Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Up the Wahs with Jack Black

Episode Date: March 24, 2024

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The Hits with the Jono and Ben podcast. Thanks to Challenge, putting the service back into service stations. Kung Fu Panda 4 is going to be in cinemas April 4th. A very funny family movie for the whole family. The fourth one in the very successful film franchise, Jack Black back again playing the voice of Poe the Panda. And he's such a ray of joy, isn't he, Jack Black, whatever room he walks into.

And we were very lucky to have him come into the radio studio Sunday morning. First thing Sunday morning. Now, Ben, there's a little back story. You had seen Jack Black in town and you took a very creepy photo of him from behind. A back photo of Jack Black. Yeah, because I thought no one would believe the fact that I saw him in town. I wanted to show everyone. I didn't post it or anything like that, but I just took this photo.

It was a blurry photo behind. And then I kind of regretted the fact because I did say I love your work to him, but I didn't post it or anything like that, but I just took this photo. It was a blurry photo behind, and then I kind of regretted the fact, because I did say I love your work, Tom, but I didn't get a photo. You didn't think to be like, hey, excuse me, could I get a photo? No, I didn't bug him, and then I regretted it as well. But I showed everyone in the office a photo. I was like, it's all Jack Black. And everyone's like, oh, yeah, whatever.

This is back in a backpack. But we said we had a surprise for you. You had no idea what it was. So you were sitting in the studio blindfolded with what you didn't know was a panda head over your head and listening to Beyonce and your headphones yeah listen to music I had no idea what was going to happen I was like what is this weird surprise on a Sunday morning now we met Jack outside and uh through the New Zealand accent and uh lost in translation he thought my name was john ham so uh just excuse that and here we go well done hey i'm john you win john ham lovely to meet you this is megan jack nice to meet you megan yeah hey so a little bit of a backstory we have a mate of ours in there

and he's blindfolded with a panda head on a few weeks ago he took a very creepy photo of you walking through town and it's like a photo of your back. He was too scared to ask you for a photo. Yeah. So we thought it's all on the big screens in there. He has no idea. So we're going to come in and surprise him with you. Love it. Awesome. Come on through Jack. And then he was standing next to you and he's pulling all sorts of faces. I had no idea. He was just like inches away from me and And it's such a surreal thing, pulling off a panda head, which I didn't even know I was wearing, and an eye mask and headphones, and seeing Jack Black like two inches away from my face. That was not what I expected.

Have a listen. Yeah! Jack Black! Does this look familiar? Oh, my goodness. Holy. What was happening? You were kind of stalking me, following me down the street.

Look, can I tell you the story? Just the night before, I'd watched School of Rock because my daughter's in School of Rock. Yeah. And we watched the movie and we're walking behind these people, look like tourists, loud clothing, frisbee around their necks. It was me. And my wife's like, who are these people? I'm like, that's Jack Black.

She went, no, he's not in New Zealand. It're just because i watched school of rock you turned around it was you and i went love your work you did a lovely bow and then thank you very much and then i went no one's gonna believe me i've got to take a creepy photo which i didn't post but you could have tapped me on the shoulder i would have turned around and given you the full frontal. Well, yeah, we call this photo Jack Beck. And then once the dust settled, we got into a chat with him. Wow. Just what was it? Jack, grab a seat over here. Wow. I was listening to Beyonce. It was nice.

What were you listening to? Texas Hold'em. It was nice. Oh, I didn't even know that was a song of hers. Yeah, she's got she's got a country song now. She's got a country song called Texas Hold Them. Texas Hold Them, yeah. Texas Hold Them.

I like to go proper. Hold Them. I'm going to download that immediately because I was thinking I should do a little cover because now that I'm known for doing covers of kick-ass pop hits, I might hit some Beyonce next. You're sitting all over the place. Baby, I can see your halo.

I hope you don't fail. You're my halo. What's that, Chris Isaac? Well, I know why he's playing that, because that's another class of hit that Taneja's just de-covered. Do you like that? Oh! That's another class that Tenacious D covered. Do you like that? Oh, yes.

You know I love me some Ozzy Osbourne. That feels like it should have been sung by you, that one. I actually have sung that one at probably more Tenacious D concerts than any other cover. I've sung that thing as my solo at the end of the show hundreds of times. I love that song and I love Ozzy. Ozzy really turned me on to heavy metal and hard rock music when I was a kid. That was the first hard rock album I ever bought was Blizzard of Oz.

Dude, before all of you were born. You didn't even learn the guitar until you were like 23. True, I was a late bloomer. That was when I met Kyle and we were in a theater company together and I was, yeah, in my early 20s. Yeah, I would bring him hamburgers and tacos and he would give me free guitar lessons. That's a great deal. That's a great deal. Yeah, we smoked a lot of the gun and became best friends and we had dreams. We had big dreams. But we were very unlikely to become rock stars. And yet somehow we did it.

Well, this is surreal. I was not expecting this. So, guys, you know. Hey, Jack, you've been here for a while. Obviously, Ben's been taking sneaky back photos of you. I live here. Yeah, what have you been doing? Dude, working on a little movie called Minecraft.

Yeah. With Jason Momoa. And it's been really fun and really crazy. And really, it's been an amazing experience all around just living here in New Zealand. It's not my first time. You lived in Wellington before? Exactly. About 20 years ago, I was in King Kong.

Peter Jackson. Sorry, I dropped something. Clang! I'll pick up that. Thank you. Peter Jackson sorry I dropped something I had an amazing life-changing experience on that one too so I have only you know great great feelings about this land it's good well we're here to talk to you today about Kung Fu Panda very excited about the release of Kung Fu Panda hints the pandas I can see why don't forget the four four would you rather be trapped inside a panda head like me or trapped in New Zealand like you are right now?

Oh, trapped in New Zealand. It's not a, you can't say trapped though, it's paradise. I understand why Jason Momoa has made this home base. Yeah. I get it. Are your family here with you? They will be. They're coming for a spring break for Easter weekend.

Oh, nice. They're in school right now, but they're coming soon. So what will you show them in New Zealand when they're here for a very quick trip? You know, I want to tell you, but then I don't want it to blow up and become a thing. That's where we'll find them. We'll corner them there. Because there's people that will take creepy photos behind of you. My family don't like photos.

They don't like it when I stop for selfies and stuff, so I try to fly under the radar. But we're going to see some things. Don't worry. We're going to see some sweet, sweet things. Can I give you a tip? But I've already just met you. Yeah.

Maybe don't wear such bright clothing and crispy as red you need if you want to fly under the radar. You know what? It does bother my family when I go with the Cheshire Cat shorts. But the truth is, it doesn't matter what I wear. People can tell that I'm coming just from my gait, from the way I walk and my shape.

What do your kids think about their dad being Kung Fu Panda? They love Kung Fu Panda. But in truth, they're like 15 and 17 years old now. And they kind of just are over me and want to be as far away from me as possible. They like when we walk together to be about 100 meters ahead or behind. Yeah. But, you know, that's just the way it is.

But you're Jack Black. It's so good to hear. We are dads, and we embarrass our kids, so it's so good to hear that from you. You know that's the way it is. It's nature. It's the way it's supposed to be. It's their way of saying, we've it's the way it's supposed to be it's

their way of saying we gotta get out of this nest yeah who do they admire then are they trying to get you to introduce them to someone else famous yes one of them loves a dark death metal and he's got his favorite uh musicians and he wouldn't want me to tell you. He's like, don't tell people who I love. The Hits, the Jonah and Ben podcast. Have you learned any cool facts about pandas being a panda? Because my kid actually told me the other day, this is one, they defecate over like 100 times a day. I did not know that.

We have so much in common. Here's the thing about pandas. They eat raw bamboo, which is insane. If you try to eat some bamboo, you would definitely die instantly. They roll for fun. They eat raw bamboo, which is insane. If you tried to eat some bamboo, you would definitely die instantly. They roll for fun. They roll down hills. I guess you can see why they're almost extinct. It's because they

have a habit of falling from high places. And when you have a group of them together, do you know what they're called? A group of pandas? You know how all the animals have different names for murder of crows? There's a gaggle of ge together. Do you know what they're called? A group of pandas? You know how all the animals have different names for murder of crows. There's a gaggle of geese. Pandas, it's an embarrassment of pandas. Because it's like they are riches. Each one of them is like a beautiful diamond.

So when you have a lot of them, it's an embarrassment of riches. It's an embarrassment of pandas. You've got your great catchphrase in Kung Fu Panda, Skadoosh. We've got a catchphrase here in New Zealand. It's up the waz. I don't know if you've heard of up the waz. I have heard up the wazoo. I guess the waz is short for that.

Yeah, up the waz. So we've got a rugby league team. They're called the New Zealand Warriors. Oh, wow. You've got a top. The catchphrase is up the waz, and we'd love to give you a Warriors top. Are you kidding me? Is that okay?

That is so sweet. They play rugby league from a New Zealand team, the Warriors, and everyone says Up Da Wars. That's awesome. I thought it was going to say Skadoosh or Dragon Warrior or something on it. It just says Up. Does it say Up Da Wars? Up Da Wars is kind of like their Skadoosh, like their catchphrase,

like John has said. I'm putting it on. I hope it's XXXL. Are you going to chuck it on now? I actually think it is. Oh, check, black. I think we nailed it. Yeah, they're usually very skin tight on the players, these ones.

Look at this. Beautiful. He's in a warrior style. Up and down. What? They actually play at, we used to sing with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters. They play, that's their home ground there at Go Media Stadium, Mount Smart. Dude.

Yeah. You know, when the Foo Fighters came to town, I jumped up on stage with them. Did you see that? We did. Yes. It was awesome. And then we followed you guys around having dinner in town, you and Dave Grohl as well. Yeah.

That became news. Well, he didn't give me much notice. He was just like, get up on stage and sing Big Balls with me tonight. I was like, I don't know all the lyrics, it doesn't matter. The drum tech knows the lyrics, you just sing the chorus. So I got my butt up there and had a little thrill ride. That's a big crowd, you know? When the Foo Fighters play, you get a little adrenaline rush.

Cuz did I read somewhere that you get a bit nervous in front of, you still get nervous in front of crowds? I do, it's a natural, and I think everyone does. Yeah. No one is fearless when it comes to you still get nervous in front of crowds i do it's a natural and you know i think everyone does yeah no one is fearless when it comes to getting up in front of a big crowd but i'm such a ham and i love attention so much it overpowers my fear my butt out there love it how sweet uh in terms of what you do is you're in your craft how great is it that you can just go into a voice booth and just voice a movie well i love to get up and put on a show even if it's just my voice i love radio plays i love telling stories and i love playing panda and and getting on a microphone i get that

same kind of high that same kind of rush and if i have a good day on the mic i'll be buzzing for days afterwards and and it gives me that same satisfaction and yeah it's a lot easier than actually suiting up at the crack of dawn and going for a 15 hour day on the set it's a much better job quality of life wise now how long so how long was the would the movie take you to voice? The movie, you mean like Kung Fu Panda 4? Yeah. Yeah, it takes years, but it's only like once every few weeks. Oh, so you do pockets? Maybe once a month.

Yeah, you know, you come in for a session. The real work is done in the animating offices where all those artists are working their butts off around the clock. And we had some great ones on this one. I was blown away at the premiere. I get the impression that you are in a studio voicing, but are you quite active? I imagine you're comfortable kicking and stuff, aren't you? Is it quite physical?

I do get crazy in there, because if Poe is getting physical, I have to get physical to match the vocal performance of what it would be, so it looks realistic, or it looks like it matches the action and pose always doing Kung Fu. So yeah, I work up a sweat in the, in the booth. I always wondered, so you,

are you voicing along to the animation or is that animation done after you're voicing? No, I do. Yeah. That's, that's the trick is that I do all my voice work first and then they animate to it. But then they call me in later and say, we love this one part, but we want him to do this. So we need you to make a, and so do the line again.

But this time in the middle of the line, go, and it goes back and forth like that. I don't know how long we've got with Jack. How long? Cause I don't know anything about this interview. Time is wrapping up. Okay.

Yeah. I'd wrap things up, but I don't know how long we got. Jack, this has been an absolute honour. Always wanted to meet you and you have not disappointed. You've been incredible. You guys are awesome.

I was on my way here. Sunday morning coming to work. What is this surprise going to be? It couldn't have been better. I would come every Sunday for this. How about we get some photos from the front this time? Let's do it.