HAMISH AND ANDY IN CONVERSATION: Editor-in-Chief Nicole Byers chats to the comedic duo
Hamish Blake and Andy Lee join Weekly Editor-in-Chief Nicole Byers to share lunch, laughs and a few home truths.
Hamish and Andy are running late for lunch with The Weekly, but this isn’t a case of celebrity diva behaviour. The comedic duo were held up on their way to the restaurant by a woman asking for a dollar. They happily handed over a coin before engaging in a flurry of friendly banter. To the untrained eye this may look like a simple act of charity, but it’s actually part of an in-joke they have with their committed community of followers. “Anyone who listens to our podcasts will know – you see us in the flesh, you get a dollar,” explains Andy, with his trademark floppyhaired charm. “We have a reverse subscription model, where if you see us live and you claim it, you get your dollar,” adds Hamish. “You don’t have to pay for the podcast; we have
“We made each other laugh – that was the lightbulb moment.”
to pay you for being a listener, which I think is only fair. There are a lot of podcasts out there.”
Meeting Hamish and Andy for lunch feels more like catching up with old friends than it does your typical interview. The affable pals, who have just wrapped series two of their hugely popular TV series True Story, answer almost every question with their tongues firmly in cheek. Like a match of verbal volleyball one throws out a line before the other deftly drives it home. With a chemistry that's off the charts, it's not surprising to learn the pair have been cracking each other up since they first met at university 17 years ago. Starting out on commercial radio in Melbourne they quickly went national, before becoming the highest-rating show in Australian radio history. After a tentaive start the duo struck TV gold with Caravan of Courage and later Gap Year, the road trip series that saw them make mischief around the globe. We share a spicy meal and lots of laughs with two of the country's favourite funny blokes. Nice idea giving a dollar to your listeners… what’s it setting you back? H: I’d say it costs us about $10 or
$20 a week.
A: It’s funny, because you could be anywhere in the world and someone will come up and go, ‘Can I please have a dollar?’ It’s actually really nice.
H: I had a 55-year-old construction worker chase me down in Auckland. The guy’s in high-vis banging on my window. I’m sitting in my rental car thinking, ‘Oh no, what have I done?!’ He’s like, ‘Hey, give us a dollar bro!’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ll give you $100. I thought I’d run over someone!’ It could get expensive…
A: Yeah, we’re willing to run that risk. Or we’ll just wear disguises when we leave the house. That’s actually why Hamish has grown his beard. Yes, what was the beard motivation?
H: It’s just good to have goals. I’m growing it in front of you right now, so I’m always working on it. People say, ‘You’re a workaholic, packing in a once-a-week podcast and growing a beard every day.’ I just love working! You’ve also been busy creating amazing birthday cakes for your kids…
H: It’s become a tradition, but I’ve got to stress the tradition starts on their third birthday. That’s mainly so I don’t have to do one for Rudy [daughter, one] next year. I’m already too stressed thinking about Sonny’s [son, four]. I can’t commit to two cakes in two months. The Weekly also has quite a reputation for children’s cakes…
H: It’s what inspired me. Andy and
I are huge fans; we’ve talked about this many times on radio – the swimming pool, the cricket cake, the jack-in-the-box. That book was our bible growing up; we’d read it eight months out from our birthday parties.
What about a Hamish Blake Women’s Weekly cookbook collaboration?
H: Look, no offence to The Weekly, but I think what I’m doing in the cake world is just a little too avant-garde!
What about you, Andy?
A: I know how to cook out of a pizza oven now, but that’s about it.
H: It’s a big step for Ando. A: We [girlfriend Rebecca Harding and I] got a pizza oven put in at home. It’s two hours of watching a fire burn while drinking beers, then 90 seconds for the pizza to cook.
H: If this was an interview with any other magazine the headline ‘Andy
Lee’s HOT revelation’ would now be on the cover. ‘His scorching tell-all!’ Although, I do wonder if in six months from now your pizza oven will be a wood storage unit.
A: We’ll be like, ‘Where are the floatation devices for the pool? Oh yeah, they’re in the pizza oven.’ Is this a habit you have, jumping on a fad then losing interest?
H: Oh yeah, Andy’s a fiend for it.
A: [Laughs and nods at Hamish]
So, that’s your thing, Hamish?
A: I reckon Zoë [wife Zoë Foster Blake] has managed to curb his ways.
H: We were actually just talking about it yesterday. I’ve still got in my garage two of the world’s best tents from 2015 – Outside magazine’s tent of the year.
A: It actually says on the box you can use it more than twice...
H: I’m cautious. I had a good run for the two nights I used those tents, and you just don’t want to tempt fate. A: What about the kangaroo boots? H: Yeah, the kangaroo boots I’m not bouncing around in too much anymore. Although, if Andy hadn’t driven me today I was thinking of roo-booting here – it’s a great workout for the calves! Yeah, okay, I’ve got a few fads at home, but I’m trying to whittle it down.
A: And you’ve bought and sold electronic drums, twice…
H: I’m on my third kit. Sonny’s really into Ghostbusters so I learnt the song and played it to him. He had no clue, he just sort of wandered off.
So, were you two funny as kids?
Did your parents say, ‘we always knew he would end up on the stage’? H: No, in fact one of the phrases I remember my dad yelling often was, ‘Get off stage!’, because I’d be at the table trying to muck around and do voices and be silly. In a way maybe that was him saying you are on a stage – and once you’ve stopped annoying me feel free to go out and pursue that as a career.
A: I had an interest in comedy and mucking around, but when I met Hame and we made each other laugh – that’s when the lightbulb moment happened for me. It was like, ‘This should be our jobs. This is it.’ It seems you’ve had a pretty good run ever since. Any stumbles?
H: We had a dose of being a bit pushed into something that was well beyond our abilities too early [with 2004 TV show Hamish & Andy]. It’s a good thing to get scarred and baptised by fire. It’s also good to realise the worst thing that can happen is just that something doesn’t work. Your family still loves you; you’re the same person. I think a lot of people are scared of that moment, and you might put it off until you’re 50, but eventually everyone has that epiphany. I’m glad we got it early because it allows you to try again. Your TV shows have taken you to some amazing places. Any highlights?
A: Arnhem Land was as crazy beautiful as anything we’ve seen. You’d be there and the guy you’re interviewing would just stop midsentence and bolt. He’d wade into the water with a spear and pull a huge crab out and say, ‘Okay guys, we’ve got lunch.’
H: It was amazing, one of the very few times that we just stopped. We all realised how special it was. Everyone just put the cameras down and hung out for an afternoon.
A: There’s this huge crocodile on the beach. We’re sitting in the water watching this croc as we’re peeling and eating scallops straight off the rock.
H: Basically our highlight was the beauty of the Australian continent and indigenous culture, but mostly seafood [laughs].
A: We’d make a game of it, point at something and say, ‘Can we eat it or not?’ It was amazing – pretty much everything they had a use for. It’s a pity more Australians don’t get to experience that part of the country. H: That’s actually what we were thinking – we were standing there going, ‘Why aren’t all kids up here, or at least exposed to this culture?’ It’s fascinating. When Sonny and Rudy are old enough I’d love to take them around the Top End. Maybe you could dust off that award-winning tent...
H: Yes, that’s why I’m keeping it in pristine condition, so I can say to the kids, ‘Guys, 15 years ago this was the tent of the year!’ I’ve always thought that, when the kids are the right age, driving around Australia would be terrific, to teach them about their country. And to teach them that growing up in inner-city Sydney or Melbourne you get a certain type of person but that’s not the full spectrum of Australia. Plus, I’m pretty sure
I’d be brilliant at homeschooling! Does Sonny understand what Mum and Dad do?
H: I’ve got a little desk at home and if I’m on the computer he’ll come in and say, ‘Can I do some work?’ I’ll put it on font size 50 and he’ll write his name, Daddy, Mummy, Rudy, then we make it different colours. That usually lasts about 10 minutes before he loses interest. So that’s what he thinks Zo and I do – when we’re working we’re writing out names in font 50. He’ll sit and watch Zo tapping away at her computer, and I guess he thinks, ‘There she goes writing names over and over.’ How has he adjusted to having a little sister?
H: They’re great mates. We haven’t had the ‘Hey Mum and Dad, when is she going back?’ conversation. Not yet at least. They’re just really great fun. Congratulations on True Story. What drew you to this kind of show?
H: One of the great joys for us is watching the storyteller’s face kind of going, ‘Oh my God, that’s Hughesy – he’s in my story.’ It blows their mind. It’s like you’ve got this home video made of your life – with some of Australia’s most famous people in it.
A: The show’s about listening just as much as it is about telling – that’s what warmed us to the idea in the first place. Like when you’re at the pub and a mate’s trying to tell a story and all your friends are chiming in with odd questions. It’s that sense of community in the storytelling. How do you decide which stories you’re going to recreate?
A: Stories fall over for so many reasons. Some are not long enough, some we’ve already got a similar type. Some are just too expensive to make.
H: We had this great one about a submarine and we’re thinking, ‘This is a cracker’, but it involved shooting a 1970s period piece with full submarine and crew. I think Game Of Thrones would even baulk at that! What’s different in the second series?
A: I would say they’re scarier stories.
H: Yep, some edge-of-your-seaters.
But the fact the person is sitting there laughing, a part of you goes, ‘Well I know this turned out okay, so it’s fine.’
A: We’ve also got a lot more period ones. A lot more set in the ’70s or ’80s, which gave us new worlds to play in.
H: Obviously there’s a statute of limitations. People in their 40s and
50s are going, ‘Okay, I’ll share the thing that happened to me in my teens or 20s because I don’t know those people anymore. I can’t be embarrassed by it anymore.’ The last episode of series one was labelled ‘too gross’. Anything I should warn The Weekly readers about?
H: Do you know what, we’re really proud to say this – and the selection of episodes for this series was not based on this metric – but there’s no poo, not a single poo makes it to screen!
A: Yep, I would say there’s no story you have to worry about.
H: Well there is a testicle-based story. But, hey, half of us have them! They’re out there. Well, actually, they shouldn’t be out there. They’re around and hopefully packed away safely. Who would play you two in a True Story re-enactment?
H: I mean, Andy would have to be Jason Biggs, and I would probably have Kiefer Sutherland. I think he could play young and get me.
A: Jason Biggs and Kiefer Sutherland – now there’s a combo we’ve been dying to see together! Your friendship has been likened to a marriage, so how do you deal with rocky patches – ever had to fake it?