The Chaser Report - Back to School with Harry Jun

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

Comedian and teacher Harry Jun stops by to discuss how teachers are feeling about students coming back to school, as well as the effects of online teaching, and the cutting-edge methods of online bullying. Plus Charles forgets his intro, and Aleksa has another story from down under. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode of The Chaser Report, brought to you by Awkward Dates. Hey, my name's Oedipus, and you look just like my mum. Oh no, I'm getting a call. You have my mum's eyes, and now I do too. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello, and welcome to The Chaser Report for Thursday the 28th of October. I'm here with Gabby and Alexa. Hey, that's me.

And guys, I want you to guess what I'm going to tell you about. That's not how this works, Charles. You talk about something, and I react to it on a semi-regular basis. I don't guess. I didn't earn the money for this. Well, the thing is that I've kind of forgotten what I had a really good idea. Okay, what was the ballpark? Was it about your kids?

He didn't plan anything. I keep on thinking about it when I go home. Right. So it must be. So I think it must be something to do with my house or my home or my kids. Okay, okay, renovating. Yeah, I'm doing lots of renovating, but I think that's also sort of lack of parking. Ooh, that's a good one.

Yeah. But no, I've got my own parking space. Fuel prices. Maybe you think about it on the commute home. I don't, I don't. You get home. You have a shower and there's hairs in the drain and who's are. Oh, that's a good comedy trope.

Yes. But no, that's not it. Okay, you get home. You have a shower There's hairs in the drain Who are they? Who are they? Who gets time and get out of a shower?

You don't know the joy Of getting home and having it Like just immediately scrubbing the day off you? No, I've got a thing called kids. Oh, okay. No, okay, no, let me paint a picture then. You get home, you get in the shower. There's hair in the shower.

Oh, whose hair is that? You get out of the shower. You've got a towel on. You ask your wife, the towel falls. Oh, how embarrassing. It's about that. Oh, I see a little, whoopsie. Exposure.

Is that right? Okay, you get home, you have a shower. Oh, there's hair in the shower drain. Who's hair is that? You get out, you're wearing a towel. You say to your wife, oh, whose hair is in the shower drink? The towel falls. Whoopsie.

Boom. Blind accidentally goes up. There's paparazzi outside your house. Then your photo is everywhere. The Daily Mail, the Australian, the Sun, just those ones for some reason. No other reason. And like, oh, no, now you have, you've had revenge pawned. They've got you.

There's pictures of your penis on the internet. No. No. The only thing is that, I mean, that sounds very plausible. But my bedroom's actually one floor up, so you wouldn't be able to see in. It's so hard to take photos in there. Far out. Okay. You get home.

You have a shower. There's hair in the draper. Oh, whose hair is that? You ask your wife. Your towel falls down. There's paparazzi outside your house. They take pictures of your penis. Now you thought it was paparazzi.

They call you. You realize they're actually Australian government officials, and they say, Charles Firth, if you do not pay your taxes within the next three days, your penis will be everywhere. I'm talking the sun. I'm talking the daily mail. I'm talking the Australian. And now you have tax debt and a picture penis problem.

Yes. And the blackmail from the Australian tax office, which is always real. Yeah, I know. And I had to buy the iTunes gift cards to pay them back. Oh, do you know about iTunes gift cards, Charles? No. They're not a thing anymore. What?

I've been scammed. You mean that whole blackmail? thing wasn't true. Yeah, maybe not, Charles. Although someone definitely has a picture of your dick somewhere. Look, he's got a lot of money. Let's just save him the stress. It's not a scam.

You paid the person what they deserve. Oh, what a relief. Because, you know, that money goes to hospitals, schools and roads. Yeah. Where they need. Yeah. Yep. Okay, well, that's good.

Coming up in the show, we're talking to Harry Joon, who is a team. teacher and what has been like to have kids back at school. Was that your intro? Oh, shit. That was my intro. Oh, fuck. No, you know, I've actually just remembered what my intro is.

For real? Yes, yes. Which is that somebody lent me some joints. Like, gave me some joints as a favour, right? And ever since then, I've had terrible short-term memory loss. Is that true? Yes, and then I can't remember anything. Maybe they're the person with his deckpack.

And, oh, I don't know, there's something else coming on the show, but I don't know what it is. Let's just go to Rebecca Dana-Muno in the Chaser Newsroom straight after this. Following a disastrous year, which has included revelations of illegal activity, multiple exploitative practices, racial discrimination cases,

and a complete disregard for the most basic of human ethics and decency, Crown Casino has been allowed to keep their casino licence due to being exactly what a casino is meant to be. The Queen has announced she will be skipping the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow due to ill health. Prince Charles said he was excited to hear he might be getting a promotion soon. Scott Morrison has hit the media circuit to promote his new net zero climate plan. Insiders say he's shown how much confidence he has in his plan by doing interviews on such challenging platforms as Channel 7's sunrise program and Sky News After Dark.

That's the latest Chaser News you can't trust. I'm Rebecca Deunamuno. Remember to subscribe and like our podcast in your podcast app of choice. Now earlier in the year we talked to sound comedian and teacher Harry June about the challenges of homeschooling and doing everything. over Zoom, but of course now he, like many other teachers, is back in the classroom, presumably dealing with a whole bunch of other annoying problems. Zandra and I are going to catch up with Harry, actually in person, which is really cool,

and also a bit weird. This is the first in-person interview with a guest that we've done. Hey, Harry. Hey, how's it going? Yeah, good. Welcome back. Yeah, thanks. Thank you.

I've heard that a lot, especially at work. Yes. How many days of classroom mode now? So we're back. So today's Wednesday. We got back to face-to-face. on Monday. So this is the third day, and fuck, the holidays can't come soon enough.

Let me tell you. How many days till holidays? Well, we're in week four right now, and it's an 11 week term, so we've got seven more weeks of teaching. So all students back, or is it just year 11 and 12? Mate, all students. I reckon more students than four. I feel like, yeah, they're trying to sneak them in.

They're like the gremlin. Yeah, yeah, it's too many. It was teeming with children. And they're like, it's been lockdown, and they're all going through puberty. So are there some kids you're like, oh, shit. No, some kids are straight up grown like five inches in the four months. I haven't seen them. And it's like, well, you've changed.

You've changed a lot. You're very menacing. We're just sit and chill, watch some videos. Talk me through day one, like first class day one. Oh, mate. So it's so funny. We had to do like training, a bit of training to set up for face-to-face learning and out. Because you'd forgotten how to teach face-to-face classes.

Well, it's funny because the training was very tailoring. lead to the COVID context. And our principal gave us a script to de-escalate any tensions between students about, like, being vaccinated or not. And it was just, it's like, it's like strategies you might give to a bouncer or whatever, like just so they don't fight. Because there's script something on the lines of like, oh, I am a New South Wales teacher and I have been vaccinated.

It is not my right to ask if any students have or have not been vaccinated. And it's like, man, that's one bit of training for a bouncer, but I feel like I wish I could be like an actual bouncer in any Sydney nightclub and kind of just eject or deny entry from kids that I don't really like. You're cool, you're cool, you're a fucking dickhead go home. Yeah, and I think also you're not allowed to fight them, are you? Well, I mean, it depends on where the cameras are. You know, just like the bounces in the closet.

That's true because, I mean, you can't stand at the door of your classroom. You just go, private party, mate. Yeah, exactly. I know what name. It's been, it's been all right. The kids, I mean, they're children, and a lot of them, like, are complaining about having to wear a mask, and they just want to play outside. And there's fucking whiny children.

It does feel like I am at a freedom rally, one of those protests. Oh, really? It feels like. Yeah, they're like, yeah, they're like, oh, I just want to be outside. It's like, yeah, but I get it. Your children. Is Pete Evans sort of hiding up the back of your class going, go on kids? Yeah, he's the new enrollment.

He's trying to sneak in. Do you have to wear a mask as well? We have to wear a mask at all times, indoor and outdoor, if we're in the school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So on school premises. On school premises? Yeah. So you get in the playground?

He's the playground. That's it. I'm wearing the high viz. Yeah. So you teach English, is it hard to speak for long periods of time with a mask? Do you know what? Speaking is, it's the listening. Like, the kids aren't used to being so muffled all the time.

And my hearing is pretty bad as it is. So they'll answer a question. And I feel like I'm 80 years. I'm like, ah? And they've just said, Oh, the thing of it. Exactly.

Yeah, and I can't even, like, read their lips or anything. It's so hard. And, like, I'm sure they're fucking mouthing off at me as well. And I can't see it.

It's a perfect shield. Yeah. Do you find you forget faces behind masks? Like, it'd be quite nice to have the name on the mask, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah,

or like the little name cut. Well, one kid, I thought, again, because we'd been teaming with children, and I thought, and we'd had a bunch of new enrollments.

I thought a kid had snuck into my class, because, you know, That's what happens a lot in our class in our school. Yeah, they just, we have an open learning style of teaching. Okay, so it can just turn out. It's like a uni, you just rock up to whatever. Well, we don't have many, as many walls as like the schools that I went to

when I was a student. So it's all open, so kids are kind of just... All without walls. Yeah, they're like, they kind of muck around. They go to other classes, and I thought I had an intrude. I was like, oh, who, you know, what's your name? And it turns out, it's the same kid, except he hadn't gotten a haircut in four months. Wow.

And, like, he's had this big mop of hair. And it's like, oh, it's, it's, you know. Joey, I was like, oh, sorry, you are meant to be here. Welcome back. One overlooked tension in schools is obviously the staff room. You've not had to see your colleagues for months and months on end. Is there a bit of anticipation for watching the old feuds of the staff room come alive? Oh, look, I don't know. It's not even like old tensions or whatever, but I am getting sick of the what you've been up to in lockdown.

Oh, hey, welcome, welcome back. That's the worst thing. Because I remember, like, after lockdown ended the first time and this time, I'd actually run into people I knew in the street and the conversation would become after about 10 seconds would become massively awkward because no one had anything to say because nothing has happened

it is of any interest at all Yeah exactly and like the phrase that I reckon teachers are saying I say it ironically now It's always it's good to be back Oh it's good to be back And like I'll be on due I'll be on my fourth duty of that day

See kids fight and swearing some I know one kid said the N word And through my gritted teeth I'm like yeah It's good to be back I'm so glad oh my gosh i'm just thinking um so in terms of the staff room yeah what what are like i've always imagine that teacher staff room the main thing is there's mugs mug wars oh yeah yeah yeah how are the mug wars going with um all the covid rules yeah well my school we've got like our own designated

mugs and so you know what i mean but like i don't i i've claimed ownership of my mom no one can get their mug confused with mine because my and it has my fucking face on it oh wow you know It's not like a deal, oh, I got confused by the colours. That's me, dude. You're holding my face. That's a great idea. I work occasionally, you know, let's just say a public service space. Yeah.

And, A, there are never any mugs. Yeah. And, like, at all. But if you find, it's, it's incredible, they almost get thrown in that way, in that place. Well, we've, we've got like a cockroach infestation in our staff room now as well. Oh, wow. And so I think the mugs, like, they are, like, running low and clean mugs, just because, like, we came back, it was the perfect, like, habitat for cockroaches opened up, because we had a little

coffee machine underneath. Oh, they love the coffee machine. Yeah, that's it. Like electronic devices and moist dark places. Because they're warm and yeah, yeah, yeah. And so it has that, there will be an ongoing mug war, I think, coming up. Because the cockroaches, it was their school for a while, yeah? Like, they were basically kings of the, kings of the hallway.

That's, we, we intruded on their infrastructure, so. This episode of The Chaser Report is sponsored by. Awkward first dates. Oh my God, hi, it's so nice to see you friendly and present. Although I will say your house looked a lot smaller in the photos. There's no photos of my house on my page. And I'll be on my way. Then my Uber's here.

Goodbye. Let's never speak again. Is it hard trying to, you know, like, connect with the kids again? You're just like, ah, guys, so you've seen Squid Game, right? Oh, yeah, dude, the hardest thing is their attention spans have been completely obliterated. Even more. Even more. Because, you know, when they're in a Zoom, I can't.

don't have the cameras on. Sometimes they don't even have their mics on. So you could probably assume they're on their TikTok or whatever, like the entire time. Yeah. And these are kids that, like, if you don't grab their attention within the first three seconds of a TikTok video, they're scrolling past. Yeah. 60 seconds.

I've got to teach a fucking 60 minute period. So, like, how could I even hope to maintain that attention? So I'm like, I'm talking. I'm trying to, like, do it a little jig. I'm doing the dances. I'm doing all that shit. You dance. So you do a little stunts.

Yeah, I do a little stunts. I'm doing pranks. It's just a prank, bro. It's so hard. Like, you just have to always be on all the time. It's been very exhausting. I mean, that must be just in life, because I don't know a lot of people in this generation, like kind of high school age kids.

Most of my friends' kids are younger. Yeah, yeah. I can't imagine how you get a TikTok kid's attention. You just have to pretend like you know the lingo or like you just make it about them. Like I did a whole English lesson on slang about like all that TikTok slang or whatever. Cap this, no cap. and then they're bringing in memes and like posts. We did like this Google document where they all collaborate

and they put in their slang and then an image associated with that slang and then they have to explain it. And you'd be surprised how quickly it got racist. You're like, oh, what are you kids looking at these days? I was just about to say, next time you're coming, can you talk us through the lingo? Charles always pretends he knows he's got teenage kids and I'm sure he'd be wrong.

As long as it's not racist, I think we can agree. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it turns into bullying. so quickly. I'm telling you, the bullying these days, it's so nefarious. It's crazy. Like, it's not like the bullying you used to, when we were growing up, like, it's face to face. Everything they do is online bullying. There's this real, I think it's quite interesting and genius. What they do is they'll get a group chat with everybody, right? Excluding the victim of this bullying, and they'll be like, they'll get you to talk shit about them. Oh, Roger, he's

a piece of shit. He sucks. It's so short. What a nugget. And everyone's just, everyone's contributing, contributing, contributing. And then what they do is, then they'll invite Roger in. And then he can see the past. That's it. And then everybody else leaves. So he sees this transcript. He doesn't know who said it.

Because it says from Facebook user. And so he's getting bullied by a bunch of ghosts. And he doesn't know. And it's just ruthless. Imagine scrolling through that. That is like a form of torture. Like that's far worse than I could possibly even imagine. Absolutely.

It's also very creative. And so, I kind of like, it's a yin and yang of bullying, you know. People have been talking about the damage that Facebook does to kids. And I didn't realize it was quite so direct, right? Everyone in your class hates you and you don't know who it is, but they all think you suck. I mean, you can't bash each other up in the playground, right? There's social distancing. You're not on in the playground most of the time.

So you've got to be creative. You've got to elevate it up a level. That's it. Well, they're also making, like, Instagram, like, accounts as if they were, like, fake accounts as if they were someone else. Oh, right. And, like, they're the victim. And then they'll be posting, like, all this bullshit, like, oh, I'm doing some of that.

And people will add them. And then they'll start talking shit as if they're this other person and start fights. It's crazy, dude. I think I'm going to homeschool my child. Yeah. I think that's the... Bring it back in. We've got the technology.

Just Zoom teaching. No, no, no. I'm going to be the teacher. No other students. Cotton wool. No, this is hideous, man. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty full.

I mean, but at the same time. I'm like, not to dramatize. There are kids who have got a good head on their shoulders and they stay away from social media altogether. Like there are, it's pretty rare, but they do. But the ones that really get creative on it, you've got to watch out. Is there the Mark Zuckerberg of the group that you know that it's just instigating all this technology and nefarious means?

Oh, 100%. It's because I reckon if you get caught, if you ever get caught, you're not a good bully. But I reckon the bullies, there are still bullies out there that are so good, they're not getting caught. Yeah. They've got the perfect smokescreen. they know how to they don't know they delete the trail they get out of there quick and sharp it's crazy we so back in the day the bully was the musly guy at least in my school

basically just slam me into the lockers now it's the person with the most tech skills yeah you can be the nerdy kid in the back of the class and absolutely decimate the footy guy's self-esteem i lived at the wrong time it's the kid that's trading crypto you what I mean, like the ones that are so clued on. Yeah, it's scary. So, I mean, every English teacher I've ever met believes that, or claims that the text has sort of lessons that are universal for life. Oh, yeah. You know, oh, Hamlet's about, you know, isolation and whatever and identity and whatever. Is there any truth to this in this situation? Because these are completely uncharted waters, right? Like, not only the whole lockdown and then

back to school and still worrying about a pandemic, that's unprecedented in our lifetimes, but also this whole tech onslaught, which I gather that's been part of the effect of this whole lockdown, is that that's amplified. How the hell are you going to cope for seven weeks, Harry? I mean, I don't know, like the fatigues coming in, like a lot of the times as a I feel like a bit of a fraud in the classroom because as an English teacher, as you said, you try to have to sell these universal philosophical values to these kids, but like a shitty salesperson, I don't even believe in my product. Oh, no.

Sometimes you're like, you're up there and you're like, oh, do you see, see the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, color, color grading in this film leads to, oh, it's just, it's just blue, guys, it's just blue, like, don't, don't read into it. It's far. I don't even know. And, like, it does get really wanky. Yeah. At a certain level. And so I, I, because I'm so out of energy, I feel like, I can't sell it to these kids that this is the deeper meaning behind this text. Do you ever be like the monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?

Obviously refers to the inner doubt you have in yourself when you come out of lockdown and you have to face your friends again. Well, see, I can't sell it because I'm rolling my eyes as I say it. And the kids see that they're laughing. You know, the mask doesn't cover the eyes. And you're not deep enough into being a teacher to leave your own bullshit. Yeah, exactly. I haven't drunk the Kool-Aid.

Like, I'm still a bit skeptical on it. And it is a bit rough. And kids are really clued on as well. like you can't I don't reckon you can bullshit as easily as you could back in the day because they're looking stuff up they've got the laptop right in front of them oh even in the class yeah they're fact checking you like left right and center I remember I did this English advance uh it was so it was so pretentious but this English advanced course well watching a clip from a film and I was trying to talk about how the score of the

of a movie can change the tone yeah and I said oh see it went from a major key to a minor key and then I hear it tap tap tap tap and this one kid is like action it's maintained the major key so I think you're wrong sir and I was like oh you just defeated me the facts like what am I meant to do here like so you're not the authority figure no the internet you're the babysitter and then the internet the internet is their biggest enemy in their best friend no so I graduated a few years ago and we did that to a teacher so teacher was like okay guys um did you know that Rasputin's penis is in a museum in um in Europe and we were like surely Rasputin's dick is not in a museum and then

admittedly if we still have it it should be yeah I mean if we have it it definitely should be right but who is collecting that you know they just find his body and they're like nice dick yeah let's put it on display so we're searching and then we're like no miss it's a sea cucumber it's not a dick I see straight away

like you can't you can't it's so easy to dispute a claim they're on there it's so quick although that said I mean I don't want to defame a teacher who I don't know who's absent, but not sure that talking about the penises of, you know, former power brokers of the Russian Empire is great classroom content? Yeah, where is that in the curriculum? Where's the teenage?

Yeah, so I don't know how to. Well, were she trying to bond with you. These teenage boys are obsessed with their dicks. I'm going to talk about dicks from the past. That wasn't in my three-ed history course, but, you know, times of change. The curriculum's changing. It's upgrading. It's connecting with the youth.

You guys are talking about dick pics, and she's trying to relate. It's like, well, actually, in the museum, Although I do remember history teachers talking to us about, like, the goryest, like, punishments and ways of, like, killing people in the past. So I suppose it's the same sort of thing. Is there any other teachers that, like, absolute, you don't have to name a chain, but absolute characters of your school. Because I know there was one teacher at my high school, and he was my history teacher, absolute legend. But he was just like, he was one of those guys that you could tell did enough drugs in his youth, that he was still riding off the high of the past. That's incredible.

Look, I can't speak for the school that I work at, but I had a, because I do a school-based comedy show for FBI Radio, and I like ask listeners to send in stories about crazy times. One guy told me a story about they would have this one casual teacher that would come in every week, and he's straight up, look, very gnarkey, very uniformed up, but he'd only come in every so often and then leave, and then he'd always cover the same PE teacher's class. Later, I find out this PE teacher who would be off, in quotes, sick and need to be covered by a casual, was a kingpin of all the cocaine that's being sold in Australia at the time. He was the cocaine kingpin. And the casual teacher that was going in was a police officer undercover. No. Like the entire, yeah, yeah. That's so good.

Yeah, he's going in for a case. Yeah, I couldn't believe it. And the guy, I can't remember the name, but the guy who sent that note into my show, he gave the name. I looked it up, straight up, it's real. You should totally make that into a movie. Yeah, it's incredible. That's like breaking bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, the guy was saying, like, I thought 21 Jump Street was completely fictional until I found out about this guy. That's insane. Yeah, and PE teachers the perfect cover because nobody respects PE teachers. Like, it totally worked. Well, look, it sounds brutal. I feel a little bit traumatized just by hearing about your life at the moment, Harry. Look, it's not that bad.

I hate complaining as a teacher because we get hold. holidays and you know it's it's we you do it because you love it not because of the pay or whatever so it really isn't that bad but i reckon also joking about it does ease the tension of it as well and i mean i feel sorry for you but i really feel sorry for the kids oh yeah um and i really hope no one invites me to a facebook chat absolutely any gigs to plug harry well the fbi radio show let's um yeah i'll find that online oh that'll be releasing soon it's called past notes P-A-A-W-S-E-D, N-O-T-E-S. I've also got a comedy show for The Laugh at a lockdown festival,

which is next week, the 4th, 5th and 6th of November. You can just find that if you look up Harry June on Instagram or Facebook, Harry June and Comedy or whatever, my profile will come up, and ticket links will be there. Fantastic. Thank you for joining us. Awesome, thanks, having me. All the best to your kits.

Yeah, thanks, man. This episode of The Chase Report is sponsored by Awkward Dates. Um, uh, the food is good. Yeah, I guess. So do you like dogs? No. Oh. Now, Alex, uh, before we go, you've been having a bit more trouble with your region down there.

I mean, not really, but, I mean, practically yes. At the end of the day, yes. I, um, no, sorry. Because it started off as a joke. I, um, a friend had a birthday and I bought a, it wasn't for me. I bought a, like a penis pump. Oh, that is funny. Yeah, that is funny.

Yeah, it's funny and, and it's just a great gift. And useful. Great vars, too, if you don't actually want to use it. Yeah, and there's. And do they, do they, do they work? I mean, just asking for a friend. Look, I mean, I shouldn't say this on air because it's his birthday and it's his gift, but I did use it before I gave it to him, but I wondered this exact same question.

Yeah. It hurts a bit. I got on a shit one, but yeah, it works, I think, yeah. Okay, that's good. But what got me is this was actually, it was actually quite a while ago. This was back in May. And since then, Facebook, I guess, has kind of found out that I purchased this penis pump. And I just keep getting, like, penis pump related ads.

And then they just, they all kind of seem to coalesce around erectile dysfunction ads. and at first I was like oh lo like they don't know that this was all a big joke for my friend but the more these ads the more you see them the more they get in your head and I don't know if you know where I'm going oh no this is a sad story yeah it's it's terrifying it's just these pop-ups are now I've left Facebook and they just in my day-to-day life I'm just like why are I getting an erection now like you I'm just on the bus and I'm like is this erectile dysfunction oh my god that's terrible so so now

you actually need the ads to come back so that you can solve the problem. Or we could get sponsored, hopefully, by... We can get Lachlan on it. Yeah, if he could get me some of those pills or... Yeah, we get Lachlan to ring up and say, hi, I've got a friend. I'm doing a podcast. And then he'll start getting all the, you know,

Facebook ads about erectile disfunction, and he'll end up with it as well. There'll be a spate of it. As long as I'm cured, I don't care, whatever, what the hell happens to Lachlan? So our microphones and our sturdy, sturdy, sturdy mic stans are from road. Yeah, and they don't, they're not limp, huh, though. They stay where they...

Exactly what you want them. Yep. And we're part of the Acast Creator Networks. Leave us a review on iTunes, five-star review. What's the key word for today? Erectile dysfunction? Alex's erectile dysfunction. And we'll see you tomorrow.

Bye. Bye. Today's episode of The Chaser Report brought to you by awkward dates. April 31st. What? It's a date. It doesn't exist. It's a bit awkward.

Lachlan. I swear to God. April 30th. Also pretty awkward. What's awkward about April 30th? It's the day before April 31st. Oh, my God.