The Chaser Report - Requesting Our Way To Hottest 100 | Michael Hing

Episode Date: September 28, 2022

Legendary Triple J host Michael Hing joins Dom for the insider scoop on how we could a song on the Hottest 100. To join in Triple J's Requestival find out how to request for your favourite songs to be played here! If you need help deciding on your favourite song go here. AND if you want to get tickets to Michael's stand up show go here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gadigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is the Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to the Chaser Report. Dom back here, because Charles got stuck in a plane. Look, I've been doing other work and stuff, and I've missed talking to you. So I'm very glad to have the chance to do that today with a professional talker, Triple J Drive co-host, stand-up comedian, host of letters and numbers on SBS, and the co-host of the free to a good home podcast with our good friend, Ben Jenkins.

Anne Hing has a stand-up show in Sydney this week. It's called Untested Material, No Refunds, Wednesday or Sunday at the Factory Theatre. You can go and book for that now. It is none other than the artist himself, Mr Michael Hing. Hello, Hing. Gahey, Dom, how's it going? Hello, what do you call your fans? We don't have a collective noun for Chaser Report listeners.

Yeah, that's a problem. We're terrible at podcasting. We've been doing this for years, and we don't even have, a term like, I don't know, potty's or, what a lease sales and Annabel Craters or what? I don't know what they call themselves. Who are your, what are your podcasters? Criminals, I guess, deviance, freaks, that kind of thing. All right.

So I should mention celebrity letters and numbers on SBS. Your podcast with the wonderful Ben Jenkins, who's worked with us a lot, is free to a good home. And you've got some stand-up dates coming up as well, which we'll get to, no doubt. But free to a good home, that's been going for ages. Yeah, too long, I would say. Too long, Dom. Ben and I started it around the time that Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post because we thought it was funny to start a classifieds podcast around the time that classifieds

ended. And we've just kept it going for like a decade now. It's too long. Well, you probably thought, you know, if Bezos is getting in on the newspaper business, we should as well. It's clearly got a bright future. Exactly. Exactly.

We got you in because we need some professional radio advice and we know that you are, you know, one of the most successful and skilled and accomplished broadcasters in Australia. You are, the Philip Adams of Triple J, Hing. Sure, I'll take that. I write my own joke books. Is that a reference people get? The Philip Adams wrote joke books in their 90s? I don't know if they still would.

There you go. That's a thing that absolutely happened. And look, the Chaser wrote a song for the election. And what we want to do, from what I understand, is to hack the hottest 100. Oh, sure. Okay. All right. So, look, I know you've worked with Tom Cardi a lot.

Tom's been on the podcast as well. So you've got form at getting comedy songs onto the hottest 100. Yes, yes, very much so. Do you think the song that you guys did about Lewis will get on the hottest 100? Because that was quality, I've got to say. Oh, thank you. You're very kind. I don't imagine it will because it hasn't been played enough on the station.

Oh, I've played a couple of times. Tom's, Tom Cardi's songs that he released, independent of us, we didn't have nothing to do with them. They're the ones that actually made it into the hottest 100. So as much as we love Tom Cardi, we're furious at his success as it is out Sean all the stuff he's done with us. And frankly, I wish him nothing but curses and pestilence moving forward. If you haven't seen the sketch, what happened was, Hing went and asked all of Lewis Hobber's friends, his drive co-host's friends, what Lewis was like.

And then they wrote a song about a weird guy. And the penny dropped halfway through that it was actually about, specifically about Lewis. Well, yeah, the context for that was Lewis had COVID at the time. during the two weeks or the week and a half he was off, I thought this is a great opportunity for us to do a prank because when Lewis and I aren't on radio, we have, like what we describe as healthy boundaries where we do not listen to the show.

Very wise. And so I planned this whole thing out on radio, and Lewis genuinely had no idea. And people think like, oh, it's like radio magic or something. No, no, no. He genuinely was in bed and did not listen to the radio for a whole week. So we planned this whole thing out on radio. Tom came into debut a news song.

He'd had a couple of songs in The Hottest 100, and he debuted this new song halfway through, Lewis realized it was all about him and he lost his mind. And it was, it's a pretty good, it's, it's one of the more elaborate radio pranks I've done. But yes, not eligible. Not, I mean, I guess it's eligible for the hottest 100. I hadn't realized, because I watched it on the video. I hadn't realized that that whole thing went to air and that you just relied on his

complete indifference to your show when he wasn't getting paid to do it. Yeah. And so no one in his life, like, no parents, no partner, no friends were like, oh. Because they were all in on it. Like his sister was in it. Oh, brilliant. his girlfriend was in it I called I reckon about 13 people

in the end to get very specific details stuff that only they would know about him if that makes sense so for example his girlfriend's told a story about how he threw up in the car park of a super cheap auto and I didn't know that story and Lewis and I talk about everything you know two and a half hours a day

so you know Veronica Milsom called in and talked about a secret song that he sung whenever he had to take his pants off to get changed and stuff like that like really intimate like weird stuff that then we put into a weird guy song and then like roasted him on it

it was pretty good but your song the song that's... Well just put a little clip of it in and tell me we'll go and check out the whole thing it's a very very funny prank You've got a brand new song

It's called a weird guy What's it about? I think there's just a lot of things that everyone can really go Oh yeah that's happened to me I know someone who's that strange That weird Right now

This is brand new music For the very first time From Tom Cardi It is called Weird Guy. There's anything else we need to know about it before we'd chuck it on? Enjoy it, guys. Everybody knows a weirdo that fucked up the hottest one hundred by replaying a song. Everybody knows a friend of Veronica Milsum who sees a little song when they put their pants on.

Everybody knows a guy who tried a nicotine lozinch that made him vomit in a super cheap auto car park. Everybody knows a guy that threw a big tantrum when his national radio station job wouldn't let him fly a helicopter onto a boat and then present the afternoon radio show that he works for. It could be anyone You dogs You dogs So all right To the point being

You are able To make songs happen And get heft and momentum I mean Tom Carty had a lot of songs In the hottest 100 I'm hoping red flags does very well I think that's hilarious The song

I won't say what it's about Go and listen to it But it's kind of a spoiler If you know what it's about But So the song was it was called It's a classy piece of audio It's perfect for triple

J, it's called Cole Makes Me Come, and the vocals are provided by Scott Morrison. Remember him? Yes, yes. He was about four, he was about half of our cabinet, wasn't he, at one time? Basically, most of our cabinet. So I've heard this song. Your lovely chaser intern, Lachlan sent it to me to listen to in the lead-up to this. And, okay, here's...

Banger or certified banger? Here's some things you need to know. So for it to be eligible in the hottest 100, it has to get played at some point. Triple J, so you need to get it played. I don't think it's actually been played yet. No, I don't think so. But this week on Triple J, they're doing a thing called Requestable, where every song that we're playing is a listener request.

So if people were to go to the Triple J app right now and request, you get one request today. So if all your listeners were to go onto the Triple J app right now and request this Scott Morrison Com Makes Me Come song, it could get played. And that would make it eligible for the Honest 100. Which you can't endorse, of course. You're neutral in all these. You just know that there's a system.

The second thing that I would say, though, is that Triple J's Hottest 100, the last couple of years, has a history of having semi-political kind of parody songs in there. Most recently, I could think of the Dan Andrews get-on-the-bears song that went viral in 2020 during the lockdowns. Now, that made it into the hottest 100 that we played out at the start of 2021. So the 2020 released, 2021 we played out in Hotest 100 in January of that year. So you've got to be thinking about this song being relevant to people in the voting period,

which is sort of December, January, 2023, Dom. So that's a little challenging because right now it feels amazingly old. Like it feels like we made this in the 90s, basically. That's what I'm saying. It does feel like Scott Morrison, as he has receded from public life, aside from obviously the one, since he stopped being prime minister, the one big thing that came out was obviously that he was like the health minister or everything else or whatever it was.

And that was a fun couple of weeks where we talked about that. But since then, he's really receded. So I wonder if you need to extend, maybe do a remix. That's a cool thing people do. Do a remix of this col song with Peter Dun & do something

to make it more relevant to the political oom. Or you could also potentially have Skomo featuring Albo. Of course. And then, of course, the current government getting on board with the message. Yes.

They might give it more heft and relevance. Well, that's a very, very good tip. I was right. Looking at the pitch I was like, we're really going to talk about this in October? Well, I think the reason I want to do it is because of the requestable thing. If it gets played this week, then it is eligible. None of the medical advice contained in the Chaser report should legally be considered medical advice.

The Chaser Report. Can I say requestable is one of the most brilliant ideas that I've ever heard of. And the reason is, because having worked at a commercial radio station at Triple M, the other triple, the bad triple, there is nothing organic about the requests there at all like a lot of them are done by the sales team putting on a voice of a bogan oh yeah, gillay I want to hear you know foo fighters oh okay fine we'll play foo fighters like we were going to anyway

whereas the weird shit that gets requested for the request of all is just it's genius it's really silly yesterday what do we play I mean the one that stands out to me is someone called in and requested a dubstep remix of an antiques roadshow theme song this is about this is the first one I think this is 2020 and I remember being like

we're not going to play that are we and they're like yeah I guess we have to so then we had to like it wasn't even like a song that had been released we had to like go to YouTube and rip it off YouTube you had to make it you had to make a dubstep yeah we basically yeah it's so it's by request not only play the song

but if it doesn't exist it's create it Yeah, and actually this week, Lewis Hobber and I are doing a thing where we gave the listeners a chance to request a song that he and I would learn and play by the end of the week. So we kind of gave people a lot of options. One of them was obviously Van's Choice Riptide, which is a song people love, but also only requires three chords in the ukulele,

and I really thought we could do it. But instead, we gave it to the vote of the listeners, and as you know from working in radio, So radio listeners, Dom, are nothing but trolls. And so the listeners decided that we should actually learn and cover the 1962 Bobby Pickett and the Crypt Kickers Classic, The Monster Mash. Oh, wow. So tomorrow afternoon, well, I mean, tomorrow morning Lewis and I are going to team up with a band called The Boys, B-U-O-Y-S, and we're going to start rehearsals.

And then tomorrow afternoon, or Thursday afternoon, we are playing it live on air, which I'm freaking out. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's, do you have to sing it? Who's singing it? Uh, I think, I think we'll do some spooky voices. What have he's got to, because it's, it's spoken, right? Like, even if you don't want to sing, there's the, it was a graveyard smith. Can you, that whole thing.

We're going to be doing some spooky voices and, aren't you like a musical genius? Aren't you some sort of, you know, A, M, B trained, I have, concert pianist or violinist or something? I was as a child. I was, I was what you could, I guess what you could describe as a prodigy, and but then you can't be a prodigy as an adult. You're just a guy who can play the piano. You know what I mean? So are you going to, you should definitely do like a ridiculous classical solo in the middle of it just to show off. I think I'll try and do something. Yeah, we'll try and work something out.

Again, this is, we're really stretching it here, Dom, but I will say that like, I haven't really played piano much recently. And I'm concerned about ruining my favorite song in the world. But I remember. I should say another thing to you for that, actually, just a reminder. Sorry, just go back to the Cole song. It's the Cole makes me come. There's the point of all this. For that to get into the hottest 100, you've got to be very careful about the kind of campaigns

you run with your listeners, with your fans to get songs set. Because if the music team, who are sort of the boffins in the lab, late one night, who are putting together the hottest 100 and telling all the votes and stuff, if they get a whiff of a,

what they call a commercial campaign, it's qualified. So you're not allowed to offer money or any like moneyed incentives You can't be like, oh, we'll give you five bucks if you vote for it. You can't do any of that. Well, the good news is we don't have money. So that the chaser is fantastically free of money.

You also can't partner with any commercial brands. So you can't like get KFC to put it in there at and then. Yeah, again, we've tried that. There's no no upside in that for us. What brand would ally themselves with Coal Makes Me Come? I'm trying to wonder. I don't know. Maybe.

Yeah, okay, I think we're fine on that front as well. Okay, this is all very good advice from a professional. Okay, so we've got to, people have got to get on to request it. We'll use the Triple J app and vote once per day. Amazing. All right, well, we'll give that a go. And I think the Relevance Remix is a particularly good tip. Yeah, and if you could get, if you could perhaps,

because in the remix culture, I don't know about commercial rights and stuff, but if you could just kind of like put a very popular artist in there as well. Oh, amazing. Yeah. And actually, you know what? But because all these artists, right, they're all these lefty pinko artists are a living for environmental credibility.

So what you want is to get, you know, Amy Shark, Kidleroi, Montaigne, popped up. Hillsop hoods, you know, get some... I was thinking of Hilltap Hoods. That would be amazing if they just dropped a... Yeah, get them to the verse in the middle where they're like, you know, talking about climate change or whatever,

you know, add that into, call it the Hilltop Hood's remix of Col Makes Me Come, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, Dom, hey, I've worked in the business for a couple of years now. I know a thing or two about how to get a lot. You do know a thing or two about getting momentum, absolutely. We've talked to the right person here. All right, well, we'll try and make this happen. And I must say, in terms of actually winning the hottest 100,

getting to be number one, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. But it does occur to me that there's a pretty decent chance that come, like, end of the year, January. I would back Scott Morrison to be in the news again with another baffling scandal. I think that's... Essentially, I mean, also, he could... He could be running again by then, you know? the way Dutton's numbers are going, he could be, he could be back in the big comeback. He could be having another swing at the top job, you know.

Oh, now, speaking of numbers, by the way, amazing ratings for Triple J Drive this week. Number one show on the station, I think gurus of, you know, commercial radio. It's a rare feeling, Dom, to be loved. Very, very rare. Congratulations. There you go. I think, honestly, what people love is the fact that they can tell that, um, Lewis and I are genuine friends who genuinely like each other, and just like genuine friends who genuinely like each other,

we also genuinely hate each other. And I think that that really authenticity really comes through. Yeah, no, it's entirely, entirely credible. So you've got a show coming up at the Factory Theatre this week. Untested material brackets, no refunds, which I think it's good to make clear up front. How untested are we talking? There's some stuff I've done like once or twice at comedy.

So this is a stand-up show. Me preparing material for next year's big tour that I'll do through the festival circuit across the country. So some of the stuff that I'm doing this week will be like stuff I've done like once or twice. Some of the stuff will be like really old stuff that I'm like thinking I can change

and like bring back in a kind of a remix. A remix as it were, a relevance remix as it were, Dom. But then I reckon about half the show will literally be like things I've scribbled down in my notebook that I've never said out loud that could be pretty crook that I will see. We'll see how they go. This is why I have to do it because you need to, you know,

because with comedy, as you know, Dom, it's very important to like push boundaries and kind of push the envelope in some. That's what they tell me. But you can't, you can't go too far. So you need to test it in front of an audience to see where the sort of... How of all people are.

Yeah, look, this is... I mean, the chaser had a problem with this by getting fans at the chaser in because they're also twisted and have no... Of course, this is the thing. And what you really need is people who don't like you. So I get Lewis to come in the front row. Exactly.

I need Stuart Lewis being like that. I don't think that's going to work, buddy. I've got to say, I would be fascinated to see this, because I've seen you do stand up a bunch of times, and you are always annoyingly good. And I really like the idea of seeing you fail, fairly dismally, with a half-formed idea that definitely shouldn't have. There's a couple of ones this time round.

that, like last time I did one of these, I ended up working in the end. But the first time I did it, I felt really, I felt like I've made a huge mistake. I did a joke about how the best thing we could do for climate change is obviously kill a bunch of human beings. And so the most green, we should give an award to tobacco companies

was kind of the vibe of the bit because they'd been the most green corporation. And I thought it was like a funny premise because whatever. But the first time I did that, it or do people hate that dog they hated that you're in the chaser zone yeah right and did someone come up um with kind of late stage emphysema and just say you monster no well not exactly that but something um yeah not exactly that but something close to that yes and then i had to be like oh sorry i was trying to make a point blah blah blah and then actually the fact that they i had

that conversation with them in the audience actually made the bit much better oh that's good so it was actually it played out so you're taking feedback yeah that's the other that's the other about their shows. The audience is very helpful. They're very, very helpful. So the bit ended up being about how if you did a murder, technically after that, your entire life is carbon neutral because that person is so that became the bit, which is a bit, which is much, obviously, much stronger. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit less to rate. Whereas I suppose in the chaser, we would have just not only gone with the first idea, but gone and then presented the award to them. Yes, you would have turned down to, we would have hassled their receptionist.

Exactly. And, you know, gotten thrown out And that would have been the end of the piece Like every second piece There you go All right, so that's untested material No refunds It's Wednesday to Sunday

At the Factory Theatre in Sydney That's 28 September October 1st Anything else we want to plug When Celebrity led into numbers back I think it's got pushed back Because the Queen died But it should be back on Monday

I think, Don't It should be back on Monday I mean, PSBS priorities Exactly That's what I don't think I didn't send A lot of angry emails about this, Dom I thought she's not enough He's on all the other channels.

Let us have a go. That's true. That's true. All right. Thank you for joining us. All the best with the show. I cannot wait to hear what the worst joke from the show is. Next week.

Thanks, Dom. Gehry is from Road. We're part of the Acast, Creative Network. I'll catch you next time.