Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Has Adolescence Hit the States? We Chat With Our Entertainment Reporter!

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

The team catch up with Nicole live in New York! Has the whirlwind of the new Netflix limited series Adolescence reached the States? It's been five years since COVID—what was New York like during this time? How America is handling kids and technology in today’s world. White Lotus vs Adolescence... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the Jono, Ben and Megan podcast, thanks to HelloFresh, your home advantage for delicious midweek dinners that everyone will love. Now we are speaking to Nicole in New York, our correspondent in the US every week, and we're just trialing some new technology at the moment, which is a new Zoom setup. And hopefully, hopefully, Nicole, you can see us. I can see all four of you. And why am I on a large screen behind you? My head is very large. I know, you're huge. This is a new system we're trying.

You're on a giant billboard, essentially. Yeah, it's like New Zealand's own Times Square in the studio right now. Yes, literally. From your radio show, during the week, I saw you with a T-shirt saying, there's a mouse. Now, what does that mean? You've got T-shirts and it's got a picture-shirt saying, there's a mouse. Now, what does that mean? You've got T-shirts. It's got a picture of a mouse.

There's a mouse on it. So when I was in or during the pandemic, I was doing my show every day from this little box of a room in a New York City apartment. And it was a mess, like it was for everybody. My kids were coming in. It was like a mess, like it was for everybody. My kids were coming in. It was like a mess. And I'm sitting there one day live on the air, and I look down, and there is a mouse scurrying over my foot. And I'm live on the radio speaking to millions of people. I mean, they have the audio.

They play it constantly. There's a mouse! There's a mouse! Actually, someone's just sent it to us, Nicole. Oh, my God! There's a mouse! There's a mouse! There's a mouse! There's a mouse. There's a mouse.

There's a mouse. There's a mouse. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Help me. Help me. Help me. Okay, Nicole, first of all.

All right. What do I do? Please, I'm locked in here. You're like, I'm not going in there. Please, Matt. Please. How do you know it's still in there? I just know it

He's in the Corvette He's in the Barbie Corvette That is priceless What does my husband do? He comes in when I call for help Flams the door and he locks me in here So the mouse doesn't go out there Oh so you're stuck with the mouse

He shuts you in with the mouse He's thinking about the greater good. You don't want that mouse running rampant. Straight away, he's like, sacrifice my wife. What a little you-know-what. Like, it's unbelievable. So the weird thing is, obviously COVID was I mean, I can't believe it, but like started five years

ago, so my daughter was still hardcore into Barbies. We had a massive Barbie mansion here, the playhouseies we had a massive Barbie Mansion here the Playhouse we had a Barbie Corvette and he was like what do you want me to do what do you want me to do and I was like I don't know but the mouse is in the Barbie Corvette and I'm pretty sure that that little effort was living in the mansion like it was a nightmare so I got a mansion in the middle of New York City yeah It's like a dream. Can we ask about COVID?

Five years ago, same with us here in New Zealand. Obviously, we went into lockdown. What happened in New York during that time? It was scary. We were wiping down any box that came here. I was making everybody strip, and I didn't care if anybody saw them, but strip before they came in the house, which we obviously found was unnecessary. Could you go out? Could you go out and about?

We had a pretty strict lockdown. We did too. You were allowed to go out, but like just to walk, right? And then once it got like a little bit, like not as like strict, a lot of the restaurants opened with like almost like if you go to a fast food restaurant,

it was like a window and they would give you like drinks to go. They'd give you like food or booze to go. And it was like everybody would walk around the streets just drinking and eating because it was survival, right? We were all losing our minds. I imagine like, so how long did you actually have to spend in that apartment where you couldn't go into work?

Oh, too long. And then I was a teacher, right? Then I'm teaching two kids getting the kids like all set up on their zooms and then running in into a zoom to interview a celebrity like making them wait because i was also a teacher which i am not and i should not be teaching anybody yeah crazy good times good times i mean it must be pretty surreal really great i mean the population in new york was like eight million or something like that, you know. And, you know, to have a city like that, you've seen the shots where there's no one around.

It looked like the movie I Am Legend. I'm not joking. Like, we still had to walk our dog, right? And, you know, New York City, like the city number sleeps, it could be 4 a.m. And number one, some bars are still open. And number two, it's always bright, right? Like, it's still like you walk by, there's bodegas, there's like little like pharmacies, everything. You could still walk down the street and it's bright.

It was dark. It was black. I was afraid to walk the dog because it felt like the apocalypse had come. Like it was over. Did I read something about rats like all coming out, being like, yeah, this is our time. It's our city now.

Funny, they haven't ended. I kicked one the other day accidentally. And rats here, mice here can be like the size of like a beaver like they like even in the subway you'll see like it says like a cat they i don't know how they get that big they would have come out and gone no one's screaming at us no one's trying to kick us we we can just do our thing and so yes is the mouse still paying rent with you what's going on with that no that That little, you know what, just lived here and didn't. And then I have such a baby of a husband that, like, he, again,

was locking me in here. And if we did get one, he was using tongs from the kitchen to pick it up and screaming at the top of his lungs. No one likes to come into contact with rodents. No, you want to look at it. Yeah, but, like, man up, dude. Man up a little bit. You're talking a lot about Adolescence,

the show that dropped on Netflix that seems to be shining a light on kids and technology and what parents should do about it. And we wanted to find out from Nicole, our American correspondent, if it's as big in America as it is over here. Is that the case, Nicole? Yeah, so like it's just,

I don't think it's just catching on. I think I'm just catching on hearing about it. A lot of people I know are watching it. It's obviously this thing because nobody can believe that this young boy, this is his first time ever on a movie set. Number two, that it was shot in a single shot. The pressure alone, like it gives me anxiety thinking about not messing up. And obviously like the content is like a little bit upsetting, but White Lotus is like everybody's on. But adolescents, people are like, what is this? Interesting. There's so many clips that I keep getting fed now by looking into it.

But there was one bit, because obviously they're doing it all in one shot. And the young boy, who seems amazing, said he was quite tired, you know, obviously, and he yawned. You know, yawned in the middle of a scene, wasn't meant to. And the other actor went, am I keeping you awake? Or something, and just turned into an ad lib. That wasn't meant to be in the end? No, it wasn't meant to be. He was like oh geez i'm tired i've got to yawn

and i had to yawn because there is one episode the one you're talking about where it's an interview between the young boy and an actress and it goes for an hour and so they're having an hour long conversation that they never cut away from i was like how does this kid who's never acted before remember all of that i mean it's weird because I totally, totally whore my kids out on social media because why not? But even getting them to say one line every once in a while for an Instagram story is like pulling teeth. So I can't imagine.

I'm hoping that he got paid semi-well. How is it with social media in schools in America and around the place? Are kids allowed to bring their phones to class and things like that? No, they're, um, I depends on the school or school they're allowed. Um, they're still young. I mean, that's elementary school, but they're, they're allowed, but they, they cannot be seen. So I think it's more of like a, like a safety thing. So like, if you need to like call your parents after school or something or text them after school when you're about to leave but otherwise they cannot be out in class they have to be kept away in their bags i don't

know what it's like in middle school and high school i assume there's some semblance of you can maybe use it during a free period but it should not be out in class it should not be used and in my opinion it shouldn't even be there well they banned them here in new zealand the government did during school during school yeah yeah so they were allowed them and then they're not during school hours so they have to go in their bag. Are your daughters losing their minds? Oh, you had my daughter debate the Prime Minister. He was in the studio because she was, yeah, she was very

passionate about keeping the phones. Probably too passionate. He was like, well, she's got a bit. I mean, I get that. Yeah, so they had a good debate. He told her she was wrong and they changed the law. That'll do it. Good for her though. Are they worried changed the law that'll do it good for her though yeah are they worried in the states about the impact of social media on kids yeah very much i mean obviously with the whole possible tick tock ban that didn't what was it like 24 hours if that

yeah i mean people were like like like like losing their mind everyone's going through withdrawal um yes they are and there's lots of you know, from like therapists and stuff like it's not necessary. Right. Like like I read something the other day, like it was a therapist that said a kid under 14 doesn't need access to the Internet in their back pocket all day long. Like what does that accomplish? We all grew up without that and we were fine with it. It's very cool that they have access to it. It's not doing anything to like enhance their life. If anything, it's making them worried. There's more bullying. There's more feeling bad about yourself because you don't look like that or your life isn't like that. So, yeah, I don't really think that there's anything good that can come of it at a very

young age. But yeah, I think there's a lot of there's discrepancy between households and who is like, that's not a big deal. And some people are like, this is dangerous. Like this is bad. And that's where part of the problem comes from, isn't it? Cause everyone's got different rules. Yeah, well, I love when I get like, they come home and they're like, well, like, you know,

Nate's parents let me, I don't care. Families are different. That's what Nate's parents do. And this is what we do. Say it again and see what happens you can get nate's mom to call me yeah let's have a little chat yeah i hate that line i hate that