Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: One of Us Has a Surprisingly Charming Copycat

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

On today’s show:  Meet the copy of Ben who might actually be nicer than the original! Jono takes on his toughest challenge yet: getting an ice cream home in one piece. Did Ganesh really pull off a delicious meal using only vending machine snacks? What’s the shortest-lived hobby you’ve ever had? Hear how one listener scored the chance to meet her hero, Alex Warren. Plus, we begin the pod yet again proving NZ is the smallest place on earth! Instagram: @THEHITSBREAKFASTFacebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & MeganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thanks to Hello Fresh Cookies, and delicious dinners, the whole family will love because nothing beats dinner time. Welcome to the podcast. It's been a real fun, fun show today, so I look forward to you guys here in the podcast. But we do need to start on a bit of a sour note. Some feedback that came through from the show now.

Producer Troy, we did a topic, longest commutes to work. And your father, Steve-O in the South Island, he drives from Christchurch to Ashburton every day. Every single day. Rolliston to Ashburton specifically. Yep. And you claimed it was... I think...

It's about an hour and a half drive. Okay, all right. Well, there's some texts. You're saying, so it was an hour and a half, one way, about a half. Yeah. So three hours? We were talking... Oh, no.

Hey, radio. We've all done it. I had to make a quick estimation. I mean, you did, and sometimes you do add GST in radio. You're right, Ben. You know, just because you need to sex the story. Oh, like I said, is that drive for like 12 minutes each day. We're like, oh, you know, it's like, yeah.

But there's been a dispute, an official protest about your claims of an hour and a half drive from Christchurch to Ashburton. We'll just get the text on. We do like to close the loop on complaints on this program. So if you've got any grievances with the show, 4,48 seconds. Hello there. It's John O'Ben and, well, usually Megan, but Troy's here. Our producer, welcome.

How are you doing, Troy, John at his been, ringing me out the show. How are you? We're doing all right. Now, we just saw your text. I'm sorry we didn't get to it earlier, but talking about Troy came in with some wild, wild statements. producer Troy about how far his dad was driving each day and you want to dispute those yeah 100% I was just thinking here I don't know what he drives but

that's an or so an hour and a half Troy was claiming how long you how long does it take you I'm 45 minutes at the most at the most yeah hey Troy can I ask that your father work for rural transport he does Name Lance? No, Steve. Steve? I know, Steve. God, New Zealand's a small place.

Because I used to work with him. He used to go to Hilton. He went to move for a bit. He was at TransLink before that? Oh, there guys. We are a small country, guys. We are a small country, guys. That's pretty good.

Hey guys, I know you just had calls on before, ringing up about, you know, there's a small country. You know, the celebrities that meet in real life, well, it's a true honor for you guys to ring me. I'm over the moon right now. Oh, I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but let's pretend you're not. I know, it's nice to talk to you.

We appreciate your listening and sitting in the text. It's awesome. Yeah, no, I listen every morning, guys. I'm picking up Bobby Cubs, and I listen every morning from 6 to 9 o'clock. Oh, wow. That's awesome. I'm a true supporter. Oh, we really do appreciate you listening, mate.

Safe driving, okay? Yeah, yeah. guys will go off yourself all here tomorrow I see you buddy oh he's lovely hope your dad's not on the clock charging work for the time you know he's like

damn it I was telling it it took three hours I thought it's half that I've got him on the family do you guys know about life 360 yeah yeah I've got him on that

so I'll watch him tomorrow morning and time he's like oh okay he's stomping off for a hot drink there he's stretching his legs over here he's doing all sorts well enjoy the podcast and uh

That's what we need to say John O'Bennon and Megan The podcast The Hits Now it seems like You know It's everyone's out there Trying to scam people these days

There's a lot of things online That you'll find That's not quite legit And from time to time There are people Trying to impersonate other people You know Whether they're members of companies

You know So your packages there Your road tolls That sort of thing And sometimes people get impersonated If they've got a bit of a public profile It's happened to us a couple of times Over the years

So they send messages going hey, times are tough. Can you just send me your credit card number? Just so you know that's not a scam. That's actually me.

Yeah, times are tough. And I would love your credit card number. Yeah, so my daughter, you know, she spends a little bit of time, you know, on TikTok as well. I've got, you know, a TikTok account. But she was like, hey, dad, she came home. She was like, did you know there is a private Ben Boyce account if you started one? Someone's cloning you?

And I was like, well, first you asked it was me. I was like, no, it's not me, private Ben Boyce. And then it had a picture of her when she, It's something we put online, but from a couple of years ago as the profile pick. I was like, oh, it's not me. And you had to get accepted into this private Ben Boyce account. This is weird. I love it.

I would join Private Ben Bois. It had like a thousand people. Really? Yeah. And I was like, oh, hey, it's not me, it's not me. And so they were like, oh, we'll report it. So we try to report it. But then they were like, well, let's see.

So her friend decided to see what would happen if they, you know, try to send a friend request to this person. To private Benbois, yeah, it's right. And got back a lovely message. from Ben Boys. So, Ben Boys, so private Ben Boys, Respondent, response to DMs. Responded back here saying, this is the message.

I've got a screenshot here. We'll put it up on our Hits Breakfast. Hi, it's Ben here, smiley face. Oh. I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for being such an incredible fan. Your love and support truly means the world to me. It's what keeps me going every single day. One of those stars, you know, it's like a shedding star sort of thing.

Feel free to send me a direct message anytime. I'd love to hear from you. stay safe and take care always. I love. And then like a rose pedal and a heart. I love that fake Ben Boyce is more engaging than real Ben Boys. I'm like, don't see me a message anytime. How many unanswered DMs to host charity gigs, primary school fundraisers?

And he's never responded to them. Oh, some I get to, but sometimes I'm like, well, not any time. Fake Ben Boys even uses emojis. He's a lovely, whoever this is, a lovely person, eh? lovely person. I'm not going to lie. I think I want fake Ben Boys in here. Private Ben Boyce is he's the one you want guys. He's the one you want. It's not often you get upgraded when someone scam is a weird scam because he's like he's scamming like he's doing a better version of me. It's like this is. You're not meant to upgrade from a scam. You're meant to be

like well that's not New Zealand Post or that's like well this guy's great. Yeah. I might just join Private Ben Boyce. Unfollow real Ben Boys. Unfortunately it's the account has been taken down but hey maybe it's time to start it back up again this guy's great John O'Benn and Megan The podcast The Hits The kids ask me

Hey can you swing by a place called Something something juice And pick us up A thing, texting me Saying oh strawberry something So okay in my head I'm like I'm going to a juice place Right

And to get us some sort of strawberry drink Yeah And I walk in I was like okay juice juice juice Juice says juice And I handed I read out the order That was text to me Yeah And then I'm sitting down waiting for this item.

And I said, oh, this looks like the person behind the counter is sort of assembling an ice cream Sunday of some description. And a big one too. Like it was not, yeah, it was almost in the size of a bucket. And then I was thinking maybe that's someone else's order. Yeah, it could be, yeah. Uber Eats, they've gone out and I'm the only one in the shop. And 10 minutes later, after she's constructed this masterpiece, she's like, here's your order. and that threw me

because I'm like well I'm 25 minutes over the other side of town and this ice cream tower that she's built So was it ice cream was it? It was an ice cream with strawberry and stuff and not a strawberry drink

A strawberry ice cream Sunday And a vanilla tower she's built And this is not a word of a lie No exaggeration As tall as the sky tower Enormous No lie Yeah

No lie And so okay I'm like Well I've got no other option But to just try and get home As quickly as possible But things too big to put Any cup holders in the car.

So the natural location is in between my legs, sitting in my crotch while driving, and the ice, it is, gee, if you want to add some stress or some exhilaration to your ride home. It's a race against time in that situation, isn't it? Try and take an ice cream home on a 25-minute drive, and it sort of started as, you know, fairly upright and erect, but eventually it was like leaning Tara Pisa. I'm surprised you did. In that situation, you've got to take the bite.

You've got to take a bite off the top. Yeah, I really should have Because otherwise you're like Well, you've got to come home and go Okay, because it's falling off It's toppling over Yeah It did get home

And it looked like it looked like a mushy Like a medical Look the best right Yeah It looked like someone had given a sample To send to your local laboratory And I was like Here's your

Ice Cream Kids and they're like Oh It's not on me It is not on me No that's one of those They're eating in the vicinity of the place

I imagine the Uber each drivers will get that all the time they're like there's no way I'm getting this safely to the location is...

They turn up there here's your thing and be like oh you know you're right probably blaming the driver imagine how many things Uber each drivers

had in their crotch they've had to I don't know again I don't know what you put in the seat next to you oh because then it was because the seats

climb it's not flat not a flat surface you kind of had had up the thing you took a hit on that one yeah

you go give it a bash man see what you can do I'll put it on the seat. I'll put it on the seat. That's fine. John O'Bennon and Megan, the podcast. The hits.

And we gave Ganesh Raj from Eat Well for Less. He's a chef. He's a great guy. We gave him a challenge, a 24-hour challenge. Yeah, now Ganesh promotes healthy eating. So we took him to the opposite of what he's used to dealing with. The vending machine here at work is natural enemy. It's not like taking a vegan to a bacon eating competition.

But this was yesterday. We said to pick three items to make a meal. from the viny machine. There's noodles. Noodles? That too obvious, though, do they? I feel like taking the noodles is too obvious. Okay, listen, you've got full creative control.

And we've got the rice crackers. What's going to happen? Turn in next week. Oh, look, honey roasted peanuts. I'm taking that too. Okay, those are the three. Okay, here we go. That was yesterday, over 24 hours ago.

Ganesh Raj from Eat Well for Less joins us back in the studio. Always lovely to see your face. Just went and grabbed a quick coffee with Ganesh from the cafeteria. and he said, only if you tell the barista, my name is Cash Fontaine. Yeah, so it's written actually on the top of the cup. That just sounds ridiculous. Cash Fontaine, it's your DJ name? You know what?

You guys are just making stuff up. It's not cool. I love how they wrote it with a dollar sign, though. Cash Fontaine. Sounds like a cool name. Is it your DJ name? That's my DJ name. Adult film name, whatever.

Well, my adult film name's different. I have a drag name, but... What's your drag name? Oh, you want to know? Yeah. You really want to know? Yeah. It's the coolest drag name.

Salandra. It's got to be whispered too It's got to be Saladro Cash Fontaine sounds like a Simpsons character Who came into Springfield Yeah They invested a lot of money

And then he left Okay so yesterday Vending Machine chose three items The three items again were Honey Roasted Peanuts Doritos and some Rice crackers as well

Yeah Yeah apparently Apparently there's rice in that That's what it says on the packet So this is not normally the sort of food that you would play around with, but we gave you a challenge. So we're really pushing you, 24 hours to come back with something. And wow, you've come in with containers, plates.

It's impressive. Thank you so much, bro. I mean, this was painful. The missus threatened to leave me this morning after she smelt the Dorito fried chicken. Yeah. Because that's what I've gone and done. I took the chicken and then I took the Doritos and I blitz the Doritos down. And then I took the rice crackers and blitz those down.

and made like a compound blitz down. Nice. And then I added some self-raising flour to it and made like a dry rub. Oh, okay. And then I marinated the chicken with an egg and some salt and pepper clean. So it's coming to wet on this side. Then you had this bowl of dry on this side. Then you had the second bowl here, which had some water and some corn starch to make like a slurry.

Three bowls of slurry, right? And then a hot pan. And you take all the eggy chicken and go into the dry mix. and then, oh, dirty rice crackers. Ooh, dirty Doritos. All the chemicals on that chicken. Chemicals, chemicals. Ben's dipping the crispy chicken.

We'll have all of this on The Hits Breakfast. Do you want us to co-lab with your social media account, Ganesh? Yes, please. Oh, very good. How's that? Really good. Really tasting. You really are good at your job.

Yeah. Like I work on a show called Eat Well For Less. I could have just have easily worked on that other show. You're going to be dead real soon. but I chose not to chose the healthier option Now speaking of which too You do the humble yum yum

Which is a wonderful cooking program Educating people on how to eat Better than we are eating right now Absolutely man This is like fun time eating We talk about treat food This is it right here But I've got a schools program

That I've currently nailed And I've created a humble yum yum Program for schools Because that's what's really missing in schools Is food education So kids can figure out what to do When they grow up So we're going to go and stand in front

on the Money River local board next Wednesday and ask for some money so if you know anyone on that board put the pressure on for me when you say we are we there too are we standing from all the listeners we're all standing front of the board

all of you are going to call the board and say listen man help the kids they are the future yeah that's great and you do want to take this nationwide eventually as well it's a wonderful thing you do thank you so much for having me and thank you for letting me be naughty a little treat for us I mean

sweet treat now I've really I've, you know, broken the seal. We've set her back two years now. That's not even a lie. It's literally two years. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. The Hats.

And big news today, five. The group from the 90s, the boy group from the 90s are back. For the first time in 25 years, they are back together. So they haven't been together as a band for 25 years as a group. Keep on moving. They're coming to New Zealand in May, 26 next year at Auckland's Trust Arena. And we'll put all the details up on the Hits.comode at NZ, but tickets go on sale next Friday. And we're talking about five.

I played you guys this video the other day of this guy on Instagram who had pointed out how many times five the group loved to get up and down in their songs. Multiple songs. Yeah, he's singing along in the car. Have a listen. Get up, singing. One, two, three, four, five will make to get down now. Getting up and down in one song. Yeah. If you're getting down, baby, I want it now.

Baby, get on up when you're down. Baby, take a good look around. Now, everybody's moving, everybody's grooving, getting down with five when you're coming. If you've got the feeling, jump up to the ceiling. I'm getting down tonight. Still getting down. No, I love getting more up and down. I mean, they were young guys there.

Maybe now as you get older. Yeah, getting up and down is like, groaning. But pretty cool, they're back together, and you can catch them in New Zealand next year. All the details are the Hatsdog. My wife, she was a big fan of five. I always say she was a fan of it. There was a guy called Abbs. Oh, yeah?

And she's like, it wasn't Abbs. It was the other one. And I was like, is there Gary? I don't know. I don't know. Do you want me to know the members of... Trent Kevin? Yeah.

There was a guy called Abs, Abbs, though, wasn't it? Yeah, there was Abbs. Oh, yeah, abs with the Z, A, B, Z. Yeah. Love it. Yeah, there was Richie, Scott, Sean, and Jay. Jay. Jay.

Jay. I was a big fan. Yeah. No, so that'll be good of me. They look good. They look great. Yeah. So, that'll be great to have them in the show.

Tell you what, there'll be a lot of Savi en Blanc being drunk that night. It looks like a good time, though. It should be a great time. So, uh, catch five. Get up and down. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hats. Megan today, she's had a funeral, so wishing her and a family all the very best today.

Now, LeBuboos, you might have heard this if you've got a sort of youngest, kids, kids in their teens, it seems like it's a new craze. It's a cute, yet let creepy, collectible figure that's been inspired through animation and collectible art toys overseas, right? They like little soft toys.

They're quite demonic, gremlin-like. Yeah, mischievous sort of grin with sort of big sharp teeth and a big smile. Yeah, they're not the cutest-looking things, but they become a bit of a phrase. They've got swept into the slipstream of popularity, haven't they? And, geez, I'll tell you what, the

Labubu family, sitting pretty, having a laugh, having a laugh. Troy's, producer, Troy's girlfriend, not a teenager, fully grown adult. Be weird if he was with a teenager. Fully grown adult, she collects them. Yeah. I mean, it's spanning the generations. And anyway, every day, my daughter Poppy harassing me, can I have a Labubu? Because they're quite expensive now, too, you know.

Take out a second mortgage for a Labibu. And they're sold in sort of blind boxes so you don't know what Labubu you're going to get until you open up. I bought a Labibu costume with the internet. It wasn't quite a little. as good as the picture. Of course you did. Of course you did.

It was just, you know, sort of a morph suit and the face was just, it looked really good at the picture, but the face was more like one of those masks you'd make yourself. And I was like, ah, but anyway. Have you used it? Yeah, used it. Yeah, used it for a skit. We could put on the Hitsbred for story if we want. But, yeah, no, it seems, yeah, it's just a constant chipping away.

Can I get a little bit? You're the worst parents and Darth Vader, all the stuff. All the abuse starts coming out. I've still haven't, still haven't got one, holding out. I said, I'll buy you a fake one. one, there's Lafoufus. There's, yeah, the fake one's out and about. Yeah.

Yeah, no one knows the difference. Well, kids do, but you're right, we don't know the difference. No. But it feels like it is, you know, but I get swept up in a, I get swept up in a craze. I get it. I understand. That's what I have to keep reminding Poppy about. And my son, Oscar, I was like, remember fidget spinners?

Remember, you're standing at a thing, you're like, I want a $5,000 fidget spinner. Yeah. $5,000. I know, I mean, $5,000 is a lot. You probably regret that. What are we fidgeting with now, ourselves? Back to what we used to do You'd regret that

But I mean in some cases You have fun at the time I always look at you have fun at the time And then if you move on to something else That's good You've had that moment The Labouou fays in your life Someone has just called through

Have they got five? Are you a Laboooo Enthusias Carla? Yes, I'm a Labubo Enthusia And you sound fully formed Yeah How old are you? I'm 31

31 Are you got five Labububus? I've got five Labubo Ooh Geez, what were they? Nine million dollars Not quite Like a hundred bucks each

I think I paid to you Okay all right My daughter I got one from a friend Because she bought a blind box From her overseas The family gave it to her And you're not meant to get two of the same

She got two of the same And so she gave one away to her friend And then she's getting sent The whole new I've heard about this story multiple times Five more ones are getting sent Oh as an apology As an apology

Aemogu They got morals What Labubu do you want Carla, what's the one that's avoiding you? No, I think I'm happy. I've got one of each, like, so there's like three different, I don't know if you guys know, but there's like three different types of lububoos. I've got one of each, so I'm happy with that.

Okay, so she's at five, she's capping it at five. Five too many, maybe? Okay, yeah, that's good. No, no, no, no. Did you have to line up for them? People are lining up outside the shops and the malls? No, so I was recently in the States, and you can't buy them anywhere over there. They're all sold out.

to buy them online, yeah. So this is what we want to chuck open this morning. You know, New Zealand's shortest lived hobbies. I imagine, because my friend was bringing in fidget spinners. Jeez, he really, he nailed his foot to the floor of fidgettes for container loads of them. And he was selling them to the farmer's shop and the buyer for farmers. Been there for decades. It was like, I have never seen anything take off so quick and then die in the ass.

Oh, really? So little boo-boos will fall off a cliff at some point. Yeah, yeah. So what fad or hobby did you get swept up in? You're like, this is for me. Maybe it was golf. Maybe it was, Megan was talking about the other day about windsurfing or something. Quite surfing, so you know how you get, you kind of get on the weight boards, but you're holding a kite.

It looks very complicated. She spent $1,000 on equipment she used once, I think. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, The Hats. Talking about the shortest-lived fads or hobbies, just off the Luboo craze, which is sweeping the world at the moment. Expensive little plushy dolls you can dangle off your bag. I imagine people would steal them off bags, too. My daughter, as I said before, got given one, which is great for me because I didn't have to walk out. Thank you.

But she's like, you know, you don't take them to school, you know, because people can take him. Maybe I should just steal one from a little girl's backpack and give that to Poppy. Now, someone sticks in saying, I bought my kids a whole bunch of lafoufos from Sheen. Didn't notice. I think there's a certain age. I feel like Poppy's smart enough to notice. You know, maybe a younger, you know. The dupes.

Yeah, exactly. There's a certain smell when it comes at a discount price. you know, those products that arrive from sheen and things, so they'll notice. Okay, I ain't hundred the hits. Shortest-lived hobbies. Let's get Sandy on. Good morning to you, Sando.

It's Sandy. Yeah, I called you Sando. Do you like the nickname Sando? Never been, but I suppose we could start. Yeah, she's never been called Sando. Okay, Sandy. Well, I'll call you Sando if you don't mind. What was your shortest-lived hobby?

The Bowflex. Oh, what's the Bo-Flex? I remember the Bo-Flex. What was that? Oh, you're probably too young. It was a dim machine. And what did it do? What did it promise it was going to do?

Well, you know, you didn't have to go to the gym. Yeah, it was, geez, just Google it. Oh, it's got everything at it. Yeah, well, that's a lot of equipment in one piece of fitness. I know. As a sad thing is, I ended up paying to go to the gym, and I went to the gym more than I used that. Jesus.

Where is the Bowflex now in your house? I sold it. I'm looking at a postbook. At a picture, it's like if they put the whole gym into one machine. One piece of equipment. It's like legs, arms, presses, whatever. It's all there. No part of your body you couldn't work out.

That is very funny. Yeah, I had the same thing with the Ab Circle Pro, and you'd kind of kneel on this circle and hold on to a bar. Oh, you'd swing back and forth. You'd have rock hard. Did you get one of those? Yeah, I did. Sold back to.

As seen on TV, he had a wonderful period of hocking off shitty products to us, didn't they. All right on your sando. Have a great day. Appreciate your call. Amy, good morning to you. Oh, hi. I picked up metal detecting just recently. Oh, metal detectic.

Oh, see, what do you, what? Okay, I feel like I could get into this. What do you actually find? A dollar, two dollars. Okay, I need more than that. King George. Oh, King George. Kenny from 1950.

Is this interesting? Okay, well, maybe I'm not quite as kidding. How many hours, you know, a week are you dedicating to your metal detecting? Two hours. It does seem fun. I see people on the beach. I'm like, I can do that. My wife's like, you know, to stop.

I've seen it. I've said this before on the radio, and I've caught flak for it. When you're on the beach and you see some of the metal detector, you're like, I reckon, I reckon I'll be thinking about doing it. I can imagine. I can imagine you out there on the metal detecting. I'm on the West Coast. The black sand's no good.

Oh, no good. Oh, do you want to come over to the East Coast? You and Ben can go metal to find some King Georges. Good on you, Amy. Really appreciate your phoney through. I actually went to the dump about three months ago. And I was just getting rid of a lot of stuff from the boot. And I was like, oh, there's a golf bag with some clubs in it there.

Oh, right. And so I dumped out all my stuff, all my landfill. And then I went and grabbed more landfill and put it back in my boot. And I was like, I'm going to take up golf. You know, Ryan, Fox, Lydia Coe, they might have been in a dump pond. and a golf club was staring them in the eyes and they kicked off their careers. True. Forty-four's not too late to stay at your golf.

I haven't played golf once. It's just sat in the garage for honestly three, three my 12 weeks. And I look at it and I can tell my wife's love, why did you, why did you make this home? You're not going to play this? Haven't even putted on the Lord. We'll take one more. Five, good morning to you. Good morning, good morning.

Shortest-lived hobbies. Me and my partner and a friend went to Thailand earlier this year, and I decided to take a Muay Thai class. It ended up becoming a dream. I come back to New Zealand and haven't seen a training session since. Short-lived kickboxing career, was it fine? Yeah, short-lived, mate, short-lived.

Swipped up in the Thai culture. You're like, I'm going to do that. I love it. We're going to hook you up by the double pass to the ASB classic tennis that's coming back in January. It'll be awesome. You can do some... What's funny is that I've recently just taken up a tennis hobby too.

Oh, there you go. Oh, that works out nicely. You can see it played properly before you take it up. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. The Hits. We're just going to talk about when you've met your hero. Because Lucy who used to work for the Hits, she's going to join us about 10 minutes time.

She got to meet Alex Warren. She's been going through a lot of health battles in the last couple of years. Alex Warren means a lot to her, the singer he was in town this week, and how it happened and what they did together was amazing story. She's going to tell us more in 10 minutes. So we want to get your calls on first, though. I've 800 of the Hits. Text 4487

Did you actually have the chance to meet your hero? Can I just say, I'm working with you for a very long time I've never met anyone with so many heroes. So many heroes. I was like surely, you know, your list of heroes needs to be, I'll give you one hero, two mix, two heroes mix. You've got bloody. Yeah, I know, so many people.

I'm like, I love this person. You're like, yeah, I know, it's, yeah, I need a... You've been lucky enough to meet probably all the heroes that I know of. Will Smith, you met? Yeah, yeah, he was a hero? Yeah, he was a hero? Yeah. Kim a nice hero.

Dwayne the Rock Johnson, the hero as well. Carlis Spencer was a hero. Carlos Spencer was a hero. LeBron James is up there as well. You know, they haven't got there yet. So many heroes.

But you're right, I've got a lot of heroes. All the Warriors from 1995 to 2006. You know? Maybe we should just change the name from heroes, just people you admire. Yeah, I do. But I did.

We got to meet Dwayne the Rock Johnson. One of his heroes. Yeah, now you know that I love the Rock. We've done in something like about a year before we actually got the chance to meet him. where you got me to go, you're like, well, prove you love him. And I got a love heart tattoo with Dwayne Johnson's name on my behind, on my bottom, on my bottom. We put it on the internet, never knew that he'd heard about it until we did an interview over Zoom.

You surprised me with him, with one of my heroes. And he had actually seen it. He had, like, seen it. He had the video on his phone, which just blew my mind. He said, I've seen it, and he showed us the video. And then we got the chance to meet him. And this was like a year later after you'd seen that, thought he'd have no idea who we are. We walked into a room in Los Angeles.

He was there promoting a movie. And you could see, looking at us, he was like, I've seen these guys before. And he slowly started to piece it together. Have a listen to Dwayne and the Rock Johnson. Last time we connected was, remind me again. Jungle Cruz. It was last year, right? Yeah, yeah, it was.

But it was via. Yeah, yeah. It was a grass day my life. And it was a surprise. It was. I remember what he's got a puny. The tattoo. Yeah.

We're going to show it. Yeah, you got your butt out. And he signed it. He signed. I've got this a whacking great, Dwayne, Johnson's signature tattooed again afterwards. Oh, that's on you're bummed. Yeah, that's a huge signature.

Is there any spare real estate on those cheeks? One cheek is still available if you want it right now. Businesses out there? Local real estate agents. Anyone? Yeah, that's right. I forgot you got the signature. That's a big signature too.

It's called it like a tramp stamp location. It goes out of quite eye as well. Dwayne Johnson, yeah. So I got met my hero, he signed it. I was like, I'll get it tattooed and I did get it tattooed. We'll get that picture up on the hits breakfast. If you want it, you can see it right now. So I got to me.

meet my hero and it was awesome because he was lovely and he remembered us, which is cool. Doesn't always happen though. Have you actually met your hero? Would really love to get you on this morning. Text 4387. I must tell you, I did run into my hero in a urinal. Oh, really? A urinal and what my hero said.

Okay. Please stop staring. It was probably that. Put your phone away. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast. The hits. But whenever you meet your heroes, sometimes it's great and other times not so good. And the most New Zealand story I read

on the other day, Scarlett Johansson, the actor was filming in New Zealand many years ago. Big Hollywood superstar in Wellington. And she apparently, you couldn't get more New Zealand this. She went into a place and she was like, oh, hi, just want to say breakfast? Can I order some breakfast? And the guy went, the manager went, no, kitchen's closed. It's not open for another half an hour.

And then she was, oh, that's quite fine. Thank you. And she left. And then the worker came up and said, do you know that was Scarlett Johanson? He's like, yeah. But the kitchen doesn't open for another half an hour. Don't care of you are, mate. Kitchen doesn't open for anyone.

I was like, you're going to be more of a New Zealand story. Yeah, no, you are, but sorry. Kitchen doesn't open for another half an hour. I'll whip up an egg speddy for Scarlett, Johan. Something. It's like, it's New Zealand, mate, you've got to wait for her. She understood, she left and she was all good. Yeah.

Always in those situations, I'm like, well, you're here. The kitchen's over there. No, mate. You know, bend the rules for Hollywood. So have you met your hero? That's all you want to know. We got Chopper with us on Our 800 The Hits. How are you, Chopper?

Hey, good, mate, yourself Yeah, lovely to have you on I can tell Ben's a little nervous About having someone called Chopper No, I was just trying to work out Was Chobber your hero? Is that your name? No, no, that's my nickname

Oh, right, so who was the hero that you met? Oh, I got a chance to meet Mc Jagger and Jerry Hall In the middle of France Wow In France did you say Yeah, yeah, I was playing rugby over there And I was driving through the middle of rural France

On one of those little narrow roads And these two idiots on bikes in front of me were going really slowly, and it was annoying me, so I started tooting the horn, a tooting horn anyway. Eventually they stopped and turned around, and it was Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, and Mick promptly told me to go eff off, and go very slowly behind them.

So you got a, you road-raged Mick Jagger, and he spiked back. Correct, yep. It's a cool story. Actually, I kind of admire that more. I kind of like that rock and roll. That's a cool story. Yeah, yeah, it was cool.

What sort of bikes was he or was he on? Oh, no idea. Those old ones. Yeah, those old scootery ones. Bet there was a basket on the front too. Yeah, probably. Hey, good on, you chop. I appreciate you call.

Oh, such a good call. Have a great day, mate. We'll get Kidder on. Good morning to you. Did you get, Kerah, did you get abused by a famous person on the road? No, nothing is cool as that, no. Who did you meet, though? with me a few people

so David Williams we met with the kids one time at a signing yeah he was really awesome he was really funny with the kids took the time to talk to them it was really nice

but then me and my sister were sitting on the plane one time on our way to Sydney and Chenada Connor walked past and I know and being who I am I just thought oh hey Chenade like you know

old time friends and she just kept walking and then when we got off the plane was like we pretended to tie our shoelaces for a while and stopped and waited for her we didn't even have shoelaces yeah we were in cromish but anyway and said hey Tunae

can we have a photo she just kept walking and went nah okay cool but the more awkward thing was we were then just standing behind her through customs for like can we get the photo now can we go have no phones at the

Customs area, barely. That machine's about to take a photo of you. You're standing her one behind. Oh, there you go. I also met Van Morrison, well, we sat next to him at a restaurant. Oh, geez. Who haven't you met? Crazy.

Carol, we really appreciate your call. I wish we'll get these coming through. Yeah. Yeah. John O'Benn and Megan. The podcast. The Hats. I was just saying you met Dwayne of Royal Johnson, which is a pretty big hero of yours. A long list of, you know, 20 to 25 heroes he has.

That's right. It's something the New Zealander of the Year honors or something. You know, you're just got to keep at it, you know? Yeah, they're all great. They're all worthy. Yeah, and Dave Grohl, a big hero of mine. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, any man who can juggle his actual family and a secret family is.

No. He is actually one of that, do you? Hey? You admire that. Yeah, I admire that. It's multitasking at his finest, I tell you. No, but he really is a lovely guy, lovely guy. Everyone makes mistakes.

God, we're all human, aren't we? But I was, went to something across in Australia when they were really. an album and they were just in a bar playing their album to people and I went to the lavatory the urinal and uh he walked in right next to me at the trough at the trough I was like oh oh Dave Grohl he's like goodate and I was like hello uh how you go he said good and that was it yeah he had a good flow good that's good that's probably all you can say about that yeah you know a much more conversation than that phones and that environment feels weird and intrusive We've got Nicole with us on our 800 of the hits.

You met you, Hero? I did. I did. Probably not going to beat Duane Dodson there, but he's everyone's hero. Well, except for my wife's. Yeah, she likes him.

But the other day I was watching that wrestling documentary, you know, like, a big banging on about as well. And then she was like, because he's on it. She's like, did the wrong dude for wrestling? I was like, you call yourself a fan. She's like, no. I've never called myself a fan. You're like, I like this movie.

He's like, that's how he started. Have you not heard me bang on about the rock? You're like, this is grounds for divorce. That's right. Anyway, sorry, that wound me up the other day, but anyway, who have you got to meet? This is about Nicole. Jim?

Yeah, Jimma Flynn. Oh, Jimaphnick. Some people probably won't know her. No, Richie McCaw's wife. Yeah. Here we go. You had to, yeah. It's an amazing hockey player for many years, yeah, for New Zealand.

There we go. So she's the hockey player. She's not Richie McCaw's wife. Yeah, she is. She's also Richie McCaw's wife. Yeah. But amazing hockey player But don't start with that

Okay Yeah Yeah so everybody's like You know When I met her No one knew who she was She was just trying to get a table In a small restaurant

Over on a beach front And I knew exactly who she was And I was the manager So I was like boom I'm bringing a table in from outside I'm getting the drink she wants I'm getting a table for Richie McCaw's wife That's what I'm doing

Why is she catering to this lady And then I must have said something And then the guy next to her goes Oh you're Richie McCaw's wife He were like, Jono, get a leave, mate. And I was just like, man, like, give the girl a break. She's an insane hockey player. Yeah, she was incredible, right?

She was that well before she was her, his, um... Yeah, exactly. You're right. Well, that's very cool. Is she lovely? Oh, she was so sweet. Like, she went out to her car and got me some shim pads and a bull and signed it. And, yeah, gave it to me.

And she's just so sweet, honestly. And the best player that, like, she's my all-time favorite. and I watch every year. Oh, jeez. Multiple Olympic games. Multiple Olympic games. You can't pull up back. Oh, mate.

Commonwealth games? I bet you didn't know she won medals at the Commonwealth Games. Did you know that? Nicole? Who made? Yeah. And the Commonwealth Games. Yeah, did you know she won a medal?

No. Yeah, you call yourself a fan. Hey, good on you, mate. Have a great day. Cheers. See here. And so continuing on the theme of meeting your hero, someone's joining us in the studio next.

who actually met their hero this week in New Zealand. Special story. It's an amazing story. John O'Ben and Megan, the podcast, The Hits. Got meeting your heroes. She's had some wonderful calls on this this morning, and we've got Lucy with us in the studio. I used to work here.

Lucy, how are you, mate? Hi. Hi. How are you? Good. Nice to see you again. We worked together for many years. You've been at the Hits and other radio stations as well,

so it's nice to say. No, thanks for coming in. No, thanks for having me. Now, a massive week for you. You got to meet one. one of your favorite people in the world. Here we go, now, now, the ordinary, zibidibid, bit. It's better when he does that.

So Alex Warren, obviously, the singer of this song, blowing up big, you know, people know him from YouTube and the internet. Now he's a massive singer as well. Now, what does he mean to you? A lot. I have had a really rough last couple of years. Long story short, was diagnosed with cancer when I was 13, relapsed again when I was 14 and there was cancer free for about seven years and then in October last year I found it that I'd relapse again and went through radiation basically every single day I was in hospital in December then in February just to top it off they found more cancer in my thyroid and it was just like one thing after the other and I think his songs were probably the one thing that got me through some of it and yeah tried to meet him multiple times yeah because you sort of put this out there I guess on your social media and said how much he means and his music means to you and how his music means to you and how his

has helped you through this journey and said he's coming to New Zealand, you know, putting it out into the world. Was that a big step to take to sort of put that out there? Yeah, like I obviously posted this TikTok about much saying that I wanted to meet him and everything a bit about my story and didn't really think it would go anywhere to be completely honest, but I was like, I'll just try my luck. We're told really sadly that he'd cancelled all of his meeting greets. Oh, really? Yeah. So we literally found it when we walked in the door that he had cancered his meeting greets was really gutted

but he, because it was cancelled so late he said he would do like a little private showcase with two acoustic songs and then like a little bit of a question on Q&A afterwards which is kind of where I was like I have to take the opportunity to like talk to him or ask I'm going to pinch myself

what did you say to him? I just said a bit about my story and kind of how it happened and I didn't really think he would really talk to me about it much but he was just at there and listened. So then one of his tour managers, I think, came and got my friend and I afterwards and literally took us backstage and we went to his dressing room.

It literally felt like it was a movie. And Alex and Kover, his wife, were sitting there and she was knitting. Oh, really? Amazing. Awesome. Rock and roll. Yeah. She was really sweet.

And he, like, pulled up a chair and he, like, sat there for like probably another like 20 minutes and really wanted to know what I was going through. Oh, awesome. He gave you the set list. You got a guitar pick as well, too, right? Yeah, got the set list, got the guitar. which was crazy and then even in the night too we had people coming up to me at the concert that they had seen the TikTok and the video and everything which was really cute as well so

they say don't meet your heroes would you say on this occasion it was a good thing yeah no it was you meant John oh no no you'd always be me here thank you Lucy no it was the most incredible night and what's the one song that meant the most here um it was headlights oh yeah is he played that right for you yeah so when we were talking he kind of asked my friend and I what our favorite songs were my fire was like headlights he actually said to me he hated singing that song it's the worst song he doesn't want to sing yeah he said that on stage i saw the clip as well he's like i'm playing this for you like yeah pointed you out he wrote it babe he's like he said like i fain hate singing this song yeah so he's like i hate saying it but i'll sing it for you and yeah so

that must have been nice to know that he just tests singing the song but even like throughout the song like he um knew we were in the crowd because he asked where we were and like he was singing it to me the whole song which the whole time was really special which Yeah, and then the girl next to us was really cute as well She, like, videoed the whole thing And said, pick your phones down I want you, like, fully into the moment Which was like, I was like, it meant so much as well, so.

Well, you deserve. If anyone deserves a week like that, you do, Loose, so congratulations. John O'Ben and Megan, Megan, today Her Nana passed away, so she'll be bravely. Yeah, that's our thoughts with the Papa's Fano today, and we have a big announcement to make, too. This is too much announcement for this time of the morning, I would have thought.

Oh, but it's pretty cool. So, full metal orchestra, which had a first sellout show in Auckland. You went along to that. It was incredible. Yeah, it's a collection of well-known singers joining a band of well-known musicians, and they just do a whole bunch of covers, and it is the Bogan's Night Out. They even had Phil Rudd, the drummer, from actual ACDC, drumming ACDC. Last time they had John Toogood from Shihard as well, he was there.

at you, Jimmy Barnes' daughter, which is incredible. She's got an incredible, it's honestly, it's a wonderful night out. You'll really enjoy it. So, Maniq Fuel, Full Medical Orchestra is coming to Christchurch now, which is pretty exciting. It's Saturday, 1st of November at the Wolfbrook Arena and Christchurch. You can sign up for the pre-sale at full metal orchestra.com covering music, as you said before, for the likes of ACDC Black Sabbath, Metallica Guns and Roses and more. You want to go along to that, and we've got our first double pass to give away.

It's not even on sale yet, but we're giving it. I don't know how that works. Counterfeit, counterfeit job, mate. So what we're doing? Is that how it works? Pedaling tickets. We like that. What's that one?

Via-go-go. Good work. Might not work? No, these ones will work. We're going to play a game. 0-800 the hits. You phone up, we'll take multiple callers and you just got to go, I want to rock. And you can give that with as much energy as you feel is appropriate for 6 o'clock in the morning.

But I'm guessing the more energy you give it, the more chance here. Yeah, that's right. I want to rock. Rock! Okay. Oh, 100 of the whole. Let's see if we get two callers on first thing in the morning or one caller on first thing in the morning

because we know it is first thing in the morning. It's too early to rock. It really is. What was that song you always hear of the problem? Kiss, I want to rock or rock and roll all night and every day. Party every day. Party every day. That's too much.

That's, you know, I always thought it should be part of every day. You know, rock and roll all night and part of every day. Then the rest of it, I, you know, you've got to clear emails. You've got to take, you know, it's just laundry. There's a lot of stuff you've got to do. Yeah. But even that, like rocking every night and partying for a part of every day. I mean, maybe it's just you want to do it, but in reality, that's too much.

It's going to take its toll eventually. You can't do that for too long. Sounds like hell to a 44-year-old me. Okay, we've got Hayden on the phone. Welcome. Hayden, you want tickets to Full Metal Orchestra in Chicham? Oh, hell, you know. That'll be cool.

Okay, well, you know what you need to do, mate. You know what you need to do, okay? I want to rock. Good. I want a rock. Okay, that's Hayden. Well, I'll put Hayden on a hold. Okay, hold there, Hayden.

Let's go to, should we go to Tristan? Tristan, welcome to... I want to rock. Full metal orchestra tickets. You've just got to say you want to rock. I want to rock. Wow. We're still going.

All right. I don't know we can beat that. You've got yourself a double pass, a full metal orchestra. Money can fuel a full metal. Orchestra and Christchurch. I don't know if you've lost your voice for the rest of Friday. Are you still alive, Tristan? Woo!

Yeah, man. Legend, we'll take us to the ads with that magnificent energy again, my friend. It's all yours. I want to ride! I want to ride! Yeah, there we go, as you said it before. Presale, Full Metal Orchestra.com. John O'Bennon and Megan.

The podcast. The Hits. And we wanted to know the longest commute. How long are you sitting in the car each day? There's some bolters coming through on 4487. You can text us any time here on New Zealand's breakfast. Oh, 800 that hits the telephone number. People just really putting themselves through some pain to get to their job.

I guess, you know, you have to. Got to do what you've got to do? Yeah, exactly. The people out there doing what they have to do, exactly. Zoom might have killed a few commutes, though. Yeah, but it feels like nowadays, not so much. Everyone's gone back. Everyone's back into the offices again.

There was that period there where the bosses were like this, has taken. It felt like that. Everyone, get back in here, your scoundrels. Junae, good morning to you. Good morning, guys. How you doing? Oh, good, lovely to hear your voice, Janay. Now, I found a song from a band called Blue Highway.

And they appropriately thank you, Blue Highway, for the highway from the bottom of my heart. They wrote a song called It's a long, long road to wander all along. Here we go, so it's kind of appropriate, I guess. Yeah, kind of, yeah. Jeney, how long was your commute? Well, it's actually my wife's.

Used to be my wife's commute. When we lived in Hamilton, up to Auckland City Center. She used to leave at 5 o'clock in the morning and then get to work just after 7. Two hours. But every day, they drive home. Yep, and then she drives home. She leaves at 3 o'clock and sometimes only gets home at 5.36 o'clock. Oh, so that's five hours on some days.

Yes. That's a long time in the car. Long time listened to The Hats. That's right. And how long did she stick with that gig for, Janay? About four years. Wow, a lot longer than I would have. Good on her.

Thank you so much for you. Cool. Appreciate it, buddy. You're going to have a wonderful weekend. Alexandra and Kaikohi. Welcome. Hi. Longest commute, Alexandra, is it you?

I don't think I travel as long as his wife did, but I do an hour and a half each way every day. Oh, it's a long time. Do you like it? it, or parts of it, or not? Do you know what, I don't mind the drive, but the cost of it is horrendous? Yeah. You'd be gone to the petrol station like three times a week, wouldn't you?

Yes, I do. And I get to travel through the beautiful Mangamooka Gorge, so if there's a slip or flooding, which happens quite a bit, then I have to go the long way. Jeez. And I imagine that times would be quite meditative, meditative. Is that even a word? You'd be at peace. You can get some stuff.

thought, the thinking I could do, the thinking, the dark, dark places Ben would go to. Hey, Alexandra, well, you have a safe driver, we appreciate you listening. Awesome, thank you. Thank you. We'll take a lot more on this. We can get these going. Yeah, there's someone also called out your dad as well, too, Troy. We'll have

to get to that, producer Troy, we'll have to get to that after seven. I was somebody to go at Stevo? Yeah. Gary, morning to you. Hey, guys, how are you? Lovely to have you on. Gazzar, longest commute. Back in the UK, three times. a week I was doing two and a half hours there, two and a half hours back.

It's half the workday. Yeah, I know. I did that for six months. That is too, man. Now, that's all you could handle? No, the job finished, but the reason I had to go back was like to pick up materials to continue the job. Oh my gosh, that is painful. So what would you think, what would you think about on a five hours sitting in a car every day?

Ah, you didn't have cell phones or anything like that back then. that back then because, yeah, just looking at all the other cars in the same. Oh, there's a car. There's another one. Talking to the voices in your head.