February 5, 2025 • 51 mins
Andy Lee is one of the most successful and loved people in the Australian entertainment industry and he puts some of his biggest successes down to luck, which isn’t true.
In this chat with Kate Langbroek, Andy opens up about how important it is to tell your friends how you feel, how he and Hamish haven’t always vibed with certain projects, the nosy people on Instagram after he posts photos of his girlfriend and how he thinks failure is when you aren’t happy, not when you’re not making money.
THE END BITS:
Andy’s children’s book’s including Do Not Open This Book are available here.
Andy Lee is on Instagram here.
Hamish and Andy's podcast is available here. And Hamish and Andy's Remembering Project podcast is here.
Kate Langbroek's book Ciao Bella is available here.
Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at podcast@mamamia.com.au
Need more lols, info, and inspo in your ears? Find more Mamamia podcasts here.
CREDITS:
Host: Kate Langbroek. You can find Kate on Instagram here.
Executive Producer: Kimberley Braddish
Audio Producer: Madeline Joannou
Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. Mama Mea acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on Hello friends, well to get you prepped
for my takeover. This is a soft launch. Really, I'm
dropping into your feed to share one of my favorite
interviews from the series of No Filter I did last year.
(00:31):
Andy Lee, of course needs no introduction. You know him
as a beloved comedian, a host, a writer. But in
this episode of No Filter, Andy opens up about himself,
which is something that he doesn't really often do. He
shares how important it is to tell your friends how
you feel, how he and Hamish Blake haven't always vibed
(00:55):
with certain projects, and all the nosy people on Instagram
who by they turned out to be right. I hope
you enjoy it. Oh my goodness, this is so exciting.
Andy Lee, Welcome to No Filter.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Thank you. Nice to be welcomed.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
It is nice to be welcomed. Imagine if I was like,
what are you doing, which is actually what I did
say when I walked in, because you got here before me.
You know, I'm punctual, though you're more than punctual. You
were unfashionably early.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It was actually annoying, sit in the car kind of guy.
I would prefer to be right on time. Five minutes
early is and more annoying than five minutes late. Often.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yes, people aren't prepared for you. That's very unlike most
people in showbiz. Actually, because you're very now this.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Is mindful of others, well thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
He's a goodful guy. I've never encountered it before. But
because you're very left brain and right brain so creative,
which doesn't always sit with order.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We organized, Yeah, Hamish, and I'd argue he's more creative
than I.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Sorry, who's HAMI good of mine?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
He doesn't have the organization right, but hilariously, it'll text
me and go, I'm going to be either five minutes
early or five minutes later, and you're.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So well organized you would know which of those he's
going to be. Okay, Speaking of Hamish, it is almost
impossible to talk about Andy Lee without talking about Hamish Blake.
I can say no more more iconic duo because it
really is. But it's a very unusual coupling. A because
(02:47):
it seems so harmonious and organic, seems well, and also
because it's lasted longer. It's been more enduring than any
of your more romantic relationships, and.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
His is exactly and we sleep together less than the other. Yeah,
I mean I love it. It's never bothered me that
for a long time I never had a surname. Actually
I was kind of Hamish's surname and Andy. Yeah, and
when we both walk down the street, we both get
(03:20):
he Hamish, Hey, Andy the other person's name.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
But always I get where's Hughesy? And I broke up
our iconic duo to go to Italy three years ago,
four years ago. Yes, so it's very much cemented in
public recognition of who you are. That's also lovely. Tell
(03:43):
me it's downsides, Oh, if there are any.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I don't actually feel the downsides at all. Maybe there's
moments where you'd like to have your own identity, but
I love what we do. I don't think I would
have been great. It's just a pop singer. I prefer
to be in a band, you know. And that's with everything, Yes,
so much. Prefer doing shows, people my happy places, doing
stuff with ham love, sharing the excitement and the failure.
(04:11):
In fact, sharing failures to some of the funniest things
you can do. But when you fail by yourself. It
could be very, very low.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
So what when you say sharing failure.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Got our first TV I got asked after six weeks.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
When was that?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Two thousand and four?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
What was it?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Show? Channel seven? Chris Lily was doing Mister g Really,
Andrew Keith was on it as a Holy comedian improviser. Yeah.
Someone doesn't like my individual work. It's only me that
they didn't like. When someone doesn't like our work, I
can look across at Hame and go, well, I find
you the funniest person in the world. That person must
(04:48):
be wrong with their opinion. It's it's an easy, nice
little shell to be sitting inside. I don't mind it
at all.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It's lovely. Also because within the partnership, both of you
have explored different partners Yes, but you've explored different aspects
of yourself and kind of I'm going to say, increasingly
you are showing more sides to yourself I think, which
(05:17):
always existed. But I'm kind of reminded of this because
I remember years ago Hughsey showing me a video that
you had made, and it was for one of your
other great loves, the cart and Footy Club. Yes, And
I went, oh, who directed that? And he said, Andy Lee,
and it was amazing. When you hold a certain perception
(05:39):
in the public mind and it's with great affection, but
it also can be quite limiting. So it's just like, oh,
you're just a funny guy.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Or I'm just the guy laughs at the funny guy.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, well there's that as well. We'll get onto that
because that is a very interesting kind of narrative to negotiate.
I imagine.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, I mean, like you say negotiate, it sounds like
you have to do something about it. But if you're
really comfortable just I mean, I think people naturally felt
that with any comic duo, that has to be a
straight guy and a funny guy. Yes, Hamish and I
never felt that. I think Hamish is funnier if you
wanted to try and do the mass of it. But
that's never been Our goal is to try and make
him laugh, and he tries to make me laugh, and
so I think people would try to slot you into
(06:25):
those certain roles. Yeah, to say it never bothered me.
There would have been times and I'm like, oh, I
want to be the funny guy, but that's probably left
a long long time ago.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, you know, the thing is it kind of reminds
me of in every group of girls, ye friendship group,
there's always an impossibly hot girl. So individually all those
girls in the group might be hot, but you know
that there's always one. Yes, you kind of love it
as well, because who doesn't love to have a hot friend.
(06:55):
But you're hot friend, You're the hot guy. Your friend
is ludicrously hot, and so it does. It kind of
throws a shadow. And I think because of the work
that you do, it requires and amount of ego to
be able to do that work, but not so much
ego that it destroys the work.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yes, no, I hear what you're saying there. But I
think what's lucky for both hamishon for me and our
relationship is the ego is not huge of either of us,
I don't think, and that probably what makes it work.
Hamish is so laid back, he just wants to do
fun things.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
He's very lovable.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, And so I found the right partner. And I
mean neither of us were even going to go down
this path until we met the UNI and we were
making each other's laugh and we said we should be
doing this in front of more people. So just in
meeting him changed the whole trajectory of my life, but
also what I was interested in, what I ended up doing,
even though I did have some interesting performance and entertainment
(08:00):
I was never going to do.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You were studying Commerce.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Arts commercience and we met at UNI, which is so
strange because neither of us went very often.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It's kind of like a lunar eclipse, right, But can
you remember when you met?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah? It was really odd because the year before in
a Quantity of Methods class, which is so boring.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
What is that? Yeah, I can't I'm already asleep.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yes, I hadn't gone for the entire semester and realized
I was going to fail. And you got one percent
hitch point per tutorial you attended. So I went to
the tenth of ten tutorials.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
To claw back the ten percent.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Well call back, the one was one per attendance.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I got in there and the guy's doing the roll
call and he goes past Andrew Lee and I say, no, no,
I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, and he said right
for the first time, and he was a bit shirty
at me. I said, yes, but can I quickly make
a speech to the class? And he was kind of
a laid back tutor, and he said, yeah, get up.
So I got up, and I said, I haven't come
for this entire semester for the good of everyone here.
(09:03):
I'm destructive, I am distracting. I try to be funny,
often not so Selplessly, I decided not to attend, even
though I wanted to, but I knew that you'd all
do better. And for that reason, I feel like I
deserved ten percent, not just the one. And this tutor
found it funny gave me ten percent. I got fifty
(09:23):
one for quantitative methods. So I passed through and the
guy as I was walking out of that class country
and said that was really funny. I said thank you,
and he said, you remind me of a friend of
mine called Hamish. You should meet him. Oh And I said, oh, okay,
where is he? Guse he doesn't live here. He's coming
next year. I was like, all right, odd man, I'll
see you later. And then March that following year, he
(09:45):
walked across the quadrangle and said, this is the guy
was telling you about. Oh my god, So you're in
a very strange situation where Pete match made us and
they got cut out of the deal. Yeah, right, and
off we went to the pub. So yeah, it was
only in that moment where naturally I liked being a buffoon,
(10:05):
but finding someone that wanted to do it with me
and was just you know, exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And when you say I wanted to do it with you,
what did you start doing?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Haimer took a lot of convincing. Ham was very studious.
He was doing advanced mathematics, advanced physics, like book smart stuff.
And you, I know, it's a wow moment because I know,
because you look at him and he's not street smart.
It's always like I always say, he's the dumbest smart
guy I know. So good were hunting type stuff. I
went to a few of his lectures and they've got
these stupid equations on the door.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Not even any numbers, just letters.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Letters and strokes and so on. And because I'd shifted,
I was doing kind of product and brand management and
consumer behavior and stuff, and you didn't really have to
rock up. You could still pass. And Hamish was getting
taken away by me. His parents and grandparents didn't like
me because.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
They're like, you're bad, you were the bad.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Bad influence. He took some convincing because he was really studious.
He wanted to do was doing computer science and he
wanted to go to that path. And I was like, well,
this is really fun what you're doing this.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And what did you think this was going to be.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well, we were on the radio first at cin FM
Student Youth Network. We pretended we were enrolled in r
MIT when we're from Melbourne Union. We went out out
the road and jumped on their airways and then I
got a connection for us to have our show on
Channel thirty one Community TV. And it was after five
half hour episodes of Channel thirty one, we got offered
a Channel seven show. It felt like Wayne's Well, I'm
(11:24):
not sure if people know that the reference, but we
just came from a basement show and suddenly we were
on primetime in Channel seven and they thought we looked
too young, so they put us in suits and it
lasted six weeks and then we'll go on.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
But it did last longer than the five episodes on
Channel three. So you were doing my favorite concept in showbiz,
which is failing upwards, just just just but that was
probably the last failure.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I mean, oh, I've had other thing. I mean, I
did a show called The Cube that she didn't catch
five on Channel ten even though I loved it. It
depends what you measure failure on. I mean, I don't
know aligne failure with people not watching it or not
making money on it or all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
What do you consider failure just not enjoying yourself?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, it's been a while. I mean I was certainly
more ambitious back in the day, but now it's just
whatever project I want to do, it just has to
be fun while doing it, because it's in the lap
of the gods as to whether things work out or not.
You know, there's so many ways of project can be
ruined or not getting or not spark. If you've put
(12:34):
something out that you're proud of and you enjoy doing it,
success doesn't matter what happens after that. And that's a
hand on how this is not just something I can
read from my Kumbe book exactly how I feel about it.
I wouldn't have felt about it like that ten to
fifteen years ago. I was more worried about we need
to get through this, to do this, to do this. Hamish,
on the other hand, he just wants to have fun. Yes,
(12:57):
Like we've been given huge opportunities and Hay would just go,
do you really want to do that? I'm sure how
much fun I would be? And he bring me back
down to earth and go I go, yeah, actually, you're right.
And at one point when went from the Tonight Show
to Primetime O'Brien that controversial, controversial period people, and this
(13:17):
is Tonight's show was of America with that fascinating David
Letterman and Colbert and all that stuff. But yeah, it
was Conan and Jay Leno and they asked Hamish Knight
to be the first segment of episode one of Jay
Leno's Primetime Tonight, Oh my goodness, and we said no,
because you don't see we don't want two idiots, and
we thought it'd be too much pressure. And we ended
(13:38):
up being the first segment of the third episode, right,
and fourteen and a half million people watch it in
the States. We're on with Robin Williams.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yes, And so Robin Williams knocked on our door, were
sitting our chain room and said he I'm Robin. And
that was really special. And then straight after it they
were like, we loved it. We want you to stay here,
we want you to do this, and we we were saying, oh, well,
we've got a radio show, and they said, we'll move
the radio show. You can do the radio show from
la and we just want to go home. We've done
(14:08):
the caravan trip.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, So we said we won't do a segment next week,
we'll do one the week after for you, but we
just need to fly back. We flew back. We end
up doing another segment for the Letto Show, which went
really well, and they said we need an answer by
the end of that week. They need an answer to it.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So it was that real American as you would imagine it.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It was absolutely you imagine it. As soon as we
walked off stage, producers were sitting there they'd seen the
reaction from the audience on that first segment and just
took us and walked us straight out the back and said, hey, Jay,
want to speak to at the end of it. That
was fantastic. What can we talk about next? You know,
like it was just immediate. You do ghost if you
remember that basically a primary school yard trick of just
(14:51):
walking behind someone close to.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Them until to see how long you can do it
until that night.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
This is before TikTok and before you know Instagram, So
all these silly little ideas we had. They seemed more novel,
I reckon than these days. We see probably a hundred
of them every minute of the TikTok. I was driving
down to Kill the road and I rang Haimer said, Oh,
and Ego and me, We're like, this could be great,
this could be America. I said, I rank. Haym said,
what are you thinking? And he said I think we'd
(15:16):
only do it to be more famous. And he said
do you want that? And I was like, but maybe.
I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
That's hard to answer, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And he said I don't And I just love making
the stuff here with our friends. We're still making our
stuff with our mates. UNI. Yeah, andrek would be more fun.
I was like, no, I don't think it would be
more fun. He's like, I guess that's our answer.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Oh my goodness. So who told your manager?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
There's been many times our manager has gone, you're fucking
kidding me? Yeah, yeah, but you're sure, boys are You're sure?
But that's you know. We left Drive Radio at its peak,
and we stopped Gap Year at its peak, and we
only get two seasons of True Story, and that was
going great and it was because we just want to
try more and more things. And again Haim would go, hey,
(16:07):
this becoming more run of the mill. We need to
ourselves and I was a bit the same.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Well, there is, you're both kind of adrenaline junkies in
the sense of adrenaline being generated from ideas as well.
Doesn't have to have that physical overture tour agree. So
along the way you've had this core group of friends,
collabory drawers and that seems to have been a constant.
(16:34):
So it's like you've both got much loved families, but
you've built this new family as well within How does
that work for people who can't or for someone like
you who is constantly you know, you've got the drive
in you, you've got the engine going yep, how do
you just build that?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
It was great because we had a company called Radio Karate,
which is the name of our Channel thirty one show,
and it was Hamish and I and Ryan and Tim,
which are two mates from Hamish's school.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
And so Ryan Shelton I know, right, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
He was schoolmates with him, and Tim was also schoolmate
with year run it kind of be outsider, ah, and
so it was great that we said, these guys can
film with us. They're passionate about it. The best thing
about failing is that you can just reassess and start again, and.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You've got nothing to lose.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yes, And so we got a good bounce on the
failure because the press decided to even though they were
writing about how bad the show was a week before,
it gets asked and they flip it and they go, oh, oh,
these twenty one year olds. How dare they put two
twenty one year olds on prime time and only.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Give them six weeks not to support them.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Channel seven's you know the worst, all that stuff. So
we get this halo from having a pretty poor show.
The show had its faults, and what's great about that
is if they just let it run for ten weeks
and the season finished.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Would have come to a natural, natural remarkable exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Right, So we're kind of grateful. I'm very grateful that
seven acts us because you suddenly can use that momentum
and spirit into something else. Now we were doing it
was called the ham Machinery Show, but it wasn't ours.
It wasn't our ideas. Some of our ideas, but we
need to do a lot of other people's ideas and
all that kind of stuff exactly the show that we
would put together. And that is not a great feeling.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
That is not a great feeling because, as my mother sees,
the camel is a horse designed by a committee. Yes,
you know, and sometimes you're watching shows and you're like
you can feel or watching a movie you can feel
the executives involved.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, and we didn't know better. But what feels awful
is someone saying, hey, your show's shit, and you're like, well,
it's not really. It wasn't really our idea, like realize
very quickly, Hey, your name's on it, you're on the billboard,
it's yours. So we incorporated our own company then there
and said would only.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Make it's incredible, We'll only make our own stuff. Who
thought of that?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Oh, I think it was a bit of a collective.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I don't think it was Andy Lay. I don't think
it was. There's no way Hamish's going, well, let's corporate
a company, because he doesn't think like that.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Does he Hame definitely participates in all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Oh no, I know, but I would think in the
leading of that that that's more. You, that's more would.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Say that he like I do love that side of things.
You know, we even talk about that as far as
even ideas go. Hame would have brilliant ideas, but I'd
know how to package them. Yeah right, yeah, and so
I'd hear them and go, oh my god, this is great.
This is how we serve it.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
So like he'd have all the ingredients ready to go
and I could just plait it up. But he always
felt that my strength was knowing exactly how people want
to eat this, like knowing exactly how people want to
hear it exactly. So that's what made the partnership so
fun and exciting because the parts that maybe doesn't come
as naturally to him, even though he's very good at them,
(19:59):
the parts don't come as naturally to me, even though
I can play in that area complimentary.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Because I think that's a secret of any relationship, romant
or otherwise, is that people are always like it got
to find someone who's got you know, the same interest
as you know, No, what's the point of that. Actually
find someone who's got complimentary aspects of their personality.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
But you know you're Cal Pilkington. You might have heard
of him. Oh I love Carl from Ricky Jay's podcast,
I'm going to paraphrase, but he said something about a
relationship which I just it absolutely sat with me. And
he was talking about romantic relationships, but he said, I
think the best relationship is when you're walking exactly your
path and they're walking exactly their path, and you look
(20:44):
over and you're still side by side. Yeah. Right, And
it's all words that effect in his acts.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Can you do the accent?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So I feel that with Haim. I feel that all
the time. Is it like we're both doing exactly what
we want to do and then you turn around and
you're like, oh, you're still here. Great. And if I'm
doing exactly what I want to do and I'm in
trouble or i'msure about it on a personal level, I
turn around and go, hey, can you help me with this?
He's like, of course, oh, can I get your thoughts?
And that's on our individual pursuits and then together we
(21:16):
did them as well.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Because you were mentioning Tim and Ryan and you know,
Ryan did this incredible podcast which I'm sure you've heard.
The imperfect for anyone who's ever had a friend that
they've loved and been really tired too. He talks about
very generously and beautifully and respectfully about when you came
on the scene, but that he was displaced and how
(21:41):
he then when he saw the magic of you guys,
and he was like, it was undeniably magic. The jealousy
that he felt and the envy, and that for so
many years he couldn't even feel the joy because he
was so consumed by himself and then ended up having
to talk to Hamish about it. How did it feel
(22:05):
for you? Were you aware of any of that or not?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Really?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Always are amazing like that, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Well, we're very busy, Like, let's get that straight. We're
doing Drive. We're doing five days a week of drive
radio where Haim and I were getting early and national.
How many ideas can be put in this and a
lot of ideas involve traveling out of the studio and
consume our whole lives and some like that. And a
period of that time, ry I was off on Nova
(22:33):
I think against.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
It right, doing drama.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
So yeah, so there were elements of it all. I
was sad that he felt that way, Like I like,
when did.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
You know when you heard that you never see a
woman would have been onto that straight away because I
think we understand you know, we live in different for me.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Though, because I'm not childhood buddies at Ryan.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
No, No, I wouldn't tell.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
We're close friends. But it all started to a business
relationship or a comedy fun relationship. So I'm not picking
up on nuanced things. And our relationship didn't change.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
No, And he never had an issue with you. It
wasn't an issue with you. He loves you. The problem
was he also loves Hamish and Hamish's got a new
love who's Andy.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yes, I think it'd be peculiar for me to be
able to take up on that. I mean, my friends
didn't like Hamish either because they were protective of their
friendship with me, and they're like, hey, who's this other
guy coming along? Think they started and I hate Hamish
club for a while. They hate T shirts.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Oh that would be great, So that's that was you
should have worn that to that.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So I get the natural feeling that we're all protective
about people, people that were around, and we feel like
we shouldn't be. And then you realize when you grow
up and have family and kids, you just forget about
all your friends and anyways. But during twenty year old,
your friendship group is your family. Yeah, in fact, your
family's probably annoying. You really are strong, so I could
(24:03):
see how that would be challenging.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
But also I love the raw honesty of it, because
going back to the discussion we had about you need
a certain amount of ego to do what you do,
those feelings will live in that same area. And so
for him to say that, as himself a very accomplished
performer and ideas guy and Ryder and whatever, for him
to say it, it just resonated in a just very
(24:26):
human manner, and I loved it, and it kind of
showed the umbrella what you've built, you guys together that
he felt that he could say that, and he could
say it publicly, and he had to say it to
advance the relationship.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
He rang me before it, and he felt that he
wanted to say it out loud, and obviously it had
played in his mind for a long time. And so
whatever Ryan needed to do, you know, as a friend,
whatever he needed to do to try and resolve that,
super supportive of it, because no one wants to know you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Don't want to live with that.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It's super hard to go. I didn't, you know, I
can't remember the exactly the words he said, but like
to be super hard to go. I don't want you
to succeed. I'm having trouble with you. My friend's succeeding.
I mean that's because Ry is such a lovely person,
so a thing a battle, and he would have regretted about.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It still to come. I ask Andy how it feels
to be the butt of jokes, like when people say
he's less funny than Hamish, which people love to do.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I think it would be more hurtful if I felt
like it was true.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And does he want a wedding and a baby and
all those things we're all supposed to want stay with us,
you know when and you've said you've never really had
those feelings towards Hamish because quite frankly, it's hard to
imagine who could. But I'm struck by this narrative, which
(26:01):
is partly humorous but also is a bit snarky towards
you from not badly, but you know you said before
you know that Hamish is the guy, and you're the
less funny guy, and you might have been the more
funny guy. And the logis last year when Pang was hosting,
and they made a joke from the start.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Both Hamish and Andy are here tonight. Hamish won the
Gold Logi last year for the second time and he's
nominated again this year, and Andy his mates with Hamish.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I'm just like, uh, it kind of feels like a
joke that's sort of run its course. Do other people
care more about that than you do?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Oh? I don't know what other people think that. I
don't care about it at all.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Well, I was sitting a table of people that kind
of went, oh.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I think it would be more hurtful if I felt
like it was true. I mean, arrogance here we go,
I shit there and go. I mean I make the
same jokes. I think I make a joke. Believe you
do it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I hear you do it on the one hundred, And
it's just like sometimes if that got me on a
bad day, yeah, I'd be like, oh.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, No, I'm really aware of my skill set and
very comfortable with how it's it, so it's still fine.
Maybe it does change when you have individual success, you know, yes,
with my kids books or the hundred or my work
on this train open all these things. If I had
just done Hamish and Andy and then then you never
(27:40):
worked for me again, You're right, and I wanted to
keep a sying it. You know, some people go off
and they're quite comfortable in that space. I think that
would feel different. That would be tough.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's funny you mentioned your kid's books because they are
such a phenomenon and in fact, a very affirming phenomenon
of you and your talents. There's a series do not
Open this book that came out just in time for
my youngest to just love it, of Love Love, and
now there's a whole series of them, do not open
(28:13):
this book ever. I told you, do not open this
fucking book. That's one for grown ups. Anyway, When you're
selling that book in Australia and there's so many celebrities
who have done kids books, it's no surprise. In Australia
people could have been buying the books because you're Andy Lee,
(28:34):
and that would be great. That's fair enough. But then
they released the books globally.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
How many countries we're in thirty five languages, okay, so
that's obviously a lot more countries, okay.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
And how many books have you sold Andy Lee to
people who do not know who Andy Lee is.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, we've sold over three million around the world. But
holy moll, I know which way you're heading with that,
and I totally agree. I actually had a meeting about
this morning about another part of this project and with
the books and amplifying it the books, I fell into
it and again this is luck.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Was it for your nephew? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I wrote one book on a plane forty minutes for
my nephew for his birthday. And my best mate from
high school Hawks, he's a book publisher and they make
test books up all the time, so he was going
to make one test book for me. I was going
to give it to my nephew for his first birthday.
Hawks argue with me to publish them, and I said, no, no,
it's a present, not doing it. And it was three
(29:34):
months of back and forth and I said, okay, I'll
check with my sister because it was for her, and
so I said, age your mind if we published these books.
Hawgs has been on my back and she said, oh,
it's a beautiful book. I'd love it to be out there.
And I said, look, proceeds can go to George, which
is my nephe At the time, we had to change
the deal a bit cake.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Co Wow King George.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
So they've got a little school fun for all my
nephews and nieces. But yeah, so lovely. I was super
chuffed with how it went overseas because exactly what you said.
I thought, well, I'm going to sell this, but do
people like the book or is it just because Andy
Lee from or Andy from Hamish Andy it's attached to
this and then to see them travel and when people
(30:20):
have no idea who I am, and in Rome last
year doing a book signing.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
They think you're just a book author.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, it's just really strange and great and you go, okay,
there's something here and the idea. So absolutely I was
tough with that. I'm really proud of that, and it
gave it far more substance for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Tell me about the conversation you had to have with
your sister when you had to say George was going
to get the royalties? Yes, what number sales were you
in where you went? This number is actually getting a
bit too much for little George.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Oh, we sold hundreds of thousand years. But my sister's
just this is the harder part. My sister's a writer,
and she's a kid's book writer, no young she writes
young novels.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Thats why I year from twelve on with Ye Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
And she's got some amazing brands starring All of Black
was one of hers. She was the writer from Zach
Powell Books and it.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Goes Yes, another bigger hit in our family, Zach Powell.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yes, and she's got Girl Geeks another one at the moment,
which is girls and technology and science and that stuff.
So she's done a great and amazing work in the
space and that definitely was a worry for me to
go al. You're so talented. People should look up a
books because they're so great. Thankfully it wasn't a head
(31:41):
to head. There's a different category, yeah, right, but you know,
we're going to book awards together and my sister's there
and I go with her. Was great to a friend around.
But because my sister's just so lovely and so with
my brother. Yeah, there's been nothing but support, which is just.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Because you know, that's interesting because sometimes it's hard within
a family when the spotlight is shone on one particular member.
And your parents both of her I've met beautiful Margaret
and Michael. They seem to navigate that really beautifully, like
they turn up at your shows. The first time I
(32:20):
ever met you, I think you were with your dad
and I remember the other At the filming of the hundred,
someone in the audience asked a question about you and
they mentioned your brother. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
They're very Oh they're the best people. My dad's the
best person. Yeah, I think to be a full time
care really yeah, yeah, they're both primary school teachers.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Yeah, what happened to your mum?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
She had a rare disease called cerebral vasculatis, so a
blood so it's like a series of strokes, but of
strokes normally and a arterie it's in the veins so
it's smaller and cerebral. She had it in the brain.
So she was the first to survive in Australia.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
I think really when was that six?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
So she's given two weeks to live in ninety six
really and two weeks again at some point.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
So you were still at school then, so you would
have been like year teen.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Or yeah, yeah, I was, I was year I think
it was year nine going to year ten. Happened over
the Christmas holidays. She just forgot how to walk, talk,
who we all were, and then was in hospital for
a long time. Months and month.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Wow, how is that for a teenage boy.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Well, my sister calls me the tin man. Really, I've
actually become a lot more emotional in my old age.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Actually, Well, I think I have this theory that the
less this is born from my husband's dad, classic old
Ossie Brian Brian Lewis of Sunshine who I love. The
less sentimental they are in the youth, the more sentimental
they get through life.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yep, I'm certainly feeling that. But at the time, that
was probably the first my sister and I was a
relationship split. During that time, it was much harder for
my sister. She was becoming a woman. Yeah right, Yeah,
it doesn't have a mum around, and we would go
into the hospital and have to introduce yourself to your
(34:17):
mum every day and so that she.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Pleased to meet you.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
And that's tiresome.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Dad just went like they'd raise pretty good kids. So
it was just like every man for himself. All have
to dig in here, make your own lunches, get yourself
to school, and will work out what's going on. I
probably put my brother, not probably, I put my brother,
my brother and sister a little out of joint because
I went, Okay, here's the roster. You're on this. Yeah,
(34:51):
I probably tried to solve it through. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Well, and admin is required when you're trying to save
the life of someone. Believe me, I know it's essential.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
However, you don't want your brother telling you that you've
got to do this and that and this is your
turn to do the And so they became a lot closer,
my older brother and my sister during that period.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Imagine the conversation then.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Oh wow, yeah so and then Mum just snapped out
of it. Weirdly, they don't really know why. There's since
been a few more cases. I think it was the
I'm don't make up the figures, but there's only been
twenty cases in Australia. Yeah, So she tried to came home,
and then she came home and we were it was
a different family. We spent four to six months saying Hi,
(35:39):
I'm Andy Margaret, and I'd been introducing dad as Michael,
and so I started calling my dad Michael. We stopped
calling mom and dad. Oh, there was these little things
that happened in your life. She came back into a house.
It was sufficient. There was just running its own race,
and that was a real culture shock and so she
requested to go back to.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Hospital because it was a bit too much.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
That's the only time I was pissed off.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Right, It's like they fuck you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Right, I've done this right, and you don't even want
to be at a very response.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Because now as an adult you understand, and as a mother,
I'm like, oh my goodness that actually now just thinking
about it is making me cry because it's like.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And she'd missed my sister important parts of she's growing
up and yeah, it was yeah, and she's going through
rehabbing doing this stuff anyway, but you know, at least
you could be around, you know, which is so unfair
and selfish.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
For someone who has.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Just lost kind of five months of her life but
also just gone backwards. She's forty three or something and
then became a seven year old. Yeah, and you know,
she's on a walker and she's can't speak for her
on her match, she can't do basic mass and all
these things, and she has to be cared for and
then she doesn't even want to be around it. It was
just it was just I can't imagine would have been
(37:02):
for mum. Oh you know, I haven't really and your dad,
but dad who was staunch dad about five Whether we
keep this in the podcast, I don't know. But about
five years later, after they were really social, they were
off playing tennis together. Mum was, you know, slim, funky.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
They've got that five and she.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Didn't want to go out and see anyone because she
couldn't converse properly, and she is, you know, couldn't walk properly,
and she was marassed. So she just cut off a
lot of those social outlets. And close friends stick around.
But naturally we keep saying no to people, invite you
to things. Yeah, and so then Dad loses all of that.
(37:49):
And so in a situation where Dad's living a very
different life than he was and what signed up for.
And you know when people say in sickness and health.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, no one sickness, no one means that. It's like
for rich or for Paora.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I didn't mean Poora exactly. It's a true test of that.
And Dad and I were drive him back from somewhere
one day and he said, I want to talk to
you about something, and what year would this been? I know,
whole lot later it's about your mother, And in my head,
(38:28):
I've gone, he's found someone else. Oh, it probably speaks
to me. I'm like, he's done really well for half
a decade doing this, but I can't keep doing I
totally get it, and so I'm getting ready for him
to go. You know, I found someone else and then
he's gone. I'm going to take time off work to
make use of the time with Mum because we're not
(38:50):
sure how it's going to go. And I'm like the
opposite of football. I didn't tell him at the time, Hey, yeah,
I thought you were going to go. Hey, I'm routing
the librarian. But that's who he is. And do you.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Think I mean, obviously bad example would say no, but
that doesn't encapsulate all of you. Do you think you
are your father? Oh no, I mean very few people
could be your dad.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, but I also don't think anyone knows whether they can.
I mean in practice, how do you test that? How
can you honestly say I do exactly the same thing.
I'd care for Beck through thick and things.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's very hard.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
I'd like to think I would, and I certainly have
a lot of my dad's morals, share a lot of
his interests, and hopefully some of his kind bones. But
I think it'd be pretty arrogant to say, oh yeah,
I'll do that in a pinch.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
I think it's easier to always pass judgment on people
in certain situations when they move on, when you don't
know what it means to be caring for someone or
to lose someone, or you know, the other idea. We
always have a people who are chronically ill or is
that they're somehow saintly, Whereas when people are chronically ill,
(40:13):
often they're the opposite of that, because they're fighting for
their life and they're frightened and they're yeah, they're angry. Yeah,
they're angry.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
They're angry, and it can come out in really terrible ways.
Now again, to my mum's credit, she just doesn't complain.
And I'm like, oh god, I'd be complaining, would really
complaining if it took that much time for me to
get out of beer every day and put all these
you know, and I know these people are farwer situations,
and I'm also very lucky to stay around, of.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Course, but it still doesn't mean that problems are not problems. Yeah,
stick around, because up next, I asked Andy if he wants.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Kids, and I love being available to people. I do
definitely worry that having my own family means that I
give that.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Up because you're so family oriented. You know what, I
have to ask you whether you're inclined to have your
own family.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Yeah, I mean I'm asked this a lot.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Oh well, I can imagine that you are, because women
also get asked. It's just a thing because in life
there are certain transitions that happen. They're not guaranteed, they're
not necessary. But because you are who you are, you're
very family oriented, you're loyal, you're quite good looking. Well
(41:41):
maybe they would, I don't know, But how do you
feel about that?
Speaker 2 (41:45):
I'd gone through something I thought I would definitely want,
then I went through patches if I don't think I
want this at all, and then I'm in trying to.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Which is like pretty common for the common. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
One thing I do love about not currently having kids
is how available I am to my family. Yes. Now,
Mum and Dad wire down the beach house one day
and they said, ah, when you're going to start a family,
And I said, you realize you wouldn't be here in
this beach house if I've.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Got both, Like, yeah, but you know what I would say.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
They would be happy with that.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Yeah, we give it up son, we'd give it up.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
And I spend so much time with them, I think
because of that, and I spend time with my nephews
because of that. And I love being available to people.
That's something that I love with friends, love being a
reliable source to call upon. I do definitely worry that
having my own family means that I give that up. Now,
that could be the right decision at some point. People
(42:42):
think that's selfless, but it's not. I get a lot
of self worth. If anyone calls, I'm happy to go
and work out what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Yeah, but do you think that having kids would preclude
from doing that.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
It does.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Actual I'm mentally going through when I've been available.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Okay, not to say that it's not the reason not to,
and but I think these are things go through my
mind and all my friends and family when they've had
their own kids. It's a really time and not tough
as in, it's not rewarding. It's just a lot.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Well it should be, it has to be.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And it's beautiful, but it's all consuming, and you go
into your insular shelves and you ask for help, particularly
with young kids, everywhere, like you need to because you
need support group, and so naturally people turn inwards when
they have their own.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Kids, and you're still outwards.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
I think so at the moment, I love Beck, Yeah
I could, and I think she'd be an amazing mom.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
And what does she think? Does she think she'd be
an amazing mum?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Yeah? I think.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
You know what, Let's watch this space. Let's reconvene this
time next year, because come on, a year and a half.
But when I asked that, it's partly there's a thing
that happens. I always think when people have kids, as
you used to say, everyone wants you to join the
(44:12):
misery club. Right, there's a terrible thing to sight. But
before you have kids, you can see the downside and
the data and the whatever.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
But there's no rub between Beck and I on that
front because Vexel doesn't want them now, yes, like this
is the misconception. It's like if we post a picture
of us somewhere, everyone's like, oh, haven't.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
You're a tease you tease paper with that, don't pretend
you don't.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
I put a photo off of me and my partner
and everyone's like, are you cage?
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Like no, I'm saying to hurt Beck, hide the third
finger on your left hand.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
The time, I was a tease and I'm not allowed
to play this joke anymore. But anytime I saw paparazzi,
I'd get down on one knee. So we beat the
baggage at Melbourne Airport and the pats would be there,
and so I'd get down on one knee and pretend
to propose. I was picking up dog Poo Wonder and
saw paparazzi, so I pretended to propose, and Beck said
that job that choke.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
No, no, no, no, I've got to tell you something else.
So when I knew that I was talking to you today,
I sent hay mission message, my dear, And this is
kind of quite deep, but it's you know, we lost
cal Wilson. The fraternity lost Cayl Wilson. And when I
(45:32):
was at her funeral and also at her memorial, I
was struck by how much she would have loved it,
and how she would have heard things that she never
heard when she was alive and had a position in
all of our hearts and in the broader comedy community
that she never knew she held. And so I sent
(45:53):
hammer message and I said, I'm talking to Andy and
I would like you to write something about what he
means to you. Okay, he didn't get back to me
for two days. I'm like, I got back to you.
That's good. Now he got back to me. He not
only got back to me, he got back to me
(46:14):
with this and I'm going to read it to you. Hey, Katie,
So here's some absolute train of thought musings on what
my friend Andy means to me. Upon reflection, I guess
I've always gone through life with a curiosity, an appetite
for adventure, and the belief that in almost all situations
there's the option to find comedy in it, but to
(46:37):
get really deep, really quickly. I also perhaps lacked the
full belief in myself to pursue that feeling. I think
I suffered a lot from waiting until it was the
perfect time to do something, rather than taking a leap.
I was nineteen and looking back, full of dreams but
also apprehension. As a nineteen year old, Andy introduced me
(47:01):
to the term back yourself, and he really did, and
alongside him, I began to do the same him. I
think through his friendship, he unlocked courage in me. Maybe
I would have got there in the end or in
a variety of different ways. But it really was in
(47:21):
meeting Andy that I found a partner who brought out
a desire to take risks together and leap into the unknown.
And that was a massive gift to me.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Free special.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
There's more. It's I don't know why I'm so moved
by this, but I love it. I love it for you.
I owe him a huge debt for hundreds of things.
But the older I get, the more I see and
value that initial change in the trajectory of my life
(47:57):
and the seedling of challenging what may be possible. We've
been through adventures and highs and lows that no one
but us will understand or possibly care about, and it
feels five hundred times more fun to have experienced it
with him than alone. So I love Andy for the
many things he is and the decades of barely laughs
he's given me, But I also have that deep love
(48:20):
for the lessons he's taught me during those formative years.
I really believe I've experienced a wildly richer life because
of that gift. Okay, I won't ramble anymore, and because
people have tuned in to hear your thoughts. Not a
letter from me big love.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Amazing, Yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
It's beautiful, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
Yeah, But I always promise myself I don't cry on
podcasts because.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (48:53):
Why not? What is life? Life is laughter and laugh.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Because it faily male article or something, and that's not
where I want this to be. But it's special what
I love about. I mean, it's so lovely for him
to say it publicly, but we've also said those things
to each other the privately.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
Get down on one may but.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
I know that sounds odd, bad, and I connect constantly
about those things. He hasn't put that as beautifully as
that before, but maybe he has. But yeah, we're not
afraid to tell each other how we're feeling in good
times and bad. But people are, and I don't think
too many mates get the opportunity to do that, as
(49:37):
in men while they're living, while they're living, and so
I'm really grateful for that. That's obviously lovely words.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
They're beautiful words. They're richly deserved. You're a treasure, Andy Lee,
you really are, you really are. Thank you for sharing
yourself with us.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Well, it took us a while to get here, like
two and a half years.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Why did it take so long. You're elusive. I don't
think you like to do this sort of.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
I can no, no, but I promised me that I do
it at some point. That's the other thing. If I
ever say I'll do something to anyone ever, I can't
notot do it.
Speaker 1 (50:19):
Oh, I want to get you to tell me you'll
do something.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
No. Well, often people get the often the raw other answer.
We just know I'm never going to do that, which
I have no problem saying to about spaces. But apologies
to me that I hadn't got around to it. But now,
but I'm so glad I got to do with you, Katie,
because we know each other very well.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
I loved it. I know you better now. I'm not
surprised by anything. Thank goodness, Andy, Lay, thank you chears Well.
That was such a great conversation. I loved getting a
look inside what goes on in Andy's head. I think
the sign of a good conversation is when aspects of
(50:58):
it stay with you long after the conversation is finished,
and that was the case with Andy. I thought about
him a lot, and I thought about his take on
things and his honesty, reluctant honesty at times. I basically
loved all of it, and I hope you have too.
(51:19):
We'll put the link in our show notes for Andy's
children's books and all the other things he's up to.
The Executive producer of No Filter is Kimberly Bradish, with
sound production by Madeline Joannu. Thanks so much for listening.
You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. Mama Mea acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on Hello friends, well to get you prepped
for my takeover. This is a soft launch. Really, I'm
dropping into your feed to share one of my favorite
interviews from the series of No Filter I did last year.
(00:31):
Andy Lee, of course needs no introduction. You know him
as a beloved comedian, a host, a writer. But in
this episode of No Filter, Andy opens up about himself,
which is something that he doesn't really often do. He
shares how important it is to tell your friends how
you feel, how he and Hamish Blake haven't always vibed
(00:55):
with certain projects, and all the nosy people on Instagram
who by they turned out to be right. I hope
you enjoy it. Oh my goodness, this is so exciting.
Andy Lee, Welcome to No Filter.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Thank you. Nice to be welcomed.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
It is nice to be welcomed. Imagine if I was like,
what are you doing, which is actually what I did
say when I walked in, because you got here before me.
You know, I'm punctual, though you're more than punctual. You
were unfashionably early.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It was actually annoying, sit in the car kind of guy.
I would prefer to be right on time. Five minutes
early is and more annoying than five minutes late. Often.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yes, people aren't prepared for you. That's very unlike most
people in showbiz. Actually, because you're very now this.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Is mindful of others, well thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
He's a goodful guy. I've never encountered it before. But
because you're very left brain and right brain so creative,
which doesn't always sit with order.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We organized, Yeah, Hamish, and I'd argue he's more creative
than I.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Sorry, who's HAMI good of mine?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
He doesn't have the organization right, but hilariously, it'll text
me and go, I'm going to be either five minutes
early or five minutes later, and you're.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So well organized you would know which of those he's
going to be. Okay, Speaking of Hamish, it is almost
impossible to talk about Andy Lee without talking about Hamish Blake.
I can say no more more iconic duo because it
really is. But it's a very unusual coupling. A because
(02:47):
it seems so harmonious and organic, seems well, and also
because it's lasted longer. It's been more enduring than any
of your more romantic relationships, and.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
His is exactly and we sleep together less than the other. Yeah,
I mean I love it. It's never bothered me that
for a long time I never had a surname. Actually
I was kind of Hamish's surname and Andy. Yeah, and
when we both walk down the street, we both get
(03:20):
he Hamish, Hey, Andy the other person's name.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
But always I get where's Hughesy? And I broke up
our iconic duo to go to Italy three years ago,
four years ago. Yes, so it's very much cemented in
public recognition of who you are. That's also lovely. Tell
(03:43):
me it's downsides, Oh, if there are any.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I don't actually feel the downsides at all. Maybe there's
moments where you'd like to have your own identity, but
I love what we do. I don't think I would
have been great. It's just a pop singer. I prefer
to be in a band, you know. And that's with everything, Yes,
so much. Prefer doing shows, people my happy places, doing
stuff with ham love, sharing the excitement and the failure.
(04:11):
In fact, sharing failures to some of the funniest things
you can do. But when you fail by yourself. It
could be very, very low.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
So what when you say sharing failure.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Got our first TV I got asked after six weeks.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
When was that?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Two thousand and four?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
What was it?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Show? Channel seven? Chris Lily was doing Mister g Really,
Andrew Keith was on it as a Holy comedian improviser. Yeah.
Someone doesn't like my individual work. It's only me that
they didn't like. When someone doesn't like our work, I
can look across at Hame and go, well, I find
you the funniest person in the world. That person must
(04:48):
be wrong with their opinion. It's it's an easy, nice
little shell to be sitting inside. I don't mind it
at all.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It's lovely. Also because within the partnership, both of you
have explored different partners Yes, but you've explored different aspects
of yourself and kind of I'm going to say, increasingly
you are showing more sides to yourself I think, which
(05:17):
always existed. But I'm kind of reminded of this because
I remember years ago Hughsey showing me a video that
you had made, and it was for one of your
other great loves, the cart and Footy Club. Yes, And
I went, oh, who directed that? And he said, Andy Lee,
and it was amazing. When you hold a certain perception
(05:39):
in the public mind and it's with great affection, but
it also can be quite limiting. So it's just like, oh,
you're just a funny guy.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Or I'm just the guy laughs at the funny guy.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, well there's that as well. We'll get onto that
because that is a very interesting kind of narrative to negotiate.
I imagine.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, I mean, like you say negotiate, it sounds like
you have to do something about it. But if you're
really comfortable just I mean, I think people naturally felt
that with any comic duo, that has to be a
straight guy and a funny guy. Yes, Hamish and I
never felt that. I think Hamish is funnier if you
wanted to try and do the mass of it. But
that's never been Our goal is to try and make
him laugh, and he tries to make me laugh, and
so I think people would try to slot you into
(06:25):
those certain roles. Yeah, to say it never bothered me.
There would have been times and I'm like, oh, I
want to be the funny guy, but that's probably left
a long long time ago.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, you know, the thing is it kind of reminds
me of in every group of girls, ye friendship group,
there's always an impossibly hot girl. So individually all those
girls in the group might be hot, but you know
that there's always one. Yes, you kind of love it
as well, because who doesn't love to have a hot friend.
(06:55):
But you're hot friend, You're the hot guy. Your friend
is ludicrously hot, and so it does. It kind of
throws a shadow. And I think because of the work
that you do, it requires and amount of ego to
be able to do that work, but not so much
ego that it destroys the work.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yes, no, I hear what you're saying there. But I
think what's lucky for both hamishon for me and our
relationship is the ego is not huge of either of us,
I don't think, and that probably what makes it work.
Hamish is so laid back, he just wants to do
fun things.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
He's very lovable.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, And so I found the right partner. And I
mean neither of us were even going to go down
this path until we met the UNI and we were
making each other's laugh and we said we should be
doing this in front of more people. So just in
meeting him changed the whole trajectory of my life, but
also what I was interested in, what I ended up doing,
even though I did have some interesting performance and entertainment
(08:00):
I was never going to do.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You were studying Commerce.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Arts commercience and we met at UNI, which is so
strange because neither of us went very often.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It's kind of like a lunar eclipse, right, But can
you remember when you met?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah? It was really odd because the year before in
a Quantity of Methods class, which is so boring.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
What is that? Yeah, I can't I'm already asleep.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yes, I hadn't gone for the entire semester and realized
I was going to fail. And you got one percent
hitch point per tutorial you attended. So I went to
the tenth of ten tutorials.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
To claw back the ten percent.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Well call back, the one was one per attendance.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I got in there and the guy's doing the roll
call and he goes past Andrew Lee and I say, no, no,
I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, and he said right
for the first time, and he was a bit shirty
at me. I said, yes, but can I quickly make
a speech to the class? And he was kind of
a laid back tutor, and he said, yeah, get up.
So I got up, and I said, I haven't come
for this entire semester for the good of everyone here.
(09:03):
I'm destructive, I am distracting. I try to be funny,
often not so Selplessly, I decided not to attend, even
though I wanted to, but I knew that you'd all
do better. And for that reason, I feel like I
deserved ten percent, not just the one. And this tutor
found it funny gave me ten percent. I got fifty
(09:23):
one for quantitative methods. So I passed through and the
guy as I was walking out of that class country
and said that was really funny. I said thank you,
and he said, you remind me of a friend of
mine called Hamish. You should meet him. Oh And I said, oh, okay,
where is he? Guse he doesn't live here. He's coming
next year. I was like, all right, odd man, I'll
see you later. And then March that following year, he
(09:45):
walked across the quadrangle and said, this is the guy
was telling you about. Oh my god, So you're in
a very strange situation where Pete match made us and
they got cut out of the deal. Yeah, right, and
off we went to the pub. So yeah, it was
only in that moment where naturally I liked being a buffoon,
(10:05):
but finding someone that wanted to do it with me
and was just you know, exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And when you say I wanted to do it with you,
what did you start doing?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Haimer took a lot of convincing. Ham was very studious.
He was doing advanced mathematics, advanced physics, like book smart stuff.
And you, I know, it's a wow moment because I know,
because you look at him and he's not street smart.
It's always like I always say, he's the dumbest smart
guy I know. So good were hunting type stuff. I
went to a few of his lectures and they've got
these stupid equations on the door.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Not even any numbers, just letters.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Letters and strokes and so on. And because I'd shifted,
I was doing kind of product and brand management and
consumer behavior and stuff, and you didn't really have to
rock up. You could still pass. And Hamish was getting
taken away by me. His parents and grandparents didn't like
me because.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
They're like, you're bad, you were the bad.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Bad influence. He took some convincing because he was really studious.
He wanted to do was doing computer science and he
wanted to go to that path. And I was like, well,
this is really fun what you're doing this.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And what did you think this was going to be.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well, we were on the radio first at cin FM
Student Youth Network. We pretended we were enrolled in r
MIT when we're from Melbourne Union. We went out out
the road and jumped on their airways and then I
got a connection for us to have our show on
Channel thirty one Community TV. And it was after five
half hour episodes of Channel thirty one, we got offered
a Channel seven show. It felt like Wayne's Well, I'm
(11:24):
not sure if people know that the reference, but we
just came from a basement show and suddenly we were
on primetime in Channel seven and they thought we looked
too young, so they put us in suits and it
lasted six weeks and then we'll go on.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
But it did last longer than the five episodes on
Channel three. So you were doing my favorite concept in showbiz,
which is failing upwards, just just just but that was
probably the last failure.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I mean, oh, I've had other thing. I mean, I
did a show called The Cube that she didn't catch
five on Channel ten even though I loved it. It
depends what you measure failure on. I mean, I don't
know aligne failure with people not watching it or not
making money on it or all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
What do you consider failure just not enjoying yourself?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, it's been a while. I mean I was certainly
more ambitious back in the day, but now it's just
whatever project I want to do, it just has to
be fun while doing it, because it's in the lap
of the gods as to whether things work out or not.
You know, there's so many ways of project can be
ruined or not getting or not spark. If you've put
(12:34):
something out that you're proud of and you enjoy doing it,
success doesn't matter what happens after that. And that's a
hand on how this is not just something I can
read from my Kumbe book exactly how I feel about it.
I wouldn't have felt about it like that ten to
fifteen years ago. I was more worried about we need
to get through this, to do this, to do this. Hamish,
on the other hand, he just wants to have fun. Yes,
(12:57):
Like we've been given huge opportunities and Hay would just go,
do you really want to do that? I'm sure how
much fun I would be? And he bring me back
down to earth and go I go, yeah, actually, you're right.
And at one point when went from the Tonight Show
to Primetime O'Brien that controversial, controversial period people, and this
(13:17):
is Tonight's show was of America with that fascinating David
Letterman and Colbert and all that stuff. But yeah, it
was Conan and Jay Leno and they asked Hamish Knight
to be the first segment of episode one of Jay
Leno's Primetime Tonight, Oh my goodness, and we said no,
because you don't see we don't want two idiots, and
we thought it'd be too much pressure. And we ended
(13:38):
up being the first segment of the third episode, right,
and fourteen and a half million people watch it in
the States. We're on with Robin Williams.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yes, And so Robin Williams knocked on our door, were
sitting our chain room and said he I'm Robin. And
that was really special. And then straight after it they
were like, we loved it. We want you to stay here,
we want you to do this, and we we were saying, oh, well,
we've got a radio show, and they said, we'll move
the radio show. You can do the radio show from
la and we just want to go home. We've done
(14:08):
the caravan trip.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, So we said we won't do a segment next week,
we'll do one the week after for you, but we
just need to fly back. We flew back. We end
up doing another segment for the Letto Show, which went
really well, and they said we need an answer by
the end of that week. They need an answer to it.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So it was that real American as you would imagine it.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It was absolutely you imagine it. As soon as we
walked off stage, producers were sitting there they'd seen the
reaction from the audience on that first segment and just
took us and walked us straight out the back and said, hey, Jay,
want to speak to at the end of it. That
was fantastic. What can we talk about next? You know,
like it was just immediate. You do ghost if you
remember that basically a primary school yard trick of just
(14:51):
walking behind someone close to.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Them until to see how long you can do it
until that night.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
This is before TikTok and before you know Instagram, So
all these silly little ideas we had. They seemed more novel,
I reckon than these days. We see probably a hundred
of them every minute of the TikTok. I was driving
down to Kill the road and I rang Haimer said, Oh,
and Ego and me, We're like, this could be great,
this could be America. I said, I rank. Haym said,
what are you thinking? And he said I think we'd
(15:16):
only do it to be more famous. And he said
do you want that? And I was like, but maybe.
I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
That's hard to answer, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And he said I don't And I just love making
the stuff here with our friends. We're still making our
stuff with our mates. UNI. Yeah, andrek would be more fun.
I was like, no, I don't think it would be
more fun. He's like, I guess that's our answer.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Oh my goodness. So who told your manager?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
There's been many times our manager has gone, you're fucking
kidding me? Yeah, yeah, but you're sure, boys are You're sure?
But that's you know. We left Drive Radio at its peak,
and we stopped Gap Year at its peak, and we
only get two seasons of True Story, and that was
going great and it was because we just want to
try more and more things. And again Haim would go, hey,
(16:07):
this becoming more run of the mill. We need to
ourselves and I was a bit the same.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Well, there is, you're both kind of adrenaline junkies in
the sense of adrenaline being generated from ideas as well.
Doesn't have to have that physical overture tour agree. So
along the way you've had this core group of friends,
collabory drawers and that seems to have been a constant.
(16:34):
So it's like you've both got much loved families, but
you've built this new family as well within How does
that work for people who can't or for someone like
you who is constantly you know, you've got the drive
in you, you've got the engine going yep, how do
you just build that?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
It was great because we had a company called Radio Karate,
which is the name of our Channel thirty one show,
and it was Hamish and I and Ryan and Tim,
which are two mates from Hamish's school.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
And so Ryan Shelton I know, right, yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
He was schoolmates with him, and Tim was also schoolmate
with year run it kind of be outsider, ah, and
so it was great that we said, these guys can
film with us. They're passionate about it. The best thing
about failing is that you can just reassess and start again, and.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You've got nothing to lose.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yes, And so we got a good bounce on the
failure because the press decided to even though they were
writing about how bad the show was a week before,
it gets asked and they flip it and they go, oh, oh,
these twenty one year olds. How dare they put two
twenty one year olds on prime time and only.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Give them six weeks not to support them.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Channel seven's you know the worst, all that stuff. So
we get this halo from having a pretty poor show.
The show had its faults, and what's great about that
is if they just let it run for ten weeks
and the season finished.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Would have come to a natural, natural remarkable exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Right, So we're kind of grateful. I'm very grateful that
seven acts us because you suddenly can use that momentum
and spirit into something else. Now we were doing it
was called the ham Machinery Show, but it wasn't ours.
It wasn't our ideas. Some of our ideas, but we
need to do a lot of other people's ideas and
all that kind of stuff exactly the show that we
would put together. And that is not a great feeling.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
That is not a great feeling because, as my mother sees,
the camel is a horse designed by a committee. Yes,
you know, and sometimes you're watching shows and you're like
you can feel or watching a movie you can feel
the executives involved.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, and we didn't know better. But what feels awful
is someone saying, hey, your show's shit, and you're like, well,
it's not really. It wasn't really our idea, like realize
very quickly, Hey, your name's on it, you're on the billboard,
it's yours. So we incorporated our own company then there
and said would only.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Make it's incredible, We'll only make our own stuff. Who
thought of that?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Oh, I think it was a bit of a collective.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I don't think it was Andy Lay. I don't think
it was. There's no way Hamish's going, well, let's corporate
a company, because he doesn't think like that.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Does he Hame definitely participates in all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Oh no, I know, but I would think in the
leading of that that that's more. You, that's more would.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Say that he like I do love that side of things.
You know, we even talk about that as far as
even ideas go. Hame would have brilliant ideas, but I'd
know how to package them. Yeah right, yeah, and so
I'd hear them and go, oh my god, this is great.
This is how we serve it.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
So like he'd have all the ingredients ready to go
and I could just plait it up. But he always
felt that my strength was knowing exactly how people want
to eat this, like knowing exactly how people want to
hear it exactly. So that's what made the partnership so
fun and exciting because the parts that maybe doesn't come
as naturally to him, even though he's very good at them,
(19:59):
the parts don't come as naturally to me, even though
I can play in that area complimentary.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Because I think that's a secret of any relationship, romant
or otherwise, is that people are always like it got
to find someone who's got you know, the same interest
as you know, No, what's the point of that. Actually
find someone who's got complimentary aspects of their personality.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
But you know you're Cal Pilkington. You might have heard
of him. Oh I love Carl from Ricky Jay's podcast,
I'm going to paraphrase, but he said something about a
relationship which I just it absolutely sat with me. And
he was talking about romantic relationships, but he said, I
think the best relationship is when you're walking exactly your
path and they're walking exactly their path, and you look
(20:44):
over and you're still side by side. Yeah. Right, And
it's all words that effect in his acts.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Can you do the accent?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So I feel that with Haim. I feel that all
the time. Is it like we're both doing exactly what
we want to do and then you turn around and
you're like, oh, you're still here. Great. And if I'm
doing exactly what I want to do and I'm in
trouble or i'msure about it on a personal level, I
turn around and go, hey, can you help me with this?
He's like, of course, oh, can I get your thoughts?
And that's on our individual pursuits and then together we
(21:16):
did them as well.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Because you were mentioning Tim and Ryan and you know,
Ryan did this incredible podcast which I'm sure you've heard.
The imperfect for anyone who's ever had a friend that
they've loved and been really tired too. He talks about
very generously and beautifully and respectfully about when you came
on the scene, but that he was displaced and how
(21:41):
he then when he saw the magic of you guys,
and he was like, it was undeniably magic. The jealousy
that he felt and the envy, and that for so
many years he couldn't even feel the joy because he
was so consumed by himself and then ended up having
to talk to Hamish about it. How did it feel
(22:05):
for you? Were you aware of any of that or not?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Really?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Always are amazing like that, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Well, we're very busy, Like, let's get that straight. We're
doing Drive. We're doing five days a week of drive
radio where Haim and I were getting early and national.
How many ideas can be put in this and a
lot of ideas involve traveling out of the studio and
consume our whole lives and some like that. And a
period of that time, ry I was off on Nova
(22:33):
I think against.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
It right, doing drama.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
So yeah, so there were elements of it all. I
was sad that he felt that way, Like I like,
when did.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
You know when you heard that you never see a
woman would have been onto that straight away because I
think we understand you know, we live in different for me.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Though, because I'm not childhood buddies at Ryan.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
No, No, I wouldn't tell.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
We're close friends. But it all started to a business
relationship or a comedy fun relationship. So I'm not picking
up on nuanced things. And our relationship didn't change.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
No, And he never had an issue with you. It
wasn't an issue with you. He loves you. The problem
was he also loves Hamish and Hamish's got a new
love who's Andy.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yes, I think it'd be peculiar for me to be
able to take up on that. I mean, my friends
didn't like Hamish either because they were protective of their
friendship with me, and they're like, hey, who's this other
guy coming along? Think they started and I hate Hamish
club for a while. They hate T shirts.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Oh that would be great, So that's that was you
should have worn that to that.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So I get the natural feeling that we're all protective
about people, people that were around, and we feel like
we shouldn't be. And then you realize when you grow
up and have family and kids, you just forget about
all your friends and anyways. But during twenty year old,
your friendship group is your family. Yeah, in fact, your
family's probably annoying. You really are strong, so I could
(24:03):
see how that would be challenging.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
But also I love the raw honesty of it, because
going back to the discussion we had about you need
a certain amount of ego to do what you do,
those feelings will live in that same area. And so
for him to say that, as himself a very accomplished
performer and ideas guy and Ryder and whatever, for him
to say it, it just resonated in a just very
(24:26):
human manner, and I loved it, and it kind of
showed the umbrella what you've built, you guys together that
he felt that he could say that, and he could
say it publicly, and he had to say it to
advance the relationship.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
He rang me before it, and he felt that he
wanted to say it out loud, and obviously it had
played in his mind for a long time. And so
whatever Ryan needed to do, you know, as a friend,
whatever he needed to do to try and resolve that,
super supportive of it, because no one wants to know you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Don't want to live with that.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It's super hard to go. I didn't, you know, I
can't remember the exactly the words he said, but like
to be super hard to go. I don't want you
to succeed. I'm having trouble with you. My friend's succeeding.
I mean that's because Ry is such a lovely person,
so a thing a battle, and he would have regretted about.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It still to come. I ask Andy how it feels
to be the butt of jokes, like when people say
he's less funny than Hamish, which people love to do.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I think it would be more hurtful if I felt
like it was true.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And does he want a wedding and a baby and
all those things we're all supposed to want stay with us,
you know when and you've said you've never really had
those feelings towards Hamish because quite frankly, it's hard to
imagine who could. But I'm struck by this narrative, which
(26:01):
is partly humorous but also is a bit snarky towards
you from not badly, but you know you said before
you know that Hamish is the guy, and you're the
less funny guy, and you might have been the more
funny guy. And the logis last year when Pang was hosting,
and they made a joke from the start.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Both Hamish and Andy are here tonight. Hamish won the
Gold Logi last year for the second time and he's
nominated again this year, and Andy his mates with Hamish.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I'm just like, uh, it kind of feels like a
joke that's sort of run its course. Do other people
care more about that than you do?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Oh? I don't know what other people think that. I
don't care about it at all.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Well, I was sitting a table of people that kind
of went, oh.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I think it would be more hurtful if I felt
like it was true. I mean, arrogance here we go,
I shit there and go. I mean I make the
same jokes. I think I make a joke. Believe you
do it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I hear you do it on the one hundred, And
it's just like sometimes if that got me on a
bad day, yeah, I'd be like, oh.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, No, I'm really aware of my skill set and
very comfortable with how it's it, so it's still fine.
Maybe it does change when you have individual success, you know, yes,
with my kids books or the hundred or my work
on this train open all these things. If I had
just done Hamish and Andy and then then you never
(27:40):
worked for me again, You're right, and I wanted to
keep a sying it. You know, some people go off
and they're quite comfortable in that space. I think that
would feel different. That would be tough.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's funny you mentioned your kid's books because they are
such a phenomenon and in fact, a very affirming phenomenon
of you and your talents. There's a series do not
Open this book that came out just in time for
my youngest to just love it, of Love Love, and
now there's a whole series of them, do not open
(28:13):
this book ever. I told you, do not open this
fucking book. That's one for grown ups. Anyway, When you're
selling that book in Australia and there's so many celebrities
who have done kids books, it's no surprise. In Australia
people could have been buying the books because you're Andy Lee,
(28:34):
and that would be great. That's fair enough. But then
they released the books globally.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
How many countries we're in thirty five languages, okay, so
that's obviously a lot more countries, okay.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
And how many books have you sold Andy Lee to
people who do not know who Andy Lee is.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Well, we've sold over three million around the world. But
holy moll, I know which way you're heading with that,
and I totally agree. I actually had a meeting about
this morning about another part of this project and with
the books and amplifying it the books, I fell into
it and again this is luck.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Was it for your nephew? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I wrote one book on a plane forty minutes for
my nephew for his birthday. And my best mate from
high school Hawks, he's a book publisher and they make
test books up all the time, so he was going
to make one test book for me. I was going
to give it to my nephew for his first birthday.
Hawks argue with me to publish them, and I said, no, no,
it's a present, not doing it. And it was three
(29:34):
months of back and forth and I said, okay, I'll
check with my sister because it was for her, and
so I said, age your mind if we published these books.
Hawgs has been on my back and she said, oh,
it's a beautiful book. I'd love it to be out there.
And I said, look, proceeds can go to George, which
is my nephe At the time, we had to change
the deal a bit cake.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Co Wow King George.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
So they've got a little school fun for all my
nephews and nieces. But yeah, so lovely. I was super
chuffed with how it went overseas because exactly what you said.
I thought, well, I'm going to sell this, but do
people like the book or is it just because Andy
Lee from or Andy from Hamish Andy it's attached to
this and then to see them travel and when people
(30:20):
have no idea who I am, and in Rome last
year doing a book signing.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
They think you're just a book author.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, it's just really strange and great and you go, okay,
there's something here and the idea. So absolutely I was
tough with that. I'm really proud of that, and it
gave it far more substance for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Tell me about the conversation you had to have with
your sister when you had to say George was going
to get the royalties? Yes, what number sales were you
in where you went? This number is actually getting a
bit too much for little George.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Oh, we sold hundreds of thousand years. But my sister's
just this is the harder part. My sister's a writer,
and she's a kid's book writer, no young she writes
young novels.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Thats why I year from twelve on with Ye Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
And she's got some amazing brands starring All of Black
was one of hers. She was the writer from Zach
Powell Books and it.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Goes Yes, another bigger hit in our family, Zach Powell.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yes, and she's got Girl Geeks another one at the moment,
which is girls and technology and science and that stuff.
So she's done a great and amazing work in the
space and that definitely was a worry for me to
go al. You're so talented. People should look up a
books because they're so great. Thankfully it wasn't a head
(31:41):
to head. There's a different category, yeah, right, but you know,
we're going to book awards together and my sister's there
and I go with her. Was great to a friend around.
But because my sister's just so lovely and so with
my brother. Yeah, there's been nothing but support, which is just.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Because you know, that's interesting because sometimes it's hard within
a family when the spotlight is shone on one particular member.
And your parents both of her I've met beautiful Margaret
and Michael. They seem to navigate that really beautifully, like
they turn up at your shows. The first time I
(32:20):
ever met you, I think you were with your dad
and I remember the other At the filming of the hundred,
someone in the audience asked a question about you and
they mentioned your brother. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
They're very Oh they're the best people. My dad's the
best person. Yeah, I think to be a full time
care really yeah, yeah, they're both primary school teachers.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Yeah, what happened to your mum?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
She had a rare disease called cerebral vasculatis, so a
blood so it's like a series of strokes, but of
strokes normally and a arterie it's in the veins so
it's smaller and cerebral. She had it in the brain.
So she was the first to survive in Australia.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
I think really when was that six?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
So she's given two weeks to live in ninety six
really and two weeks again at some point.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
So you were still at school then, so you would
have been like year teen.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Or yeah, yeah, I was, I was year I think
it was year nine going to year ten. Happened over
the Christmas holidays. She just forgot how to walk, talk,
who we all were, and then was in hospital for
a long time. Months and month.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Wow, how is that for a teenage boy.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Well, my sister calls me the tin man. Really, I've
actually become a lot more emotional in my old age.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Actually, Well, I think I have this theory that the
less this is born from my husband's dad, classic old
Ossie Brian Brian Lewis of Sunshine who I love. The
less sentimental they are in the youth, the more sentimental
they get through life.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yep, I'm certainly feeling that. But at the time, that
was probably the first my sister and I was a
relationship split. During that time, it was much harder for
my sister. She was becoming a woman. Yeah right, Yeah,
it doesn't have a mum around, and we would go
into the hospital and have to introduce yourself to your
(34:17):
mum every day and so that she.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Pleased to meet you.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
And that's tiresome.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Dad just went like they'd raise pretty good kids. So
it was just like every man for himself. All have
to dig in here, make your own lunches, get yourself
to school, and will work out what's going on. I
probably put my brother, not probably, I put my brother,
my brother and sister a little out of joint because
I went, Okay, here's the roster. You're on this. Yeah,
(34:51):
I probably tried to solve it through. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Well, and admin is required when you're trying to save
the life of someone. Believe me, I know it's essential.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
However, you don't want your brother telling you that you've
got to do this and that and this is your
turn to do the And so they became a lot closer,
my older brother and my sister during that period.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Imagine the conversation then.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Oh wow, yeah so and then Mum just snapped out
of it. Weirdly, they don't really know why. There's since
been a few more cases. I think it was the
I'm don't make up the figures, but there's only been
twenty cases in Australia. Yeah, So she tried to came home,
and then she came home and we were it was
a different family. We spent four to six months saying Hi,
(35:39):
I'm Andy Margaret, and I'd been introducing dad as Michael,
and so I started calling my dad Michael. We stopped
calling mom and dad. Oh, there was these little things
that happened in your life. She came back into a house.
It was sufficient. There was just running its own race,
and that was a real culture shock and so she
requested to go back to.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Hospital because it was a bit too much.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
That's the only time I was pissed off.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Right, It's like they fuck you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Right, I've done this right, and you don't even want
to be at a very response.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Because now as an adult you understand, and as a mother,
I'm like, oh my goodness that actually now just thinking
about it is making me cry because it's like.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And she'd missed my sister important parts of she's growing
up and yeah, it was yeah, and she's going through
rehabbing doing this stuff anyway, but you know, at least
you could be around, you know, which is so unfair
and selfish.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
For someone who has.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Just lost kind of five months of her life but
also just gone backwards. She's forty three or something and
then became a seven year old. Yeah, and you know,
she's on a walker and she's can't speak for her
on her match, she can't do basic mass and all
these things, and she has to be cared for and
then she doesn't even want to be around it. It was
just it was just I can't imagine would have been
(37:02):
for mum. Oh you know, I haven't really and your dad,
but dad who was staunch dad about five Whether we
keep this in the podcast, I don't know. But about
five years later, after they were really social, they were
off playing tennis together. Mum was, you know, slim, funky.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
They've got that five and she.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Didn't want to go out and see anyone because she
couldn't converse properly, and she is, you know, couldn't walk properly,
and she was marassed. So she just cut off a
lot of those social outlets. And close friends stick around.
But naturally we keep saying no to people, invite you
to things. Yeah, and so then Dad loses all of that.
(37:49):
And so in a situation where Dad's living a very
different life than he was and what signed up for.
And you know when people say in sickness and health.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, no one sickness, no one means that. It's like
for rich or for Paora.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
I didn't mean Poora exactly. It's a true test of that.
And Dad and I were drive him back from somewhere
one day and he said, I want to talk to
you about something, and what year would this been? I know,
whole lot later it's about your mother, And in my head,
(38:28):
I've gone, he's found someone else. Oh, it probably speaks
to me. I'm like, he's done really well for half
a decade doing this, but I can't keep doing I
totally get it, and so I'm getting ready for him
to go. You know, I found someone else and then
he's gone. I'm going to take time off work to
make use of the time with Mum because we're not
(38:50):
sure how it's going to go. And I'm like the
opposite of football. I didn't tell him at the time, Hey, yeah,
I thought you were going to go. Hey, I'm routing
the librarian. But that's who he is. And do you.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Think I mean, obviously bad example would say no, but
that doesn't encapsulate all of you. Do you think you
are your father? Oh no, I mean very few people
could be your dad.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, but I also don't think anyone knows whether they can.
I mean in practice, how do you test that? How
can you honestly say I do exactly the same thing.
I'd care for Beck through thick and things.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's very hard.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
I'd like to think I would, and I certainly have
a lot of my dad's morals, share a lot of
his interests, and hopefully some of his kind bones. But
I think it'd be pretty arrogant to say, oh yeah,
I'll do that in a pinch.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
I think it's easier to always pass judgment on people
in certain situations when they move on, when you don't
know what it means to be caring for someone or
to lose someone, or you know, the other idea. We
always have a people who are chronically ill or is
that they're somehow saintly, Whereas when people are chronically ill,
(40:13):
often they're the opposite of that, because they're fighting for
their life and they're frightened and they're yeah, they're angry. Yeah,
they're angry.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
They're angry, and it can come out in really terrible ways.
Now again, to my mum's credit, she just doesn't complain.
And I'm like, oh god, I'd be complaining, would really
complaining if it took that much time for me to
get out of beer every day and put all these
you know, and I know these people are farwer situations,
and I'm also very lucky to stay around, of.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Course, but it still doesn't mean that problems are not problems. Yeah,
stick around, because up next, I asked Andy if he wants.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Kids, and I love being available to people. I do
definitely worry that having my own family means that I
give that.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Up because you're so family oriented. You know what, I
have to ask you whether you're inclined to have your
own family.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Yeah, I mean I'm asked this a lot.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Oh well, I can imagine that you are, because women
also get asked. It's just a thing because in life
there are certain transitions that happen. They're not guaranteed, they're
not necessary. But because you are who you are, you're
very family oriented, you're loyal, you're quite good looking. Well
(41:41):
maybe they would, I don't know, But how do you
feel about that?
Speaker 2 (41:45):
I'd gone through something I thought I would definitely want,
then I went through patches if I don't think I
want this at all, and then I'm in trying to.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Which is like pretty common for the common. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
One thing I do love about not currently having kids
is how available I am to my family. Yes. Now,
Mum and Dad wire down the beach house one day
and they said, ah, when you're going to start a family,
And I said, you realize you wouldn't be here in
this beach house if I've.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Got both, Like, yeah, but you know what I would say.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
They would be happy with that.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Yeah, we give it up son, we'd give it up.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
And I spend so much time with them, I think
because of that, and I spend time with my nephews
because of that. And I love being available to people.
That's something that I love with friends, love being a
reliable source to call upon. I do definitely worry that
having my own family means that I give that up. Now,
that could be the right decision at some point. People
(42:42):
think that's selfless, but it's not. I get a lot
of self worth. If anyone calls, I'm happy to go
and work out what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Yeah, but do you think that having kids would preclude
from doing that.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
It does.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Actual I'm mentally going through when I've been available.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Okay, not to say that it's not the reason not to,
and but I think these are things go through my
mind and all my friends and family when they've had
their own kids. It's a really time and not tough
as in, it's not rewarding. It's just a lot.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Well it should be, it has to be.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And it's beautiful, but it's all consuming, and you go
into your insular shelves and you ask for help, particularly
with young kids, everywhere, like you need to because you
need support group, and so naturally people turn inwards when
they have their own.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Kids, and you're still outwards.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
I think so at the moment, I love Beck, Yeah
I could, and I think she'd be an amazing mom.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
And what does she think? Does she think she'd be
an amazing mum?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Yeah? I think.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
You know what, Let's watch this space. Let's reconvene this
time next year, because come on, a year and a half.
But when I asked that, it's partly there's a thing
that happens. I always think when people have kids, as
you used to say, everyone wants you to join the
(44:12):
misery club. Right, there's a terrible thing to sight. But
before you have kids, you can see the downside and
the data and the whatever.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
But there's no rub between Beck and I on that
front because Vexel doesn't want them now, yes, like this
is the misconception. It's like if we post a picture
of us somewhere, everyone's like, oh, haven't.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
You're a tease you tease paper with that, don't pretend
you don't.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
I put a photo off of me and my partner
and everyone's like, are you cage?
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Like no, I'm saying to hurt Beck, hide the third
finger on your left hand.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
The time, I was a tease and I'm not allowed
to play this joke anymore. But anytime I saw paparazzi,
I'd get down on one knee. So we beat the
baggage at Melbourne Airport and the pats would be there,
and so I'd get down on one knee and pretend
to propose. I was picking up dog Poo Wonder and
saw paparazzi, so I pretended to propose, and Beck said
that job that choke.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
No, no, no, no, I've got to tell you something else.
So when I knew that I was talking to you today,
I sent hay mission message, my dear, And this is
kind of quite deep, but it's you know, we lost
cal Wilson. The fraternity lost Cayl Wilson. And when I
(45:32):
was at her funeral and also at her memorial, I
was struck by how much she would have loved it,
and how she would have heard things that she never
heard when she was alive and had a position in
all of our hearts and in the broader comedy community
that she never knew she held. And so I sent
(45:53):
hammer message and I said, I'm talking to Andy and
I would like you to write something about what he
means to you. Okay, he didn't get back to me
for two days. I'm like, I got back to you.
That's good. Now he got back to me. He not
only got back to me, he got back to me
(46:14):
with this and I'm going to read it to you. Hey, Katie,
So here's some absolute train of thought musings on what
my friend Andy means to me. Upon reflection, I guess
I've always gone through life with a curiosity, an appetite
for adventure, and the belief that in almost all situations
there's the option to find comedy in it, but to
(46:37):
get really deep, really quickly. I also perhaps lacked the
full belief in myself to pursue that feeling. I think
I suffered a lot from waiting until it was the
perfect time to do something, rather than taking a leap.
I was nineteen and looking back, full of dreams but
also apprehension. As a nineteen year old, Andy introduced me
(47:01):
to the term back yourself, and he really did, and
alongside him, I began to do the same him. I
think through his friendship, he unlocked courage in me. Maybe
I would have got there in the end or in
a variety of different ways. But it really was in
(47:21):
meeting Andy that I found a partner who brought out
a desire to take risks together and leap into the unknown.
And that was a massive gift to me.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Free special.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
There's more. It's I don't know why I'm so moved
by this, but I love it. I love it for you.
I owe him a huge debt for hundreds of things.
But the older I get, the more I see and
value that initial change in the trajectory of my life
(47:57):
and the seedling of challenging what may be possible. We've
been through adventures and highs and lows that no one
but us will understand or possibly care about, and it
feels five hundred times more fun to have experienced it
with him than alone. So I love Andy for the
many things he is and the decades of barely laughs
he's given me, But I also have that deep love
(48:20):
for the lessons he's taught me during those formative years.
I really believe I've experienced a wildly richer life because
of that gift. Okay, I won't ramble anymore, and because
people have tuned in to hear your thoughts. Not a
letter from me big love.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Amazing, Yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
It's beautiful, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
Yeah, But I always promise myself I don't cry on
podcasts because.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (48:53):
Why not? What is life? Life is laughter and laugh.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Because it faily male article or something, and that's not
where I want this to be. But it's special what
I love about. I mean, it's so lovely for him
to say it publicly, but we've also said those things
to each other the privately.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
Get down on one may but.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
I know that sounds odd, bad, and I connect constantly
about those things. He hasn't put that as beautifully as
that before, but maybe he has. But yeah, we're not
afraid to tell each other how we're feeling in good
times and bad. But people are, and I don't think
too many mates get the opportunity to do that, as
(49:37):
in men while they're living, while they're living, and so
I'm really grateful for that. That's obviously lovely words.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
They're beautiful words. They're richly deserved. You're a treasure, Andy Lee,
you really are, you really are. Thank you for sharing
yourself with us.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Well, it took us a while to get here, like
two and a half years.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Why did it take so long. You're elusive. I don't
think you like to do this sort of.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
I can no, no, but I promised me that I do
it at some point. That's the other thing. If I
ever say I'll do something to anyone ever, I can't
notot do it.
Speaker 1 (50:19):
Oh, I want to get you to tell me you'll
do something.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
No. Well, often people get the often the raw other answer.
We just know I'm never going to do that, which
I have no problem saying to about spaces. But apologies
to me that I hadn't got around to it. But now,
but I'm so glad I got to do with you, Katie,
because we know each other very well.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
I loved it. I know you better now. I'm not
surprised by anything. Thank goodness, Andy, Lay, thank you chears Well.
That was such a great conversation. I loved getting a
look inside what goes on in Andy's head. I think
the sign of a good conversation is when aspects of
(50:58):
it stay with you long after the conversation is finished,
and that was the case with Andy. I thought about
him a lot, and I thought about his take on
things and his honesty, reluctant honesty at times. I basically
loved all of it, and I hope you have too.
(51:19):
We'll put the link in our show notes for Andy's
children's books and all the other things he's up to.
The Executive producer of No Filter is Kimberly Bradish, with
sound production by Madeline Joannu. Thanks so much for listening.
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