Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: How Ben Ended Up in Crocs at a Black-Tie Event

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

ON THE SHOW TODAY: Megan’s son has a thing for older women… Why Gen Z hates Friends! What’s a "sniper parent"? How parents are reacting to the new TV show Adolescence. Why is Bree Tomasel FaceTiming Megan during the show? Ben’s genius trick to avoid people! Facebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & Megan Instagram: THEHITSBREAKFAST  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Jono, Ben and Megan podcast, thanks to HelloFresh, your home advantage for delicious midweek dinners everyone will love. Welcome to the podcast on a Wednesday. We talk a lot about the show, the new Netflix show Adolescence, the four episode show on. Well, it's on a separate podcast today because we had a really good chat with Holly Jean Brooker. She's a parenting advocate and we thought we'd put it out on its own special podcast. So go have a listen to that. It's really interesting. She's got some great points on how to navigate social media with kids. Yeah. And everyone's going in blind.

No one really knows the right or wrong thing to do. I am wondering, can we just turn it off? Can we turn the internet off? Are we done with it? I remember we had like a big outage at one point that went on for like days and I was like,

this is amazing. Yeah. I didn't even want it back maybe we just all agree we've we can't be responsible enough we can't handle it just switch we abuse the internet yeah turn it off it's probably like you know like planes people take long plane trips and now they're sneaking in wi-fi on planes now some people love a wi-fi on the plane others at times it's probably like you say me Megan, it's like a good excuse to have however long away from it. The good thing is it is so freaking shaky.

The Wi-Fi on a plane, yeah. They have not nailed airplane Wi-Fi. And fair enough too. I mean, you don't need to worry about like flying the plane and landing the plane. You don't worry about all Wi-Fi. We can all be off our phones for 12 hours. Yeah, send an email when we land.

I mean, I love sending an email, but I just, I can wait. I can wait, you know. But the problem is when you land, they're like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. They've all been scheduled. Yeah, they're all coming through.

So we start off the podcast with your son, ladies' man. Dude, he might be a bit of a ladies' man in the making, which is terrifying. Yeah, well, here we go.

What did he have to say about the beautiful woman? We'll find out. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The podcast. The hits. And now I've just been watching Megan groom herself. She's like, oh, dear God, there's one grey hair.

She's trying to pluck out the grey hair. Now, is this... I've lost it. Is this a result of what your son said last night, that you're getting greys, or...? No, he's actually, he's very sweet in the things he said. He says, last night he called me incredible, so I think he's just learnt that word.

Oh, that's nice. But he also has a really good memory. So we went out for dinner. Incredible feels like he's overshot the mark. I mean, you're great. I put him to bed and he's like, you're incredible, Mom. And I was like, thank you? Have you just learned that?

Do you know what I mean? More like I'm existing. I'm just here. Is that a tactic to stay up later or not? Probably. It feels like you're incredible. And it worked. But we went out for dinner. It was my sister-in-law's birthday a And it worked. But we went out for dinner.

It was my sister-in-law's birthday a few weeks ago. So we went out for dinner to a restaurant. Fast forward a couple of weeks and we were like, we're going out for dinner again for another birthday. And he says to me, mum, will the beautiful girls be there? He's got his eye on some babes. What? I was like, who are you talking about?

He was like, at the restaurant, the beautiful girls. I was like, which ones? And he said, at the table by us in the white dress. I was like, oh my Lord, you are four. He had his eye on a girl, a woman in a white dress who he thinks was beautiful. And then he also, I was like, do you want to see the beautiful girls? Is this from a previous time that you've been out somewhere? From a previous restaurant visit a couple of weeks earlier.

He's remembered. Does he think there's only one restaurant? Yeah, probably. Well, he wanted to know if we were going back there and if the beautiful girls would also be there. I was like, I'm not ready. Are these beautiful girls in his age range? No, no.

Older women like his dad. He loves the older ones. What, a lot older? The experience. I was really taken back. I was like, I don't know if this is creepy, or at least the girls alone. At four, it's not creepy.

If you keep going, like, you know, as a 42-year-old, if I'm like, oh, we're heading out to dinner, those beautiful girls are going to be there. The one in the white dress. That kind of hits a little different he's got another five years of cuteness

from that okay good Jono, Ben and Megan the podcast the hits producer Grace joining us in the studio for what is fast

becoming a regular segment where we chat to you about things that are winding up Gen Z's this week yeah previously

just if you've just joined the this part of the show for the first time, three dots on emails, the ellipses. Apparently it's, what does it do to you? It seems like you're saying it like sarcastically. Sarcasm. Apparently it comes across as sarcasm.

It's like spitting in your face. Yeah, exactly. Last week we got into when, you know, sort of millennials are saying to you, oh, I remember that the first time around, that fashion. Yeah, that fashion. I hate that. Megan does it all the time.

Okay. So we're going to avoid those two things. I do both of those things all the time. No dot, dot, dots. No referring to fashion the first time around. Or maybe we can't promise the last one because there is a show that you said yesterday you were like, oh, this is overrated. Yeah.

I don't want to target millennials, but it tends to be millennials who make TV shows, their whole personality. And the TV show is Friends. Wow. So, friends, your thoughts on Friends. How much of Friends have you watched? Two episodes.

And your thoughts were? I didn't think it was good at all. Now, there's some things that don't stand the test of time. I get it. Sometimes I'll show the kids a movie. I'll be like, this movie was great. And then I'm 10 minutes in, I'm like, okay, it kind of sucks now. And that's the case with Friends, I think.

We watch it and we're like, ooh. There's a few jokes that maybe they wouldn't do now. But I think for the most part, it's still really, really funny. Personally, I think it's really funny, but not for you. Not at all. We love, it was a cultural phenomenon, a core memory for us. And do you know what? It did become The ultimate TV filler

Didn't it We just played it on loop For 10 or 15 years Previous to that All we had Was MASH MASH was in black and white And we didn't ask for MASH

MASH just appeared And it was about We didn't ask for MASH Soldiers and stereotypes Of the Vietnam War And it was on every night It was Gen X's So I think for us

It meant a whole load of relief, didn't it, friends? Yeah. Like friends is my mash. You know what I mean? I'm like, just let it go, guys. Retire it. I'm sick of it.

We want a break. Yeah, I'm sick of that too. It's all over TikTok, the whole we want a break. We want a break! Love the canned laughter too. I don't get the reference. I don't understand it.

I don't want to understand it. Let it go. Oh, you don't want to know about Ross and Rachel and the canned laughter too. I don't get the reference. I don't understand it. I don't want to understand it. Let it go. Oh, you don't want to know about Ross and Rachel? I have no clue who those people are. Well, you know who Ross and Rachel are. No. Don't you? She was saying she couldn't.

We've just named two characters. But can you name two other characters apart from Ross or Rachel? Yeah, the friends. From friends. The five friends. Ross, Rachel. Well done. Repeating back those two.

Renee Zellweger. Is she in it? Renee. Ross, Rachel. Well done. Repeating back those two, yeah. Renee Zellweger. Is she in it? I don't know who she is. Renee. No Renee. And then John O'Ban and Megan. You guys can be the other six characters. I'm changing it.

I had a haircut. The Jennifer Aniston, Rachel haircut. I had that haircut. Yeah, see, you just got to let it go. Matt LeBlanc with Joey, you know, how you doing? You know, that stuff probably Doesn't sack up now But you know No

That doesn't sound Super good Ross and his monkey That probably also Isn't really Okay so none of this Is hitting with you But you're just thinking

Let it go It's just because It's people's whole personality Like I'm like I'm okay if you like the show But everywhere I go When I went to Universal It was everywhere

Everything was everywhere Yeah because it's a massive show I know but just like It's okay It's millennial superpower to be able to put this into our everyday life, any episode.

James, you've been texting the text machine blowing up with pivot, pivot, pivot. Keep her away from the Big Bang Theory one text says.

Nah, not good either. James, what do you want to say? I actually annoy my wife with one of the sayings from the show. What's that? I text my wife every day, how you doing? How you doing?

Grace, I don't know what that means. James, was this one of your favourite shows? This was one of my favourite shows, yes. Yeah, well, she just slapped you in the face, mate. Yes, she did. I really hurt. I really hurt, Grace. I'm really sorry, James, but maybe you just let it go.

Let it go? Just let it go. I'm in my mid-40s. I'm maybe you just let it go just let it go I'm in my mid 40s I'm not going to let it go you also wear a lot of the things that they wear in Friends but that's the whole

like the 20 year cycle clothes cycle through I do like the fashion because it's 90s fashion let's not go back to the cycle dot dot dot that's for another day

we've won this before Jono, Ben and Megan the podcast the hits Ben you had to attend a fancy soiree oh yeah last week You've won this before. John O'Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. Ben, you had to attend a fancy soiree. Oh, yeah. Last week it was like, so people got friends of my wife's.

My wife's. My wife. Apostrophe. Friends of my wife. Friends of your wife. It sounds like I said wives in multiple sense. He's a busy guy. They got married and then they had like quite it was a small wedding kind of like similar to what happened when we went to fiji you know a few weeks ago it was more of a

loping situation small wedding so they had a kind of fancy sort of it was kind of like i guess a cocktail evening kind of thing you know it was nice for drinks and celebration type thing yes and um i was going along and i was like well i'll drive it's more amanda's thing than my thing is i'll drive we've got lots of kids admin to deal with beforehand to get along and I was like, well, I'll drive. It's more Amanda's thing than my thing. I'll drive. We've got lots of kids admin to deal with beforehand to get along there. I was dropping them off and doing bits and pieces, getting them all sorted. I put my suit in the car. I was all ready to go.

Then I was going to get changed at the back of the car to get changed to go on in. That was just the timing of the day. Meet my wife there. You have no qualms about getting changed in public. You name all of the greatest locations throughout New Zealand, the Manawatu Square in Palmerston North, you've been changed there. Bluff, you've been changed in Bluff, Queen Street. With a TV show.

I've seen the full real estate of both of you many times. Oh yeah, we did a TV show, very low budget TV show for many years and there was nowhere to get changed for a lot of these times. You're getting changed. I'm still doing it today, getting into road cone costumes on the side of Ponsonby Road and things like that. Remember we had Zoe, the stunt woman Zoe Bell.

Oh, yeah. And we made her get changed in a park. She's like, where do you get changed? And we're like, just around here. She's like, I've made movies with Quentin Tarantino.

You're making me get changed in Victoria Park? Yeah. But what I'd done as I got changed is I'd been dealing with a lot of admin that day, I'd forgotten footwear.

Like I'd forgotten to put in my dress shoes. But I'd been running around from home in bits and pieces. Now, even to work, I don't really wear Crocs to work. But on that particular afternoon, I'd slipped on the Crocs. Oh, Megan, what are you doing as the fashion icon? I'd slipped on the Crocs and I got down there and I was like, I was running bang on time.

No time to go home. No time to go anywhere else. I was there, go onto my suit and I'm like, Oh, I've got this Crocs with gibbets with Crocs. Are they those beige ones you've been wearing with like hot dog gibbets? Yeah.

Yeah. So I've got two pairs. Are they beige or are they just white ones that have turned? No, I've got a couple of white ones and I've got some sort of, you know, beige colored ones as well. And then I was like, I've got a couple of them. I've got the white ones and I've got some sort of, you know, beige-y coloured ones as well. And then I was like, I'm going to have to wear the Crocs in.

And then I'm like, do I take the gibbets off? Do I take the charms off or do I wear the charms in? Black tie, baby. I did take the charms off. Take the whole darts off. You know when you walk in somewhere and it was like, it was on the footwear, but you could all, you just felt like everyone's going to know.

Self-conscious. What did your wife say? She was like, oh my God, what are you god what are you doing am i are you they explained the story and i'm like i'm sorry it was my bad she's like this doesn't make it any better i'm trying to in my mind because she had a footwear emergency recently and she i tried to get her slippers and jandals i'm trying to think what would be worse like black jandals or crocs and i think you probably would have been better with black jandals yeah and in time I wore crocs on but you know very on trend so that maybe they were like damn he's a cool guy he's a cool guy suits and it was a cocktail yeah yeah I know I reckon Post Malone would turn up to

the Grammys in a suit and I was getting my head I was like maybe I'm one of those people that can pull off a look like this and then I walked in I. I was like, no, I'm not. It's definitely not for me. So, yeah. You look like an off-duty nurse. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. I spent the last couple of days at a basketball tournament for my son.

And what I have noticed and I do appreciate is the sniper parent. Now, I don't know if you've come across this. No, because we know what the helicopter parent is. Yeah, what's the sniper parent? Like, hovers around. So the sniper parent, I've noticed, at any sort of school event or anything that they have to turn up to that their kid's at,

they just stand in the distance in the background, sort of hidden behind half a tree. They don't say a word to anyone, and they're in and out like a government agent. You don't even know what kid they're there to support. Like there's obviously some sort of arrangements going on at home where you don't talk to me, I don't talk to you. I will be there and then I'm out.

And I understand why some people might like to approach it like that. It's a bit like creepy though. Like do they come in and give any encouragement or? No, they just stand there in a distance arms folded looking down like you do know that they are the parent of someone right yeah it's kind of the opposite of a helicopter parent yeah it's good is that you no i'm not a sniper parent no i'd be too no it does look weird when you're hiding behind a wall half watching a game of basketball you don't talk to Yeah. You don't talk to anyone.

Yeah, but sometimes you don't, yeah, sometimes you don't talk to people on the sidelines. You're like, I don't actually know which, you know, especially early in the season, you don't know which kids

are with which parents and which teams, you know, so sometimes you end up just watching. I've watched a lot of sports games just standing by myself, maybe not 20 metres back from the thing,

but still I can get it. The scale on your face. But I get along, you're still there you're supporting yeah and watching along anyway I could also be

an undercover cop that's been following me around as well I see him there regularly I assume he's a parent of the shop is he looking at the kids or is he looking at you

yeah no he's focusing a lot on me yeah so hey that could also be an option as well Jono, Ben and Megan the podcast

the hits seems like the whole world, particularly parents, are talking about a Netflix series or a show called Adolescence. It's only four episodes. Police! You're making a big mistake. He's only a kid. Dad, I haven't done anything.

I'm going to start off with asking you. Do you know a girl called Katie Leonard? Yeah. Is she dead then? Why would you ask that? He hasn't been found guilty. He's been accused. Now, it's quite a full-on show in a lot of respects. It's also all made in one shot.

The entire one-hour episodes are all done in one shot. But it's probably shined a bit of a light on social media, particularly when it comes to the impact of social media and also with parents and responsibility of what your kids are watching and how much you're paying attention to that, right? Yeah, so this 13-year-old boy, he turns his family's world upside down when he's arrested for murder and they believe him to be a good kid.

He's at home in his bedroom, right? But he has been radicalised on social media online. Which is a huge, scary, frightening reality. It's every parent's worst nightmare, right? And that's the confronting part, as you're watching the father in real time learn these things about his son, that he's kind of got into things that he didn't know about.

It's almost like a whole world that is happening, you know, through a device, you know, kids. And I feel like in some ways we are going to look back. You remember that wild time with smoking? You know, we all look back and we're like, there was a smoking section on the plane one road from the non-smoking section or smoking sections in restaurants and all that sort of stuff. It was also used as a weight loss thing for pregnant ladies too,

smoking back in the day. Social media navigating through this times they probably are going to look back in 5-10 years and go we got that right, we got that wrong, we got a lot of things. And it is funny because you get the helicopter parents who in real life hover over kids, that's probably me and you look out for them in every

aspect of their real life but when it comes to handing them a phone you're opening them up to a whole world that they're probably not mentally ready for. Yeah, and the content just gets... And you can't control. And they can't control it a lot of the time. It just, boom, fed to them. Yeah.

And that's just obviously when they're scrolling through YouTube and things like that. But then if they've got their own chat groups, if they're being bullied, what's being said on that? Well, school kind of stops. You know, you used to stop at the school gates a lot, right? You know, when we went to school, nowadays, you know you used to stop for at the school gates a lot right you know when we went to school nowadays you know school is going home with the kids through a phone through access that friends and other people that aren't friends can message and stuff and that's a scary thing from a parent point of view i mean social media for me is like some of the best

things in the world and some of the worst things in the world you know it's so hard to you can see some of the best videos and then you can see some of the worst videos but that's why this is so confronting and you get the people even in this room i've watched the whole thing last episode last night bawled my eyes out couldn't it was horrendous but is it a conversation and is it something we have to watch but then you get people who don't want to watch it because it's too confronting yeah it's too real yeah uh well i mean and also is this just parenting in 2025, where every generation has had to deal with something with teenagers? It always happens.

For decades, I remember when I was growing up, riding the penny farthings down to the docks. Probably not the same thing. They didn't like calling us rascals. We're kicking the can around. They're like, stop that, you rascals. You know, that was what was happening back in the 20s. But things fast forward to 2025, and this is the lead actor from the show.

He also co-created it, didn't he? Yeah, yeah. On why. And he'd seen a couple of news articles about incidents involving young boys in the UK. Kind of a society we're living in at the moment where young boys are stabbing young girls. And you know that beautiful saying it takes a village to raise a child what i just thought what if we're all kind of accountable you know the education system parenting uh the community the government and also when we were kids we didn't

have social media so if we were in our rooms when we were kids we were either playing out in the streets weren't we or we were in our rooms i draw them pictures or playing keyboards or something we didn't have the accessibility to all of this stuff in the way yeah so he raises a very good point and also you want to say too this is not i think the show is fantastic i think this conversation is fantastic we should be talking about it and also we don't want to From our point of view Talking about it It's not a sweeping generalisation This isn't all kids, all teenagers Being radicalised on the internet

As well too So you don't want to catastrophise it But we need to be aware of it It's the texts and calls coming through About the Netflix show Adolescence Shining a light on social media And particularly what it's doing to our kids as well. Yeah, it can be frightening.

And regardless if you're a parent or not a parent, as I said before, it's worth a watch. I've just started watching it. And if not for an eye-opener, an absolute refresher of what's happening online and how fast it's moving and how it's like you've reached these levels of like it can't get any crazier and then it just levels up and that's what it seems like over the last couple years it really has right it's really gone quite a while with social media and even how you know like good kids who you believe are good kids raised you know as best you can how they can

fall down into dark places into rabbit holes jim ama, morning to you. You just heard Holly Jean. She called through to the show with some advice. You've been watching adolescence, Gemma? No, I haven't watched it, but I work in child protection, so it is a hot topic at work, and some of my colleagues have. I'm a bit nervous to watch it, to be fair. There is two camps, I think. There's those who are like okay I'm going to just work my way

through it and then people like Ben as well you're nervous to watch it because it is very confronting. I've cried a lot during that show. So you know what's some of the stuff you're encountering daily there Gemma? So my daughter into last year was actually caught up in some stuff. It was

through her school Chromebook which in some stuff. It was through her school Chromebook, which blew me away. It started off with the teachers finding some chat rooms that they'd made on Google Meet, which they actually use as a school platform as well. But there was obviously someone had infiltrated, I used that word, because we don't know who it was. We still don't know whether it was another young person from another school or actually an adult posing as a young person.

So there were some really dark conversations. There was some talk about self-harming. And then it progressed into a group of about eight of them, and they were being sent actual X-rated videos and stuff as well. Oh, I see. And that's through a school platform. Oh, I saw that. And that's through a school platform. Platform, yeah. So this is not even with something that you've given them or not monitored.

So, jeez. And so you hear that and you go, well, you can't be across everything. A parent can't be across everything. They're always going to find a way to communicate. You know, at home we try and keep a good handle on what the girls are looking at and keeping their phone out. But then they go take it on the bus, the school bus go to school you know it's all that yeah yeah did you manage to how did you handle that sit show with the daughter jemma um it was a little bit of a

cluster to be honest because it was out of our hands we were so out of the loop it wasn't like it was just a phone i could remove um it was a school device so the school removed the chrome boxer briefly while they um had forensics through it and like checked where it was coming from and what was happening. But the long and the short of it is she's back at school this year with another Chromebook and is still, you know, I just recently had a conversation with the school and said, actually, how can I monitor this? Because I tried to look at the history and you have to have an administrator password to get into it.

So I, as a parent, couldn't monitor it. I'm relying on the school to monitor it. But I think also they're a bit out of their depth as well because even they were shocked. Well, yeah. No one knows. There's no right or wrong. Everyone's just sort of making it up as we go along.

It's happened so fast too. It wasn't like everyone sat down and goes, this is what's going to happen. It was changing every day with technology and stuff and what what's out there so yeah but these chats are important for awareness even just to know your story that that happened so we're all aware and we can be vigilant right do our best that's good cool and uh as going back to holly's point all you can do is educate your kids on good decision making what to do if they are confronted with that this is an interesting text several nordic countries, including Sweden, Finland,

have increasingly prioritised traditional non-digital learning. They were finding it was ruining the kids. So they've gone back to printed textbooks. No digital learning over there. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. I don't know where to look in a FaceTime call.

Are you looking directly down at the screen? Are you looking all around? Where's your eyeline? You look at the screen. Are you looking directly down at the screen? Are you looking all around? Where's your eyeline? You look at the screen. You look at the person on the screen. You're a boomer. It's like when you talk to your parents and you're talking to their chin. I'm like Ben, though.

I like to do other stuff when you're communicating. So, yeah, you don't want to look like you're disengaged. But look, we're cold calling people with FaceTime. Roger Farrelly from The Rock. He answered the one when you plugged my phone in. Oh. Roger! Roger!

Did you ring the wrong person or something? Yeah, he thought it was an accidental dial. Yesterday, Brodie Kane, broadcaster, Megan, we chucked your phone in the mix. What? What's going on? No. What's going on?

Brodie Kane, welcome to Face the Face time Hey, lucky I thought about the radius I could have answered that differently So everyone, same reaction Oh, hello, very surprise answering isn't it When you see someone's face sling up on your screen But Roger and Brodie were both of our second calls Yeah, so the first call we made for you was a former colleague of yours Sling up on your screen. But Roger and Brodie were both of our second calls.

Yeah, so the first call we made for you was a former colleague of yours. Bree Thomasel, you know, host Celebrity Treasure Island. Yeah, on ZM as well. On ZM Drive, yeah. Yeah, about an hour after we had aired the segment, boom, your FaceTime starts ringing. Shall we plug the phone back in? We need to record this. This is Bree FaceTiming you back.

She doesn't know why. We're just getting a FaceTime back for Face the FaceTime. Bree Thomas has FaceTimed back with a FaceTime. Bree! Out of nowhere. Good morning. Hey, hi.

This is a game where we test the strength of the contact list to see who will in fact answer a FaceTime. And you've called back, Colman. On FaceTime. I look terrible, so that's how much Megan means to me. I was saying you're looking like a million bucks, mate.

Where are you? I've just finished Lattes, Pilates, and done a very sweaty class. I need to apologise because I was like, oh, she might still be in bed in her pyjamas, but no. Mate, got to get those gains. Got to get the gains. She's running a bit of a greasy hue at the moment. No, you look great.

You look dewy in a good way. I'm just sweat from head to toe. Like, I'm just straight swamp ass right now. All right, Bree. Well, hey, listen, you, again, two from two, Megan. Yes. Both have FaceTimes answered. Love you. You're welcome, Bree. Well, hey, listen, you again, two from two, Megan. Yes. Both have FaceTimes answered. Oh, I love you.

You're welcome, Megan. Now, Bree, now that I've got you on here, I'm going to ask a question, now publicly a question. Now, you're a big fan of the Cobb loaf. You've made one before. I've tried it before. You've made one, brought it to a party I was at. It was great.

Huge, huge fan of the Cobb loaf. I saw a T-shirt on the website, and I purchased it for Bree. I haven't given it to her yet. It says Cobb Gobbler. With a picture of a Cobb loaf on it. Now, is this a t-shirt? I bought it. It's yours.

I hope the size fits. Now, is it something you will wear or probably not? Yeah, look, I reckon that would be a great shirt to wear to Pilates, actually. Cobb Gobbler. Cobb Gobbler, yeah. And it's got a picture of the Cobb loaf on it. To be honest, I don't want to be an Ethan Gobbler Cobb Gobbler yeah and it's got a picture of the Cobb loaf on it to be honest I don't want to be an Ethan Gobbler

well I saw it and I thought of Bree so I bought it so I need to drop that off to you this week how big is the how big is the the Gobbler font

compared to the Cobb font oh about the same size yeah I heard that the picture of the Cobb loaf is so small that you can barely see it just a big Gobbler just a big Cobb Gobbler over here I heard that the picture of the cob loaf is so small that you can barely see it.

Just a big gobbler. Just a big cob gobbler over here. All right, well, I'll drop that off to you this week, all right? I appreciate that, mate. I've been waiting to get banned from the gym, so that would be good. Just FaceTime me when you're wearing it at the gym. I'd love to see it. Yeah, good.

Sounds good, mate. All right, bye, mate. I've gotten to a new hack now that my kids are a little bit older Was this an off-air mention? Yeah it was an off-air mention and now we're talking about it on the radio He was torn as to whether he'd share this about himself No this is not

This is when someone knocks on the door in your home in the evenings Normally that's not going to be a good thing. No, it could be, you know, someone trying to collect something. It could be some sort of problem in the neighborhood. I don't know. It just feels like. The stuff you don't want to deal with.

Just time to time. Now, I've got into the habit now of going to my kids, hey, can you go to the door? Can you see what's going on? And then loop me in, depending on how it goes. A little circle background. So, you know, the kids will go down and they'll go, oh, hi, and then

I'll sort of be standing there listening out and then sort of gauging or whatever it is. And they've got quite good on gauging whether this is a conversation they need to loop me in. Oh, Dan, the plumber's arrived. He's here to do something. You're like, oh, okay, nice.

That's right. He's here. He's going to be here at 2.30. Or someone, you know, trying to sign you up for 12 months or something you don't really want to sign up to. Yeah. So you'll feed them to the wolves, okay?

You'll feed them to the bloody UNICEF collectors come around, not wanting money, not wanting money, but wanting to sign you up for something for 28 years. And, you know, we do, you know do give to charity, but it's hard sometimes. Take a donation. Yeah, I feel like they need to take donations.

Take a donation. Five bucks, get on your way. But anyway, how do they get rid of them? Dad and Mum, I don't know if they're here right now. I don't know where they are. You know, that sort of thing. Oh, they play vague. Yeah.

Vague and old. You know, I'll mention it to them when we come back later on. Great. Great play, Ben. Good on them. Smart. Okay,'ll mention it to them and come back later on. Great. Great play, Ben. Good on them. Smart. Okay, why don't we open this up? Because, you know, being human, you don't always love human interaction.

It's great talking to people. Sometimes you don't want to. You want to avoid people. What are your tricks or the lengths you've gone to to avoid interacting with someone? Are we talking strangers or people you know? I say all sorts. Okay, because I don't want to sound like a B, like a nasty person, but there's a couple of people at work that I try and avoid.

And if you knew the back story, you'd be on board. We mutually avoid. Right. Mutual avoidance. Okay. And if any of us get to the lift at the same time, one will dart up the stairs. And you hate stairs.

You know I hate the stairs. My shoes don't allow for good stair dive. So that's nice of them taking the hit up the stairs too. Also getting a quick cardio blast in the morning. It's a quick dart for the stairs. I remember I saw someone and it wasn't someone I was trying to avoid

I was just like, oh if I start talking this is going to be a half an hour chat. Yeah, sometimes you have those sorts of things, right? I was in Paper Plus just picking up some supplies, printer ink just like, oh, if I start talking, this is going to be a half an hour chat. Yeah, sometimes you have those sorts of things, right? You don't have time. I was in Paper Plus just picking up some supplies, printer ink. And I saw them. I went, oh. And I went down on my knees.

And I can't remember what magazine it was, probably Home and Garden or something, and just buried my face in a Home and Garden magazine. So if anyone walked in on that, I'd be like, is he praying? Is this some sort of religious exercise? And then the person you know comes around and like, what are you doing? Yeah. No, thankfully I didn't just duck, hide down the aisle. Home and garden.

Well, hey, that's a great magazine. No one's believing home and garden for you, though. No, that's true. All right. Oh, and with that, it's 4487. What are you doing? There's little tricks that you could do if you don't feel particularly social. Or going out somewhere. Or feel like

giving to charity. It's called anti-social. John O'Bannon Megan. The podcast. The hits. Talking about little tricks and techniques that maybe you use when you want to avoid a certain social situation. Sometimes for me it's just not being able to

I don't like saying no and then sometimes you need some time to think about things and you feel like you're pressured when you put on the spot. Someone coming to your door, someone approaching the street, you know, like sometimes you need to kind of. Do you mind signing up to these direct debit payments? I just say to those people now, I listen to them and then I'm just like, I'm really sorry we can't at the moment. I really appreciate what you're doing, but I can't. And those people are doing amazing work, going out there and doing that. But not everyone is in the position to give at that particular moment. I really appreciate what you're doing but I can't. And those people are doing amazing work, going out there and doing that. But not everyone is in the position

to give at that particular moment. And we're not just talking about charity collectors this is just any social situation. Sometimes you just, you can't. You just can't. You're not in the mood. You're in a hurry, you've got stuff to do. I've been to a stag do. It's been a wonderful time but you know you get to the point where you're like

I'm stagged. I'm done. I'm done. And so we're in this establishment. And I'm like, what's the way out of this? Because, you know, you're kind of locked into that environment. And I'm in the lavatory. And I've told this to Ben before.

I was like, oh, there's an exit point there, the toilet window. I was going to joke. Have you actually climbed out a toilet window? But what I didn't factor into is it was up one story and beneath me was the courtyard where all the stag party were. And I just, I'm dangling out the window. I'm like, if I let go I could probably land, it'll be alright. And all

I hear is, what are you doing mate? And I look down like some sort of unfit Spider-Man clamping to the side of the building. I was like, oh, just having a bit of a laugh. This is crazy old John, hey. Just sort of dropping.

Keeping the party going, hey. Oh my God, quite the opposite. Trying to leave. Yeah, trying to get out. Couldn't really exit in that moment. That's not what some of you recommend. Yeah, no. Martin, wouldn't not recommend dangling from buildings,

but what's your trick to avoid having to interact? You know how you get a phone call from someone you don't want to really talk to, but you feel obliged to answer the phone? Yeah. It's nice and easy. You just answer the phone with, you know, OK, John, how's it going? Look, I've just got to warn you, my battery's going flat,

so make it quick and you can hang up whenever you feel like it. Oh, Martin. My friend uses this technique. He was saying, because I don't answer the phone, he was like, just answer it and then just say what you're saying. Just say any stage, just say, oh, yeah, hey, so my battery's about to die, but carry on and then just hang up and that's it. You can't use that on any of us now, though.

No. Let's try this in real time, Martin. Okay, so your phone's ringing. Ring, ring, ring, ring. Oh, good morning. How's it going? I'm not sure what you're talking about. The battery's going flat, and I can't really talk much.

Oh, it's John O'Bennett and Megan from The Hits, Martin. We just wanted to talk to you about signing up for 12 months to something. Martin? Oh, I know. His battery. He did say his battery was. He did say it. Makes a lot of sense.

John O'Bennett and Megan. The podcast a lot of sense. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. Talking about this yesterday, the unusual reasons that you've either been broken up with or you've broken up with someone, sometimes people don't tell you. And maybe you want to know,

and other times you probably don't want to know. Would you want to know, the honest, if you were doing something so irritating that it caused another human being not to want to spend any more time with you, would you want to know? Oh. I probably would if it's something

I could change yeah that's what I mean if it's something I could change I probably would yeah if it wasn't a physical thing or anything

yeah yeah you go okay just tell me so I can yeah but then after a time you know when you

I mean you feel like you know when you're doing I don't know I do heaps of annoying stuff so you know I know if you can't deal with it

see ya that's called marriage. You just learn to settle with it. Some great texts coming through on 4487. The funniest reason you've broken up with someone. He chewed way too loud.

It was like eating dinner with a cement mixer. I guess that's a tough one to change. Yeah. Once you've been eating. I feel like with those things, once you zero in on it too, it's very hard not to hear it.

Yeah. He bit his fingernails. They were so short and yuck. I wasn't having them anywhere near me. I read it verbatim. No, don't. No, don't. You can probably put the mask together for that one.

Another great text here. I broke up with someone because they would relentlessly tickle me. Isn't that supposed to be like a form of bonding? No, but if you hate being tickled, that would just be torture. That would be torture. Great text here, 4487. I broke up with a guy because he was bald. I really do feel terrible about it now.

Okay, you're listening to this show. Yeah. Don't say you feel terrible about it now because you know who you're texting. And another one here. I broke up with a guy because he was hard of hearing. And when we would connect physically, he would take his hearing aids out. And he wouldn't hear my instructions. Why does he need to take his hearing aids out?

I guess you want to get all in there, don't you? Roll the sleeves up. Put socks on in the bedroom. Maybe it's one more thing. It's like, hang on, I've just got to take one more thing off. I'm not completely naked. No, no, don't, don't. You'd just have to point, wouldn't you?

We've got Mark on the phone. Good morning, how are you? Good, good, yeah. Funniest reason that you were broken up with, or you broke up with someone? Yeah, I was, you know, at work, and then, yeah, my girlfriend at the time,

she told me it was over, and I said, why? She said, because you didn't make the bed. And I was like, you're sleeping in it. So you got blindsided at work, you hadn't made the bed. Had you made the bed previously, or this was an ongoing issue? I think it was just she just wanted a way out, I guess.

But you, like, left for work before she was out of bed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because I started work at, like, nine in the morning. And that was the best one they came up with out of the brainstorm. That was the best excuse. Yeah, so obviously because I was at work, I also had nowhere to go when I finished work because she'd kick me out.

Was all your stuff over there? Yeah, even though it wasn't even her house, she told me, don't come back. I thought, well, it's not really up to you, but righto. Sounds like you're better off without her, to be honest. Yeah. Are you happy now, Mark?

Yeah, I'm happy, yes. Are you making the bed, though, Mark, before you leave, though? I don't have anyone in bed with me, so'm happy as. Are you making the bed though, Mark, before you leave? I don't have anyone in bed with me. It's up to you. Your bed, your choice. She's back and speaking of being ill,

she's been off for a couple of days. I have. Not COVID, but I have been sick. Did you actually test? No, I didn't. I don't think it was. I should have tested today. You were like, it's not COVID. And I was like, okay. You had to test before you came into work. Yeah, I know. We were shoving rods up our nose every morning.

You got to be tested and you send in a thing. You're like, wow, fire up. So I actually could have had COVID. Who knows? Didn't feel like it, but I've been sick, but I'm back. I'm back. All right. Question number one.

Who competed in the 1974 heavyweight boxing match in Zari? Foreman and Marmite Alley, yeah. Nice, I didn't even finish the question, but you got it. Rumble in the Jungle. That's it, nice. Well done. Wonderful documentary, Win Rarer Kings, if you're into sport. It's really good, but anyway, count.

Okay, I need to clearly watch it because I can't even say that whole question. Question number two. The Suez Canal? Suez. Thank you. That's where that bigger boat got stuck. Okay, I need to clearly watch it because I can't even say that whole question. Question number two. Oh, no. The Suez Canal? Suez. Thank you. That's where that bigger boat got stuck, right? Yeah.

It's located in what country? Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Sudan? I'm pretty sure it's Egypt. That is correct, Johnno. Well done. Thank you. Here we go. Two, two.

Yes, boys. Yes. All right. Rick, Neil, Mike, and Vivian. Young ones. Vivian, young ones. No, it's Vivian. It's probably bad, buddy.

Vivian. It's spelled Vivian. Like, I'll give you the Suez Canal. But Vivian. It was spelled with a Y. Oh, my God. Okay. Cheers.

Okay. Question number four. What metal band... No one gives us credit for having to decipher your questions as well. Bonus points. Yeah, you should get bonus points. What metal band was formed by guitarist Dave Mustaine? Mustaine.

Megadeth. That's correct. I pointed at Jono. Zero. Days. Well done. Seeked into my paws. All right. question number five.

Which English football team play their home games at Loftus Road? Is it the Wolverhampton Wanderers, Queen's Park Rangers, or AFC Richmond? I feel like I've heard Queen's Park Rangers and Loftus Road in the same. I'm going to throw this out there because I don't want to get this wrong. There's football fans listening to this right now. Is AFC Richmond, is that the team from, what's his face? Ted Lasso. It's not even a real team, is it?

Okay, so you're nice. Pretty sure it is, yeah. Okay, well done. Okay, 4487 on the text. Those two options that we're going for. Wolverhampton Wanderers or Queen's Park Rangers. It's which English football team play their home games at Loftus Road? Let's use our lifeline on that one.

Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. New Zealand Herald Daily Quiz. We're up to where, Patricia Lee? Question number five, and it's which English football team play their home games at Loftus Road? The options were Wolverhampton Wanderers,

Queen's Park Rangers or AFC Richmond. Queen's Park Rangers keeps coming through on the text machine. We're using our lifeline. We can go to the text machine once, so we'd like to lock that in, I'm thinking, our lifeline. We can go to the text machine once. So we'd like to lock that in, I'm thinking, right? Yep. Yep, that is correct.

Well done. There we go. They get everyone that text. Beautiful. All right. We are smoking. You're doing well. Getting cocky and arrogant. This is the dangerous part.

It is. All right. Which country, question number six, in what country was singer-songwriter Rihanna born? Jamaica. Well done. That is correct. Hey, do you remember the time Megan was on a plane with Rihanna and she had flown around the world to all

of Rihanna's shows, but then she got a bit scratchy that she hadn't seen Rihanna and then Rihanna hopped on the microphone on the plane? I want everybody getting a ride to a Aussie plane and we're going to this show in New York, girl. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I can hear you, but we can't see you.

We can hear you. We can hear you, but we can't see you. I'm sorry. Just Rihanna at the front. I love that audio. We can hear you. I can imagine you with your arms folded too. I can hear her, but we can't see her. It still remains like one of the greatest experiences of my life.

But in that moment, it was very salty. All right, next question number seven. What singer and actress was born Frances Ethel Gumm in Minnesota in 1922? Was it Doris Day, Peggy Lee or Judy Garland? Oh, Minnesota in 1922. Was it Doris Day, Peggy Lee, or Judy Garland? Oh, gosh. 1922? When was The Wizard of Oz? I think it was, I'm leaning towards Judy Garland

because I think I remember reading that her name was something like Gum. And I was like, what? Okay. Was it that? Because she was only really young, though, when, obviously, Wizard of Oz. So that would mean that, of 1922, she was like that.

Is that movie made in the 30s? I think it was 1936 or 38. Oh, okay. She was a teenager. I remember reading an article there. They pumped up on all the amphetamines to get some more work out of her. They did. Dree just slapped her at one stage.

Because he wasn't wild. And a couple of people just slipped. He did it so bad. Snort this, mate mate we'll get another couple of hours out of you slapped her on set okay let's go Judy Garland that is correct

well done she's had boobies been around a long time I remember reading her name was gum and I was like what okay well done

alright question number 8 what New Zealand town is famous for its giant gumboot statue and calls it well done well done yes okay question number 9 Well done. That is correct.

Yes. Okay, question number nine. I know it's not Nine Inch Nails nails and I know it's not Joy Division. That is correct. It is craft work. Well done. I've heard of craft work but anyway that's it. Joy Division's a great band. Okay, so what are you going to answer now? This is question number ten.

Oh wow. Well done. I feel like we kind of deserve this. Yeah, you're right. There's definitely some days where you're like, They did not work for that Yeah But not this one Not this one

My facials have given nothing away I will say No Yeah alright Question number 10 The songs Come Together Something

And Here Comes the Sun All feature on what Beatles album Was it Let It Be The Best of the Beatles Or Abbey Road Now Kevin Boyce Your dad

Huge Beatles fan Ben Boyce You would have listened. Come together someday and... And Here Comes the Sun. Featured on what Beatles album? Yeah, either let it be the Best of the Beatles or Abbey Road. Well, they all would have been on the Best of the Beatles.

Yeah, to go with it, yeah. Because that is the Best of the Beatles. Yeah. But were they actually on... Yeah. Oh, look, that's really... That's... Originally was

Why would you not put Those three songs On the best of the Beatles I feel like My dad had the best of the Beatles I feel like maybe That was two albums But yeah

But then Would he class that as Yeah so we'd class that As the best of the Beatles right Yeah like it's Is it a trick question Oh Oh I don't know

Your faces are real good today Should we lock in Abbey Road Oh you've really done it I thought we were going For best of the Beatles You've done a YouTube Oh, I don't know. Your faces are real good today. Should we lock in Abbey Road? Oh, you've really done it. I thought we were going for best of the Beatles. You've done a U-turn down Abbey Road, haven't you? Someday, come together. Someday. Okay, we're going to need an answer, and I know that I don't have one.

You know there's people again screaming at the radio right now. I'm sorry. Should we lock in Abbey Road? Yeah, let's go Abbey Road. That is correct. Oh my God, that's clear. The distinctive Abbey Road. Wonderful album cover, right?

When they're walking across the pedestrian crossing. And there we go. We got it. Well done, team. And we'll take you out with Megan and Rihanna. Thank you, guys. Hang on, wait for it. We were on that plane a long time. Amazing. And we'll take you out with Megan and Rihanna. Thank you. Hang on, wait for it.

We were on that plane a long time. We can hear you, but we can't see you.