.

You make new friends, honey. Not like Stevie and Carol. They're my best friends. They're always there for me, no matter what. Well, can she stay? Okay. All right. Yes.

I'm staying. Let's celebrate. How? Ride. Okay, hold on. Off into the sunset on their horses. I haven't seen the show, Lara, but is that how every confrontation was solved in the Saddle Club?

She's got debilitating migraines and she, no, no, you know what we need to do? Ride. Riding makes us happier, doesn't it? Sleepy hollows flooded. You know what we need to do? Sleepy hollows. Sleepy hollows.

Does that bring back memories, Lara? You were such a cutie. Oh, thank you. Yeah, no, it does bring memories. And yeah, they're very heartwarming memories. I kind of remember what I was doing on the day, but I look back to the faces I was pulling and it was always like this. Lisa was always a little bit concerned, wasn't she? Yeah, she was not always confused. Oh, no. You know, just always confused or, you know, constipated, either one. Yes, I can relate to that. I've got to say, though, I wouldn't have picked Lisa to turn out

with this gorgeous radio voice as an adult. Don't you reckon she's got a great radio voice there? Oh, my God, Clara, 100%. And this is what I got excited because these two love Saddle Club. I'm a radio nerd. Like I'm obsessed with radio through and through. And then hearing that you've got the Brekkie show on Power FM is so exciting to me.

So how did that come about? Did you love radio? Did you fall into it? Did you get off at the gig? Well, guys, I know that you've been in radio for a long time, but I'm very new to radio. So, you know, I gave up acting maybe two years ago and then my first job out of journalism school was the news.

So I was in Hamilton in the middle of nowhere, you know, surrounded by just liquor stores and pubs everywhere. Yeah. And I was doing the news around there, but it was really lovely because I got to connect with the community and then I kind of fell in love with radio. I kept falling in love with interviewing people and connecting with people.

Can you give us a little peek at your newsreader voice? I want to hear that. Oh, it's Lara Jean Marshall and it's news today and on the blah, blah, blah. Oh, my gosh. That was really good. I love that. I don't know. I have to remember one of the little bulletins I've done.

But, yeah, after that, yeah, it was Jack because it's LJ and Jack for breakfast. And Jack actually met my sister-in-law at a party or something and he was saying, I'm looking for a co-host. And she said, Lara will be great for this and sent me through and then we just had a connection on radio we just couldn't stop laughing and we're very yin and yang good very different to me well that's that's mitch and i we are very different from each other and then half the time we forget jen is here so it's actually a perfect little trio for us to have. But once you find that magic, like it takes years to get that, especially in radio because bosses love to just cram two people

that don't work together. The amount of love I have with contestants they've tried to put with me. Oh, my God. I've got bigger tits than half these girls. I'm like, this will never fucking work. But it sounds like you're not a total newbie to radio. You had the journalism background, which makes total sense. And so you're in Ballarat now, right?

Were you already living there? Yeah. No, no. I moved to Ballarat for the job. It was a little bit like I love Hamilton, don't get me wrong, but it was a little closer to the Melbourne city in the metro. And, yeah, it's nice to be closer to family. And it's really lovely around here.

Like I'm loving the lake i actually i'm a big sailor so i sail on wednesday nights on the lake here oh my god yeah i like to be active so you know it's got the walks it's got the hikes um yeah it's really lovely so it's just kind of worked out that way and the breakfast show is going really well like the listeners have been so lovely and just you know giving me helpful hints offering to help me move all of this stuff and i'm just like you're all so okay no i will say lara though like i've been in this for a while don't trust them all the time because the listeners they can be absolutely crazy so don't eat listener food have you been sent listener food before like

a meal or a baked good that's been made for you by the listeners? No, but I've been sent flowers, a book, and a candle. Okay, the books are bomb. The candle is actually – it's probably made with semen. And then the flowers, just don't go near them. They've probably got a spy camera in them. Just my word of advice, I once was sent cookies, and the woman had spat in them.

What? She spat in the cookies. And waited until after you'd eaten them to tell you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, someone here at Kiss FM sent Kyle Sanderland's limoncello, but it was urine. It wasn't limoncello. No, I remember Kyle telling a story where someone sent lamingtons to the station.

She caught up and said, did you get the lamingtons? And they said, yeah, yeah, we've eaten them. She goes, good, because I pissed in the mix. Wow. So good. Wow. Okay. Well, I'll take your advice. I'll stay away from all of that.

Over at Jonesy and Amanda, we get listener food and we eat it. Oh, different. You've got wholesome listeners, I'd say. It sounds like Power of M Ballarat listeners would be quite wholesome, too, I'd say. Did you move there by yourself? Or did you move with family? No, I moved by myself. I'm definitely single.

The new girl in town. I love that. Oh, you're single? Oh, my God. We can play matchmaker, surely. Can you? I really want to be matched up now. I think I'm ready to date.

I'm ready to go out there. Good. You know, I dabble in this and that, so you should find me someone. Is it just me? A podcast by a couple of mitches. in this and that, so you should find me someone. Ballarat reminds me a lot of Forbes, which is near where I grew up, and I feel like there's, what, maybe five pubs in town? Have you tried them all? No, I've only tried a couple.

I did go on a date the other night for Valentine's Day. Aw. How did it go? Where's the hot date for Valentine's Day. Really? Yeah. How did it go? Where's the hot date spot in Ballarat? Soffer and Hill? I would say, look, I've only been on one date in like six months, but now I'm ready to get out there. But I would say, yeah, Mitchell Harris Wines,

like any of the wine places. You know, they're a little bit, you know, upscale. They always have like a, you know, a three-course meal inclusive thing, you know. Okay, Ballarat is nothing like Forbes as it turns out. Much more highfalutin. Don't settle, Lara, because you're the queen bee of town. You're an actress.

You have the breakfast radio show. Like don't settle. I want you to, you know, have a couple of dates before you settle down. Although I will say this, it is tricky dating when you've got to get up super early, right't settle. I want you to, you know, have a couple of dates before you settle down. Although I will say this, it is tricky dating when you've got to get up super early, right? Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, I always have naps. You know, it gets to, I do four till 12, so I always have, like,

a bit of a nap after and then my day's gone. You get there at 4am? Yeah, so 4am, so we get to the studio at 4.30, yeah. Oh, that'll change. Trust me, I'm on air at 7 o'clock and to the studio at 4.30. Yeah. Oh, that'll change. Trust me. I'm on air at 7 o'clock and I'm in at 6.50 and I get a cup of tea and I sit down. The ambition goes.

Maybe a bad lesson. Don't fall into my habits. But that is so exciting. So, yeah, Power FM, what are some segments you do? Yeah, I've got to say I was trying to check out the show and there's no podcast. You've got to get them onto that. Oh, come on oh come on yes yes we're trying to get onto that we did have um tiktok for a couple of days um did you what happened did it disappear it just disappeared we had a we had

a lot of listeners though um but yeah no we'll have to definitely get into that but our segments are kind of around what are we doing tomorrow we We're saying, like, best cure for a hangover. Great. We had, like, what is the oldest thing in Ballarat? And everyone was going wild about that. And we went to the fire station. We went to the sailing yacht club. And we're finding out, you know, on this hunt for the oldest thing in Ballarat.

Wow. We talked about the fascination of serial killers today. Oh, wow. And why everyone's so into it. God, your station sounds way more fun than the one that I had growing up. We used to have funeral announcements. Yeah. Oh, dear.

I'd hit snooze on my bloody clock radio alarm and nine minutes later it'd go off again, still going with the funeral announcements. They're not done. Oh, we're in the middle of a song. Actually, four people have died since we made that original announcement. We have to actually retroactively add Betty. Well, that's so funny. Well, do you do a quiz?

Do you do a game? Any games that you guys do? Oh, yeah, we do games. So I have this, well, we do the Would You Rather. Yeah, of course. And then we do the Are You For Real? We do the reverse game where basically you have to hear the song reversed. Yes.

And then you have to figure out what it is. I'm really good at that one and I don't know why. I've heard other radio shows do that and I think I'm quite excellent at it too. Join Teen Amanda do it. Do that? Maybe we should all play it one time and battle each other. The two horse girls against the two Mitches. Yes.

Oh, my God. We have to do a rematch. We'll have to get you back. Oh, we have to. That could be really fun. Let's do it. Battle it out. Let's set a date. We'll get you back on.

Hopefully you'll have a partner. Oh, not hopefully. You don't need anyone. No, I can buy myself flowers, Mitch. Exactly. Exactly you can. Well, that is so great to meet you. I'm going to go back and re-watch Shadow Club.

Is it streaming? Is it streamable? It's actually all all on stan i found that out today yeah by the way you said that you gave up acting a couple years ago what made you want to do that i think it was just um there's a lot of uh pressure on women you know in that industry and um yeah i think i i i just didn't find it fun anymore um you know i love i love acting but the industry was quite harsh and quite harsh on women's bodies and body image and you know it wasn't something that i kind of wanted to stay in anymore just because of that reason not because of not the acting yeah fair enough have they got like a a local music and drama society that puts on musicals and shit in ballarat i'm sure they enough. Have they got like a local music and drama society that puts on musicals and shit in Ballarat?

I'm sure they do. I mean, they've got a performing arts studio here. They've got Steve-O actually coming to town soon. Oh, from Jackass? Oh, wow. Yeah, they've got him coming. So we're actually trying to get an interview with him. Shit, Ballarat sounds dope.

I said it reminds me of Forbes. It's nothing like Forbes. It's so cool. Totally. Do they need a night show? Fuck yes. Jesus Christ, that sounds dope. I said it reminds me of Forbes. It's nothing like Forbes. It's so cool. Totally. Do they need a night show? Fuck yes. Jesus Christ, that sounds lovely. Sailing on Wednesdays, you need a big boat, but I could do it.

Yeah. I mean, I'll take you sailing any time. Yay. I'd love that. We actually did capsizing last night. We did capsizing so my teacher was pushing me off the boat and I actually hit my head with the boom and I've got this big egg on the back of my head now.

What is the value in that lesson? Just pushing you off the boat. What skill do you gain from that? It's so that you can climb back on the boat again. But it's so like my friend was actually taping me getting back on the boat and it was really like terrible from the behind. Like I looked like a dead seal just looped over the side there is nothing worse than getting back on a boat from being in the water it's all because

then you have like you're weightless in the water but then the moment you have to like pull yourself back up gravity kicks in yeah and often my man boobs get in the way it's i've i had that experience recently in the harbor and um yeah yeah local tourists they're like that's a beluga whale mate no it's not it's me it's It's Mitch and Turing from Kiss FM. It was very embarrassing for me. Well, so great to have you on. So exciting. Are you guys a bit chuffed?

Look at your rosy cheeks. Yes. I'm like, God, life is weird. I'm chatting with Lara Jean Marshall. This is so cool. I'm chatting with the Mitches and Jenna. Oh, my God. Stop it.

It's great for me too because I'm a big fan of you guys. Oh, thank you. I really loved your episode about someone eating a salad out of someone's butthole. Oh, yeah. That was interesting. Oh, dear. See, maybe you shouldn't podcast your show because then stuff

like that happens, Lara. You know, maybe it's better if it just disappears after it airs. Yeah, I don't even know how to give that more context to make it sound better. He doesn't need it. He doesn't need it. That's exactly what we did and we're proud of it airs. Yeah, I don't even know how to give that more context to make it sound better. He doesn't need it. He doesn't need it. That's exactly what we did and we're proud of it. I'm a little bit reluctant to ask you the question that I ask

every guest because I'm like, you're still a child star in my mind. It feels so inappropriate. But we ask the same question to every guest that comes on the show. We get them to contribute to our list of things better than drugs and dick. And the reason the list exists is because we don't want our young listeners getting obsessed with partying and boys. Like there's more to life.

There's little things you can appreciate. Yeah, of course. Little things like the crunch of an apple or like walking on autumn leaves, you know, stuff like that. What are some other examples of that? A good afternoon nap. Yes. A perfect timed afternoon nap.

A good tooth floss I think we've had before. Oh, a Q-tip in the ear, like a nice satisfying Q-tip rub. Oh, I like that. Just something that you go, you know what, this is so much better. Angela Bishop said her waterbed. True. She did. She did.

Yeah, I think she's got the last waterbed in the country. Yes. Sophie Monk said Jimmy Brings. So, like, if there's anything really. And what are you thinking? Better than drugs and dick, Lara? Oh, I would say an oozing lava cake. There's nothing better.

I love chocolate. Absolutely. Oozing. Adding it to the list. Great. Nothing pisses me off more than when my oozy lava cake doesn't ooze. It's thick and coagulated. You fucking marketed it wrong.

It must ooze, not glug. Yes. Yes. Pisses me off. You fucking marketed it wrong. It must ooze, not glug. Yes. Yes. Pisses me off. You know who does it really well? Ironically, Domino's do a great lava cake. Do they? Yeah.

It looks good. It's really good. It's really good. But I haven't had it. Well, aren't you glad you asked? That's perfect. Yeah, perfect. Have you found a place in Ballarat that does a good oozing lava cake?

I do, and I did have it on my Valentineentine's date on uh on tuesday it's funny because he actually made the date and then i realized it was valentine's day oh did he know that it was valentine's day yes and he was like oh it's funny the day i'm like i don't know what he's talking about it was tuesday and then we were sharing an oozing lava cake. Oh, that is romantic. I love that. Did he know who you were? He knew of the history? No, no, no. Interesting.

Where did you first meet him? No, Bumble. Oh, okay. Ah, nice. Shit, Bumble. How many swipes would you get on Bumble and Ballarat? Three, four? There's a lot but there's a lot that look like a bit of serial killers.

Got it, got it. Like Jeffrey Dahmer, you know. Yeah. Oh, so maybe it's more like Forbes than I thought. Oh, guys, Lara Jean Marshall, you can get her if you're in Ballarat. Or can we listen on the app actually, Lara? Can we get it live? Yes, the iHeartRadio app.

Oh, you're part of the family. Of course. I forget. You're a co-worker. We love you. Thank you for coming on the show. Jack and LJ for breakfast. Power FM in Ballarat.

Or stream it on the iHeartRadio app. Yep. Beautiful. Thanks for having me. Our pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming on the show. Jack and LJ for breakfast. Power FM in Ballarat. Or stream it on the iHeartRadio app. Yep, beautiful. Thanks for having me. Our pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming. Thanks, Laura. Is it just me?

A podcast by a couple of mitches. Make sure you hit follow on your podcast app.