Improv & Performing With Julian Haig

Tommy: The Daily Talk Show.

Josh: It's The Daily Talk Show, episode 490.

Tommy: We got our mate back, Julian Haig. How are you, brother? I'm back, mate. Best jawbones in the business. Uh, we need to clarify something because I don't even know if we've cleared it up with you. Did we blow your head off last time with the headphone volume?

Julian: Yeah, well, I didn't really know what to expect. I've never done it before, and so yeah, I think it was pretty loud, and then, and then that's probably why I was talking a bit more quietly. Already I'm more vibrant.

Josh: Yeah, happy to actually—

Tommy: the only way it worked out is the next day we had someone else on.

Josh: Oh no, all right, I was using the headphones or whatever.

Julian: Yeah, straight away, these aren't— this isn't right.

Josh: Yeah, so the ringing in your ears is called tinnitus. Tinnitus. Yeah, how do you say it? Tinnitus.

Julian: Yeah, but, uh, yeah, that's—

Josh: you'll be hearing from my lawyers very shortly. There's actually on a lot of the mixes They do have a warning for gronks where it's like you need to enable a setting to make it really loud.

Tommy: Oh yeah. And that's nice. I mean, what I appreciate is anything that offers a pre-warning slightly off. But when you get good car services to the airport, they always say, sir, have you got your passport? Oh, that is such a nice thing. I had it in Melbourne.

Julian: It's also nice and kind of useless though.

Tommy: Well, if you don't, if you get to the airport and you got no passport, you fucked.

Julian: Oh no, I don't. All right, well, get back in the car.

Josh: Do they ask when you get into the— straight away when you get into the car?

Julian: Yeah, it's only good if it's at the start of the trip.

Tommy: Oh no, no, it was. So X5 limos, which took us to the airport. They're a great little private business or home, you know, like a, what do you call it, small business. They, the guy, as soon as he said, and I was kind of like, I was flustered, but because I wasn't expecting this kind of thing at the first one. And then in Singapore they said, can you please do a passport check?

Josh: That's very good. They must have some issues. How do you tend to get to the airport and are you Are you someone who gets there very early? Does he ask about the passport? And are you like a 3-hour—

Julian: No, he doesn't actually. I should make sure. Yeah, he should start putting that into his repertoire. Yeah. Because, yeah, it's always been a thing. He picks up and drops off me and my sister whenever we need to. Generally, Mum's had it like once, but generally it's Dad's thing.

Tommy: I would tend to say that the person who still gets the lift to the airport from Dad is also— Their eTAG is linked to Dad's account. Is that correct? Correct with you?

Julian: I think it's just Dad's car.

Tommy: No, well, Josh's Medicare is still on the family one, which— yeah, the only reason I got off was because I had a family, I got a baby, and then you have to, you have to do it. Forced my hand there.

Julian: But I was just— most of that stuff we've kept linked to the family too, because it's just like when you're spending a lot of time overseas, yeah, it just makes it easier. You like, you come home and it's just taken care of.

Tommy: It was a lot of admin removing an account. What did it—

Julian: Josh went away. Go to Medibank too and line up.

Tommy: Yeah, it's a pain in the ass. Who wants to do a tax return?

Josh: Seriously?

Julian: No.

Josh: I mean, Mr. 97 even shares Uber accounts. Have you at least got your own Uber account?

Julian: Oh yeah.

Josh: Okay.

Mason: No, I've got—

Julian: How do you share that?

Mason: No, they have a fam— You see, I've now set up my family account. So mum's got the parent account or whatever, and then I just have a credit card on my one.

Josh: A credit card as in?

Mason: Her credit card.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Okay. Is there anything, any gronk move you're pulling with mum and dad? You know, there's some subscription that you're just riding.

Mason: Their Netflix?

Julian: No, Mum's using my sister's.

Josh: Okay.

Tommy: Yeah. So your Mum's a gronk.

Julian: Dad doesn't have Netflix. He's only just cottoned on to what that is. He just hit 81 last week.

Tommy: Wow.

Julian: So the fossils.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: When did they— when did— how old was he when you were born?

Julian: 50.

Tommy: 50. So now he's 81. Yeah. My Mum's just turned 70. It's, um, is that— it was— he was older when he had you, right? Wow, still keeping it going.

Julian: Yeah, we call him the Silver Fox.

Josh: The Silver Fox.

Julian: Yeah, he's doing CrossFit 3 times a week.

Tommy: Really?

Julian: This is what I'm worried about. I'm not sure if what I've mentioned last time as opposed to this time—

Josh: you don't have to worry. I mean, the thing is that we, we go over things many times. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't matter. Well, because like when you catch up with a mate, sometimes you're listening, sometimes you're not. I'm just wondering, to be honest. But the thing is, you learn through repetition. I would be upset if you'd listen to the to the show, picked out everything that we talked about, and then anytime I brought up anything—

Julian: We actually covered that last time, Josh. Yeah, we could just, uh, move on from that topic.

Josh: It's literally like when we're doing a film about like a business or whatever and you're trying to get grabs.

Mason: The—

Josh: my pet peeve is when they said, as I was saying before, like they reference back the thing that you never go and actually use in the edit. So he's doing— he's 81, your dad, and he's doing it 3 times, you say, a week.

Tommy: That's ridiculous.

Julian: He's not like doing, you know, like muscle-ups and stuff. It's, it's a bit of regressed movements, but he's still entering an F45 premises.

Tommy: Yeah, CrossFit.

Julian: Like, yeah, he loves it. And so they love him.

Josh: Are they all the same age?

Julian: He missed like a week of training because he was sick, and they called me wanting his phone number. I don't know what— they didn't have his phone number. They should have his phone number, landline. But, but they were like, what, is he okay? We're just checking him, I'm like, oh, that's pretty— they love him there.

Tommy: Yeah, yeah.

Josh: And so is he like the oldest dude in the whole place?

Julian: Possibly the whole town.

Josh: Yeah, yeah.

Julian: No, yeah, I think he is, probably by— yeah, I'd say probably 10, 15, maybe 20 years.

Josh: Yeah, it's amazing.

Julian: It's good.

Josh: And so the difference between F45 and CrossFit— yeah, you train at F45. What's the main differences between the two?

Julian: Um, I'd say CrossFit's more— there's more of a strength component, whereas like they have strength days at F45, but at CrossFit you'll do like a, like really for strength focus where you've got like plenty of rest, like a couple minutes rest, and then you'll do like a 3, uh, like RM, rep max, kind of deadlift. So you're going pretty heavy, heavy there, and the movements tend to be a bit more um, what do you call it, like higher, higher risk, I guess you could call it.

Tommy: We're going to learn all the Olympic lifting movements. Yeah, because you can't do them heavy with wrong form because you'll just break your back in half.

Julian: Yeah, but you can definitely tell when you've got people at F45 who've done a bit of CrossFit or done a bit of Olympic lifting, their form is awesome with— because we still do some cleans and stuff and you still need to coach people on it, but there's just less time and everyone— you're doing big circuits.

Tommy: The community though, is there similar Would you say?

Julian: Yeah, it's similar. I mean, both kind of have that really good ability to bring people together and they're both cults.

Tommy: Let's be honest, there's the F45 cult and there's the CrossFit cult.

Josh: I feel like F45 have their like branding dialled in more from a cult perspective. Oh, the blue and the red and stuff.

Tommy: They're recruiting harder.

Julian: No, they're— yeah, they're very good at it. Yeah, they're— it's the fastest growing chain in the world, I think.

Tommy: It's great.

Julian: Like LA, there's anything. Yeah, LA, fastest growing franchise.

Tommy: I don't know how they're popping up that quick, but they started out of Sydney. Geoff Jowett, who we've had on the show—

Julian: was in Melbourne, was it Sydney?

Tommy: Uh, maybe, um, our mate lives in Sydney, Geoff Jowett, who is friends with the owners or the founders of F45. What a fucking business.

Josh: And then there's that, uh, what's he, the dude, the famous dude? Marky Mark. Yeah.

Julian: And so he, what's he, so he's bought in 40% of the company and he owns a couple in LA and he owns UFC, or he sold that. He owns UFC.

Tommy: Yeah, look it up.

Julian: He's not rich as Marky Mark.

Mason: Yeah, crazy.

Tommy: He's one of—

Mason: started in Sydney, Paddington.

Julian: That song Good Vibrations, really, it's true.

Tommy: Um, I was doing a bit of researching, um, I just typed your name into Google.

Julian: Oh no.

Tommy: I'm one of those, I mean, I was thinking about why these sites exist and then I thought it's probably because people like me. I love looking at the, the net worth sites of celebrities. Like, if you type in anyone's name if you type in anyone's name that's, you know, been in the media, Jesus, there's usually some net worth site. And what I've realised is the sites are just bullshit.

Julian: Someone's just like clickbait sites made it up.

Tommy: Yeah, that they pump ads through as well. So you're getting all this like pop-ups and shit. But I found one with your name.

Julian: Oh no, this, I mean, wow.

Tommy: Which I wanted to— I watched Lil Wayne, uh, the rapper talk. Lil Wayne. And he was talking about those net worth sites and his net worth is like $150 million. I said Lil Wayne. It just—

Julian: it's not his name.

Mason: It's Lil.

Tommy: It's abbreviated to Lil.

Julian: It's short for Lil.

Mason: Yeah.

Tommy: When you say Lil Wayne, it's not 50 Cent, it's 50 Cent. Lil Wayne. He said that that net worth is fucking absolutely way off, like in terms of super high. It says he's got worth $150 million. He's like, if only I was fucking worth $150 million.

Julian: Yeah.

Tommy: Anyway, this has got you Were you born in 1991? No. So it's got that wrong. It does say the Riverdale stuff, the show that you're on.

Julian: So it's—

Tommy: That's correct. But I went to— It talks about your sister, Georgina Haig. Then it gets down to—

Josh: What do you think they're going to guess? What do you think?

Julian: I think I searched for this for some reason. I was just like, wanted to see.

Josh: Can you give it to a bank if you need like money, like a mortgage? Guys, look at my net worth.

Julian: It's like Bitcoin. Can I cash that in?

Tommy: So it says, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, IMDb, and various online resources, famous TV actor Julian Hayes' net worth is $1 million to $5 million. That's a lot. That's it.

Julian: Yeah, that's why I'm working at F45.

Mason: Just keep reading, Tommy.

Julian: Oh my God.

Mason: Is Julian dead or alive?

Tommy: I see it.

Mason: As per our current database, Julian is still alive.

Josh: I mean, it's a good, uh, they've probably made a good website out of that sort of stuff.

Julian: Yeah.

Tommy: They're going to update us soon. Oh, relationship status. We don't have much information about his past relationship and any previous engaged according to— some of it's like shitty spelling, so you can tell if it— tell that it's shit. Are you a Leo?

Julian: Yeah.

Tommy: So they got that right. They got a few things.

Julian: They got two things right.

Tommy: Just not the $1 to $5 million net worth.

Julian: $1 to $5. Even that, like, that's a big—

Josh: yeah, there's a huge gap between there, isn't there?

Tommy: Yeah.

Mason: Yeah.

Julian: That's a lot of millions in between.

Tommy: I mean, I've lost faith now in these sites. I used to have it years ago, but I'm over it.

Josh: How much do you think about, uh, personal brand? Like, it's obviously someone can just Google you and get that. If you were to, uh—

Julian: Unfortunately, I think about it, and I wish that I didn't, because even like more recently on social media and whatnot, with what I like to do on there, put out there, and I like to just kind of be myself and be silly, and then every now and then be serious and put out whatever message you want to put out. Um, and yeah, you can't help but think about like, oh, is this actually going to affect my career? And I just think like all that stuff is actually kind of toxic. Um, yesterday 16th Street had Eric Banner come in and do a talk.

Tommy: That's an acting school, 16th Street.

Julian: Yeah, the one I went to. And, um, and one of the questions that one of the kids said was, um, what's your net worth? Because this says 150 billion. Um, Yeah, and it was about social media, and, and Eric Banner's not really on social media.

Tommy: Yeah.

Julian: And, and then the Q&A was hosted by Kim Kouragias, who's the kind of director of the school and stuff. And, um, and so yeah, for them to hear that question, like, kind of where I'm at, we're in amongst that where like your agents and stuff are kind of talking about, oh, that'll help if your social media is up a bit. And like, we're all aware that people do book stuff based on your TikTok.

Tommy: Exactly.

Julian: Well, like, yeah, I won't name names, but I know of like a guy who did a movie because his Instagram following was like above 10 million, and they were wanting— they were wanting someone else, but then they were like, oh, but he's got the following. So it does happen. And the question was about that, like, does that help and has that affected your career and stuff? But I mean, Eric Bana is at a level that's kind of, yeah, he doesn't need to—

Tommy: old school. He's almost within the old school slab actors.

Julian: Yeah, he doesn't really need, need it. Um, but then I still agree with like what—

Josh: so what was his exact advice? Yeah, what did they say?

Julian: He was sort of just like, if that's your focus, you've got the wrong focus.

Josh: But a lot of people are focusing on that, aren't they?

Julian: Yeah. And it should— like, you can— I think it's smart to like use it but not let it use you. So like have it as a— it can be a focus but not the focus.

Josh: Yeah.

Julian: And I think that's the thing. It's like when it becomes number one, not only is it not fun anymore, but like it doesn't actually help.

Tommy: Do you like posting on social media?

Julian: Yeah, I do. Yeah. I find that when I'm posting stuff that just kind of feels, um, like I like to post silly stuff and kind of spontaneous, um, like you've— I don't know if you've seen my—

Josh: Yeah, it feels like I'm watching some form of like theatre sports.

Julian: Oh yeah.

Josh: Which I love. Like, I think there is that, like, it actually does from a personal brand point of view, I think it plays into that nicely, which is like improvisation. You just turn it on. What do I come up with?

Tommy: It's practising your craft because you, you're, you're an actor. So it's, I mean, you doing the— what was that? You're kind of just looking over at someone who had just, um, walked across.

Julian: Oh, that TikTok?

Tommy: Yeah, the TikTok one.

Julian: I was like, I'm gonna give this TikTok a crack, mate.

Tommy: Keep going. I thought it's all right.

Julian: Okay. Yeah, I was just like, I was just like like, okay, come up with ideas. That's an idea, chuck it out there. And then it was just— I was just filming myself, and then the idea was like, I had written on there, when you, when you push a pull door— oh no, when you see someone push a pull door.

Josh: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Julian: And you like— I did a double take and then looked over and then saw the person do it and then just like kind of laughed to myself. Yeah, that's great.

Tommy: Yeah, because I've been that idiot. Yeah, pushing the pool.

Julian: I've been that idiot many times.

Josh: Yeah.

Julian: Damn it.

Josh: Because there is— because I was thinking the other day about writing, the difference between having a blog and writing every day and opening up a Word document and writing every day and what the differences are. So, for instance, you could do that improv thing where you record it to your phone and don't publish. What do you think the distinction is between the process of doing it personally where you don't publish it, or— and when you do it for a social media audience?

Julian: Courage. I think that's my— that might be it, because so much of the fear is what are people going to think, how's this going to be received. And when— and yeah, coming back to like why I kind of feel good, dude, like putting it out there is there's a voice or there's a feeling saying don't, don't do it. And I always feel better after, and then maybe a bit shitter later when someone's like 'That was shit' or 'That was annoying.' Do people actually say that? Yeah.

Tommy: Who are these? But like, children who watch Riverdale?

Julian: It's only ever like 1 in 1,000. It's, it's pretty rare. But like, you hold on to like your ego. Your ego wants evidence. So it's always gonna be like, 'See, see, told you not to do it.' You gotta have 1,000 to even get that stat.

Tommy: 1 in 1,000. Yeah, you got a few thousand. Yeah. And so, yeah, because I don't think I actually enjoy— I enjoy the creating more so than the posting. Like, then Yep. Putting stuff out there.

Josh: But when was the last time you created something without putting it out there?

Tommy: Um, yeah, no, uh, maybe just stuff like photos and shit, more so photos and stuff.

Josh: Because I wonder, but also what is the process of like having something fully formed and complete? So you might film something, but actually, have you ever—

Julian: I was thinking about this—

Josh: editing something together and then not like actually seeing it through to its completion.

Tommy: Yeah, really, never, rarely ever done that.

Julian: It is a part of the process. I think it's like, I don't— yeah, it's, it's quite an important part of the process. Even with acting, I think like you can rehearse stuff as much as you want and do all your homework and everything, but there's something about like doing it, like when they call action or, you know, when the play starts that there's just like this energy that, you know, that now it's the thing. Like, now it's for real. But the interesting— And there's this weird— It's like you've made the framework and now we're going to play for real. And it's almost like that's when all the things will fall into place. Before that, it's not going to happen in rehearsal. It's never going to be like that in rehearsal. Doesn't have the energy.

Josh: And so then I guess the extension of that is the actual distribution going on to Netflix or going on to, you know, TV or whatever it is.

Julian: What's—

Josh: I guess it's slightly different if you're doing a post at home and posting it to social media.

Mason: It's direct.

Josh: Yeah, that's different than you're almost doing a performance for an audience when you're on set. So you're almost at the distribution stage or at the final delivery then, and then you sort of can forget about it.

Tommy: I mean, for like, uh, podcasting, you can do it every day and put it out there. So what's the thing for acting that you can do every day that contributes to the time when you've got the people around you and you're about to go? Like, how do you train? What is—

Julian: yeah, it's like, it's kind of like being a tennis player. It's hard to do it by yourself against a brick wall, you know.

Tommy: I spent a bit of time when I was a kid.

Josh: Yeah, that's why you're not a tennis player.

Tommy: Didn't get me anywhere, guys. Give up.

Julian: Yeah, I tend to, you know, if I want to work on it, um, I actually do. I actually like— that's part of why I like doing that sort of stuff as well. Like, I enjoy it, and then I feel like it is a little bit of like that kind of spontaneous stuff, like just trusting yourself and seeing what kind of comes out. Um, and then yeah, vocal warm-ups and exercises is stuff you can do by yourself. And then you know, but so it's, it's a lot harder. Like, you got to be so disciplined to be doing monologues and shooting scenes by yourself. That's why when you're getting self-tape auditions to do a lot, then you're feeling pretty well practiced. But then when that—

Tommy: you could self-tape every single day for something that then anytime a self-tape comes in, which is quite, you know, as an actor you need to do it. Yeah. And they do come up, so then you're just always ready for that. Is that, is that an approach?

Julian: Like, yeah, you could do that. I just haven't, uh, but I probably should.

Tommy: You're on TikTok, probably should.

Julian: I'm busy, I'm busy on TikTok. No, um, I've done 2 videos on TikTok. Um, apparently Jake Gyllenhaal did that as like a, as a kid. Like, they, him and his dad would shoot scenes and he'd just get him to like keep doing it differently. He'd be like, great, do it again, do it differently. Like, not saying like that was wrong, do this. He would just be like, okay. Great, do it again, do it different. And that's how they practiced. So I think that's a pretty smart way to practice. Obviously the best thing you can be doing is classes. If you're not, if you're not getting any of that sort of stuff, auditions and self-tapes and whatnot, then I think you got to be in class.

Josh: Can you look at a self-tape and see the— using that example of doing it once, having no feedback and doing it again, you're the type of person who could see your performance and see the things that you need to shift?

Julian: Yeah, I think I, I've got like quite a like good ability to kind of, yeah, picture— or maybe like with timing and with, um, the interaction, seeing how it should play out a bit, like kind of stepping away from it and having a bit of a director's perspective on it, and then going like, oh yeah, shifting a bit of this, bit of that, and then coming back to like, as an actor, okay, how can I do that internally and then make that kind of happen? So it is, it is a pretty cool process to— you kind of get to play with both sides of it, being the actor, kind of being the director. Yeah. And seeing like, okay, is the storey being told? Because the main thing, like, when you get sides is you got to work out what the hell is happening, because sometimes it's really confusing. You're getting like such a small piece of the puzzle and not much.

Josh: It's in the middle of a traumatic scene and you need to work out.

Julian: You don't know. Yeah, you might not necessarily know why, but you might also like— you can kind of sometimes even just get the vibe of what's written, and then you don't have the information to back it up, but you can kind of be like, okay, there's probably sexual tension between this guy and girl, so I'll make sure there's more of that, or whatever.

Josh: You always just bring the same sexual tension. Actors out there. Yeah, if in doubt, not for the Disney Channel. Still, um, in regards to— in regards to who you're thinking about from an audience perspective when you're on set and you're doing a performance, are you thinking about the director? Are you thinking about the person at home sitting on a couch?

Julian: No.

Josh: What, what are you thinking about?

Julian: Um, probably just the person opposite. So like whoever you're opposite, probably just thinking about it. Well, yeah, I think either, you know, beforehand you've got maybe a bit of direction from the director, um, but I think you come in and you just, you know, you direct all that. Like you almost have to let go of that direction, or maybe one piece of information. But sometimes the thing is like even when you've got that one piece of information in your head, you're then in your head.

Josh: Yeah.

Julian: Instead of directing that focus onto what you want from the other person, because really it should— all the answers should be in the other person.

Josh: Yeah.

Julian: And then going for that. So yeah, it's a weird combination of like trying not to think and like just be doing, and hopefully those lines are there.

Tommy: Yeah, we all say some dumb shit. One of the dumbest things I've ever heard come out of Mr. 97's mouth was, um, 'Oh, that new Joker movie, oh, looks stupid,' or something.

Josh: Is that what you said?

Julian: Oh, good one.

Josh: Yeah, have you guys seen it? He doesn't know what's good.

Tommy: I'm excited. I mean, I'd love to, but I think I haven't. From the outside, have you seen it? No, I haven't.

Josh: It looks stupid.

Mason: Yeah, well, I saw the trailers.

Tommy: I feel like I've got an understanding of why the hype is there.

Julian: I've seen it twice.

Tommy: Unbelievable acting within it. Yeah, I've never seen it, so I feel that's why I was like, you can't just say it's stupid when there's a reason people are fucking thinking this is the best acting in a movie ever.

Josh: Why?

Tommy: What is it? Before Josh and I go and say— don't give us any spoilers, but what is the hype and why? Let's make Mr. Nice Guy feel pretty dumb.

Julian: Um, well, it's a character study in, in The Joker. So it starts off with like this guy Arthur Fleck. He's obviously a bit of an outcast and very flawed, and then, um and struggling in the society. And then we get to see everything from his perspective. And so pretty early on, you start feeling for him and you empathise with him. And then you're going— and then, you know, the journey gets darker and darker. So I think for audiences watching it, I think there's been a mixed reaction because I think really it should make people super uncomfortable. It's gonna highlight, or it's gonna resonate with parts of them that they're not comfortable with. Their, their, their darker side, their shadow self. Yeah, so, oh yeah, it's— yeah, the first time I saw it, I was, I was more uncomfortable. And I was— the next day I felt so awkward. I was at F45 and I was like trying to make jokes with people and I was just like, oh, that was terrible.

Tommy: And then like, I gotta stop laughing like the Joker.

Julian: Yeah, yeah, seriously, because like he laughs randomly and I was like, oh my God, I do that. Like, and people—

Tommy: I love your laugh though, keep doing it. You've got this great—

Julian: but people often tell me that I've got evil laugh. So I was like, oh Jesus, like, I'm, I'm like the Joker.

Josh: So is it the— is it uncomfortable in the fact that you had empathy for this character that goes on to do all these bad things?

Julian: No, I think it's uncomfortable because like, like someone watching it, you can't help but be like sucked into it, and then you're going to resonate and empathize. And then that can only happen because those parts of people exist in everyone. So when those parts of you that you're not comfortable with are coming up that we normally squash down, sure, I think that's the uncomfortability. And then it gets, it gets pretty, pretty dark.

Tommy: Do you think it's us putting ourselves in that person, like on the screen? Is it us translating to them versus taking the bits from them into us? Like you think about watching something, you go, fuck, I know, like I would never do that, or like I would never reveal that. So you're projecting onto them?

Josh: I don't know.

Julian: I don't know. I think maybe it's a bit of both. I think it's a— yeah, I think it's a reflection.

Tommy: Do you think, um, actors are manipulating the, the viewer in the— not a nasty sense, but it's all like this sort of manipulation of feeling. So you're like hacking, right? It's like a well-written film is taking from real life and understanding the elements that make someone feel sad or feel happy, or the trigger points. Like, there's so much to it if you kind of— let's try and layer it down.

Julian: I think when, like, good actors unveil their vulnerability in whatever way, in whatever sense, then you kind of— a lot of the time when they open up their heart in whatever way, you know, whether it's like pure rage, even when we see that, and usually when it's real, we can't help but as an audience you can't help but feel. It's like when you see something good, it doesn't matter, it's gonna make you feel something, you know. So I think with this movie, it's gonna make you feel uncomfortable. And I think by the second time I saw it, I felt a bit more comfortable. And I've— I don't know, I've done a bit of sort of shadow work and, and working on that kind of darker side and getting more comfortable with it. And so after the first time, I was like, this feels— I don't know, it was so uncomfortable for a couple of days. But then the second time I saw it, I really enjoyed it. I— it was so weird, but I really enjoyed it the second time.

Tommy: Do you need to be a bit fucked up to be an actor? Um, like, do you need to have lived?

Julian: It's a funny question because, like, in a way, we're all fucked up. Like, really, we're all— everyone's got their shit and their trauma and stuff that they want to hide. And not open up about. And we've all got a persona, and usually most of the time that persona is protecting kind of that softer inside. And in a way, as an actor, especially with training, we want to get to kind of opening up that persona so then we can make space for another persona to come in and play that persona. And Joaquin Phoenix playing the Joker, like, yeah, you, you don't see Joaquin Phoenix like Sure, sometimes we go like, oh, the physical transformation, he just looked like he just transformed so much. But like with this role, that's just a part of it. Like a lot of like those great performances, that seems to be most of it, and then it's just the person doing that, like kind of you see the person still acting, whereas I just felt like he was just that character so well. So I mean, I think he should get at least nominated for an Oscar.

Josh: You talk about the, um, the opening the heart stuff. Has there been a moment where you've struggled with that, or you've identified identified, uh, something that you needed to work on based on having to enter it into it as a character?

Julian: Um, I mean, the main character that I've had to work on is the one in Riverdale, and I think just before I got that role, I did this workshop where, like, I did have to get a bit more comfortable with my, with my darker side. So then it was interesting that then coming onto Riverdale I then had to, yeah, kind of embody that. And then, you know, I had to be manipulative and threatening at times. And, and I think we enjoy watching those characters enjoy being that way as well. So I wanted to get to a place where I was enjoying going after what I wanted, which was, you know, whatever it was. Usually it was sort of like, you know, maybe it's just like power and manipulate those people and be on top and whatever. And then you get to also, as an actor, enjoy when like your character doesn't win those little circumstances. And then that character has to, you know, is kind of left red-faced or whatever. Like you didn't win, you didn't get that power, you lost that moment. So then it's kind of more fuel, you know.

Josh: And when you've got a script, do you do much annotation? Like, would you identify emotions or anything like that?

Julian: I tend not to. I think it's because I don't want to box it in too much. Um, Eric Banner said the same thing yesterday at this talk. He was sort of saying like he, he writes very little notes on his pages. Um, I think the more sort of theatrical and theater-based you are, you tend to write tonnes of notes. Um, but I don't know what it is, like I think I want to trust— I want to do the work and trust the work and then kind of forget about it and let it kind of just be there. Like, almost make it like— put it into the subconscious and then, and then forget about it.

Josh: All I have is, uh, as a reference point is my, um, school production performances in Year 9. Uh, and that was— not so many notes, but it was one of those cases where you sort of go through the script and you're just looking for your line, like, not interesting, not interesting, there's me, highlight, not interesting, not interesting, highlight, that type of thing. Are you actually, uh, are you reading the script and taking in the other characters' dialogue? Is that like a big part of the whole thing?

Julian: Uh, it depends what you're kind of doing. So like, if you're—

Josh: I was playing Vince Fontaine from Grease, the DJ.

Mason: Oh yeah.

Josh: So I don't know if that gives you more context on what I should have been doing.

Julian: It helps a lot. Um, I think what, what you're first looking for when you're building a character is when you read a script. I think you should just read a script and just read it as an audience member first time anyway, and then you'll get stuff.

Josh: Um, do you enjoy doing that when you read a script? Are you actually in it? Are you like, like you're reading a book?

Julian: Yeah, yeah, I love to. Like, if I get the whole thing, then I'll read it. I don't know, it's a good chance to kind of get a picture of the whole story. With auditions, they rarely send you the whole script, but if they do, it's like, it's nice to like, oh yeah, I'll have a read through the whole thing, why not? Um, but yeah, once you start getting into your character work, you can learn a lot about your character by what other characters are saying about you. And just because your character isn't in that scene, um, they could still be talking about you, sure, and you might learn something in that moment. So yeah, I don't think it's smart to— for actors to just read the scenes that their character's in, you know, because TV actors tend to get a little bit more lazy when that sort of stuff, just because maybe the time constraints are a bit worse. But yeah, you could learn a lot about like they could be saying, you know, it could be a scene with two other characters and they're saying like, oh, that, that guy's so manipulative or whatever. And then you need to know like that's a circumstance of that character that he is that way.

Josh: Yeah.

Julian: So you need to know that.

Tommy: Yeah. What about like someone like Alf Stewart from Home and Away? The guy's been playing that role for 30 years or something, as long as I can remember.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: I wonder how much these people morph into that character. So like you think about it, you rock up every day, you're acting, you're using your thinking to sort of transform.

Josh: Does he ever say 'flamin' just when he's just down the street?

Julian: Well, yeah, I wonder how much Alf is in.

Josh: Yeah.

Julian: What's the guy's name?

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is his name? Alf Stewart. Look it up, Mr. 97. I mean, he's just Alf to us, but like for you switching off. So the question is, Alf, for you and what you've done, switching off post-acting. So you've done like a stint, right? This guy's done 30 years or whatever it is, 25 years.

Julian: Yeah.

Tommy: Of consistent character work on a— on this person. What do you think he would be like? Do you think he's morphing into that person based on having spent so much time?

Julian: I've got no idea. I, I don't know how you even tackle it when you're working on that same character for a few years.

Tommy: Just go the one guy, just become Al Stewart.

Julian: It's easy.

Josh: Yeah, you're probably— it's also— you're probably fairly comfortable. Imagine what everyone is projecting onto them as well. That's the other thing.

Tommy: Yeah, that kind of morphs it too, right?

Josh: So, so all of a sudden he's probably quite laid back. He's probably quite chill. What's his net worth?

Julian: 1 to 5 million.

Mason: Ray Meagher is his name.

Tommy: Yeah, right. Yeah, Ray.

Josh: And that last name, what would you say?

Mason: Meagher.

Julian: Network.

Mason: M-E-A-G-H-E-R. G-H-E-R, mate. Reimer.

Josh: Reimer.

Tommy: I was like, he's saying it wrong, something's not right there. It's a bit off.

Josh: Uh, we've done this before with our non-actor friend, uh, Dr. Jason Fox, where we did improvisation. Oh yeah, given that you are—

Julian: you guys want to do a scene?

Josh: Yeah, I'd love to do a scene. Sure. All right, uh, so how— like, if you were to, uh, say, uh, you were responsible for the 16th Street or whatever Yeah, we've come in. I'm Eric Banner. Yeah, you're not. The constraints.

Julian: You guys.

Tommy: You guys.

Josh: Yeah. Well, so I think you can set it up. So I think like the constraints are we can't really move around. We've got the microphones, but we need to do some form of improvisational performance.

Tommy: I mean, the other day we did do an arm wrestle on the show, so.

Josh: I nearly broke my arm.

Tommy: We can't get, we can't get too physical.

Josh: Actually, the funny thing is it wasn't Tommy nearly breaking my arm.

Tommy: Just to clarify.

Josh: It was where I was feeling it. Always had shoulder issues. I was feeling it in my shoulder, so I actually let go because I was like, I can't be fucked dislocating my shoulder. Anyway, that's fair, isn't it? I can't be fucked. Anyway, yeah, so improv.

Julian: Yeah, uh, do you want me to set?

Josh: Yeah, and you can be in it.

Julian: So we're at an acting school.

Josh: Yeah.

Julian: Okay, so we're at, we're at 16th Street. Yeah, I run 16th Street.

Josh: Yeah, but that isn't the improvise. So you're entering that, so we're entering into two.

Julian: So you want to do an improvised like you want to do an improvised—

Tommy: Are we going straight to the scene?

Josh: Yeah, exactly.

Tommy: We're going straight, so we're at 16th Street as— pretend this is actually you.

Josh: So this is the confusing bit, where do we improvise? There's two levels.

Julian: Yeah, yeah, we've got to improvise first that we're somewhere where we would improvise.

Tommy: Exactly.

Julian: Yes, yes. And then we're going to improvise.

Tommy: Okay, okay, great, great. I'll let you run it.

Josh: Yeah. And so then you're going to say, hey guys, you know, thanks for, you know, you're new actors, uh, I'm going to set up a scene that's going to sort of test the waters, and we want you involved in the same.

Julian: You want me involved? How about you guys play brothers? Um, 97, uh, got a place?

Josh: Oh yeah, where should they be?

Mason: Um, LA, Hawaii, a gym in LA.

Julian: A gym in LA. All right, we've got—

Josh: why you always play to Tommy's stream?

Julian: Okay, so, so I guess the main rule of improv is yes anding. So just like Yes, and— so any piece of information you want to say yes to and build off it. So it's going to start off with just you two in the gym.

Tommy: And do you need to say the words yes and? Is that like— no, but it's, it's never— it's never saying no, it's always adding rather than adding. Also what I was thinking, so you don't have to say—

Julian: yeah, I get bogged down in saying yes and Josh was like 'Oh, it's so cold in here,' to go like, 'No, it's not, it's quite warm actually.' Like, that just— then the other actor feels like an idiot.

Josh: But you don't have to say, 'Yeah, crazy, my nipples are—' Yeah, exactly.

Julian: Great, you're already in it.

Josh: The thing is, you don't have to say, 'Yes, also it is—' We'll see what happens. Don't tell me what to do. It's also smelly. See, that's hard.

Julian: Okay, all right, ready? So, uh, two brothers.

Josh: All right, perfect. Hey bro, uh, did you bring a towel?

Tommy: Yeah, I packed your favourite one, the pink one. And then I got my one, the— you know how Mum got it for us? It was that sort of like harlequin cat changes color. I love that one. Did you bring the deodorant?

Josh: I already put deodorant on before. Are you going to have a shower here?

Tommy: Yeah, I do that every day. I do the shower thing every day after, you know, I use my harlequin cat.

Josh: But we're only in LA for 3 days. It's not really the everyday. Our Airbnb he is only 2 minutes walk.

Tommy: You know what I'm saying though, bro?

Julian: Excuse me, gentlemen, uh, this is the only squat rack in the whole gym. Are you guys gonna actually use it? You're gonna keep chatting? Yeah, I'd like to just get it. You're gonna use it? We are using it.

Josh: All right. Yeah.

Julian: Okay, okay, I'll be back. I'll be back when you guys are done. Let me know when you guys are done.

Josh: Wait, we're not using the squat rack.

Tommy: I know, but I just had to tell that guy how annoying— that's his American accent too. But I mean, we are in America. But anyway, you, um, so you didn't bring my deodorant.

Josh: Is the camera still on 97, by the way? Because the screen— yeah, okay, good. We broke the—

Julian: sorry, gentlemen, uh, it still seems like the squat back hasn't been used at this point in time. You're putting weights on there, or just like, you know, because, uh, I'm sorry, uh, my bro's actually just gonna go have a shower anyway.

Tommy: But hang on, excuse me, I just, I just want to get, you know, brothers, we get a bit incestive. Incestive? No, we get— you guys are incest? No, we don't. No, you're funny, man.

Julian: Um, I know what you guys are like from Australia, but here we don't do that.

Tommy: Look, we get a bit weird, but the thing is, he didn't bring my deodorant, I brought his towel. What do you reckon of that? Like Is this shit or what?

Julian: I don't care, I need to squat.

Josh: Yeah, man, see, I told you they don't fucking mess around here.

Julian: Sorry, I've had my BCAAs, I've had my pre-workout. I'm stressed, okay? It's been a long day. I'm an actor in LA, man. Hurry the fuck up.

Tommy: I'm sorry, bro. Where do you think we should eat tonight? Sorry, I know you gotta squat, but where should we eat tonight?

Julian: Uh, You boys vegan?

Josh: I'm vegetarian.

Tommy: Yeah, vegetarian.

Julian: Sun Cafe. It's great.

Josh: Sun Cafe. Okay, good. I'm just going to do my sets.

Julian: Thanks. Okay. All right.

Josh: Now we're just walking off. Yeah. So are you having a shower or no?

Tommy: Look, if— yeah, look, there's a high chance that I'll start smelling if I don't, because I already do smell. So anything— yes, I'm going to have a shower.

Josh: All right. Well, I'm going to go—

Julian: you should have a shower, dude. You stink.

Josh: I'm going to go wait outside and end scene. What did we think? It was pretty good. Is Sun— is that actually a good vegan place? Because I have gone vegetarian.

Julian: It's not bad.

Josh: Okay. Yeah, I mean, it's in Studio City.

Tommy: I was actually selfishly wanting to find out because I thought he might have a recommendation.

Josh: Have you ever done vegjo?

Julian: I went vegan for 3 months. I struggled. Why? Uh, I watched Cowspiracy.

Tommy: Okay, we got you a 3-month stint.

Josh: What about, um, I just watched that.

Tommy: Yeah, I watched it.

Josh: Didn't do it for me, but The Game Changers did. Oh, I've heard about this because they changed it from—

Julian: 2 people have sent me the, the trailer for that.

Josh: It's the most downloaded, uh, documentary on iTunes ever.

Tommy: Oh wow. And then you worked out you had to pay $4.99 to hire it or rent it.

Julian: Well, considering I'm worth 1.125 million, I think that's pocket change.

Josh: So, um, and so that vegan thing, because I am trying to make it work By the way, good work on the scene, lads.

Julian: Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, you guys are natural.

Josh: I think it's, uh, yeah, I think that we got bogged down into the granular, maybe the smelling thing and the shout. What did you think, 97?

Mason: In all honesty, Josh, I felt like you were sort of closed off in that one. You needed to open your heart and you needed to channel— actually be like in LA.

Tommy: Yeah, you did the end. No, you basically—

Mason: exactly, you needed You needed to include all the granular details like Tommy did. Yeah. You know, it's the— it's the towel that Mum bought us. You were just like, oh, did you bring the towel?

Josh: No, because I don't know about my size.

Julian: A tricky thing with improv is when you just keep asking other people questions, you're not necessarily laying a piece of information.

Josh: And who asked the most amount of questions? It was me.

Tommy: Can we go to the video replay?

Julian: Yeah.

Josh: Okay. I also think, like, you don't know fucking anything about this stuff. Why don't you open your heart? I'll open my heart when you watch.

Julian: That's a little defensive.

Josh: Um, is everything okay? No, I get it. No, but I think the thing is, I didn't open my heart. I personally didn't find— I didn't find the— I think he was trying to be funny. You had nothing to give. He was trying to be funny with the Tao, like all the different colors. People study this for a long—

Julian: for their whole lives, and so you can't be experts just yet.

Josh: I thought that was still pretty good.

Tommy: If anything, to be honest, we nailed it right now. This is what a brother and Brother does. Yeah, brother's fucking argument is stupid as shit.

Julian: The scene's still going in my opinion.

Josh: But just very quickly, I thought the—

Julian: I want to do my squats, just let me squat, fuck.

Josh: I think the injection of comedy around the towel— don't tell me how to run— it's just like a bit pantomime.

Tommy: But I thought you could have come up with something. Yeah, I brought you towel.

Josh: And so I guess what I don't necessarily think— I get, were you playing yourself?

Julian: Uh, no, it was a heightened version of both of you.

Josh: The thing is that Tommy wouldn't give a fuck about the colour of the towel.

Tommy: Yeah, because I was playing the little brother.

Josh: You're questioning his truth. Yeah, I actually think that the heart thing is completely— I think you're seeing not the right thing. Well, I think— actually, do you actually get feedback?

Tommy: Is this the kind of feedback that you get?

Josh: And sometimes do you find it hard to open up your heart if you've got some fucking concrete heart that you're playing to? No, like there's other actors, you know, when you know, most people just bitch about each other after.

Julian: Okay, perfect.

Tommy: Yeah, that's good. So we're actors, we're actors, bro.

Josh: I feel fucking—

Julian: yeah, very active.

Josh: You might get booked off this interview. Um, and so the 3 months vegan, back to the vegan. Yeah, no, I'm curious. Yeah, yeah. And so what happened to your body over the 3 months? I lost weight, muscle.

Julian: Fat and muscle. Good. What did you eat? I can't remember. It was a— it was about 4 or 5 years ago. It was vegan though. Yeah, it was vegan. Much bread? I was working at Patch. Oh, so you had the waffles? I had— are those waffles vegan?

Josh: Tapioca. Tapioca flour. There's egg in them.

Tommy: There's egg in them. Yeah, vegan. Yeah, exactly. I mean, Patch, it's a paleo-inspired cafe.

Julian: Yeah, I do eggs every day now.

Josh: So yeah, I don't know, just from the 3 months, the hard bit was, um, what's it called when you, um, compliancy. Was that the issue, like staying compliant during the time, like, or was it actually when you were eating?

Julian: I, I think I wasn't properly informed on how to get in all my nutrients, like how to get in enough protein and what I actually needed to be eating instead of just like you know, heaps of peanut butter and chickpeas and nuts and, you know, like all the other stuff. What, what do you really need to be eating to take care of yourself with a vegan diet? I didn't really research that properly.

Josh: So what should you have done differently? Just researched it properly. And what would that— so did you ever research it or you just gave up?

Julian: No, gave up.

Josh: 97: Based on The Game Changers, I'm not good at retaining information, but I know I should be vegetarian. What should he have been doing? He said he saw the doc, I recommended it. Oh yeah, um, more plants.

Mason: Well, so they, they didn't, they didn't talk about going vegan, they were vegetarian, which is the game changer. So, so they still had eggs, they still had cheese, all the dairy, milk. But yeah, I mean, I think if you're weight training, you definitely want your protein. So just like, yeah, lentils and all that.

Josh: What if you're not weight training?

Tommy: You should be. You still, you should be, but bone density like there's so many benefits for it. Like, you could say, oh, I shouldn't weight train. Like, don't tell me what I should do.

Josh: Were you feeling lethargic? Were you feel like— what was the actual energy?

Julian: Yeah, I think I was pretty low energy at the time. Yeah, there is a—

Tommy: the good thing about veggie, like, going vegetarian, it force— or even the good thing about eating 6 meals a day, it's not the 6 meals, it's the hand that it gives you. It forces your hand to get educated. Why the fuck are you looking over at Mr.

Josh: 97? No, I was just— he did a face and I just looked at him.

Tommy: I did it. So it's— so my point being, it forces you to start thinking a bit more about it and stop being a gronk.

Josh: It creates focus. And so that's the thing that's all saying to Bree, because Bree said, it's like, do you reckon you're eating better on vegetarian? This was last night. And I was like, because I had a, um, the other day I had a dog— no, I had a, um, margherita pizza. Ah, yeah. And for lunch, heaps of nutrients.

Tommy: Is this a scene right now?

Julian: The basil has so many antioxidants.

Josh: And so my point was, I was like, no, it starts with I'm just sort of weaning off, and then eventually I'll be like, oh, I feel like more salads, and I'll ramp up that. And before you know it— but did you—

Julian: I think you've got to get better at like digesting that stuff too.

Josh: Have you noticed that? Yeah, well, that's it. Like, I haven't had like a— I'm looking forward to like a solid shit. At the moment, are we still in this scene?

Tommy: Please, please say this is made up.

Julian: Oh my God, that sound effect was so graphic.

Tommy: It's fucking disgusting. Porridge, eat porridge.

Julian: You guys, if you're only listening, you also missed the hand gesture of the poo coming out. That was great. Yeah, spirit fingers.

Josh: A spirit came out. Did you find— like, was that you? On vegan?

Julian: I can't, I really can't remember, Josh.

Tommy: You're asking about his poo? I mean, there's no— you can cheque out the net worth on Google.

Julian: No, you know what, let's go there.

Josh: I want to talk about— does Julian produce?

Tommy: It's all bullshit, as we've realized.

Josh: Yeah, bullshit. Well done. Um, no, you know, what is, uh, how, how do you shit 97?

Mason: Your body just gets used to it. Mine's normal.

Josh: So normal being— well, it's not—

Tommy: you don't have to push hard? No, no. I think—

Josh: what does it look like? That's good. Oh dude, no, but seriously, I know that it might sound— if people are eating, turn this off. But what is it? What does your shit look like, do you think? Color and— yeah, like consistency, graphic details?

Mason: No. Well, so it stays consistent. So I, I don't— because I already have a high fibre diet, so adding all the veggies in, it doesn't, it doesn't, you know, make it like yours.

Josh: So yours is like a sausage? Yeah. Oh, good.

Tommy: It's literally floating. If it floats, if it floats, you're in, you're in the clear. Oh, that's good. It's meant to be really good.

Julian: Floating's good.

Josh: Yeah, mine just is. Yeah. Yeah, mate. I know.

Mason: Yours is just sprouts.

Tommy: Your hand. I've scarred my brain.

Julian: Josh is just diving into the bowl and then go up and under and then does the same.

Tommy: Did I just, did I do a corn? Jesus. Phantom. Um, you've spent a bit of time in LA. We're going there. Yeah, in quite soon. Mr. 97. Yeah, we're so excited. Mr. 97's going.

Julian: He just—

Tommy: yeah, he's coming too, first time for the baby. He dishes up an LA fact of the day every show in the lead-up.

Julian: Yeah, yeah.

Tommy: So I want, um, him to dish us up a fact, but then I want you to also just bring one of your facts that you've learned on the ground in LA about, about LA.

Josh: Yeah, it's an LA fact.

Tommy: It could just be a Julian Haig fact. Oh, it doesn't have to be a historic fact about it, could be just something you've learned and you want to share as a fact to the boys. Okay, the boys.

Mason: Yeah, so today's LA fact: the Hollywood sign originally said Hollywoodland and was meant to advertise real estate. That's cool. Oh wow. So land fell off obviously, and so they've just kept it Hollywood.

Julian: I love how different that is to how people treat it. That's great. Yeah.

Tommy: Have you been, um, like really close? I know that there's fences and shit like you're not meant to get down to the—

Julian: Fairly close.

Tommy: It's pretty shitty, isn't it though? Like, it's on the top of an empty kind of hill. It is kind of cool when you—

Julian: I really like the trail up to the observatory. Oh yeah. And then you can see it pretty clearly from there too. So it's like they've got like the James Dean little statue thing, and then you can see the Hollywood sign from there.

Tommy: I mean, the word Hollywood has so much impact, you know, even seeing Saturday Workouts at F45.

Josh: But just growing up in Australia, Spittybum. Hollywood. But when you—

Tommy: Mr. 97, when you come from the airport, you're coming down La Cienega or whatever it is, and you, you get to this hill bit and you see the Hollywood sign in the distance. Well, you're flying in, there's something like, wow, we're in Hollywood, bro. You know, it's like the land of the—

Josh: He's buying time for you to come up with your facts. Yeah, definitely. Oh, you've got an LA fact? LA fact?

Julian: Oh yeah. Um, well, he gave us one first one. Here's one, like, get a car, don't rely on Uber.

Josh: He's really taken the fact and just gone into an advice. Maybe try one more. Why?

Julian: I just spent so much money on Ubers there. I was there for a month last year.

Josh: You just say get a car and don't do Uber?

Julian: Get— yeah, like, if you guys, if you guys can rent a car. What about scooters? Dangerous.

Josh: Yeah, go on.

Julian: Well, the guy I was staying with when I was in LA Scott, he, um, he, he tried it for the first time. He's got two cars and he tried that scooter, like, yeah, the little scooters for the first time. And he'd had a few drinks, but he came off it and like banged up his knee pretty bad. But yeah, they're pretty dangerous. Like, the roads there aren't set up for people to be scooting around. And then it says don't go on the sidewalk. So I was like, shit, I can't go on the sidewalk. And then I was trying to go on the road everyone just goes on the sidewalk because the sidewalks there are also massive.

Tommy: They are big, aren't they?

Julian: They're massive.

Josh: And so are you the type of guy that's comfortable going on a scooter?

Julian: Um, that was my first time, so at first I wasn't that comfortable, but kind of got used to it. But they're also not that cheap, but there's only been 11 pretty quick.

Josh: There's only been 11 scooter deaths. Only? Yeah, 9 of them within the rental Space. Uh-huh. Yeah, within a population.

Julian: Is that just LA? I was learning that yesterday.

Mason: Yeah, that was a previous LA.

Josh: Was it LA specific?

Julian: Is that just in LA? Surely.

Josh: No, no, it was. It was. 11 people died in scooters in LA alone.

Tommy: Can we look at how many people have died on bikes in LA? I'm not going to ride a bike this week. No.

Julian: Um, I guess, yeah, look, those aren't great odds.

Tommy: You know, but hang on, you haven't worked out how many people have ridden them, so you don't know the odds yet. That's true.

Josh: We also don't know how many have gone into intensive care. Yeah, true. Yeah.

Tommy: Hey, you don't end up there either. It was a fact. You said the trail up to the observatory is a great viewing point for the Hollywood sign.

Julian: Yeah, it's good. But that was just also the observatory is really cool to cheque out if you do like the planetarium.

Josh: I think 97 wants to do that too. That's really fun.

Tommy: You want to go to the planetarium? It's got a big telescope, right? Is that the observatory? Yeah, a couple. Yeah, huge. Can you actually use the telescope to look out to this, to the moon?

Julian: I think that's just for scientists.

Tommy: What if we put a coat on? You guys improv great.

Josh: Yeah, yeah, I'll bring up a Bunsen burner.

Tommy: We're two brothers, we're scientists, let us in. Yeah, yeah.

Josh: Do you have any, any mates in LA that we should try and get on the show?

Julian: Um, my sister. Is she over there? Yeah, she lives in Los Feliz, so it's like at the bottom of where The observatory is. So, if you go straight down the hill. Yeah. Sure.

Tommy: I thought she lived back here because last time you were having an argument with her in the car. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah, maybe she does. Is that resolved?

Josh: Yeah, I think so. I mean, so for people who haven't listened to that episode. Yeah. You were on the phone. It was your sister and her partner. And you were trying to— You hadn't spoken to this person on the phone for a very long time. You were trying to take a call in the car.

Julian: And you guys should totally ask her. Yeah, her side. Once you— yeah, if you get her on the show, that'd be great.

Josh: Because it's funny, siblings have interesting fights. For me, with my brother James, who is an exercise scientist and lives in North Carolina, and him and I had a big blow-up about 6 years ago about the future of Fitbit. I think the future of what? Fitbit. What's Fitbit? The watch.

Tommy: Uh, that's my point, boys.

Julian: My point, my point, what the fuck's Fitbit?

Josh: Yeah, sure, yeah, absolutely. Well, that's my point. So my point was, James was, uh, my brother was saying that, you know, Fitbit's gonna be around, yeah, it's gonna be around for ages and all that sort of thing. My thought was that with Apple and all these— this was just when Apple came out with the first Apple Watch— I was like, with all these different things in the market, I think that we're going to see better technologies, and I think that Fitbit haven't necessarily invested enough in innovation beyond a pedometer, um, that— or what is it called? The moving— no, pedometer. It's a pendulum. No, no, no, no, uh, gyroscope. No, I don't know the word that you—

Julian: kaleidoscope.

Josh: No, it's not helpful. Um, no, it's a gyro— gyroscope maybe. I don't know, it's whatever's in the iPhone. Remember when you got the first ever iPhone and you would download the beer app? And you would like move it around and you'd pretend to drink a beer.

Mason: Oh yeah, I think it is, uh, the gyro.

Josh: If you look it up specifically, so it can track, so it can actually track movement. So a pedometer or whatever is just steps, steps, goals. Yeah, the thing that Fitbit's doing is it's using like algorithms and stuff to work out, oh, is this a big step, is this a small step, those types of things. Uh, my thought was that Fitbit hadn't necessarily invested enough in the innovation technology and they were going to end up going more into the accessories space, i.e., building out watches and things like that. And I thought that Apple, which is sort of what's happened, is they're getting into the heart, the heart rate stuff with the— what's that? What's the heart technology? ECG, all that sort of stuff. Anyway, the great thing is we can have a look. '97.

Julian: Can you just call your brother right now so he can say, all right, so I do need that.

Josh: But if you type in Fitbit stock, so the stock price— Fitbit is a publicly listed company. James thought they had a great future. I thought they were fucked. Can you go, what was the price 5 years ago when they IPO'd?

Mason: $32.50.

Josh: Great. $32.50. Good.

Mason: And now it's $3.75.

Josh: There you go. Right. Yeah. And so the interesting thing is when it becomes so, um, convoluted and clouded and all that sort of thing.

Julian: He— is there still a bit of tension?

Tommy: There's a reason he lives in North Carolina.

Josh: Yeah, literally at his wedding in North Carolina, he was wearing a Fitbit. He probably was, but the wedding photographer was getting a photo of the whole family, and the lady taking the photos, the photographer, said, say something funny to make everyone laugh. And my dad said, how's Fitbit? Which got us all laughing. James is secretly, so grinning is too— not happy. So anyway, so hopefully you can move on from the, the car incident. It sounds like it's—

Julian: it's all good. It processed pretty quickly in your eyes.

Josh: Yeah, but she moved to LA. It's still— I don't—

Julian: yeah, it's still a funny one, isn't it? Because like, I understand her point of view, but it was also— it wasn't just like the, the thing that I did that was wrong or whatever. But it was kind of just how I felt like I was treated in that moment.

Tommy: So you don't mind if we speak to Georgiana and bring it up?

Julian: Go for it. Okay, go for it. That'd be fucking hilarious.

Josh: Actually, I would love your perspective on this because Tommy and I were arguing about this on Thursday. Um, Apple Watch versus Samsung. Can we cheque the, uh, stock price? No, very quickly, I was walking across a road, got halfway through the intersection walking, and a car not giving way drove past me, nearly hit me, and I gave the car a bit of a knock with my fist, which got the guy to slam on his brakes. Nice. And, um, there was— I had a conversation with him and all that sort of thing. It all worked out fine. Tommy was— I think what you do is have a green man. Uh, so it was one of those situations where there was no lights.

Tommy: It's like a stop sign. Main road, right?

Josh: But, uh, pedestrians always have the right of way, especially at the end of the— like, it's at the intersection, like it's at that cross bit. It's designed for that.

Tommy: Australia, it's pretty wild. America, they're very much— they'll fucking stop because they don't know, like, they don't want to be sued.

Julian: Yeah, Canada is the same way. They'll stop.

Josh: It's like, are you— yeah, like 100 metres away. Yeah, I'll see you. Yeah, um, someone walking. Tommy, uh, had a bit of pushback in regards to how I handled it. What was it? Your pushback was you don't Could you have handled yourself? That could have been a bikie. All this time.

Tommy: Yeah. I was saying, how many times I've done it too many times where I've acted based on just feeling the emotion straight away and then in hindsight thought that could have been fucking really bad if that person was an absolute psycho.

Josh: So he was essentially hindsight-ing me.

Tommy: I was hindsight-ing you, just going, yeah, probably not smart. Probably not that smart. What do you think?

Josh: Are you the type of guy to do it? I loved it. No, I came in, I was so happy. I called Mr. 97.

Tommy: I said, I pissed off this guy.

Josh: He was, he was fucking saying, 'Oi, oi,' like trying to get me to come back. It was awesome. Yeah, I don't know. I've got a photo of his number plate.

Tommy: I think he had the Daily Talk Show jumper on.

Josh: I was wondering, I wonder if he listened to it, and it would probably make him fume even more if he saw how much I was laughing about it, don't you think?

Tommy: What would you do?

Julian: I wouldn't react like that every time, I don't think. But like, I, yeah, I think I, yeah, sometimes I definitely would hit the car.

Tommy: You'd hit the car?

Julian: Yeah, just to let them know. Yeah, yeah.

Josh: So have you done it before?

Julian: Just a little love tap. I think I have, yeah. Yeah, just a little like, yeah, fuck you.

Josh: You just need to open your heart sometimes. Yeah, and it didn't hurt his car. The thing is, he's in a big fucking car. I'm just me. He was having a go about my fucking AirPods. I could see him come, like, it's not like I wasn't aware. Oh, he was defensive.

Tommy: He was having a go at your AirPods?

Josh: Yeah, he's having a go at my AirPods. AirPods.

Julian: Yeah, I was coming out of my building the other day and I was on my phone and kind of like walking, and then I think I was texting, and then nearly bumped into someone in the building. And I was like, oh, sorry, I didn't, didn't see that. And then she kind of gave me a little bit of a lecture about like, oh yeah, you guys are always on your phones. You're like, who's you guys? Yeah, it's like, how old was this person?

Tommy: Probably 60s.

Josh: I'd say. So you guys are just the younger generation?

Julian: Yeah, that's what I felt. That's definitely what I felt. And I was just like, okay, that, you know, I'm— I wasn't gonna actually run into you or anything, like settle down, but it was— she definitely took the moment to just be like, here's a little lecture. Yeah, yeah, for sure. How did you react?

Josh: I punched her car. I think I just— why did that get such a crazy reaction? I think walking frame. Yeah, I think that's pretty funny. No, I mean, because she was walking, so it couldn't have been a car. So I fucking adapted. It was a bit of a callback. Yeah, exactly. Uh, and so what was your response?

Julian: Did you say sorry? I didn't respond, and then I think I walked away and thought about how many different comebacks I could have had. Yeah. And she's a neighbour.

Tommy: I could have said this to you. Well, you've got your moment. What would have you said? What would you like to say? If she's watching What do you want to say?

Julian: It probably just would have like called her on her behaviour straight away because I realised that she wanted to just have a lecture. So probably something just like, don't need your lecture right now, thanks. Is that passive aggressive?

Tommy: Yeah, she is. That's really— it's, yeah, it's twisting, twisting the knife.

Julian: It's tricky, it's tricky, like, because when, when someone takes a little nip I used to be really good at like just taking a bite back. Oh yeah. But now I don't really do that. But sometimes you can't help it because someone's just gone, "Err." I wonder if I'm more sort of willing to bite back based on this new vegetarian.

Josh: Maybe that's part of the whole—

Julian: You reckon veggie's got you aggro? Yeah, maybe there is something.

Josh: Because if you think about it, BK, who is vegetarian. He was very critical of our— we were giving away ham last year. He gets a bit angry about it. But also the other thing too, the other day when you guys were— I didn't realise it, but you were bullying me about my pizza. And he literally—

Julian: About your margherita pizza? Yeah.

Josh: He said, this is bullying. Like, he fucking started biting. I'm like, actually, I like this whole being a vegetarian. And having all my mates a bit fucking angry. And I'm just like, this is fun. Yeah, fuck you guys. Oh yeah, it was good fun.

Julian: What's also good about something like this is like, it's a good space because we like watching conflict. So, and listening to it. So you guys bullying each other in a safe space. It's great for business. It's great for business and probably a good environment to let it out. Yeah. And then in the real world you can be kind. Yeah. Yeah.

Josh: We'll work that bit out. You dicks. But I know I appreciate the, um, and, uh, what you would come back to with that 60-year-old lady.

Julian: Because, um, yeah, I mean, I want to ask, um, how was, how was having Andy Lee on the show?

Tommy: Yeah, Andy's great. Um, oh yeah, because we— yeah, you told— you introduced Andy to his—

Julian: I didn't, I was just there. You were just there?

Tommy: No, you— yeah, I like that storey though. Last time you were telling us about it, it happened at the cafe.

Julian: I was there when he gave his email to Beck.

Josh: Basically. That's— yeah, you intro'd them.

Tommy: Yeah, so good. Great. Yeah, I called it too.

Julian: I was just like, he's flirting with you. Like, if you do not— and she's like, no, I—

Tommy: yeah, I called it. Yeah, yeah. So he's amazing.

Josh: Andy, honestly, I can imagine you on one of those like 20 to 1 shows, you know, where they do like talking heads. Oh yeah. And if it was ever like the top relationships, I fucking called it. You'll be that guy.

Julian: I like that. Bloody there.

Tommy: Um, and he's great.

Julian: Did you listen to that? Not yet.

Josh: It goes for an hour and 50 minutes or something. It's quite long.

Julian: It's actually, um, I met, uh, Sarah Greenberg. Yes, I met her and then we got chatting and then I didn't know about— yeah, like she's their producer and stuff. Um, and then I listened to her podcast, Life of Greatness. Yeah, yeah. And I've listened to a few of her episodes now and I listened to the one with Hamish and it was really cool to listen to him on a podcast that's not his and kind of get a, you know, like a bit more of a, a bit more of a serious take. And yeah, and like he's quite mindful and, um, just like the energy that those guys have seems to be like pretty, pretty great, like pretty positive.

Josh: And absolutely, yeah, I mean they're a good example of people who have like found success. Probably not, I don't think Hamish or Andy would punch a car. You don't reckon?

Julian: No, I just think, well, especially So we're not there yet.

Tommy: Would they say, uh, I don't need your lecture, old lady? I also didn't say that.

Julian: You asked me what I would have said.

Tommy: Yeah, and I added the old lady walking frame.

Julian: This just in, Julian punches a lady's walking frame and calls her old lady.

Josh: Daily Mail, I can imagine that. Any other podcasts that you're listening to? Um, I sometimes listen to Russell Brand's on Luminary because they've switched it, haven't they? Oh. Maybe not.

Tommy: He's just getting through the free episodes. Maybe it's just the free episodes.

Julian: Yeah, I've done it. Probably that. Um, good friend of mine, Kelsey, uh, Grant, has a podcast. Um, it's called the Power Couple Podcast, and it's more on like love and relationships, and it's awesome. Like, they have like a lot of knowledge in that space, so it's really cool.

Tommy: Is she in a power couple? Is she—

Julian: she is in a power couple. Yeah. Yeah, a little. Are they Australian-based or, uh, Canada? Canada. Friends from Vancouver. Yeah. And what's another one I've been listening to? Yeah, Sarah's one is really cool. Been listening to that one a bit recently. Um, what about you guys? Anything else?

Tommy: Have I listened? I haven't been consuming much at all. Oh, I'm going to— I chase Jarvis actually. Some reason I've just stumbled back onto his—

Julian: was that Armchair Expert? No.

Josh: Yeah, so he's got that one which is like— he's— he does a film, one that he filmed.

Tommy: Yeah, he's got like a YouTube show that he then puts onto the podcast and he did one with Brené Brown that was filmed and put on. Oh yeah. And so he's done two chats with her. I listened to that and I'm looking forward to his one with Seth Godin that just came out.

Josh: See, Brené said she was burnt out. Did she?

Julian: Oh yeah, I saw something about that.

Josh: 3 months or whatever. I need to read the— I got something out of this.

Julian: Like, well, I think that she's, she's kind of like quite a sensitive soul and, um, I, I don't know if this is true, but maybe a bit of an introvert. So then like doing the TED Talk, when that blew up, I think that really threw her. And then she had to come back from that. Yeah. And then kept— and she just keeps like getting bigger and bigger. And I think that, that, that's hard to deal with. I would kind of talk about that last time, but like, I think she's— it's— I don't know how— yeah, some people especially, like, it's tough to deal with that much exposure.

Josh: There's a price to fame. Yeah. I even think about like the small thing of having episode 500 and having 100 people that we've interacted with in some way, but they're not— they know all this stuff about us. And like, that interaction is quite— just you wait, boys.

Julian: Just you wait. Oh yeah.

Tommy: Are you saying— yeah, because it's a— they know personal things about us.

Josh: Well, no, but— and also you want to be like, uh, there's— it's almost a piece— it's almost like you've been on the phone with someone. But they haven't necessarily been talking. So there are people that like we have great connections with on social media and stuff, but then there's the other portion of people who listen but aren't necessarily interacting. And so that's an interesting thing.

Julian: Have you met many of those people, like kind of fans?

Josh: No. Listeners? No, no, just spoken on email.

Tommy: Yeah.

Julian: You haven't had many interactions in person?

Josh: No, we've never, no, we've never had anyone. First event.

Tommy: First. I mean, other than people who come into the studio, like we've got some great people, but they're all like, then they become part of the show, like Alex.

Josh: Brooks. Uh, she's our baker. She's making a cake for us for our 500th.

Tommy: Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah.

Julian: So yeah, there's definitely coming.

Josh: Yeah, we'll have a little corner for you where you can be doing autographs.

Tommy: No, running a little, um, and yeah, what is it?

Julian: Yes, ending. Yes, ending. What, you want to do an improv?

Josh: It'd be great to do it live. Should we maybe re-look at the improv? A live—

Tommy: no, I'd just be criticized. You won't bring enough heart to it, you know. Such a shit.

Josh: The thing is, if you think about '97 was giving all the criticism to me.

Julian: You both dived in pretty well, I thought. Thanks. Really? Yeah. All honesty.

Josh: Well, you got to— Yeah. Do you think 97's feedback was fair or was he just doing a bit of gear? Either one is actually a win.

Julian: I thought it could be delivered with a bit more compassion. Yeah. I mean, it almost—

Josh: it sort of reeks of those reality shows where they have to sort of play the hard card, you know, he's been fucking Matt Preston on fucking— or Dicko. You're like Dicko on Australian Idol season 1, just being just fucking spewing out the hate.

Julian: Back when they were dicks and then MasterChef came out, they're like, oh, actually, like, being kind is rating really well. Let's make all these people be nice.

Josh: I haven't watched MasterChef in a while, so I was struggling to work out who the villain is.

Tommy: There is an audience for it. Look at Gordon Ramsay. I love watching him just blow up at people.

Josh: But is there? Because isn't he gone now?

Tommy: Like, I think he's around. I saw a, uh, we just don't get it because we're like, there's so many shows. He's done He's done so many shows.

Josh: I literally saw a video of him the other day hugging people. He was in a village and he's hugging people. Like he's done a 180.

Tommy: Oh yeah, he's more kind. He was always kind of kind, but I thought on those sort of shows, if you go into him, he'll flip out. Yeah, but then he loves you and wants to help you. So he's all— he was always trying to help these people.

Julian: On Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, he's basically going and helping people. Like, that was a pretty good show.

Tommy: He cares a lot. That's why, because he's just—

Julian: but then when people are idiots, he's just like, you're an idiot.

Tommy: Yeah, you're not listening to me.

Josh: He goes But does that take away— if you call someone a cunt, does that take away from everything that you're doing?

Julian: Can you talk about the C-bomb on this one?

Tommy: Yeah, we do what we want. It's entertainment value. It's high.

Julian: It's high. Was Adam explicit?

Tommy: I mean, yeah, mate, you're worried about the C-word and he did the— he did the—

Julian: that was more—

Tommy: the hand actions and the fucking sound effects of him.

Josh: We're actually trying to diet. We're trying to see how many listeners we can lose. And so then you sort of the cream goes to the top. It's all the gronks that stay who can deal with this sort of the bullshit.

Julian: I think that's what's been happening with Riverdale. It's after cream. No, the cream is what you want, what we want, uh, because I'm vegetarian, not vegan.

Josh: I can have cream.

Tommy: Oh yeah, true. Okay, no, there's still— yeah, you still got that. Um, thank you, mate, for coming back on the show.

Julian: No worries.

Josh: Thanks for having me, guys. Uh, TikTok, you've done 2 videos. It's really blown up. Can you do one? Can you do one one that's specific around something that happened on today's show as a third one that people can watch.

Julian: I'll have a think if I can think of something funny. Yeah, can you guys think of anything?

Tommy: A facial reaction to an old lady who tells you off for being on your phone. Oh yeah, do the scene, something like that.

Josh: Do the scene, the whole scene.

Tommy: Just act.

Josh: Excuse me, have someone be the woman and then you'll need a prop phone, but you could do that and you could even do it near the lift. It'd be fucking great. Yeah, that could be really good. I'll have a think about it. And then maybe, maybe you dab her off or something.

Julian: I'll definitely consider it.

Josh: Yeah, have you ever done a dab?

Julian: I don't think I have. Just don't have— don't have— that's right, ironically.

Josh: Yeah, yeah, that's not the only reason I live in this irony. Uh, it's a Daily Talk Show. Hi@thedailytalkshow.com is the email address. Uh, if you like the poo talk, if you like all that sort of stuff, leave us an Apple Podcast review, 5 stars please. I sound like a fucking Uber driver now. Uh, anyway, it's Daily Talk Show. We'll see you tomorrow, guys. See you guys.