Scott Tweedie On Moving To NYC & E! News

Scott: The Daily Talk Show.

Josh: It's The Daily Talk Show, episode 661.

Tommy: Scott Tweedy, welcome back to The Daily Talk Show, buddy. Mate.

Scott: I just, I want that music. There's like the inner salsa in me. I just wanted to keep going. I was loving it.

Josh: I can definitely, I can play it for you. For people who aren't on the stream.

Scott: Have you ever seen that dog, the little chihuahua that can dance on two legs and he's walking around like the store? That's what that song reminds me of.

Tommy: That sounds like it's a new TikTok dance move. Mate, we're good. How are you? You're up in New York City in a sky-rise apartment. Mate, it's a bit changed since we last saw you.

Scott: Last time we were hanging out, what was it, in the dungeon of Channel 10. Still a cool place, but now we've gone from the basement to my apartment here where I'm paying, you don't even wanna know how much I'm paying rent. In New York City. It is ridiculous. I'm officially poor again just to live here. But yeah, I found this awesome place. I'm level 26 and my friend lives on level 27. So he was the one, he's like, you got to move into this building. He's like, I lived here for 8 years. This is the place to be. But yeah, living in New York, which is amazing in December, January, February, March, it's got a little bit weird here. A little bit has changed.

Josh: And so what's changed for you? So you went to New York for a job. What does your job look like right now?

Scott: Um, yes, I got a gig with E! News over here. We were doing a breakfast show live every morning at 7 AM and then we're on again at 11 AM for an hour. So it's pretty full on schedule, like getting up at 3 AM in the morning. I sort of now know how those breakfast radio guys feel. So that was full on. We launched on January 6th and then all of a sudden, what was it now, 3 weeks ago, coronavirus started hitting the United States of America, and that was on a Thursday afternoon. Our boss was like, hey guys, just to let you know, as of this afternoon, everyone's working from home, which we don't know what that's going to look like, but we can't be in this building. We just want to be making sure we're one step ahead and no one in the team gets sick at all. So we're making you guys go home. And we were like, how are we going to film a TV show from home? And does this mean we're losing our jobs? Like, what does this really mean? But luckily for me, I'm at NBC, like, yeah, under NBC. They're a massive company. So right now we're all still working. We're doing pretty much similar to this every single day. I've got myself and my two co-hosts doing short, sharp little hits of entertainment news every day, and then we're working on pre-production stuff for when we eventually come back on TV. But When's that going to be? I don't know, mate.

Tommy: I mean, it's just thankful to have a job, right? We spoke to Brad Blanks, who earlier in the week, he's gone to Long Island. He lives in Manhattan, but he's gone to his other place to be able to get out of the city. I mean, that's what I was thinking about you. You're, you're still in the city. What's the vibe still living in Manhattan? What's going on?

Scott: Well, it was weird. It was that definitive Thursday afternoon where the news was spreading that New York City everyone was saying was going to be locked down, shut down. They're going to stop running all the subways. They're going to lock off the bridges. If you're in Manhattan, they're just going to keep you in there. And that was a total lie. It was like a rumour that was spreading. There's 8 million people that live here. So everyone, you know, only takes a few here and there. Everyone's getting on Instagram, on Twitter, spreading it like wildfire to the point where my executive producer came into our team and was like, everyone get out of here quickly, go home, pack your cars. My co-host was like freaking out. She's got a place in Long Island as well, in Montauk with her husband. So they were like packing up their car. Well, they actually already pre-packed their car a few days earlier. So they had their food and their supplies. So I sort of had this weird moment of like, what is going on? My Australian friends here were all texting each other going, well, do we get on a plane and go back home? Because obviously we know that the healthcare system here in America is like a 1 out of 10 compared to Australia back at home. But look, I'm sort of that person in those sort of scenarios. I've just got to like stop and breathe and go, well, hang on, what's going to happen right now? How bad can it get? I've just spent a lot of money moving my entire life here to New York City. Especially the plants, bro.

Josh: What did you pay for that plant behind you?

Scott: Mate, they were asking $500 for this.

Tommy: I mean, it's pretty.

Josh: I'm guessing you got it for $400?

Scott: No, 200.

Josh: 200?

Scott: Wow. Now the pot, the pot itself, you can't see it, but the pot was worth $390 US dollars. I got this bad boy for $200. A Jewish guy in Brooklyn was trying to sell it. He had to move apartments. I went and saw the tree. I was like, what a great tree. It's the thing I miss most from my Bondi apartment is my birds of paradise. And yeah, basically I paid a guy $70 and he said he had a van He didn't. He had a car and when he jammed this whole thing into his car and literally it almost died, the whole entire plant. But anyways, thanks for bringing up— I call her White Wendy. She's my only friend right now. I'm in isolation. It's just myself and Wendy.

Josh: She's beautiful. I mean, 97. What do you think about, uh, Scott's plant? Any feedback?

Scott: Oh, it's pretty dialled in. It's, it's better than my setup. I could do with one of those.

Josh: I mean, one day.

Scott: Hang on, this is not really a setup. I've literally got in my apartment a tree, a couch, I bought those two little mirrors there, and then I've got a table and a kitchen and a bed. I'm bare bones right now. And I'm at this point as well where I'm like, do I get any more furniture? Because once again, where am I going to be in a month? Where am I going to be in 2 months? And we're at that weird stage at the moment where like, you never know when your job's safe right now. And that's back to your point before, like, as you said, I've got nothing to complain about. So life for me right now, New York City, I'll paint the picture for you. It's okay. All right. Because I think 90% of people have fled Manhattan who are Americans. So they've either gone to their beach houses, their holiday homes. They've gone to their parents' houses, which can be anywhere in America. So it feels like Manhattan right now is running on 5 to 10% capacity or everybody's just being really good and staying indoors.

Josh: What do you—

Scott: for me, like, I wake up every morning, I go for a walk.

Tommy: I saw you at 8:00 AM out this morning on Instagram. I was thinking, mate, where's your mask? And it looked cold.

Scott: It's still cold. We're having good days, we're having bad days with the weather. Look at me, I don't have my tan at all. I've gone from winter to winter. All right. It's been rough. It's been very rough. No vitamin D at all. But for me, I get up every day. I go get a coffee nice and early because there's less amount of— there's a less amount of people on the streets really early in the mornings. New Yorkers hate getting up early. So, if I go out there, it's fine. But to be honest, today I went back out for a run at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and it was quiet. It is super quiet here. So, I know that the reports back home, and I know this because my Instagram is blowing up with friends of mine hitting me up going, "Keep safe. I hope you're well. I hope you're okay." And I'm just like, for me, everything's fine. I've got my apartment where I'm luckily— lucky enough to lock myself away. I've got food. My convenience stores and the stores around me are so stocked with food. Nothing is sold out, not even tinned food, not even pasta. It's all been restocked. Toilet paper is all available here. And so I've got my food, I've got my health, I've got my job. So all I need to do really is just stay indoors as much as I can. So for me, this is fine. I know a lot of other people in media right now are hurting big time, and it kills me because a lot of them are my friends in the industry, and it's like what can you do right now? Like, there's—

Josh: there's—

Scott: we've got to ride out this really, really tough wave together. And, you know, I could be joining them soon, so I'm counting every day as a blessing.

Josh: How has it changed, uh, your perspective of, uh, career and things like that?

Scott: Hasn't really. I think, like you guys, like, we— I've got a passion for filming, I've got a passion for editing. Luckily I can do almost everything myself, even though my job here, I'm just like the host, but we also write and produce. But I love editing. I always have. I love storytelling. So for me, you know, it's once again, I don't know what the plan B would be initially, but I still know there's going to be a lot of storeys to tell through this hardship. And we're going to need and rely on people like us, like you guys, what you're doing now, like myself, what I'm doing. With lighthearted stuff. People are getting sick of watching the news at the moment because it is really all doom and gloom. The economy's screwed up. The world is quite screwed up right now. And in terms of here in America, the health system is totally screwed up. So people need outlets, people need entertainment, people need us just reassuring them that as human beings, you know, when we come together, it's going to be okay.

Tommy: I think we, uh, tend not to formulate plans for something like our health. You can hear my son screaming.

Josh: I definitely thought you had a kid.

Tommy: I definitely hadn't formed a plan.

Scott: Wendy and I, we're taking it to the next level.

Tommy: Haven't formed a plan of being a stay-at-home dad. Hey, settle down. And it kind of really throws things about, but then it makes you think about plans. So for instance, for you, have you got a plan relating to your health and what happens if you do get sick and where do you go to and all of that shit? Like, seems quite dark., but I think it's probably required. All right, hang on. You answer that, Scott. I'm going to go sort this kid out.

Josh: Here we go. I'll try and mute the microphone so we don't hear the belt.

Scott: Good old punishment, hey? I used to get the wooden spoon so much when I was a kid.

Josh: I think like, I mean, yeah, I feel like it was got the same. And I think that probably in this corona time, potentially parents are around the world are potentially trying to bring it back, maybe. Start a hashtag.

Scott: Oh, there was a good little meme going around about like asking all the parents, how do you feel now about having kids locked up in your house? You're like, you think your life is so much better than ours? How are you feeling right now? I love that. But yeah, back to what you're saying with private health over here, it's ridiculous. It is crazy. So I was actually— I had a private health provider and a week to the shit hitting the fan here, they basically emailed me going, "Hey, by the way, you're not covered for corona." And I was like, "Oh, brilliant." So I spent a frantic like 24-48 hours finding another provider, which is part of like the SAG here, which is the Screen Actors Guild, and they've got a private health provider that I had to join with them as quick as I can. So now I'm covered. So if I do get sick, I can go to a hospital, but To be honest, quite a few of my friends have had corona here now in New York. And when you're our age and you're sort of fit and healthy, it's just once again, you're bedridden for a week and it's like having a classic cold or flu, but they reckon about 20% worse. Once again, that's a very big generalisation, but all my friends that have had it, there's about 3 of them, and then also my co-host, someone in her family had it as well. And the reports from them is, yeah, it just knocks you down for like a week and then you stay in isolation and you get back into society. So, look, it's not all doom and gloom for me. I'm actually not too worried. Like, I'm being very careful. When I go out, I don't wear a mask, but I have a procedure as soon as I get home, shoes off, like right at the front door, and I take a layer of clothing off. So usually you've got your coat on, literally dak myself, take the jeans off, leave them at the front door. Wipe my hands, then I get the good old, what are they, disinfectant 99.9% wipes and wipe everything from my phone to my EarPods to my bank card to everything I've touched. So it's like almost going through my own little like section of quarantine security at my front door to come into my apartment. But I'm not too scared about myself getting it. I'd be really scared about me giving it to someone else, which is why I'm staying at home a lot of the time. I'm just going out in the morning and sometimes the afternoon to get some fresh air. But I'm sort of more worried about giving it to older people because there's still a lot of old people around here.

Josh: We haven't actually spoken to you since you moved to New York. So, I feel like there's this big gap. There's obviously all the stuff that's been happening with coronavirus. If you go back 2 months, what— can you cast your mind back then and what the experience of New York was like? What was the first few weeks there like?

Scott: Yeah, it is like— I thought moving from Brisbane to Sydney, I thought that was a fast pace. New York, another level. Like, they are crazy here, to the point where like you're shoulder barging people on the street and it's just part of life. And I'm like the new kid going, sorry, sorry, sorry. My friend's like, ah, you'll get used to it. They're like— my friend's like, pick it, pick— he goes, what you do is you, if you see them, they won't move, but turn your eye line about 30 degrees away from them and then just keep He goes, "Hold your line, hold your line. You might shoulder barge them." He goes, "You're going to show them who's boss." And I'm like, "Hey, you're an asshole." And he goes, "Yeah, I give you 3 years." He goes, "I give you 3 years in New York, you'll be doing the same thing." So the pace, I noticed the pace of the place is crazy. But then also people's drive. Everyone is so driven here. It seems like everyone is just super successful here. Now, I don't know if that's just because I'm involved in the media world and the TV world and also A lot of my friends are now like 10 years into banking, accounting, architecture. But everyone here is like, they've almost done their hard yards. They've done their like 5 to 10 years of experience in other jobs to come to New York City to then really thrive. So I'm noticing like just how rich people are here. It's crazy. Like the amount of wealth is another level. Like I once again thought moving from Brisbane to Sydney and then also seeing Melbourne, wealthy people. Here it's another level. Where do you see such a big gap between everywhere in Manhattan? But then if you go, like, we've been shooting out in Brooklyn, we've been shooting out in parts of the Bronx, we've been shooting out— literally you'd have to drive like an hour out of Manhattan and then you see real America again, which is 95, 97% of America. The gap between the rich and the poor here, wild, like absolutely wild. The other big thing is pretty much, I think, how hard we work as Australians. In saying that they work really hard here, I still think we dominate them, and I think they whinge a lot about working hard, whereas for us, we just do it, get the job done to then maximise our spare time. So that's also a massive difference I'm noticing.

Tommy: Well, maybe the, like, the working for minimum wage is where it's like, that's That's the grind, which doesn't reap as great a reward as grinding in Australia for minimum wage, which seems, you know, like you can have a good life even just earning that small amount. There's people buying houses on the bloody ground.

Scott: We're so lucky back at home.

Josh: Yeah.

Scott: Yeah. Well, you see that because like when you go to— I thought, you know, I've been here 3 or 4 times as like a tourist visiting my friends that live here. And I thought the service, because they're working for tips, they'd be so much better. And in some places, absolutely. But then the majority, because you said they're earning such a little amount of money, they just don't give a shit. Like baristas, they're just assholes here. You're like, you're trying to say one thing and they're just like, "Eh, next." Like, "Who's next?" And my friend actually, well, he's not my friend, he's a friend of a friend from Melbourne. He's got a big coffee chain here called Bluestone Lane. I don't know if you've heard of it, but they're really successful all around America now. And he said the hardest thing for him running a business as an Australian here is staffing. He's like, mate, honestly, they don't rock up, they don't give a shit because they're only earning peanuts. So that's a big thing I've noticed.

Josh: Yeah, we've had Nick on the podcast when we were in Los Angeles. It was interesting seeing like just the economics of the whole thing. What are you eating? What's your go-to?

Scott: I'd love to give you a fridge tour, but I've got my laptop on a little tripod here. So I, when everyone was like leaving Manhattan, as in on that Thursday and Friday, I went down to— so there's big, there's like the big Woolworths and Coles here and Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Like that's where everyone goes. So then there's another market and it's probably like a medium-sized supermarket down the road there and it's way overpriced. But delicious food. So I stocked up and I think I spent— not like I didn't buy in bulk, I just bought enough to cover myself for 2 weeks. So I put a lot of meat in the freezer. I think I spent about $600 US dollars. Wow. On like a lot of food. Now what I've done, I've done a big brew of curry. I've done a big bolognese. I've got lots of fruit and veggies that are frozen as well. Now, like 2 weeks later, I've realised that that Armageddon day, the end of the world isn't coming, and now I've got all this shit frozen food in my freezer and I don't want to eat it. I'm like, I look, I open my freezer and it's full and I'm like, oh God. I made meatballs yesterday and they were frozen meatballs that I got. They're terrible. They're like a 1 out of 10. So look, I am cooking every meal at the moment, trying to minimise going out and going to stores, so You know, everything from breakfast to lunch to dinner. I'm so sick of doing dishes. And to be honest, just because it's me here, I'm sick of cooking for myself now. I'm getting over it. Like, I don't mind doing it once a day, twice a day, but 3 to 4 times a day, I'm like, I'm done.

Tommy: Scott, a couple of— probably maybe a few months before you got to America, when did you actually get the job? Was it a couple of months before, or did you know about when we saw you? I think that was around June or—

Scott: No, I was— No, I definitely didn't know about it. So I went to a wedding mid-October and about a week before that, out of the blue, had an email from E, who I'd been building that relationship with. I told you guys about that through my mentor over here. So E, out of the blue, emailed me and were like, hey, where are you at with your visa? And by that point I've been sort of working through my O-1 visa with immigration lawyer. So that was cool. And they're like, what are you up to at the moment? So it was like the stars aligned. I went to a wedding 2 weeks later, met up with them, had what was like an audition. They flew 2 girls in to do a chemistry test with me. And then the next day I had a job offer. They were like straight away, like bang, when can you move here? How fast can we do this? Can you get here in 2 weeks? And I'm like, no, I've got a job and a life back at home. I was like, No, I can't just be here in 2 weeks. Were you a little nervous or pushing back?

Josh: Like, were you—

Scott: Not really. No, it was funny because I actually, in that meeting, I kind of played it down to like, I just wasn't desperate for a gig with them. Like, I was like, it'd be nice, but I'm really loving what I'm doing with Channel 10 at the moment in Australia. I'm getting offered a lot of work with them. My girlfriend lives in Australia. I've got a an apartment, you know, in Bondi. I don't own it, just renting, renting it for a lot of money. Once again, are you still renting it? Hopefully. I'm a homeowner there, but I'm not. No, no, no, no, no.

Mason: That's—

Scott: that was one of the first. So that's the long list of stuff you have to do to move your life here and very quickly. And they were just like, Americans don't care. They're like, just hurry up and get here. And I'm like, well, hang on, I'm on a contract with Channel 10. I need a 6-week get-out clause. Plus, I don't want to screw them over. I was doing Melbourne Cup for them. So all this stuff was happening. It was the most stressful month of my life because I couldn't tell Channel 10 to a point. I couldn't tell anyone because America wanted to announce it. But I'm like, guys, I've got to like give notice to my work and get out of it. So there was this like really— it was almost like playing a game of chess where I'm like, when can I tell my executives at work? But they need to not tell anyone in the industry because America wants to announce that I'm one of the new hosts for E! News. So I was like, I told work, then it started spreading around Channel 10 and I'm like, shit. I was like, cool, I don't care that people know, but it just can't get out to like a TV Tonight blog, like an industry blog. So I was, yeah, it was this balancing act with that. Then there was also the negotiation with E! Getting a lawyer in America, dealing with that, getting my visa finalized, which they ended up sponsoring me, NBCUniversal. But still I couldn't get an appointment. I had to fly into Melbourne. Then they wanted me to fly over to then do a chemistry test with a third host. So I actually went to New York for 18 hours one day. So I flew from Sydney, landed at 5 AM, was in the studio from 9 AM till 6 PM, had dinner, The next morning we had a second call with another host and then I was on a plane again by lunchtime out of there, back to then pack up my apartment and life to then move to New York again. So, all this crazy stuff happened. So, that's why I was like, I was so happy to be here and relax and then Corona, like, honestly.

Tommy: One thing, I mean, tell me if we're overstepping the boundary here, but you mentioned your girlfriend. I think when you, just before we saw you, you met her and you were doing long distance anyway and now you've just added about 10,000 miles nails onto the long distance thing. What's going on? You're still in love? You're still— it's all happening?

Scott: Yeah, still in love.

Mason: Absolutely.

Scott: She's the best girl. So I've finished like a 6-month campaign of convincing her to move to Sydney. She's an architect. She's looking— actually, her office just opened an office in Sydney. The stars aligned and I was like, great, she's going to be here in the next month. No more flights to Brisbane, to Sydney to see her. And then I get this gig and I'm like, so you know you're going to move to Sydney. How do you feel about moving to New York? And she's just like— so that was another thing, the stress of that, trying to then like not get too excited with her, but then also plant the seed. I'd love her to come and join me over here. And the good news is—

Josh: when you say planting the seed, are you referring to the plant behind you or is—

Tommy: This is it.

Scott: And mate, hasn't she grown very quickly? Very quickly. So I was so excited that she, you know, it took me about a month or two to convince her. She came over when I moved for a second time. So I did like 2 big moves here just after Christmas on the 27th. She joined me for 2 weeks. So then I think that was her like, okay, you're starting at 3 in the morning. You've got a TV job over there. Is there at all a place in your schedule for me as your girlfriend? And so I worked really hard in that period to show her that, you know, 100% want her there. I think it's really important as well. New York is crazy. The dating scene here, if you enjoy being single and sleeping around all the time, this is the place for you. Um, but— What's that cutaway? I love that. Josh's cutaway was— I love that cutaway.

Tommy: Just catch me.

Scott: For me, I have been single and in New York when, you know, I'm usually in long, like long-term relationships, but I've been single for a while. It's a great place to go on dates. Like honestly, the whole city here loves eating and drinking and just doing whatever. But for me with my job, it's just— and but also the girl that I've met, I want her to be over here with me. So that's sort of the decision. And we're both like, cool. This could be a 3 to 6 month thing that we're apart at the moment, but we'll get through it. And once again, now Corona is pushing that because she was due to come here June, July, and I was actually going to come back to Australia in a month to see her for a week. So I can't do that anymore. So yeah, it's challenging, very challenging. But once again, we're just like the rest of the world, take it day by day at the moment because who knows what's happening.

Josh: I've seen you—

Scott: Lara on the live stream. She says, this is so interesting to hear. Always wanted to visit New York. And Dr. K says, nice way to seize the day.

Josh: The NBC building, I've seen you posting little video Insta storeys of you trying to call out Jimmy Fallon. What is it like being in these iconic locations and working there?

Scott: It's nuts, isn't it? Like, if you haven't seen the show 30 Rock, that's where I work. So in the building, we're on level 6, which is Jimmy Fallon's level. So you walk down a corridor, he's on the right and our studio is on the left. His studio is— if this is the screen, okay, his studio— no, no, that way.

Josh: Oh shit.

Scott: His studio is this big, right? His studio is that big? Our studio is that big, right? So Fallon dominates that level, but who cares? Because every day when I walk into work, He's never there, obviously his team's never there. We get in at like 3:00, 3:30. He wouldn't get there till at least 1:00 PM in the afternoon, but his team are bumping in by like 10:00 or 11:00. So every morning I walk in there and I scream out, "Morning, Jimmy!" Just for a bit of a gag because obviously he's never there. But people every day are like, he's going to jump out one day. And yes, we have connections, of course, working on the same level as him. To do that one day, but what's the point? I think it's more fun him not jumping out. So that's that at that level. Upstairs you've got SNL, which is once again on another level of how incredible and what an institution that show is. Downstairs you've got the Today Show Live. You've got Seth Meyers in the building as well. You've also got on our level on Thursdays and Fridays for the Today Show, they do a live studio audience and then outside the Today Show, you get the biggest acts in the world. Probably once a week performing live for the audience, for the public. So walking around that building, you see so many famous people. Like the other day, what was it, a month ago, I'm in my dressing room, once again, our dressing room this big, and I can hear Justin Bieber playing on a piano and singing. And his dressing room is still like around the corner, but I can walk out and there's a glass window and I can see, and it's just him and Scooter Braun. And he's just warming his voice up on this piano. And I was like, we're not allowed to film or get our phones out, but I'm like, take this in, because like, when do you get to see acts or artists that big? And literally every single day, all of Fallon's guests are there. And that's how I have to walk in and out of our studio, is walking past their corridors. And we're, we're way past where their security and all their teams are, so they just stroll around. So it's ridiculous. And you got to keep your cool, obviously. So you're just walking past them, you're like, oh, Jalen.

Tommy: It's so cool.

Scott: And then you get around the corner until actually like, you're like, fucking Taylor's here. Everyone's like, oh, because everyone pretends to go to the toilet and they're like, hey.

Tommy: Yeah, mate, we went to the Howard Stern or the SiriusXM building and they'd completely like sealed it off. No one's allowed. There was a big door that said, you know, you can't come past here for Howard's section. I heard that he gets a lift up that's not the normal pleb lifts. Is there anything like that? Within the building, like sort of back entrances that you're seeing people that are sneaking around?

Scott: Yeah. Yeah, there are. They've got to obviously, because 30 Rock is like in the middle of New York City, there's so many tourists around, particularly around Christmas time. It is crazy getting around the area. They've got definitely secret entrances for the big acts to come in and out of, but they've still got to enter from the street. There's no like underground car park or whatever. So, they've got it all lined up, but there's still like a 10-meter gap that they can never once again 100% protect them from the public.

Tommy: They call it the gauntlet.

Scott: It's pretty funny watching them. It's like, are you ready? And they're like, absolutely. 3, 2, 1, get in the car. So, no, it's—

Tommy: Usually it's you trying to tackle them.

Scott: Once again, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But once again, it's America where there's the hierarchy, so. We can't— apart from like being in that area, if we weren't in that area with our studio, I wouldn't get close to half these people.

Josh: What do you think was the biggest misconception before you started working in New York?

Scott: I thought because it's America, it would just be on another level. And you know, like, I thought working with the team here would just be so different from at home. But I think it's almost like the opposite. I'm missing some of my producers from home now and writers from home and the editors from home. Just because I think Australians, we are doing like— there's 3 people doing 1 job here where there's so many people here doing so many different jobs. And because it's all unionised, so they can't— literally, if I've got to move a chair on set, I get in trouble for moving the chair. We've got to call the guy and we're like, come on, mate, can you just move that? Just They're like, they get offended if you do that because it's their job. So for me, that's just weird. Like, oh, there's just, there's things like that where I'm like, this is stupid. And then like, to get things edited really quickly, I'm like, especially now I'm realising because we're doing stuff at home, we'll film something on our iPhones and then we've got to send it to our producers which are around New York. They send it to then LA Oh, by the way, our control room is in LA as well. So we film our show, but the control room's in LA, in our ears, which is just once again very bizarre, but there's not enough control rooms in 30 Rock at the moment. So for us, we've got like this sending everything from New York to then LA, it's gotta go into the NBC system, they've gotta edit it on Avid, spit it out, and I'm like, "Give it to me, airdrop it to my laptop, I'll do it in Premiere Pro in like 5 minutes." And like all we want was like a little graphic and then like a little super and then whatever we film for a minute and that can take 7 hours here and it's like, come on, you're like, what are you doing? This is so prehistoric. So yeah, I— why it's like everything's bigger and better here. I miss home for that reason that we can do a lot of stuff and we've got a lot of skilled people back at home.

Tommy: Mate, I reckon I could absolutely get around Exactly, someone moving my chair or feeding me. Hey, JJ, let's do a quick fast 5. You go one, I'll go one. You start.

Josh: I was gonna say, with George being in the stream today, in the control room.

Tommy: Yep, he's back at our office, Tweety. We've jumped out and gone remote, and so George is actually the only one in our office who's optimised and using our fast internet.

Josh: So, yeah, I thought, George, can you please just give us a fast 3? Just ask 3 questions for Scott. Here we go. 3, 2, 1, go.

Mason: Have you been to see any SNL shows? Oh, wait, do you want me to do 3?

Josh: No, that was good. Yes, I did that one.

Scott: Stick it together.

Josh: Now, this is good. Sorry, George.

Scott: Do you want quick answers?

Josh: Yeah, no, that's good. That's perfect. You're doing well.

Mason: Never delay.

Josh: No, that's right. So, George, you ask the first one, then Scott does that. So, we've got the first one.

Tommy: So, you answer that, Scott.

Josh: This is great.

Scott: No.

Mason: Okay.

Scott: And you can go a bit longer.

Josh: Do you want more?

Scott: Do you want more to the answer?

Josh: This is good.

Scott: Yeah, okay, well look, basically no one can get tickets to SNL even though I work at NBC. They are the hardest tickets. People have been trying for 5 years to get tickets to SNL because where they film it, there's only like 140 seats, I think. It's like tiny. The audience is so small, so The day I get an SNL ticket, I'll let you guys know.

Josh: Okay, great. Second one, George?

Scott: Good question.

Mason: Great. Um, what song was Justin Bieber playing?

Scott: What song, sorry?

Mason: Was Justin Bieber playing on the piano?

Scott: He was— look, I don't know Justin Bieber's back catalog, so it could have been, it could have been one of his thousands. I didn't know his like big hits. So it could have been that or he could just be freestyling, but he's actually a very, very talented musician on the piano.

Mason: I was surprised.

Scott: I was like, and he's amazing live. He's a— that's the annoying thing about Justin Bieber. If you don't like him, you have to love and respect his talent because he's actually a very, very talented musician.

Mason: Yeah, that was more a question Mace would have wanted to hear the answer.

Tommy: Yeah, definitely.

Josh: Yeah, what do you got, George? Final question.

Mason: Final question, are people in New York City actually believing Trump when he says we'll be open by Easter?

Scott: Absolutely not. No, there's no way. I think he's already bumped that out. I think that, I think last week he was then, he said, oh no, 3 or 4 days ago he's like, okay, April 30 now. And then beyond April 30th, you'll probably get stretched out even more to mid-May. So no, I think when he said that, people are just loving sending around, like, I love watching Trump's speeches because once you see him start to ad-lib, his whole team are like, oh God, he's going off script again.

Josh: He just defaults to the same thing, which is just like, it's great. We've, you know, everything turns out to be great and we're doing the best. And, you know, South Korea, like, their numbers are nowhere near as good as our numbers. It's just, it's outrageous.

Scott: It's, it's always— I don't know if you guys follow— so you go, George.

Mason: Oh no, I was just going to say that when a reporter asked him— yeah, it is, there's a bit of a delay here, isn't there?

Josh: No, George, it's just you. Go, George.

Mason: Oh, no, it was just when a reporter asked him what he would say to people that are scared, he said, "You're a terrible reporter." Oh, really?

Josh: What about his—

Scott: He's brutal. Like, every single day and every speech he does, there'll be a meme about it the next day. And it's kind of like getting people through. They're like, all right. Let's watch Donald Trump today. Let's see what he has to say. In saying that, once again, I'm in Manhattan, which I think there are a lot of people here anti-Trump. So, different parts of America, they're probably going, "Yes, he is right." But what a time to be a president, honestly. No matter who it is, this has got to be the hardest time ever in history to be a president.

Tommy: I mean, yeah, look at ScoMo. I reckon he's going to look 95 by the time he comes out the other side of this. Hey, I've got 2 questions for you. What's your internet speed at your apartment? Apartment? And also, what's the catering like at MBC?

Scott: Okay, internet speed, um, the little dial, I think it goes up to like 110.

Josh: Oh, that's good.

Mason: Is that quick?

Josh: Yeah, that's great.

Mason: Yeah, that's good.

Scott: Yeah, although since corona and everyone's been at home for the last 2 weeks, it's slowed down a lot because the whole You know, there's so many apartments in this building, so it's definitely slowed down, but still quicker than Australia. Definitely quicker than home. Catering. So we have on level 9 and 30 Rock is the cafeteria. Did you guys used to go to Sizzler?

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Okay.

Scott: It's like Sizzler on steroids. There's like sections for different foods of the world. And you've got your pass which has your face on it and that's got, it's connected to your credit card, but everything's really like heavily discounted. So you walk in there and you've got like tacos, pizza, then you have like an Asian area, got Mediterranean, then you've got like a sandwich bar, you got a salad bar where they've all got chefs making it fresh for you. You can get acai bowl smoothies, you can go to like, oh my God, it's everything. The deep fried area, It's walking into this, like when I have friends come and visit me, I'm like, come and watch me on set. Yeah, cool. Here's the studio. By the way, I'm taking you to the cafeteria. And they are like, wow, it is un— It's kind of like what you hear when you go to the Google offices. We've got one of those in our building here where it's like, you can all you can eat and it's like $7.

Mason: Yeah.

Josh: Do you think that—

Mason: Amazing.

Josh: Do you think that your work will actually move to be more remote in the future? Or do you think, do you still think that it's really important to have a studio?

Scott: It could be remote, it could be, it easily could be remote, but the limitations, as I said, the systems that they've got set up at the moment, and I get it because when you work in a network, you're pulling so much footage. I used to get frustrated at Channel 10 because they use Avid as well, they don't use Premiere or any of the new technologies. But when you've got these databases of so much footage especially for the news departments in there. You know, they've got all their history of TV in drives in the building. They need these bigger editing systems and softwares to pull it from. So I get that. So working with those limitations, it's gonna be— it's still so much easier to work out of the studio. Like right now, it's been quite slow and frustrating for a lot of us to work from home because we're like, once again, I make content for myself. And the content we're making as a team and then putting on YouTube is subpar. It could be a lot better. But they also want to take this time to support all the producers, their families. A lot of people, you know, could be homeschooling their kids. So they've been such a supportive network to go, our first and foremost thing right now, we don't care about what sort of content you're rolling out. Of course we do care, we want to be good. 'But we care about you guys, our employees, and your well-being.' They're like, 'We want to look after you. Some of you might get Corona. We want to support you. We want to support your family, your husbands, your wives, all that sort of stuff.' Wives, hopefully they only got one, not plural wives. But you never know. You never know what people are like.

Josh: It's New York City, baby.

Scott: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So that really surprised me, like how incredible NBC had been. Like, I was just blown away when from the word go this all started, they were just like, we care about you guys first and foremost.

Tommy: That's awesome. One sort of final question. What are you paying for your rent? I'm very curious.

Scott: No, I'm not telling. It's heartbreaking.

Tommy: I mean, you're getting good use of it.

Scott: Absolutely heartbreaking.

Josh: Tommy loves knowing what people pay.

Scott: You know what though? And I jumped up per month. I actually paid They do this. So I had to get the— for not living in this country, right? You don't have a Social Security number, which actually means you don't exist as a human being in America. Now that takes 2 months-ish to get one of those. So I couldn't actually— I was in a hotel for 2 months before I lived here. So then to get an apartment without a credit rating here, without a bank account here, without a Social Security is virtually impossible. So you've got to find these brokers. And they take you around to then eventually back you up to go, look, we know you've got a good job, we know what you're getting paid, I can see your bank history in Australia, so we'll support you to get an apartment. So they take you around and I told them my budget and they're like, cool. And then throughout the day you see about 9 and they're all crack dens. Honestly, you're like, this for how much money I'm paying? This is it? And then of course, end of the day, they take you to like 1 or 2 nicer ones and it's only like $300 or $400 more a month, but that still adds up. That's US dollars, by the way. So that's a lot of money. And they brought me to this place. My friend lived upstairs and he's like, do it, like 100% do it. So I then cancelled my gym membership to then like afford to live here and made some changes to like help out with the budget. But yeah, paying a lot of money. I'm not going to tell you a figure. It's going to kill you.

Tommy: It's killing you, mate, not me. I'm pretty good.

Mason: It's ridiculous.

Tommy: I wonder if, are they going to start doing, have they talked at all about rent subsidies in Manhattan?

Scott: Yeah, yeah. I'm not sure at the moment that there's a bill that's been put into parliament at the moment, so I don't know about that right now. Obviously it's not a worry for me yet because I'm still getting paid, so it's fine. Like my life is moving on. I think 80% of this building will be shitting themselves and I'm not sure what is going to happen. I think a lot of people won't even be able to pay rent next week or the week after. So something will have to happen ASAP because I then know if a lot of people can't pay their rent and the people that own the buildings can't, or they own the apartments can't pay their mortgages, there's going to be a huge chain reaction and this is all part of us entering a recession, right? This is all part of us, you know, the economy doing what it's doing right now, which is very, very scary because the first and foremost problem right now is survival. People actually living in New York City. And that's what the Governor Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo, he's incredible. I don't know, I'm not really into politics and I'm following it a lot at the moment because Cuomo was the first guy in New York to go, everyone shut down. Work from home, get out of here because if it spreads here, it's going to spread so fast. And a lot of people were like, well, hang on, that's going to screw up the economy. And he goes, who cares? Of course we do care, but we can fix that. Number one is survival, living through this. And because so many people are getting it here in New York City, thousands of people are going to die and thousands of people are dying. So their main priority right now is people living. And they also are running out of hospital beds, they're running out of hospital supplies. So that's their biggest priority. Beyond that, it's the economy because every cafe right now, every bar, everything is shut down. All their staff that were getting paid aren't getting paid. It's a nightmare and it's, it's going to be really ugly. And watching it the next 6 to 12 months play out is going to be really tough for everyone in the world. That's not just here, that's back at home. So, it's uncharted territory for a lot of us.

Tommy: We've had a guest come in from a fellow Aussie who's living over in the States and they've guessed your rent and their guess is $5,400 a month USD.

Josh: I'm going to guess $7,500.

Tommy: But I reckon, yeah, $6,500.

Josh: But anyway, you don't have to answer it, Scott.

Scott: Actually, to be honest, you're all off.

Josh: It's lower.

Scott: So, there you go.

Tommy: Mate, you're winning then.

Scott: Yeah, just, just a little bit. But yeah, it's around that figure. It is around that figure. Yeah.

Josh: Talking about Kwame, a bit of light in all the darkness. There's been reports, there's been some photos of him in recent sort of media situations where people are saying that he's got nipple piercings. Have you seen this content and have you covered it on your show?

Scott: We haven't covered his nipples on our show yet. Um, I think, yeah, I love that where he's wearing the shirts and his nipples are quite low as well. They're not like, he doesn't have perky man boobs, but he's, I think he's fairly fit for his age.

Josh: It's nothing to do with whether he's fit or not.

Scott: I think the best storey here, I don't know if it's, I don't know if you guys are seeing it back at home, but it's when his brother works for CNN and his brother and him, they interview, or he interviews his brother Have you seen that?

Josh: Yeah. Yes, it's so good.

Scott: Yeah, it is. It is so raw, like you can't script that stuff. It is unbelievable.

Josh: Uh, Scott, mate, thanks so much for, uh, coming on the show. And, um, so does it look like— like, what security do you have? Like, do you know, okay, for the next 6 months I'm sorted? Your employees have told you you're all good. How does— how's that all working for you?

Scott: Yeah, well, I'm on a contract here which, yeah, has got security for me. In terms of our shows, once again, there's no plans and there's no signs of us packing up. They're getting ready for like when we come back on air to hit the ground running. They're just basically— their priority right now is when we get back on air, we need to smash it. There's gonna be so many people watching TV, and basically I I can see for the next 6 months I probably won't even have like a day off. Like, it's gonna be— once we are back, we're gonna be working our butts off, and that's everybody in the industry, because there's gonna be such a hole out of what we were earning from revenue from ads that's not there at the moment. So yeah, I— to be honest, to predict it, I don't know. But I do know that a lot of people are watching TV right now. People want that light-hearted sort of style of entertainment. For us, we just talk about celebrities. Celebrities are still doing things, and a lot of Americans out there love watching celebrities do things. So that's lucky for me that right now I'll still have a job, and there's no signs of at all us not having a job anytime soon.

Mason: Yeah, good.

Tommy: Well, thank you, mate. You've landed your dream job. It's just, you know, a weird time, and it's good to hear that you can cover that exorbitant rent still for the foreseeable future, mate. So Yeah, thank you.

Scott: The golden rule, you don't convert it back to Australian dollars. Once you're here, you're just like, it's US dollars the whole time.

Josh: That's it.

Tommy: Thanks, guys.

Scott: Quick question for you.

Josh: Yeah, go on.

Scott: Quick question for you just before we go. Does anyone know how to give themselves a haircut? Because I reckon in the next week or two, I'm gonna have to like do the trim on the sides.

Josh: Well, this is the thing, so I I've been talking about shaving my head and Mr. 97 has said absolutely not.

Tommy: Which— Well, it might never come back. That's the problem. Is that what you're worried about, Seb?

Josh: That's the whole thing. What is it, Seb? What's your problem with it?

Scott: I mean, number one, I don't know about the look. And number two, yeah, I don't know if it's going to be good for your head.

Tommy: Physically, emotionally.

Scott: Everything, all the above. At least you guys are honest with each other. I don't know if I agree with that or disagree with that. That didn't help me at all, so thanks guys. Maybe I should shave mine too. Why don't we all do it together?

Josh: Yeah, I think that if you were to do it, um, I mean, the thing is that, uh, uh, you and Tommy Jacket both have, uh, hair for TV. You've got great, great quality hair.

Tommy: And so, I mean, that's a compliment for who, Josh?

Scott: I got the grey coming through.

Tommy: That's great, because Scotty's actually on TV. I'm just not, but I'm the one with half— that's half a compliment for me because I can't make it on TV.

Scott: You have your face on screen more hours a day than we do, so you guys are— what are you talking about?

Josh: You're all crazy. Doesn't make it right though, you know.

Scott: It's illegal, Scott.

Josh: Yeah, we're going against—

Scott: yeah. Hey, look, when When all this is settled, I know you guys will end up in New York in the next, hopefully 6 to 12 months, because I saw the stuff you did when you were here last in America was amazing. So cannot wait to show you. Let's hope we can get SNL tickets. I think your chances of getting SNL tickets with me are zero because I can't even go myself.

Josh: My chance of you, George, coming is very small too, just to be clear.

Scott: And if any of your audience are here at any point, and, you know, your listeners and you guys watch you guys every single day, hit me up because now we're all friends of friends, all right?

Tommy: And then we can do a quick tour.

Josh: Thanks.

Scott: We do need, we do need an audience. We have 4 people in our studio clapping every day. Hey, welcome back!

Tommy: It really does sound like our show, Josh.

Scott: Perfect.

Josh: Actually, very quickly, I'm getting something. I'm getting notifications about Houseparty. Uh, are you using Houseparty?

Scott: I was on it and I took it off yesterday because I would— I fell into the— I don't know if it's fake news or not, but people like, accounts are getting hacked. But I did have a suspicious $200 item out of my account from iTunes, and I don't know what I could have spent $200 on iTunes. So straight away I was like, house party. So I deleted it because yeah, everyone was saying that their Spotifys were getting hacked, they're always different accounts are getting hacked. But Houseparty's come out and gone, that's bullshit. They're like, if you can prove that your hacking was to do with us, we'll give you $1 million. So I don't know, I'll probably get it back tomorrow because I'm bored already.

Tommy: God, mate, just get on the investigation. You need to cover that rent again. Get the million bucks.

Scott: I know, imagine that.

Tommy: Mate, it was just a really, really loose Houseparty and someone gave out a password. It happens. Fair game. Fair game.

Scott: Daily Talk Show. You can take everyone's bank accounts.

Josh: Exactly.

Tommy: Stay well, brother.

Josh: Yeah, thanks so much, Scott. We're streaming 11 AM, 4 PM every weekday. That's Melbourne time. And we're doing our regular weekend banters as well. This is our 11 AM show. What time is it there, Scott, in New York right now?

Scott: Right now it is 8:51.

Josh: 8:51.

Mason: Perfect.

Scott: So you guys are in the future actually. So hopefully Friday's a good day. It looks good in Melbourne. By the way, good question. How do you get that shot? Is that someone's apartment? Yeah, I'll show you. Put a camera up illegally?

Tommy: This is from his window.

Scott: Oh, this is your house?

Josh: It's just my joint.

Mason: Yeah.

Josh: So there we go.

Scott: So I just, that's all I do.

Tommy: What are you paying for rent, Josh? What's your number?

Scott: $550 a week.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: $550 a week.

Josh: Fuck the camera. We're going to have to to cut that shot.

Scott: Is that Southport?

Josh: No, that's Collingwood. Yeah, it's—

Scott: Collingwood, I used to live in Collingwood. I love Collingwood, good area.

Josh: Yeah, it's great.

Tommy: Just flagging it for the future, would we be able to potentially pay you and assist with the rent by having a webcam looking out to Manhattan that we could stream into the show daily? Just a thought.

Mason: We should do that.

Tommy: Just a thought.

Josh: Have you got a view?

Scott: We can do it, why not? Well, what's that?

Josh: Have you got an actual view? Like, can you see something, or is it you're seeing a brick wall?

Scott: That, that's what sealed the deal. Oh, I wish— here, can we just try it? This will be sloppy. Yeah, let's go for it. If it all falls apart, pull up the blind first. Yeah, yeah, I could drop my laptop 26 floors down.

Josh: This is good, this is good.

Tommy: Oh, that plant really does look great, doesn't it?

Scott: Oh, audio is very windy outside, so you might want to turn my mic down.

Josh: Absolutely not.

Tommy: We went full effect.

Scott: Oh, Jesus, that's windy.

Tommy: Empire State Building, look at it, red. It's like a needle.

Scott: And then over there, and then, yeah, so if it was daylight, you could see more.

Josh: Sick.

Tommy: What, what part of Manhattan is that?

Scott: Um, so it's Greenwich Village, so like in the middle of SoHo, West Village, and East Village.

Tommy: Great. We can really start finding out exactly where you're paid. It's, uh, you know, you got the proximity and yeah, 27 floors up in Greenwich Village. Definitely know now.

Josh: Awesome, Scott. Uh, have a good one, mate. It's a daily tour.

Scott: See you, bro.

Mason: Catch ya.

Scott: Thanks, guys. See ya.