Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: Why Ed Sheeran decided to play Christchurch + We chat to someone who worked with Ozzy Osbourne!

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

On today’s show: Is taking a photo through a car door technically meeting someone? Why Megan is calling our boss Big Boy Night show host Brin is the only kiwi to ask Ed Sheeran a question! We chat to someone who worked with Ozzy Osbourne How a listener ended up in hospital after waving at Ed Sheeran... Instagram: @THEHITSBREAKFASTFacebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & MeganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The John O'Bannon Megan podcast thanks to Dilma. Goodness really does taste great. Dilma, making the world a better tea. Welcome to the podcast on a Wednesday morning here. Uh, where are you about to call someone who we think, uh, Following a niche social media page. Yeah. This is something I do all the time.

I could maybe get into this. Yeah. You, uh, you follow a series of niche pages, don't you? On social media, the peer review. Yeah. The a series of niche pages don't you on social media the pair of you? Yeah the morning. Morning! Hello there it's John O'Better Meagan here welcome to the podcast. Oh hi. Good to have you on what was your name sorry? Gay Marie. Gay Marie well it's lovely to meet you. Now we were talking niche follows that you have on social media. Oh yes. Who do you follow, Gay Marie?

I just like the folding and, you know, how they do their clothing. And they fold those jeans really tidily to put in, you know, in the cupboards that they're bored with. It's so darn tidy in the wardrobes. They're just in the way to fold their jeans. And when they go traveling, they can vacuum pack them down to nothing

and take like twice as much with them. So you watch people folding stuff and that really gets you going. Yeah. That's quite, it's quite satisfying. Have you seen the people that fold with like a box sort of shape and they kind of do, you watch, you're like, I'm just showing these guys right now. Oh yeah, that's how you teach your kids to fold. And they have, they put their clothes on basically like a box cardboard cut out sort of thing. I haven't seen that.

And they fold it all over, it's quite satisfying. Yeah. Even sheets and just the way they fold their jeans, you know, you fold the legs up first and then you kind of make it into a nice little square. Now tell me, are you a connoisseur of the fitted sheet folding? Do you know how to do that? Yes, I do. You're a good folder. That's very tough.

I'm no good. I'm a scruncher when it comes to that. I just roll it round. Roll it over, over, over. I always, yeah, this is a technique that I can never quite nail with that one right? Yeah. It's the same when you go to a shop and you always try and fold something like you may get a t-shirt and you went to put it back and you never do it as good as the shop. Yeah, you can do the pleats and everything right, yeah. What's annoying though is I've got into ironing my sheets. So the top sheet is ironed and pristine and folded and then I get to the fitted one and

I'm like, chuck it in. So you got one that's perfect and one that's just a mess. You're ironing your sheets? Yeah. Oh, bro. Should I film it and put it online? Yes. Would you watch that? Yes. She's like, yeah, you're talking dirty to me. Well, clean actually. She's been washed. Well, thank you so much for sharing it with us. We'll have to check out some of those sites. I know. We've got a team. Gamery's got other stuff going on. We've got stuff going on.

You go. You have a lovely day. Yeah, you're working. Awesome. Thank you guys. I am. See you. See you, bud. Bye. Here we go. Enjoy the podcast. John O'Bannon Megan. The Podcast.

The Heads. Now, you know, we meet a lot of people in this job There we go. Enjoy the podcast. John O'Bannon, Megan. The podcast. The heads. Now, you know, we meet a lot of people in this job and have done over the years and something that I've tried to do be a lot better off, you know, I'm pretty good with remembering faces, not amazing with names, but not saying nice to meet you to, you know, because sometimes people respond, oh, we've met before. Oh, it does. Nothing makes you feel more like a monster. Well, there's probably more things that make you feel more like a monster. Well, there's probably more things about you feel more like a monster parking a disabled car

Yeah cuddling someone that's not your wife at a Coldplay concert Worst things you maybe could be seen doing but you do feel a bit bad You know when you're like nice to meet you and they reply back going. we've met before. Yeah right, I understand. How do you cover that now? What do you come and say? Yeah nice to see you is a better way that's saying nice to meet you. It could be the first time you've seen them or it could be the... Yeah that works so I've been trying to say that a lot more but I didn't say that the other day because I was pretty sure there was a guy that was around here that came into the building. I was pretty sure that this person by the introduction and stuff was like I have not met this person

before. Yeah right so it was a nice to meet you. Brand new to the list. Brand new. Nice to meet you. And then they went with a response, oh we've met before. Oh, you're like, God. Oh, and I was like, did the... remind me where that was again? Oh, you pulled that out there. Oh yeah, where was that again? Because I have no idea. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, where was that again? And this is sort of sat with me for a couple of days. They were like, because here we are at the studio here. We've got a big glass sort of window behind you, Megan. Yeah.

And they were like, I came up to the window one day about a year ago, and I got a photo through the window of you and Jono, through the window, is what he said. Okay. I was thinking, we didn't have a conversation. Oh wait, that's how you met. Yeah, that was, that was me. And I felt bad about that. I felt bad, I was, oh we didn't have a conversation. Oh wait, that's how you met? Yeah, that was me and I felt bad about that. I felt bad, I was, oh sorry for not remembering

and the other night, great, you know, see you again. And then later I was like, well, in my defence, was that a meeting or was that not a meeting? No, that's not a meeting. Well, thank you. He can't be sitting with me going. Justifying it in his head, he feels validated now. No, that's like saying if you saw any celebrity and took a photo of them anywhere, you're

like, I met Justin Bieber. Oh good. I met Sharon. I met you at your concert. Yeah, you need to kind of exchange names and shake hands kind of. Yeah, I mean this person was lovely, we had nice chat and stuff, but I was like, oh good, that's the meeting. Yeah, but your nice to see you was the way around it, right?

It's a great hack. I can't believe I sat with you for a couple of days. Come to us straight away, babes. We've cleared that up for you. How many times do you reckon he Googled, is it technically a meeting if they are through a soundproof glass window? Did you put it into Jack's GPT? It's like you're okay, Ben. Am I a monster? Ed Sheeran coming back to New Zealand just announced yesterday, very exciting, three concerts. We've all met him. We've all met him if you've been to one of his concerts. I was one of the 50,000 people in your show, mate.

Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hats. But your daughter Aya seems to be, well she's what? Savage. She's a savage. This comes off the back of it, the weekend we were in the changing rooms and she saw a naked woman and she said, mummy's got those those but those are long. No filter at that age

you know the kids they just say. They don't read a room. They're kind of like Trump. The kids of Trump, no filter they just say what's in their head. There's no exit strategy for them either like you have to kind of cover for them. Yeah we went out for dinner and as we were leaving the restaurant it was dark and she was walking down some stairs as an elderly, not elderly, an older gentleman walked up. They were walking in the same, you know, the same path. So they stop and she kind of looks him up and down, he's quite tall, and she just says, hello big boy. Technically, in that time too. You might like Nigella Lawson on the chocolate heads. Hello big boy. Technically, in that time too.

I like Nigella Lawson on the chocolate heads. Hello big boy. Like a 1950s film diva. Hello there big boy. But technically to her though, he's a boy and he's big. Hello big boy. She says that to everyone, I'm a little girl, you're a big boy. But she went, hello big boy.

And the man just, we all dropped, we all were cracking up. He found it hilarious, which is great. He was like, she's very sweet. I was like, yeah. But God, that's just something that kids can get away with that you just can't. Some big boys have to pay good money to be called big boy. They pay top-dot. Yeah, true, you're right. Yesterday we thought, you know, it's quite endearing when a little toddler says hello big boy. It kind of loses its cuteness, doesn't it, when it's a fully grown adult. Yeah, we waited by the elevators, the lifts at work, and there's like three lifts,

and we waited for someone to come out, just at random, and it happened. The next guy you said I had to say it to. We couldn't have scripted this better because our boss, Matt Anson came out of the lift and we made you go up to him just out of nowhere and just say this. Hello big boy. He reverses back in, back into the lift. He's shocked.

Why does it have to be my boss? I didn't like that one bit. Radio's so funny, you just put a microphone in front of it and it's not an HR issue. The magic of radio. I'm actually in some ways glad it was him and not someone that I didn't know at all. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The Hats. And Bryn from The Night Show on The Hats flew to an Australian pub to ask with a whole lot of Australian journalists one question over Zoom.

And here was Bryn's question to Ed Sheeran. You've played to massive crowds in Auckland and Wellington before and I know that you've said that Wellington is one of your favourite cities, but you're returning to Christchurch again for the first time in over a decade. You were there just a few years after the earthquakes. I want to know how do you feel about going back there, but also is it a really special moment for you to return to Christchurch? Great. Can I just say great local question there, Britt. Yeah, good. Are we nervous at this stage asking this question?

I was because he just answered a question about the Coldplay kiss cam. Oh, that's a real gear change. That was a big question. Yeah, you brought it back to earthquakes. Yeah, well, hey, and going to Christchurch, which is huge. So let's have a listen to Ed's response. Yeah, I think for me, when I tour New Zealand,

it's nice to tour New Zealand. I think that the first couple of times that I played New Zealand, it's nice to tour New Zealand. I think that the first couple of times that I played New Zealand, I'd play Auckland or maybe Wellington. I remember the first time playing Christchurch, just being excited that I was playing outside of the two major big cities. I felt the same thing when we played Dunedin. It just feels like I'm from a place like that, So it feels special when music tours go to places

that aren't necessarily like the capital city. Yeah, I love New Zealand. I sort of keep, every time I'm in New Zealand, I keep saying to my wife, we should move here. And then we sort of get back home and realize it's a long way from a family. But I love touring New Zealand. And it's more of an excuse to kind of be there

for a month as well, rather than just be there for a weekend, you sort of go there and play a few shows and you can actually like, bed in there and stay there. Great answer, he knows stuff about New Zealand, he knows where stuff is. He knows that we just like to hear about ourselves. Yeah, that was a good question Bryn, good from you, well done.

When you interview, I mean you guys interview all the big names and they always say, oh we love New Zealand, and you're sort of like, oh you have to done. When you interview, I mean you guys interview all the big names and they always say oh we love New Zealand and you're sort of like oh you have to say that because you're trying to sell tickets you know. Be controversial if someone came out and was like it's a bloody piece of it, it's a dog hole. Can I ask what do you think was the best, I mean it was a great question but what was the best question and answer that anyone in that room of journalists asked? Obviously you mentioned the Coldplay couple, I mean what was the most memorable? Yes. So apparently No Kiss Cam is going to

be at his new tour despite the big screens and the new visuals. So if you are having an affair, you'll be safe. Snap out of your tickets now. But the big question though was about toilet breaks and if he does take a toilet break because it's such a long show and he says no because it would just take too long. If he wanted to do number twos it would take way too long and the crowd would get angry. Yeah, no you would lose them. You would definitely lose them.

Oh god, I just got to quickly pop off. Because it's all him too, you know, you can't really... I like when nature calls, sometimes you don't have a choice. That's also very gutsy from that person for their one question to ask about that you know. I know whereas I went full Mike Hosking mode you know I wanted that real emotion. Did anyone ask for their one question what's the one question I should ask you? No but someone did ask about his skin care regime. And? What's he running there? He's got lovely skin.

Well the secret is no smoking and no drinking. And no fun. He's not, cause he used to enjoy a few beers and stuff like that. Is he not drinking at the moment Ed Sheeran? Well I wanted to ask him that but I only had one question. What happens about a follow up question? I know, I had so many follow up questions. Because he loves New Zealand craft beer. It was a bit of a controversial decision to hold it in a pub then wasn't it?

Yeah. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The Hits. Sad news this morning that Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of 76. Frontman from Black Sabbath sold over a hundred million records. Pretty incredible, had a reality hit show. I know him from the Osborne's. They were like the original reality TV show. Yeah. He always yelled out to his wife, Sharon! Sharon!

Yeah. We actually spoke. Kiwi guy Mark, who was a camera operator working in America, worked on that show. Crazy. We just loaded it in. Have a listen. I met and spent a lot of time with Ozzy Osbourne and his family. Oh wow. Really? Yeah, so I spent a lot of time working in television over the years and when I was working in the US I got hired to work on their reality show. So I did two seasons of the show. The Osbournes.

Back in about 2004-2005. That was such a huge show worldwide, that was massive. Yeah, it was probably one of the first proper reality shows to kind of start the ball rolling. I was just about to say that, it was kind of the Kardashians before the Kardashians, wasn't it? Exactly. I love you all, I love you more than love himself. You're a f***ing man. So you spent probably day and night with the entire family.

What was it like? It was great. I mean we pretty much based ourselves at the house and we just had full reign of wherever we wanted to go. You wouldn't plan anything? You'd just follow Ozzy Osbourne sort of waddling around? Exactly. We would turn up at the beginning of the day and have no idea what's gonna happen nothing was scripted nothing was set up we would just simply

start the cameras rolling and whatever happens we captured it I just loved I love Ozzy Osbourne and I particularly loved him in that show and probably no doubt who he is as a person everything was just the world's biggest problem for him. You know, nothing would work. Nothing would go well for him. Sharon! He would try and turn on some lights and it would just be a nightmare. Technology wasn't his friend.

And so, you know, just to get the TV switched on, he needed a little bit of assistance. But once he got it on and once he was watching a documentary about World War I on the History Channel, he was happy. Was he a nice guy? He was a lovely guy. In fact the whole family were. They were the nicest people.

And yeah, I can't say anything bad about them. They were a very loving family. And I'm not sure if that really comes across in a big way on the show, but they were, they really loved each other. They were there for each other. They were quirky and they were a little bit crazy. But yeah, great experience. Obviously, obviously, you know, all celebrities, you know, that launched them into superstardom,

you know, it was Ozzy and Sharon before that, but their kids as well. After that show, were there celebrities turning up at the house? Yeah, there were actually. It was one of those things that wasn't really planned. You just turn around and then you know Britney Spears would be walking in the door You know there'd be um Jessica Simpson or Kimberly Stewart And then I think even through being with the Osbournes, you know, you just end up meeting other celebrities We were in the UK at one point and we just happened to bump into Mick Jagger walking down the aisle at a hotel

It was really quite neat to sort of and we just happened to bump into Mick Jagger walking down the aisle at a hotel. It was really quite neat to sort of experience some of that life. There you go. That's Mark. Worked on the Osborne's. Amazing stories there, eh? Jono, Ben and Megan, the podcast. The Hats. So now it's the last night. It's a very exciting Ed Sheeran coming back to New Zealand. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch January next year.

Hey, New Zealand. Auckland Wellington and Christ Church January next year. Hey New Zealand I'm coming back I'm going to be playing Auckland Wellington and Christ Church in January and February 2026. Can't wait to see you there. He just said the same thing you said. You said it better Ben. Nah it sounded better when Ed Sheeran said it. It sounded like it meant more, more authentic. Very very exciting. We're going to have some of Ed Sheeran joining us on the show after 8 o'clock this morning.

Britten from The Night Show went over and asked them one question. Got to ask one question with all the media in Australia, so we'll have that after 8 o'clock. But right now... I just don't do the carbon credits on that trip. But right now we've got a Double Pass to give away to Ed Sheeran live on the Loop Tour. Double Pass, you could be going to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in January. All the details at fronteartouring.com. And the tickets go on sale July 29th. We want to know your best Ed Sheeran story on 4487 or 0800 The Hits.

Now we've all been lucky enough to hang out with Ed Sheeran over the years. He seems just the most lovely genuine person and we've done some wacky things with him haven't we Megan? We have. Which is what we were saying earlier on the show, which is probably the reason why he just does one Zoom call now for the whole of the Antibodians. He's jaded like the rest of us, but he's always been very keen. You know how people ask you who's your favourite person to interview? It's Ed Sheeran because he's so chill and he's so keen. And he remembers.

He remembers you. He must have done millions of interviews, but he seems to remember, you know, which is pretty incredible Yeah, it's like talking to a friend, isn't it? Yeah, a friend who's a lot richer than you and would never give you his phone number But that's the vibe I get when you chat. A lot more successful Now you did something a wacky bit with him back on the Edge radio station, right? This was on ZDM before we got a nitpick Okay, sorry mate. Alright, bringing the X's into the equation,

let's see what's happening here. One of your X's mate I forget you've had a few. I've had a few. So this was in 2015. We danced on the line of cancellation and played Spray Tan Bingo, which Ed actually posted on his YouTube channel. Wow.

But it was basically me answering questions about Ed, but they were very obscure questions and every time I got one wrong, he was able to spray me in the face with a spray tan gun. So I ended up looking like a mama. You look like, yeah. You're three shades away from being cancelled. Yeah, cancelled. Yeah. Donald Trump would like it. Like Ed would be like, oh, what a great glow. What a great

complexion. Natural glow. You look quite Trump-esque at the end of it, didn't you? So you had to try and guess each year and ask you what the width was of... Of his nipples! I'm just going to ask you a question. What is the circumference of my left nipple? Two centimeters!

Right in the face, Ed! It never happened on a UK radio show! So he'd say it never happened on a UK radio show. No! That's it. The circumference of his nipple? I mean, did you study up on him?. The circumference of his nipple. I mean that's, did you study up on him? Did you?

So you had to. Or his music. Not his nipple. Not like his, so it would be pretty hard to find that information. One of my memories, I went to Australia. You were on the same interview, Joe. Yeah. We got to talk to Ed Sheeran and I made a gag that I'd stolen some stuff from his hotel

room, little bottles of alcohol. And he's like, you need to drink one now. And I'm a lightweight. You know, and I drank the whole thing of gin the little just a little bottle and I was quite drunk and slurry and he found it quite amusing we're gonna see him naked walking through the corridors of the hotel later a little bit queasy right now a little bit drunk with insurance right now no American would do that that's such a Kiwi thing to do I love that

pretty sweet travel stories you can get your foot off. I'm really struggling here right now Ed. I'm really struggling. There's a scar, there's a scar story which we're not allowed to talk about. My alcohol issues are really cutting into my insurance. I thought you were chatty that night when we went out for dinner. You've been pre-loading. Yeah.

You fell in love with the shape of Ed Sheeran. I love you, bro. Yeah, I was a little lamb. You know what? I was like... He found it funny. So 4487 on the text, 100 of the hits, a double pass, the first double pass.

Ed Sheeran, what's your best Ed Sheeran story? Ideally, you met him when he was in New Zealand. That would be great, wouldn't it? He's been here a few times. Surely people have got some good stories. Then we put a mural of him up underneath and then we've painted over the mural, they're going to have to repaint a new mural. Oh sorry, she's coming back.

We wanted to know your best Ed Sheeran stories. I've been to New Zealand many times, Texas came through though, we were on a bus trip around Europe, went to a quaint little pub in Northern UK and then Ed Sheeran ended up walking in with some management. We didn't want to bug him but we bought some pints and sent them over from the bar staff and then he came on over and said thank you very much and chatted to them as well. So it's pretty cool. Let's get Holly on. Ed Sheeran's story. What do you got Holly? Good morning. I was working down in Waitawa, Blackwater Rafting, and he came down and did a tour. And I think it was a little bit more romantic with the Glow Wings, probably for me more than him.

We could have had something under the Glow Wings, but it didn't happen. But yeah, he came down, hung out, did a Blackwater Rafting tour. Just seems like we said before, the most genuine, lovely person. Is that what you took away? Yeah, he's real cool to hang out with. then he sang a song under the glow-ins and it was... Oh my god. I think we fell in love.

I think we fell in love. Yeah. You definitely walked away with a different experience than he did from Utah. There's an amazing cave though there where people have sung before like Katy Perry and Kitty De Canoa and stuff, right? Yeah, yeah. We've been pretty lucky with some of the celebrities we've had so I think we've got something so when he comes back to Auckland you know he should text me surely. Did someone film that? Did you have your phone?

No no it was all no phones which was actually pretty cool you know made it more authentic for him. Oh good on you. It's not cool for us but it's great for you. How's you been floating down underneath the ground with? We've had quite a few, you know, like Shortland Street stars and singers and we've had lots of block stars and you know, but I can't name them because I might have signed an NDA. Happened to Chuck Ed Shearer's name out there though.

Rip the NDA. Yeah well they're in love Jono, they're in love. He didn't make a sign at NDA. He wouldn't do that Ed. Alright well hold the line there, that's a great story. Right we'll find out if there's any more good ones. Ed Sheeran's stories, 0800THATS, 4487 is the telephone number, the greatest story. We will give two tickets to, right?

Yeah. Jamie, what's your story? I saw him rave at me in a limo and then I got hit by a car. She was. No more details. End of story. Okay, so how did this happen? Where were you? We were walking back from the stadium in Dunedin to our ride and we don't have traffic lights on the west coast so we thought we'd just cross wherever and we got run over. We'll get you every time.

So you actually saw him though, you reckon you saw him in the limo? I think so because who else would have been in a limo? Who's Indonesian? It was a man came out and it waved at us and yeah. Oh so the window came down and an arm came out? Yeah no faces, just an arm. Just an arm. I don't know if he seems like much of a limo

guy but maybe in Dunedin they were like you know what a big super star needs. Or only limo. Wheel it out. We don't have one. Cross-stitch, you just send down your limo. Send down to South Island's one limo. Very 1980s of it. Yeah and what happened to you after being hit by a car? Were you okay? Uh, no, I had to go to the hospital. Oh jeez. Oh my god, I'm so sorry. We didn't ask that at the start.

Oh good, well we were laughing before we got out here. Yeah, we definitely should have asked that right off the bat. Were you hit? I joke about it all the time. Did you go over the bonnet of the vehicle, did you? Don't know. No, under the wheel. Oh wow.

And so you were No under the wheel. Oh wow and so you were stuck under the car? Um I actually can't remember a whole lot to be honest. Geez how long are we in hospital? She was hit. I'm wanting details. It was a couple of days at least. Geez wow okay well I feel like now we need to give you the double pass the first double pass to each year And that is coming your way. Thank you for that. Yeah, sorry for asking questions We went back years later and my mom showed me where it happened and I've got a picture on my camera roll. Oh jeez, well you poor thing.

Well you've been run over and... So traumatic. I would say run over by Ed Sheeran, that would have been an even better story. Do you still remember the concert though? Yes, it was my very first concert, I loved it. Oh well that's cool, we're going to hook you up double pass to Ed Sheeran. He's going to be here on the Loop Tour as he's here before Auckland Wellington Christchurch January next year. We can't wait. All the details of the hits.co.nz.

Just look both ways when you're crossing the road when you go to that show though, okay? Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. We're right now, producer Grace. She's a Gen Z and something's winding you up this week. We seem to always wind you up, right? Yes, in a constant state of being wound up. Yeah, it's like we misuse crying laugh emojis, misuse exclamation marks. Dot, dot, dots. Yeah, that's icky.

Yeah, that's Charlie XCX. Did you see Matt Anderson, our boss, he said a huge W for the bald guys. Charlie XCX married a bald guy. Oh yeah, she did, yeah. Huge one for the bald guys. He's doing it for us brothers, you get out there brother you represent. She's wearing like speed dealers. Yeah she's got

those cool Gen Z glasses. Yeah very Gen Z of her. And a wedding dress. She's a millennial, don't forget to claim her. Yeah but she's a Gen Z's lover. Now what are we doing that winds you up this week? So we have you know, we have new producer Troy here and you know There's a bit of time between when he when he started don't worry Troy This isn't about you but a time between started and you know We had lots of people coming in so we had lots of different group chats lots going you guys you guys were complaining about it But now I've made one group chat With just Troy and what is winding me up is you guys keep using the other group chats that we don't need now We have this one group chat with just Troy and what is winding me up is you guys keep using the other group chats that we don't need now we have this one group chat no you keep

sending stuff to Matt and I'm like why you Matt's just gonna send stuff back and then it's just this whole bunch of links and a bunch of memes I'm like no can you just keep to the one with just Troy there's a lot of Devers and heart like Davis is the one you need to use okay you've caught it Davis okay so okay, so can we retry some other group chats or do you think we need to keep them? We'll just start deleting them. But Jono keeps like posting links in them. I'm confused.

I'm confused. There's honestly like too many group chats. I just know to avoid the one that says with management. Yeah, yeah. That was good someone put front foot at that. There was some stuff there like, well maybe we don't want to put... What happened to the hits breakfast Chitty chat? That's dad's thing. foot at that, eh? There was some stuff there like, well maybe we don't want to put... What happened to the Hits Breakfast Chitty Chat? That's dad, how do you use that?

That was about nine producers ago, mate. Yeah. Oh my god. So divas is priority, just please... Radio gang, is that still a thing? That's not a thing anymore. No, no. See, this is what I have to deal with, guys.

Just use that one group chat. You keep revibing these new group chats. Can I make a... I start all guns blazing in a group chat, then I fade out. And they move too quickly. I'm on a basketball committee at the moment for school, that's like, ping ping ping ping! And you really miss messages, you know, they just come through at a rate of knots.

If you're not on board, if you're not in the chat in the moment. You guys don't know, but we've got a girls group chat. Which Grace has nicely, kindly named Menapause. I think it's probably more for me. What are you talking about? You guys. Well, look at that one from time to time. Yeah, let you in.

To share that one across the one with management. That'd be really good. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The Hits. Social media, you know, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, whatever you're on, you end up following some pretty unusual places. Yeah, just something that kind of captures your attention. You're like, I can be a part of that. It's a simple click of a button and then about four weeks later,

you're like, why did I join that? Because you're getting fed all this information and you don't have to necessarily engage with it. You just suddenly start following things. Producer Grace, we talked about this yesterday after the show and you are following some very unusual social media groups. I follow about 17 crazy ones but I can do my top five for you if you guys like. Okay, you ready for this? A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony. How does that work though, when you're telling me this it's like do you assume the role of an answer everyone's an ant yeah I'm colony

A group where we all pretend to be middle-aged ads. I pretend to be you guys What do you do? What things you say as a middle-aged father? I hate being bald I'm part of Rayleigh pickle club. I've never played pickleball before and I don't know where Rayleigh is. Do you know what? I've been tempted to play pickleball recently. It looks fun. I don't know why.

You should join the club. Join the club. What is pickleball? It's tennis and tennis. Tennis and pata tennis. Yeah, almost. It's, but the more I see it, the more I'm like, oh, give me a shot.

It does look fun. Yeah. It's taking off. It's what? Yeah, anyway, there's a group for it. You can join it. I can join it, yeah. A group where we all pretend to live in the same apartment complex.

So you just be like, oh, I've got a noisy neighbor, ba ba ba, it's just really fun. Get your anger out. But everyone knows that you're not. Yeah, everyone obviously knows, apart from Rayleigh Pickleball, I'm under the, you know. How much of this day does, how of your day does this take up?

Having to, you know, pretend you're an aunt or? You know, not that much, like five minutes. You know, just pop on. You need something. I need a hobby. In your day, because you minutes. You know, just pop on. You need something. I need a hobby. And your day, because you also sleep for like four hours a day as a nap, and you've joined all these, I'm about to get absolutely roasted, I'm going to stop. Don't you have one where you're pretending to be a piece of toast?

Yeah, one where you pretend to be a piece of bread. Honestly, great. Same as you. A group where we pretend to be farmers and cows. I'm always a cow. I always take the cow route. I didn't even know these places existed on social media. This is incredible, these places are out there.

So that's what we want to know. What are the unusual social media pages that you follow and you get information on? What's your David Seymour one about his head getting smaller? Oh, there's one where you can't tell whether his eyes have been shrunk. So it's just different photos of David Seymour and his eyes are slightly bigger or smaller. And who's the admin on these? Who started this one? Probably a bunch of Gen Z's. It's very very ass coded.

And if you're you know if you're worried that we're not using the internet for the correct purposes well don't worry because we are. This is what it was built for. I imagine you Megan you have a lot of sort of cooking and... Yeah I have cooking but I also have weird... Formula one? Oh, Formula one. And do you say mukbang? Mukbang.

Where you watch people eat, because I like the sound. Oh, do you watch people eat? But then I don't like when people eat with their mouth full, but then I like watching the... Is it just a close up on their mouth? And they eat weird stuff. like you see the whole face Yeah, yeah, and it's like crunchy. You're like There's probably a group for that. Yeah, I was like a sport. I was looking yesterday

You know follow lots of warriors accounts and Lakers can I follow seven different Lakers accounts? I'm gonna go to one you stay with a spelling Lakers with L. Ak you are yes, I'm like with L-A-K-U-R-S. I'm like, why am I following that one? They were definitely wailed out. I was like, I need to stop following some of these accounts. And he's following one called The Lickers. Not as much basketball content as that one though. But it might come up. It might come up. Licking door handles. Jono, Ben and Megan, The Podcast.

The Hits. But right now we're talking about the unusual social media pages that you follow. Producer Grace, just a wild connection. She's pretending to be pieces of toast, pretending to be an ant in an ant colony, pretending to play pickleball for a club. She didn't even hurt a pickleball. It sounds like she needs to do less pretending and get actual hobby. Just actual do it.

Yeah, do a hobby. Like join a pickleball club. If you could actually pretend to be toast. If you could sum pretend to be toast. You could sum up Gen Z in just 15 seconds. I think we just did. My wife, she follows crack addicts and it's a chiropractic page with people getting their backs cracked. And just the horrific noises. I guess satisfying in a way though for the people afterwards, right?

Yeah. I do a lot of follows of pimple popping too. Oh yeah, it's quite satisfying. Yeah it is. I've got one called POPP AZZZZ POPPERS. It's got some good stuff on there. But also sickening at the same time. Yeah yeah I can't, it's not for me. Can you send me some of those if you see a good one? Absolutely.

I'm not a fan of blackheads though. No, pimples, yeah good stuff. The unusual sites that you are following on social media, I'd love to hear from you. 4487. Namaste, this was an apology. I phoned you, I said will you tell your story, you text the studio and I completely forgot to get your name. Sloppy producing from me. Who was this? Lauren.

Lauren, what do you follow on social media Lauren? Well I also like those chiropractor videos. You're a crack addict as well Lauren? Yeah it's very satisfying and also air cleaning the wax out of the skin. It's almost relieving, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Feel the relief for the people. Yeah. There's also this page, and I honestly haven't seen them post a lot lately, but it used to be just, um, just photos of capybaras sitting on top of other animals.

It's like a different animal each time. A what? A good one. The capybaras are very cute animals, yeah. We'll put a photo up of a capybaras and sing on top of it about an animal. A little wee sort of... A rat that let itself go.

But a cute one, like a little pudgy little cute one, you know? Very cute. And what other animals are they sitting upon? Oh, like, it's a different one every time. That's why it's so interesting. How do they get up there? Who knows? It's on a horse! The camp of our side, I don't know how I got here.

Take a photo quickly! Won't be able to do this twice. Put it on my social page, we appreciate it. On top of a draft's head! How did I get up here? We got our boss. Oh, Matt Anderson. Welcome, Matthew Anderson. Good morning, good morning. What's this? Are you adding to this topic or have we done something wrong?

Or are you in trouble? Yeah. No, no, no. Well, I mean a little column A, a little column D. Oh, okay. Okay. Personal and professional. Okay, let's go with the stuff that's more lighthearted on the radio.

What is that? Stuff that's more lighthearted is I was blessed with the surname Anderson and then my parents decided that wasn't straight white male enough so they gave me the name Matthew. Matthew Anderson, yeah. So I was once invited to a Facebook group called The Matt Anderson's. And there were hundreds of us. Oh from around the world?

It was like a multiversal Matt Anderson Facebook group. What was the banter like on there? It's pretty low level but the funniest thing was just the notifications because you'd get a notification on Facebook that would say Matt Anderson has posted in the Matt Anderson and then you'd go and click on it and every single comment was just Matt Anderson likes this. Matt Anderson replied it really got in your head. She, the only thing whiter than a Coldplay concert. The Matt Anderson's Facebook group. The weirdest thing is one day,

there was a Marco that got admitted into the group. And then he posted on the wall and said, I feel really honoured to be here. And it was admin. Matt Anderson booted him from the group. Oh, he's gone. He's gone. Bit of flavour came out of you.

Oh appreciate that. John O'Bannon Megan. The Podcast. The Hats. What is this, son of a hat? Bad habits man. Yeah. Ed Sheeran coming back to New Zealand.

Terrible habit is not cutting the beginning of that song. Yeah, you're right. Ed Sheeran had this to say on his social media last night. Hey New Zealand, I'm coming back. I'm going to be playing Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in January and February 2026. I can't wait to see you there. Yeah, very, very exciting. Coming to New Zealand, as he said, tickets go on sale July 29.

Ed Sheeran going playing and Go Media Stadium, Auckland, Sky Stadium, Wellington and Apollo Stadium and Christchurch. The last concert at Apollo Stadium and Christchurch before the new stadium arrives as well. The Loop tour brought to you by the Hats, all the details at fronteartouring.com. Very cool. Yeah, lovely guy, lovely guy. We're actually going to talk to Bryn Ruddkin who, I don't know why I said his name like Ruddkin, he's our night host, lovely Bryn. He went to Australia to ask one question. Everyone was allowed to ask one question over Zoom. Which is weird, one question and one question only. I know.

So how did he fumble his question? Did he ask a good one? Bryn's going to join us after eight o'clock and we've got tickets to give away. The first time we'll pass to Ed Sheeran, going to be in New Zealand as I said before on his Loop Tour. And so we wanted the best Ed Sheeran story. Now we're going to share some of ours throughout the morning, but 4487 if you've got a good Ed Sheeran story.

How he ended up spraying Megan's face with fake tan. We'll get to that after seven o'clock. But one of the things I remember as well that we said we read somewhere online that he's got an enormous mouth and he can like one of his party tricks which he hadn't I don't think he had filmed it. It's a hard topic to broach as well too. Yeah. He can put a big mouth. Like is he proud of it? Yeah he was like I can chuck things in there like British candy and stuff like that in

his mouth, you know chocolates. And we were like well maybe he's in New Zealand, Jaffas, you know iconic New Zealand Jaffas. Oh RIP. Yeah they've gone actually haven't they? Aww. Yeah. Well I wasn't buying them were you? I know I was really sad but then I was like I can't remember the last time I bought them

so. True it's off the way but yeah. So we were like well let's have a competition with Ed Sheeran, see how many Jeffers we can put inside our mouths and him. And this is what happened. Jeez, you got a big cup. Three. Two.

Three. Four. Where does it go? Three, four. Five. Six. Six. Ed Sheeran.

Unbelievable. Yeah. 60. He got 60 Jeffers inside his mouth. You're joking. Yeah. Wait a while. We'll put the video up on the Hickspeed list. You guys could have killed him. Sexy Ed Sheeran! Unbelievable! Yeah, 60. He got 60 Jaffas inside his mouth. You're joking! Wait a while, we'll put the video up on the Hicks. You guys could have killed him!

I know, yeah. I did feel a bit of a choking hazard. And he was over here, I think he was doing like X-Factor for New Zealand or something, he was playing in O'Idle or something afterwards, and I just remember he had stains, red stains from the Jaffas. I watched it on TV. And saliva and the red dye and it runs down your fingers. It looked like he'd been in a horrible accident or something. So Ed Sheeran, we should put that video up on the Hits Breakfast Social.

He did say another time we talked to him, he was like, thanks for that guys, because now everyone wants me to shove chocolate in his mouth. Did he get his whole fist in his mouth? I imagine you'd get close to that, wouldn't he? Yeah, right. Hence why he now just does one zoom interview. One question. And you're allowed to ask one question. It's probably our fault. Jono, Ben and Megan. The Podcast. That.

Haven't we got to Wednesday? Yeah, we're getting flooded with scams at the moment. And I want to do a disclaimer here out the front. This isn't just like an old person, older person problem. I think any person of any age on the internet is vulnerable now. It's so hard to pick someone. Oh yeah, they're very, very clever aren't they? Yeah and this guy was telling you know the little box where you have to click, you're

like I'm not a robot. You have to prove to the internet that you're not a robot. Which should be easy but it's quite hard sometimes. Then they bring up the pictures of like animals and cars and things to verify you're not a robot. The bicycle you're like, is that square or that square? I get really like, sometimes I'm like, I think it finishes there, the square. The traffic lights too? Yes. Do you mean the lights bit or the pole as well?

Yes, yeah. The whole... You start to question how much of a human you actually are by the end of it, don't you? But I sent this to my mum. It's all to do with CAPTCHA, you know, them annoying tests you have to do to verify you're not a robot. Well, so if you do ever get to do a CAPTCHA test, and it wants you to hold V and do this and do that, it's a scam, don't do it.

If it's just to pick free buses or free cars or free traffic lights, etc. Those ones are normal, but anything that makes you do other actions like hold V and all this stuff please don't do it because... So that's basically we put up on our the hitspeak for social media it's like getting you to hold down control V control B or whatever pushing buttons that is giving the scammers access to your computer so I was like well I better send this to my mother Annie Pryor so I sent her the TikTok video boom gee she was on the phone straight away someone's impersonating you on the internet

they're sending us videos from your number how did they get your number so she thought the video alluding about the scam was the scam and she couldn't it says clearly to TikTok and I'm not on TikTok and it's getting me to all do all these things what's happened Jay what's happened and I'm like mum it's just telling you that you know that when you click I'm not a robot she's like I've clicked I'm not a robot like I know you most people click I'm not a robot she's like I clicked I'm not a robot yesterday I was like well there's a thing around that that can scam you and

she's like so do I click that I'm a robot no not a robot and I'm like no still clicking not a robot like are you still not a robot? She's like I'm not a robot. And I'm like, no, still clicking, still clicking not a robot. Like, are you still not a robot? He's like, I'm not a robot. Still clicking on a robot. It's just to get you to do other things. But then again, what are those other things? Yeah. You know, it's very confusing. I'm just not clicking. Why don't they just go, I'm a human. That would be an easier... Oh yeah.

Because like clicking on I'm not a robot is like the robot's version of are you 16 or over. The robot's going to go, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not a robot is like the robot's version of are you 16 or over? The robot's going to go yeah yeah yeah I'm not a robot mate, you can trust me. Yeah that's a good point actually, you're a human. Yeah. Just are you human? Yeah I am. What's your name? Johnno. Yeah sweet okay come on through. Are you a scammer? Would be another lovely one of a kind. Yeah I am, always done with it.

Honesty policy. It's just honesty. It'd be the best policy.