Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL: Jono Made It To The Front Page Of The News!

Episode Date: September 11, 2022

Today on the Jono and Ben podcast Jono reveals how he appeared on the front of the news on friday, we chat to Gavin Grey our UK royal correspondent and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth the voice of Pinocchio is on the show!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a bonus podcast from Jono and Ben on The Hits. Kia ora, it's the 12th of September today, isn't it? Is it the 12th? Yeah, it's the 12th of September. Te wiki o te reo Māori, Māori Language Week, this week too, Ben Boyce. It is, yeah, you're right, which is awesome to see. It seems to get bigger and bigger every year, which is great. It does. Now, also marking the also commemorating the 50th anniversary. Sorry, let me just,

I don't want to get this information wrong. My screen went black. It's also very special too, because on the 14th, it marks the 50th anniversary of the Māori language petition, where people presented a petition to Parliament to recognise te reo. That's good. As an official language. So it's a petition to parliament to recognize te reo

as an official language so it's a big week this week you've you've been doing te reo courses yeah i did one last year before the lockdown and unfortunately midway through the courses we sort of had to go to online learning through that yeah i'd like to go back into it because i found it a lot harder to not learn in the room like to learn learn when you just, you know, you buy yourself over Zoom. I found it, yeah, a lot harder. I found it easier when I was in with the room and you could ask questions. And to ask a question over Zoom is just so much harder than in the, you've got to go, okay, I'm going to unmute.

Here I go. This better be a good one. You know, whereas in the room you're like, hey, just a question. You know, you just kind of get into it. But you're like, oh, better prepare myself for this one. Here's my spot. It's like a busy sort of intersection. you're like better prepare myself for this one here's my spot it's like a busy sort of intersection

you're like oh oh oh yeah I know I love it I love commanding a Zoom meeting a couple of times I've said

we've been on a big Zoom meeting a lot of people you have a lot of people and then you're like put me on

put me up take me off mute take us off mute and you guys are like are you sure take us off mute love it I just love watching you guys

This is not good But you're right It seems like A Zoom setting 99.99% of people Would rather not They would just rather Sit there and watch

You get those ones too You know it happens With the work ones That people like A lot of people They turn their Their screen off You know

Their name comes up You're like They are definitely Not watching this Are they turn their screen off, you know, like their name comes up. You're like, yeah. They are definitely not watching this. Are they there in the office meeting or are they not? You know, they're like, yeah, Jono Pryor's name's up there. But if we go, hey, Jono, just want to go over to you for a second. Yeah. You did a good one because it was that time during lockdown

where we always had work parties over Zoom. It was like get-togethers, you know. Get-togethers. And everyone's like, yeah, let's keep the social connection up. It was nice to connect with people, but what I found really, it would be like a Friday night and my family would be like, well, I don't want to listen to you and your workmates loudly over the laptops. They're like, if you want to talk to them, fine.

Go down the other end of the house. So I go, okay, so I have to go down the other end of the house because no one wants that. Did you want to, now firstly, did you want to talk to your other workmates? Well, maybe not in this regard. Let be honest like i love them but again i'd love to go we'll go for beer we'll go somewhere there at the road that's great that's in my wheelhouse sitting in the spare room yeah by yourself by myself and those situations you're like how does this work are we all listening to one person are we having little chats or what is i don't feel like zoom is really for like a socialised sort of thing.

Anyway, we did it and I did the three-step process. The three-step ghosting. The Zoom ghosting. The voice ghosting. You did a wonderful job here. Yeah, it was like, wow. At one stage, I muted myself. That was that first step one.

The second stage was the video went off. That was step two. Ben Boyce's name comes up. So I'm still there and then eventually I just close the laptop down. So Ben Boyce has left the group. That's it. And it was a three. So when you turn the camera off, are you there, or have you left?

Well, I was sort of there momentarily. I sort of was checking on it, and I was like, I'll come back. Everyone's still going. And then I'm like, oh, and I'll get out of that one. Our boss who was running those, he kept the meeting going till 1am. I know. This was at 5. Yeah.

What were they talking about for like eight hours? Yeah. There was two of them still left at 1am. God, that would have been bleak. How bleak is that? But have you got onto Google Meets? Oh, yes. That's a far easier function.

Yeah. Isn't it? It is. Have you done Google Meets. Oh, yes. That's a far easier function. Yeah. Isn't it? It is. Have you done Google Meets, Producer Joel? I have, sort of, yeah. I think one or two calls. One click of a button, you're in there. Yeah, it's what we should all be, buddy.

Is that not the same as Zoom? It's the same function. Yeah. But it's Google's version. Yeah, oh, true, true, true. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Producer Joel, you like to ask us a question? Yeah, yeah, look, I've been thinking- You look like death this morning. What happened to you over the weekend? I've been thinking I had a bit of, uh, Producer Joel, you like to ask us a question? Yeah, yeah, look, I've been thinking.

You look like death this morning. What happened to you over the weekend? I've been thinking I had a bit of a rugby, sorry, an AFL game last night. Very sore, very sore. But no, I was thinking about questions and I'm actually quite hungry. What happened after the AFL game? Nothing. Went to the Paddington, had one beer.

Okay, okay. And then Zoom session to one o'clock with our old boss. I was actually thinking thinking I'm quite hungry this morning and I was thinking if you guys were in prison you've just murdered

someone and you're on you're on death row you're on death row no no what would your what would your final meal be before you get

the electric chair you're right it was a grim start I feel like I don't deserve anything if that's the case like if I'm like if I've killed someone I'm like mate don't deserve anything if that's the case. Like if I'm like, if I've killed someone,

I'm like, mate, don't, you know. I'm going, Valentine's all you can eat buffet. What is the one that's over 24 hours? Not the right Denny's.

Oh, Denny's, take me to Denny's. Denny's, I'm here for 24 hours, baby. Just keep it going. Oh,

there's no point in having a last meal, is there? Well, no, I guess it's one last thing you get. That's, yeah, but it's.

I wonder if you'd come to terms with it by then. You'd have to. Because you sit on there for years, don't you? We don't have it here, obviously, in New Zealand. Yeah,

I mean, some people probably would, right? I've seen the Green Mile. Yeah, yeah, that documentary, the Green Mile.

Yeah, it was a great doco. That guy in the hands, John Coffey. Yeah, he was different. And he would heal things with his hands. Yeah,

true story hands true story it's on the documentary channel what would your last meal be there producer Joel I don't know I had quite a good

KFC yesterday pretty good Zinger box we ate KFC on Friday night because we were hungry after late night in

Christchurch it was hard to find somewhere open and we ate there not to say that KFC was always our first choice

you're making it out like there was nowhere else sorry we were just like drew it up and we're in there. Yeah, it was good. Not to say that KFC was always our first choice. You're making it out like there was nowhere else. Oh no, sorry, we were just like, drew it, I put it around and we're like, hey, that's open, let's just go there.

So yeah. No, it's good. Geez, I ordered a lot, didn't I? Oh, I didn't know, I don't know, you kept it hidden from me. Yeah, no, a lot.

Couple of burgers, Twister, big fries. But then we walked across and we met lovely people walking through by the cathedral and Christchurch and one of the people

had won the window vac from Karcher do you remember the guy who said I'm going to play basketball this weekend and I'm not stopping, met him yeah I'm going to drink from the trophy, he's like yeah I did drink from the trophy and he's waiting for his window vac he didn't look like a window vac guy

but he's got one now, he's quite excited about it, alright enjoy the podcast this is the Jono and Ben podcast it's the biggest news in the world right now. Queen Elizabeth II passing away. It was sort of early Friday morning New Zealand time. I'm across live to the UK. Our UK correspondent, Gavin Gray.

Good morning. Good morning, Jono. Morning, Ben. Jeez, you just must be sick of just saying stuff out of your mouth. How much talking have you done, Gavin, over the last three days? My voice is still going. That's the main thing. You are a royal reporting machine. New Zealand, there's been a lot of coverage on the news,

just rolling coverage. I imagine it's the same and more in the UK. Yeah, very much so. The BBC and indeed the main news channels recorded, I think, more than 30 million people viewing on the day of the death itself, when prior to the announcement and then just after the announcement of Her Majesty's death. And certainly it is page to page coverage. It's very difficult to see any other news being covered, certainly around the UK at this particular time. Now, Prince Selwyn was Prince Charles. Now, King Charles has made his first speech.

You know, he's done his first royal duties as king. What have you thought so far? Yeah, well, I have to say, I think many people have warned, actually, to Prince Charles in the last few days. He has worn his emotions on his sleeve. He's looked visibly upset. He's shown to be much more human. There was one slight moment of perhaps a little temper when he was signing at the Exception Council.

Yeah. Yeah. And one of his flunkies, dare I say, didn't remove the ink pot, which I think he was worried about spilling. And he gave him a very short, short look and a glance to get this thing moved now sort of thing. But look, other than that, I think everyone thinks it's gone very well thus far. There are always concerns, of course, as we approach the funeral, which we now know to be in a week's time on Monday the 19th. Plenty more to go before then. Today, the Queen's Her Majesty's coffin was taken on a six hour journey, driving driving very very slowly in

a circuitous route from Balmoral where she passed away to the capital of Scotland Edinburgh and lots of people were lining the route as you can imagine to pay their respects to Her Majesty. The coffin will be flown to London on the Tuesday after a sort of commemoration service held at St Giles Cathedral in the city of Edinburgh at which those royals will all be present. So after the body is flown down, the Queen will then lie in state at Westminster Hall for four days for people to pass by the closed coffin and pay their respects. And there are a lot of people paying their respects over the weekend, but I have noticed there are groups of people too who weren't entirely happy with the Queen's reign

and the effect that it had on their countries. Any backlash over there, Gavin Gray? There's been one or two. One radio presenter got into a lot of trouble. He is black and said that no black or brown person should be mourning the death of Her Majesty. Well, he immediately got taken off air. He is a former England footballer working for a sports station,

and the backlash was pretty severe. And then he did apologize and said, you know, I said the wrong thing at the wrong time sort of thing. There has been a bit of that. There's been a bit of that abroad as well with many people saying, you know, well, I'm afraid she stood for the empire and the empire isn't what we like. But I think by and large, even looking from the UK in slightly rose-tinted glasses of somebody who held the nation's affection,

I think we'll see at the coffin, I think we'll see rather at the funeral, how so many people from around the world are coming to pay their tribute. Now, is she going to be buried, cremated? Is there protocol when it comes to what happens to the body afterwards? So it's going to be, first of all, there'll be service at Westminster Abbey. She will then be taken by a horse-drawn hearse to the Wellington Arch, which is the one you see if you look out of Buckingham Palace straight along the Mall, and from there by car to Windsor Castle,

where she will be interred beneath the floor of St George's Chapel in the family vaults, and that is within the grounds of Windsor Castle. And just quickly, I know you're very busy, Gavin Gray from the UK, but William, Kate out there with Harry and Meghan all together, the four of them, does that mean that maybe some of the ill feelings have been put aside? If they have, I'm afraid it's pretty minimal. Look, I think it's a great thing, the rapprochement. Hopefully they realise they can actually talk to one another.

But, you know, I also hope none of this appears in Harry's forthcoming book or Meghan's forthcoming interviews about what exactly happened because so much of this is private to the family not private because it's you know top secret sensitive but it's just so emotional but yes i think the queen would have been absolutely delighted my sources say prince charles asked prince william to approach prince harry and one hour before prince william and kate which you'd go on that walk around he phoned harry invited him him and Megan and I'm delighted to say they accepted. Megan's got a podcast, mate.

And listen, we do a radio show. We know what it's like having to fill content. This will all be on our next episode. Trust us. Oh, I hope you're wrong, but I suspect it might be.

And it's those conversations between the royals, the private ones. That's what they're so worried about. Oh, Gavin Gray, thanks so much for your time. You go off to your next interview.

Keep talking, Gavin. Keep talking. Scrolling through your feed. Time for our daily dose of vitamin C, vitamin current events. What's happening, Ben? Well, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today will announce if there's any changes to mask wearing and the traffic light framework.

But there are rumours out there that the traffic light system may actually go this week. They may not even drop it to green. Not the traffic light framework. But there are rumours out there that the traffic light system may actually go this week. They may not even drop it to green. Not the traffic light system? I loved that system. Out of all my systems, that was the favourite. Well, it was something that everyone knew the details of like a year, year and a half

ago. Now you're like, what does red mean? What is that? We are in a really weird period where mask wearing, I second guess it all the time. I don't know. You've got one in your pocket at all times ready to pull out. On the weekend we were in Crosschurch.

We went into one taxi on Friday and we're like, do we need to wear a mask? And he's like, do what you want. And then on the way back, the other guy's like, can you put a mask on? And you're like, you're fine. Because we had them there ready to go. But we're like, what do you do?

And even between the two taxis, one was like, do whatever. And the other was like, no, can you put it on on? And they're like, you're fine, because we had them there ready to go. But we're like, what do you do? And even between the two taxis, one was like, do whatever, and the other was like, no, can you put it on? Well, yeah, I mean, he did overhear us having a conversation going, oh, jeez, I think I've got COVID. So that might have, you know, put it up him. But yeah, no, it is. And even when you walk into,

I went to the supermarket last night, half a wearing, half a not, then over the speaker, they're like, we'd appreciate it if you wear a mask. But no one's really enforcing it, eh? No. It's a really, yeah. And the staff, they don't really want to be wearing a mask for their entire shift.

So hopefully we do one or the other. You say, we've got to wear masks indoors, or you don't have to wear masks. So then everyone knows what's going on. So decisions will be made today. I thought of the weekend, too. Like, is it going to be King's birthday weekend next year instead of Queen's birthday weekend? And is it on his birthday? Well, no, because it was never on the King's birthday weekend next year instead of Queen's birthday weekend? And is it on his birthday?

Well, no, because it was never on the Queen's birthday, remember? It was always recognised separately. So I imagine it would still be the same date. But will it suddenly change to King's birthday weekend? Now, what are we doing, baby? Are we having another public holiday for the Queen's passing? Well, Australia, they are. Are they?

Yeah, Australia have said they're having a public holiday. So today as well, that will be announced from Parliament as well. Is Jacinda going to the funeral? I would imagine so. She would be, eh? She'd be on a bloody red-eye. Another week away, though. They've got a bit of time.

So we're going to catch up with Gavin Gray, our UK reporter, before 7.30 this morning, and he'll tell us exactly what's going on. I think the Queen goes through Scotland. It takes a few days to get to Westminster Abbey, where she's going to be buried. And Cher was one of the many celebrities. on, goes through Scotland. It takes a few days to get to Westminster Abbey, where she's going to be buried. And Cher was one of the many celebrities. Cher, you know Cher. Great songs.

Turn back. This was a good video. She was bloody on a naval ship. All those randy naval officers. And then she straddled a cannon. Very seductively. Yeah, no, she was one of the many people paying her respects to the Queen over the weekend.

She put on social media that she was sad about the passing of the Queen, had met her before, and it was on to meet her. And then there was a line that's made everyone a bit confused. She said, I'm proud she was a goat emoji. I'm sorry, a cow emoji. So many people thought maybe she meant to say goat emoji, which I just did by mistake there. So she said, I'm proud the Queen was a cow and happy she had a great sense of humour. Now, people were by the guide, is she meant to say goat, like greatest of all time?

Or are they, other people looked into it going, well, she was a Taurus. Is that a cow when it comes to star signs? Or is Cher just said, oh. Cher is 76 years old. She should be keeping well away from the emoji game. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Mum, Annie Pryor She'll do a thumbs up

She'll do a love heart That's her wheelhouse Don't get into the goats And the animals And their bloody eggplants And stay away What you end up calling Like a

Someone who's passed away A cow So yeah It's not really what you want She was probably thinking What is it They call them something They go to cows

Yeah The greatest of all I don't know Is it a walrus? Yeah. So that's what's making news this morning. It is the hits. You've got Jono and Ben.

Two semi-competent dads handing out semi-competent parenting advice. Jono and Ben on the hits. Now, I'm not a huge fan of cards. It's nice. Don't get me wrong. It's nice when people write a message on a card, but sometimes I feel like they're a bit of a a waste of five dollars five six dollars sometimes yeah you've always said give me the cash yeah i'll take the cash over the card anytime if there's a game show

called cash or the card you're picking the cash every time or a handmade like i really appreciate when the kids make me a hand you know a hand those are the ones i can't i can't get rid of the others now you'd be a pretty callous monster if you're like oh thanks screw it up throw it in the bin but now you know for father's day the kids got me a card and and i feel like i can't get rid of. No, you'd be a pretty callous monster if you're like, oh, thanks, screw it up, throw it in the bin. But now, you know, for Father's Day, the kids got me a card, and I feel like I can't throw this one out. But it's not one they've made, but it's one they've bought, because when you open it up, it plays a song. Have a listen.

Party rockers, the party rock anthem. Yes, every time you... Everybody. Party rockers. The party rock anthem. Yes, every time you... So I don't know why. I guess it's a party. It's a party. And for some reason, every time you open the car... Is that a Father's Day car? Yeah.

It's a Father's... But very unusual, I thought. Firstly, to go to the trouble of getting... I mean, I don't know how much they paid for the rides to your party rockers. Listen, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they haven't. Every time you're like that. Close the

card quick because we haven't paid for the rights. And I'm sure that's exactly how LMFAO wanted their song to be heard. Through a tinny sounding novelty card. I mean, the technology's impressive. That is really, that's, I've never yeah, that card technology is beautiful

Again, a bit of a waste but I feel like now I can't throw it out, but also at home it's kind of annoying because it just sits around and then the family will just pick it up and they'll open it up It's like, oh, someone's opened the card again. The party rockers So you ferried it into work this morning

I'll take that to work and keep it in my bag now so the party can start and stop in my bag. I did the same thing. I was gifted a, because my family know my love of popping zits and pimples. Right. And they were like, oh, for your birthday, they got me like a novelty pimple popping toy that you'd get from one of those obscure sort of stationery shops, you know. So you can put this liquid in a sort of a spongy mat and it's got little holes and I

can squeeze it and they'll come out. And they're like, this will, you know, this will smoke screen them from trying to hack away at our faces and things like that. And I was like, oh, great, I'll take that to work. It's been in my bag for four years. I've never once popped a pimple with it. You do have those gifts where you're like, oh, keep that in the bag. Don't you?

Well, we had actually Julie, it reminded me a few weeks ago, and she had so many Christmas toys. Remember she had a farting Santa? That was her annoying noise maker in the house. Okay. What would you like to hear? What about farting Santa? Hey, all right, all right, why not?

Not too early for farting Santa. Oh, hey. Where is he? I feel like I too early for farting people. Oh, hey. Where is he? I feel like I can't say no to you. Oh, there he is. Right, here we go. Oh my God. Who came up with this?

I mean, who was like, you know what? That was wonderful. So, a gassy Santa. Just when you thought Santa, you covered all the bases with Christmas paraphernalia. You're like, you know what? There's one more. There's one more. He's quite bloaty.

Maybe he's... Oh, man take this as the day off. I reckon there's some air needing to escape that man. Oh, so good. It is that. She got Jono and Ben. The Jono and Ben podcast available on iHeartRadio. Now, on Saturday, it was World Suicide Prevention Day. And joining us in the studio, Tiana Watkins.

She's from Leva Lifekeepers. And you're campaigning for the prevention of suicide. Yeah, absolutely. And I think one of the things that for us personally at Leva Lifekeepers that we pride ourselves upon as a country is recognising that it's actually we're moving from a space of suicide awareness, right? Because we're all aware that suicide is an issue here in Aotearoa. We're moving from suicide awareness to suicide prevention, and they're two quite distinct things. So, yeah, I think this is a really momentous occasion for us to acknowledge

that all of us have a role to play in preventing suicide right across the country, no matter who you are. Yeah, and being a – I don't know if it's just because we're a small country. I know our stats are shocking. But you struggle to find anyone who hasn't been affected by it in some way. Yep, that is so true. You know, we run trainings right across the country and there is never a training that we host where there is not at least, everybody who comes has been touched in some way by suicide, either directly, so they might be a survivor of suicide, or they've lost someone

really close to them to suicide. So what can we do? Is it important having important conversations, having those conversations, offering support? Are there some things that we can do to help? Yeah, yeah. Look, I think what we can do, each as individuals, because no matter the context, every single one of us actually has a role to play in suicide prevention. And I think we're too late in the day to sort of err on the side of caution in terms of, oh, I'm not a mental health professional. That is not my space. We actually all have the power and capacity to be able to have a conversation with someone that you are worried about. You know, when you get that puku or tummy feeling where you can't necessarily put words to it, but you just get the sense about someone, something's not right.

That is honestly all of the information that you need to engage with someone and say, hey, mate, I've noticed or I have this feeling that something's up. What can I do to support you? It's a moment in time, you know, and it's about having that conversation. Well, listen, yeah, a friend of ours sadly lost his life. But during that period leading up to that, looking back at it now in hindsight, we could have done more talking. And we didn't because it's an awkward topic to tackle. It's a really difficult one, right?

How do you approach someone and ask them, are you thinking of taking your own life? And what really sits in that space almost all of the time is our own ego. And I mean that with the utmost respect. It's our ego because we're scared. We're actually scared of what if they say yes, because then suddenly you feel like, oh, I am now responsible for this person. You know what? What sits in that space is the ability to show compassion

and recognize that your role might only be for a moment in time, but it could make the difference between someone taking their own life or engaging with the right support do you think we're getting better as a country like obviously we we talk we feel like we're talking about it more but there's still these stats of like i think it was like 600 people in the last year or something it's horrible yeah yeah i'm not so it's obviously we're getting better at talking about in some ways but we're not getting better at stopping it because i mean you know even one life is is too many that's right one life lost is always one too many and i think you know another thing that we there's two things right so we talk about

compassion and empathy when we engage but what we also need to do is persevere so be that friend that knocks on the door and if someone doesn't answer but you know they're home persevere anyway let them know hey man i've got you i'm not going anywhere i am here but you know they're home, persevere anyway. Let them know, hey man, I've got you. I'm not going anywhere. I am here. But you know what? We don't actually know all the other things that sit in that person's life, all the events that have led up to that. Yeah.

Well, you don't know what's going on in anyone's life, do you? Yeah, totally. And it all adds up to why someone is like they are. But a lot of the times the people we're talking about, they're kind of shut off, reserved, and they don't want to engage in conversation, right? Yeah. You know what generally, again, sits in that space is shame, a feeling of shame, and also a feeling of being a burden. So our people that are sitting in this

really awful space are feeling isolated. They don't want to be a burden on their friends and their families, so they tend to shut down. And like I said before, the most important thing that we can do is continue to show compassion, use non-judgmental talk, like avoid saying things like, oh, come on, mate, you've recovered from bigger things than this. Like that's minimising. Actually validate what it is that is going on for them. No matter what your own whakaaro or thoughts are, it's actually not about us. It's about that person that we're concerned about. So you persevere and you do it with courage it does take courage to have these conversations

Thank you for today and thank you for doing what you do. If people want to get more information, is there anywhere they can go? Yes, come visit us at www.leva.co.nz www.leva.co.nz We have a whole page there dedicated to suicide prevention. Lifekeepersers and Float

Alanoa are our national suicide prevention training programs. This gives people basically all of the korero, so the dialogue in terms of how do I even have this conversation? What are the warning signs look like? Why am I so scared to have this conversation? But also it moves us beyond that I'm too scared to ask because what if they say yes and takes us to that next phase of, this is actually where we can connect them, how we can support them and what our role looks like for that person.

So you don't have to be a mental health professional. That's the biggest thing to acknowledge. Any one of us can do this. So I really encourage people to jump online and register for our trainings. And better yet, they're all free. We don't charge people for our trainings. We should. We might turn some money, mate.

It's not what they're about. You're a better person than I am, Deanna. Deanna Watkins, thank you very much. You keep up the good work. You're doing important stuff in the community. Thank you very much. It is the Hits. Jono and Ben on a Monday morning. We're going live to the UK from the New Zealand Herald, Adam Pearce.

Good morning. Morning. Lovely to have you on, Pearcey. Where are you broadcasting from at the moment? So we're right at the heart of London, just on the edge of Green Park, actually. So very central and able to see all of the commemorations for our fallen monarch. It seems like thousands and thousands of people are heading to Buckingham Palace to pay their respects. Yes, we're saying you can certainly see the crowds streaming in.

There were even points today where staff at Green Park here had to restrict people from coming in simply because of the sheer number of people that wanted to come and pay their respects. And you'd imagine that's going to continue over the coming days towards the funeral. And what are they doing? Are they dropping flowers outside Buckingham Palace? What's going on? Yes, well, there seems to be some florists that are making some decent money at the moment because there are flowers as far as the eye can see, really.

There's tons and tons at Buckingham Palace, and they've spread out to different areas, especially around Green Park. You'll find trees that are encircled with flowers and messages. It's a lovely gesture. Don't get me wrong, but that's a big clean up. There's a lot of flowers. What are you going to do with all those flowers? There'll be hundreds of thousands of flowers.

I know what it's like when you get given flowers and you sort of ride them out for a week or so. You're right, none of these flowers are in water. They're all just lying down there. But you're right, lovely gesture. Listen, it's not time to focus on the flowers. Adam, do you know that Joel, our producer, is a little upset that you've been flown

in a hurry to London to cover the funeral of the Queen? Because apparently you're the star player in the work netball team. So they're going to be missing you tonight, Adam. Yes, well, I mean, that's probably a little bit lower down the priority list when the Queen dies, but I do pass on my sorrow for not making the game tonight. Well, if they lose tonight, it's all on you, Adam.

Happy to take that on board, guys. And so are people flying in from overseas to commemorate the Queen? Well, it certainly seems to be the case. There's a number of people that we've spoken to who have said that they've come in especially, and I'd imagine that will only increase as we get closer to the funeral. Yeah, right.

Now, on a personal level from you, when did you find out you were flying to the UK? Well, it was all a bit of a mad scramble, really. We found out that the Queen had indeed passed at about 5.30 on Friday morning and I think it was 20 minutes later that I got the call that I might be heading over. So I've been a bit

full on over the last couple of days but getting through the jet lag now and obviously with the... and in shops everywhere you're seeing photos and posters and the shop fronts commemorating the Queen's service. It really is unmissable whenever you're out and about.

Are they working over there or is everyone taking time off? No, well, it certainly seems to be pretty hustling and bustling over here. There will be some that will have taken some time off, obviously, to commemorate and pay their respects. But, you know, with the amount of people that are coming in, it certainly presents the opportunity to promote London, and I would imagine they'll be taking advantage of that. Adam Pearce from The Herald found out 20 minutes after the Queen's passing

he was flying to the UK. I imagine packing in a rush, there's that thing in your stomach where you're like, I've definitely forgotten something. Have you realised now? Have you forgotten any important items? Do you want us to send anything over? No, we don't have to send anything over. The thing I did forget, you always forget one thing. It was the bloody headphones, which made the flight not ideal.

That's okay. We've managed to pick up some replacements, so no harm done. Well, Adam, we really appreciate your time this morning. And part of history, I guess, in a lot of ways over there must be just a surreal experience. It certainly is. And it will only grow in that way over the coming days towards the funeral. So, yeah, certainly looking forward to it.

Adam Pearce from New Zealand Herald, thank you very much for your time. No worries, guys. Cheers. Now, Thursday night, John, you were all over the news. And we didn't really get a chance, for good reason, to reflect on Friday. Because, you know, we were talking about the Queen's sad passing away. I'm in showbiz. I know how the news, and we didn't really get a chance, for good reason, to reflect on Friday, because we were talking about the Queen's sad passing away. I'm in showbiz. I know how the news cycle works, mate.

I don't care about your thing. But for a while there, everyone did. You're all over the New Zealand Herald stuff. You're in the radio. It was everywhere. Got bumped by the Queen. And hey, don't get me wrong. The Queen does deserve the headlines.

But the story of local legend saves... I think it was local legend. The headline of local legend saves neighbourhood from bomb scare. No. Should have been everywhere. Should have been CNN, Forbes magazine. Was this good for your branding, this whole story, or not? Because they had a lot of people, you know,

Jono the Bogan rock guy, you know, and then suddenly it's a story about Epsom, and you're walking a caboodle. They had a lot of people, you know, Jono the Bogan rock guy, you know. And then suddenly it's a story about Epson. Yeah. And you're walking a caboodle. Oh, listen, my credibility went when we went from the rock to the edge, Ben. Gotcha. You know, we lost a lot of fans then. Yeah, I'm with you.

That's fine. But no, tell us the story. What happened? So you had a knock on the door Thursday night. Yeah, and it was get out of your house. There's some bombs in the surrounding streets. Well, just one bomb. Someone was digging up their garden and found a bomb.

Jeez. I wouldn't even know what a bomb looks like. I'd probably be like, oh, Chuck, that doesn't really recycle. Is it recycling or general waste? Yeah. My big question, yeah. I would have. I'd probably put it in the neighbor's bin.

They could deal with it. Yeah. But, you know, it turned out a bomb, so there was a whole bunch of police outside. But the problem is i was i was walking out and then yeah there's lots of reporters and you know journalists and stuff outside um well this guy want to talk yeah and then they came up and they're like yeah well tell us what happened and i again i said at the front of this i know showbiz i know they want some sex and drama so i said i walked out and there was 18 police cars.

Well, yeah, because this was on the news. This was on the radio news on Newstalk ZB. Have a listen. Radio and TV personality John O'Prior was one of the evacuees and estimated 18 police cars

were on the scene last night. I lied. So you made Newstalk ZB, I mean, saying it's on you. How many 18 police cars? Four police are getting a hard job. They're like, oh, you said 18 cars? What other things are going on?

There was probably only six. But I said it as a joke. No one makes news things as a joke. 18 sounds pretty dramatic, doesn't it? Yeah, no, there was an 18. So the bomb obviously didn't go off or anything like that. It was an old bomb. Who knows how long it had been there, but it's been done.

To be honest, it was pretty uneventful. You just kind of spend a bit of time standing around waiting. I walked over to the in-laws. They were a few streets up, had dinner, came back. And then that was the other thing I said. I said, I've been out here for three and a half hours. He's been out there all night, out there. I'm like, wow. But no, he isn't. No, I had a half hours. He's been out there all night out there. I'm like, wow.

But no, he hadn't. No, I had a lovely meal. Complete lies. Complete lies. I was just like, just get the headline out there. Local legend saves neighbourhood from bomb again. He has photos. It was photos of you and the hero.

You're holding your dog. You're standing there. But it was a funny situation, too, where instantly everyone standing around becomes a bomb disposal expert. Oh no, what are they going to need to do is this. We're going to have to do this. It's got the America's Cup. Everyone was an instant expert standing around waiting. But they got rid of it the next day, I think.

And things are real happy now. The 18 police cars have all headed back to the station. The 18? So we wanted to know. Has New Zealand got 18 police cars? We wanted to know, Andrew, the hits of 4487, have you made the news? Like Jono, we're going to call this Use On The News. Have you got there?

Did you lie about how many police cars there were in the neighbourhood? I apologise to the news for that. Doing Use On The News. Have you made the news? 0800 The Hits is the telephone number. We're going to kick it off with Hayden. Morena, to you, Hayden, how are you? Good morning, good day. Great to have you on. off with Hayden. Moreno to you, Hayden. How are you? Good morning. Good, thanks.

Great to have you on. You made the news. Newspaper. Are we talking TV news? Where are we? No, just a newspaper article. Yep, right. What paper? Hook Spade Today. Oh, okay. So what happened? What was the story? I was about 20 years ago

when I was about 10 a space planet were building a new slide, and they put an article in the paper saying that they wanted some names for the slides. So I put it in my entry, and I got chosen one of the top five. All right. You made the cut. What was the name for the slide you submitted?

Silent Scream. That's good. Did you take it out? No, I did a master blast. Oh, a master blast. That is good. Yeah, so that was the good one. Front page news on the Hawke's Bay today. Here are the five finalists for the slide at Splash Planet.

Yeah, and I've still got the cut out of the article in my top drawer. Oh, nice. Now, Splash Planet's still a thing, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it's opening in November. It wasn't open last year because of COVID, but yeah, that's good. It's all packed.

Great planet of splashing. Do you still go there and then go down the slide that you almost named? Yeah, we did. I was one of the first to go down it anyway. Oh, were you? Every time we go down there, you go, oh, it's more of a silent scream rather than a master blaster? Yeah.

Yeah. No one's blasting a mastering here. Good on you, Hayden. Appreciate it. Made the News front page of the Hawke's Bay today. Louise, you're on from Waihi. Welcome. How are you, Louise?

Yeah, good. Thanks, guys. Now, it wasn't you that made the news, but your brother. Yeah, my brother, who's three years older than me, and really should have known better, to be honest. So what was it? Are we TV news, print? Newspaper, local newspaper, and I think he made the local news.

Oh, for what? When, well, it was a few years ago now, but he was probably about six years old and he put a toilet seat over his head and got it stuck. So how did this... That's the sort of stuff local news would love. In the bathroom? Was he in the bathroom? Like, was it actually... What was going on?

I can't quite remember whether my dad was throwing me a nose or fixing the toilet or whether it was a new one, but it was the actual bit that you sit on and I don't know whether it was the shape of his head and the shape of his ears, but he managed to get it on his head, but he couldn't get it off. Hold on, so how big's his head?

Like, those are, yeah. He must have been growing into it, I'd say. He was about seven at the time, but we ended up having to get the fire brigade out to use the stool to light it off. The fire brigade are like, mate, you know who's going to love this? The local news.

Just stand here for a photo. Yeah, some of the humiliation couldn't get any worse for the poor guy. It's a fire brigade. Now we'll get a photo for the newspaper. Did they get the jaws of life? How did they remove it? Yeah, yeah, jaws of life.

And they had to cut it off, cut it off his head. My parents had tried everything prior to that, like, you know, buttering his head up, breathing it, trying to get it off. So it was nice and slippery when they came to get it off. Pouring olive oil all down his head. You can't come back. It's very hard to come back from that, I imagine, as a person.

Yeah, my mum put it in her little scrapbook and delighted in kind of showing everyone. It would have been the talk of the town. Yeah, it was. We lived in a small little town as well. There's toilet seat boy. That is brilliant, Louise. And so you had to buy new seaters too, obviously.

Yeah, yeah. Couldn't really use it after all the jewels of life through it. How many firefighters did they send out for this? Oh, it was a full truck. That is brilliant. I appreciate your call this morning. Thanks so much. No worries, guys.

Cheers. It's Monday morning, so it's time to motivate, yeah? I know every week I bang on that we've added one more syllable to the introduction of that song, and it doesn't sit well with me. Well, Tina, who works in the building here, she pulled me aside during the week last week. She said, can I have a quick word with you? I said, certainly, Tina.

She's like, you need to change it to Motivate Monday. Just another Motivate Monday. Well, that works syllable-wise. It grammatically sounds a little odd, but it still works syllable. So what do you want to be, grammatically correct or like syllable, musically correct? Now there's another conundrum. Okay, we'll bring up just rolling coverage of this uh sting intro we'll uh we'll have it fixed by 2023 uh now a lot of talk about

the queen over the last couple of days and we thought we'd find something uh from the queen some inspirational words she made a lot of speeches every year she'd make a big you know end of year speech as well as many other uh talks Well, the Christmas Day one. And every grandparent at every Christmas function across Aotearoa was like, sit down, it's time we watch the Queen's speech. The Queen's message, yeah. She lost me about five minutes into it, to be honest. The Queen did. Yeah.

It was very, I'm sure meaningful, don't get me wrong, but dragged in parts. Yeah. Dragged in parts. It's kind of like when families send out a newsletter of everything that happened in their lives over the years. This is long. I don't need to know all the details. And Christmas Day has already been a long day. But this is from, I think this was 2008.

This was a tough year and the Queen was talking. This was her inspirational message. When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat. Instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future. There you go. See, the queen.

Yeah, so that's the Motivational Monday. Life might seem hard this week. But you're going to, you know. I forgot, what else did she say? She lost me. Don't lie down. If you're courageous, you keep going. Keep on going.

You keep going. Do you know what's really fascinating over the weekend? You lost me. Don't lie down. If you're courageous, you keep going. Keep on going. You keep going. Do you know what else? Fascinating over the weekend, you know, she wore bright, like bright colours, bright hat, bright hat. And that was to do with her, she was easy to spot from her security team. That was one of the reasons behind.

She liked also to wear bright colours, but that when you're looking out in a crowd. So she'd barely wear black. Or dark. Yeah, I mean, she obviously did when Prince Philip's funeral and things like that, but she liked bright colours and also it was great for the security. Oh, great, we can keep an eye on her.

Really? She's the one in the neon green over there. I don't know if it quite goes with her eyes, but anyway, she's rocking it. Yeah, well, it's just kind of, yeah. Let's see, too, Prince Andrew, Princess Anne are going to be adopting her corgis. I was wondering about that. Her dogs. Well, she apparently, Bee Humps, our producer, he's done some dog research into this.

Two corgis she had on the go. A dash hound and a doggy, which is a corgi X dash hound. So she's got two corgis, yeah, a doggy and a dash hound. Corgi collaborating with a dash hound. So somewhere along the way, the dash hounds and the corgis are like hooked up. Which is an odd little pairingairing there isn't it Yeah I mean dogs

They'll just hook up with There's no sort of prejudice They'll just go anywhere Wouldn't they A dog That's great But that's over 30 dogs I think she had

Throughout her life Loved a dog She loved a corgi in particular Right Yeah I saw even in places in New Zealand Like in Queen Elizabeth Park And Paraparaumu

And things like that They'd get Over the weekend Everyone had corgis, bring them down and walk them around as a bit of a tribute and something to get together over the weekend. That seems like an absolute nightmare. How many corgis turned up? I think about 30 corgis or something.

That's a lot. They wouldn't all get along. No. They're not afraid of showing their feelings if things aren't going well. Māori Language Week this week. Fantastic stuff. Celebrating 50 years since the petition was first given to Parliament to recognise the language.

Fantastic. That's cool. Now, Ben, the weekend. We were in Christchurch on Friday night, weren't we? Jeez, I love what they've done with the Garden City. Yeah, it's actually really cool. You were saying you'd much rather hang out in Central Christchurch than in Central Auckland at the moment, that's actually really cool. The place you were saying, you know, you'd much rather hang out in Central Christchurch

than in Central Auckland at the moment, that's for sure, right? Well, I mean, you've got two options, don't you? Would you like to be in the Garden City with the beautiful new buildings? All the art all over the walls and stuff. The river. Or would you like to get shanked and ram-raided on Queen Street? Or a lot of roadworks. I was down in town yesterday in Auckland.

Yeah, it's all the rail link, the digging up stuff. But it'll be done in five to ten years. Yeah. It's just a shambles at the moment. It's a city on the move, man. It's a city on the move. Just not moving very quickly. But yeah, no, I caught up with my parents, Annie and John.

They live in Chichar. And I was having a sit down with them, and we were hosting an event for Spark on Friday night and saw the organisers of the event where we were sitting with my mum and dad. And they walked past and I said, oh, this is Annie and John. Introduced them to the people from Spark.

This is what my parents would love. This is in their wheelhouse. They love meeting people to do with work. They love a combo. And I was very conscious that the people from Spark, they've had a big conference all day. They're're organizing the conference and they've got this thing at night they're people on the move yeah they're down there for work and he's and he's got no and you know it's to that generation as well same with your dad kevin boys they've got no barometer over they're

running on their own schedule you know they go to, and the rest of the day just sort of works in around that. It's all about filling in time. Yeah. And so Annie made a connection with Jono, one of the guys. This is your mom making a connection. Yeah. Said, oh, where are you from?

He said, Springfield. She said, I'm from Darfield. Next one over. So that's really close. It was close. So not from the same place, but enough to have that conversation. Enough to have a conversation.

So that kicked off a bit of conversation. And uh she said oh well you guys are from spark which used to be telecom yeah and she said i was a sales rep for the yellow pages and i could tell these wonderful people um they were like we know nothing about that because they're from the uh the events department of Spark. They're not involved in selling advertising for the Yellow Pages. Is Yellow Pages still a thing? I don't know if it's a thing anymore. They're kind of like, oh, that's not really probably our wheelhouse. But, you know, it was wonderful.

But I could tell the conversation was going to get away. It was going to get away. And I kind of had to say, hey, listen, they've got to go. They've got to go. We're going to let them get on with their lives. Do their day do their day but no it was lovely catching up with them it was good your parents always it's always parents always so happy to see you aren't they yeah they are and they're happy to talk to other people they just love it but you're right my dad will find a connection with people and then and then he'll go like I've been I've been there before at the

airport he go oh it's Winston Peters like across the. And I'm like, do you know Winston? No, but I'll go have a chat. And then Hoppy will go over there and then find some connection about, oh, you were at such and such and blah, blah, blah. And he's sitting there going, oh, okay. Yeah, what has happened to the art of conversation? We've ruined it.

Our generation have ruined it. We don't like talking to anyone. I would happily go through my day not talking to anyone. Send me a text or something. Or email me or something. But they're good at running a chat, that's for sure. Scrolling through your feed.

Oh, jeez, this show's going quick. We're up to here, are we? Ross is his middle name, but you know what I reckon you should do, Ben? Let's go to births, deaths and marriages and change it to news. Ben Newsboys, because here he is with your latest update. Well, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today, she's going to announce any changes to mask wearing, to the traffic light framework.

It might be getting rid of that old thing. We'll find out today. We'll also find out today if there's going to be a public holiday following the death of the Queen Elizabeth II as well. So Australia doing one, as we said earlier in the show. What are your thoughts on that? What do you reckon? I don't know.

I hadn't given him a lot of thought like um yeah I was like we kind of have Queen's birthday weekend which I imagine will be changed to King's

birthday weekend but yeah we kind of commemorate well then if you take that into account we probably don't need another one because you like the commemoration of who's

ruling at that particular time happens then yeah it's done it's done small business doesn't need another public holiday. No, and that's probably the main thing as well, right? Yeah. It's been so much through this whole COVID thing.

I mean, there's a lot of people out there going, great, another holiday. But yeah, you're right. I'd say no. Let's say no. You're going to say no? He said something? I'm going to say no.

I'm going to say no, you're right. I'm worried about small business. I'm worried if people are hurting out there, another day is, yeah, it's not going to be that helpful. I don't know if there are a lot of people that are into the Queen and into the Royal Family, but it's mixed, you know? Well, the conversation is inevitably going to come up

over the coming months of whether we break away. Yeah. Whether we have a referendum to, you know, ex-nay the old. Well, yeah, and I mean, Charles is not the most popular of all the, you know, like if they'd gone straight to William, maybe, you know, the younger generation would feel a little differently. Chuck Andrew in there, spice things up.

Maybe not. Speaking of things that are pretty spicy, Harry Styles, Chris Pine and other actors are in this movie that we keep banging on about, Don't Worry Darling. And it's got so much publicity because it seems like behind the scenes, like this radio show, it's just shambles. Oh, yeah. It's it seems like behind the scenes, like this radio show, it's just shambles. It's chaos going on behind the scenes. And basically there was a video. You've probably seen it now. This was the biggest news before the Queen passed away.

Harry Styles, obviously he's got rid of the traffic light system because he just spat straight into Chris Pine's lap. Although it looked like it. Maybe it was just, who knows? Yeah, like, it could have been, it might not have been, but at the same time, Chris Pine sort of looks down towards his lap and sort of smiles. And goes, did he just? Yeah. And sort of, something might have gone on behind the scenes

where maybe Pine's spitting his face. So he came back with, oh, I'll spit in your groin. Or maybe it was like one of those Anchorman moments where, you know, they kind of mumble something while smiling, you know? You horse breath. Yeah, and he sort of heard her laugh and sort of, you know, they kind of mumble something while smiling, you know? Your horse breath. Yeah, and he's doing her laugh and sort of rolled his eyes. But anyway, Harry Styles has gone back to his concert. He's done like 11 shows in Madison Square Gardens

or something crazy like that in America, and he addressed it on stage. This is our 10th show at Madison Square Garden. It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to be back in New York. I just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine. Oh, so he's admitted it. He's come clean. He came clean.

Popped over there to go to Venice. You know what it's like, guys. Spit on Chris Pine. Everyone's like, yeah! Yeah, yeah, spit on his lip! The crowd just, you can say anything and they just cheer, right? It's back to our theory. Yeah.

They could say the most horrible stuff. Yeah! You spit on Chris Pine! You sleep with all your mums! Yeah! Yeah. Let's go! Jono and Ben with five words for 5K.

Stop any time to keep the cash. Thank you! Or play on to win more. It is our Game of Word Association. Hopefully by now you know how it works. It is a lot of fun to play and see how much money you make along the way. Yeah, that's right. Let's change Monday into money.

Amber, you're on from Hamilton. Yes. Yes. I'm on for money. You're on Monday. On Monday. It's great to have you on, Amber. We need you to do this not only for New Zealand, but do it for the kids.

Okay? All the kids out there. And for the Queen. And for the Queen. Have a win for the Queen. Now, Amber, what do you do? I am an agri-manager at ANZ. Oh, you're the bank manager?

Wow. One of many, yep. Well, you know all about Mane. I know about Mane. All right, let's get into it. Who do you want to match words with this morning there, Ambo? Let's send Jono in. All right, off to the SPB.

Jono will head on in there. He is inside right now. Here we go this morning. Here is your first word. What pops into your head when I say Spongebob? Squarepants. Squarepants. Didn't seem like many other options there.

Bouquet is a second word. Bouquet. Flowers. Flowers with an S. Shades. S-H-A-D-E-S. Shades. Glasses.

Glasses. Golf is word number four. Golf. Club. Golf club. And finally, commentary is the final word commentary um oh that's a tough one i'm gonna go the first word that pops into my head is oh i'm torn up between talk or sport oh yeah options. Okay, I'm going to go with sport. Sport commentary. All right, we'll get Jono back out of the soundproof booth

and we'll see if we can match some words along the way. Very silent in that booth. The most quietest of all the cast members on this show is that soundproof booth. Now, Amber, I was just thinking, you're involved in money banking. What's the most wildly irresponsible thing you would do with this money?

I'm going to put it on my savings. No, I'm not. That's what you need to say, right? I'm going to go down to Queenstown and I'm going to spend it all. Good on you. Good on you. Now, if you're one of Amber's clients, please don't listen to her advice, okay? Yeah, don't take my advice.

That's right. Okay, let's do it. Let's match some words, Amber. All right, the first word we said to Amber is for $25. Word one, $25. Here we go. SpongeBob. Jono?

SquarePants. Yeah, you'd be correct. We got $25. You can put that in a high-interest account or... Let's keep rolling. Keep rolling. All right, here we go. Word two, $50.

Bouquet. Flowers. Correct. Amber! We've got $50. Bouquet. Flowers. Correct. Amber! We've got $50. Come on! Show me the money! Are we in the money on Monday?

Are we investing it? Are we walking away or mowing on? Mowing on. All right. Word three, $100. I don't know if you get this wrong. There is nothing. There is nothing from Amber.

Here we go. Shades. Shades. Shades. I'd say sunglasses. What happened to me? Ah, glasses. Oh, yeah. You're along exactly the same lines.

Oh, I'm sorry. Should have said. I'm sorry, Amber. Now, you know, every time we lose, it sits with me for the day. It leaves me with a heavy heart. I'm going to have a bad day now, guys. No one's getting any money from the bank manager. It's all on me.

No. Not today. I'm sorry. Blame Dono on Ben. I'm sorry, Amber. What were the last two words? The last two words, golf. Golf club.

Yeah, well done. And commentary. Commentary. I'd say sport commentary. Oh! Joro, I could have been $5,000 richer! Amber! I'm sorry. That's not going to sit with anyone well for the rest of the day, Amber. I'm so

sorry. But let's get you back on. It was lots of fun. We should do it again. Okay, guys. Have a good day. You're a great sport. Thank you for listening. Appreciate it. You're essential listening for non-essential banter. Jono and Ben on the hits. Now, over the weekend, I went to a kid's birthday party. It was like a seven or eight-year-old, like an eight-year-old birthday party.

He didn't even know any of the kids there. Well, you know, so you kind of go along. You're friends of, you know, friends' kids along there. And the little boys' party, his name starts with T. And so it was like a tea party. So basically, you had to turn up. Now, like adults all have to dress up as well his name starts with T. And so it was like a tea party. So basically you had to turn up. Now like adults all have to dress up as well. Anything starting with T is the theme.

Tree, Tyrannosaurus Rex. And I've got, you know me, I kept a lot of the costumes, the props and costumes from the TV show. So I have a garage, much to the disgust of my wife, I've got a garage full of costumes. She can't get the car in there. She can't park the car, yeah. It's full of just costumes.

But it's great on occasions like this because I'm like, oh, great. What's in the garage? I don't need to hire anything. I don't need to buy anything. I've just got costumes in there. Yeah, like hundreds. He's going to be that weird guy

in the local paper in about 20 years where they're like, this guy's opened up a costume museum in his garage. You can come along just for a dollar donation. That'll be me. Even if you don't want to donate, he's just happy to have you there for a dollar donation. Yeah, that'll be me. Even if you don't want to donate, he's just happy to have you there. So we're down there, opened up a box.

It's all quite messy down there, but I opened up the first box. It's like, oh, great, there's a twister. You know, like the board game Twister with all the dots and you put your hands and your feet and stuff on. I was like, there's a Twister costume that we'd used in a skit for John and Ben. I was like, T, Twister, this is great. So you put on like this almost like a morph suit.

It's got little dots, you know, all over, colourful dots. And a little hat that's got like the little spinny Twister, you know, thing that you spin around to tell. And I'm like, great, Twister costume, T, I am good to go. But wearing that to the kids' party, I hadn't really realised when I'm there that kids are all, they're all jacked up on sugar and stuff. And then they were like, can we play Twister?

And I was like, oh, hang on, with me. Did you have to lie on the ground? Yeah, well, that's what I said at first. I started lying on the ground. What did you expect? And I was like, oh, this isn't good. And as soon as the first kid tries to stand on you, you're like, oh, don't stand there, buddy.

Don't stand there. And so I was like, oh, sorry, guys. I can't do this. But I'd taken the hat off and they were spinning that around. And then as I stood up, kids are all jacked up on sugar and that. They're like, spin it again. They're like, let's just do it while you're standing up.

And the first time they started punching me towards right hand red, left hand green. You're like, oh, stop. These aren't the rules of Twister. If you want to play it properly, I've got to lie down flat on the ground. Yeah, so I was like, this is the stupidest thing to ever wear.

So I really regretted it instantly well it's the second regret you've had with that you wore it to work one time and there was many HR complaints

he was like hey who wants to play a game of Twister on me oh I don't no I don't hey sales ladies you really paint me

out there's a lot of character accession towards me no it wasn't the sales ladies it was the accounting ladies that's right. This is the Jono and Ben podcast.

Wall-to-wall talking without the niggly popular songs in between. We're talking a lot about the Queen the last couple of days after her passing and Kiwis with connections to her. And joining us right now on 0800 The Hits is celebrity chef Peter Gordon. Morena. Oh, Morena, how are you? Morena. Lovely to have you on. Just Peter Gordon's wonderful chef. Oh, Morena, how are you? Morena. Lovely to have you on.

Just Peter Gordon's a wonderful chef. What restaurant are you running at the moment, Peter? We have Homeland down in Westhaven Drive. It's a cook school, dining room, retail space. And work with communities. And it's a really good space, actually. Awesome. You can catch Peter as well Thursday nights on TVNZ for Bake Off as well but Peter we understand

that you have cooked, you've made a meal for the Queen before. I have, in fact it was just a lunch for four so it wasn't one of those ones that you sometimes get asked to do a big banquet or do one course and there's a whole lot of other chefs. It was literally a lunch for four people of which

one was the Queen, one was the Duke and then there was Sir Don and Lady Clare McKinnon in their house in London. Wow, what are we talking cheese toasted sandwiches? What are we doing? What are we doing there Peter Gordon? Really flash toasty I did salmon two ways to start. My dad sent me over some

Mahanaka wood chips so I smoked some salmon for her and main course was a Welsh black beef with some celeric gratin and stuff. Dessert was shortbread, my grandmother's shortbread, with a roasted rhubarb and chocolate leaf. And I did that because my grandmother had met the Queen once herself, getting a medal from the Queen for her community service here in New Zealand.

And then they had cheese. So I imagine there's a lot of protocol that goes in. I mean, how did they approach you about this? And did you know you were cooking for the Queen? And when did they drop that sort of bombshell? Well, Claire and Don are friends. And I'd been round to their house for dinner a few times. And Don was Secretary General of the Commonwealth at that point.

But he was standing down. So they phoned up and said, or Claire phoned up and said, look, Peter, you know, we'd love you to come around and cook a dinner. Would you like to do that as part of Don's farewell? And I said, oh, that'd be amazing. I'd love to. You know, Don, it's been wonderful to do something for you guys. And then I said, what would you like to eat?

And they said, oh, well, you need to submit a menu. And I was like, well, what do you want? Oh, well, you need to. I said, well, so who's coming? Thinking, well, if I know who's coming, I can decide what they want. You know, who is it going to be? And Claire said, we, so who's coming? Thinking, well, if I know who's coming, I can decide what they want. You know, who is it going to be? And Claire said, we can't tell you. And I thought, okay, that's got to be the Queen.

Otherwise, Claire is making this very difficult. Yeah. And then it was just a process of thinking, what would the Queen actually want to eat? So it was a really tasty menu, and it was all lovely and nice, but it was definitely targeted towards the right person. Did you get nervous? No, no, I wasn't nervous at all until I was down in the basement of their house doing the food,

and I was down there with the head of the Queen's Security for the day, and then I just began to feel a little bit nervous because she was, you know, keeping a close eye on what I was up to, but she was very pleasant. I hadn't felt nervous. I was just saying, oh, I'm just cooking lunch for someone. And then it was like, shit, it's the Queen. And her security guard is looking over everything I'm doing. Was the security guard like, ooh, wouldn't do that?

It's like you guys are bake-offs. I cooked for her too. She had some kai, so she was very happy. And you met her that day? Yeah, I met her that day. Not, you know, for like all of probably 15 seconds or so. And that was really, it was very happy. And you met her that day? Yeah, I met her that day. Not, you know, for like all of probably 15 seconds or so. And that was really, it was really cute. It was really nice, you know.

And I often find myself, the whole time I've been doing anything, whether it was cooking for Barack Obama or Condoleezza Rice or whoever, you know, these things you end up doing, you're in Downing Street suddenly cooking lunch for two prime ministers. I find myself sort of going, God, I'm just a kid from Castlecliff and Whanganui and look at what I'm doing. And now I'm about to meet the Queen. So, yeah, that sort of drives me quite a bit sometimes.

I can imagine. Gave you an OBE or was that right? Or what a merit. Yeah, I got an ONZM, which had nothing to do with the lunch. The lunch was so good. Yeah, lunch was so good. Other stuff, yeah, lunch was so good. So it was an award, a gong awarded by the New Zealand government, but I asked if I could get it presented in the UK,

and I happened to pick a date at Windsor when the Queen presented it, so I got to meet her a second time. So, yeah, we're really close friends. Did she remember that you cooked the lunch for her? As I went up to get my award and they sort of pinned it on you, you told do not ask a question, she'll ask you one

question and I thought fair enough, there's a lot of people she's got to get through, she can't be there for a chit chat and then I said, I couldn't help myself as I approached, I said I have to say something and so she puts on this very nice and I said, oh actually I've met. And so she put on to this very nice, and I said, oh, actually, I've met you before.

I cooked for you at Claire and Don's house, you know, forgetting to call Don and Claire's suitor and lady. And she looked at me and she said, oh, you're the New Zealand chef. And I said, yes. So, yeah, we've had deep conversations. Rich conversations. I was a huge fan of the Queen. So, you know, like many people, I think, oh, she's gone.

Oh, no. Well, Peter Gordon, what an absolute tale. It seems like when New Zealand needs to impress people at a dinner table, phone Peter Gordon. Get him on it. Hard-hitting interviews and informed opinion. Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB. In the meantime, Jono and Ben on the hits.

Jono and Ben hanging out with you, talking about the Queen a lot after her sad passing at the end of last week and some amazing stories with Kiwis with connections to the Queen. Oh, Peter Gordon just shared

a wonderful story about cooking lunch for her, cooking lunch for the Queen and Carol's with us. Good morning. Hi, how are you guys? We're doing well, Kazza. How's Martinborough this morning?

It's pretty good, actually, after a lot of rain over the weekend. Now, Carol, I said we're not going to beat someone who's cooked lunch for the Queen. And you've come in. Like we've been, we set that bar high. I know. You know, it was a challenge. Monday morning, and Carol's going to come in and blow it out of the water. What happened?

Well, my husband happened to be working for Princess Anne and Mark Phillips in England in his 20s and he was there riding event horses and they happened to be exercising the horses one day in Windsor and Hamish, being the cheeky little bugger that he was,

thought he could hide under one of the big trees and stop and have a smoke break. But what he didn't realise was that Her Majesty was actually watching out of the window and he got quite a telling off. From the Queen. For smoking, the Queen's like, no, you can't do that, cut that out.

Yep, definitely not on the grounds in her place. What? And so what did she say to him? Stub that out? Well, no, I think it was after the fact she'd seen him. And she told Princess Anne, don't let that young man do that again. He's not allowed to smoke in the grounds. Oh, so then Anne had to pass on the message.

Yeah, yeah. And I don't think Anne rinsed too many words with Hamish either. Oh, wow. You'd feel bad, wouldn't you? You're like, oh, I'm so sorry, guys. Oh, no, I know. Now, did he work for them for a while? Yeah, he was over there for two and a half, three years.

Yeah, he was riding event horses here. And then he got a job with Captain Mark Phillips and obviously Princess Anne at Gatcombe and worked there for a couple of years. Did he enjoy it? Oh, absolutely loved it. Jeez, he must have had some stories to tell. Oh yeah. He probably could

have written a book, but as he said, what goes on stays on. It wasn't about that. It was about the loyalty. They treated him so well. He respected them and what they have to put up with and everything. It was just an amazing family.

And, well, hey, listen, he has no qualms about writing a book. Harry's gone and written a book. If Harry can do it, surely your husband could have. And did he say they were very nice and kind to him? Absolutely, yeah. I mean, he'd actually got his own horse over there, and sadly

it got an injury into the foot, and they paid all the vet bills. He was actually off to the World Equestrian Games but sadly the horse died and they basically paid all the vet bills, put it up dealt with it never questioned it

were just amazing, absolutely amazing and there's your smoke on the ground that's the one rule that's when they turn on you what an amazing story Carol your husband told off by the Queen and Anne thank you very much smoke on the ground so that's the one that's the one rule that's when they turn on you that's when they turn on you what an amazing story Carol

your husband told off by the queen and Anne thank you very much yeah no pleasure thanks guys you do amazing

jobs too oh thank you mate love you listening alright cheers the Jono and Ben podcast the world's

number one podcast please don't check those stats Pinocchio it's a brand new movie it's on Disney Plus it's a brand new movie. It's on Disney+.

It's really, really good. Live action, CGI, and Tom Hanks putting a spin on the Disney classic. And we're catching up with the voice of Pinocchio. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is his name. Good morning. How are you? How are you? We're doing well, Ben.

Now, I was reading about you, and it says, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, child actor. Is that how you have to introduce yourself? Benjamin, child actor. How did you get the role? I mean, obviously the voice of Pinocchio. Is it a long audition process? Did you have the voice in your head and you're like, this is the voice.

I'm going to nail this. No, when it came through, it was like, okay, like Pinocchio. It was already an honor right and with the voice I thought it was like very important to keep it faithful to the 1940s movie and and to Dickie Jones's Pinocchio so I spent a lot of time watching it over and over trying different pictures different volumes and and I got it to the place where I wanted it so like with the audition process like I had beforehand I had no idea that I could do a Pinocchio voice. It's been a lot of work.

It's quite high. It's quite a high pitch, isn't it? Yeah. Can you give us an example of it now, Benjamin? Hey, John Owen Beck. I'm Pinocchio. Oh, that's adorable. And now you're on Mickey Mouse's payroll.

Do you get discounts to Disneyland? What are the perks? Give us the work perks. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Maybe. I hope so. Have they shouted you to Disneyland? What are the perks? Give us the work perks. Oh my gosh, yeah. Maybe. I hope so. Have they shouted you to Disneyland? Oh yeah.

We went to Disneyland once and it was amazing. It was like my first time, so it was great. Now obviously we know when Pinocchio lies, he gets a long nose. Do we know when you're lying? I mean, how do we know when you're lying during this interview? Is there any telltale signs? I promise you I'm not lying.

Let's throw some questions at you. Have you always wanted to come to New Zealand? I've always wanted to go over there. There's been a few places. Are we believing him? New Zealand and Australia, like those kind of places, yeah. Don't have to pander to our fragile self-esteem here. Is this the best interview you've had all day?

Let's see if you're lying. Well, my nose hasn't grown yet. Tom Hanks in this movie, which is incredible, Geppetto. Do you get to hang out with Tom Hanks? I mean, how's that work? Yeah. So Tom Hanks is such a legend and such a nice person. There was this one time we were in our little tent pop-up things

because it was the time of COVID. So there wasn't like a green room where all the cast could hang out. So he just came around and said, hey, Ben, do you want to run lines? And bearing in mind, this is like the second time I've met him. And it's like, oh, Tom Hanks is right in front of me. And more importantly, he's breaking COVID protocol. He's coming into your tent. He's burst into your bubble.

But you're not going to say no to reading lines with Tom Hanks. No, he was outside into your tent he's burst into your bubble but you're not going to say no to reading lines with tom hanks no even he was outside of the tent so well benjamin lovely to chat to you congratulations on the movie it's awesome watched it with my kids and they loved it and you seems like such a mature individual like i feel like i'm talking to a 55 year old thank you take care of yourself see you thank you They've got pranks, they've got puns Now they just need some actual listeners Jono and Ben on the hits Now we just had the voice of Pinocchio

The new Disney movie on And it's hard, you never know whether you're being lied to or not When you're talking to Pinocchio Like talking to a politician Don't know if you're getting the straight story Now Ben, I I'm sorry to do this to you But we've discovered you've been a politician yeah don't know if you're getting the straight story now ben i are you yeah i i'm sorry to do this to you okay but we've discovered you've been you've been lying to the team to the

team of five million no i haven't what have i what have i lied about no i feel like i'm gurev and you're just in there right now uh because you were promoting our interview with ben uh the voice of pinocchio yeah right on the, the voice of Pinocchio. Yeah, right, on the radio. Yeah, because we always make a little what's called a promo, a little tease about what's coming up in the show the day before. Pushes you to all of the content that you're going to hear the next day. Right, yeah.

Now, we've just gone through the system. Now, what we do is, you know, localised ones, a bit of a personal local touch. So you go through the different markets that the hits is in and you sort of broadcast to each particular place. Now, if we could just play this wonderful, this wonderful montage. Okay, I know what you're doing. Here we go.

Hey, Auckland, you're my favourite city. Would I lie to you? No, but someone who might is the voice of Pinocchio. Hey, Christchurch, you're my favourite city. Would I lie to you? No, but someone who might is the voice of Pinocchio. Hey Christchurch, you're my favourite city. Would I lie to you? No, but someone who might is the voice of Pinocchio. Hey Wellington,

you're my favourite city. Would I lie to you? No, but someone who might lie to you is the voice of Pinocchio. Hey Tauranga, you're my favourite city. Would I lie to you?

No, but someone who might is the voice of Pinocchio. Hey Invercargill, you're my favourite city. Would I lie to you? No, but someone who might is the voice of Pinocchio. Hey Invercargill you're my favourite city. Would I lie to you? No. Someone who might is the voice of Pinocchio.

So you've said multiple times there would I lie to you and clearly you would. Clearly you would. You've just lost all credibility in one montage.

I was hoping the people from Invercargill aren't going to be talking to the people from Tauranga. You know like it's yeah. Who else are you going around telling they're your favourite?

Well, every city that we broadcast to, I went and told I was a favourite. You know, they all have a special place in my heart. Hands down, right now, your favourite city and then your most hated one. You have no choice. We're not playing anything next until you make this decision. No. Favourite, hated. Favourite, hated.

I'm not going to do that. Okay, well, we're not playing anything else. We're sitting here in silence. No. Favourite, hated. Favourite, hated. I'm not going to do that. Okay, well, we're not playing anything else. We're sitting here in silence. No. Can you do it? No, because he broadcasts right around New Zealand. No, I can't. I'm not playing next.

Okay, okay, all right. Most favourite, most hated. Let's go. Favourite city, Los Angeles. And most hated, Melbourne. There you go. Didn't say New Zealand, so I'll get out of that one. He's a weasel.

He's lying to you. And I love Melbourne, so if anyone's listening from Melbourne, you're my favourite city. I don't mean that. Would I lie to you? It is a hit, so you've got to jump on in. The Hits. For more podcasts from The Hits Network,

check out iHeartRadio.co.nz.