Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: How Jono's Donation Made Ben Look bad...

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

On today’s show: Ben's costume addiction is causing tension at home... Megan's parents Ray & Wayno reflect on life before her! We continue the speculation about Megan’s absence aligning with F1 broadcast times We chat with Sandra Dennis, a former principal discusses the impact of KidsCan on low-decile schools How Jono's donation unintentionally pressures Ben... Ben's story of ripped poop bag and the trauma of touching dog waste! Instagram: @THEHITSBREAKFAST Facebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & MeganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thanks to hello fresh cookies, delicious dinners, the whole family will love because nothing beats dinner time. Welcome to the podcast on a Tuesday morning. You know, Megan, today, second day of being sick with Tommy Bug. She might be back on deck tomorrow, we'll see. Tommy bugs, I haven't had touch wood. One for a while, but when you got them?

Not fun, eh, not fun. Can you remember the last time you have... Upset Tummies, even upset Tummy, something that hasn't gone on as long as Meeans, but that's not fun as well, too, you know? Yeah, just flicking through the paper. here and there's a section for abandoned cars

so they've got like a little notice oh like come pick up your car your car your car's being abandoned and picked up by a tow truck which there's about 12 cars oh so but this but what because the people that are parked illegally abandoned vehicles

I guess they could have been stolen and things like that oh yeah I get it yeah have you do want me to riddle through these or is it probably not really Probably not, no, no, probably, I mean, it's interesting, they better nah, but once you start reading out there. All of them have been towed, yeah, towed from, so they'll be sitting at the tow yard.

And I guess the tow yard's like, come pay for you your car, we're going to money. Because up until then, they're not getting their money, right, are they? Right, yeah. So, yeah. I don't know who's looking at this, though, in the paper on page 42. No, you're probably right. You're like, I've got a, my car, where is that? I'm sure.

I look at the paper and see if it's in the abandoned car list, you know? Sure, I had a car. Where do I leave it? Yeah, I've got, so many cars. stolen cars end up being left in our road all the time yeah regularly yeah i um drove to work a few months ago and there was uh one parked across the neighbor's driveway still running all the cars just it was like five o'clock in the morning and then um cheese we look back because we had a camera on the house and we could look back on the camera so casual really so okay they kind

of rock up they're kind of out there they get out they have a little vape this sort of chatting around the car and like oh yeah good night you another great night successful i guess that's the thing i mean if you're doing it maybe you're doing enough you don't you know you get a bit more relaxed with it i'd be terrible i'd be but then the key from all of those things is probably to look relaxed you know like you're right yeah nervous sort of me i'd be shocking i was thinking about that as going through the airport the other day you know even you know even going to i have fruit my bag i don't think i do you know like you know because i carry lunch and stuff around i don't but you start getting inside your own head imagine if you're actually smuggling stuff i mean

Imagine if you were smoking and stuff worse than fruit. Jeez, that would be a terrifying walk through the audio, after the airport. Wouldn't it? Yeah, you're really got to have yourself grounded, don't you? You'd almost have to mentally take yourself to another place. Just not even think about what you're carrying. Yeah, we went overseas where the dog came up and to my daughter's back.

And we're like, what is she, is she forgotten something in her bag? She's like, no, I don't have anything bad. We're like, what a candy or thing like that? No, and they took up on the table and like that. And they went through nothing. She was fine. But they thought maybe it was like the resemblance of something. from a lunchbox maybe like from the school right yeah but then they looked at the dog

like yeah disappointed in the dog he's like I'm a dog man yeah a little bit like wrong on that one delay he's going over the dog like I'm not an x-ray machine lady yeah he's wrong on that one you know trying my best out here well I smelled something you know so it was nothing my daughter's like sort of freaking out like what if I what have I got like and she didn't have anything she's like I don't have anything yeah but what did I read I read something the other day, really interesting that they've trained oversized rats to smell, like, bombs or something? Oh, really? It was really, uh, it was like, oh.

It says yes, and it's actually true and pretty amazing. They're called hero rats, the real life trained giant African pouch rats, rats that are used to sniff out landmines and detect diseases like tuberculosis. Yeah. Yeah, so they are. I've been training incredible sense of smell. I mean, you know, ratatouille. movie. I mean, he had a great sense of smell for the chef.

Yeah, wonderful chef, too. I always notice when I'm sick, too, if you've got it cold or whatever, my dog will smell, can smell nose and mouth. So he, I think dogs can smell sickness too, can't they. They probably know that you do, yeah. So there you go. Yeah, other country,

Cambodia, Angolia, Tanzania, Mozambique, they're using stuff for the landmines, smelling them out, and also, yeah, there's other pieces of TB, tuberculosis. Poor old rats will send them out to the landmines, aren't we? And they're like, what are there, what are you know? Hopefully they're not just going,

bang, found it. There was another one. He was a good rat, that one. He was our best rap, but he found it. Yeah, like, you hope so, right. Oh, yeah, I'm sure they're not. But if you're going to pick between me and a rat, I'm sitting the rat out there all day.

Well, there we go. Enjoy the podcast. Jop. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. The hits. Just looking to see, New Zealand are going to be growing the world's largest variety of blueberries.

As big as ping pong balls, they reckon. Jesus. That's sort of. Willie Wonka, sort of, visionary. Wonka would have liked that in his factory. So at some stage, New Zealand will be the proud owners of, I think, got to be the biggest berries in the world.

Why do you do that? I don't know. Pump him full of... It feels like you could be injecting, like an Olympic athlete that's gone, the dark side. Every year there's a new, there's a new, you know, hybrid of an apple

or, you know, this apple's made love of this apple, and now we've got the pink purple bonanza apple, and I'm going to go out and say, I reckon the apple market, well-cated more now. I reckon we can put a pin in apples. You know, we've got so many great, great apples out there. You're right.

How do you like them apples? Love them all. Yeah, a lot of varieties of apples. Something that I got called out for by my wife, and I was trying to, you know, trying to justify something. A big bug bear in our relationship between my wife and I is the fact that I buy a lot of costumes. Yeah. It fills up the garage.

She can't park a car, and I seem to buy more and more costumes. Okay, so she doesn't like your costume buying. Is there anything about her that you're like? No, heaps. No, heaps, heaps, there's heaps, yeah. There's heaps of stuff, and we're not all perfect, you know, like, yeah. Some of us like costumes, and I can list off, you know, I've got a document here. Do you want me to see you on the Google?

I may not mention all those things on the radio anyway. So, costumes are a big bug bear our relationship. It's one of those things, kind of like Megan would buy packages. She'd buy expensive shoes and handbags. I buy some costumes and try and sort of slip them into the house without my wife noticing as well. But she found one the other day. When's the ideal delivery time for you? Yeah, well, normally it's been, you know, at any time during the day.

It's great. But she's obviously out at the moment. She's at home. She's had back surgery as well, so she's discovering costumes arriving. So what do you need this for? You're going to use it once and then you're not going to use it again. It's going to sit in the garage. Oh, she says it's going to be landfill eventually.

I'm going to know, no, it's not. It's going to be passed down to my kids. They're going to have the burden of all my costumes. And then they'll be featured in the museums. And I thought I had a good argument, too, because I'd just been watching the night before some video clips on Mr. Beast, you know, the very well-known YouTuber, one of the biggest YouTubers in the world. And, you know, he's really done a great job of not only being very successful,

but also I was reading about how he invests back in. You know, he gets a million dollars for a video, he puts it back into the next video and stuff like that. So that's, yeah, right. He's really like prize money and things like that. The video is feeding the fire. So I thought, well, maybe I should use the Mr. Beast analogy. I'm like, well, he just, he, you know, he's investing back in the next video.

I'm investing in my video. That's how you get momentum on. I'm buying a cost. And she's like, did you honestly just compare yourself to Mr. Beast and putting a million dollars back in a video? Well, if we're just talking pure investment, we're both investors in social content. Yeah, so an inflatable costume of Timu didn't quite, didn't quite win me the arguments. Oh, what was it the other day? I've had all sorts of random ones.

It was a Christmas theme one, actually. A large Christmas tree-based one and a large jack-o'-lantern as well. So you're just getting ahead of the seasons. You know, you're prepping. Yeah, every time the kids want to buy something off Timu, I'm like, oh, let's see what's costumes are. on offer, just a, you know, if you're ordering something, you might as well get in there, so yeah. You'd be happy producer Grace sent through a video yesterday.

Yes, very cool, actually, yeah. She had a big blow-up, she's a big blow-up football for Halloween. Yeah, I know. So you'd be, that would have you proud. Have you got to blow up football? No, no, she asked me first. I didn't have one. So, yeah, there's a space of my garage, Grace, if you want, if you want to hand that one over. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast.

The Hits. Now, reminded us, Megan's away this morning with sickness, but her parents, Ray, Ray and Waino from Nelson, swung by the studio on And this is exactly, they fulfill exactly this topic. Have a listen. I don't know how much of this is true, but they used to always say. And I have seen pictures of them driving around Australia and a combi van with surfboards on the top.

I've never, ever known either. I don't even know if they actually could surf. No, they come with the van. They come with the van. They look cool. They look cool. Yeah, it's good. Come in her bikini with her surfboard?

Yeah. No, no, the surfboards, they didn't really come down that often, but they look good. It looked like you were on your way to surf or it just come from a surf. Oh, yeah, yeah. You were selling the dream. So what were you doing before kids, Wayne? How good was your life? I'm right here.

Wealthier. Yeah, okay. Yeah, well, I went to Australia and then I don't know what happened. I'm going to invite to my wedding, so I come back home. Oh, you got an RSVP for your own wedding. This is a phone of contention. Come home and got married two weeks later. A week later, we went home to Australia for honeymoon and stayed three years.

He's only after me because I was a rich bitch. Heavy pockets did you row? The women in this family make the coin. Oh right. Okay, I'll come back from Oz. I get married, but you're coming back over for a holiday. You're paying for it. Did you propose to her?

No. So no one proposed? Oh, my God. She's got an invite. True. Really? Yeah. We're getting married that day?

Does everything ask about, face. What's the wildest thing that happened in Australia? Until we're getting stuck in the combi, stuck under the car park, underneath the, you know, surfboards, we got stuck to the beach. We got wedged, we had a wedgy. So we went out onto the beach and there's no one had any clothes on except us. And we thought, oh gee, what do we help on the end to get the combi out? You only had naked people to help you?

Yeah, yeah. It was families of everything. Oh my God, is that how it started? That's how it started. It's how it started. You can't beat him, join them. Yeah, I said to Ray, well, I'm embarrassed as anything. You'd imagine, just put around the other way.

Embarrassed as hell, standing there with, like, there was kids of all ages. Lots of children. And families. No one, you know, it was just what they did. We're talking about 50 odd people. And I said, well, either get a kid off or we've got to leave because I can't. You're into embarrassed. I'm blocked like a pervert, you know, just the other way around.

Who's this fully clothed man in the beach? I'm not getting out of the combi. You can dig it out. This sounds like a ploy from Dad. It does. It was actually amazing because there was so many kids. And I mean, you know, you get these two hot rods. Stop talking about the kids. There are odd rods that are lily white, all the bits of lily white.

I'm putting it on the love with you. Stop talking about the kids. And that we just fitted in. Just no worries at all. Let's tell you tell the story. Just let's focus on the children. Yeah, less about that. Lots of people on the beach, R-18.

I never knew that's how it started. And so then did the friendly naked people, did they help you remove your van? Yep, yep. Yeah, good. Yeah, all come down. We went back again. And so, what, did they do that naked or clothes?

Oh, I didn't know the naked one. No, naked. Yeah, it was saying we had to get his clothes off to ask for help so that everyone naked could help. A group of naked people. I love that. They thought it was a buzz. New recruits.

Wow. Hey, well, listen, thank you for coming in. Thanks, loved it. Like every second. John O'Bennon and Megan, the podcast. The hit. A wild spring weather going on at the moment, heavy rain and gales, making its way up the country, South Island, taking a bit of a battering over the last 24 hours and things not looking

so good for the north. No, Megan, with us today, claims of a sick stomach, and we were jumping to conclusions yesterday that maybe it could have been a smoke screen for her to watch the Formula One, which was broadcast from 8 a.m. about this time yesterday. And it was going to conflict with the radio, was going to get in the way of her love for Formula One viewing. We actually phoned her after the show on the podcast intro to try and get to the bottom of it.

Hey. Oh, yeah, well put it on. How are you? Yeah, I'm good. How you go? Megan, Megan, how's the Formula One going? Yeah. Not watching it.

No, she said, not watching it. What? Whatever? Whatever. There's been some suspicions raised this morning, Megan? Oh, yeah. About the timing of the Formula One? Yeah, it just seems very, very convenient. I'm in bed.

She sounded sick. Oh, look, yeah, she did sound sick. She did sound sick. I still believe that ever she was sick, she'd be watching this Formula One. In bed, perfect place to be watching. I mean, her eyes aren't sick. No, laptop thing, in bed, perfect place to watch Formula One. but yes, she does sound sick.

So, yeah, we phoned her and harassed her for the podcast intro on her sickbed. Okay, then after that, we're walking upstairs for a meeting. And then I can hear my trousers making noises. And you never want noises coming from your trousers. No, you don't, you're right. It's a lot of a life's lessons in it. In the workplace. Yeah.

Any noises. And it's that FaceTime, you know, the brr... I'm like, oh, my trousers are phoning someone. I pull my phone out, and Megan's been in there on the screen in my podcast. pocket. Oh, hello there. And she does, to be fair to me, look very washed out and sick.

Sort of a pasty white complexion like myself. So I was like, oh, sorry, mate, didn't mean to FaceTime you. And then you kind of, once you have engaged FaceTime, you feel like you need a little bit of banter. And so we had a bit of conversation. Then someone else had directed him, we just hung up on him. Okay?

That was done. Then, in the afternoon, I'm at home. I can hear the same familiar noise coming from my trail. I'm FaceTiming her again. You're not faced on me again. Two times are I. hung up on that one. Oh, yeah.

I didn't want her to have to. And it happened, I've had a shocker over the last three days, Friday night. Just walking into the house, that same noise is going, brr-r, and I pull it out. It's FaceTiming Jeremy Wells. Oh, Jeremy Wells, 7-sharp Radio Horeki. From Hohraki. And my wife's watching that. She's like, that's embarrassing.

So I hung up quickly. And then this was at 6.55 or something. He's got 7-sharp at 7 o'clock. 7.35, being the guy he is, he phones back. And I'd be like, what's Trotow? What does he want to FaceTimmy? That must be important. And I said, sorry, mate, pants call.

And I could hear it. Did he FaceTime you back? No, he just did a phone call back. And I was like, sorry, mate, pants call. And I could hear the disappointment in his voice. He was like, oh, so he didn't mean to call me. I was like, no, as my pants kind of decided to call you. And then so we were in a bit of conversation.

And I'm like, how are you been, mate? And he's like, yeah, good. He's like, I've got a golf tour. He's playing in a golf tournament for Ryan Fox. Yeah, gotcha. I was like, oh, we should go to the driving range. He's like, yeah, okay, I guess. I was like, what are you doing next week?

I was like, Wednesday, we'll go to the driving rate. It's like, okay, because I felt like we needed to book something in. Why? I don't know. So now I feel like I bullied him into some sort of thing at the driving range. I can't play golf that good. Maybe we should call him tomorrow and go, do you really want to go? You can pull out.

Well, don't call him, texting him out. They'll feel more pressure if we call him. True, I feel like I'm put, yeah. You've definitely had it. I wanted to make some sort of point of the phone call. Yeah, but it was a mistake. It was a mistake. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast.

The Hits. We're going to be playing handball for 24 hours next week, raising money for kids can. At Eden Park, we're going to be doing that. Currently 157,000 children in New Zealand living and material hardship. So we're hoping to change that. Sandra Dendez, who is the ex-principle at Linwood in Christchurch. 25 years at Linwood North is the principal. Good morning to you.

Good morning. How's retirement? Are you retired? Or is it, as well like my dad, who says his retirement, retired and he's now relieved teaching every second day? Just in the early couple of weeks, so it's amazing, thank you. I've got it. Now, do you know, you would know Kevin Boyce, I imagine? Yes.

Oh, really? Everyone knows Kevin Boyce. Yeah, he loves it. Teaching-wise, yeah, he's way more popular than me, that's for sure. Yeah, how long would have been teaching for 40 years? Yeah, long time, long time, yeah. Kevin Boyce, big player in the teaching game. Now, Sandra, kids can, we're a huge.

for your school, we understand. Absolutely. All the support over the years, they would have to be the number one supporter of our school. Incredible journey, incredible support. So we know about, you know, the lunches, the jackets, the shoes, all that sort of stuff that they provided? Yes.

Look, every child is treated the same, but also children who need extra support, a given support. So when a child starts at FETO school, they're given one of the beautiful kids cans jackets and beautiful fleecy-line jacket, food that's available for breakfast and for snacks during the day. The shoes are a tremendous support. Children wear through shoes pretty quickly. And so once a term we look at the shoes that the children have left outside the classes before they go in

and see if there's anybody needing shoes. And parents know that they can go to the school office and ask for some shoes if they're necessary. What a wonderful system you got set up there. And what does it mean to the kids and the families when this stuff is provided? Well, at a level playing field for the children, while it's low-desol school,

there's all levels of society or family that come to the school. And it means it's a level playing field for the children and to be able to come to school ready to learn so that they're supported to be warm and dry and fed and hopefully have an inspiration to be at school daily to learn and get themselves out of the journey of poverty. Looking for a better future, we talk about what difference they're going to make when they grow up,

what they want to be when they grow up, and give them a focus. Yeah, because it is, we've said it a couple times the last couple of weeks, but it is heartbreaking to know this is happening and still happening in New Zealand. You know, you don't think about it always happening in New Zealand, but it's still going on. It is still going on. And even within Christchurch, people are in denial that there's this level of poverty in our community and they also, I think, get into shitting. This shouldn't be happening. Parents should be doing this or should be doing it.

For all varieties of reasons, unfortunately, this poverty is a. alive and real and we need the support. There you go. So the money that is going to be donated when we're playing 24 hours of handball is going towards a fantastic cause and is used. It isn't gone to waste and just truly

benefits the kids in their learning. Yeah, it's absolutely no waste and I couldn't even think about what it would be like to lead a high equity school without a partnership for kids can. They really value what they've been given and don't just

take it for granted. Well, thank you so much for your time this morning, and thank you for shining a bit more of a light on the wonderful things that kids can do. Oh, thank you for the opportunity. My pleasure. If you want to donate, you can head to kidscambal.org.n. And you can help out. Just a couple of dollars will really help out Kiwi kids in need.

John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The hit. So we're doing a landmark study to see if they could stop some kids having allergies as well. And new researchers found that. It kind of worked in somewhere. giving these kids back in the day. They've done it safety, of course, a lot of peanuts and things like that. Stopped a lot of the kids having nut allergies.

Yeah. Because originally they were thinking you've got to wait until three years old, but they were getting it into their system earlier. Lots of the country in the Middle East, I think. No nut allergies over there, thanks to early introduction of peanuts. So there you go. So it worked 10 years is a long time to be doing the survey. I suppose you've got to give it a decent way, don't you?

So what are you saying? Just take nuts everywhere now? I'm still nervous about nuts? Well, some people. are, you know, but these people under the right conditions have obviously made sure it didn't happen. Now, I must apologise to you, Ben, something happened yesterday. We went out to Rainbow's End to check out the new pirate ship that we're taking on its

maiden voyage this Friday. And if you want to go along, if you want to join us on board, the Pacifica, 4487, what can you bring on board? We've got rum, we've got costumes, we've got flamboyant pirates, we've got people who's granddad built the original. So we looked at the pirate ship for the first time yesterday. So this is our first time seeing the brand new Pirateship We're going to be riding it all the way

To, we'll probably be in the same location on Friday Yeah, it doesn't actually, well it moves up and down There it is, there it is It's more piracy than the original Yeah, isn't it? Yeah, we'll put that on the Hits Breakfast It's very cool looking, big boats It looks amazing

So you can't wait to see it in action Yeah, it looks like a cast member From the Pirates of the Caribbean It looks really magnificent So, okay, that was done Did that, tick, box ticked me So then we're driving away from the there and we're at the traffic lights okay and it's a busy intersection and there's a

gentleman there he's got a cup and he's wandering up and down the lines of traffic yeah and it's not often these days that you actually have coins and things it's a cashless society isn't it for the most but I don't know how they're making it rain in the nightclubs nowadays how are they doing that oh trust me I'll put it on afterpay or you know maybe they are going swiping or swive lots of afterlays and make it a rain you know trust me that was a $20 transaction there. Usually this would be money falling from the ceiling.

There and there and there'll be like 1.25% on top of this too. Maybe I won't make it rain and make it drizzle but yeah so this

I had a coin and I was like oh listen I'll chuck a coin in the guys' cups so boom did that and then what I didn't realize

is that you were behind me and I just happened to look up in the rear vision mirror and then I can see you panicking around on your car you're like diving into the footwell

you're trying to get stuff out of the seat console, you're looking for money. I was like, I think I've got a coin in here somewhere. I couldn't find it. Glove box, I could see you panic. And I was like, I put this guy behind me under so much unnecessary coin pressure. Yeah.

And then you had to do the international symbol of hands in the air. And I'd look, too. And it wasn't one of those token gestures. Sometimes you're like, oh, I've a look, oh, not there, you know. But this time I was like, no, I know. I had a $2 coin in here somewhere. And I could not find it. I'm sorry, mate, can't do anything.

Could not find out. No, no. So, yeah, there's a lot of, you don't realize what pressure you're putting on the motorist behind you. Because then he's like, hey, well, old mate up the front there. He was prepared for the intersection. Apologies to that guy. I tried to come through, but couldn't.

Yeah, no, you were looking hard. And I was like, I made him so flustered at the traffic lights. Oh, go, gum, I was going on the half think of gum. I was like, oh, I don't know. Do you want it. You want to do anything. John O'Bennon and Megan, the podcast, the hits. The Internet's had another big outage.

Anything to do with Amazon and the cloud. which is affecting websites like Snapchat, Roblox as well, a lot of banks overseas as well, so things are down at the moment, Fortnite. Yeah, so if you're logging on to some things on the internet this morning, some things may not be working. That's why I always carry cash. Do you have cash?

Now remember that time? Remember that time everything's shut down, no, get petrol? Oh, no. I've always got a little bit of cash. Have you? What a boomer old person. It's under my mattress. Well, it actually works well for what we're about to talk about, you know,

because we wanted to talk about what, you know, were you cool? Were you cool before kids? Yeah. I mean, kids come along and they're a treat, you know, they're a gift that have been sent and you love it. You wouldn't change it for the world. But then you reflect back and you're like, shit, I was a lot cool. You know, it was a lot of them.

I don't think I was ever cool, to be honest, but I guess I was probably before kids, you know, responsibility, no responsibilities at such, really. And that comes with, that's great, but it also comes with, you know, well, if I screw up, I'm affecting a whole lot of other people. people now. Yeah. So you was probably making shows and doing things and you know, ah, yeah, what's the worst that can happen? Well, getting arrested at the airport is probably the worst that can happen. Wouldn't do that now? No, exactly. So that's a good wake-up call.

You learn that lesson. He now smuggles in a far different system, don't you? It never gets caught. Now, producer Troy, you brought this up the other day. Your parents, you discovered, you didn't realize this were stock car drivers. That's cool. That's pretty cool. Then you came along in the stock car career, what? Just came crashing down. Quite literally, actually. Mum crashed into a concrete fence and broke her back. Really?

Completely fine now. But that kind of killed the stock car career. That and me. Yeah. That's impressive. And their dad was in the pits, mechanical on some of the stock cars. I think they were also,

this might be a false memory, but I think they were announcers for the stock car track as well. Oh, like, yeah, got our, 54. Yeah. So what do they do after that? Um, mom went into office managing Right, okay, yep

Dad went into logistics Yeah, see Transport Not, not as a stock car Not a stock car, Yeah You're from Greymouth though Everyone's a stock car driver

Right, yeah Yeah It was just You had to do your time Yeah, okay So I went home to the hits Were you cool before kids What were you doing

Before kids Shelley, we actually spoke Quids in any of the show This is about a week or so ago Oh, fun facts I used to be a dad-devil Before I had kids

I was a paraglider, rock climber, snowboarder, flatliner, and then I had kids. Oh, wow. And then life went downhill. And life happened. But one of them pointing at themselves going, and I'm neurospicey. Oh, what neurospicey? So that's Shelley. Some parents just carry on their wild ways.

Then they get the kids into it too, don't they? We've got, you know, bungee jumping babies and things, you're right. So 800 of the hits, well, what were you cool before kids? Now, as Ben mentioned, the clouds down, Amazon, Bezos. This is all Bezos's problems. Can you text us? I think the text. Some texts are coming through.

John O'Bennon and Megan, the podcast, The Hits. And happy Diwali, for those celebrating around the world. It seems to an amazing footage. The Festival of Lights, of just the beautiful light shows everywhere around the world as well. So happy Diwali. Well, you're cool before kids. That's the topic this morning. Oh, 800 of the hits.

Megan's away today. She's thanks to her kids, got a tummy bug. So that's what happens, you know. but before that probably wouldn't have even been an issue. No, you're right. I used to get home at 3 a.m. now, ironically, get up at 3 a.m. It's life now. Were you doing some dangerous stunts and stuff before kids came along?

Yeah, I know regrettable hairstyles, like dreadlocks and things like that. But as I say, I've never professed to being cool. I would never say at any stage I was cool through the thing. Just more adventurous. Maybe, yeah, maybe a bit more, you know, like not thinking, you know. Sometimes it's good to not think about everything as deeply as I do think about things now. Well, the longer you live, the more you think, don't you? I mean, I was a highly underqualified stuntman for radio on the rock.

Going, skateboarding through flaming rubbish bins and seabiscating through shark-infested water. Oh, never, never in my wildest dreams. Do that. But, yeah, were you cool before kids? Matt on the phone, were you? Yes, yeah. I used to pride myself in arriving late to a party and catching up with a quick bottle of wine or two. You would turn up late and then you'd be behind the pace.

Behind the pace and I'm not coordinated enough to do the whole spinning vortex thing. So you put a swore and bend the top around and that lets the air and the wine goes down nice and far. So this is a straw pito you're calling it, a straw pito. Yeah, it's a straw pito. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. It does the hard work of trying to stay coordinated vortexing it in. Right. I learned you've got to go for like a medium sweet wine, nothing too,

dry nothing to sweet and if you add bubbles um you're over yeah right so you got to get the wine the wine selection just right okay and how many so you're a straw pre a straw pito professional yes yeah and make sure you say those words together yeah you don't want to spend it kind of pause in there and it sounds real bad yeah you're right yeah good yeah good well sorry we're just yeah getting into the straw pito game okay you're saying it together you know good yeah cool All right, so when's the last time you did any of that sort of nonsense? Oh, about ten years ago. Yeah, before kids.

It would have been before Sevens. I was a strong supporter of the Wellington Sevens. Yeah, now nowadays it would take you three weeks to recover from a straw pedo. Oh, wouldn't even think that. I'm not a slightly over 4% here, and I've got to hang over for four days. There we go. Here's Matt the straw pito specialist. No, straw pito.

Yeah, say together. Say it together. Sue with us on the show, you were cool before kids, Sue. I was. Well, I sort of thought so. My ex-husband and I used to race dirt bikes. Oh, wow. That is cool.

That's a cool thing to do. And the kids came along, and did you stop, or did you get them involved? Well, I stopped. He carried on. The kids kept racing, and now my son's a professional athlete racing for Yamaha, USA. Is it really? That's awesome. He is.

What's your son's name? Liam Draper. He's actually, yeah, he's pretty good at it, actually. It looks like he's number two in the US. He is, and I'm heading over there tomorrow, actually. Oh, that's awesome. Very cool. Oh, we're sure what the best of us.

There we go. Well, you started it off by being a cool parent, and now look at you. Yeah. Yeah, no, he can support me in my old age time. Hey, good end, congratulations. See, that's so awesome, a successful son like that. Something my parents could only dream of.

Have a great day. Safe travels. John O'Bennon and Megan, the podcast. The Hits. Huge strike going around the country on Thursday. Nurses, healthcare workers, and a whole lot of teachers on a mega strike, they're calling it on Thursday this week.

That's a big strike all at once. I think there's some other industry, well, other government departments, maybe like ACC are looking at striking, things like that as well. Radio? I'm not sure. Join, and we're going to join the madness?

I don't know if radio joining in as well, but yeah. Don't have to make much impact. Oh, well, hey, good luck to everyone. I hope they get what they need. And Megan, not with us again this morning day too. Come down with a terrible stomach bug over the weekend, quartered off Andrew, and as is the way of the world, when someone says they're sick, your natural inclination is to not believe them.

I don't know why. It's just we don't believe people now. Well, I didn't, you know, because she was saying on Friday, as we mentioned yesterday, she was like, Oh, the Formula One's on Monday. How am I going to be able to watch that? It's around 8 o'clock. This is where she was actually saying.

Yeah, she was. And then all of a sudden she's sick. And then I'm like, well, you were saying about the Formula One. So that's the reason why I put some doubt in. But now, good play, because she's taken today off as well. So you've got to back it up, don't you? Yeah. You're ready to sell the story.

So we phoned her on the show, sorry, on the podcast intro yesterday. Because we did want to get them. I mean, all morning we were saying, hmm, don't know about this. And this is Megan, live on speakerphone. Now, Megan, away from the show today. I'm just going to call her. her because the timing of her messaging us 4 o'clock in the morning. Well, Formula One's on at the moment too, right?

Hey. Oh, yeah, well put it on. How are you? Yeah, I'm good. Hey, Megan. Megan, how's the Formula One going? Not watching it. No, she said, not watching it.

Whatever. There's been some suspicions raised this morning, Megan. Oh, yeah. About the timing of the Formula One? Yeah, it just seems very, very convenient. I'm in bed at the moment. Okay, okay, okay. Laptop, laptop, or phone?

What are you watching it on? Well, listen, hopefully your stomach bug gets better and we'll see you tomorrow. Yeah. All right, see you, Megan. So, yeah. I mean, she sounded convincing. She did. If she's putting it on, very convincing.

didn't sound great so yeah so much i'll tell you later on the show too i had a shocker with megan twice yesterday uh accidentally facetiming her after that call from my pockets yeah um yeah and i did see the visuals of her yeah not looking she looked washed out so yeah we'll believe her we'll believe her we'll want to check this open too text we'll do a text poll in the six o'clock club sexy and you know it uh four four eight seven have you never had a sick day no never at all There'll be some battlers out there have never taken a day off sick. Probably should have. Yeah, true.

I mean, there was that period before COVID, eh? And I feel like it's getting back to there a little bit, eh, where, you know, you just didn't, you know, people just battled on. Yeah, battling on. Yeah, remember like, if you've got symptoms, stay at home. Oh, COVID was like, yeah, he had a sniffle. You're like, yeah, don't do you dare come in. So we really went the other way.

They started stressing out if someone sneezed in a supermarket three days before we went there. That was, that was nowadays we've really let that all go, haven't we? Yeah. It's good. It's good that we've got a little bit more balance back into life. We really let it get away. I know so. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast.

The hits. Reading a story about a Kiwi in Japan, going for a run through the forest. He's an ultra-he does ultramarathons and stuff, but he was just going for a little. In this case, about a 10-K run through the forest. Got attacked by a bear. Two bears were there. He stood there, and he was like, oh, they're coming for me. One of them came for me.

Broken arm, snapped pretty much in half, two, by the bear. As well, yeah, so in the foothills of Japan as well. But, yeah, he's doing okay, apart from obviously the arm and quite a lot of scratches. That'd be true a minute. That'd be one of those situations, I think, that I would make noises. Oh, he said he did. He tried to make himself as big as possible when it came towards him. He tried to yell and scream to try and scare it off.

None of those tricks worked. None of those tricks worked. What about punching sharks in the nose? No, it just protected his face, you know. Oh, gee, that'd be terrifying. Yeah, as well. But unfortunately, the bear, for his sake, you know, after knocking him to the ground and then went away. Yeah, so he was like, oh, I think.

He knocked me down and stuff like that. Injured me and then went away. Tored him a lesson, I'll move on with my day. Yeah, well, not quite as dramatic. They didn't seem to have an issue with old mate trying all their porridge, though, did they? No, true, actually. Yeah, they really could have done some damage, couldn't they? She got off lightly.

Yeah, they were just like, oh, inconvenient, you know? I think they made more porridge. Yeah, we'll have to make more breakfast, yeah. Just leaving the bed. Greedy little girls eating all their briekeying. Very good point. Well, yesterday, not quite as traumatic. It was, you know, taking the dog for a walk, do that in the afternoon, got a big

you know fluffy samoyed dog do you have to walk him daily yeah walk him daily uh yeah well usually it's me walking him daily yeah he needs he needs a walk you know to get him gone um and you know so walking along and always you know as a dog owner you'll know this is waiting for them to do their business

you know what happens and it always round about the same area isn't it yeah does he spend a lot of time we've got a tiny little dog but he's uh he's got small man syndrome and he tries to just hold his because you know when they spray it can sort of mark territory. Right.

He tries to hold as much and just give a little bit there, then he holds it only just a little bit more. Yeah, it's amazing how much liquid they've got when they really want it. Yeah, that's fine now. You've just been, you know? They really love that. Yeah, so it's a weird thing. And I always think it's quite weird as well as, as I know what you're doing.

You know, you're waiting for the dog to do its thing and you're going to scoop it up. The dogs. No matter how much I put my hand in a plastic bag and pick that up, it never gets any more unsettling. No, no, just, yeah. And, well, yes, they're even more unsettling, because the paper, I'm sorry, the plastic bag that I had must have had a little rip in it and as I put my hand down just you could feel it on one finger and did you put your finger in yeah just you know finger through the

and you're like oh and you know you're a man I'm out you know I'm 15 minutes away from home at this stage you know you're a hygiene guy yeah you are a sanitising guy walking along you you know finding a dog but there's a dog bin to put the you know thing in so I walk past that put that away but you're still like walking the whole time with your hand out going well there you go I need to wash this. And, you know, and washing my hand, no matter how many times I watched my hand this afternoon, I still, it's all stuck with me, you know, is it all gone, is it gone, is it done, is it, you know? How many times did you end up washing it?

Oh, I washed it, sanitiser. I'm like rubbing in the grass and dirt on the way home as well. Just, and it's still on my head, you know, it was even driving the car later, you're like, is it still there? Yeah, just sits with you, uncomfortably sits with you all day, you know? And it's probably, that would have been fine. I would have washed it off straight, you know, pretty much straight away. sanitise, but just lingers, lingers.

I know. You don't want your, you know, put your hand. Remember, actually, Megan wasn't working with us at this time, but we share the radio office with, you know, a multitude of other stations, ZDM being one of them. She used to be on Zidium. Ben, you came and walked into the studio one morning. It's back in the day where you were allowed to bring dogs in on a Friday. Yeah, Dog Friday, they called it.

And I just sat in my chair in the studio and I was like, really smells a dog. And you know, and you're like, sure. It's not me. It's not. You go through the stages of grief. Denial, don't you? And then you're out, look down eventually, you're like, well, this is too strong for it not to be me. And it was me all over my shoe.

And then I realised I'd walked it all the way through from out in the office. Megan's dog. Megan's dog on Dog Friday. Yeah. They cancelled Dog Friday. They did. Not after that, though. No, but good reason to cancel it.

I mean, dogs are great, but not in the office. There was some big buddy dogs coming in. It was wild. and Megan the podcast. Have you never had a sick day 4487? So many texts coming through. Six years, no sick days

even after a car crash in the morning. We've got to get that person on. Six hours in hospital still went to work. After a car crash? I mean that's amazing. That's clocking.

You miss six hours. You should go into hospital if you've had a car crash. Yeah, I did. For six hours then they went to work. So they were all the right things. If anything deserves a afternoon in bed.

Welcome to the show, Paul. How are you? Poor, I haven't turned Paul on. Now I have. Paul, good morning. Good morning. Lovely to have you on. Never had a sick day, Paul, or was it your dad?

That's the old man. Yeah? 49 years, I've never, ever heard or seen him take a sick day. What does he do? What does he do for a job? That's incredible. He was an aircraft engineer. Wow.

And just, like, just carried on. Oh, yeah, basically. This is back in the, obviously, 17s and 80s, and men were tough back then, good old North Canterbury stock, so just boxed on. Oh, no. That would be so disappointed in us now, wouldn't they? Us with our little soft, callous radio hands, Ben.

Yeah, true. You know, Paul's dad, 49 years, never had a sick day off. That's crazy. He's a unique individual. Even today, he's retired, but he's, You know, he's still doing eight, nine hours down at the local bowling club and still chipping away. He gets up every morning at 4.30 and goes through a walk.

So, yeah. Just the way he was brought up, I suppose. That's the key to feeling alive. I think it's when you stop, then you start to rot on a road away. Yeah, it gives them purpose, I imagine, in some ways. So that's awesome. 100%. Yeah.

I love it. Hey, we'll appreciate your call, mate. You go and have a wonderful day. And we are joined by Jude. Hey, Jude. How are you? I'm good yourself. Good, thank you.

Sick days. Had one? No. Not in six years, I haven't. Not six years? Wow. Oh, choose the car crash text. Yeah, yeah, I'm the car crash.

Oh, so you had a car crash. You went to, what, hang on. So, yeah, car crash went to hospital and then went to work. Yeah. Yeah. What's that, what? How badly were you hurt? Pardon?

How badly were you hurt? Oh, yeah, they put me through the MRI machine and stuff, so. trade me and whatnot, so make sure the stent was still staying in the right place of my brain. Right. Okay, so you had a brain scan after a serious car crash? Was the car written off? Oh, hell yes. Yeah.

And then went to work. Yeah. Surely work would be like, oh, you could probably sit today out and come in tomorrow, but you went out. What did they say at work when you turned up? What are you doing here? I don't know. I think I'm quite concussed.

I think there's blood running out of my ears, but let's get a little. into it. That is incredible. Oh, well, I don't have a relief driver. I'm a courier run, see? And you were driving? Did you get back on the, get back behind the wheel? Did you, dude?

No, the husband drove. Oh, got you. Oh, gotcha. Yeah. You know, these packages need to, if they're not delivered today, it's not like they can wait for them until tomorrow. Wow, that is impressive. That is really impressive.

And carried on. Yeah, you just carry on. Yeah, just carry on. Good on you, Jude. And that's the attitude. That isn't it? Yeah. I don't know, is it?

Yeah, well, yeah, it's pretty impressive. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hits. On Thursday for 24 hours, we're going to be playing the school yard game of a handball. For 24 hours at Eden Park to raise money for kids can, a wonderful organisation that provides food, clothing essentials to 10,000 Kiwi kids in need, and there's more on the wait list. We spoke to a principal of a school, Ardakura school, and Wainui Amata.

She phoned through the show yesterday and just what this funding and what, sorry, not what this funding, but what kids can provide for the school and how helpful it is. When kids don't have the things they need, you know, basic things like shoes and jackets and food, they tend to carry that as shame, you know, they feel embarrassed, they feel shame. Those big emotions don't help them with their learning at all. The supportive kids can means we can eliminate all of that. you know if they're coming to school if they haven't got the right shoes we've got it there straight away we provide it for them you know they don't build up negative emotions and

negative feelings about themselves that's sally tutu mila who's the principal of arra school and also you just asked you're asked her being you know what difference she saw in the kids when they had shoes had jackets and had food in their bellies you know children shouldn't have to carry the burden of poverty they shouldn't have to carry the burden of cost of living they're children, they need to just be children and focus on their learning and all the developmental stuff that's such a big part of their life,

their friendships, if we can solve the food issue and ensure that they've got something to eat every day, morning, tea, lunchtime, if there's warm clothes here that they can wear. You know, because sometimes they turn up, yeah, A, well, T-shirts, in middle of winter and they try and tell me that they're not cold,

but it's really, they're too shy to us, and we just give it, we just give it to them. Yeah, so if you want to donate and help us out, you can just, as simple as texting kids to 933, kids, K-I-D-S to 933, make an instant $3 donation, or you can go to kidscambal.org.n.z And find out how you can help feed and clothe thousands. They say thousands of Kiwi kids need their help.

Wonderful clarification of the word kids. Oh, I just thought, you know. Sometimes people chuck a Z on the end, don't they, if they're trying to. We're not trying to go over the calls, sort of, you know. We're just old-school K-I-D-S kids. Yeah, kids. And a lot of well-known people are going to be joining us over the 24-hour period as well. So the million-dollar target, that's playing on you a bit with the anxiety.

That's a lot of money, a huge amount. Like last year we did it, and we were like blown away. We got close to $500,000. Blown away. Helped a lot of schools. But they're aiming to get money for 10,000 kids, which equates around about a million bucks. So we're doing that. That's one thing that's playing on your mind.

The other thing is the celebrity booker. Yeah, I know you do a lot of celebrity booking for the podcast, your daughter yeah well yeah it's a tough it's a tough game it's a tough gig most people are like yeah yeah and then you know like it's hard to got to keep on them yeah so we really need to ramp that up as well so so yeah two things we need to rip it yeah it's not looking great apparently so we really to wrap that up uh so next thursday it's going to be happening for 24 hours at eden park