Pete Deppeler - Intern Pete & Senior Producer at The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
Pete has been working in radio for over 10 years, producing Merrick Watts & The Highway Patrol on Triple M, and The Kyle & Jackie O Show. Pete's also known for his red carpet interviews and stunts, as well as appearing in the show as the character Intern Pete.
Pete also works as the National Talent manager at Australian Radio Network.
Pete on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petedeppeler/
Pete on Twitter: https://twitter.com/peter_deppeler
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“People hate my guts. They hate me. I have been abused by so many people.”
“I think we're all taking life too serious. I genuinely believe that in everything we do.”
“It's the outrage machine. Yeah, it just goes and goes and goes.”
“You do your movies for free and you get paid to do your PR.”
How should you decide if a red carpet interaction was a success?
Plan for three scenarios before the event: a great interview as the ideal outcome, a messy-but-usable moment as an acceptable backup, and a total miss as the worst case; aim for the best while being okay with the middle outcome.
How do you cope with the mental toll of public-facing radio work?
Tell the people around you when you're struggling rather than hiding it, since speaking up protects both you and the people you work with and prevents mistakes from compounding.
Pete describes how his Intern Pete persona emerged from scrambling to get Modern Family cast members arriving in Sydney, culminating in a bizarre overnight flight to New Zealand and back just to land on the same flight as the final cast members, resulting in a police encounter live on air.
Pete recounts making a comment at a press conference around the cricket ball-tampering scandal that triggered massive backlash, including death threats in his DMs and people confronting him and his family, with Kyle and Jackie O publicly defending him on air afterward.
Hungover after an awards night, Pete fumbled an interview with director Taika Waititi at a Thor premiere, inadvertently sounding like he made a racist remark and not recognizing the director; the gaffe was overheard by a journalist and became a major talking point, later used as content on air.
Pete recalls a night at Jackie O's house where, after drinks, they randomly called everyone in their phones including Bruce Jenner and Dr. Chris Brown, recording 30 minutes of chaotic calls that were played on air the next morning.
Pete shares that he recently went through a breakup and initially kept it private, but ended up disclosing it on air, reinforcing his belief in speaking honestly about personal struggles with his team.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
According to Peter Deppeler, the character began when Modern Family cast members were flying into Australia for a TV special; Pete went to the airport, got audio with arriving cast members, and after a scramble for more interviews (including a bizarre flight to New Zealand and back), Kyle Sandilands started branding him on-air as the eager intern.
From episode 463→The comment, made at a press conference around the time of the cricket ball-tampering scandal, triggered a huge social media backlash including death threats and people confronting him in public; he says Kyle and Jackie O publicly defended him on air when they returned.
From episode 463→Every episode featuring Peter Deppeler on The Daily Talk Show.
