Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: Megan’s Heartfelt Ode to Grandparents

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

On today’s show:  We kick off the podcast with tears as Megan delivers a heartfelt ode to her grandparents. Why did Ben get his daughters to take a photo of a complete stranger? Who did you punish as a kid? We share stories from our own mischievous childhoods calling radio shows. We challenge Ganesh from Eat Well For Less to whip up a meal using only vending machine snacks. Plus a random guest unexpectedly interrupts our show and chaos ensues. Instagram: @THEHITSBREAKFASTFacebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & MeganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thanks to Hello Fresh, cook easy, delicious dinners the whole family will love, because nothing beats dinner time. Welcome to the podcast on a Thursday. We're Megan, we're going to start things off on the podcast. We're really lovely. You shared a lovely little moment on radio. I mean, not lovely in the sense, but, you know. Well, no, I meant it to be like a positive, I didn't cry. A vulnerable moment.

A tribute to grandparents, which, you know, had a lot of people crying on the way to work today and just thinking about their grandparents as well. Yeah, not just like my grandparents, but also my grandparents, but also my grandparents. parents now that they're grandparents of my kids yeah and sometimes you don't think about them enough do you your grandparents because life is busy yeah life is busy and they you know they're obviously a bit more freer with their time the grandparents yeah my uh my little she's not that little anymore she's 16 but she spent a lot of time with my grandma so her great nana um and she would go to the rest time and hang out with all the oldies and play games with them and stuff and i was like man you were a better 16 year old than I was yeah that's lovely she loves hanging out with him yeah well I'm sorry

for you lost mate thank you I don't know well you'll hear that very shortly it was it was a beautiful moment but I'm just going to segue into an Instagram post I've been sent okay the most amazing facts that your kids are going to love these are fact we've been doing radio for you know a couple of decades now and you know you go through your old facts fill in a bit of air time yeah your old show you fact of the day yeah but these are facts I've never heard heard okay you tell me if you've heard any of these facts okay okay blue whales are the loudest animals loudest loudest animals no I haven't heard that yeah I guess probably the sound would travel miles wouldn't it under the ocean what was that you were doing

there that was that was whale okay what do you mean that's a whale from like constipated yeah it's like dory being like do go over there did you know a day Did you know a day of Venus? Lasts longer than a year. One day on Venus. Have you heard that fact? Oh, no. It's like when people say a moment on the lips,

a lifetime on the hips. They obviously lived in Venus. You know, when you had something, you know, all you eat a treat and it's going to, you know. So wait, I'd be really young on Venus. You would be. All right, I'll fuck go. I'd still be bloody 52.

No, so one day. One day. Well, one day last year. Yeah, you would be. Yeah, right. Yeah. Gotcha. Snakes

I don't even 41 days old Oh my God This is another fact that I've never heard before Snakes sleep for three years They can sleep for three years Wow I produce a grace Prolific Napa

How long do they actually live for? I know I guess it's I haven't got the back up I've just got the top line facts Here's another one You know your taste buds Lifes lifespan of 10 days You replenish your taste

every 10 days. Well, we did the chili eating competition a few years ago for a TV show, and it changed my taste buds and yours as well for like a couple of days. It felt like you'd pushed reset on your taste buds. Yeah, but not in a weird way. It was really, really odd. Everything was sweet. Yeah.

It was like, you know, you had a beer afterwards, and you're like, oh, that's really sweet. And then everything for the next couple of days was like, oh, everything is really sweet. You could probably eat a lemon and be like, oh, that was like orange. It was so unusual. It just obviously destroyed whatever taste birds. Burn them all off. Yeah, and then it was, yeah, it was a really interesting thing. And then a couple of days, it kind of reset itself.

Were you like, is this ever going to go back? Yeah, it's like, for now, everything's going to be like, well, I can't have that. I can't have water, it's too sweet. People are like, but did you like, it was good for the novelty. But then you're like, you do like going back to the way that you normally taste. It's really sweet. Yeah, yeah. One of these people are really sweet.

Listen, I'm going to stop this here. You know, I'm not going to bore you with more things. No, can I want, can I want one more? I'm going to tell you how snakes can live anywhere from. 50 to 20 years some species like pythons and boas are potentially reached 30 years or more particularly in captivity so there go wow okay here's the final one i'll take you out on if you want one more okay three percent of the ice in the Antarctic glaciers is penguin urine oh three percent that's a lot of piss yeah yeah i guess you never think about that but i guess they've got to just go yeah

yeah so if we want to rebuild the glaciers Sears and stuff? That's not. I just get the penguins weeing more. Well, global warming, that's all melting into the ocean. Oh.

Isn't it? Yeah, true. Here we go, we'll leave you with that. Faggit, no, what? Trauma. I know what you used to. Enjoy the podcast. Day, day, day, day.

John O'Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. Just any time on the show. We love your text 4487's a text number. Someone's just text in saying, I liked your radio show. Now, I don't know if that's

Oh, past. Past, we'll keep you able to speed with that one. Oh, it's good. At least we had a fan. We had a like. I'll take that. It's never no likes at all. Hopefully it's a typo.

They added a D. Yeah. I'd rather a pass like. They're no likes, you're right, Bill. Now you want to pay homage to Grandos. Yeah. If you just give me a minute, you know when you go to talk about something like hard and you hope your voice doesn't betray you?

I hope it doesn't. I hope it doesn't. But this past week has been tough for us as my family's goodbye to my nana, Natalie. When I was little, I didn't think I realized how special grandparents really are. Now that I've said goodbye to my last one, and I have my own

kids, I see now how grandparents give them something that parents can't always manage. Parents have the jobs of raising us, teaching us, keeping us on track, but grandparents get to be the fun. They do. They really change from when they were parents, too. That's right.

They come in as high-impact sugar distributors. Yeah, you're like, where was that? as a kid. They're the ones who say yes when mom and dad say no, they've got endless patience for games for answering the same question 10 times or for listening to a long meandering story. They laugh at the mess instead of worrying about cleaning it up.

They bring family history to life with stories of when your mom was your age. They hold traditions and recipes and wisdom that would otherwise be lost. And maybe the best thing is the way they make kids feel like they're the absolute center of the universe. the unconditional, unhurried love. Even though my grandparents are gone, I see that in the way my kids look at your grandparents.

It makes me grateful for what I had and for my children get to have now. So grandparents help raise us, they steady us, they spoil us, and they teach us, and they love us in a way that stays with us long after they're gone. So I love you, Nana.

Just rest up now It's beautiful words Megan Good on you Yeah Thank you for sharing that So true Yeah I'm sure everyone listening right now

Is thinking about there You know The grandparents Hopefully you get to be one And hopefully you got to experience yours Because they're really special With them I think a large part of being grandparent too

Is you probably You have perspective on life At that age You know what's important That's beautiful Yeah Thanks Megan Thanks guys

John O'Ben and Megan The podcast The Hits Something that happened to me Over the last couple of days So we've got a cafe up the road from home That sometimes I'll pop in And you know

Grab a hot drink or whatever They know your order Yeah We're at that stage Yeah They know the order But yeah Not that I go all the time

My family will pop in from time And the daughters will go With like their grandma Or sometimes they even pop in By themselves and stuff It's like the friend's cafe Yeah It was a cafe you pop into

But there was There's someone that worked there They've got many people That was a lady that worked there My daughters have said to us, they're like, oh, there's someone in there that looks exactly like, mum. They thought at first it was my wife, Amanda, and then mum. And so I was like, oh, we were like, oh, okay. And every time I popped in, I was like, I wonder if that person is there just to see.

And I haven't actually seen, haven't seen that person. So you want to see the doppelgaguer? Yeah, I was like, oh, yeah. And my wife's as well, say, what do you want to see? And my daughters were talking to me about the other day, and they're like, oh, we just saw, we saw the lady that looks like, okay. And they're like, do you want me to take, no, I was like, I'm like, do you want me to take? And I was like, oh, cool. And then they were like, do you want me to take, should, should we get a photo next time?

I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, whatever, whatever I was doing. Well, this is the thing. And I, they came home yesterday and they're like, we've got a photo of the lady. You're like, what was the backstory? Yeah. And I was like, oh, maybe they've taken one, you know, one of those sneaky photos or whatever like that, you know. And they're like, no, no, we went up and said. Oh, God.

Can we get a photo with you? And then he's like, yeah, why's that? And they went, for dad. she looked like our mum yeah and I said did you say because you look like the mum they're like being kids and they're like no we didn't get to that part

we just said dad wants a photo oh no my daughters are in the photo with the lady but still you'll Photoshop them out wait does she know that you're their dad like do they connect you guys together maybe because we've been in together

never go in together again I feel I feel like I can't step back again again there because it's like oh there's the guy that wanted the phone I know, I don't know it's worse whether she thinks she looks like the kid's mom or whether she thinks that you just want to pick of her, you creep. At the moment, all she thinks is that, I was like, thanks, kids, you could at least

said the backstory that you look like, you know, that's a fine backstory to go, okay, you look like the mom. Because then what happens if she's into it. You go in there and this woman that looks like your wife starts flirting with you. They missed out some pivotal information. They really did. It's a no-win situation. It would be nice to have that next sentence.

But anyway, in their minds, they got what they needed and that was all right. What did your wife say about this? Well, she isn't, she doesn't know the back story. She doesn't know the back story that. She doesn't know that dad wants a photo backstory. Oh, no. So she might not be across all the details. Oh, God.

So you have to find... I'm leaving some details out of my story. They're leaving some details out of their story. There's a lot of... You need a new cafe. Yeah, I definitely do. That's for sure. New cafe to send your kids along to take a photo of that hot barista.

New wife, whatever, you know. Oh, is that not what you're saying? Okay. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. The Hits. Who did you punish as a kid? Do you want me to start?

You can kick things off. There's often people that you're idolized too, right? Confessional. Yeah. Well, I guess I probably did idolize this guy. So when I was young, I used to listen to the radio at night, and the hot nine at nine used to play at my local radio station. Did you like to record it on CDs?

I'm sorry, on cassettes and stuff. Yes, I did. And I... It's annoying when us announcers talked over the intro. Exactly. Yeah, like, oh, dearly. Here's Ace of bass, all that you want. Or cut the song off at the end.

You're like, oh, you miss the best bit. So I used to ring in and vote for the hot nine at nine every single night multiple times. Just so you know, your votes definitely didn't count. I was voting for Hanson mostly over and over and over and over, absolutely punishing the host. To his credit, he answered all the phone calls. But there was one night. Because there's no caller ID. Yeah, true.

Yeah, now I'd get like black. listed or something, but one night I called up and it was the first time I'd called to vote for Hanson. And he obviously recognised my voice and said, you need to stop calling me. Stop calling me.

Well, really? You're the only one voting for Hanson. Well, it was number one phase, so it must have been. Number one in your heart as well, Hansen. Oh, so he got an adult telling off. Yeah, but I turned around, I was like, actually, this is the first time I've called tonight. But just one vote and then I'll see.

Stop. Yeah, but then he's like, let's break it down on average over the year how many times you've called me and voted for Hansen Mbop. Thousands. Yeah. Thousands. Well, you're punished. That's how you punished. Absolute punisher.

Many people in radio have similar stories. I did the same with iconic broadcaster Robert Rakite. Oh, yeah. I'd phone the poor bastard every morning. Every morning. You think of that now. Say what? Just like, hey, Robbie.

And he was so, honestly, so generous with this time. He invited me in there. He was lovely. He couldn't have been. He couldn't have beat you. Him and Barnett. You can't beat him. You can't beat him for generosity.

It's his fault that you're here now. It is. It is. Remember my friend Kevin Kim's house where I had a horrible Kim Chi incident that really backfired on my digestive system. Anyway, I was staying at Kevin Kim's house. And I woke up early in the morning. I was like, six o'clock in the morning.

Robbie will be missing his call. Oh, no, not where you're at someone else's house. I went and hid on his landline in the hallway. And I was like, good-day Robbie. Robbie's like, you don't have to call every day, mate. Little Johnny Pry here And then Kevin Kim's mom came out She's like, who on earth are you on the phone too?

And I was like, It's Robert Rakey from my team And I could see, I could see sadness in her eyes She was like, why is she going? She'll at least call your mum and say you went to bed or something. I need to get Kevin to get better friends. Yeah, I could see her heart was breaking for me. For me, it was cricketers.

It was cricket. Oh, it still is. Yeah, true. I was the annoying guy with a kid with an autograph book, you know, like, yes, I'm my autograph, can you do the thing? time I pested a Can't a Canterbury player at Lancaster Park? Can you take me to the change room? He did.

And with my dad as well, we went in and like in between the innings, we had like a tour. And I was like, halfway through, it was like a lot of guys in their underpants in there. And I was like, I don't know if I should be there. I reckon, I reckon about 90% of the team were like, why have you put a trial? John and my dad in his defence and we two went in there. And they were like, oh, that was good to see it off we went. But I just pested them so much as well. Tell you what?

You wouldn't find it all about taking a kid into a change room. now those? No, he's not. None of the black caps. No, it's true. So to his credit, he did. I was like, you take me to change your rooms. He's like, yeah, I guess so.

You've come with your dad, so we did that. What were they like? Smelly? Yeah, it wasn't really what I had in my mind. Probably smoking sickies back there as well. Yeah, Benson and Hedges. Did you storm the field after the game? Yeah, right out there as well, try and get sickers,

just try and steal the ball if you were lucky. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. The Hits. Who you punished as a kid on 0800, the Hits, a 4487. Radio announces. cricketers, who was it for you? The Warriors these days still, Ben?

Yeah, the Warriors, too. I have to really hold myself back from punishing the warriors, but... Oh, I think you're not punishing them. That's me not punishing. Wow. You do a good job, though. You keep it, you keep it, they're probably like, oh, I wouldn't give them a phone number, but I'll entertain him.

Yeah, right for a little bit of like banter, but yeah. That's the thing because you don't, you don't actually have a barometer of when enough's enough. Yeah. I'm more conscious of it now, yeah. Yeah, Megan was every night voting for the hot night at nine at nine. on her local radio station. I reckon some nights I would have hit 100 calls, maybe.

Wow, that is punishing. To the point where he's like, stop, please. I was the same, I was the same problem at here, so I'm not going to throw stones. Great text here on 4487. The 0800 Santa line. Well, you can phone up Santa and leave a message for Santa's voicemail, can't you?

Oh, yeah, many years I'd do that. It was great with the kids to have it on the phone. You'd be like, it's Santa's here. But Santa's busy. Yeah, you just leave a message. Oh. It was like a, yeah, leave a message. I think it runs every year as well.

He sets it back up. At the moment, I just tried it. It's disconnected, but he'll get it back up in time for Christmas. Maybe you just have to slide into his DMs now. God does take him hours to clear those. True. We'd do. Anyway, this is right, though.

He gets it sorted. So my text machine's frozen. Have you still got yours up, Ben? This lady said she called it. How many times? Thousands of times. The more I called, it was like the voice automated message lost its patience with me. His answer phone.

Yeah. Santa would be screening her. How many calls for this one, but that's something that can happen. All right, Sam, good morning to you. What happened when you punished someone as a kid? So it was my first date, and obviously my grand was there, and her boyfriend showed up and took her out on a date. I glared at him, and he was scared of me for 10 years.

Oh, your grandma's boyfriend, you were just on him. Yeah, he was a younger guy, and I didn't like him. I thought that he was just not good for her. How old were you at this time? So this was my 10th birthday party. So 10 years? Oh, you're no good for her. No good.

And we're right. I mean, it was together for a while. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He wouldn't come anywhere near me for 10 years. Were you thinking gold digger? What was he doing? Yeah. Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah. I found out as an adult, like, he wouldn't come anywhere near me. And I was like, what? I don't even remember doing that. But yeah, he was absolutely catch a side of me. He was a 10-year-old. judgmental vibes yeah

yeah pretty much oh good on you Sam that's a great call you're going to have a good day are you in Hamilton um Pador actually would you like to go to the

the Warriors Wahhene oh yes please yeah we've got a family pass to give away for this weekend's game you can take that and go along to FMG Stadium

oh thank you up the Wahina yeah is your grandmother's boyfriend still around he's his friends now he's a friend now He's a friend

Would you take him to the As a mate good Absolutely not See you Sam Thank you My son Oscar Remember You know when you do the

Sort of four or five year old Birthday circuit You go to so many birthday parties In that category don't you Yeah And there's only a handful of entertainment Options And so he had seen the same magician

Three times And on the fourth occasion And the magician's doing the routine I've seen the magician four times I know what's coming but Oscar's like He's gonna pull a rabbit out of this Watch out he's got handkerchiefs

Up his sleeve and was just Yeah To the point with the magician's like Now Not everyone's seen the thing And he's like Who hasn't seen me And everyone didn't put their hands up

Everyone had seen the guy Oh everyone had seen him Yeah He was a great magician What do you do at that point Just wrap it up He's like oh you know how it ends The rabbit's

Now I'm going to disappear To my car, go home That's where I'm in John O'Ben and Megan The podcast The Hits Price of butter in New Zealand is getting a lot of chat

recently, eh? And it's very expensive Almost like $10 in some places But night and day stores Well, thanks to the Patty Gower Has Issues show on 3 Seems like they've got them To go at a pretty good price

So what we're going to do Is we're going to get 20,000 blocks of butter Across the country Into the stores And we'll hold that price At $6 50 until that butter. Yeah, 650.

Yeah, 650 until it sells out. 20,000 blocks of butter at 6.50. Yeah, if we can get a block of butter into 20,000 households at a competitive rate, look, I think that's a good way to do it. That's a really great gesture and I say, get on down to night and day any time of the day or night. How do you go? I solved that issue. So they're losing about $3 on each block, they reckon, so it's 60 grand. There's 54 night and day stores around the country.

It's about 370 blocks of butter per store. So pretty cool. A pretty cool thing they're doing. So something that happened to me over the last couple of days So we've got a cafe up the road from home That sometimes I'll pop in and grab a hot drink or whatever They know your order? Yeah, we're at that stage, yeah, they know order

But yeah, not that I go all the time My family will pop in from time to time My daughters will go with their grandma Or sometimes they even pop in by themselves and stuff It's like the Friends Cafe Yeah, it was a cafe you pop into But there was someone that worked there They've got many people that work there

There was a lady that worked there My daughters have said to us They're like, oh, there's someone in there that looks exactly like mum they thought at first it was my wife Amanda and you know and their mum and so I was like oh we're all like oh okay and every time I popped in I was like I wonder if that person is there just to see and I haven't actually seen haven't seen that person so you want to see the doppelgamer yeah I was like oh yeah well so what do you want to see and my daughters were talking to me about the other day and they're like oh we just saw we saw the lady

that looks like mom and I was like okay and they're like do you want me to take no I was like I had a half listening to them I was like cool and then they're like do you want me to take should we get a photo next time I was like oh yeah yeah whatever whatever, we went back to my, whatever I was doing. Well, this is the thing. And I, they came home yesterday and they're like, we've got a photo of the lady. You're like, what was the backstory? Yeah.

And I was like, oh, maybe they've taken one, you know, one of those sneaky photos or whatever like that, you know. And they're like, no, no, we went up and said. Oh, God. Can we get a photo with you? And then he's like, yeah, why is that? And they went, for dad. Because you look like our mum. Yeah.

And I said, did you say, because you look like the mom? And they had, oh, being kids, they're like, no, we didn't get to that part. We just said, Dad wants a photo of me. Oh, no. My daughters are in the photo with the lady, but still. You'll Photoshop them out. Wait, does she know that you're their dad? Like, do they connect you guys together?

I don't know. Maybe because we've been in together. Never go in together again. I feel like I can't step back again again there because it's like, oh, there's the guy that wanted the photo of me. I know, I don't know it's worse whether she thinks she looks like the kid's mom or whether she thinks that you. You just want to pick of her, you creep. At the moment, all she thinks is that. I was like, thanks, kids. You could at least send the backstory that you look like.

You know, that's a fine backstory to go, okay, you look like the mom. Because then what happens if she's into it? You go in there and this woman that looks like your wife starts flirting with you. They missed out some pivotal information. They really did. It would be nice to have that next sentence. But anyway, in their minds, they got what they needed and that was all right. What did your wife say about this?

Well, she doesn't know the back. She doesn't know the back sentence. She doesn't know the back sentence. back story that she doesn't know that dad wants a photo next story. Oh no. So she might not be across all the details. Oh, God.

So you have to find... I'm leaving some details out of my story. They're leaving some details out of their story. There's a lot of... You need a new cafe. Yeah, I definitely do it. That's for sure. New cafe to send your kids along

and you take a photo of that hot barista. New wife, whatever, you know? No. Is that not what you're saying? Okay. John O'Bennon and Megan. The podcast. The hits.

Local body election time at the moment is that you see all the hornings up and around the place. You ran for Parliament once, didn't you, Ben? Oh, many years ago, yeah. It was more of a joke party situation, although some days, some of, some of the parties might be, might be also doing the same thing. Didn't Invercate, you won the vote in Inbucagall? No, no, no, we never got close to winning the vote, but that's where we've got the

most amount of votes. I think we've got 13,000 votes across the country. Yeah, across the country. To be honest, we didn't expect anyone to vote. 13,000 wasted votes. Even when I went in to vote, I was like, do I really want to vote for myself? You know, like, it was like, yeah, because... I don't want the admin of being an MP.

Yeah, like I did it as a publicity thing, you know. To be honest, you get stuff done. Well, true, if I actually seriously wanted to do it, then, yeah. A busy day, like, you would be too busy. It'd be like, chill, chill, chill, bro. He'd see now, like, you're like, you're going to be emailed a daily to do list for the prime minister. Yeah, you'd be too much to the ball lake, actually. You would be a nightmare.

I'd be like, check it up. Megan, how you get it on with that? You're like, all right, mate, I'm getting out. It's getting done. Seymour looks like Barack Obama compared to being voiced than how much of a pain you'd be in Parliament. Yeah, so anyway, that was an experience. Yeah, so I see the local warnings around and, you know, full of,

can I, I put the people who run for the local boards in the same category as those, those, you know, selfless people who joined the PTA at school. That's like, I could not think of anything worse, but we need these people, you know, and good on them for dedicating their time to doing it. I'd be terrible at it. I was thinking that the other day with sporting referees and umpies. I mean, good on those people that do that, because it's really a thankless job. Really, it is.

You know, same category. You get abused. I know, it's like, why? We need people. And you can't have sport and you can't have the, you know, cities and towns running without these people. Without the local boards, yeah. And so to that point, so you see all the billboards around. And a lot of, you know, apart from the mayoral candidates, generally, you don't know, I don't know who's, you know, the six people on the citizens and rate payers going for the, you know.

the board in Manga Kiki or anything. But then I've come up to, you know, a few billboards. People have had their faces cut out. Oh, I saw some of those, right, yeah. Just got out. Imagine waking up in the morning, go, all right, another day of campaigning. Someone's gone and taken upon themselves, sneak out. You know, it's a lot of effort to sneak out under the cover of darkness with a little Stanley knife.

Yeah. And, you know, surgically cut out someone's face on not just one billboard, I'm like all 20. But did you stick your face in it and take a photo? No, but that's why it's. designed for, right? Yeah. That is genius, comedically genius.

And then you're like, oh, God, do we have to go back to the sign writer, get some more core flu? They're very expensive. Isn't that illegal defacing those?

I know, but the police really going to care about, oh, you cut out Maureen's face from the community board of Epson. Because when we did run many years ago, as you're talking about,

we're really expensive. And so I think we had 20. That's all we could afford. How much is one? We were paying for, I don't know, because we didn't have much money. making a TV show, so I can't remember what it was, but we got, well, can we afford 20,

okay, because we're paying for ourselves. And then I remember we put one up, we're driving around the country to put them up, we put one up in Parmi, and we came back like five minutes later, it was gone. Like, guys, thanks, Parmy. It was $300 with a core flute. We only got 20 in the east of someone had taken it. I don't know, we've knocked it down, I don't know, but it was gone. Thanks, Parmy.

I mean, yeah, so you just spare thought for these people. They're out there, they're vulnerable, they're putting their faces on core flutes. Let's not cut them out. Yeah, you know? You're right, John, that's not a great way to start the day if you're that camp, you know, that politician. John O'Ben and Megan. The podcast. The Hits.

Someone who was conducting a bit of a social experiment with you. Now, we happened to be recording our podcast. I walked away from the studio and this particular person came on in. Here's what happened. Hi. Hello, mate. Hi. You guys are doing like a podcast or a radio?

Yeah. Yes. Can I be on it? Can you be on? I guess. Yeah, what's your name? Herman? There you go, mate.

Hey. Nice to me, yeah. This is Megan. How's it going? Yeah, good. Did I just take a seat somewhere? What do you want to say in the podcast? We've got Herman who's just walked in.

Sit down there, mate. Do we need to the mic? How did you get past security? I just walked in. Oh, did you? Very relaxed security. What do you do, Herman? I don't know.

I just live life and joy every day. Yeah. And wanted to be part of this podcast? Yeah, I just thought it would be cool. I mean, I've never been on like. a podcast like this before. I feel like this is very extreme. It looks really cool, a lot of high-tech equipment.

I just feel be cool to jump on and say hi, I guess. Oh, hi. You can say hi to the three people who are listening to this right now, Hermann. We do usually have a third person, but we're just, I don't know if he's on to the toilet. Oh, here he is. It's Herman. We met Herman. Don't say it like, it's Herman.

It's Herman. It's Herman. It meant Herman go way back, like two minutes back. Herman does a really, really cool thing. He's born up big on the internet, called Rejection Therapy. So this year, I started doing rejection therapy. So I'm doing 365 days straight of just going out and asking strangers different things, facing rejection. And a lot of the time actually being accepted for the crazy things I ask, kind of like this.

I wasn't expecting a yes for this either. To be honest, Herman, you got us at a good time. It was the podcast intro. I was hoping it was going to be live on radio, but we just missed that window there. So the podcast, you're like, yeah, we'll let anyone on. We'll take Herman, or you do a far better job at podcasting intro than we would. Yeah, bed and gone. I was like, well, we need a third.

Yeah, great. Actually, I think I've been replaced. So, yeah, so some of the things you've done are pretty incredible. Played football and you're just telling me, a football in a stranger's backyard. He'd been on fire trucks before, and by the fire department. What other things? Oh, man. Well, I've done, today is like day 232.

So every single day I'm doing something different. There's just been a wide range of them. So I went bungee jumping with a stranger. I went up to like a random van and I asked them if they wanted to make smalls with me. And we did that inside the van. It was really fun. Oh, nothing's off the cards. Nothing. No, yeah. I'm just trying to see how far I can really push the limits. Do people say no to you though? They reject you?

Yeah, but not as much as you would think. It's really sad. I brought a lot of people together. Like it showed like a great human spirit out there. You know, people will help out other people. Yeah, 100%. And that's kind of like the biggest reason I'm doing it. I feel like people are very scared in today's age to just speak to people. In reality, most people just want to help you. So if you ask them something, a lot of the time, they're going to do what they can to help you. Are you surprised?

You're storing my faith in humanity. Are you surprised how big it's got on the internet? Because I look at, you know, your posts. You've got like close to 800,000 people following you on Instagram and stuff. But the engagement you get, so many people, you know, like commenting and sharing. It's definitely built a bit of a community by itself. I was just filming it and documenting my kind of progress because I thought it would be really cool to look back on. but a lot of people just love the videos and it's inspiring them to kind of start their journeys as well

so people want to give it a follow rejection therapy can i can i bring a little secret about how you do some of the filming you're allowed to talk about it so those glasses that uh herman was very those glasses they uh yeah they uh because i was talking about there and i was like oh he's real relaxed filming environment he's like yeah the glasses are filming yeah so were they like the ray bands yeah have they got cameras here i was talking about those so you're just wearing what looks like, just, you know, your average pair of spectacles that you've got on and they are filming, yeah, for you. Yeah, because, I mean, I feel like if I had a massive camera and I was asking people's stuff, I feel like that would kind of affect their answers to my questions. And when you say, I've been filming it with my glasses, and they're like, what the, what?

The majority of people think it's really cool. A lot of people are very surprised that there's even a camera in this. I mean, it's tiny. Yeah. It's wild. Well, if you want some more rejection therapy, you can come into a meeting with our bosses and we'll ask for some more annual leave. Yeah, that'll be good.

That can be Herman's next one. Really nice to meet you. And I'm glad you got onto our podcast. It was great. You guys were a little confused, but hey, it was good. You came through. Yeah, you've come to the right show. Honestly, if anyone walks through the door, we'll put them on microphone.

He looked friendly enough. I was like, okay. Let's hang. What a great story to tell. Herman, people want to check you out. TikTok, Instagram. It's just at Daily Rejection. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, the hits.

It's something that really captured our attention first thing on the show this morning. We've got to bring it back, really. We're doing the New Zealand Herald Daily Quiz, and the question popped up about the world record for the longest consistent running of hiccups. 68 years, some poor gentleman. Charles is his name. He's no longer with us.

He died from hiccups, no. Hickup related injuries. He stopped hiccuping before he died. Yeah, he did, he did. Yeah, but he hiccup for 68 years from 19. 22 to 1990. Apparently, he hit his head, and they reckon the doctors caused something in his nervous system for the hiccups to result.

And he just had it nonstop. He learned how to suppress it, so it wasn't always so obvious for everyone, but he was dealing with it for 68 years. Got married a couple of times, had eight kids as well. Usually we're just suppressing our emotions. This poor guy's doing the emotions and the hiccups. Imagine eating and drinking and... Sleeping?

Oh, God, does it stop when you sleep. I don't think so. I don't know. Sleeping next to him, too. the 20 to 40 hiccups per minute for 68 years and Andres he phoned up around about 6.30 this morning

It was actually for four days. Four days? Yeah, it was horrible. I was really concerned about what it was happening to me when I went to the hospital through emergencies and they told me it was a funny call going around that affects the thorax.

So he had a thorax related injury four days nonstop for Andreas. Exotic sounding man I hope he looks like What I imagine him to look like Shirtless Singing Ricky Martin Running his fingers for his

Yeah Yeah Gold chain Yeah Yeah Definitely a gold chain Shave chest Oh yeah

Oh no A little bit of hair At my mind Yeah A little bit Yeah Cody Good morning

Oh good-day How's it going Really well Cody Now a friend of yours Hickups for three years years. Yeah, it was a bit weird. It was in college.

I think it was from year 9 to year 12. Oh my God. And these are consistent hiccups, like knocking off 20 or so a minute? Not that frequently, but it was definitely, oh, probably a good maybe 10 a minute sort of thing. Enough to be annoying. Yeah, it's so annoying. We all just thought it would go away, but yeah, she went to the doctors and there was nothing they could really do. There was nothing they could really do for her.

It did quite hurt, hurt quite a bit for her. They weren't pleasing things, but yeah, just randomly stopped one day, and then it was back to quiet again, and we're all shocked. So what about going to sleep? Does that still sort of happen while you sleep? Yeah, it did for her. Wow. It's so hard to go with your body sort of hiccuping the whole time.

And obviously a crazy burden on her life, the poor thing, but, you know, being her friend would also... I know, you guys are all like, oh, I want a ball lake. Well, she's with it all the time. It's a ball lake. It's a ball lake, Cody? Oh, I mean, it wasn't too bad.

We did give her a lot of crap for it, but, yeah, she was a good sport about it. Yeah, for the first of your week or so, you'd be, oh, lots of gags, then eventually you'd be like, when's it going to stop? Oh, well, hey, cheers for sharing. And then it just randomly, it stopped happening, out of nowhere. Just out of nowhere, it just stopped one day. We don't know what stopped it, but yeah, just randomly. randomly stopped.

Oh my God, she must have been so relieved. Hey, thanks so much, Cody. You're going to have a great day, eh? All good, thank you, you too. Pretty amazing, that. Years of hiccups. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast.

The hits. Now, it's been a month since the Coldplay saga where the people were, you know, caught on the big screen. Since we destroyed two families, two people in their careers. Did you say we've destroyed? Well, the world.

They did it. I know, they did. But then they're really. Was it really? was the punishment worth, you know, was the crime, what's they saying, there's a saying, there is someone, it's a, you know, it's a crime worth of punishment? Yeah, it feels like a huge punishment for something that's, you know,

yeah, it was karma. Should have thought about it. It was the universe, oh, no, they were in the wrong, they were in the wrong, but I must be in. But yeah, felt like the entire universe piled in on them. People and other planets had heard about it. They've definitely done the best thing, just like, stay quiet, stay quiet, and it blow over.

No longer have their jobs as well to, you know, both of them. But Chris Martin has, you know, continue performing with Coldplay, and he's addressed it, you know, and said that it's not going away. That's something they've been doing. They like to, you know, it's not what it's about, it's calling out people. It's about finding people on the screen. And as we said from day one, because we've been to the Coldplay concert, we said on the day one, it's not a kiss cam. And Chris Martin is obviously really wound up about that as well. This is not, never will be, and never was, a kiss camp.

It drives me fucking eyes. It's not a kiss camp. We've put one couple and then you're branded a kiss camp by the rest of your life. It's unbelievable. This is called a Jumvotron and we've done this for a long, long time. And we pick people out to say hello. And sometimes they, yeah, sometimes they turn out to be an internationally massive scandal, sure. But most of the time we're just trying to say hello to some people.

That's all. Here we are in Hall and I'd like to say hello to some of you. to some of you so we're going to do our kiss camp that's what we're going to do yeah right people but a swearing for Chris Martin we had to he wound up it's not an idiot for kiss cam it was annoying me as well

from day one everyone's like it's a kiss cam it's like no it was one of my favourite I mean apart from the amazing music and pyrotechnics and stuff it was one of my favourite parts of the concert because he makes up a poem for the person that appears on the screen and it's really clever they weren't even kissing they were just canoadling cuddling I know he'd even get a

song they would have made a lovely song about them too, but they didn't give them the charts. Look over there, who's having an affair? Oh, that very far. Well, I'm glad they cleared that up. Have you ever been on a kiss can? No. Yeah, I have at the break-kiss once.

Have you? Yeah, I did. Did you kiss? Well, actually, I had one of those long, you know, those things that roll up and you can bang them together like a piece of paper sort of card as well. But I had it, and I extended it out. It was next to my wife at the time. And so I extended it out, and then I, you couldn't tell what was going on behind the thing.

He was a door source. Oh, God, Admin, just pretend you're kissing me. Pretend, pretend you like me. Pretend, pretend, pretend. Just pretend you're kissing me. Well, it's quite, I've found it quite awkward. It's awkward thing. No one wants to be on a giant screen tongueing their partner.

It's the only time I feel like people will cheer you on for doing it in public. People in relationships, people not in relationships. It's very hard to tell in that situation. Like, what's going on there? We'll just put two people on the screen. I want someone to put John Owen on the screen one time. And he probably would have, yeah, it's it. People with kissing is basically one of them.

You and Andrew would be a nightmare. You'd be like, oh God, they're off to third base now. Stop, stop, stop the camera. Pick it's on the camera. Pick it like the camera.