Structured Fun

Tommy: The Daily Talk Show. It's The Daily Talk Show, episode 531.

Josh: I can smell sugar. It's Fat Friday.

Tommy: You have brought, uh, Fat Fridays.

Leah: I've brought Fat Fridays. I hope you enjoy. There is a lot of sugar involved.

Tommy: Yeah, I appreciate it.

Josh: I mean, I've been holding off all week. This is probably the first week that I haven't— actually, last night I ate toast for dinner. Which is not that bad. I have just sugar.

Tommy: No, that's— there's nothing wrong with toast.

Leah: I mean, I know carbs and all the rest.

Josh: No, mate, it's better than— the thing is, cupcake— when Daddy doesn't want to cook, Bodhi doesn't get food either. Like, again, so he had home-cooked.

Tommy: That's fine.

Josh: So he had toast, peanut butter, and honey.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: And Daddy and Mummy had the same.

Leah: That's what they want. Really, give the people what they want.

Josh: Well, my son either wants, um, like, just yogurt, or he wants— he wants breakfast for every meal.

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leah: Weet-Bix.

Josh: No, he's not a big fan of nuggets. I took him to a burger shop and he wasn't really— he wants chippies. But you've got 3 little ones.

Leah: I do.

Josh: Are they wanting breakfast as well?

Leah: Yeah, they want breakfast for every meal. And my littlest, who's 2, says a Bikkabix, a Bikkabix.

Tommy: That's all he wants.

Mason: Is that Weet-Bix?

Leah: Yeah.

Tommy: I mean, it's pretty, uh, it makes life easy.

Leah: It does. I try not to give him Weet-Bix for every meal, just for anyone who's listening.

Tommy: Why?

Josh: Well, think about the macronutrient breakdown. It's Just wheat.

Tommy: That's not good.

Leah: He needs like a diverse— they all need a diverse palate. I mean, you know, am I providing that all the time? I can't necessarily say.

Josh: So you've— tell us where you got these gifts in from.

Leah: I went to Birdcage Cafe in Altona and Kath and Ado are the owners there and friends of ours, and they have decked us out with some treats. So I've got— do you want to know what everything is?

Josh: Yes, please.

Leah: Okay, so we've got carrot cake. We've got the— these little bunnies are the ones that I sometimes troubleshoot to give my kids for bribery purposes. So I thought you guys might like— baby might like his his bunny.

Josh: I want to put that whole thing in my mouth.

Leah: Then we've got 2 raw treats. So no, what, you know, like, like someone really vegan. Yeah, vegan basically. This one is some kind of passion fruit tart. And then we've got 2 donuts. One's blueberry and the other one I forgot.

Josh: Custard.

Leah: It looks like custard. Yes.

Tommy: And then you have 2 bowls.

Leah: Well, I'm a teacher.

Tommy: One is just clinkers and the other is M&Ms.

Leah: I brought structured fun.

Tommy: Oh, I love structured fun. I actually really appreciate structured fun. No, I think like after, I mean, this time it's always a crazy time of year, trying to sort everything out for the new year. So I appreciate structure. So we don't really have to think.

Leah: Okay, well, you're gonna love this then. So one bowl is full of clinkers. And so clinkers, you ask it a question. You can do it two different ways. I looked online before I came here just to make sure. But one of the ways is that you ask it a question, you bite it. And then if there's a green, it's a yes, it's telling your future.

Tommy: Yes, no, maybe.

Leah: So when I was in year 8, it was like, will this boy be my husband? You know, some stupid thing. And then I'd bite it.

Tommy: Like it all worked out.

Leah: No, it's a different guy. Different guy.

Josh: Remember those things that you— remember those things that you look like a hand puppet, you make it out of paper and you write on the inside and go—

Leah: it's like a chatterbox or something. Yeah, yeah, they're cool too.

Josh: Yeah, I remember that shit. Yeah, that was a similar thing. It's like, am I going to—

Leah: yeah, yeah.

Tommy: And then the other bowl, we could make all our business decisions based on this.

Josh: I like that.

Tommy: Yeah, find out the best way to use clinkers.

Josh: How do you go out of business with clinkers?

Tommy: Yeah, exactly. We can ask him, we'll find out.

Leah: Oh yeah, yeah.

Josh: Yes, will you go out of business?

Tommy: Will we make it through 10 years? Will we make it through? And so do I have to say, oh, so green is yes.

Leah: Yep.

Tommy: Pink is no. Yellow is maybe.

Leah: Yeah.

Tommy: And so the question is, will we be, will we make it through 10 years? Okay.

Leah: Okay.

Tommy: So green, yes. Pink, no. Yellow, maybe. Okay.

Leah: What is it?

Tommy: Green. It's a yes. It's a yes.

Leah: It's a yes.

Josh: We'll miss the '97. Still be working with us in 1 year? Oh my gosh.

Tommy: 1 year.

Josh: Yellow.

Leah: Yellow.

Tommy: Maybe.

Josh: No, I like that. At least you have an option.

Leah: It's up to you. Now it's like, oh no, I might not have a job next year.

Tommy: Leah, you've got to ask yourself a question.

Leah: Can I ask, will I have a job next year?

Josh: Green. Green.

Tommy: Green.

Leah: Yes.

Tommy: Is that what you want?

Leah: I'm so happy about that.

Josh: How are you employed right now?

Leah: Well, I'm a teacher who's—

Josh: So you're employed?

Leah: Well, no, I just quit and I'm at home with my kids. But next year I'd like to be doing something different. I'd like to be working as a producer or presenting.

Josh: Amazing. So, I mean, yeah. So you've got rid of the job. So now it's just finding— I think it's an easy one.

Leah: The clinker says yes.

Tommy: Was it a hard decision to make leaving?

Leah: Yes, it was, because I think—

Josh: We could have just asked the clinker to guess.

Leah: It takes the time to build a career, I think, as you would both know. So yes, it was a bit tricky. It's been nearly 10 years. But at the same time, it's kind of a good time to pivot, I feel. Like so many people I know who've had families have sort of reassessed in that time.

Josh: So I actually quite like a shifting career.

Tommy: You want to become a cop, you were saying, if everything goes pear-shaped.

Josh: The only problem with it, I didn't pass. I mean, I didn't pass year 11 because I didn't do year 11. But you need like a I'd need to sit some exam to get my pass or Year 12 pass to then be able to even go for a position as a cop. Yeah, it'd be annoying. You'd need a bit of time on your hands and then you have to move somewhere to do your, you know, your rookie. Like, remember that girl I bumped into at the airport from Shepparton?

Leah: This girl used to work in Shepparton, did you?

Josh: Yeah, I used to. I was up there for a couple of years. Thanks for asking. I worked up there. No, but she did a placement. She's doing a placement now in like Pakenham or something.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Franger. So you've got to, you'd have to move your family.

Leah: No, I know what you mean. It's hard to uproot your family.

Josh: 100%. Imagine if I'm like, buddy, we're going to Frankston. Actually, Frankston's lovely. It's by the water.

Tommy: But that's the radio world in some ways, right? People doing that, they're going all over the place to like, you end up seeing all these random parts. Like we had Stacey June on. She was talking about, you know, ending up in random spots.

Josh: I think making decisions when you don't have too much commitment is a much easier feat, even if It's harder. It's hard. All these decisions are hard. But when you've got 3 kids, like logistically thinking about that.

Leah: Well, I mean, even the logistics of getting here, to be honest. I told Mason I had to chug an energy drink and a half.

Tommy: And what was that?

Josh: And you said it was one?

Tommy: Yeah, it was natural.

Leah: Organic natural one.

Josh: Are organic energy drinks bullshit?

Mason: Yeah, here we go.

Leah: I know they are.

Josh: Clinko, what do you think? Yellow, maybe, maybe.

Tommy: I think it depends on the brand.

Leah: I'm not gonna put my hopes on that.

Tommy: And so what's the M&M's game?

Leah: Okay, so the M&M's game is you pick one closing your eyes out of the bowl, and then whatever colour it is corresponds to a question that I have written on a Post-it note for you.

Tommy: Do you know the most traumatising thing that ever happened to me was I was at a party and they mixed M&M's and Skittles into the same bowl.

Josh: It's monstrous.

Tommy: It's like, you don't know what you're doing. Because the thing is that I always like go handful. And so it's very disturbing when you get a Skittle and an M&M.

Josh: It's the type of person that would do something like that.

Tommy: I know this was— I was 20 1. Okay. Yeah. So I was probably old enough to maybe handle it, but no judgment.

Leah: No judgement on that.

Josh: Old enough to have a real opinion. When you're young, you just like, you just do whatever you want.

Tommy: Yeah. You eat Weet-Bix for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Josh: Yeah. All right.

Tommy: So I'll try.

Josh: I'm going in.

Tommy: Oh yeah, you try. Okay.

Josh: Got one.

Tommy: It's brown.

Josh: Is that brown?

Leah: Okay. Tell us about your biggest fail moment.

Josh: Biggest fail moment. I was actually the biggest.

Leah: No, this is too intense.

Josh: I was thinking about a good excuse to tell this story. I was thinking about personal fail. Not many people knew about it. Um, it's when I shat myself. You want to know this story?

Leah: Wow, things have taken a real turn.

Josh: So when I was 18—

Leah: I'm sorry, podcasters.

Josh: When I was 18, I was dating this girl Rachel. I remember like early day relationships, how much you're really communicating Mate, Josh, you've been with Bree for a long time, so she probably doesn't, you know, like how, like very early in a relationship, how much are you talking and revealing things about yourselves and what's going on? Like sometimes you're just holding a bit more information. If this happened now to me, I'd tell her everything, right? So there's a big difference. I just wanted to set that scene.

Tommy: If you were dating in 2019, say like the whole Amy thing didn't happen, but you find Amy again, do you think that you would? I didn't want to frame it as like if you got a divorce divorce and was dating. Yeah, I wanted to be like nothing, like all that sort of thing. Yeah, um, to be respectful.

Josh: I wouldn't go on Tinder.

Leah: No, what I was going to ask is, you just volunteered that, but that wasn't the question.

Tommy: Uh, no, would you, um, would you be more open to all those things? To what? What you're talking about, like talking about, uh, bowel movements. Bowel movements. Yes, because the, yeah, the clinker said, would you though, do you think?

Josh: Uh, I think I'm past a lot of the insecurities I had. Like, for instance, on the night that this happened, I had a big cold sore and I had to go to my, one of my best mate's 18th birthday, which was on a party boat.

Leah: Oh my God.

Josh: So I'm feeling a bit insecure about my cold sore, had a complex about it, and I was going with this girlfriend of mine. And before the boat, because everyone was drinking prior to going on, I needed to take a piss. So I went behind these bushes and and taking a piss, and I sneezed as I was pissing. And what happens is it's all a bit loose, like you've already sort of— you've opened one door.

Tommy: We can't share this to everyone.

Josh: You've opened one door and you're peeing, which has just relaxed everything down there. And all of a sudden I chat myself. Oh, and I'm thinking—

Leah: things escalated so quickly.

Tommy: And you weren't even on the boat at this point?

Josh: Wasn't even on the boat. What do I do?

Tommy: I mean, the question is, what's the cold sore got to do with anything?

Josh: My point of just feeling like eyes were on me. When you have a cold sore, it feels like you're an alien and everyone's like, and now you've shit your pants.

Tommy: So now you've got a cold sore and you've shit your pants.

Leah: You're that guy.

Tommy: It was bad.

Josh: And so I thought, okay, here's my, here's my plan. I'm not— I can't tell my— like, I'll tell Amy now. I'll be like, babe, I've shat myself.

Tommy: I'd get a second opinion.

Leah: Oh my gosh.

Josh: So I went on to the boat, fucking made a beeline for the boat, went to the toilet. The toilet was situated across from the bar within 1 meter. So it's a very tight boat. The door to the toilet had a little gap underneath it, right? And so I went into the toilet. Tiny. It's like you're on a plane. There was a cabin hole open. There was a cabin hole open that I looked out there just because I was curious. And you could— it's just out to water right there. So it wasn't out to a deck or anything. I'm like, fuck. All right, I've got to— for some reason, I thought— I didn't think to take my underwear off and just do something with them, throw them out the window. So what I—

Tommy: how bad was it?

Josh: It's pretty bad.

Tommy: It was very easy.

Josh: It was Code Brown. And so what I ended up doing was just wiping, wiping whatever off to clean them, to think, okay, I'll layer it with toilet paper so I can pull my pants back up. It didn't smell that great in the bathroom.

Leah: Not gotten rid of the source of the smell.

Tommy: The source.

Leah: Well, you're the source.

Josh: Used a lot of toilet paper, so Here I am, cold sore, feeling anxious about it, stinking.

Tommy: How old were you here?

Josh: 18. And I put toilet paper into the toilet.

Leah: Could you imagine doing this, Mason? That's your age.

Josh: I pressed the button and the toilet starts overflowing. So it is literally just filled and clogged and the water's coming out. Water starts pouring out over the top of the bowl, going out under the door, and it was only a small bit of water at this moment. What do you do? What do you do at that point? Oh my gosh, you've already shat yourself, so you can't shit yourself again.

Leah: I don't know if I would have gotten on the boat after I—

Mason: Yeah, I wouldn't have gotten—

Josh: I fucked up. Go for a swim, mate, wash it off. Here's what I did: roll my sleeve up, put my hand into the toilet bowl, pulled out the toilet paper. I was like, what do I do with this? I threw it out the porthole into the water, and the toilet thankfully went down. It was just a reaction. I was like, oh no. And then I'm left with Oh, my hands, my hands.

Tommy: What happens to your confidence? What happens to your confidence?

Josh: I'm flat as fuck.

Tommy: Do you reckon they know? I don't know, but if you like, if you've done something like that, even if like sometimes you feel like your breath smells or whatever, and then you sort of, you're not as confident in your talking.

Josh: I mean, at the moment I'm about to open the door to go out to face the crowd of people that I think are waiting for me, which that's how you think, you're like, yes, everyone's going to be fucking looking at me.

Leah: Although in fairness, with how long it was it would have taken for this whole schmozzle to unfold. Maybe there was a line at the toilet.

Josh: No, it was pretty quick.

Tommy: I was expecting that you were there.

Josh: No, no one was there. But I think that's like a massive fail. Yeah, it's a massive fail because I probably could have fixed the problem by— in hindsight, like, people have given me the advice, you should have just gone into the bushes, taken your underwear off, and jumped on the boat.

Leah: Yes.

Tommy: I've never, I've never ever— the closest thing I've been to not having undies on is like going from like my apartment to like the bin room to put the bins out. Like, I don't like the idea of not wearing— you want support all the time.

Josh: Absolutely.

Tommy: Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, I get that.

Josh: But so that was a bit of a fail.

Leah: Okay, can someone else take an M&M?

Tommy: Do you want to have a go, Leanne?

Mason: Yeah, you have it.

Leah: Okay, close your eyes.

Tommy: I'll say blue. All right, blue is tell us about a time where you shit your pants. Tell us about a time you had to be brave.

Leah: Oh, okay.

Tommy: I feel like—

Leah: listen to that story.

Tommy: I feel like any of these things could have led to the pants. I think he wanted to tell us a story.

Josh: He's like, tell us something about yesterday. I was thinking yesterday about this story.

Leah: Okay, so I pick a different color?

Tommy: No, you've got to be brave. No, this is the whole point.

Josh: When have you been brave?

Leah: Um, all right, uh, let's see. Okay, this is a bit heavy though. Is it all right?

Josh: I just I just did a shit me pants story. I'm going to put this whole thing in my mouth.

Leah: Just go for it.

Tommy: Oh, great.

Leah: Bunny.

Tommy: There's the bunny cupcake down.

Leah: Yeah, there's 3. One for Mason.

Tommy: Oh, great. Thank you.

Leah: Okay. So I've got 3 kids. When I had the first one, it was, you know, birth was an unknown territory to me. And yeah, you just don't know what to expect. And I'm one of those people who's like, you know, I don't know. Do you call it tin ass where you're like, I'll be right. You know, and it all works out for you.

Josh: Tin ass?

Leah: Yeah, that's what we've got a friend called Richard. Hi, Richard, if you're listening. And he's like tin ass because like he doesn't necessarily prepare stuff, but it always Tin, like tin, tin ass. Yeah, tin ass.

Josh: Anyway, can you look up what it actually means?

Tommy: Does he mean tonight?

Leah: No, that's different.

Tommy: I'm from the West, so maybe we have different, is that like, as in luck?

Josh: She's made of tin. Well, Mr. 97's got the explanation.

Mason: Someone who achieves a feat of skill through nothing but luck.

Leah: Yes. So that's why I was hoping to tin ass my birth. There's an example in a sentence. Yes. But anyway, you know, things go this way, things go that way.

Tommy: Amazing. What a vivid picture I'm painting.

Leah: But I think I had to be brave because at the end it sort of happened that I had to be taken away for extra surgery. Things had happened that weren't like supposed to happen. And my husband was standing there with that little baby and I was going off on this, you know, what do you call it? It's not a tray, but like, you know, being pushed away. Trolley. I was being pushed away on a trolley.

Tommy: Medical bed.

Leah: Yes. And when your body's in shock and it's just like jittering on the table so much, like I was like jumping off the table with shock jitters. And I think in that moment, I remember just saying to myself, like, you just you have to be brave in this moment. Like, you're going to be like, you know, that self-talk had to really kick in. You're going to be okay. Your baby's fine. You'll be fine. You know, all those things. And you can't take anyone with you.

Josh: You just have to go.

Leah: This was the first child. And after that, couple of years later, you went back for two more. But yeah, so in that, I just remember in that moment being like, don't, you can't be a sook. You can't be like, I want someone to be with me while I go to this surgery. Like, I just couldn't do that. I had to be brave.

Tommy: So what was the learning?

Leah: I don't I don't know exactly what the learning was. Maybe that things can go a variety of ways. And also maybe that, like, because my husband hadn't really prepared either and just seeing him be scared in that moment was scary.

Josh: How do you prepare for that first time?

Leah: I know, but like, I feel like YouTube is full of clips and maybe you should confront yourself with some of those videos.

Josh: I don't know.

Leah: I don't know. Like, I'm not too sure.

Tommy: It feels like everyone who listens to our show is going to be listening because we've mentioned that we've already suggested that on the show this week with Stacey June.

Leah: Oh, sorry.

Tommy: I should have said that. Yeah. Like watching YouTube videos of pregnancy, like of birth.

Leah: Hang on.

Tommy: Hang on.

Josh: How can you be prepared for seeing a doctor with a pair of scissors cut your wife's vagina? Yeah, that's what I saw.

Tommy: Yeah, how the fuck?

Leah: It's a hard moment.

Josh: It's a real fucking moment where I'm just looking.

Leah: I love when you cut just as well as she will. I'll put that out there.

Josh: She's up there just going, ah! Oh man.

Leah: Yeah, it's, um, it's very confronting.

Josh: You're brave. And it should—

Leah: I guess you are shown your own resilience and resourcefulness in those moments that you can get through it.

Tommy: Do you need pain? If they're going to do that cut, are they pain meds? There's pain meds. Okay.

Leah: Yeah. Yes.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Does anyone with a natural birth get that or not?

Josh: I think that intervenes. I think it'd be inhumane to be doing that without painkillers.

Leah: I think they do. They give you some kind of jab, but I think also at that point you're in so much adrenaline.

Tommy: Yeah, exactly. You can get away with it.

Leah: They could cut anything off.

Josh: Oh no, sorry, Josh. Like if you've had an epidural, like there's not much feeling at all down there. Did you ever have an epidural?

Leah: Yeah, I did for the first time.

Tommy: I've had an epidural.

Josh: Have you?

Tommy: Yeah, for my back because I've got two hernias.

Josh: His vagina wasn't cut though.

Leah: Exactly.

Tommy: No.

Leah: Mason over there, there's so many tears in his eyes.

Josh: Let's do it. Questions for Mr. 97. Oh yeah, okay, um, I'll throw— I'll pick his thing and throw it at him.

Leah: Okay, okay.

Tommy: Catch!

Josh: It was green. It was green.

Leah: It's tell us something about yesterday.

Mason: What happened yesterday?

Josh: It has to be something interesting about yesterday. It can't just be had a smoothie.

Mason: Oh well, no, I was I was doing this edit that I was really excited about at the start, and then I sort of spent like an hour on it, and then I was— I got to the end of it and I was like, I was really, really disappointed with it. Like, it was—

Leah: are we allowed to know the edit?

Tommy: Yeah, this is the video you're doing for Gemma's birthday.

Leah: Yeah.

Tommy: And the thing is, he sent it to me, he said, how can I fix this? He's like, how do you fix it? I said, no, you can post it. I said, just make it clear that you did it, which is like—

Leah: because that was my environment.

Mason: That's That's the response that tipped me over as well.

Tommy: Oh, really? I said put some music on it first, and then, well, he, the first thing that, um, the first bit in the video was me talking about scrotums or whatever, and she's like, I don't have one of those. I was just like, bury the lead. I mean, it doesn't like, for people with context, you're not really building. Yeah.

Leah: Does, in video world, does music cover a multitude of sins?

Tommy: Oh yeah, yeah, you can. Yeah, I mean, it changes the tone. Yeah, definitely.

Josh: I've had some fun, like, it's fun to cut like something really light-hearted to serious, like, cinematic music. Yes, it's funny, like, it changes the vibe of everything.

Tommy: But if you can do an edit that isn't reliant on music and then put it in, you can really enhance it. Like, if you're just focusing on the best bits and it plays out.

Josh: But in saying that, I've been so down, I've been so down on edits based on where they've been and then I've shifted it and just moved a few things around and it's great.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: And so this is subjective, the creative, what you feel is amazing versus what other people feel. It's like maybe the scrotum thing was a bit much.

Leah: Could we take the scrotum part and put 'You raise me' like some kind of like inspirational, maybe not 'You raise me up' actually with scrotum talk. I don't know. Bad choice. But you know what I mean? Like some inspirational Send it over to her.

Josh: Like, you could have— it could have been a funny one. She would appreciate a text message with that in it.

Tommy: But I think— no, I think what you did was good. It's always interesting. How do you select our snippets? What filters are you using?

Josh: I'll answer that.

Tommy: Oh, yes.

Josh: No.

Mason: What depends is probably two different snippets. There are like funny ones and then there are ones that celebrate them or the guest or the person and make them look great. So that's, that's a filter.

Tommy: Sure.

Josh: And then it's also his filter, like, yeah, what he thinks is good for a viewer and is funny is different from what we would pick. Well, that's what I think. So that's why you just— it's having a crack.

Tommy: Yeah, that's why I don't micromanage it because I don't think that like I've got an opinion, but it's not necessarily right. And so it's good getting—

Leah: And when you are choosing the snippets, do you have in mind like your loyal base or do you have in mind, oh, this could be something that someone sees and they love it and then that gets them into the show?

Mason: I mean, it's probably a bit of both. There's like, there's a thought of just like, oh, this is, this is great, people will love this. Um, but I mean, I probably— the, the idea of like celebrating the guests is probably more of a forethought than is this going to be the best, best snippet.

Tommy: Because if you celebrate the guests, then it's going to potentially onboard new people. Yeah. And also It's— yeah, I think that it's a— there's a safety in celebrating the guests because the other thing is you can easily fall into the trap of if you're not considering that, having too much of us talking and it sort of gets lost. So I think that that's a good filter.

Josh: Yeah, you're doing a good job.

Tommy: Now, can I have an M&M?

Leah: Oh, you go for it.

Tommy: It's a brown.

Josh: What was that?

Leah: That's the biggest fail. Do you want to pick a different question?

Josh: No, no, no. He doesn't want to break the rules.

Tommy: No, I don't want two of them though.

Mason: Yeah.

Tommy: Do you don't want to hear my— I'm trying to think of this. Oh yeah, well, one that I like is, um, talking about is, uh, when I was working at the fire brigade in the media department, and it was, I think it was Karrum Downs or something. I went to like their, one of their training places, and it was like a— wherever it was, it was like over an hour's drive. And I, um, packed all the gear up and I drove to the, to the location. I, um, I was like a trainee or whatever.

Josh: What were you listening to? Podcast in the car?

Tommy: Nah, it would have been like radio because I had like my Ford Laser, which would have been like a 1997 Ford Laser or whatever. So it didn't have sort of the connectivity.

Josh: Tape into the Discman.

Tommy: I know I never did the tape like into the phone or whatever. No, it was very much radio. But anyway, so I got there. I was really proud of myself because I went up to the main trainer and was explaining, hey, I'm here to film this sort of thing. Really sort of briefed him in on like, this is how it's going to go. This is what I'm going to do. And so I said, now next I'm just going to go to the car and set up and I'll— and then we can go. And I went and opened the camera bag and I'd forgotten to put the camera in the bag.

Josh: Oh, what's happening? What was the feeling?

Tommy: I was like, oh no, it did feel light. No, I was like, it felt— I was like, it did feel light. The bag felt light when I picked it up.

Josh: You felt— you thought that?

Tommy: And so I was like, ah, it was— I feel like that happens with laptops and stuff sometimes, you know, like your backpack, you grab it and then it's like like you have the moment of, did I put my— but you get used to whatever the weight of your bag is.

Josh: It's not a mistake you make again after doing that.

Tommy: And so that was the fact. And so I had to call. But the great thing was—

Leah: so what, what did you do?

Tommy: What did I do?

Leah: Did you tell them?

Tommy: I told them.

Leah: Oh, you told them.

Josh: Okay.

Tommy: I wasn't just gonna be like, pretend like, you know, camera. No, I, um, 3 hours set up, you drive back. No, I, uh, the good thing was I remember I was— even though I was an intern there, I was quite overqualified. And so I'd always prided myself on being the, just like everyone else, like the media producer. And so it was the one moment where I like really leaned into the fact that I was an intern. So I was just like, I called up my boss who I used to, I used to have these talks to him. Like I felt like I was like 20 years old. I was a little bit obnoxious. And so I would like have these conversations with my boss of like, Michael, you know, you don't seem happy in this role. You know, why are you, why are you, you know, If you are, you know, he would— my favourite thing about him was he'd print every email he'd ever get and he'd put them in folders.

Josh: Absolute animal. Knocking down forests left, right and centre.

Tommy: And so when I arrived in the department, they had just received a 6-month audit of how the department was going and it wasn't good. And so his days were spent going through this document with pen, doing rebuttals for the whole thing. And he was preparing this whole thing. And I remember saying like, like, look, I think like your wife would support you if you like, like left it.

Leah: So anyway, I called— Is he indulging you?

Josh: Yeah, I know he like— Josh is good. He can find the emotional in to somebody.

Tommy: And so I said, but then I called Michael. I'm like, mate, like I've made a big mistake here. I'm only an intern.

Josh: It's a big learning.

Tommy: I'm like, you know, this is a learning. I mean, this is, I guess this is what happens when you're like intern wages. Pictures. Uh, you know, I was thinking like an intern. I've done an intern thing. And he was like, yeah, cool. And he was fine with it. Yeah, because he was like stressing out about responding to the audit.

Josh: And what—

Tommy: I probably should have changed his name.

Josh: But that's what did you need to shoot?

Tommy: Um, oh, so what I ended up going back another day to film, and it was like— it's very cool. It's like two awesome projects I worked on at, um, at the MFB. One of them was the high-angle rescue team training.. So I filmed on the top of, um, the Sofitel, them abseiling down or whatever, which is cool, like on the top of the roof.

Leah: So you were on top?

Tommy: Yeah, I was on the top of the roof filming. So that was cool. We also did—

Josh: don't mistake him with the guy who's actually going down the side of the building. Yeah, fire person going down.

Tommy: Yeah, I was like, guys, surely I need a harness. You're fine. But the other one was, um, DP World, which is like the big cranes and stuff for the shipping containers or whatever. Like, yeah, over your way they look—

Josh: Bodhi calls them giraffes. Like they look like huge giraffes over the West Gate. You know, everything that happens over the West Gate, but just open your eyes, look left or right. So when you look, they're like in Melbourne and Steam City, you know?

Tommy: Yeah, yeah.

Josh: They look like in the distance these big giraffes and they pick up and they send down and pick up the beer.

Leah: Yeah, you definitely would have seen that.

Tommy: Yeah. But they But yes, there was that. But then the training, when I went back, it was stressful because they, they, it was an old like sewage plant. And so they had gutted out the, these big concrete containers that housed shit in them and they would run literal shit.

Leah: Yeah.

Tommy: And they would, they would do training stuff. And what they would do was they, I was filming and they had hay in the middle of this big concrete dome with hardly any light. There's probably like 20 recruits or whatever all there, and they light the hay. And we watched the smoke slowly move. They were showing how smoke reacts within a space, and they were like doing things where you'd feel the temperature of the smoke. So as it was there, there's a huge heat difference between being here and there. But the crazy bit was, as I'm filming this, I'm looking around and everyone's wearing a mask. But I wasn't wearing a mask. And so I was just like, should I be wearing a mask? Yeah, but I'm like, no one's saying anything. And so I was just like, kept dipping down and down. So there was a point where it's like I'm on the ground filming, and then I got out. But that was, uh, that was fun.

Josh: Was that your last day?

Tommy: No, no, no.

Josh: How did you quit that job? What was that?

Tommy: Yeah, no, I always go out with a bang. Yeah, yeah, it's sort of a bit of a mantra, you know. And the MFB, they know how to water out a burnt bridge. But, um, no, the way that I— no, the way that I exited— sorry, no, the way— no, the way I exited was like, no, I got this great opportunity to be an assistant editor on a feature film, and it was, um, I needed my annual leave. It was like a 12-month contract that I was on, and they told me, keep your annual leave near the end of your, uh, contract, because what most interns will do is they will, um, take it at the end as a way of sort of transitioning on to another, to another role. And so I was 10 months in and I was like, hey, can I— I just got this opportunity where like, hey, we'll pay you full-time to work on this thing. And so I went to my boss and I was like, hey, I've just had this great opportunity. He's like, nah, sorry, we need you. And so I like cracked it and went above him to the manager who was managing that whole audit and said, hey, I'm getting— he's saying that he's not going to give me my certificate if I don't do it. And then so that boss, his boss, then went to him and said, hey, Josh can do this thing. And then that ended up— that guy had a meltdown and then he took sick leave. So I did it. So that was how we ended up sort of finishing up. But I mean, that—

Josh: you ratted on the guy.

Leah: Yeah, he was already struggling.

Tommy: He was always struggling alongside, but I was like, mentor. Yeah, but yeah, my mentee. And so anyway, I mean, yeah, so it was a little asshole, but I think there was— it's a bit 50/50. I think you had this like extremely dysfunctional sort of setting. It was sort of hilarious. You had this like office where there's literally like 4 people and they were doing production. They were basically doing a weekly TV show just for fireys, right? And so all the fire stations had fibre optic cable and so they could livestream the show and they would have people from Channel Nine who would actually do the footy show, like the cameras would come in on this day and would film most of it. But the thing is that because of the unions and the management, they all hated each other. And so it was really hard. So no one would watch the show because it was all like management propaganda. And so it was called Firevision. I think it still exists. There were some lovely people that worked there as well.

Josh: I wonder if there's a disclaimer. Disclaimer. I wonder if there's any clips online of it. I feel like that years, years later would be really interesting. Like, think about all the content that would have been made early days. That's now. So there's cycles, right?

Tommy: The archival. So there was a great guy who was a historian, like a real old dude. I remember I got a great photo of him and he would just go through all the old tapes and was really into history. But it was actually the old— it was in North Fitzroy and they've actually knocked all them down. That was a place that Derek thought that there was like asbestos issues because they had all the sprinklers on all the time so that the dust would stay settled. But anyway, can I ask about— Yes.

Leah: I don't know if this is a loaded question, but there's no asbestos in this bit. Is there a little bit of a vindictive streak within you? I'm noticing this little theme that's coming up like this person did this, so I bought their domain name.

Tommy: I totally can't understand this person.

Leah: How many domain names do you have?

Tommy: Not that many anymore. But I know definitely, you know, I think that like I grew up a little bit as like this, not outsider, but I was like different. And so when you're different, you either can lean into it and I lean into it.

Leah: I think you do now. Yeah.

Tommy: I think that sort of like I leaned into it or whatever. But when you're a kid and you're doing this, like I was friends with all the teachers, I had great relationships, but there was, it was so easy for me being in the staff room to also have enemies as teachers as well. So you have, you have everything because they're like, why is Joe? I just want to have my lunch in peace and Josh dances in the corner.

Josh: Oh, yeah, so we've got insight from a teacher. What behaviour wouldn't fly these days? Like how close are people with their students? Like how teachers with their students?

Tommy: I don't know.

Leah: I think relationship is essential to be able to, like, I think it's so linked to behavior. So being able to get the best, because I'm a primary school teacher and sort of in my later years I've specialised in welfare. So I've been working with kids who struggle to sort of fit into what the group plan is within their classroom, whether it's because of disability, whether it's because they're gifted or behavioural issues or whatever. But every single case, it's about relationship and trying to find that connection point with that kid, whatever it is.

Josh: So at what point do you have them in the staff room?

Leah: Well, yeah, you can't really have them in the staff room.

Josh: There's definitely a, like, uh, we've got to look after Josh because he's, you know, you would totally be the kid that I would have with me on yard duty all the time having a chat. What are you thinking about that kid? Kid? Like, what's the observation? Not a judgement on them, but what's the observation from the teacher's perspective?

Tommy: Is it a friendship?

Josh: We've got to look at—

Leah: I want to know if it's a real friendship.

Tommy: Annette, my favourite teacher.

Josh: She's my best friend.

Tommy: She's still like it. She likes my stuff on Instagram.

Leah: She's got a cry for friendship bracelet.

Tommy: Exactly. Exactly. No, I remember when I was robbed of school captaincy, and so I ended up getting school captain in Year 12.

Leah: Okay, but when I bought the domain name and made a complaint—

Tommy: yeah, no, when— no, but when I was in Year 10, so Year 7 to 10 I was at one school, and then you go on to the senior college for Year 11 and Year 12. And so Year 10, they have school captains, and I was the youngest ever SRC president in Year 8. So I was only in the school for a year before I took that. That was normally a role for a Year 10 student, and so I was—

Josh: you—

Leah: I was very impressive.

Tommy: Yeah, thank you.

Josh: So I was asking if Year 10 students didn't apply.

Tommy: No, well, they did. So the thing is, so from— because my whole The whole thing was I'm like, yeah, you can get a year 10 student, but they're going to be out next year. I can actually build this thing. Hashtag 10 years. Let's do 10 years of the show.

Leah: Yeah, no, I think, I think teachers would look at you and be really like, find you endearing.

Tommy: Yeah. Yeah.

Leah: Like you'd be the kid with the clipboard who's like telling them, oh, if you just look over there, Scott has been in the inappropriate area. I'm taking the liberty of writing a note about that for you.

Josh: But we're also in that case a little bit.

Tommy: Adults are also human.

Josh: Yeah, and they're like, this kid's fucked.

Tommy: No, no, but because the thing was that— no, but just to finish off the captaincy thing. And so in Year 10, I applied for school captain. To be fair, I was also on the committee Year 8 and Year 9, helping to decide who was going to be school captain. As an SRC president, I was one of 6 votes to determine who was I would have, uh, plastic pockets on every single person who would apply, and I would like— and there was one guy, I remember Ben Dwan, he loved doing quotes, and it was like, I was very impressed with just highlighting, just like, look, all the quotes that have like famous people. These is like, you know, if I'm school captain, I would do as, you know, and then certain— so anyway, in year 10, uh, I applied, and, uh, there was talk of like No one else was applying, and the vice principal went to a student and said, why, hey, why haven't you applied for school captaincy? And he said, Josh Jansen, we know that Josh Jansen's going to get it anyway. And she said, I think you should really apply. Now, she was on the committee, and sure enough, he got school captain. And it was—

Josh: Did she ever be in her bonnet about you?

Tommy: Well, she was the one. It was one of those ones where it was like an interesting relationship. She was my employer because I worked at the school as well on school holidays.

Leah: Oh my gosh.

Tommy: But also she was the one that gave me— I had a conversation in year 9 where I said I was doing a Channel 31 show that I was editing and I was doing 30 hours a week. And so every time I'd get home from school and the producer from Channel 31 would be sitting on my doorstep with tapes and I would go home and capture them and all that sort of thing. And I wasn't doing any homework. And she said, Josh, you know, this is happening from all directions. All the teachers saying you're not doing your homework. I said, look, Adele, I've got— I probably should mask names.

Josh: That's good.

Tommy: It's all good. I haven't said her last name. Adele, I've got a full-time job outside of here. Like, I'm working, I'm working 30 hours a week. And she said, if you cut down what would it take for you to cut down your hours? And I said, look, Adele, if I was to cut down my hours, I don't have a job anymore. It's either all or nothing.

Leah: You know how this works, Adele.

Tommy: Yeah, exactly. And she's like, yeah, what about 15 hours? I'm like, I don't think it's going to work. And I said, how about this? I said, with my SRC presidency and all that sort of thing, it's a lot of work. German is a complete waste of time for me. I've got no interest in working, living, or doing business with Germany.

Josh: And he was talking in German at this point.

Mason: Exactly.

Tommy: And so, and so, and we just had the blow-up with the ex-Steiner school teacher who we zapped with a pen. And so she was— we had a coordinator come in saying she could have died because we used one of those trick pens.

Leah: Okay, and so good content.

Tommy: Yeah, so that was the perfect story. Exactly. So it was tension. And so I said, look, you take Lote off the plate. I don't—

Josh: that's—

Tommy: we free that up. I'll then quit this, this role, but then it gives me time to do admin amongst all sorts of things. So she agreed. So I have a feeling that by doing— making that agreement and being a strong negotiator, there was two things that happened. I think that she didn't want me to be a school captain. Fine, whatever. But also, yeah, because she knows the Führer. Yeah, but also the other bit was you're more German. Yeah, I'm Dutch. Different. But the, the bit I think, I think the main thing, and this is what Annette, my teacher slash friend, said, is let's be honest, they know that whether you're vice captain or school captain, you can do all the work anyway. I said, Annette, you're fucking right. And so I did, I did vice, and I held up the whole thing. I wrote all the things, I did it all.

Josh: I was like, and then in Year 12, I got school, and that's how losing is winning.

Tommy: Exactly.

Leah: I think it's amazing how you've been a hustler from the start. Obviously all of that has led you to this point, which is pretty cool, but Also, I think you would have been a bloody annoying kid.

Tommy: Yeah, definitely. And I, yeah, there was also very, very quickly the one time where I filmed Variety Night and spent money on hiring two cameras and all that sort of thing. And I put them up. This is 2005. I put them up on YouTube. YouTube had only just started and the principal had found out that I'd put them online.

Josh: Did they know that you were filming? Obviously.

Tommy: Yeah, they knew that I was filming, but they just never imagined that it could go online. Right. And so I uploaded them all and the principal was away on a conference and the coordinator came in and said, Josh, you're going to have to take them down. I'm like, why? They're like, you don't have permission. And so I contacted an organisation called Arts Law Australia, spoke to a lawyer, and they said, look, if you get release forms from all the kids, you'll be fine. And so I went and got release forms and got them, their parents and guardians, to sign it all. Brought them back. On the Monday, the principal calls me and said, Josh, you haven't taken it down. It's getting serious now. And I said, Sue, I've been speaking to my lawyers. I handed over the release forms. I'm like, they're not going down. Is it still up? Yeah. Yeah. So I think I took some of them down just because they're not very on brand. But anyway, it's a real cartoon character. It's good fun. But it is like, it makes things fun.

Leah: I think it is interesting.

Tommy: But I loved the teachers as well. There was heaps of teachers that I liked.

Leah: Even if they didn't love you.

Tommy: No, but the thing is, the, like, I had really solid, great relationships. I think that also I probably played perfectly into the politics of the school because I had the teachers I liked and the teachers I didn't like. And they, it all sort of worked out quite well that the teachers that I liked didn't like those ones. So, it was a perfect job.

Josh: Well, you, that's interesting. If you're looking at them as games, you're playing the game of the teachers, which the game that you're actually in.

Tommy: Or they're playing my game.

Josh: Yeah, they're probably—

Leah: yeah, maybe.

Tommy: But then the kids' game, like your peers' game, is hard, you know?

Leah: Like, did you just—

Josh: you just pulled back from that?

Tommy: Well, I was saying this the other day, I had friends based on I would do all the filming. And so the thing is, if you want to be in the video You've got to be like at least nice to me. And so, I'd go around like, so, I was actually at least—

Leah: Is that the same with the whole school was being manipulated into something? This is like, I think this is a really good opportunity for some kind of show, like a story, a narrative about this kid who controls the whole school like this, you know, that is a good content idea.

Tommy: I was thinking, I was thinking that I think we had this idea about a year ago, TJ. That we go back to our old school. This would be nice for me.

Josh: It'd just be for you because I don't have that. I don't know where I go. So, like, you burn bridges when you're leaving the schools. Like, there's nothing to— you're not— you don't really have relationships. Yeah, I wouldn't even know who to speak to.

Tommy: It would be fun to get some of these teachers because I think about the amount of conversations that I had with these teachers. And I was even like, I get such a kick out of seeing, um, the emails that I would send the teacher after finishing school, just like giving him updates, like on all the students as well, being like, saw Tom, you know, the other day at the, uh, the shopping center. Exactly what you would expect, that sort of deal.

Leah: Are you a firstborn child?

Tommy: No, last, last. I'm the youngest.

Leah: Of how many kids?

Tommy: 3.

Leah: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, okay. Because I was thinking this is classic firstborn behavior, you know, like that wanting to be sort of one of the adults, part of the group.

Tommy: I was so So every single time we would have a family sort of event, Mum would always lecture me when we'd get in the car about, because I'd always hang with the adults, but then I would infuriate her even more because as we'd leave, I'd say, "All right, I'm off to get lectured by Mum about how annoying I've been today," which would really get to her.

Leah: That's not nice, mate.

Tommy: But then the other thing too is— I also liked adult food, so I would be eating all the expensive, like, you know, dips and stuff. And Mum, I remember she'd be like, Josh, around the dips, and she'd say, it's not called scoop, because I would rather dip the chip. I would scoop with a single corn chip. I could finish nearly a whole big dip of olive dip.

Josh: Any of Josh's teachers on the livestream?

Mason: Nah, Gemma joined us. She said hello, friends.

Leah: Hey, Gemma.

Mason: 3D Dill joined, and so did Molly Molly from New Zealand.

Tommy: Oh, g'day Molly from New Zealand.

Josh: Across the ditch.

Tommy: Uh, well, yeah, we're very cathartic. There is something about going— I know it's not good for you guys because you just have to listen, which is that sociopath in me, but I think it's, it's fun.

Josh: No, the teachers are all in therapy as well, you know, getting through this, finding their way out.

Tommy: Do you have nice— but like, what do you— because when, uh, Leo, like, finishing up, um, at the school Were there relationships that you created with the kids that you were, you know, sad to let go of?

Leah: Yeah, I think you always care. That's the thing. And it's funny because sometimes on Facebook, randomly, a kid who I taught a while ago will friend, like, try and friend me on Facebook. But I have to—

Josh: Absolutely not.

Leah: Yeah, exactly. I feel bad, but I'm just like, I just don't know. Even though it's been like, you know, maybe 5 years or 8 years, I'm just like, I'm not sure. But you do care. You always care. And you always remember about certain things. And yeah, I think if you've lived in that school community, there is something magic about it.

Tommy: And you know, it's a bubble.

Leah: Everyone knows everyone, and there's that, you know, I think there's power in that routine and the beautiful community. It's really lovely. And now that I say it, I'm like, why did I leave? No, no. But yes.

Tommy: Did you have a consistent class, or because you were doing the welfare stuff, you didn't have—

Leah: I did. I had classes in my earlier years. Um, yes, I had like, I taught grade 2 for a while, grade 3, grade 6, those kind of things. And then moving on, I started doing like behaviour and social intervention attention. So it's like, you're struggling in the playground, Josh, you don't seem to have any friends, so what can we do? What kind of things can we do?

Josh: And the teachers are wanting you out of the staff room.

Tommy: But did they actually say— would they— would you be as direct as that?

Leah: No, no, no, it'd be— they'd be having different social issues, and then you'd have a chance to, you know, get alongside them and make a plan for them as to how they're going to work. There were some kids who you'd do like a plan for play, because when they went outside, it would just be like they'd fight with everyone, or they couldn't, um, deal with the sort of unstructuredness of the yard. So you'd go, Okay, let's make a plan for play for you. What are you going to do first? And who are you going to do?

Josh: The clinky game.

Leah: That's right. And then if that goes wrong, what's your plan B? And just working out all of those kind of just the—

Josh: Do you know what Josh would have said to you? There's no plan B. He would have said that shit.

Tommy: Plan B is worthless.

Josh: I've listened to Tim Ferriss.

Tommy: There's no plan B. No, it's interesting.

Josh: Peter Thiel told me.

Tommy: What's school canteens like in 2019?

Leah: Well, the one, one of the schools that I was working at, it was all parent generated. So there was parents who would be getting their, what do you call it, like Cert 3 cert 4 in food prep and they'd actually be cooking meals for lunchtime that the kids could— What sort? They were doing— they had like a spag bowl and they'd use the community garden that we had to make the, you know, so there's a lot of opportunities.

Josh: What's in it for them? Are they making money?

Leah: They're getting a qualification. The parents? Yeah, yeah, they get a qualification. It's about upskilling the community.

Josh: Yeah. I mean, I love that idea. Yeah, I get it. But like the new world we're in is pretty hard for a lot of people. So who the fuck has time to be a part of those canteens? Is it like a give back thing?

Leah: Like, yeah, there'd be grandparents who are doing it. Okay, so their parents' kids are at school and they're sort of like between 9 and 3, you know, they've still got little kids and they still want to be a part of that. So yeah, I'm about to be a school parent next year actually, so I'm on the other side of it. And that's interesting as well. I felt like the other day I dropped my son off for like practise prep, you know, like when they practise the whole thing. And I was looking around the other parents parents feeling like I'm a school kid again. Like, who's going to be my friend? And like, are you— I can tell you're the popular one because you're like, you're a mum who's dressed in like really nice clothes. Like you're wearing—

Tommy: Oh, so you have to play that, get like the parents.

Josh: Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of— there's a lot of anxieties around like the talk about school and shit. The biggest problem for me was seeing how I can transition out of this thing that is like, it's every day, it's such a structure. Structure, then what's the— what's my other option? Like, and that's why I think kids struggle the transition out of school for 13 years in Australia, prep to 12, and then finding some kind of like, what's the other option? The ease in is uni because it's some kind of structure. But if you go straight out of that, it's pretty tough.

Leah: How did you find the transition, Mace? You're the most recently transitioned of the three of us. Yeah.

Tommy: Yeah, you do.

Mason: You do sort of like, it's a struggle to fill your time with stuff because it's just like everything, you've got no idea what to do. Just all in front of you and it's just so overwhelming. But I think having some sort of work helps so much because that brings back all the structure that you need. So I think that was probably the biggest thing. Yeah.

Josh: It's like unlearning and then new learning.

Leah: There's so much power in having somewhere to be, isn't there? I feel like I've learned that over time.

Josh: Like you got here today.

Leah: That's— I did. By the skin of my little teeth.

Josh: I got here.

Tommy: But I also like, I reckon I made school completely different to what any other— Like, my experience—

Josh: Or you were surviving.

Leah: Yeah, I was surviving by controlling your environment. Yeah.

Tommy: Like, the thing was, like, I didn't— I probably only went to 50% of my classes, and I feel like normally, like, if you didn't go to 50% of classes, which you probably didn't, you would have been getting in a bunch of trouble. For me, I was like, I'm getting a letter from the drama teacher to say that Josh needs to do extra time with the production. But then I'm also reaching out to their suss. So I'd have like 6 notes from all the different teachers and they weren't all talking. And so before you know it, you've actually, you're only going to the classes that you want to go to.

Josh: Well, I think as a parent, it's also so much in that. How do you, like, there's a worry about what is your kid going to be like? You had a kid, what are they like at school? Do they find the resilience in that way or the approach?

Tommy: Yeah, I don't think if I was, I mean, I'm not planning on having kids, kids. But if I was to have a kid, I think that it would be— I think like the whole Steiner thing, like, I think you'd— I just want to do it, allow for different thinking. However, I would also want to make sure that it wasn't in something that was too, um, status-driven from an education point of view. So I wouldn't want to put them in a position where they're about— like, I want them to be mixing with all different types of people.. And I guess that the hard thing is it seems unfortunately like there is a gap between quality or not even quality of education. I think like if you want a standard education in the current system, that's fairly equal. But where it gets different is if I, if I was to take a kid to a different type of school, I would say that you're getting a certain type of parent who's bringing their kids there, which sort of creates a different world.

Leah: Yeah, there's so much to consider in all of that, isn't there? We sort of have made— my husband and I had this discussion about all of that. He's really concerned about, yeah, if you go to a place that's completely privileged, how much do your kids then understand and learn about all the different, you know, facets of people in society and all those things. Anyway, I don't know if that's right or wrong, but we have made this decision to kind of go local primary school for primary school and then for high school to sort of gauge where the three are at and choose different different, like, you know, like schools for them, you know. Like, if someone's really excelling at music, to try and hopefully have the funds to be able to support that, you know, like to choose the different paths for high school. That's sort of where we're at. But who knows? I mean, there's so much to consider at the moment. It's just focusing on fitting in at prep.

Tommy: Yeah, it's almost—

Josh: there's something in, um, getting your outfit on fleek.

Tommy: Yeah, that's right. I think there's also something in, um, yeah, having the ability to do extracurricular activities, like not being so stretched in regards to a family spending so much money on school fees. Like what I was—

Josh: To be honest, it gives me anxiety thinking about this shit. Like I'm so— I'm not there yet. It's like I can't even put myself in the place there. Like it gives me a bad feeling.

Tommy: I guess the thing is, do you need cash to have a really great fulfilling life? I don't think the answer is no. And so like the best thing I think my parents did for me while like I went to, you know, a school that was considered like a low socioeconomic school or whatever, we had great facilities and things. But then in the final year 11 and year 12, they paid for me to do like VCA Film and TV Foundations outside of school. And I was able to actually like, it was almost that stepping stone. So when I left school, I could straight away go in and do the thing I want. Want. So I guess that's almost like, is it like an exchange program? Like those things I think are super exciting.

Josh: Well, if the kid likes that, because there could— you could have a kid that likes structure and sport and just going to school. Like some kids are like, wait, if I parented Bodhi exactly how I am, it doesn't— I haven't accounted for who he is.

Tommy: We've got to listen. Yeah, you got to see. Do you think he's the structured type?

Josh: I don't know yet. He's so young.

Leah: Do you just provide different chances and opportunities and see what sticks. Like, that's kind of what we're doing at the moment. Our oldest is doing like junior lifesaving and he's like a little bit like, "I don't know if I want to do this." And then it's like, "That's okay, like, let's just try it." It's just a chance really to be a part of the community and learn about water, you know, like those kind of things.

Tommy: But I'm not going to push it if he's like, "This is ruining my life." Is there anything that you guys look at and say, "I wish that I did this as a kid.

Leah: I wish my parents had done those one thing." Yeah, I wish that they that I'd done like music, like keys and guitar because I grew up sort of doing singing lessons. But I feel like what is the point if you can't accompany yourself?

Mason: Yeah.

Leah: So I definitely, you know, that's a, and it's a good discipline thing as well. I think.

Josh: I wish mum and dad invested in a holiday house because we would have been down there this weekend, boys. What about you, Josh?

Tommy: No, I think this, well, it was interesting when I was in prep, I wanted, I was, really keen to learn guitar and they said I was—

Josh: Fred, you can actually remember that shit?

Leah: Yeah.

Tommy: And so like Mr. Dance and my teacher would play guitar and my parents had a guitar that was my brother's, but they said that my hands weren't big enough to do it.

Josh: You're 6, you're 5.

Tommy: And so they said—

Leah: That's sliding toe thumb, were they? Don't hate on toe thumb.

Josh: You can play the bass because you can slap the shit out of it.

Tommy: That's a heavy bass, real big bass. But no, I, um, they then said, no, you can't do that, but do, um, piano instead. You can do that at a younger age. And I fucking hated it. And I was like, it was annoying because it was like, they're like, oh no, you can't fit in here, but you could do this. I just remember I was always like saying to Mum, I'm like, the, uh, the lady's house smells where I do this.

Josh: It's all good though, because you're gonna do shit you don't like to do, because that's life. As you go further in, it's how much stuff do you to do that you don't like.

Leah: It's amazing. You start with a blank slate basically with the kid, don't you? Apart from like those little bits, like even last night my son was like crying about losing a game. We're playing poison ball and it's like, oh yeah, like resilience. Apart from being whacked in the face. But yeah, that whole thing, like teaching them it's okay. Like often you won't win, like, you know, like don't feel bad. Mum's not that even great at catching a ball.

Josh: A new thing for Bodhi, we were driving and I said, Ninjalinos, which is the name of an enemy in PJ Masks. PJ Masks. Yeah. So there's these ninja people and they throw sticky splats. Anyway, I said sticky splats. Sticky splats. It's pretty cool. They throw these sticky splats and stick people to the wall. It's great.

Mason: So it's like Spider-Man's.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Is this what you're watching?

Mason: No, I've seen Bodhi watching it.

Josh: Yeah. And so But, um, I said— so Bodhi says Ninjalinos like this, Ninna Ninos, because he can't say it. And I said, oh, do you want me to put the Ninna Ninos song on? So I said it the way he does it. It's not Ninna Ninos. And I said, oh, how is it? And he was trying to say it, and he was getting so upset because he knew how it sounded, but he couldn't say it. And it was the first moment he's ever been— like, I encouraged him when he said Ninna Ninos because I think it's so cute. Cute. I'm like, no, it's Ninos, it's okay. But he found that he was so upset. I was like, imagine realising you can't fucking talk properly. Yeah, I mean, that happens to me weekly.

Leah: Oh my gosh, my friend recently— or not recently, maybe when we're in year 12, so not recently at all, who am I kidding— but she had this moment where she realised it wasn't hote cangers. She thought it was hote cangers instead of coat hangers because her parents had always done like that rhyming slang. So she literally thought it was called hote cangers. Hangers. And I was like, but what, like it hangs a coat? And then she was like, oh my gosh, like she had a real moment.

Josh: We have a 20-year-old in the room who thinks it's schnitzel still.

Tommy: Schnitzel?

Josh: I mean, I've heard him say schnitzel.

Mason: We just call it crumbed chicken.

Tommy: Have you heard of snack tea?

Mason: You have a snack tea?

Tommy: Explain snack tea in 90 seconds.

Mason: It's when your parents can't be bothered cooking tea, so you have a snack tea.

Josh: Oh, I gave Bodie snack tea last night.

Leah: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mason: It's like carrots and red pepper sticks.

Leah: Yeah, yeah, like picnic tea, I call it. Yeah, yeah.

Tommy: What do you do? Like I said, what are you doing tonight? I'm having snack tea. I just—

Josh: it's so cute, isn't it?

Tommy: It gives you— but you said it in a way as if I knew what it was.

Mason: Yeah, snack tea.

Tommy: Yeah, snack tea.

Josh: It's all normal to him. Um, Leah, thank you so much for coming in.

Tommy: You're off now. You're going to Busk now.

Leah: I am. I'm going to interview Harrison Craig, who's who was the second winner of The Voice, I think, The Voice second series.

Josh: I had him on the show in Shepparton.

Leah: Oh, there you go. I'm going to ask him about you. He wouldn't remember.

Josh: If he remembers, I'll give him a prize.

Tommy: Well, Leah and I are MCing an event, A Friend in Me.

Leah: Yes.

Tommy: That's on the 14th of December.

Leah: Yes. And it's at 10 AM at Melbourne Museum. Not free.

Tommy: This gronk. Free for kids, $30 for adults.

Leah: And you know what? I think because it's Black Friday, there's actually a discount at the moment, so you can get tickets. But Harrison's going to be performing. So today he and I are going to make some promo videos and we're going to do a bit of busking.

Josh: He's got the voice of an angel.

Leah: He does. He's beautiful.

Tommy: So what song is he going to do?

Leah: Well, this is what I need. So anyone on the livestream, can you give me some Christmas carol ideas? Because he has to change. I want to make him change the words to Christmas carols to be promotional songs.

Tommy: Oh, great.

Leah: So get your tickets.

Josh: Oh yeah. Oh, so you're taking the tune.

Leah: It's almost like You didn't change it yet.

Josh: Write a script. It's like Spicks and Specks, you know how they get— they have a passage in a book.

Leah: Yes.

Josh: They read the book out.

Tommy: Spicks and Specks. Is it just all reruns now?

Josh: I'm pretty sure. I don't know. Yeah, I see it on TV. I've seen it. It's at my parents' house. I see it going. But yeah, write a script and then get him to do it to Jingle Bells.

Leah: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Jingle Bells is another one.

Tommy: Yes.

Leah: Get your tickets. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can do that.

Tommy: Friendsover.com. It would be good if it was a .com.

Josh: It would be great if you guys were like Harrison Craig.

Leah: I know, sorry guys, sorry.

Josh: It's your parents' fault for not getting you singing lessons.

Leah: If only, thank you guys. I did do some singing lessons.

Josh: Oh, you got it later?

Tommy: No, she had singing lessons but not instrument.

Josh: I thought it was a— I thought you did piano. No, Josh did piano. Sorry, I got it fucked up.

Tommy: You guys could do a duet.

Josh: You sing, he plays piano, but he—

Tommy: I can't do— I could do chopsticks.

Josh: Yeah.

Leah: Are we doing costume changes?

Tommy: It would be great. I'm trying to work out what to wear. Like, we need to work—

Mason: so, Leah, wear your Lululemon shorts.

Josh: These shorts need to go.

Mason: They do.

Josh: Like, if we're gonna—

Leah: up, what if Shane's leg sells the event?

Josh: Yeah, if we're gonna up our vision, your legs would sell the event and the longevity of this show.

Tommy: What do you think? Like, um, I'm just— they're comfortable. I think it's good for my back.

Josh: Well, actually, your pants have nothing to do with your back.

Tommy: They do. If you wear skinny jeans, you actually—

Josh: don't fucking wear skinny jeans.

Tommy: You're pulling your whole body down.

Leah: But you can't say it's either short shorts or nothing.

Tommy: So I'm trying to work out what the in-between is.

Leah: Yeah, okay.

Josh: Jeans.

Tommy: These aren't skinny, they seem pretty skinny.

Josh: They're just tight, but they're not— they're like—

Tommy: they feel comfy.

Josh: So comfy. I came from looking like this every single day being a personal trainer. You don't have an excuse. You're not a PT, you're not working in the fitness industry.

Tommy: No, I get it. No, I would— I definitely I'm actually— so I think Black Friday, for Black Friday, sorry, I'm going to, um, buy the Quad Lock case, buy a Quad Lock case, but also going to, um, uh, look at potential clothes because I, I find it easier to buy, uh, t-shirts, like tops and stuff. Pants, you gotta go have a shot.

Josh: I have to try them on. Like, I tried on 4 pairs before I got to this.

Tommy: So annoying. But like, admin-wise You do it?

Josh: I haven't. This is like a year ago.

Tommy: Well, that's it. I've still got my— I've got one pair of jeans.

Josh: You've just given up.

Tommy: Yeah, well, they're in my bag. I always have them in my bag just in case that, like, another— the president from the US can actually— not even if someone important comes. I'm not saying you're not important.

Leah: Thanks, Josh. Thanks a lot.

Tommy: But I'm guessing someone that would care— who would care? What would the corporate—

Josh: it's a business meeting. We got something at 4 PM today. Hey, good, a person coming in.

Tommy: I was still gonna wear—

Josh: put them on, don't be a gronk. It's just a personal—

Leah: can you pretend that you're going to be active? Like, I feel like that helps me on days where I'm wearing activewear. I'm like, oh, I just gotta, you know, but I don't necessarily do it.

Tommy: Yeah, sure. Do you— are you wearing activewear going to the school?

Leah: For practise prep, I really made sure I wore like a nice dress with a belt. I like straightened my hair because I wanted them to think I'm a responsible parent.

Tommy: How much like PE Nation and stuff, like what were people wearing?

Leah: Um, I noticed there was a few ladies who had full all makeup and like jagged clothes on, you know, like they had, you know, like they're really nice activewear. Um, and I was like, oh, I'm not gonna get in that group. How do I get in that group?

Josh: Okay, yeah, it's probably a black fly.

Tommy: Squats out the front.

Leah: Guys, I squat all the time.

Tommy: It sounds very stressful.

Josh: Yeah. Um, well, thank you, Leah, for bringing in some—

Tommy: now we can actually smash that. We haven't even smashed the treats.

Josh: No, we're gonna do it off the show. We've been having structured fun. It's been amazing. The episode's structured fun.

Tommy: If you're a business and want video production, reach us at hi@thedailytalkshow.com. We're trying to like tell people what we do now.

Josh: Yeah, we're working with your husband. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tommy: A testimonial. What is he saying so far?

Leah: So far he is loving it.

Tommy: Okay, great.

Leah: He feels a bit nervous on camera.

Tommy: That's fine.

Leah: But I think you guys are putting him at ease.

Tommy: That's good. That's what we want. Daily Talk Show. See you tomorrow, guys, for Weekend Banter.

Josh: See you guys. Bye.