Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL: We Caught Up With Chris Luxon THE LUX DELUXE

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

He spoke to us about his ideas to reduce the cost of living, because let's be honest, it is OUTRAGEOUS! Jono got pulled over by the cops this morning while he was driving to work shirtless (don't ask), and finally, we caught up with Holly Jean Brooker from the Parenting Place who explained how families isolating at home can survive it with young children! Enjoy!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hits with the Jono and Ben Podcast. Hi guys, 11th of March. Welcome, Jono and Ben here. It's the podcast Friday. Friday. You've had a big week, Ben. Be busy. It's been a busy wee week, actually. But then it's not, you know, like what we do is not real work. You know, there's people doing amazing real work out there. Yeah, our work's amazing.

What are you talking about? No one's ever said your work's amazing. This is hard stuff. But it's been a busy week for us. You know, I put up the heart surgeons, radio announcers. Oh, you put them in the same? Same category. Okay, yeah.

I wouldn't quite, but hey, that's fine. Heart surgeons, close second. Yeah. To radio announcers. No, it's funny. I guess it's whatever you do every day. To a certain point, you probably have moments where you're like, this is monotonous. No matter what your job is.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. You know, if you have the coolest job in the world, like Kevin Hart, I'm sure some nights when he's just about to go on stage in front of 50,000 people in the stadium, he's probably like,

oh, you know what? I could be at home having a bubble bath right now. You know? I'm sure he has those moments. The novelty does wear off of things. Even we went upstairs in the building that we work from because we work on the ground floor here. We went up to the fourth floor yesterday, first time,

and we're like, wow, the view is amazing. We don't get to see any of that. And they were kind of like, the people there were kind of like, oh, yeah, it's cool. You know, and you could tell they'd been there long enough. It's what you get accustomed to, isn't it? And it gets boring, and that's why people have affairs. Is that why?

Okay. Those people, they don't have the sick ability. They're like, oh, there's other stuff out there that I need to try yeah okay that's the stuff that ruins families people

you're right no but you're right you're right we do have we're very privileged to do this job yeah it's a great job you try not to take it

you try not to take it for granted yeah and it's nice people tune in whether it be the podcast whether it be in the morning well some people do seen the numbers I haven't seen the numbers, whether it be in the morning. Well, some people do. Seen the numbers?

I haven't seen the numbers. I don't like seeing the numbers, but yeah. Don't we base so much in life on numbers? Politicians, oh, the numbers, the polling results, everything is factored around numbers. Jobs are won or lost over numbers. Yeah, well, we were doing this thing actually last night. We were doing a Zoom presentation and we were sort of doing the MC bits, keeping it together, and they had a live count of the numbers on the screen

of people that were on the Zoom. Live ratings. No, we weren't meant to see that, but they were on the screen. We were like, oh, we started that. Oh, we've lost one. Oh, we gained another two. Oh, no, someone's got, you know. Pull it back.

Jeez, it was like, oh, you know. Imagine if you could see the live ratings of listeners turning off as you're talking. It's a radio show. You'd be like chatting away and then midway through you'd be like, oh, okay. They actually had this piece of technology, I remember, in radio, and I don't use it anymore. It was called the Worm. I think they've used it in many other industries. I think they did politics and stuff too, didn't they?

Yeah, so the Worm was, you know, people, they would play radio breaks to an audience of, you know, people, and they each had a machine in their hand and they could turn the button either way, whether they were interested in what was being said or they were bored. And our boss, some monstrous move, our boss played, he's like, oh, so we played you one of their things to the audience. Here's how it all panned out. So I'm watching this worm go over this three-minute voice break, and shit, it was flatlining by 2.30.

I'd lost them. If I was a surgeon, they would have been dead on the table. I don't need to see this worm. I don't need to know if I'm putting people to sleep. Well, that's not going on too long then. We'll wrap this up. Christopher Luxon joins us this morning from the National Party. They're polling well.

Maybe we can bring some of his numbers to the podcast. Enjoy, all right? That person who didn't let you merge probably listens to a lesser radio station. Jono and Ben on the heads. Listen, I was driving to work this morning, and sometimes I drive shirtless. Oh. Just because of, not because I think I've got a fantastic torso that the world needs to see or anything. If anything, it should be hidden away.

Just because I get hot and sweaty. Oh, because you exercise in the mornings and stuff, don't you? Yeah, and then for some reason you're still sweating after you've showered. And I don't want to turn up to work a sweaty mess. You know, you're like, what's he nervous about today? What he hiding has he failed his rats test why is he coming here yeah uh but then i pulled up to the light shirtless and you know it's an unusual look a shirtless man let's tell him what a drumming car and a police officer pulls up next to me and he's doing that thing wind down your window and he he asks, are you all right?

Because he's clearly going, what's wrong with this man? He's got no shirt on. And I said, yeah, no, I'm fine, thanks. And just wear on the window back up. You call me shirtless in the garage. Yeah, you've come into work before. And I was like, what is going on? Is he living in his car? That's what I was thinking.

I was thinking maybe you hadn't driven in. You're just living in the work garage. Does the air con not work or does a cold shower not do the job? Well, the aircon takes a while to kick into gear and so then by the time the aircon has kicked into gear, I can't put my shirt on while driving. Yeah, they frown upon that sort of thing.

Mr Bean can do it, but not really you. But what I love, and you're brought to the show today, is another one of our classic favourite. Jono Pryor talks about his car driving to work stories. There's plenty of stories we favourite. Jono Pryor talks about his car driving to work stories. There's plenty of stories we get from Jono Pryor. And Juliet's gone through and found some of our favourite Jono Pryor's car content. Have a listen.

Driving around the highways and things over summer, surely we can do better with speed cameras than just some random brand new van parked on the side of a state highway. Now, yesterday I saw Producer Juliet and your car in the work garage, Juliet. You know, this car, it looks like it's been driven every day through the Gaza Strip. The most stressed out any motorist can be is when you feel a siren coming up behind you. So this happened to me yesterday and you can hear it coming up behind you. So this happened to me yesterday and you can hear it coming up behind you. Sitting at traffic lights, I was second and there's another car,

four cars back. The light goes green and for whatever reason in this country, we love nothing more than if the first vehicle doesn't take off like Lewis Hamilton in a Formula One race. Love nothing more than hitting that horn.

There we go. That's some of our favourite moments. I'm worried about the price of petrol, not because of filling up my car, but if you can't drive to work, that's half our show. Oh, that's gone. Yeah. That is a bleak reflection of my life. Or the fact that maybe I should be concentrating more on driving and not trying to come up

with radio breaks. No, we love it. Kia ora. I'm Rachel Jackson-Lees and this is the B**** News. Yeah, Rachel is the newsreader for this show, Juliet is the producer, and she has censored the shit out of these headlines. She couldn't censor that, though. No, I'm going to censor you.

So I've found some stories from the stranger side of life, beeped out a couple of words, and you guys have to guess what the correct headline is. Are you ready for the first one? Let's do it. Animal lovers stunned as one in a million **** is born in the UK. I think it's one in a million New Zealander who's gone over there to the UK and hasn't come back with an accent or a pretend accent. If you arrive back from Europe, Juliet, with an accent, I'll be happy actually.

Hello, hello, hello, Giza. What's up, brother? I'm going to go animal lovers stunned as one in a million genetically engineered dinosaur using the DNA extracted from the blood from a mosquito that was fossilised. It was born in the UK. All right. Animal lovers stunned as one in a million lamb with five legs is born in the UK. So it's a very cute little looking lamb.

It was born as a set of triplets and its fifth leg is like kind of sticking out of the side of its body, just behind its front leg. So it doesn't really use the fifth leg. It doesn't really use the fifth leg, but this happened about five years ago on the same farm. They ended up amputating the fifth leg and the lamb slash sheep lived a long and healthy life. So it's possible for a lamb with five legs to Is that the same as Orlando

Bloom with three legs? Has he got the same? Yeah, they thought about amputating that. It was a lot of work to amputate that. Doctors couldn't do it. Next news story. Pub in England installs photo of... I hope it's one of those funny photos they have at the pub

or sometimes those signs that say free beer tomorrow. And then you're like, oh, this is good. And then you come tomorrow, it still says free beer tomorrow. That's the gag. Oh, my gosh, that is genius. I know. I thought it was genius too, but then I've conceded a couple of times. Yeah, and that's how he's now become a rampant alcoholic.

Oh, so today's the... Oh, it's still tomorrow. Oh, today's the... I'm going to go, Pub in England installs photo of Prince Charles' king just to get ahead of the printing shop backlog, which is inevitably going to happen. Pub in England installs photo of Vladimir Putin

and its urinal. Now, it's not often I go into a men's toilet, but you know how I think it's the big urinals the big long ones as opposed to the small little ones. So they've popped a giant photo of Vladimir Putin in there and you can obviously aim accordingly to where you want to aim

in that urinal and prior to this this pub had a photo of Trump in the urinal so it seems that they've always got a picture of someone who's a bit controversial. Now you said it's not often you go in there which lends how often yeah how often have you been you know what the few times i've been into the male toilet is when you guys need to film a skit in a male toilet and you bring me in well i'm sorry for making you do that in comparison because i've never been into in school you always wanted to go into the girls' ones.

Yeah, it's so interesting. You've been into both. Yeah. Who's winning? Female. Yeah, I would say so without even going in there. Yeah, just the sight of urinals,

I'm like, ew. You know what I mean? The ones at work too, there's two separate, it's not the trough, and they're a bit too close for my liking. Like when I'm there

and someone else comes up, I'm like, oh, no, no, no. Move away. It feels like an act you shouldn't be doing with a human being. Yeah it's too close. Have you ever caught

anyone looking? Is that a thing? I've looked before. I've looked at oh we did something in Aussie with Foo Fighters they had like

a listening party. Yeah. Dave Grohl was there. Really? I was there first. Oh you were the guy standing there. Oh okay.

I was there first and then he came in. He came next to me. Oh, my God. Did you get shy? No. Well, no. I just couldn't stop.

You just try and peek without peeking. But they would know. You know, they've done that enough. They would know some creep with the bald heads trying to get in. And that is the news and beefs for you featuring P-Chat. Yeah, there we go. What a way to start your Friday morning. Scrolling through your feed.

And you're over to the Kanye West of news. Impulsive, spontaneous. We never know what's coming next. What's happening, Ben? Well, Christopher Luxton is the National Party leader. He's been there for 100 days as of yesterday. And in a poll that seems to... They always seem to have political polls coming out

every couple of days, right? Yeah, I reckon that's what, you know, you referenced me always pulling into my car content at the beginning of the show, always leaning on car content. I reckon that's what the news does when they have a slow day. You're probably right. Well, go on your news, get a dual poll, make up a poll. Well, in yesterday's One News

poll, for the first time since early 2020, before the COVID pandemic hit, National is now head of Labour in the preferred party poll. And in the preferred Prime Minister poll, Christopher Luxon's also up eight points to 25%. So not too far behind Jacinda Ardern. So really things are going quite well for the National Party, according to this poll.

Yeah, now we're going to have Lux Deluxe himself on the show after eight o'clock this morning, Christopher Luxon. It's interesting. Do you think it's because National are performing better or Labour are performing worse? What do you put this down to, Ben Boyce, our political analyst? Yeah, I think National are looking a bit more solid than they ever have looked over the last couple of years. And how do you rank Labour's performance recently? Well, things aren't great overall, really, are they?

I mean, you look at the, you know, there's a lot of COVID around, there's a lot of things happening outside Parliament as well you know the price of living has gone up you know so a lot of people seem to be unhappy but it seems to be the cycle

of anyone in power. It does. Yeah it's the the curve of popularity isn't it? We've been through it. Oh yeah. You're right.

You're right those you're right that wave on the way up. You know you enjoy your time at the top. You don't know. Well, you wish you could have enjoyed it more, let's say. Yeah, you don't appreciate it, and then, you know, you're on the slide down.

That's how it works. No, but I remember Helen Clark always saying, I don't like it. She took it away. I'm making it out like Helen Clark. She's your mentor. She really were up for a while there, weren't you? Getting life advice from Helen Clark. I didn't realize how up you were.

Yeah. So Obama pulled me aside one day. It's a chotto. Yeah, listen. Helen Clark said, they'll love you in your first term and then hate you towards the end of your second term. And I think maybe Jacinda could be feeling the effects of this. And it's not her fault either. You know?

Well, maybe it is. I don't know. Maybe it's thanks to her decisions. But the price of living crazy. Fuel prices up to what? Well, they reckon, because of what's happening over there in Ukraine and Russia, they reckon it could go up to $4 a litre at some stage or so, $3 around about now. And you want to know, you want to buy a cabbage at the supermarket?

Well, forget about that at the moment. No, I don't actually. Well, yeah, they reckon that because of the severe weather impacting crops, the cabbage price has climbed up to as high as $9 in some supermarkets. That is actually crazy. Can we boycott driving and boycott buying supermarket food? Well, I guess you can walk and not eat. Those are your options.

I don't love cabbage that much that I would invest $9 into it. It doesn't surprise me, though, to be honest. Yeah, I'm not a cabbage guy. Those are Heineken prices have gone up. Well, then we'll have a problem on our hands. Now, guys, I may have siphoned petrol from all of your cars this morning with a hose that I bought in from home. That's my new thing. I've got a hose of it.

You're talking, you say, about stockpiling it, just getting a whole lot. I mean, what could go wrong with that? Yeah, put it in, like, you know, store it in little jars around your house. Keep heaps of it. Drink bottles. Highly flammable liquid at home. What could go wrong? And that is scrolling through your feed this morning.

On the way for you, we've got some spy before 7 o'clock, which is Juliet. Yeah, Kelly Clarkson has to pay a huge amount of money in spousal support for her husband who already is quite well off. I'll tell you the incredible amount before 7 o'clock. 6.37, the hits. If they were the internet, you'd want to clear this history. Jono and Ben on the hits. Now, someone texted in, 4487.

You can text into the show anytime, 4487. We love getting your texts. And they said, hey, Jono, just a heads up. Your good reputation smeared on national television last night by your friend Ben. To be honest, I didn't know. You don't know what parts they're going to use. I was on Seven Days last night, and I know what you're talking about, because they're talking about celebrity outbursts from the week

and what outbursts celebrities could have had. And I put you in the celebrity category here. So firstly, you should be thanking me. Honoured. I just want to hear the audio. What's happened? What's going on? The celebrity outburst there, that happened this week when I went on

seven days. This is what happened. Have a listen. Oh go on then, go on seven days. I'll be fine. I'll just do the Jono and Jono show then. Oh sorry. Well, you know, in terms of outbursts, it's pretty low level. So I'm not that offended actually. If that's what they call an outburst in New Zealand's pretty low level. So I'm not that offended, actually. That's what they call an outburst in New Zealand.

But I tell you what I am offended about, though, is I politely dropped you off. You know, I said I'd pick you up at 10 o'clock. I even parked down the road so you wouldn't be embarrassed in front of your friends. And I waited for you and I drove you home. And then you go on there and you mock me. You laugh at me. Now, I have a question. What happened to the old seven days?

Where's that? What do you mean the old seven days? If you can't tell me I'm going to go onto their Facebook page, I'm going to complain. It's new. The old seven days. You know, the good old seven days where they sent stuff and it was all good. It's a fun show.

What's their Facebook page? I'm going to put my opinion on their Facebook page. Where's the old team? It's an hour and it's all poor ego. It was there. Do you recall what's there? Where's the old team? It's an hour and it's all, poor ego was there, Jimmy Corbett's there. Where's the other guy? He's coming back on apparently.

It's like, it's the expanding the show, they're developing it. I don't like it. I don't like change. No one likes change in New Zealand, but it was a lot of fun actually being on the show. Although there was another moment that I got pulled up because my wife and daughters watched it.

Yeah. And they do this new game. What a new watch it. You go around there. I was doing some work, so I could just kind of. Can you not watch yourself on TV? Sometimes I do struggle a little bit to watch myself on TV because you overanalyze.

You've definitely gone into the wrong industry there. Yeah. I don't mind other people watching me, but I'd rather not watch myself. But there was a bit, they had this new game where they go around, they talk about things that happen in the week, and then they tell you, they're like they quickly come up with some things on the spot that relate to it.

And they were talking about International Women's Day, and they went to me, name some women off the top of your head. And this is my answer. Ben Boyce, you have eight seconds to name eight women. Go. Oh, Michelle Obama, the Queen, Brindley, Laura, Lana, Sarah, who's doing there today, Jacinda Ardern. What about your wife?

Oh, yeah. You're two daughters. Can I do a retake with my wife and daughters? You've done your own great. So, yeah, I was just in a flustered panic. Is that the order of the favourite woman in your life? Michelle Obama, the queen. And then I looked around and I was sitting

next to Brinley and Laura. And then you're like, Sarah, the one over there doing stuff. She was the floor manager, Sarah. She was the floor manager. And then I was like,

Jacinda Ardern. And then afterwards I was like, oh, I didn't even think thanks to Brinley pulling me up, my wife and daughters were like,

hey, thanks for the shout out. Well, I would just like to say to your wife and daughters, it was a reverse list. So they may have come last on television, daughters it was a reverse list so that's they may have come last on television but it was actually first

and he's done a TV stitch up it's an edit stitch up they played his answer in reverse exactly exactly that's what they do on the show

it was a lot of fun actually doing it even though I besmirched your good name yeah terrible bring back the old one I'm going to complain put me onto the Facebook page Ben

time for some spy news Or as I like to call it Stuff celebrities wished we didn't know Juliet what's happening So Kelly Clarkson Her divorce from her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock Has finally settled

And the amount she'll need to pay him Is incredible So she'll have to pay A massive one-time payment of 1.3 million dollars to him as well as 115 000 every month in spousal support until january 2024 as well as an extra 45 000 every month in child support for their two children. Like, spousal support. $115,000 every month. Like, what is the point of... I don't understand why that money is so high.

I guess that's their living arrangement, you know? It happens probably with most couples when they go their separate ways. They either decide out of court or in court whether, you know, how the finances are going to be split, what's going to be split. And it's obviously just amplified when you're a celebrity to millions of dollars. But it's a crazy amount of cash.

It is so much money. Now, Kelly Clarkson, of course, every time I hear the name Kelly Clarkson, I think of that scene from 40-Year-Old Virgin where Steve Carell's getting waxed. He's getting his chest waxed and he yells out in pain.

He yells out Kelly Clarkson's name. No! Kelly Clarkson! I actually got into an internet hole the other day to why this is a thing. Apparently, everywhere she goes, someone yells out, oh, Kelly Clarkson! Jeez, that would be a burden. She was talking to Seth Rogen, who's very

funny, he's an actor, and he was in that movie, and also one of the writers, producers of the movie, and he came up with that. He was was basically saying we had a whole lot of swear words for him to say and then we were like well let's come up with some random non-swear word options and Kelly Clarkson was on TV when he was writing that he was like oh that's funny to say Kelly Clarkson so he put it in and now everywhere she goes it's the bane of her life it's the bane of her life he's like I'm sorry it was just a random thing I thought sounded funny and I wonder if Steve Carell and Kelly Clarkson have met and if they've had that discussion. Imagine that.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall being like, she'd be like, so why did you yell my name? Yeah, I'd be like, what? They yelled my name and what? It would be very hard to get your head around, wouldn't it? But yeah. But it kind of works. It's just kind of randomly funny. Yeah.

And Elon Musk and Grimes, I'm pretty sure we said last year that they had split up. But turns out they must have got back together because they've had another baby. A baby girl via a surrogate named Exa Dark. Grimes accidentally revealed that she was born in December. It seems like they're sort of, they said that they were semi-separated last year. So it must be sort of like an on-again, off-again thing. The first baby's like XAE times 12 divided by 4 or something. He doesn't even know the name of it.

Because a reporter asked him, you know, how's your baby? He's like, what? Oh, you're talking about my kid? Oh, yeah. He must be too busy to even probably think about his children. He might not even know he's got a second child. You know, my son's doing a second child. Yeah, that's right. Elon Musk.

You know, my son's doing a project on him at the moment, and he is on a mission, Elon Musk, to merge human and artificial intelligence. Oh, please no. So put chips into it. Oh, yeah, that's right. Let's talk about chips and brains and chips and, yeah. And interesting, too,

there's Oscars doing this study onto robots, and they've invented these robots that started talking to each other but then over a 45 minute period developed their own language

and they tried to shut them down they couldn't shut them down that's freaky the robots were talking to each other they didn't know what they were saying

they couldn't understand and they couldn't figure out how to shut them down so that's coming holy moly the world is just getting better we'd love to see it

and that is fine well we have an option not to invent these robots so that's my thing just don't invent them the great thing about listening to this show is that

the day can only get better from here Jono and Ben on the hits a lot of people filling in for others at the moment you know just given the hits. A lot of people filling in for others at the moment. You know, just given the fact that a lot of people are at home isolating. So staff shortages.

We spoke to a lady the other day who she, I think, runs the office at her workplace during the day. But then had to do the overnight shift as the security officer. Yeah. So she pulled like an 18-hour day. I mean, so many people are isolating at home at the moment. You're right. People are just pitching in, helping out, doing unusual things. You filled in on seven days last night. I was definitely the first choice.

I've been lined up for weeks. They just didn't tell me until the day before. What I like is they phoned you on the Wednesday and they're like, mate, we've had so many people just go down the code. So can you do it? Like they didn't have to say that. Yeah, but I would have known that, you know, they're not that unorganized. They could have just lied and gone, hey, do you want to do seven days from now?

And you're like, well, could you have called me last week? Oh, no, we just phoned people the day before now. Just got around to planning the show for tomorrow. Oh, that's up again. Yeah. That was a lot of fun. But yeah, you're right. A lot of people filling in, and that's all we want to know now.

Not just this three at the moment, but in general, when you've had to fill in. And maybe we weren't quite qualified to do it, but you're like, I'll give it a crack anyway. Now, one of my favorite stories about Juliet is she used to be the producer for the afternoon show here. And there's a wonderful guy. He's got a heart of gold, Flinney. Flinney used to host the afternoon show here. He's like a wedding celebrant as well and also does all things to do with a wedding

and so he got you. He now works on Satan FM I think. He got you to be a DJ. Yeah, so he, as part of his like, because he's a marriage

celebrant and so as part of that sort of package he also offers DJ services. Yeah, right, that seems the thing to do. I'm a wedding celebrant

and I'm a DJ. and there was this one wedding that i can't remember the reason that he gave but he needed some help on the dj work so he can actually he's the proper dj he can actually do it he's very good at it um and so he asked if i could come along on a saturday night and fill in and do the djing for him and it was in this venue i was like higher up above like the crowd, everyone partying and stuff. So I was like- Have you had any previous DJ experience? No.

No, I haven't. And basically behind this little sort of area that I was in, you couldn't see what I was sort of working with. So it was actually just like a laptop and a phone that I was playing music off. So it wasn't anything too- So did you have to pretend you're pushing buttons so i had to like have the headphones half on my head and like kind of look like i was like mixing like calvin harris at a festival in europe and um there was a period of time where i accidentally played a song twice in a row and like the people on the dance floor were looking at like looking at me being like they could

definitely tell i was amateur but i was like trying to pretend i wasn't and flinny was just flinny had just left so had he formed a playlist so what if anyone came up and said can you play a song are you like doing the radio dj thing you will get it on soon yeah with no intention of getting it on a bit of both i had to like frantically look on itunes to see if it had been downloaded yeah um the frazzle dj this is why i think the likes of Marshmello and Daft Punk, they've cracked it. They're wearing masks. No one knows if it's them or not.

That is so true. They can take any day off they want. Oh mate, Juliet, jump in there. All you've got to do is just plug the phone in. It looks like you put the headphones on. It looks like you're doing some stuff. Around the world, around us. So 800 the hits is the number yeah where have you uh when have you filled in maybe you weren't quite uh up to the task but you gave it

a bash anyway love to hear from you oh under the hits four four eight seven the hits we're talking about when you had to fill in and actually speaking of which she spoke to uh kim crossman uh actor and uh the other day she was talking about how she acted with uh kevin bacon uh the very famous actor and he's got someone filling in for him as basically a Kevin Bacon stand-in. Yeah, he's an impersonator, but he's had it his whole career. So he doesn't go to the majority of the filming during a movie or whatever. Just turns up one day and then gets all his shots on his face. But this other guy learns all his lines, does all his actions, and she's who she acted with.

He's who she acted with. Yeah, have a listen. Kevin Bacon, I only got to work with him. all his actions and she's who she acted he's who she acted yeah have a listen kevin bacon i only got to work with he has a like a stand-in someone whose entire job is to be him in in shots where his face isn't seen so this guy's full-time job is to look like and be exactly the same size and have the same talent and learn all of his lines so any scene i did with kevin bacon it was actually with this other guy and then kevin just shows up one day and does all his close lines. So any scene I did with Kevin Bacon, it was actually with this other guy, and then Kevin just shows up one day and does all his close-ups.

Crazy. You come up with the name Kevin Fakin. Yeah. So he's not calling himself Kevin Fakin, then there's something wrong. There's a crime upon puns right there. I mean, Kevin could be like, oh, damn, I've got to go to the in-laws. Can you just fill in Christmas dinners? You know, he's wonderful. Imagine having a stand-in whenever you wanted to use them.

Fantastic. And Juliet just said she had to fill in as a DJ, a wedding DJ, on more than one occasion. Yeah, yeah, a couple of times. And, yeah, it was a good learning experience that I cannot DJ. Did you have a DJ name? DJ? Yes, Juju on that beat.

Did you make up a Juju? No, I've always thought that if I was a DJ, my DJ name, Juju on that beat Did you make up a Juju? No I've always thought That if I was a DJ My DJ name Juju on that beat Yeah that's a good name That's a good name Is that crunchy?

No no Shall I leave? Let's get Now Estelle From the 3pm pick up In the Hits night show Welcome to the program Estelle Morning

Morning Nice to have you on Now we've bullied you Into waking up early to get on our show. Yeah, thanks. Because we understand you filled in for a friend. Now this is going above and beyond for friendship. What did you do?

My friend was doing a six week play, a stage show, and she has three different characters in the stage show, and there was a week there where something, some crisis happened in her family during the six weeks. And so she wanted, she needed someone to fill in. So basically I came along and I filled in in the play.

And I had like a week to learn. Oh my goodness. To learn all three characters. It was like singing and everything. Oh my God. Have you been in a play before? Did you have any? Yeah.

Oh, you have? No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's what I used to do before the radio gig. That's a lot, though, in a week. And three characters. That's incredible. Yeah.

I think I spent the whole entire time just sort of like possum in the headlights. So you're like, yeah. Like reacting hopefully how I was supposed to kind of react. So I just had to do like two shows. So I rehearsed for a week. Oh, so it wasn't like you know what was the play was like the vagina monologues or something

no no there were no monologues there was a lot of interaction with characters it was it actually gives me a little bit of PTSD now that I think about it thanks for conjuring it up I got a hundred bucks too a hundred bucks jeez what a friend.

Yeah. Estelle, I tell you what, thank you so much, mate. You have a great day. Catch Estelle from 3 p.m. with Megan on the pick-up this afternoon. Georgia, you're on from Wellington. You filled in for a friend. What was it? Yeah.

Oh, it would have been a couple of years ago now. I was filling in for my friend at a parent-teacher interview for their child. So did the teacher believe you were the parent? Oh, jeez. Yeah. Yeah, my friend and their partner had missed so many interviews and kind of cancelled them. They felt really bad and didn't want to miss another one. So you're like, I don't do this.

And then had to. They felt so bad they sent you along. Not so bad that they should go along themselves. That's fair. So what happens when they actually did turn up to an interview? Oh, I think it was like a kind of, not like quite a while afterwards. Oh, so there was a big difference yeah i'm really hoping i mean

unless they were too embarrassed about the reaction to actually tell me what it was oh that's so good thank you so much for the call dex appreciate it scrolling through your feed i like this news bulletin it's kind of like the motorway. Sometimes it flows freely, and then other times there's a 25-car pileup, and it's an absolute mess. We'll see what it is today. A lot of talk about the cost of living, the prices getting higher, and not only at the supermarket, also at the gas station. So many great memes going around, though.

That's the one benefit. Do you know, I reckon there's going to be a lot of people, and I'm not saying that anyone should do this by any means, a lot of people are just going to be filling up their car and driving off nowadays. It's probably going to happen, you're right. It's going to happen. There's going to be so many drivers. They're going to have to probably have security guards on the forecourts.

I just saw a great funny meme online saying, Fast and Furious next movie's been cancelled due to the price of gas. That's probably not how bad it's getting though, isn't it? He lives his life quarter mile at a time, and actually can only drive quarter mile at a time, given the amount of petrol he can get in his car. But the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, was on the AM show with Ryan Bridge.

She loves to go on that show, because her and Ryan have an electric relationship. They do. That's, yeah, the tension. You can just see that they would get along like a house on fire. A house that's burning to the ground, that she probably wants Ryan inside. But he was hitting her up about the cost of living.

And he was trying to tell her it's a crisis. And she wouldn't say it was a crisis. And she kept just saying his name. The impacts of COVID, Ryan. Not necessarily Ryan. Specifically on fuel. Ryan. Over this term, Ryan.

But again, Ryan, the increase of that. Ryan, that is. Ryan. Firstly, Ryan, the point I would make is. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Ryan.

Yes, Ryan, Ryan. Ryan. So she's gone. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this morning. She just walked out. I love it. We tried to have some light banter with her at the end and she clearly ripped it. I'm done, Ryan.

I'm done, Ryan. And speaking of names, actually, it's been announced the best Bogan names for 2022. Some suggested names. Some of these are amazing. Some names. I love them.

What do you mean suggested? Are these names people have? I think some of them they have, but these are the ones that go, hey, if you want to be on the trend early, these are great names. Oh, to get on the 2023 list. Yeah. So Cardi is one with a K. So they reckon it's kind of a mix between Cardi B and a nod to Bacardi and Coke. Oh, yeah.

I do know a Bacardi. Well, there you go. We got Cardi. There's Miracle,. I do know a Bacardi. Well, there you go. We've got Cardi. There's Miracle, but with two Cs in the middle. So they're saying the baby's such a miracle, it's worth adding another C. So, yeah. There's Salmon. Samantha as well, which is a cross between Samantha and Amanda.

And then the boys section, they suggest things like Brave, Draxler, Legend, but Legend without the D. So, L-E-D-G-N. I would call my kid Legend. There's also Raw and Zinc with a C. So yeah, there we go. So there's some great names there. I like Little Codys.

Kenner Codys would be a good option as well. All those kids are destined to grow up and wear a flat peak Monster Energy hat. I love it. Yeah, those are great Bogan names. It just feels like The misspelling of names It comes with a level Of sophistication

Doesn't it I find Oh putting another Yeah putting an Alt letter in there It's good Mix it up Make it so original

We got Tested safe for listing From home Jono and Ben On the hit I don't know what This is about Ben Boyce But it said you woke yourself up

No actually no I got woken up I don't know if this Happened to you Now occasionally I You know i snore but it's one of those things you you don't you don't even know that you're snoring like there's no way you know you're snoring um but i got woken up last night by my wife who said woke me up and she's like you're snoring and i'm like well i'm so i'm fairly sorry but i don't know that i'm snoring and now i'm awake as well so does the question be do you wake up a snorer?

Yeah. Like I understand it can be frustrating sleeping next to someone who can snore. But then I got like, oh, you know, like I've got a very small amount of time sleeping at the moment. And now I'm awake. Did you get all salty when you got woken up? And now I'm awake. I'm like, sorry, I'm snoring. But now what do you want me to do?

Now we've got two of us awake. Do you want me to sit here awake for five hours and not snore? Now this is quite rich, coming from a man who's spent, I'd say the better part of five years, having a go at me for breathing out of my nose. Yes. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Little hamster. Naked mole rat. Naked mole rat. I go, because I go. Little hamster. Naked mole rat. Naked mole rat. And now he's all of a sudden having nasal breathing issues in his life. Well, yeah, but it is one of those things. I don't know if you guys have those things where you try and go to sleep and you just can't, you know, if there's a noise around, you can't do it. We talked about mosquitoes in the room the other day.

For me, a ticking clock. I don't know. I can't like, because once you hear a ticking clock, you can't unhear that. You can't get it out of your head. I'd take the batteries out of a clock if I'm sleeping in a house that's got ticking clocks. I could just sleep through anything you can. I think I fell asleep at a Bruno Mars concert. I have a question.

Not that he was bad or anything. Just because you can. You're a napper, Jono, right? Do you ever just fall asleep during the day for like a light snooze? You give me 30 seconds, I'll fall asleep now. I have a question because I'm a little bit the same, but I sometimes notice that if I'm having a nap, I'll wake myself up from my snoring.

Like I'll be in the in-between stage of being asleep and snoring, but not deep enough. So I'll hear myself snore and be like, oh my gosh. Is that what you've done? Oh, I don't know if I have. It's a weird thing that I've only recently been able to do. I reckon it's my superpower. How do you know you were snoring?

Well, because you can hear it, and you hear the very last moment of it before you've woken yourself back up. It's really strange. A shitty superpower, too. The worst Avenger yet. It looks like he's on a website, just quickly. The most annoying noises to sleep to,

to try and go to sleep to. This is from an Irish site, The Daily Edge. Smoke alarm running out of battery. Obviously really annoying. That's really annoying. But the timing in between them is not short enough to know where it is, but it's just

long enough for you to investigate, go back to bed, but then it beeps again. They've also got a banging gate, the gate that's not latched up. A washing machine when it spins into overdrive when it just kicks off into that next level. Snoring obviously in there and the last one, John and Ben on the hits so we got a pension as well.

The most annoying noises around. I thought we put people to sleep though. Oh yeah true actually it works for both. Five words for 5k. You're just five words away from $5,000. It is our Game of Word Association. We play it every morning at this time. It's been a couple of weeks since we last had a winner, so hopefully today

we can change that. And let's hope it's Megan from Rotorua. Welcome. How are you? Good, thanks. How are you? What's the most irresponsible thing you do with this money, Megan? I've got to be pretty responsible. I'm getting married, so I'd love to go out all the time.

When are you getting married, so I just go to school. Oh, that's exciting. When are you getting married? In November. November. Am I really deaf or is Megan's phone bad? It's a little bit bad. Are you on hands-free, Meg? I'm just on a normal phone.

Oh, a normal phone. Anyway, I could have done that off-air. Sorry. Hey, listen, you're resigning from your job today. Yeah, I just got, I'm a student, and I just got a job as an accountant, so. Oh, well done. And so does your employer know you're resigning,

or have I just announced that on the radio? No, they know, they know. Oh, good on you. Well done as an accountant. Well, let's do the maths on this, get your spreadsheet out, and try and match five words with Ben, who you want to send into the soundproof booth,

we understand. Yeah, yeah, my fiance's name is Ben, and he's my send into the soundproof booth. We understand. Yeah, yeah. My fiance's name is Ben, and he's my lucky charm. So hopefully this is Ben. All right. We'll see if it's the lucky omen. Ben has never been anyone's lucky charm. No.

It's the first time he's ever heard that. So he's going into the soundproof booth, which is actually the same booth they use for that TV show, The Naked Attraction. Yeah. It does look like it, eh? Sometimes we cross paths. It gets awkward in there. Okay, Megan, let's do it, okay?

Awesome. Win you $5,000 on a Friday. You match five words with Ben, it's all yours. First thing that comes into your head when I say mozzarella. Cheese? Yeah, that's right. Anything else would have been unusual. Tackle.

Sorry? Tackle. Sorry? Tackle. T-A-C-K-L-E. Like fishing tackle? Oh, yeah. Disney? Walt? Nice. Crispy?

Cream? And finally, American. Flag? American slag. Flag. Oh, flag. Locked in. Well done.

Maybe I am going deaf, Megan. We'll release Ben from the soundproof booth and let's smack your words with a head-on collision with his. Win $5,000. All right. You're getting married in November. To your Ben.

Yeah. Exciting. That's very cool. All this money, I'm sure, would come in handy for the wedding. Absolutely. Let's do it, okay? First word, Ben,

that comes into your head when I say mozzarella. Cheese. Tackle. Fishing? Ooh. Good. Now, you're the accountant, Megan.

How many has he got right so far? Oh, two minutes. I'm out of five. By my maths, that's the same thing. Third word this morning, Disney. Land. Disney. Land. What did you lock in, Meg? Walt.

Walt Disney. Ah, Walt Disney. There's a couple floating around in the ether for Disney. We'll go to word number four to see how you would have gone. Krispy. Cream? American. I'm thinking American Idol Because you're a fan of the show

That's right, don't feel bad about it It's not embarrassing Megan went flag I'm so sorry you've missed out That's alright, it was still fun to play Good on you starting your new gig as an accountant We emceeded a thing for an accounting firm last night I don't know if we'll be invited back, but we had a good time.

Hey, Meg, have a great weekend, eh? And thank you so much for listening to the programme. No worries, thank you. Spy. Know what's up. Spy.co.nz. All right, it's time for our bout of celebrity news. Get out the exfoliant, because we've got to scrub up on the gossip.

What's happening, Ju? So, controversial UK TV host Piers Morgan has announced he's going to be making a return to TV after he, about a year ago, stormed off Good Morning Britain because of all of the feedback he got after slamming Meghan Markle. Do we remember that quite clearly? Do we remember that? That was great television, though.

It was. Jeez, it was champagne stuff, wasn't it? Because his co-host was going, Piers, come on. He's like, listen, I television though. Yeah, boss. Jeez, it was champagne stuff, wasn't it? Because his co-host was going, Piers, come on. He's like, listen, I'm out, I'm walking out. And I was like, this is great. I love a TV walk-off. Can't beat someone walking off in a half on TV.

Yeah, I love TV walk-off. And it was a genuine one too. So he's now announced that he's going to be making a comeback. A year ago today, I was forced to leave a job that I loved at the peak of its success, but having the audacity to express an honestly held opinion. So I'm delighted to now be returning to live television with a new primetime show whose main purpose will be to cancel the cancel culture which has infected societies around the world.

I also want it to annoy all the right people. I'm Piers Morgan, Uncensored. Oh, what a great name for the show as well. So good. He seems like he's pretty unashamedly just sees what he wants. And if you like him, you like him. If you don't, yeah, you hate him. But you're probably people that hate him want to tune in and listen to him and watch him, right?

Yeah, we did Ben Boyce Uncensored, whole other content though. Didn't get much pick up from the networks, did it? No one wanted to see me uncensored. Just look like a shriveled up little boy body. Censor it. Put some pixelation on it. And BTS you'll know them from the song here. So they are doing a series of concerts at the moment in South Korea.

And all the fans who are going to the shows have been banned from cheering loudly, yelling, chanting and standing up at the concert because of COVID protocols. That's the kind of concert I want to go to. Everyone's sitting politely. That's a New Zealand concert. I think that's everyone watching the All Blacks play. Yeah, true. But apparently, I would not have maybe,

I feel like those protocols are relatively excessive, but I can see why cheering loudly and yelling and singing along can probably spread the germs. Yeah. They were doing that at the theme park in Japan, I remember, a while ago. They were saying, no screaming on the rides. And it was a really cool sign that said, scream inside your heart. the thing that's so cute put the pressure on your heart you're like keep it inside as the g-forces push against you but don't scream out loud because you don't want

to spread covid uh question about the concert though so would there be no reaction when they finish a song well they're all of the people as they arrive into the concert are going to be given clappers so they use those instead of clapping their hands. So, I mean, but like the thing is, if you're going to a concert, if COVID's going to spread, it's probably going to spread anyway if you're in close proximity to others. So I'm not sure how those rules will help, but it's quite interesting. And that is Spy Update for the South.

More you can head to thehits.co.nz. The sure weather masks make them look a whole lot better. More you can head to thehits.co.nz. Now a lot of people isolating at the moment. It seems like if you're not doing it, you know someone that's doing it. So it's a Friday. And as you said before, Jono, we've checked out. Yeah, we checked out about 6.30 to be honest. But we're still here, you know, ploughing on until 9 o'clock,

filling in airtime. But we're going to play a game. Home and away. Home and away. Closer each day as long as it's two metres away at the moment. We're going to guess whether you're at home or you're away. Isolating, not isolating. That's the game. Yeah, so on 0800 the hits.

If we can't get it right, you'll win a prize. Yeah, Pia, we'll get you on from Tauranga. Welcome to the programme. Morning, boys. How are we today? win a prize. Yeah, Pia, we'll get you on from Tauranga. Welcome to the program. Morning, boys. How are we today? Morning to you. Now, I have one question. Have you taken a rats test, and what was the result? Oh, yeah.

Negative. Oh, there you go. I'm going to guess you're away. Yes. Yes. Living my best life. Living your best life. Oh, good on you, Pia.

Lovely to talk to you. There's huge flaws in this format. Yeah, what is it? You're just going to go straight on their name alone had you, Pete. Lovely to talk to you. There's huge flaws in this format. Yeah, what is? You're just going to go straight on their name alone. You can't ask no follow-up questions. That's too easy. That's not fair. I'm sorry.

I just wanted to win the game. Oli, you're on from Christchurch. Morning. He sounds disease-y. He sounds omicron-y. You reckon he is? You reckon he's going to lock in and he's isolated? I don't know.

You can never go. I reckon he's? Do you reckon he's going to lock in and he's isolating? I don't know. You can never go. I reckon he's away. I reckon he's not isolating. Are you away? I am isolating. Oh, you're isolating. I told you you sounded virus-y. You did.

How's that been? Yeah, it's been all right. I'm just a household contact, so I don't have COVID. But I'm out tomorrow, so that's good. Yeah, boy. Have you found it long, tedious? Because you've obviously had to do the 10-day regime, I imagine, Ollie. Yeah.

Yeah, it's been like lockdown, but you can't even go to the supermarket, which is annoying. Yeah, having, because I did it as well, and having, when you don't have it and you've got to stay there, it feels like this is a redundant. Why don't I just get out there and spread it to everyone? Maybe I'm not showing symptoms or something. Hey, thanks, Ollie. You have a great one. Okay, Lee, we're going to play Home and Away with Lee.

Let's hear Lee. Yeah, g'day, guys. How are you? Oh, I know that voice there. This is Lee Hart. Have we bullied you onto our show, Lee? It would appear that way. Either that or you're a huge fan of participating in our phone topics.

Guys, geez, I love that home and away thing they do once. I haven't heard anything about Lee Hart. I read an article yesterday, so I know the answer. Lee, you're home. Yes, I am. I'm actually sitting in the car outside home. Things are that dire. I just like to sort of mix it up a bit, you know It feels like I'm making a mess

And that's in the driveway in the car So you just drive back and forth You get that feeling of being able to leave the house Oh totally, totally And the radio sounds better in here as well Now Lee, I spoke to you a couple of weeks ago When I was doing ACC And you said you were worried about getting COVID-18 or something

you hadn't quite got to the COVID-19 version. Well that's the man flu you know, we all remember man flu imagine if that had jumped into the woman's, like that strain leaked into the woman thing Into the COVID-19 strain Oh yeah, we'd be talking about man flu

again, like we should be. How have you found your isolation, Lee? How many in your family? Well, I've got, well, it's interesting actually. Well, four of us normally, but I'm, you ask, I've got two kids, but I've recently just gone through a bit of a breakup with my partner. So I suppose that's still four of us. You've opened up a sort of hornet's nest.

Oh no! We're selling the house. Oh Jesus. I didn't realise this was going to turn into a therapy session. I'm sorry, Lee. Look, if you've got a minute, I wouldn't mind talking about it. It has been a rough night. Oh, you poor bugger.

We're selling the house. I'm keeping busy by doing things like we've sold the house already. like, we've sold the house already. Oh, you've sold the house? We've sold it, but I'm a bit better interested about having to sell it. So I'm sort of seeing where I can make money back, and I'm ripping up the carpet, taking the underlay, putting the cover back on. Yeah, right, just get the maximum out of the sale.

Yeah, yeah, there you go. Hey, well, Lee, this has been a rollercoaster. It has for all of us. COVID hasn't been great. What I'm saying is being at home alone a lot of the day, it's quite good. You can get productive and try to come up with ideas and stuff and keep busy

and do my autobiography, my memoirs, a double album of music which I've recorded and written during this last six, seven days. Oh, beautiful.

It's been full on. A week-long album with Lee Hart. Geez, we've covered some ground here. It's so good to talk to you. You take care, buddy, and I hope we'll catch up with you soon. Jeez, we've covered some ground here. It's so good to talk to you. You take care, buddy, and I hope we'll catch up with you soon. Yeah, cheers, guys.

See you, Lee. There we go. You never know what you're going to get on this show. So good. It is the hits. You got John on there. Warning. Contained stodgy parenting advice.

Shono and Ben on the hits. For a lot of people isolating at the moment, you had to do it with your family, didn't you? Yeah, I did. No, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, being locked in a house with me for 10 days. You wouldn't want to do it, would you, bed boys? Oh, I probably have done it in comical radio TV series. Yeah, only sort of 24-hour periods, though.

Imagine 10 days, 10 non-stop days. But, you know, it can get testing at times for some people, obviously, and especially with the world going on, continuing on outside. And we're joined now by Holly Jean Brooker, who's from The Parenting Place. Hey, Holly, how are you? I'm doing good, thank you. I'm doing good. Yeah, good.

How are you? We're doing well, thank you, Ben. How are you? I'm doing all right. Good. Do you want to ask Holly how she is? No, I think we got it. Holly's good.

We're all rats tested. We're good to be here. It's all good. Hi. Hey, great to have you on, Holly. Holly, just going to talk through the isolation situation, which is going on for hundreds of families across the country at the moment. Are there tips for getting through this?

And, you know, are they different tips from, say, the lockdown we had last year? Yeah, I have talked to a bunch of people that have been through self-isolation recently and our family coaches at Parenting Place who are talking to parents that are finding it really tough. And it sounds like it is quite different from lockdown because everyone else is continuing on with their life outside of your home. You can see everyone out there living the best life and you are stuck at home. You know, it's a huge disruption for us as family and we don't have a lot of bandwidth. Many of us don't have a lot of bandwidth left to navigate it.

We're finding that families are coming in and seeing the coaches and they're just really struggling to balance their workloads and their anxieties along with their desire to create a home that is just calm and happy. You know, it can be really hard to show up for our kids when we are going through our own internal struggles like anxiety or work pressure or financial pressure. But if we're doing okay, your kids are going to our own internal struggles like anxiety or work pressure or financial pressure. But if we're doing okay, your kids are going to do okay. So my first top tip is put your own oxygen mask on first.

So you've got to look after yourself so that you can be good for your family. I guess, like you said before, when everyone was in lockdown, it probably doesn't feel quite as bad to be... You're all in the same boat. But in this instance, you're right, people are doing it at different times. There's obviously financial pressures on a lot of people as well when be, you know. You're all in the same boat. But in this instance, you're right. People are doing it at different times.

There's obviously financial pressures on a lot of people as well when they can't work. And then you're dealing with some people getting quite sick from COVID as well. So all that's adding up. That's right. And, you know, life's kind of carrying on. Like people are having 40th birthdays or 30th

and weddings are happening again. And if you are in self-isolation, you're missing out and everyone else is enjoying those things i mean i read today in the in the news that 50 of children at middlemore have covid this week that's that's dramatic geez you know half of half of our kids are discontinuing as per usual and half of them are stuck at home so it's tough so i think putting your own oxygen mask on is things like if you are in isolation it could be just closing your bedroom door and going in line on your bed for half an hour,

read a book, watch a show, bring a friend, debrief, offload, have a moan, organise some stuff that's good for you, whether it's exercise in your garage. Is drinking an option, Holly? I would say drinking is probably not going to do you wonders in terms of anxiety. Yeah, right. And not a top parenting tip from the parenting place.

No, definitely I might lose my job. What can we do when we're in isolation to keep spirits up? Yeah, I think keeping spirits up is so important. Prioritising fun can be really hard when you're in a sharp ISO, but fun tells its own story, and it kind of communicates to your family and to your kids that we're not overwhelmed. So if you're feeling well enough, organise some things or plan some things, like try

and pull out, muster up the energy as much as you can. Play a prank on your kids. My daughter's loving pranks at the moment. She keeps putting hand soap on the toilet. It's really annoying. Hand soap on the toilet? That's a savage prank too. No. It's the prank, I said you tested toilet? That's a savage prank too. No.

That's the prank. I said you tested positive, but you've been negative this whole time. Jokes. There you go. That's a good tip. That's a good list of stuff. Keep the spirits up. Yeah.

Dead right. And also, I'm vibing on the would you rather game at the moment. You just throw out all these like, would you rather eat a dead cockroach or a live worm? I'm going to go dead cockroach. Yeah. Yeah. I'd probably do the same. just swallow it in one gulp. And just honestly, my last tip would be to be careful what they hear.

I mean, there's just so much heavy content. It's all relevant and all real, but if we are over-consuming news, it's really quite hard, and our kids are hearing that. They don't have the same perspective and ability to process it the way that we do. I mean, just last week I had to, I work in media, but I had to block news sites and social media off my phone for a whole week because I just needed to stop doom scrolling

and stop the scattered jumping around to see what was happening and just be present in the moment. And I think when we can do that, particularly if we're in isolation, that's going to be so helpful for our kids in keeping the vibe at home calm because that's really the motivation

or the objective here in South Isla is to keep the home environment calm and as happy and as level as we can while we get through this really challenging time. And spare a thought to my son, Oscar, who's talking to his friend, Roger, in class. And spare a thought too, my son Oscar was saying he was talking to his friend Roger in class and Roger is very disappointed that everyone else around him has had COVID except him. And he's the one who's had to keep going to school and all Roger wants is 10 days off and he can't catch it. Or it'll be seven days. Seven days. So Roger's already losing out.

Holly, Jean, Brooker, always a pleasure talking to you from The Parenting Place. If anyone wants any more tips and advice, where can they head to? Head to the Parenting Place. We've got some great articles and a kind of parenting guidebook to help get through self-isolation and all the stuff that COVID is bringing for families. Thanks, Holly. Some great tips, and you can head to theparentingplace.co.nz for more. It is the hits.

Hard-hitting interviews and informed opinion. Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB. In the meantime, Jono and Ben is the hits. Hard-hitting interviews and informed opinion. Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZV. In the meantime, Jono and Ben on the hits. Big day for the National Party. They're riding high in the polls. And a big day for bald guys on our show. Jono, we had Lee Hart before. Now we've got the National Party leader, Christopher Luxon.

Good morning. How are you guys? Oh, you sound more percentage-y. Yeah. The polls. I'm actually at home isolating with COVID. Oh, yeah. How's that? You sound more percentage-y. Yeah. The pulse. I'm actually at home isolating with COVID. Oh, yeah?

How's that? How's that been for you? It's actually been good. It's actually, honestly, I've just had a bit of a cough, and I've been able to carry on with everything else and hope to be back to work on Tuesday. It really is affecting people in different ways, isn't it? You hear some people getting in ambulances and some not even having any symptoms.

Yeah. Have you guys had it at all yourself? I had it in the household. So we did the old 10-day ISO thing. But none of us, only one person had it and the remaining three didn't get it. So has anyone else in your family had it? Yeah. My wife managed to get it sort of the same day or later that same day.

And then my sons avoided it completely. So it's been interesting. But you're right. I've had friends who've just been knocked around with headaches, fevers, all that stuff. You're pretty thankful you got vaccinations at the end of the day but honestly for me it's been straightforward. I've been up and clouding through work, it's been good.

They would have been worried that your State of the Nation speech was turned into a super spreader event. Yeah. There was a slight moment there. The National Party's like, God damn it, we don't need this right now. But obviously the polls, the latest poll coming out, it was a slight moment there. The National Party's like, God damn it! We don't need this right now. But obviously the polls, the latest poll coming out, it was pretty good for the National Party and yourself.

Are polls kind of like the radio ratings where you're like, when they go well, you're like, oh, that's everything, but when they're not, you're like, ah, what are they? They're not quite accurate. Yeah, look, they are. I mean, it's encouraging anyway. It's positive. It's sort of a good way of getting feedback

whether you're doing a good job or otherwise. But look, I mean, it's sort of encouraging anyway. It's positive. It's sort of a good way of getting feedback whether you're doing a good job or otherwise. But, look, I mean, there's a long way to go. So you sort of, you know, you sort of look at them quickly and then sort of get focused back on what you're supposed to be doing. But, yeah, no, they're encouraging, which is pretty good. What do you put it down to, Christopher Luxon? Do you put it down to National performing better under you or Labour having a shocker? I put it down to neither of those, really.

I put it down to the fact that a month ago I came on your show and I got the John O'Byrne bounce. You always get the little uptick. I've been going around the country and people just think, you know, I think John O'Byrne has done a great job. I reckon they think they're voting for him. 100 days of being a leader of the National Party this week, I understand that, but is that a record for the National Party?

Well, it doesn't make me the shortest time, put it that way, I think, so far. But that's good. Now, here's a question. Have you gone to visit Clark Gayford in prison yet? Oh, jeez. The rumours are wild. And I guess you're probably going to come to terms

with rumours that start swirling around in your job. Have you heard any yet? Because I know Ben's trying to start one that you haven't seen you and me in the same room. No, no, exactly. I think there's going to be some rumours started for sure. But look, I mean, I think it just sort of, sadly, it goes with a bit of the territory. But no, you sort of discount them pretty heavily. It would be tough for politicians' partners,

because they didn't really ask to be dragged into it. Yeah, look, I think when you go in, I mean, in our case, I'm a bit fortunate because I'm going in with the kids being sort of through school and independent. And then, you know, you really want them to be able to carry on their life as best as they can and not be too impacted by what their dad does or what their husband does. So I think it's, yeah, I mean, you've just got to get it sort of set up

the right way. But, yeah, it can be tough on families. There's no doubt about it. We talk to other MPs and families. Speaking of things being tough on families, the cost of living, I know you and Jono save a bit on shampoo and conditioner,

but you know... But in all seriousness... We spend a lot more on moisturiser. But in all seriousness, the cost of living is going up, petrol prices. What could be done about that to bring that down?

Yeah, well, I mean, it is a real issue, right, up and down the country. And the basic problem is prices are going up 6%, wages are only going up 2.5%. And so one of the ideas we had on the weekend was, why don't we do inflation-adjusted taxation thresholds? And that sounds all very googly-gook, but what it basically means is there's been 11.5% inflation, so why don't we just lift the tax rates, which need to be adjusted from time to time, and that would just give people back some of their own money to keep in their own pocket so it's just practical sensible things like that

that we need to be doing um and um you know and yeah it's going to be a real challenge there's no doubt about it kiwis are feeling it big time now christopher larkson before you go we know you're busy uh you're the boss at air new zealand for many years quick uh plain quick fire questions i want to throw at you window window or aisle seat? What do you prefer? Aisle seat. Who gets the armrest when you're sitting in the middle seat? What happens there? I think in the middle you get both armrests I reckon, left and right.

And that's right, that should be the reward for taking the middle seat. A cookie or cassava chips? Always the cookie time cookie. Time to destination, is it the worst in-flight movie you've ever seen? Okay. On average, how many flights until you get sick of the Air New Zealand safety video?

I reckon about 33. And finally, is buckling your seatbelt really that complicated that you have to put it in the safety video every time? I reckon the theory used to be that only about 25% of people used to watch those bog-standard, boring videos. And then we started making them really interesting and funny. And some were funny and some weren't.

And I had a rule which was, we'll keep them on air until sort of 35% of the country sort of really is screaming that they hate them and we'll take them off. That's the rule of thumb. They kind of changed the game, didn't they? Well, they taught me how to use a seatbelt. Up until then, I was just tying it in take off. That's the rule of thumb. Well, you're right. 10% of people like them. They kind of changed the game, didn't they? Well, they taught me how to use a seatbelt. Up until then, I was just tying it in a knot.

We do appreciate your time. Well done on the poll results, and hopefully we'll talk to you soon. Hey, thanks, guys. Have a great day. Take care. Thanks, Chris. The annoying ones talking between the socks.

Jono and Ben on the hats. You know, I had a phone call yesterday because I'm my body, I've turned 40 and it's like my body's gone well I've done all I can do for you. Holding everything up for so long. Just keeping everything tight

you know, kind of working, functioning and he's like, you know, but 40 years of this I retire from being a body. Yeah, right. And so now I've got some serious lower back issues, Ben, which you've been hearing about. I have been, yeah. Because I'm always hobbling in every week. Why are you hobbling now? I've rolled an ankle.

I thought you liked the attention, but obviously no stuff's been going on. To be honest, it started off that way. Oh, what's up with you? Oh, I just rolled my ankle a little bit. I run in the morning at 3.40. And then in a serious twist of fate, my attention seeking has actually turned into... Yeah, it's not too good. Yeah, so anyway, I had to go and have an MRI scan on Monday.

So I get a call yesterday. Hi, it's me from the MRI place. Official term. Just got a few questions before you get in here. First question, are you claustrophobic? I'm like, Jesus, where am I going? I'm not too bad, but I really haven't put it

to the test. But I guess I'll be fine. Are they talking to the hospital or are they going down into a cave or something? Put him in some weird sex dungeon or something. Second question, have you got any shards of metal in your eyeballs in your eyeballs in your eyeballs legit question yeah legit i was like not that i know of i hope not

do you have any heart complications oh my goodness fourth question have you seen any questionable content on the internet that you need to divulge okay that was not true yeah so what's your deepest darkest secret that stuff and i'm thinking what sort of chamber am I going into? Have you had an MRI before? No, I never have. I always find, though, when you get the x-rays at the dentist, I always find it weird that they sit you up there, they put your mouth in the sheet, and then they leave the room.

I'm like, I don't want no part of this. Whatever is going on there. You're like, why are you leaving me? Why are you so awkwardly smiling? We know what's about to happen to you, buddy. We don't want to be anywhere near you leaving me Why are you so awkwardly smiling We know what's about to happen Do you buddy We don't want to be anywhere near it You look like you're awkwardly smiling You're like

What's going on What's going on Where's everyone going And then they come back And it's all good with you And they sort of stare through that window That's only about six centimetres thick And they're kind of like

Looking at you like You're a specimen or something They're doing like a Experiment I guess it's because They're around it all day So obviously you don't want to be In the room with the x-ray

But you're like How bad is this thing Yeah I know It's quite scary're around it all day, so they obviously don't want to be in the room with the X-ray. But you're like, how bad is this thing? Yeah, I know. It's quite scary, isn't it? I just keep going, why are the shards of metal in my eyeballs? Why is this pivotal? And what's going to happen if I do? Well, we'll find out Monday.

Oh, Monday. Could be one of the members of the X-Men by Monday afternoon. The back saga continues. Listen, I was just boring you with my MRI banter before. It's real, though. You know, you're going through this, you know, you're bringing sexy back, literally. You're going to get your back sorted.

Yeah, once my back is MRI'd, it's going to be sexy as. Once you wax it, it'll be... You wanted to do competition, didn't you, New Zealand's sexiest back? Yeah, who's bringing sexy back, literally. Speaking of, oh, my God, can I, like, wax your guys' backs one day? That'd be so funny to see you guys. Listen, Ben has got an answer here.

Yeah, I can try. Sometimes I wax my dad's back back in the day, and it was so funny to watch. Ben's like a seal. He's hairless. Just smooth. Yeah, but one day I'll have maturity and puberty. Anyway, I was saying I've got to get an MRI, and all these very intense questions about, you know, have you got shards of metal in your eyeballs or have you had heart surgery or anything?

And the reason is, someone's texting, it's MRI magnetic, some R word, resonance imaging. But basically the magnetic pull inside the MRI machine is so powerful that if you had any hip replacement or something, you get locked on the roof. That's how powerful the magnet is. Well, chink! Always start with something that's truthful, and then you take it to a whole other place. So now I don't know what to believe. He probably hasn't even got a sore back.

If you had shards of metal in your eyeballs, the metal would be pulled out of your eyeballs and chink chink, or your eyes just bo boom, on the roof. Stop it. Now, we wanted to know, we're heading into the weekend, who's having the best weekend? Heaps of people texting through with some amazing weekends that people are going to have. We're going to kick it off for you, Kiri Tauranga. Welcome to New Zealand's Breakfast.

Why are you having the best weekend? Because my mum has organised for my sister, myself, and her to go get a nice back massage, a little facial. It's like a pamper day for Saturday and then probably housework on Sunday. But we're going to focus on the Saturday. Focus on the Saturday, yeah. Sunday's bleak and a lot of back content we've brought to the table in the last couple of minutes. I mean, that's a good weekend. Ben, not a place for you, that, the day spa, is it?

No, don't relax. Don't relax in the most relaxing environment. Oh, my bloody Invisalign's fallen off the desk. And now my mouth guards are lying on the floor. Oh, that's not good for hygiene. That's not a good start to the weekend. Paul, you're on. Welcome.

Why are you having the best weekend? After nine months of planning, we are off to walk the Milford Track. Oh, that sounds awesome. I always respect people who are, you know, we're off to do the Milford Track. Oh, that sounds awesome. I always respect people who are like, oh, we're off to do the bloody cross this, cross that, you know. Not for me, but I really do respect people who do it. Are you a walking sort of person, Paul? You like walking?

No. No? No. No, it's been nine months of training to get this down this far so far. And we had a group of six, and we're now down to three because the other ones have all broke their ankles. Oh, gee, so I'm just looking on there. It's about 53 kilometres, is that right?

Four days, and then we take people. Gee, that's a big walk. Yeah, it is, yeah. There was a pack on your back, too, so that's going to hurt. Oh, Paul, I mean, that's a good weekend. However, is it a good weekend? Well, it'll be amazing. It'll be amazing. Beautiful

scenery down there. I mean, you can come back and go, you got to the, you achieved something. Yeah, no, but if you gave me the option of walking 52 kilometres this weekend, or not walking 52 kilometres this weekend. I would take the 52 kilometres. It's an achievement. Amazing part of New Zealand. Paul, we're going to send you a prize, alright? Have a great weekend. Cool.

Good on you, good on you. Juliet, you're going to the beach. You're always dotting off to a beach for a weekend, aren't you? Yeah, yeah. Langs Beach up north with a few friends, which would be nice. Just a bit of R&R. So, yeah, it's good. You always have so much R&R. How much R&R does a person need?

Are you not relaxed yet? She's working with us. I think every weekend she's like, I just need to get away. Jono and Ben, just like family. The family members you're ashamed of. Jono and Ben just like family the family members you're ashamed of Jono and Ben on the hits just before we go

Australia they've opened their first cheese train restaurant so I can buy about cheese we're at cheese we're at cheese content now cheese train

but it sounds pretty amazing so little cheese plates go around you can have beer you can have wine and you can choose whatever cheeses you want to come around

with crackers and stuff like that it's like a sushi train job yeah but we were talking yesterday because you know it costs a living crazy at the moment crisis whatever cheeses you want to come around with, crackers and stuff like that. It's like a sushi train job. Yeah, but for cheese. We were talking yesterday because it costs a living crazy at the moment. Crisis. And the world's most expensive cheese is donkey cheese, pure donkey cheese, which is, you know, there's 200 donkeys who get milked every day

by 10 specially trained farmers to spend their days milking donkeys. And $1,500 a kg for that cheese. That is crazy. Those guys are working hard getting that cheese out of those donkeys. It doesn't sound quite as advertising, but anyway, you have yourself a great weekend. We'll catch you Monday. Jono and Ben, brought to you by Resene,

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