Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL: Eating Breakfast With The Dalai Lama

Episode Date: August 31, 2022

Today on the Jono and Ben podcast we chat to a man who has eaten breakfast with the Dalai Lama, we premiere our brand new All Blacks 'Tiny Dancer' parody and Cliff Curtis and Jay Ryan from the brand new movie 'MURU' are in studio for a chat and CLIFF-hanger calls!    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a bonus podcast from Jono and Ben on The Hits. Welcome, it's the 1st of September. Hit the music. It's the 1st of the month. Boy Thugs-N-Harmony? Yeah. They were getting things done at the 1st of the month, weren't they? Wake up guys, it's the 1st of the month. Come on team, all the thugs, let's get out there. We interviewed them a few years ago. They came over,

they were doing a concert in New Zealand. I remember that. We were working at the rock radio station, and the promoter was like, do you want to talk with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony? We were like, yeah, absolutely we do. I'm trying to remember the interview. There's something unusual we're having about the interview.

Oh, like, remember, because we have obviously a relationship where we give each other grief, and they probably weren't, you know, when I said they were going to Christchurch, and I said, oh, you'll have to go visit Jono's mum in Christchurch. And they went, oh, my God, he's talking about someone's mum. The folks getting boned.

Yeah. They thought there was going to be some beef going on between the two of us. You know, I was like, oh, your mum will show you. They were on my team there, weren't they? Like, oh, you don't talk smack about someone's mum. And I was like, well, Andy Pryor will show you a lovely time. And Christ, nothing but favourable things towards your mum, who I love. And then they were like, where's this going?

But yeah, so that was what I remember from that. I think my favourite hip-hop interview we've ever done was with an artist called Lil Yachty. Oh, yeah, Lil Yachty. Lil Yachty, who's a big player in the rap game. Yeah. Not a big player in the America's Cup game, though. Boat's too small. Yeah.

He came into the studio, and we're interviewing him. And this sounds like an exaggeration. We'd be like, hi, Little Yachty. Welcome, Little Yachty. It's good to have you in the studio. How are you enjoying New Zealand? He was running. The thing was, he was running a busy operation.

He had two phones. And so he was running a busy operation. He had two phones and so he was doing a lot of stuff and then you went, like, because we're recording the interview, so we went live

and then you went, what's going on, mate? What's going on with the phones? Well, it was at this point, I was like, we're never going to air this.

And that was actually, we got some great stuff. He's like, well, see, this is happening here and I've got this thing going on here

and he really opened up about what was on the phones. That was the most animated little yoli he's ever been in his life, explaining why he had two phones. There was a whole lot of stuff. Obviously, he had a lot of stuff going on, the poor guy at the been in his life, explaining why he had two phones. There was a whole lot of stuff. Obviously, he had a lot of stuff going on, the poor guy, at the time.

And so he needed two phones. He was texting on one. And so he kind of explained us without getting into too much detail. And it actually turned out to be really good. I felt like he probably would have been better off going, hey, you know what? I'm too busy. I've got two phones.

There's stuff going on, mate. There's important shit going on. You know when you've got stuff going on and people go, hi, mate, what do you think of New Zealand? You're like, yep, yep, yep, yep. Hang on, I've just got some.

No, I mean the other options just don't come to the interview though. Yeah, but you know, that's, yeah, I know, there was other options, but hey. He took the option

where he'd sit there. But anyway, we ended up, we became great friends. Yeah, it was a fun chat. It was a fun chat. The interview was good. Why did he have two phones again?

One was in the US. Yeah. This is Lil Yachty. And there we go. I'll beat that. Yeah. This is Lil Yachty. There we go. I'll beat that one up. This is Lil Yachty. Yeah, that's Lil Yachty. It had a few massive songs, didn't it?

Yeah. And the reason he did have two phones was one was in America. And then he was like, this is my Australian, New Zealand phone. So that was the... Do you think you go somewhere and you get roaming charges? Do you think he you know, you go somewhere and you get roaming charges? Do you think he was up with double roaming charges? Because he was using both phones. And then he would have been roaming from his Australian phone in New Zealand.

Roaming charges up the yin-yang. I know, I know. They really do get you, don't they? Because you just use your phone like you're still at home, but don't. No, don't. Because they do. They're also welcoming. It's like, welcome to Australia.

You can use your phone. We've transferred you over. You're great. You don't have to do anything. they're also welcoming it's like welcome to Australia you can use your phone we've transferred you over you're great you don't have to do anything just pretend like you're at home you're like thank you that's so nice I can just do that turns out they don't do it

out of friendliness the telco company they just want you to keep using it hey on the show today a real fun show for you to listen to Cliff Curtis

Jay Ryan two Kiwi acting legions join us to tell us about their new movie and Cliff Curtis shares a very very funny Kiwi acting legions join us to tell us about their new movie. And Cliff Curtis shares a very, very funny story that he had. I think they did their greatest acting performance ever this morning, pretending like they were enjoying being yelled at by two radio announcers. Well, I don't.

Yeah, like the fact that we're at radio, sometimes you shake your head at what we do. You know, you're like, oh, I'm one of those people. But, you know, when they came into the studio, they both went, well, you guys are high energy because we weren't even starting radio. We're just like, g'day, guys. How you doing? Big smiles. G'day.

How are you? We're here. We're just going to talk. And they're probably like, whoa, what's up with these guys? Sometimes we do need to. They're like, what? They say, what are you on? And we do.

We have to. Yeah, you do. It's this job. Well, I mean, you can't. Yes, you can mock it. I think it's a mockable thing, the energy that a radio dancer has in the morning. But what's the alternative? Hey, guys.

We need to pull it back. Little Yachty taught us anything. You know, you can be a bit more real about stuff. I know, but no one wants to wake up at 6 in the morning and go, hey, guys. Anyway, I questioned myself at that moment. I'm like, oh, are we those people, are we? You know in The Simpsons,

they have the people they always listen to on the radio. Oh, we're definitely those people. Yeah, don't worry about that. Terrible pranks and stuff like that. That's us. That's us. That is us. Yeah, unashamedly.

Oh, God, I said us. All right, well, anyway, enjoy. I mean, like I say, the alternative. If you want us to dial it back a few notches, we can. How many notches down? You give me an example. I don't know. When people come in

the studio maybe we could just ease into it yeah oh good day how you doing maybe you don't need to be in radio mode when the mics aren't on yeah that might be the key yeah yeah just because we are but then you're not quite sort of almost like split personality situation where you're like maybe there's a middle ground yeah maybe there is there's a middle ground anyway that's uh we've rambled on long enough enjoy the the really, really fun show today. The Jono and Ben Podcast. The world's number one podcast. Please don't check those stats.

A lot of talk about the All Blacks. We're backing them to turn it around this weekend because things didn't go so well against Argentina. And speaking about All Blacks and things not going well, last night on Newstalk ZB, if you missed this earlier, it was one of our favorite bits of radio, a caller to Marcus Lush's night show on Newstalk ZB, if you missed this earlier, it was one of our favourite bits of radio, a caller to Marcus Lush's night show on Newstalk ZB. Have a listen.

But, Brian, Brian, we... But, Brian, Brian, sorry, Brian. Hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang, hang on, Brian. So, Brian, can I talk? Can you hear me? Brian, can you hear me? Brian! Brian, can you hear me? Brian, can you hear me? Look at the substitutions last day.

Brian, can you hear me? Before a kid gets on for his first test. Brian! Can you hear me, Brian? Yeah. What were you doing when I was talking to you? Nothing. Why didn't you say anything?

Where was your phone? Could you hear me talking and saying your name? No. I was talking all the time. But where was your phone? Could you hear me talking and saying your name? No, I was talking all the time. But where's your phone? Have you got an earpiece on your, how were you holding your phone? No, this is a landline. But where was your earpiece? When you were talking, where

was the bit that goes next to your ear? Against my ear. But I was talking to you the whole time and you couldn't hear me. No, I couldn't. I wondered when you were going to interrupt. So that was All Blacks chat. A chat about the All Blacks last night on Dues Talks MP. We can't top that.

That is so good. Yeah. Now, the ABs, they need our support more than ever, don't they? They really do. As a team of five million, we win together and we lose together. And then three million of us end up bullying the team on social media. We don't want that. We want them to win.

But there is one section of society who needs the All Blacks to win this weekend, especially ahead of Father's Day. You know, it's the grumpy boomer dance. Oh, yeah. I don't know if they can take another week of this. No, you're right. Yeah, and we've teamed up Colab, J&B, X, Laura, McGoldrick from the Afternoon Show.

Kind of like Britney Spears and Elton John coming together, right? A lot of remixes around Tiny Dancer at the moment. Yeah. Well, we've also done a Tiny Dancer remix. Sammy Caney. Sam Caney's in. on a Tiny Dancer remix. subscribes to Sky It's my grumpy boobadad Argentina he calls to see Argentina win for the first time! He's a grumpy fan

Terrible guy. Yeah? Yeah. All credit to him. Six drinks binging. He starts a whinging. Tinny can is in his hair. I know how you make him feel.

I disappear. When you score there, only me and mom can hear him when he is screaming at the TV make it closer

Fonzie Foster we've lost so many games now, let's actually look at a new leadership group. Please can you just win one game? Oh, that's not good. No. Let's pump the Argentinians. Argentinians for the first time.

They've been eating all of our steak. Wow, what a win. Make it closer, Fuzzy Foster. Wow, what a win! Election is a big, big question. The World Cup is next year. If we don't do that now, when are we going to do it? And give this gift for Father's Day. And do it for Father's Day. Ah, yeah, good luck to the All Blacks on Saturday.

Backing them to turn things around this weekend. And what if they don't, Ben? What are you going to do then? Well, life will go on. Life will go on. That's the thing. Life goes on. You're right. Life will go on. You's the thing, life goes on. You're right. Life will go on.

You'll be a little disappointed for a couple of months as I'm sure the players will be. I mean, no one's more disappointed than the players and the coach. Life goes on,

you're dead right. Mature, responsible and considerate. Three words we sadly can't use here. Jono and Ben on the hits.

It's the first of the month. Have we got the song? Oh, we have got the song. Have we got the song? We've checked down that song for you. We thought for the fans of

mid-90s hip-hop and for those that don't know the song, they'll be like, well, that's an appropriate song to be playing today. It's appropriate. First of the month. There we go. We're talking Neighbours stories. Anything you've got, you can text through 44877. Ginny, Neighbours, we understand your mum and your neighbour

made the local newspaper in Dannyburg. What happened? So, mum and Joe decided that after a few wines, that it would be a great idea to paint a pedestrian crossing between the two houses across the road. Across the road. So I'm gathering Joe was the neighbour. Yes, Joe was mum's neighbour.

No one worked for Land Transport, the Haga Kotai or anything like that? It was done under the deck. Right. So this is six Seve's deep, no doubt. Yeah. And why did they want to paint a pedestrian crossing across the road? Because Joe's daughter was getting married and so we were walking across

to their house a lot. And so they decided in their greatest wisdom that it would be a good idea to have a pedestrian crossing. I can't imagine the painting in the middle of the night after a few wines would have been that good as well. No, it probably wasn't to be fair.

It was a little crooked. Yeah, it wasn't the sort of one that used on the beatles iconic pose or anything like that but but it made the paper so you obviously made the paper and my dad kept the um kept the clipping what was the headline drunk mums decide it's a good idea to paint a. No pun or nothing pedestrian about this. I love the logic behind it as well. Joe's daughter's getting married. You guys are crossing the road a lot.

Let's have a pedestrian crossing. Were you having trouble crossing the road up until that point? Was it a busy road? No, not at all. This was Danny back 30 years ago. So there was no need for a pedestrian crossing? Not at all. There weren't fast cars mowing back and forth?

No, no, not at all. Just kids. Danny Burke in the 80s, eh? What a time. Yeah, 100%. Great time. Hey, good on you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your time. No worries. You both have a good day. Debbie, welcome. Hey. You've stopped. You're walking on your tread climber, getting in there morning cardio, are we, Debs? I cross between a treadmill, a stair climber, and an elliptical. Oh, jeez, you're running a lot there, Debs. And how many minutes are you pumping on that a day? I do 50 minutes a day.

50? Oh, that's a decent effort, isn't it? And in between that, you're calling a radio show. What a start to the day, Debbie. Now we're just talking about neighbours. Well, I can imagine that, Debbie, we've spoken to you before, and you love stopping scammers. One of your things is when scammers call you up,

you call them out, you've got a whistle, you blow it down the phone line. So I imagine, you know, if anything happens in the neighbourhood, I imagine you're on to it pretty fast. You would be right, yes. Have you got your scamming whistle nearby? I don't know, that anything happens in the neighbourhood, I imagine you're onto it pretty fast. Ah, you would be right, yes. Yeah, good. Have you got your scamming whistle nearby? I don't know, that's on my couch.

Did you use that whistle on that neighbour? Yes, I did. You did use the whistle on the neighbour. So your whistle is a wonderful attack weapon. So you had a bit of a barney with your neighbour. What was going on? Oh, I don't know. So what happened was I was in the shower and then on the toilet and I caught him at my bathroom window.

Oh, what? Staring at you on the toilet? Yes, and in the shower. And I caught him there. Oh, that's not good. And I got to talk to the other neighbour and he said, well, he's been doing that for a while. He said, well, would you like me to have a conversation with him?

Yes. He's been staring at you through your bathroom for a while. He kept doing it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, no good. That's no good, Debs. And so then you ended up on Neighb yeah. Oh, no good. That's no good, Debs. He was a psychopath. And so then you ended up on Neighbours at War, we understand.

Yeah, I wanted to expose him. And so he had a word with him, and then he turned nasty. Wow, jeez, that's not, yeah. Hey, Debs, way to bring the vibes down. Oh, jeez, I don't know what to say to that. It's not good to be having to deal with that, Debs. I'm glad you've moved on, literally. I ended up taking out a stoning water against him. This just gets heavier and heavier.

I don't know why. I'm glad you moved away from Ben. Don't, don't after all that. Don't after all that. Don't make light of that. It's not even It's not, it's It's not even worth it. It's it's not even it's a horrible situation but debbie and i'm glad you got away with it it's a horrible

horrible situation don't you laugh it's a horrible situation all around it's yeah it is yeah i'm glad you're safe now debbie yeah no thank you all right mate oh geez sometimes i know why i work with you johnny an An inseparable duo. Unless I'm on better server. He's just going to replace with Lee Hart and or Vaughan Smith. Jono and Ben on the hits. Muru is a new Kiwi action drama out today. It's inspired by the real events of

the 2007 police raids on a small town in the Te Eruera Forest in the Bay of Plenty. Sergeant Tafaro Williams, I'm calling to report an internal incident. What's the story, guys? What's with the tinted windows? One of your people assaulted my office.

If anything happens to any one of my people, I'll make sure no one in Tuhoy ever forgets it. It looks really good. It stars Cliff Curtis. You'll know him. He's gone from Uncle Bully in Once Warriors to hundreds of Hollywood movies

acting alongside Dwayne Johnson, Denzel Washington, Hugh Jackman, and Kiwi actor Jay Ryan who's gone from Go Girls in New Zealand to American Success, played the role of The Beast

in the hit sitcom Beauty and the Beast and they join us in studio. Cliff Curtis, Jay Ryan, acting royalty. Yeah. Here with radio scumbags, Jono and Ben Jono and Ben, how are you boys?

We're good, it's nice to see you guys You're looking great Ageless Are you up close with my face? Now you guys have done amazing things overseas Hollywood, TV shows, movies But coming back to New Zealand and doing a story like this movie Is that kind of special to tell New Zealand stories, Jay?

Yeah, man. This was my first New Zealand feature, so what a feature to be involved with. You know, everyone gets stuck in on New Zealand feature films. We don't have the big budgets, but we've got all the heart and soul, you know. Particularly this film was an incredible experience. All of the community of Tūhoe were involved, and Tame, obviously, on his home ground.

And getting to work with Mr Cliff Curtis was an honour. Yeah. Because I know telling important stories is, well, ironically, very important to you, Cliff. And you say a lot of the stuff you do in the States is just kind of the reason to enable you to do films and projects like this. I'm very blessed to have a spectrum of work that spans from things about giant megalodons,

comedies, through to avatars coming out in December. And then I get to come home and make movies like Whale Rider, this, Muru. It's beautiful to have all of that possibility as a storyteller. Now, Tama Iti, who's an activist, he's a great actor. Yeah, he plays himself in this movie as such.

So it's kind of like it's a true story, but it's not a true story. It's based on real events, right, the movie? Yeah, I mean, it's, for me, when I first read the script, I learned, you know, about the raids, not just in 2007, but 100 years before in 1916. So it's an amalgamation of this history that's happened between the Crown and Tūhoe, and it's weaved together into the story of Muru. Yeah, and Muru means to forgive.

Forgive. Muru o mātou haere me mātou haere e muru nei. Forgive us our trespasses. We forgive those who trespass against us. So it's thematically we're wanting to tell a story that's meaningful and that we need to, as a nation, we need to look at ourselves and be honest about who we are. We all make mistakes.

How do we get past those mistakes? What a great way to look at it. What a great way to look at it. And it's not often you would have a film where one of the actors in the movie was actually involved in part of that. Tame Iti. I mean, people may or may not know him as a political activist, but I know him as an artist.

He's a painter. He's a dancer as well. He does dancing. He does contemporary dance. He's doing an exhibition down there in Wellington right now, an installation, and now he's acting in a movie. That's awesome. What a legend.

What a legend. He's such a gentle soul as well. Yes. We filmed a… Gentle, playful soul. He's really joyful and light on his feet. He's amazing. I remember we did a little sketch with him. Tama Iti's Treaties and I had to pick him up

from the airport. What? Yeah. He flew in and I picked him up from the airport and he's like, mate, I need to go to the warehouse. So then we went shopping at the warehouse for about an hour and a half. Got him a whole new outfit. He looked magnificent. He's like, now I'm ready. I'm ready to go. Fashion icon. Now preparing for roles is obviously

something you guys do. And Cliff, you are a bus driver, also a policeman as well on this movie. I've got my class 2 license now. Do you have to drive the bus? Yes. You actually do get to drive the bus. He drove us here this morning actually on the bus. Children and, yeah, amazing. How long does it take to get a bus license? A long, a lot of

commitment there. I had to really dig deep. I had to do the exams. I had to know the difference between the axle and, you know, the measurements. i had to really dig deep i had to do the exams i had to know the difference between the axle and you know the measurements you have to yeah you have to you have to you can't be let behind the wheel of a bus casually no they take it seriously yeah not that it's all going bad but if it ever goes bad it's not a bad backup job no i think it's beautiful and i think in the movie it's the heart of a community, isn't it? Especially rurally. It's like the bus drivers, you know, somebody that you want to turn up on time, somebody you trust, somebody that's going to get your grandparents and your children to where they need to be on time and safely.

So, Joe, for your role, because you're kind of part of the special forces in this, do you have to, like, train with them or observe or anything like that? Well, we spoke with a lot of the Special Tactics guys that were actually part of the raids there and yeah we did a lot of training physically. Trained in Krav Maga to get my fighting skills up because it's a bit of an action thriller. You should see this man

in a t-shirt. That's impressive. I want to see you without a t-shirt. I'll see you in your office later. But yeah lots of training. it all happened before we put foot into the film so you kind of do it all on your own and then go in and play

Cliff you said it's seven years pretty much you've been talking about making this movie particularly Movies take time to sort of work up into a place where we're dealing with complex issues around the story isn't it, we all make mistakes in life don't we? We all do mistakes in life, don't we? We all do things that we can't see the unintended consequences that have impacts on others.

It's about taking responsibility. So it's a very prickly story in that regard, so you have to take extra care. But you also, we're not making a documentary. We're making a movie. I want people to go to the cinema, get their ticket, sit down and watch a great movie. It's a thriller.

It's an action movie. Cliff Curtis, Jay Ryan. Muru, it's in cinemas. It looks like a fantastic film. Congratulations on it. Hope it goes well. Kia ora. Kia ora.

Thank you. Thank you for having us. What's the raise of the plug submitting? I'm nervous. Now I take photos of the handbrake on in my car. Don't even get me started on whether I left the iron on or not. I turn my phone off at night. I just don't know what it's doing.

It makes me nervous. Yeah, but what if we run out of hand sanitizer? I'm nervous. So nervous. Yes, whether it be the comment section on the internet or parallel parking in front of people, this man is more nervous than Mike Hosking at a woke convention. Constantly nervous. What's happening

Ben Boyce? Oh well, answering the phone. You know that I'm not a big fan of answering the phone. Particularly a block number. That does make me nervous. What about numbers that you do know, people that you do know, that you're familiar with? Do you like answering those calls? Oh, like, you know, depending on, like I do answer your phone.

All the time? Yeah, I answer your phone. I'm pretty good with answering your phone. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I have a select few that I... You're in a circle? Straight through that I'm comfortable with. They have a direct line to Ben. The other times I feel like, particularly with a block number, it puts me on the spot. I'm not prepared for where this could go.

And I like someone to either, if they have a block number, to either leave a message and say, oh, such and such from the IRD, you've got to get in here. See, whatever it is, whatever the block number is, you can formulate a story

when you call them back. I know what's going to happen. Or if it's someone ringing going, hey, do you want to come to this thing? I'm like, oh, do I actually? Oh, I'm going to get put on the spot. Yeah, you don't like to be blindsided.

I do. One of the biggest blindsidings I've seen Ben take part in, and I was also a victim of it too. Someone asked us in 2021, hey, what are you doing in January of 2022? That's right. This is like nine, ten months away. And there's no excuse in the world you can come up with with what you're doing.

We ended up even seeing a wedding. It was a lot of fun. It was. But you're right. They were like, what are you doing? And you're like, oh, that's too far away to even put on the spot. So that's why I haven't been, you know, I'm not even seeing a wedding it was a lot of fun it was but you're right they were like what are you doing and you're like oh that's too far away to even put on the spot so that's why i haven't been you know i'm not a fan of answering block numbers but now i have and this is what's making me more nervous now now numbers numbers that come up but they're not saved they're not

numbers that you know in your phone oh so you get the 02184 yeah you get 09 such and such you're like what so they're like hey I'm an open book buddy. I'm not trying to hide anything. I'm a call you might want to answer. Yeah. I'm friendly. I'm not disguising myself. Do you know what I have been doing lately?

Because I often get them at work and I'll go 09, 35, okay. I will quickly Google 09 and then Google that. And then you'll go, oh, it's the dentist. All right. Or it's, oh, it's the kid's school. Better answer that one. that one you know whatever it is i don't know why i should say the kid's school on my phone but you know that's that's my little trick now because that makes me nervous and if i don't know that number i'm like oh let that one go through let that one go through the goalie yeah so you had a call the other day that you answered and you're like oh god i wish i didn't

answer that yeah because we were under the pump. We had an interview waiting. I thought it was something important. It did. And then it was, oh, this wasn't quite as important at that time. And then you're like, yeah, I shouldn't have. Again, I shouldn't have answered it. And see, that's what leads me next time

to make me more nervous about answering the phone. Anyway. The only man who gets nervous answering a phone. Him and someone who's having an affair, I guess. This is the Jono and Ben ben podcast wall-to-wall talking without the niggly popular songs in between we're talking a wee bit about brushes with fame this morning and marco phoned up marco what was your brush with fame what was it when i was at university i was involved in the buddhist association and um a weird at that time, the government would not acknowledge the Dalai Lama

as a person of political status because China had warned them not to accept him when he came to visit New Zealand. And so they hadn't given him any diplomatic protection or anything like that. And so the organization that organises his trip over here said, can we provide security? And I said, oh, well, I do martial arts and I know heaps of people who are really good at martial arts and boxes and things like that. So we can supply security for you. So they did. They just gave it to me. I was like, what, 21 years old or something. And I was in charge of the Dalai Lama's protection when he came to New Zealand.

Oh really? So you had to organise all the bloody, all the snipers? Absolutely. Can I just say on behalf of the Dalai Lama, his team need to place their faith in better security personnel. Like, no disrespect to Marco,

I'm not phoning a 21-year-old university student, hey, mate, can you protect... I'll leave it with you. We'll see you in a couple of days. And so did you get to talk to the Dalai Lama? Not really. Strangely enough, I was with him a lot, but I never spoke to him

because I was so concerned about security and things like that, which was quite credible at the time because China was really anti him at that time. And on the very last day, and I happened to be on duty outside his hotel room in Wellington, just sitting on a chair right outside the door. And he had two bodyguards. One would sleep at the base of the door to his room. And you could hear him snoring at night because I heard the noise.

And they must be sleeping right there behind the door. So no one could open the door without his room and you could hear him snoring at night because i was thought i heard the noise and they thought well they must be sleeping right there behind the door so no one could open the door without waking up and the other guy slept at the base of the dalai lama's bed and so the dalai lama be like i've got to get less snory security personnel keeping the i'm trying to be peaceful here a peaceful guy needs his sleep i imagine he probably put the guy who was snoring at the front door and they kept the other one who was quieter and next to his bed anyway um and then early in the morning um the door opened up and uh the dalai lama was there and he said have you been here all night and i said yeah and he goes would you like to join us for breakfast i was like um yeah okay and uh and that was the first time I had talked to him. And just an amazing conversation.

Kind of one way I was just listening to him talking, but I was just in awe of him. The way he talked and the way he cared about people around him and things like that. So you're sitting at breakfast with the Dalai Lama. What's he eating? Is he a bacon and eggs guy? Yeah. I think it was like fruit dishes, honestly.

I imagine the first question Dalai Lama sat down and asked your breakfast was like, are you a snorer? Because I'm not getting an ounce of sleep with my car security. I wish I could remember, honestly. I've actually got a part of it on video. Did you have, is it free-flowing conversation

or he just starts talking, and you're like, well, I mean, when he talks, I don't know, his aura, his presence just makes you want to listen, and he's got so many amazing things to say. He has a walking dictionary with him as well. This guy that stands, because his English is not, you know, perfect, and he often, this guy stands next to him all the time, and he always turns around and he says,

what's that word? And he tells him the word. So he's got a walking dictionary with him at all times. Wow. Don't tell him about the internet. Yeah, what sort of things was he saying in New Zealand? Where did he go in New Zealand? Oh, he went to a few places,

Wellington, Auckland, somewhere else. He was only here for about three days. So in the end, the government actually relented and gave him diplomatic protection. Two cops turned up. That is an amazing tale, Mark. I really appreciate it. You go and have a lovely day, mate.

Appreciate it. All right, you guys too. Spilling the tea on Hollywood's A-listers. Kardashians. I have met every single one. Exposing scandals. Because she's not a good person, but either is he. Digging the dirt.

Is she a diva? Yes. And finding out what's going on behind the scenes. Yelling at cast members. Yes. It was a script. No. His identity is a secret.

But his stories have been proven right time and time again. This is ENT. Crazy seven days in Hollywood, ENT. First we want to address the Britney Spears video. 20 minutes, non-stop. Her unloading about the conservatorship, her relationship with her father. What's the word, mate? You know, I don't think it's really, with the exception of the secret romance,

I don't think that it's really anything that we haven't heard before. What I think that everybody liked about it, first of all, is that it was 20 minutes commercial free, which it would not have been if she was on an actual show. The one thing that she said was really interesting, which I've talked about numerous times over the past decade plus, is the mom, right? She's most upset with her mother because mom could have got her an attorney at any time. Instead, mom was more concerned about selling books. Mom was more concerned about her own image and not making Jamie upset, even though they were divorced,

because he could give her money. Mom would show up right before a court hearing with all of these attorneys that were all expensive. And at the end of it, she'd go, oh, I need Brittany to pay for these. So not even wanting to pay for them out of her own pocket, just I'm going to show up and I'm going to pretend to be a great mom and care about my daughter when she really wasn't. And I think that you could tell that that really hurts Brittany a lot. Now, one of the things I'll say is Brittany has a book that's going to come out at some point. And as part of that contract for that book, she does have to go on a show like Oprah or something like that, at least one show. So you will see her on a televised appearance.

So even though she's being high and mighty and saying, oh, I could have taken all this money, she actually already has taken money because she's agreed to this book deal and the contract which says that she has to go do a TV show. Right, because I was wondering that because obviously we saw Will Smith the other day, you know, come out and answer some questions,

and he put it out on his own platform. Britney Spears did the same. I wondered if that was the new thing for celebrities, you know, to not have to worry about being edited later, be stitched up in the edit to put something out on their own platforms. Yeah, but we saw that, you know, if we want to transition to something, we saw that happen this past week when Jennifer Lopez, that wedding video with Ben Affleck, is that she puts things out on her own platform all the time. Not that anybody under the age of 40 notices, but she puts her stuff out on her own platform.

And this last time, there's a video of her singing to Ben Affleck, the song that's never been released, and somebody took a recording of it and sold it. And she was really, really upset that somebody violated a non-disclosure agreement and sold the video for money because she couldn't put it on her own platform and make her own money from it. Watching that performance, if people haven't seen it, Jennifer Lopez, it's at the wedding.

She's got her, about half a dozen backup dancers dancers ben affleck's being sat on a chair like it's sort of the beginning of a lap dance routine and she's performing a whole concert to him and quite possibly the most awkward interaction one person concert i've ever seen i haven't seen many by the way yeah it did i think that you that was really good description, that it did look like he was about to get a lap dance. Also, Ben, I feel like Ben just numbs himself every morning and just says, you know, this is what it's going to be like, and I agreed to do this, so I'm just going to suffer through this part.

I wonder if you're talking about Ben Affleck or Ben me. That's the same thing I do every morning, just prepare myself for the worst. He numbs himself. Now, it was interesting because that's her line of work. So she's going, I'm going to do my job in front of you at the wedding. It's like me getting married and going, I'm going to do some radio at you

for half an hour. Everyone sit down. I can see you doing that too. I can definitely see you doing that. Andy with us live from Hollywood. Hey, speaking of, sorry, speaking of Britney, the Elton John Britney remix. What's the vibe over there? Yeah, I mean, it seems to be a massive song here

and around the world. Yeah, it went to number one. I think it's Britney's first number one song since 2011 or something like that. I listened to more satellite radio than regular radio the last week, so i've only heard it i think don't tell anyone about your lips satellite what never heard of it yeah well you guys you guys you know if i was in new zealand i would be listening to you

i don't have i i i do not I do not have radio performers of your quality. Should I want to listen to terrestrial radio here, I would be forced to listen to Ryan Seacrest every morning. Andy, you go and keep well over there in the States, mate, and we'll speak next week. Thanks for your time. Hey, thanks, guys. Have a great week.

With a long and extinguished career. Jono and Ben on the hits. Now, Muru is a new Kiwi action drama is out today. It looks really awesome. It's inspired by the real events of the 2007 police raids in the small town in the forest in the Bay of Plenty. Sergeant Tafaro Williams, I'm calling

to report an internal incident. What's the story, guys? What's with the tinted windows? One of your people assaulted my office. If anything happens to any one of my people, I'll make sure no one in Tujoy ever forgets it. Yeah, stars Cliff Curtis, you know him. He's gone from Uncle Bully to starring in hundreds of Hollywood movies

alongside Dwayne Johnson, Denzel Washington, and Hugh Jackman, to name just a couple. And Kiwi actor Jay Ryan has gone from Go Girls in New Zealand to huge American success as well. Played the Beast at the sitcom Beauty and the Beast as well, and they join us in the studio. So, Cliff, what we do is we get a wonderful story, and you take us up to a certain point.

You leave us hanging off the cliff, and then we come back, and we get the ender, the polisher, the finisher. What have we got there, Clint Curtis? No pressure. Yeah, so set the scene. Where do we go? Because you've got, obviously, you know, a lustrous career in New Zealand and Hollywood. You've probably got plenty of stories circling around your head right now. God, there's so many.

Yeah, I mean, I suppose I'll go back a couple of decades, a few decades when I was first sort of like traveling overseas. You know, I'm a small town boy, and getting on a plane and traveling is so exciting. But I could never afford to really go for too long. And I'd save up, and I'd get an airfare. I'd get the cheapest one I could find. Economy class, and I'd sort of end up in the back of the plane.

The plane's unloading, and I'd sort of end up in the back of the plane. The plane's unloading and I just sort of sit there because I don't, you know, I don't like lines. I'm waiting for everybody to go off the plane. I'm sitting back there relaxing. When the plane's empty, then I get up, gather my belongings. So you're not one of those people that stand straight up. For some reason, people do that when the plane lands. They stand straight up.

I am now, but back then, no. Are you a huncher now where you end up sort of hunched under the uh the overhead compartment i just want to get it i shouldn't get out and get on with the day but you know back then i was like you know you know i didn't have that many responsibilities it doesn't matter if i left the plane or not but at the back of the plane i'm waiting for everybody um to uh get off the plane and then the plane's empty inside like a mosey on up to the front of the plane you go from you know coach way out the back of the plane 300 people getting off you come up empty plane walking my way up there's business classes a curtain you come through business class and then i get to business class and then across there's another curtain which curtains off first class

and the curtain opens oh is this the cliffing, this is a good clipping. All right, stop there. Let me get the music here. Who was at the curtain? I don't know. I don't know who your listeners are, but I'm telling you, for me, it was earth-moving stuff. We'll find out next with Cliff Curtis and Jay Ryan from Muru, new film in cinemas today.

This is the Jono and Ben podcast. New movie, Muru, in cinemas right now today, action drama, and we've got a couple of stars with us in the studio, Cliff Curtis and Jay Ryan. And we've got Cliff Curtis, well, we're in the middle of his cliffhanger call. Yeah, now Cliff, we left the story, he was exiting a plane.

I'm waiting for everybody to get off the plane, and the plane's empty, and so I mosey on up to the front of the plane. You go from coach way out the back of the plane, 300 people getting off. You come up, empty plane, walking my way up. There's business class. There's a curtain.

You come through business class, and then I get to business class, and then across there's another curtain, which curtain's off first class, and then across there's another curtain, which curtain's off first class. And the curtain opens. And that's where we left it with Cliff Curtis on the cliffhanger calls. Cliff, who was at the curtain? One tall gentleman walks out, checks, looks at me, doesn't matter,

and then behind him is Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder? Stevie Wonder. Legendary Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder. And I'm like in shock and awe. I'm like frozen. So he'd been on the same plane as you?

Yes, in first class. I'm at the back. Opposite ends of the plane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he comes out, and I don't know what to say I'm like Stevie Wonder And I'm such an idiot

You know what I do? I can't speak So I wave So anyway I can't wait to come home And tell the story Tell the story to the bros They're like

Oh I'm on the plane I come to the front of the curtain Home is Stevie Wonder And I wave to Stevie And my bro's so excited He goes Oh bro tell the story tell the story to the bros they're like oh I'm on the plane I come into the front of the curtain home is there Stevie Wonder and I wave to Stevie and my bro's so excited he goes oh bro

did he wave back I know it's a silly story but it's a true one you've rubbed shoulders with so many of Hollywood's elite so many

yeah so many pretty crazy before you actually made it big in Hollywood yeah it's been an incredible ride. Do you still feel like when someone comes over,

like you film with someone like Dental Washington or Dwayne the Rock Johnson, and they know who you are, they're aware of your work. Is that kind of still a cool feeling? Yeah, it's weird. It's weird. You know, I think I still live at home.

You know, people have this idea that I live over in Hollywood. I don't. I commute to work. That's a big commute. that's a big commute that's a big commute it's a hell of a carbon footprint you know

but that's what all you big A-listers are doing nowadays I just wouldn't I just wouldn't know where else to live

you know I don't yeah it's awesome that you make these amazing stories like you're making for New Zealand

right now so thank you I'm very blessed That I get to make a movie like Muru And then at the other end of the spectrum You can't get bigger than Avatar The Avatar sequel So I'm in that as well you know

Which is shooting here in Wellington That releases in December Yeah that's a very exciting movie Now Rotorua Have you been to the Cobb & Co? Yeah Have you seen the Robot Wages? Oh yeah they've got Robot Weight stuff there now Cobb & Co? Yeah. Have you seen the robot waiters? Oh yeah, they've got robot wait staff there now.

Cobb & Co, Rotorua. Two robots that go around and bring your food to you. When did that start? A couple of months ago. We were down there for work. We went there along. No, it's just in London and they have that in Selfridges. The only place in New Zealand we have it is Cobb & Co, Rotorua.

Yeah. I love that. I love that. I love that. We were buzzing out by that. That was awesome. You know, leading technology at the Cobb & Co. The guy said every now and again they'll crash into each other. One of my first paid jobs was working at Cobb & Co. in Potaparoma, actually.

Oh, really? Yeah. They're trying to do you out of a job now. You're robot waiters. Yeah, I used to clean up glasses and all that sort of stuff, yeah. Thank you so much for coming in today. Was that a plug for Cobb & Co? Sorry, mate, you've been in an ad for Cobb & Co.

It was a long play from us. We got him, we got him, guys. We sealed the deal. All right. Get the marketing department onto that. Cliff Curtis, Jay Ryan. Muru, it's in cinemas. It looks like a fantastic film.

Congratulations on it. Hope it goes well. It's going well. And then Jay and I are meeting up in Toronto. We were in the Toronto Film Festival. Are you going to talk to him this time? Yeah. Are you going to wear shoes this time?

Yeah, I will. I've got some new shoes on right now. Well, thank you very much, boys. Killed it. Killed it. Thank you. It looks really awesome. The reason the mute button was invented.

Jono and Ben on the hits. Morning, how you doing? I'm not well, Ben. I'm not well. What's wrong? I feel like there's this moth who's been tormenting me for seven days. There's one single moth that has been flying around the studio, and I try and do the claps and catch it with my thing.

Can't get it. Well, I don't know if it's, I mean, maybe there's one in here, but there's one in the little room next to. Oh, is that different? I thought it was the same one. Because I just was out there in the office sitting there doing some work. There's another moth around there. I feel maybe there's one in here, but there's one in the little room next to. Oh, is that a different? I thought it was the same one. Because I just was out there in the office sitting there doing some work. There's another moth around there. I feel like there's.

Maybe there's an infestation. Yeah. Where are moths? Producer Joel, what's that? I had some Nutri-Grain last week and I left it in the kitchen unsealed. I poured out, like five moths came out of it. Oh, there we go. That's the problem.

They've been breeding in the Nutri-Grain. Yeah. Is it your Nut in the neutral grade. Yeah. Is it your neutral grade? Yeah, just took them out and ate it still. But, yeah. How do they get out? Are they weevils? I don't know.

I'm not really sure how it works. Well, everyone looks a little bit unhinged because they walk around the office and everyone gets that randomly clap. You're like, what's going on? But it's like, yeah, the moss everywhere. What a moss babies. Let's have a look here. There's some live Googling.

Normally you make jokes about them coming out of my wallet when I open them up. They come out of eggs as caterpillars. Who knew that, eh? What, so they? Yeah. And they're sort of similar to worms. They're larvae when they first come out.

Oh, so we've gone through the caterpillar stage. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. And then they've gone into, so that's how, that's all happened here. And I'll say, what good are moths? Like, they must have some purpose, apart from us just trying to, oh, they come, yeah, they don't do much. They don't do much.

Yeah, it's kind of weird that I feel like the office has got quite a few of them at the moment. So I don't know if you've got any tips in the 6 o'clock club, 4, 4, 8, 7, about how we can get rid of them. Yeah. You know, or why we're getting them. That would be nice to know. What I love about offices is they look clean,

but when you really dig deep, they are filthy, aren't they? Yeah. Filthy things. Do you use the workplace kitchen, Ben? Do you like to share the plates, the cutlery? I can't imagine you putting it. Oh, yeah, look, I don't try actively avoid it, but it's just kind of mealtime.

I used to have my mealtimes at home, you know. When I worked in the afternoon with you, you would always heat up your dinner from the night before. Yes, I would. Yes, yeah. And it didn't matter what it was. You know, a fish pie. I get shamed about some of the stuff that I would eat. Bolognese.

Yeah. Fettuccine. It would all just hop in the microwave. Where do you draw the line? Why do you draw the line? Oh, you can't. Suddenly you can't heat this up because this creates a smell. Well, what you do is you look at a fish and then you go, there's the line.

And I'll just draw it there. Is that the line, is it? And that's a meal or a piece of food I won't bring into the workplace kitchen. I happily brought that in as well. Who was saying, oh, you were saying there was someone here who used to just cook raw mints in the microwave, producer Humphrey. Yeah, a big,

he used to bring in like a five litre tub of mints on a Monday and just work his way through it across the week. So the mints was raw? No, no, it was cooked. It was browned,

but no sauce or additives, you know, no veggies or anything. Just a big bowl of mints? Just a big bowl of mints and Just a big bowl of mints. And yeah, just no liquid to kind of moisten it up. It was just dry, grey looking mints. Lovely, all right. It is a great little melting pot of everyone's little idiosyncrasies, isn't it?

The workplace kitchen. Because of the stuff they're cooking. Have you cooked bacon on the toasted sandwich maker out there before or something? Nah, but I know people over on the other side of the building cook

omelettes, someone cooked raw fish. On a toasted sandwich maker? On a toasted sandwich machine, yeah.

That wasn't me, alright? That wasn't me. You've been listening to a podcast from The Hits. For more audio,

search up Megan Puppets on the 3pm pickup or Brad and Laura on The Hits. Available now on the iHeartRadio app.