June 26, 2025 • 52 mins
It’s, sadly, the final week of The Project, and to celebrate/commiserate, we’re joined by a very special guest: journalist, academic, broadcaster, Gold Logie winner, walking fun fact generator, and yes, former Richmond Tigers mascot, Waleed Aly.
In this very extended episode, Waleed reflects on more than a decade behind the desk, saying goodbye, and the art of compartmentalising on live television. Plus, we dig into his sporting obsessions, his time inside a mascot suit, his unexpected Elmo bromance, and why The Project meant more than just prime-time news.
Receive 15% off the package price when you purchase a selected 2025 Samsung TV and selected Samsung Soundbar in the same transaction at Harvey Norman. Limited time only!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Here at Two Good Sports, we would like to acknowledge
the traditional owners of the land on which we record
this podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
There were innerie people. This land was never seated, always was,
always will be well. Hello and welcome to two Good Sports,
Sports news told differently, dear listener. As always, I'm Georgie
Turney and.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I'm Abbe, Jelmy and George.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I want to start from the top and say I'm
so sad it's the last week of the project.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Oh, they really am.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I was lucky enough to be in at Channel ten.
There is a shrine to Georgie at Channel ten in
the makeup room. It was about my favorite thing in
the world. But I did sneak in there for a
little project. Not the project. A little project, yeah, a
little project called the Cheap Seats, Big deal, yeah, But
it was just the project so important to the fabric
of Australian media and the space that it gives. And
we've heard it's almost like we've been at a eulogy
(00:51):
for two weeks where people have been coming on saying
just how much it means, particularly in the arts and
the performance space.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And it makes me so sad to think that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Not only will there not be the wonderful host and
you guys all genuinely get along, like you can tell
that you would all get a beer and you will
be getting.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Several beers this weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But I also just think when guests come to Australia
and they want to show personality, what they have to
do it on Brecky Radio.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, it's honestly such a huge loss. I think that
we won't feel the full effect of for maybe a
few weeks even months. It's the first Jenger brick to fall,
especially in the Australian media TV landscape. I think that's
going to have massive ripple effects because genuinely it's a
(01:38):
huge production and there's so many people that work on that.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I couldn't believe the labyrinth of people.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
In, so many people who now find themselves looking for work.
I'm obviously a bit biased because I've loved the show
my whole life.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Really, when we're growing up as nineties kids and peaking
in our journalism in like the twenty tens, when you're
sort of thinking what would be the dream gig?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, it Gid was the project.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It kind of started for us when the show started.
We were figuring out what we wanted to do and
what we wanted to pursue in our lives, like you
and I began studying journalism and a big part of
that was shows like The Project that you could see
and be like, oh, that's what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
That's exactly it. And as someone who's been told in.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
A healthy obsession with carry bigmore of.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Course, as the whole of Australia, whole of us. When
Carrie cries, I cry like it's just how it goes.
But I think that it really was that show that
had everything. And as someone who's been constantly told their
entire career that you have to stay.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
In your lane, you have to stick to one thing.
You can't be talking about sport and then also talk
about entertainment and then also do hard news and then
also beat the roving reporter that just doesn't exist that role.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
But on the Project it did. Yes, honestly the dream
role of my life. So I am in a bit
of a morning period.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
We've got one more show to go, and I think
this is going to put even my Olympic medalist compartmentalization skills,
put it.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Bury it and cry later privately.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Not for you, Australia not for you, and we've all
been We've all been in that position because honestly, when
you are on live TV, people have things going on
in their lives and sometimes you go to set and
you're like, I just need to not cry here. And
it is a skill to be able to go, I'm
going to park this. But it's different when it's a
collective emotion.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, and I think there's something quite exhausting about it.
Oh like, there's something beautiful about it because you're all
going through the same thing. But it is exhausting too,
because you'll be like, oh, no, I've got a moment
of on the roller coaster.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm on the up, I'm on the up, and then
you just feel the wave of emotion from everyone else
and you're like, Okay, we're going down again. We're going
down again. We're going down. So the last three weeks
have been very peculiar, very peculiar.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
But I'm hoping that I can compartmentalize enough to see
it as a celebration as well, because you know, shows
don't last for sixteen years. No, Like, that's such an
incredible achievement. And the stories that we have been able
to tell on the project, some that I'm.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
The proudest of in my entire my entire career. We've
seen all of the montage packages this week. Oh my gosh,
continue to destroy me every single night and I'm like, no,
I can not cry again, and like, where else is
this real human story going to be told?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Well?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, where will they go?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
We talked about celebrity, let celebrity coming in, but it's
more the project had space to really storytell in a
primetime slot and it was just it's special and that
is a bit of a prelude to our special guest
that we do have coming up today. I'm so excited
to watch you in the final show and I know
that only bigger and better things come because you're a rockstar.
Or as Sam Turlington says, Turling Taunton's going to come by,
(05:00):
who's Turlington, that's Christy Turlington, the model.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Samuel's one of.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Your biggest fans, and he'll be like then tell me,
said I, Well you did call you a model though, Sam, so.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
No, I love sam Jo and I loved the hat
last night.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That has inspired the hat. Sam Turlington what the hybrid though?
Evacially I thought we're going to cut that out now?
It has to stay obviously, Sorry, Sam Hi a huge fan,
Sam t Sammy Tea. Now you're going to be the
face of the nation. That's what comes next for Georgie Tune.
You're gonna be the face of the nation. I'm humped
(05:38):
and of course you've got so much coming out, but
it is. It is a watch and white for the
Australian TV landscape, and especially being based in Melbourne and
not in Sydney, the lack of production here at the
moment is pretty scary. Yeah, I mean it's genuinely very sad.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I mean, did I ever think when I was growing
up watching Rove Live that I would share the desk
with the man?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
No? No, like he gave us. As I know, he
literally he listened to.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Edition and sent us some pgs.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
We'll shout out to Rope because he will be listening
to this right now. He doesn't just listen to the
Green and Gold Edition. He listens every single week. He's
the first one that always comments on what.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
But we will get to it. It is a very
very very big week.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Personally for me and as part of that ties in
very nicely with our guests that we have on the
show today.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Before we get there though, very quickly, Good Sport, bad Spot?
Where are we at? Well, if we're going to talk
about entertaining artists that need a platform when they're touring
for new singles that they might have released coming to Australia,
the thing I never saw coming because it just simply
shouldn't have been a thing.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yannick Sinner, Andrea, can I just say, is that your
good sport?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
What have I got lined?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Hang on? No, no, no, hang on, Georgie. In our lives.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
There will always be many first nights.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Only have to do this is to do yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I'm going to speak over it, dear listener. That's Andrea at.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
A piano where Yannick Sinner, the world's number one tennis player,
has awkwardly walked over to lean on a tennis record
as Butchelli sings and Sinna weirdly talks while there are
slow motion photos of him as a child, and they
deigned to call this a single. Once again, dear listener,
(07:53):
I cannot stress enough that Jelly and I do not
plan this. We do not plan what we're going to
talk about. Good Sport, bad Sport. It is always keep
it a secret. So we can have a natural reaction
to each other's good sport bad sport. Here's me over
here being like, this is gonna kill her. I'm gonna
destroy with this little good sport of mine. I am
(08:14):
absolutely gonna wipe the floor with such a good one.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
I think good sport because I mean because Butlli's a
good sport.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
But pretending talk about having the audacity to think that
you can perform with Andrea Bocelli, And by perform, I
mean just say words, I mean the audacity.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
He has a single with Andre's Here's here's the climax.
Here's the actual climax of the song that's Andreas every Day.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I genuinely saw it.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Georgian's well, this is a pistake like this, this is
a parody that they've shot like Saturday Night Live or something.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
And then it was a genuine But he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I thought he might sing. I was like, I was like, oh,
he's just he's had a bit of bad pr recently,
but no, still on.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
Drugs, still altered because who fishes that and goes.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That would be good?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You know what's a toe tapper? Some spoken verse slam poetry.
Here we go and they weirdly are on a mountain
with this like Cpia Hugh like the like there we love.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's what makes it feel like a parody is the
clip for me.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I know, I know it does actually fit. You're sober,
it's so SNL.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Also dealst not.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
We don't want you to think that we have ignored
the colossal signing that is Whoopi Goldberg's all Women's Sports
Networks signing netball. We are on it so much so
that we're gone to the top, and the top in
netball usually means Queen Liz and reflect we love Liz Ellis.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
We're gonna whoop bee. Yeah, we're gonna get it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
We're gonna get it. We're gonna assist her act. Yep,
my address is a nun if I need to Hey,
we're manifesting. And if Yannick Singer, Wow that was an
accidental pun, but I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
If Yannick Singer can call himself an opera singer. Hey,
there's no reason why we can't get Whoopi Goldberg on
this podcast. And again, I'll get the nun kids. Yeah
it has to happen.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get the habits A very special guest
coming up next.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Now I've got a little intro for you. Oh God,
all right, but don't step wow so excited?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
No, because I don't. I just I don't trust what
you're about to do.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You don't know. But we're gonna leave that in. Yeah, ghost,
leave that in.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Our guest today is arguably one of the most recognizable
faces in the country, much to his own chagrin. I'm
sure he's well known for his sharp intellect and effective prose,
but potentially lesser known as the Richmond Tigers mascot, a
role that I feel he may hold as high as
hosting a national television show for more than a decade.
(11:26):
His love of Richmond matched only by his love of
Liverpool well it. Ali's infectious enthusiasm for all things sport
is one of the many reasons I'm honored he's let
me hang out with him. Indeed, what our dear listeners
may not know about Walid is that his glorious intellect
isn't his biggest identifier.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
It's actually his friendship, especially his patients.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
When I talk at him about the player's hairstyles rather
than the actual football ability.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I've had the.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Pleasure of sitting beside this man for the last three
years on the project. And as we head into our
final show, ever, what better time to start the celebrations
and the Swan song.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Nothing is ever off the table. Would you please welcome
the two ic of tiger Land who had two things
on his rider, and Armin Latte and Jack Reewell. We
have achieved fifty percent of those things.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Gently be coming in another way, please welcome Wally Laly
do thank you.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
That was a lovely introduction.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
She's known for this.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
I was a little scared, but I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Glad that Where did you think that could have gone? Well?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
I wasn't anticipating players haircuts, but I do. I do
remember that conversation. You came over because I have a
whole lot of people come over to watch Liverpool games
and occasionally read all hours in the morning. Yeah, so
what we do this is a very important thing. It's
it's a no phones policy and we watch at a
reasonable hour. So it could be so reasonable usually seven eight,
(12:49):
because people got to go to work and everyone has
to avoid the score and come along and Tunny usually
says I'm at the gym.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yes, I'm very fit.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I don't she's not at the gym.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yeah, is it a group. I'm pretty sure that's what's happening.
But she came on one of the games. She came over.
I think we just ended up analyzing every players haircut.
You're welcome, and we assessed all the goals by whether
or not they had a sensible haircut or Yeah, we
still do that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, as mentioned in your introduction, you are a tiger
obsessed human being.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You love the Tiger. I actually don't know why.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Well, it's my brother's fault. Yeah, so I've had a brother,
who's have you ever met my brother? Yeah to the
f one.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You've watched Morning Soccer about the driver's haircut?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Of course, so many divisions. Yeah, So my brother's ten
years older than me. Like, so my my family, my
parents migrate from Egypt. They meet in Australia. They don't
really follow the footy, and so my brother's learning all
the footy and so he's like, oh, who do I
barrack for? And he decided he wracked for Peter McKenna
(14:02):
Collinwood for Ford at the time, and Peter like not Collingwood.
He was adamant. He didn't he wasn't evil. He didn't,
and so he just decided he's back for Peter McKenna. Anyway,
there was this girl in the street where he grew
up called Mandy, who I eventually got to meet, which
is amazing. But he quite fancied Mandy. And Mandy was
(14:22):
playing in the street with him one day as she's
a bit older, and says, what do he back for?
He said, Peter McKenna. She said, what do you mean
you can't bark for a person. He said, none, I do.
I worged for Peter McKenna anyway. And she was a
Richmond fan, so she said, look, okay, here's the way
it's got to be. You're going to have to burry
for Richmond. And he was like, oh, why is that, Mandy.
(14:43):
And this must have been around seventy four, and I
say that because Richmond had just won back to back
flags in seventy four, they won seventy three and seventy four,
and she said, well they're the best team and so,
and he was like okay, and man, so he became
a Richmond fan. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I'm born know the pivotal effect.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yes, in fact, in fact, I can't believe I've forgotten
this until just now. After the twenty seventeen flag, we
got Mandy on the project. What, Yes, we interviewed Mandy
really found.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Because it was Mandy was the touchstone that's stories of
Kevin Bacon. Mandy was the one that then led to
you being a Tigers fan, which led to you that joy.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
He was just only really two degrees.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
What was that moment then, like for you that flag
twenty eight?
Speaker 7 (15:28):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
What did that feel like as someone who had great
success very early on in their rugby league career?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yes, I've said career.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, yeah, she likes to think she plays.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, she talks about the Morons performances like she was
out there, You're going Marions No, no, no, no, Broncos
because I started watching rugby league in ninety nine. The
Broncos won in two thousand.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
They were good. I remember the Broncos being I'm.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Attacked by you saying were but I'll let it slide. Yeah,
but you know, so I had that success. I just
thought it was normal to win, right. I mean, Jelmy
is a former Frio fan, so she does.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I'm married into Richmond, I recommend, but could have done it.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Unfortunate, that's true.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah, I think Frio's first ever game was against Richmond.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You know that there it is.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I'm pretty sure it was, really and I think Freo
won by five point.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Well, essentially, when Caina and I moved in together, there
was a lot of I had a lot of merch,
I had scarves, I had Christmas jumper, all that sort
of stuff. And Kane said to me, how would you
feel if I supported Channel nine?
Speaker 4 (16:30):
And you said, well, I'll exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I was still playing at the time, and I was
like truchet. There was a memorial burning of But I
must say it is an amazing club, genuine.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Take us back to twenty seventeen, it.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Hasn't been an amazing club.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I wish I was around.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Yeah. Well, and at that time I was living in Richmond,
and I hadn't been living in Richmond long, and I'd
never seen a place like it, like the you know,
projections on the town hall and people just emerging out
of their homes in the middle of the night to
stand in front of the town Hall and just stare
at it like this, images of tigers or even just
(17:07):
like tiger prints. So I don't know, unbelievable and unbelievable
because it was so unexpected. So the context is we
were not the Broncos Toney. Maybe for my brother. My
brother got to see premierships as a kid. He got
to see Richmond as a successful team. I never did.
So my first football Richmond made it. The lost the
Grand Final in eighty two. My first football memory is
(17:27):
eighty three and it's Lee Matthews holding up the Premiership Cup
and I'm like, so this is all. And Richmond were
down the bottom of the ladder and always were and
people we used to tease Richmond for finishing ninth like
that was a good year, that was that was triumph.
And so I had actually got to a point where
I just in the depths of my soul, believed that
Richmond would never make I would never see them in
(17:49):
a Grand Final, like I used to see my friends
whose team had lost a Grand Final and go, I'd
love my team to lose a Grand Final right.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Now, festivity.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Yeah, just like just to be that I would never
the Grand It was always just something that happened to
other people and so.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
And so you were playing the game too, I understand.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And then when when twenty seventeen happened. You got to
remember coming into that our first our first game was
against Geelong qualifying final. We hadn't beaten Geelong in ten years,
and we go in there. We finished third on the
ladder and we're playing Gelong and they're always going to
beat us. And then we'll fall back and play Sydney,
who at that time a red hot formula. They'll beat us,
we'll go out in straight sets. This will be humiliating.
(18:29):
All I wanted was one win managed. And I remember
going to that Geelong game and we won by fifty points,
and all of a sudden, it was like a different
reality had come into existence, like we'd walk through a
portal and there was this alternative reality that used to
exist in my rumpus room when I was pretending to
(18:50):
play for Richmond and we were winning premierships there. And
I remember the next day that sub the whole suburb,
there were guys out. There's one guy out painting a
Richmond jumper on his house. Were being painted that house,
by the way. Were you at the prelim, Yeah, I
was at all of them. And the prelim against GWS
is still like I think of some of the sporting
memories I've had as a fan. I've seen Liverpool win
(19:13):
a Champions League final in Madrid. I've been to all
that game more than the Grand Final. Is the most singular,
most irreproducible game I've ever seen, because you don't see
the mcg barracking for one team like that, to see
(19:33):
it look like an like an oversized Premier League ground
where everyone is wearing the same color. The noise, I
think they compared it to some jet engine. I think
it got louder than a jet engine at some point
when Kane kicked that first goal at the start of
the game, like, I's.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Such a nice little time, Like again, I would have
been great.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Imagine me in that time being like I have clearly
kicked the goal anyway, became the most humble human being.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I've never spoken about it.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Can I talk about Cane just briefly? So my brother
and I have a thing. Every big Richmond win, every
finals win, involves a big Cane Lambert goal, usually in
the third quarter, and there was that's.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
A premiership quarter.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
By osmosis ye, just.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Like in rugby league premiership third quarter, and so there
would be a moment where Caine Lambert would kick a
goal in the third quarter in a tight final or
something like that, and my brother would text me and go,
it's over.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
It, we're winning.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, go back and watch the tapes. I don't even think.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
In my house he's so humble. Yeah, we'll get to
with the boys. That's the exciting bit. He'll just have
to suck that up. You know, you'll be likes. Come
watch your dad.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Louie already believes he's a tiger.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, and his first experience at the MCG was running
around and kicking on the ground before a game. So
that's how you normally get of life is And then
even worse, pushed Andrew Dyllon and I'm like sorry, and
he's like, do you want to run at Louis?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And I'm like, oh, we need to. We really don't
need to get out of this.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
How did you become the Tiger's mascot?
Speaker 4 (21:14):
So my mate, who you know, actually go by the
name of Jeff.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, legit, no, this is one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
I ran around on the m c J as to
the Tiger.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, okay, no, So I saw the skit on the
project and thought it was an elaborate.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
No, In fact, there was one. I don't think.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
I don't think they usually gymnast the heavy head. But
also like I'm sorry, you're a lawyer at the time,
in the mascot in my head are like teen gymnastics.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
No, no, no, the gymnastics things you have to let go.
That's that's a different.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That's like Australian cheerleading with respect versus American cheer leading.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Yeah, it's different thing, different thing. I was a law
student at the time. But my mate Jeff, who Tonny
knows and has played games with, he had the job
full time, really yeah, and he was in fact, he
also had the job of being the Sydney mascot for
away games in Melbourne. It was had a whole racket going.
(22:20):
I don't know if you know this, but he's a
Victorian College of the Arts graduate, so he I know,
we can see, yeah and act and anyway, he put
a lot of thought into it, so he had Tiggy
had a whole backstory in Jeff's era. So for example,
on Friday night games, he would turn up wearing a
suit carrying a briefcase because he wanted to imagine that
Tiggy had a day.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Job, and.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
I don't know if anyone at the NCG got the backstory,
but it's like, why is he running around?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You're overqualified to be a mascot, So there's this backstory.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
It's brilliant it anyway, So basically, whenever he couldn't do it,
I stepped in, but I I did a bunch of times.
The other other time that was there were two humiliating moments.
One was when I was doing it at Docklands, because
that's what I call it given my ABC backgrounds, and.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh my gosh, it's so annoying.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yeah, yeah, sorry, Melbourne's rectangular stadium.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
I'm like, what's that?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Anyway? I said Docklands and I literally couldn't find the change.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Labyrinths.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
No mascot that day?
Speaker 5 (23:26):
You like it?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
So?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Did you still sit there in.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
The stands with a tiger head in a rubbish bag?
Going well, oh there was one other time We're playing
Melbourne and Kane Johnson, who ended up captaining Richmond, and
Clinton King were both in the Richmond team and I
grew up playing sport with them, Like I played cricket
with them, I played basketball with them, and I hadn't
seen them for years and then suddenly I'm in a
(23:49):
change room while they're about to run out and play
a game of Fall and I'm putting on a tiger
and I'm like, this is not the reunion?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Do I take the head? Would be like, guys, no
dreams of tigers we all made.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Let's get the footy team shot.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Because no, no, I'm a law student. I'm going to
do something proper.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And that you did that you did.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
It depends who you are well.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, from tiger suits to then lawyerdom, to academia to
the Project Desk among many other media gigs too. We
are entering our final date, our final show is coming up.
This is also an opportunity for us to give a
little welfare.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Check but also to genuinely and Georgie and I were
saying this behind your back when we were coming up
as journalism students. You looked at the Project Desk and thought,
that's the dream. And that was when yourself were hosting,
and it was Carry and it was you know, Pete,
and you just looked and thought, and Charlie back in
the day and you just went, they are the mecha
(25:01):
like that is the pinnacle of Australian media.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
That you almost couldn't.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It was a fantasy to think that you would end
up on that desk because of just the caliber of
media that it was. And I'm so proud of George,
and I'm so grateful for the project for showing your
range and who you are and how brilliant and bright
and irreverent.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
It can be all at once. But you were just
the voice.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
No, but you were, and in a time, especially before podcasts,
before those longer form discussions where people could find a
way to go, Wait, how do I feel about this?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
How do I dissect this? You did that for a country.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Well, I mean that makes it heavy.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
And it was heavy, though. It is heavy to have
those discussions in one of the only mediums that were
doing it at a time.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Yeah, that's probably true. It's funny though I didn't think
about it that way, and I couldn't. If I'd thought
about it that way, I probably would have just gone
home and.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
The old compartmentalization.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, well it kind of is. Yeah, I don't know.
I think I found the whole experience pretty shocking actually,
And when I went there, because I came from the
ABC and so I started kind of just doing things.
I was doing on the ABC on Channel ten, except
like when I'm interviewing a politician whatever, and I just
(26:22):
found people were kind of like, WHOA, what's this? And
I'm like, what do you mean? This is actually pretty
strong forward. And the big thing that shocked me was
when I was at the ABC, I suppose. I mean,
I still am, but in a slightly different way. But
when I was at the ABC, you were never the focus.
You were never the issue. The story or the issue
or the interview whatever that was the issue. And then
(26:45):
when you go into the world of commercial TV, suddenly
it's all about personalities. And I remember doing I think
we did a statement on I don't know, renewable energy
targets or something like that, and the next day there's
just like headlines about me doing this thing, and I'm like, what,
how's that? How's that of any interest? And that kind
(27:06):
of was what was hard about it, I think was
that you became it all became about you rather than
about the thing you're talking about, and so it's like, well,
what's the point of this? You know? But I think
we just found a way of especially things that wouldn't
easily be explained on commercial TV in a commercial TV format.
The thing I'm probably happiest about through all of those
(27:28):
sorts of things we did was that we found a
way to take an issue to people that otherwise would
never have found it, or to think about an issue
with a level of depth that is impossible to glean
from just you know, a bunch of thirty second news
stories or whatever that you would normally get. Yeah, it
was pretty wild ride. It wasn't always enjoyable, but it
(27:49):
was for all those sort of public reasons, but it was.
It was pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
What will you miss most and why is it me?
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Well, because I just don't have enough people in my
life talking at me about thank you about the broncos
It's so hard to say it is the people, Like
I'm an intensely nostalgic person just but I don't know
why it is them, And so I find that really
(28:18):
really hard. It's hard to look at you right now, Tony,
because it immediately just conjures up all these things. And
there's producers that I've worked with for like, you know,
more than a decade that we've done all sorts of
stuff with Now they're rolling out these packages of things
we've done on the show.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
How have you found that because we spoke just before
you got here.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
A biology that's gone.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah. Yeah. And it's both.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It's both incredibly humbling, it's really touching, but it is
also it's hard.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
And I'm also funny, really hard because we do it
in front of a studio audience. They're coming, they're giving
us gifts, they're telling us stories about how much the
show mattered in their lives, all this stuff, and I'm like,
can't this just be a horrible experience that I'm glad
to get rid of at the end of the week.
But it just isn't, you know. So it is really hard,
and there will be other stuff I missed that I
don't realize. Yes, you know that I'm probably taking for granted.
(29:11):
You know, I'm delighted to, you know, for however long
the rest of the year, another year, maybe the rest
of my life not having to see something happen and go,
what do I think about this? Yes, delighted about that?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Or just organically allow yourself to feel what you feel
about it instead of going around I'm going to editorialize
this or how does this.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Make its way into content? So I'll be delighted about that,
But I also reckon. There'll be a moment where it's
like I need to be the one interviewing the treasurer
because there is something about and that sounds egotistical. I
don't mean it that way. I just mean there's a
thing where actually been getting to ask the question, and
I guess I don't never really value that. But maybe
(29:56):
when I'm not doing that, I.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Don't think it's egotistical.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I mean for all of but we work in the media,
so it's such a I think it's it's completely natural,
such a natural want. Because I'll be watching I'm like, oh,
ask this, and of course my watching.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
The Olympics, I wanted to hurt myself, yeah jokingly.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
But as you're.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Watching and you're like, oh, you've got to ask her
about this, like you just naturally want to be the
one in the driver's seat.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yeah yeah. And then you stop and think there will
be all these people watching you do it, thinking exactly
the same thing. Well, that's not fair. I think that
should be no. But look, it's been a while, right,
it's been. I never imagine myself doing anything like this.
Even when I started. I remember carry saying to me, look,
if you're going to do this, you really need to commit,
like we need you need to do three years or
(30:39):
something like that. And I was like, oh god, that
seems like a long time and then you know.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
It is.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
And also just there were you know, other things I
would have loved to have done that never happened up,
Like I would go home from the project and sit
on the couch and watch I don't know, someone who
looked a lot like you're presenting what the Fox and
one day us one day, one day that could be,
but they never what the Fox?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Never What the Tiger. You can't host What the Fox?
You're What the Tiger?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Probably appeared on What the Fox?
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Okay is if you're not one of the three people
on the planet that remembers that segment. When I was
all of twenty twenty five starting out at Fox Sports,
the first on air segment I did, which sounds so
jealmy coded was what the Fox? That was Tara Rushton
and I used to who's a staff and we used
to alternate between who would find weird clips on the
(31:31):
Internet and just basically be like, here's Steph Curry making
a trick shot, how about that Fox?
Speaker 3 (31:37):
What the Fox?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And it was like it was the fact that it
still doesn't exist in a world where clips go more
viral is bizarre to me.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
The cheap seats basically do it. So that was great.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
You're a Sprier and like you, I assume just get
lots of people coming up to you talking about what
the fox.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Just as you go through, who's brought up to me?
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Now it's a deep cut. It's a deep I.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Love the deep cuts. The best thing is we had
the Prime Minister in here angling to get on off
side and Walid wants to be on not revealing.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Thing that doesn't even exist. That was canceled, by the way.
Speaking of Tara Rushton, I did offer to give up
my job so that Tara Rushton could have it for Cooper,
so that Copron would stay in Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
A couple more questions from US project related ones.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Yes, are they projects book questions?
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Well, actually, I've got who's your favorite sports star you've
met via project? That was going to be one of them.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
That's a very hard if is now included because he
did f one movie, well, I suppose sported with him.
The one I really remember is Eric Cantona. So I
got to interview Eric canton Like you know, Manchester United
legends was just about to be inducted into the Premier
League Hall of Fame and hadn't been at that point.
(32:52):
Were saying, I don't I don't care about this, and
then when you did it, it was like yes, but
also I don't know how well you know him, but
absolutely bonkers French guy, like the guy who would get
up receiving some award from FIFA or UEFA or something
and then just proceed to deliver some kind of poetry
(33:12):
that no one understood. And it's just like, what just
happened this guy? And it's rare that you actually get
to interview like I know, Peak on interview Lebron I think,
and that was a big moment. Yeah, yeah, like things
like that, but it's actually rare. You're always interviewing people
in the moment when they do something. You know, look
(33:32):
beverage after the dogs won the flag or whatever. Lots
of footballers, Sam thoughid I was always great, fun like,
there's always those, but then there are people that are,
you know, at a level where they're just in there
there forever, you know what I mean, And he was
one of them. And I hate Manchester United, absolutely hate
Manchester United. But to talk to the guy who fly
kicked a spectator and talk to him about.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
That and have him answer, yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
It was genuinely amazing and something that this is peeling
back the curtain a bit. Sometimes we do the interviews
at home on a zoom link and then we go
into the studio and re record the questions because that's
the studio is not available or whatever. And that was
when I did at home and my youngest Zaide, is
obsessed with football, and I'm doing the interview and Zaide's
in front of me listening, and I just called him
(34:23):
around and I said, hey, Isaiad Eric Cantoner? And he did.
And Zaid's just like like, he's this doesn't happen. How
does this happen? Those sorts of things. That's a really
good question, I reckon he would have been about maybe thirteen.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
I just love that he's gone to school and he's like, anyway,
so my dad's friends with him. Yeah, yeah, he just
talks to him on the regular.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Yeah. It must have felt really weird like that. Yeah,
So I don't know. That's that's the one I remember
the top of my head.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
And was he a good interview?
Speaker 4 (34:53):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, because sometimes you get excited to meet people and
you let down another ones.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Wow, you've got great.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Can you tell us who that's been?
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I can tell you mine? Do that?
Speaker 2 (35:02):
What if I tell you mine? Though, and then you
can tell me and the.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
World knows what yours is. Mariah care No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
I mean that's one of them, but no, no, no,
because I was only I was expecting that from Mariah.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
I was like that, I.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Was she owns yeah, yeah, and I was.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I was just like, that's to be honest, I actually thought, and.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
As Maria was just disappointed that it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Mariah's favorite is Walid? Like that is that's actually project
for she?
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Like where's Waldo?
Speaker 2 (35:26):
She said, where's ma lead? She called Walid Malid? So
Mariah wasn't you know? It wasn't a peak like achievement
for me in terms of how that interview did go down.
But my most personally disappointing, and it's nothing on them.
It was me building up the interview so much because
I was genuinely so excited to talk to them. Was
(35:46):
Tom Holland because I adore.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Him and I love Spider Man and I just love
him and Zendaya. I've loved him since The Impossible, that
Tsunami movie where it's him and the brothers and.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
That Lucas Lucas and he runs down anyway. I adore
the man. And it was for a very serious project that.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
He was working on, so he was in serious he
was in a really serious.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Mode, and there was part of the interview that he
actually looked at his once and I was like, that's
my time of death. Thank you, let's write that down.
And it was just one of those moments where I
was like, oh, like, hopefully I get intoe him again,
whereas I think, sure he'll be delight.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
The week after, didn't Timothy Shallamo singer Chance.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I remember that because Georgie loves the pop cult and
I was like that, I remember you were so excited
about it and you were like, he wasn't that right?
Speaker 3 (36:33):
And then I saw the cuts of Timothy shell May,
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
They've resurrected themselves, the heart throbs of the twenty twenty.
They're back, We're back, We're back. But yeah, that was
That's when you.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Don't have to say who was bad, but who outside
of sport did you lull?
Speaker 5 (36:46):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Well, I think it asked my favorite guest, and my
answer hasn't changed for many years.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
And say at the same time, I know who two
one Elmo?
Speaker 4 (36:55):
Oh it was magnificent.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Do you know what? Yeah, fellow mascot, that's right.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Have you ever been in a wrestle Elmo?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
I can give you some.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
T it's weird. Almo. I don't think he's ever done that.
That's something I got up.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I don't think you can see why was it?
Speaker 4 (37:14):
Well, So interviewing Almo is kind of a bit of
a production because of course, like, okay, cover Kiddy's ears,
it's not he's not real. There's a guy who does
that anyway, So Elmo comes to the guy who plays
Almo comes in. Not the original guy. It's different.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Guy comes in, Wow, flifting behind the veil. Is there
another one?
Speaker 4 (37:31):
Wow, there's a whole backst Elmo's old. You can you
can google the original guy and you'll find out why
I said that. Anyway, So okay, there's a The guy
comes in and he's obviously under the desk holding up Elmo,
so he can you know, but we had to install
a monitor under the desk so he can see where
(37:52):
is looking. And like if Elma wants to look down
the barrel of the camera. He's got to know.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Where the camera is.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
Yeah, So this all happens like an hour before. And
so he's coming in and it's like, hey, mate, how
you doing, And the whole the magic is totally ruined, Like,
oh my god, there's like a little rag on the
floor that used to be Elmo. Is this guy anyway?
He's great, really enjoyed speaking to him. Seems like a
really regular guy. Anyway, we can't back Later an hour
later do the show. He comes out, same same guy
(38:18):
you're from before. Hey, hey doing man. He's under the
desk doing his thing. I ask him a question. Elmo
looks at me and I am under his spell. Elmo's
real and I'm talking to him. Yeah, And it does
not matt all. The fact that the artifice has been
made abundantly plane doesn't change any of that. And then
(38:41):
to watch him work, like we would throw questions at
him and how old's almost four?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
I think he's three or four years Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
To watch him make adult jokes but never break the
boundaries of the character being a four year old kid
is something like it would be the easiest thing in
the world for Elmo to work blue right, all right,
here's a sex gag that's hilarious, but it would destroy
the character. So he knows the bounds of it, but
to work within it, but just throw little bits out
(39:09):
there for the adults without its being inappropriate was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
He was on Chicken Chop date, right Elmo. It was yes,
and it was fantastic in.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
That like es, yeah, he's remarkable. It was genuinely he
started making jokes about rent control buildings and I'm just like,
this is genius. And then he made us some for
his own social for Elmo social media accounts. He made
us tell him a joke.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
What was?
Speaker 4 (39:36):
Can I try to remember it was? I think it
was a knock knock joke? Oh it was, and it's
something like I said, I'll tell you a joke, but
I just needed to promise you one thing after that.
I don't miss this to be a thing where right
here a joke, you laugh, and then you just forget
about me. Will you can you remember me? Will you
can you just promise me you'll remember that we had
(39:56):
this moment and that he goes, yeah, sure, let's do it.
Knock knock, he said, who's there. I said, you've forgotten already,
and he looked at me and he went, great setup, and.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
That's what you're going to do after the project, you
make it a long campaign's magical.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Yeah it was. It was one of the greatest days
of Oh and there's been so many Yeah, almost a
great setup to me. So yeah, there are so many
we could talk about. But that's the one.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
What what are you going to do?
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Well, I don't know. There's this sporting podcast I've been
hoping to three No, honestly, I don't know. I don't know,
do you know? Really?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, I'm turning a book right now.
Speaker 4 (40:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's probably something that I should. Yeah, you've
been doing that for a while. Maybe now you'll actually No,
I just I don't know. I'm going to I'm hoping
to take a break. I've still got things I have
to do, like weekly, I've got a radio show, a column. Okay,
so I've got to stuff. Yeah, so that stuff. But
(41:09):
I'll figure it out.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
And daunting or exciting.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
It's both, you know, because doing something new is to
take risk. Probably I guess I'm risk averse, even though
doing commercial TV is pretty risky thing to do, so
I guess you know, I would.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Say being a mascot is quite risky, but you went full.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
You're wearing the mask. That's why the spinoff has to
be the mascot. No, I don't know. I don't even
know if it's media, but you know, we'll see it
probably will be. And I've got some ideas and I've
got you know, there are people I'll have meetings with,
but I don't know. I've got time now, which I've
never had never.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
We work in a weird world where you, more so
than Georgia and I, your job becomes affiliated with who
people think you are. As in I used to feel
like Abby from Channel seven meant something, and when that
was taken from me, I thought I was a lot
more secure in who I was as a person without
(42:14):
that brand being attached. And whether we like it or not,
we're humans but conditioned that when people are loosely impressed
with us it feels nice. Has any thought of what
that might feel like when it's been such a part
of We'll lead from the project, what that will feel like?
Speaker 4 (42:31):
Yeah, And it's sort of confronting in its own way,
especially because it's not something I've thought a lot about yeah, right,
And I always felt that I maintained a pretty clear
distance from whatever job I was doing. But I guess
when something like this happens to.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
You, can you win a gold LOGI yeah, yeah, there's
all that that happens to you.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Yeah, it happens to you. And then when it's so
now that's going away, there is that moment of like, Okay, now,
I guess I discover whether or not the distance I
thought I had from that job or that person is real.
And I don't know, I'll find out, but the fact
that I'm feeling such strong pangs of nostalgia that's partly
(43:18):
just me, but it's also I think it says that
there's something of that that's worked its way into me.
And then maybe it's a great thing not to be
doing that, Like maybe that's actually really important thing I
have to go through. But it's a really insightful observation
that you make, one that comes from experience. I guess
maybe that's the only way you can come across it.
I don't know, but I guess now I just figure
(43:39):
out all the other things that I could possibly be
because which is exciting. It could be exciting, Yeah, and
I will say, I don't want to overread this, but
I will say there is a lot about not being
that that is really appealing. Because you know, I've spoken
before about the show of going into commercial TV and
(44:01):
what that was like. There is this really weird associative
feeling you get when there is someone out in the
public domain, like this character who has nothing to do
with you but just happens to have the same name
as you. It takes a while to come to terms
with that, and I'll be really glad to Well, maybe
(44:21):
I won't be able to let that go, but it
would be nice to. So that'll be good things about it.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Well, anytime that you feel like having an existential crisis,
you can come back and talk to us. See, I
think we're pretty famous for it. Dear listener, I correct
me if I'm wrong. We may have mentioned a couple
of times.
Speaker 4 (44:36):
They're the only terms. Yeah, don't come back unless you're
having an existential crisis.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
You could come back in the Peaks and the Trocks.
The existential crisis for sure. I mean, you've had to
listen to mine many times over the years, so we
can repay it, we can figure it out.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
Yeah, good, I didn't I didn't record yours and put
it out internationally.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
But well that seems that she has.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah from you, But thank you. It has honestly been
such a joy having you. It's meant a lot to
me that you come on this podcast, in this that
you came on this podcast. In this last week ahead
of our final show interject here Georgie spoke about your friendship.
Can you talk a little bit about Georgie's friendship and
when she first wandered.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
In what you're expecting and what you because it's been
three years.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
No, but it's true, Well that depends what Georgie said,
because I don't want to I don't want to outbah Tony,
don't cry cry No, look I will say and unfortunately
I'm going to be one of a trillion people who
say this. But Tony is an absolute delight to work with.
(45:44):
And there are days when you know Tony is going
to be on the desk in whatever capacity, it's like, oh,
this will be this will be a great day. I
know that whatever comes up as an issue will have
better off screen conversations and we will on because we'll
go deep and random, and that she'll introduce me to
(46:06):
people and their partners like their celebrity partners that I've
never heard of, and try to get me interested in it,
but that you'd know this being friends with Georgie, that
her capacity to at the very least incredibly feign interest.
(46:27):
Oh you've skewered me there, and whatever it is that
you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
You're the most important person.
Speaker 4 (46:31):
In the world.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:32):
Yeah, And to be wholly present when you're talking about something.
And I've had those moments where I'm talking to Tunny
about something and halfway through, I'm like, she's not interested
in this, Why are you talking about this? But there's
not a flicker of that on her. No, It's genuinely remarkable.
And I've worked with a lot of people on that desk,
but having worked with Tony is something I'll cherish for
(46:54):
a long time. I've already spoken to her about doing
something again in future. Pretty sure we can't think of
anything that would actually work that way, but the dreams alive,
and maybe it'd be something about etymology. Yeah, the show
can be called Fanaticus and it'll be a sports show
done entirely in Latin.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
I've got to study for it.
Speaker 4 (47:16):
I think the new Channel team will be very interesting.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Well, thank you. You made me absolutely so get some
of these tears out before our final show. But you're
just the best, and.
Speaker 7 (47:31):
Honey, oh, I just think you're wonderful and I hope
that everyone else knows that about you because you can
see you on screen and everyone thinks that you're this
voice of authority, and you are, but you're also the
biggest kid that I know, and that joy is just
truly infectious. Thank you, And you can't get away from
(47:54):
me because it's Jeremy knows I'm a fucking.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
And I think that still find you. You've invited her
into your home. She'll find you.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
This is a niche reference, but for Gelm it all
makes sense. I'm unsure for you. Have you seen wedding crashes.
She's got red hair. Now she's il Fisher.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
You may run, you cannot hide.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
We will round out this and I'll save George because
you need a moment deep breath. You've also got it,
you got you gotta pull it together. I'm pulling it together.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
Got a couple of days, babe.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
I believe in pulling it together.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
Believe in you. We have a segment called fun Fact.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Can you what is your do you have a random
sporting fun fact.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
And usually I.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Would think this is unkind to spring on a guest
of anyone I know that's already dropped eight during the episode.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
They are all my facts.
Speaker 4 (48:51):
I do have a fun fact, that is, it's a
current fact, so this is not historical. I could go
to historical for example. You know those players, you know
how players out through a race surrounded by like a
cage type thing that began at Victoria Park because the
Collingwood crowd was so horrible that the players needed to
be protected from the projectiles that they would throw. Yeah,
(49:14):
it's amazing. That got so bad one year I think
in eighteen ninety nine or something that Fitzroy, we're playing
at Collingwood, had to be escorted by the police back
to their suburb. Amazing. But that's not my top.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
That almost happens to Adelaide.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
Yeah, fanatic, No, that's.
Speaker 4 (49:29):
Not my fun fact. My fun fact is right now,
there is an enormous but also ignored tournament going on,
the Club World Cup. I don't know if has anyone
paid any attention.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
We haven't yet.
Speaker 4 (49:41):
Club World so soccer tournament, so you know, the World Cup.
It's that, but it's clubs from all over the world.
So you know, Real Madrid are playing their Bayern Munich
playing their matches to City and they're playing like Auckland
City at FC, who like anyway, yeah my fun.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
Fact, who have done amazing things.
Speaker 4 (49:57):
In an augural year. Yeah yeah, no, no not, that's
the amazing thing about it. So Auckland FC plays in
the A League. It's not them because they're part of Australia,
because that's they're in the A League. This is Auckland
City FC, who play in the New Zealand League because
they represent Oceania. It's this bizarre situation and they're amateur
and they played their first game against Bayern Munich in
(50:19):
this tournament and they lost ten nils. Unbelievable anyway, this
is it's a bonkers tournament. It might end up being
amazing anyway, be that. But the fun fact is this.
The highest paid player for Auckland City FC would have
to be paid his salary for one hundred and seventeen
years to match the weekly salary of Harry Cage.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
Fun fact weekly salary weekly And there it is. That's it.
That's even got our pres Wally can just pop in
and do our fun back every.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Week because usual.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Georgie's fun fact last week was that she and Luckie
Neil must be the same person because they both like Pokemon.
Speaker 4 (51:06):
Okame, that's fun. That's fun and to be fair, I
didn't know it.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
That's why forever my wing man. Yeah, com my back,
go my back, Harry Kane, Tottenham could use you'd like
to return? Thank you, oh Aid, we love you, Thank
you very much for being here. Thank you and look,
let's pray for me that I cry this much and
the final show, but you'll always have Pokemon and the
(51:34):
fact that you were actually a mascot and that that
hasn't been an elaborate joke.
Speaker 3 (51:38):
No, it has gone on for a long time. Has
it blown my mind? So as a true good sport.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
Thank you having that's all we have time for on
this extended episode.
Speaker 4 (51:50):
It'll be fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
I literally did say that fifteen minutes. Will There'll be
a latte maybe Jack Rae. Well until next week, dear listener,
bey a good school
Here at Two Good Sports, we would like to acknowledge
the traditional owners of the land on which we record
this podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
There were innerie people. This land was never seated, always was,
always will be well. Hello and welcome to two Good Sports,
Sports news told differently, dear listener. As always, I'm Georgie
Turney and.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I'm Abbe, Jelmy and George.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I want to start from the top and say I'm
so sad it's the last week of the project.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Oh, they really am.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I was lucky enough to be in at Channel ten.
There is a shrine to Georgie at Channel ten in
the makeup room. It was about my favorite thing in
the world. But I did sneak in there for a
little project. Not the project. A little project, yeah, a
little project called the Cheap Seats, Big deal, yeah, But
it was just the project so important to the fabric
of Australian media and the space that it gives. And
we've heard it's almost like we've been at a eulogy
(00:51):
for two weeks where people have been coming on saying
just how much it means, particularly in the arts and
the performance space.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And it makes me so sad to think that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Not only will there not be the wonderful host and
you guys all genuinely get along, like you can tell
that you would all get a beer and you will
be getting.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Several beers this weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But I also just think when guests come to Australia
and they want to show personality, what they have to
do it on Brecky Radio.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, it's honestly such a huge loss. I think that
we won't feel the full effect of for maybe a
few weeks even months. It's the first Jenger brick to fall,
especially in the Australian media TV landscape. I think that's
going to have massive ripple effects because genuinely it's a
(01:38):
huge production and there's so many people that work on that.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I couldn't believe the labyrinth of people.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
In, so many people who now find themselves looking for work.
I'm obviously a bit biased because I've loved the show
my whole life.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Really, when we're growing up as nineties kids and peaking
in our journalism in like the twenty tens, when you're
sort of thinking what would be the dream gig?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, it Gid was the project.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It kind of started for us when the show started.
We were figuring out what we wanted to do and
what we wanted to pursue in our lives, like you
and I began studying journalism and a big part of
that was shows like The Project that you could see
and be like, oh, that's what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
That's exactly it. And as someone who's been told in.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
A healthy obsession with carry bigmore of.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Course, as the whole of Australia, whole of us. When
Carrie cries, I cry like it's just how it goes.
But I think that it really was that show that
had everything. And as someone who's been constantly told their
entire career that you have to stay.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
In your lane, you have to stick to one thing.
You can't be talking about sport and then also talk
about entertainment and then also do hard news and then
also beat the roving reporter that just doesn't exist that role.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
But on the Project it did. Yes, honestly the dream
role of my life. So I am in a bit
of a morning period.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
We've got one more show to go, and I think
this is going to put even my Olympic medalist compartmentalization skills,
put it.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Bury it and cry later privately.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Not for you, Australia not for you, and we've all
been We've all been in that position because honestly, when
you are on live TV, people have things going on
in their lives and sometimes you go to set and
you're like, I just need to not cry here. And
it is a skill to be able to go, I'm
going to park this. But it's different when it's a
collective emotion.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, and I think there's something quite exhausting about it.
Oh like, there's something beautiful about it because you're all
going through the same thing. But it is exhausting too,
because you'll be like, oh, no, I've got a moment
of on the roller coaster.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm on the up, I'm on the up, and then
you just feel the wave of emotion from everyone else
and you're like, Okay, we're going down again. We're going
down again. We're going down. So the last three weeks
have been very peculiar, very peculiar.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
But I'm hoping that I can compartmentalize enough to see
it as a celebration as well, because you know, shows
don't last for sixteen years. No, Like, that's such an
incredible achievement. And the stories that we have been able
to tell on the project, some that I'm.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
The proudest of in my entire my entire career. We've
seen all of the montage packages this week. Oh my gosh,
continue to destroy me every single night and I'm like, no,
I can not cry again, and like, where else is
this real human story going to be told?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Well?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, where will they go?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
We talked about celebrity, let celebrity coming in, but it's
more the project had space to really storytell in a
primetime slot and it was just it's special and that
is a bit of a prelude to our special guest
that we do have coming up today. I'm so excited
to watch you in the final show and I know
that only bigger and better things come because you're a rockstar.
Or as Sam Turlington says, Turling Taunton's going to come by,
(05:00):
who's Turlington, that's Christy Turlington, the model.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Samuel's one of.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Your biggest fans, and he'll be like then tell me,
said I, Well you did call you a model though, Sam, so.
Speaker 5 (05:12):
No, I love sam Jo and I loved the hat
last night.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That has inspired the hat. Sam Turlington what the hybrid though?
Evacially I thought we're going to cut that out now?
It has to stay obviously, Sorry, Sam Hi a huge fan,
Sam t Sammy Tea. Now you're going to be the
face of the nation. That's what comes next for Georgie Tune.
You're gonna be the face of the nation. I'm humped
(05:38):
and of course you've got so much coming out, but
it is. It is a watch and white for the
Australian TV landscape, and especially being based in Melbourne and
not in Sydney, the lack of production here at the
moment is pretty scary. Yeah, I mean it's genuinely very sad.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I mean, did I ever think when I was growing
up watching Rove Live that I would share the desk
with the man?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
No? No, like he gave us. As I know, he
literally he listened to.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Edition and sent us some pgs.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
We'll shout out to Rope because he will be listening
to this right now. He doesn't just listen to the
Green and Gold Edition. He listens every single week. He's
the first one that always comments on what.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
But we will get to it. It is a very
very very big week.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Personally for me and as part of that ties in
very nicely with our guests that we have on the
show today.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Before we get there though, very quickly, Good Sport, bad Spot?
Where are we at? Well, if we're going to talk
about entertaining artists that need a platform when they're touring
for new singles that they might have released coming to Australia,
the thing I never saw coming because it just simply
shouldn't have been a thing.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yannick Sinner, Andrea, can I just say, is that your
good sport?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
What have I got lined?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Hang on? No, no, no, hang on, Georgie. In our lives.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
There will always be many first nights.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Only have to do this is to do yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
I'm going to speak over it, dear listener. That's Andrea at.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
A piano where Yannick Sinner, the world's number one tennis player,
has awkwardly walked over to lean on a tennis record
as Butchelli sings and Sinna weirdly talks while there are
slow motion photos of him as a child, and they
deigned to call this a single. Once again, dear listener,
(07:53):
I cannot stress enough that Jelly and I do not
plan this. We do not plan what we're going to
talk about. Good Sport, bad Sport. It is always keep
it a secret. So we can have a natural reaction
to each other's good sport bad sport. Here's me over
here being like, this is gonna kill her. I'm gonna
destroy with this little good sport of mine. I am
(08:14):
absolutely gonna wipe the floor with such a good one.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
I think good sport because I mean because Butlli's a
good sport.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
But pretending talk about having the audacity to think that
you can perform with Andrea Bocelli, And by perform, I
mean just say words, I mean the audacity.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
He has a single with Andre's Here's here's the climax.
Here's the actual climax of the song that's Andreas every Day.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I genuinely saw it.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Georgian's well, this is a pistake like this, this is
a parody that they've shot like Saturday Night Live or something.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
And then it was a genuine But he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I thought he might sing. I was like, I was like, oh,
he's just he's had a bit of bad pr recently,
but no, still on.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
Drugs, still altered because who fishes that and goes.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That would be good?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You know what's a toe tapper? Some spoken verse slam poetry.
Here we go and they weirdly are on a mountain
with this like Cpia Hugh like the like there we love.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's what makes it feel like a parody is the
clip for me.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I know, I know it does actually fit. You're sober,
it's so SNL.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Also dealst not.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
We don't want you to think that we have ignored
the colossal signing that is Whoopi Goldberg's all Women's Sports
Networks signing netball. We are on it so much so
that we're gone to the top, and the top in
netball usually means Queen Liz and reflect we love Liz Ellis.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
We're gonna whoop bee. Yeah, we're gonna get it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
We're gonna get it. We're gonna assist her act. Yep,
my address is a nun if I need to Hey,
we're manifesting. And if Yannick Singer, Wow that was an
accidental pun, but I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
If Yannick Singer can call himself an opera singer. Hey,
there's no reason why we can't get Whoopi Goldberg on
this podcast. And again, I'll get the nun kids. Yeah
it has to happen.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get the habits A very special guest
coming up next.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Now I've got a little intro for you. Oh God,
all right, but don't step wow so excited?
Speaker 4 (10:54):
No, because I don't. I just I don't trust what
you're about to do.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You don't know. But we're gonna leave that in. Yeah, ghost,
leave that in.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Our guest today is arguably one of the most recognizable
faces in the country, much to his own chagrin. I'm
sure he's well known for his sharp intellect and effective prose,
but potentially lesser known as the Richmond Tigers mascot, a
role that I feel he may hold as high as
hosting a national television show for more than a decade.
(11:26):
His love of Richmond matched only by his love of
Liverpool well it. Ali's infectious enthusiasm for all things sport
is one of the many reasons I'm honored he's let
me hang out with him. Indeed, what our dear listeners
may not know about Walid is that his glorious intellect
isn't his biggest identifier.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
It's actually his friendship, especially his patients.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
When I talk at him about the player's hairstyles rather
than the actual football ability.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I've had the.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Pleasure of sitting beside this man for the last three
years on the project. And as we head into our
final show, ever, what better time to start the celebrations
and the Swan song.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Nothing is ever off the table. Would you please welcome
the two ic of tiger Land who had two things
on his rider, and Armin Latte and Jack Reewell. We
have achieved fifty percent of those things.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Gently be coming in another way, please welcome Wally Laly
do thank you.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
That was a lovely introduction.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
She's known for this.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
I was a little scared, but I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Glad that Where did you think that could have gone? Well?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
I wasn't anticipating players haircuts, but I do. I do
remember that conversation. You came over because I have a
whole lot of people come over to watch Liverpool games
and occasionally read all hours in the morning. Yeah, so
what we do this is a very important thing. It's
it's a no phones policy and we watch at a
reasonable hour. So it could be so reasonable usually seven eight,
(12:49):
because people got to go to work and everyone has
to avoid the score and come along and Tunny usually
says I'm at the gym.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yes, I'm very fit.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I don't she's not at the gym.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yeah, is it a group. I'm pretty sure that's what's happening.
But she came on one of the games. She came over.
I think we just ended up analyzing every players haircut.
You're welcome, and we assessed all the goals by whether
or not they had a sensible haircut or Yeah, we
still do that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, as mentioned in your introduction, you are a tiger
obsessed human being.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You love the Tiger. I actually don't know why.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Well, it's my brother's fault. Yeah, so I've had a brother,
who's have you ever met my brother? Yeah to the
f one.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You've watched Morning Soccer about the driver's haircut?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Of course, so many divisions. Yeah, So my brother's ten
years older than me. Like, so my my family, my
parents migrate from Egypt. They meet in Australia. They don't
really follow the footy, and so my brother's learning all
the footy and so he's like, oh, who do I
barrack for? And he decided he wracked for Peter McKenna
(14:02):
Collinwood for Ford at the time, and Peter like not Collingwood.
He was adamant. He didn't he wasn't evil. He didn't,
and so he just decided he's back for Peter McKenna. Anyway,
there was this girl in the street where he grew
up called Mandy, who I eventually got to meet, which
is amazing. But he quite fancied Mandy. And Mandy was
(14:22):
playing in the street with him one day as she's
a bit older, and says, what do he back for?
He said, Peter McKenna. She said, what do you mean
you can't bark for a person. He said, none, I do.
I worged for Peter McKenna anyway. And she was a
Richmond fan, so she said, look, okay, here's the way
it's got to be. You're going to have to burry
for Richmond. And he was like, oh, why is that, Mandy.
(14:43):
And this must have been around seventy four, and I
say that because Richmond had just won back to back
flags in seventy four, they won seventy three and seventy four,
and she said, well they're the best team and so,
and he was like okay, and man, so he became
a Richmond fan. Anyway.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I'm born know the pivotal effect.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yes, in fact, in fact, I can't believe I've forgotten
this until just now. After the twenty seventeen flag, we
got Mandy on the project. What, Yes, we interviewed Mandy
really found.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Because it was Mandy was the touchstone that's stories of
Kevin Bacon. Mandy was the one that then led to
you being a Tigers fan, which led to you that joy.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
He was just only really two degrees.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
What was that moment then, like for you that flag
twenty eight?
Speaker 7 (15:28):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
What did that feel like as someone who had great
success very early on in their rugby league career?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yes, I've said career.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, yeah, she likes to think she plays.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, she talks about the Morons performances like she was
out there, You're going Marions No, no, no, no, Broncos
because I started watching rugby league in ninety nine. The
Broncos won in two thousand.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
They were good. I remember the Broncos being I'm.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Attacked by you saying were but I'll let it slide. Yeah,
but you know, so I had that success. I just
thought it was normal to win, right. I mean, Jelmy
is a former Frio fan, so she does.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I'm married into Richmond, I recommend, but could have done it.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Unfortunate, that's true.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah, I think Frio's first ever game was against Richmond.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You know that there it is.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I'm pretty sure it was, really and I think Freo
won by five point.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Well, essentially, when Caina and I moved in together, there
was a lot of I had a lot of merch,
I had scarves, I had Christmas jumper, all that sort
of stuff. And Kane said to me, how would you
feel if I supported Channel nine?
Speaker 4 (16:30):
And you said, well, I'll exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I was still playing at the time, and I was
like truchet. There was a memorial burning of But I
must say it is an amazing club, genuine.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Take us back to twenty seventeen, it.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Hasn't been an amazing club.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I wish I was around.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Yeah. Well, and at that time I was living in Richmond,
and I hadn't been living in Richmond long, and I'd
never seen a place like it, like the you know,
projections on the town hall and people just emerging out
of their homes in the middle of the night to
stand in front of the town Hall and just stare
at it like this, images of tigers or even just
(17:07):
like tiger prints. So I don't know, unbelievable and unbelievable
because it was so unexpected. So the context is we
were not the Broncos Toney. Maybe for my brother. My
brother got to see premierships as a kid. He got
to see Richmond as a successful team. I never did.
So my first football Richmond made it. The lost the
Grand Final in eighty two. My first football memory is
(17:27):
eighty three and it's Lee Matthews holding up the Premiership Cup
and I'm like, so this is all. And Richmond were
down the bottom of the ladder and always were and
people we used to tease Richmond for finishing ninth like
that was a good year, that was that was triumph.
And so I had actually got to a point where
I just in the depths of my soul, believed that
Richmond would never make I would never see them in
(17:49):
a Grand Final, like I used to see my friends
whose team had lost a Grand Final and go, I'd
love my team to lose a Grand Final right.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Now, festivity.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Yeah, just like just to be that I would never
the Grand It was always just something that happened to
other people and so.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
And so you were playing the game too, I understand.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And then when when twenty seventeen happened. You got to
remember coming into that our first our first game was
against Geelong qualifying final. We hadn't beaten Geelong in ten years,
and we go in there. We finished third on the
ladder and we're playing Gelong and they're always going to
beat us. And then we'll fall back and play Sydney,
who at that time a red hot formula. They'll beat us,
we'll go out in straight sets. This will be humiliating.
(18:29):
All I wanted was one win managed. And I remember
going to that Geelong game and we won by fifty points,
and all of a sudden, it was like a different
reality had come into existence, like we'd walk through a
portal and there was this alternative reality that used to
exist in my rumpus room when I was pretending to
(18:50):
play for Richmond and we were winning premierships there. And
I remember the next day that sub the whole suburb,
there were guys out. There's one guy out painting a
Richmond jumper on his house. Were being painted that house,
by the way. Were you at the prelim, Yeah, I
was at all of them. And the prelim against GWS
is still like I think of some of the sporting
memories I've had as a fan. I've seen Liverpool win
(19:13):
a Champions League final in Madrid. I've been to all
that game more than the Grand Final. Is the most singular,
most irreproducible game I've ever seen, because you don't see
the mcg barracking for one team like that, to see
(19:33):
it look like an like an oversized Premier League ground
where everyone is wearing the same color. The noise, I
think they compared it to some jet engine. I think
it got louder than a jet engine at some point
when Kane kicked that first goal at the start of
the game, like, I's.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Such a nice little time, Like again, I would have
been great.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Imagine me in that time being like I have clearly
kicked the goal anyway, became the most humble human being.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I've never spoken about it.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Can I talk about Cane just briefly? So my brother
and I have a thing. Every big Richmond win, every
finals win, involves a big Cane Lambert goal, usually in
the third quarter, and there was that's.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
A premiership quarter.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
By osmosis ye, just.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Like in rugby league premiership third quarter, and so there
would be a moment where Caine Lambert would kick a
goal in the third quarter in a tight final or
something like that, and my brother would text me and go,
it's over.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
It, we're winning.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, go back and watch the tapes. I don't even think.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
In my house he's so humble. Yeah, we'll get to
with the boys. That's the exciting bit. He'll just have
to suck that up. You know, you'll be likes. Come
watch your dad.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Louie already believes he's a tiger.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, and his first experience at the MCG was running
around and kicking on the ground before a game. So
that's how you normally get of life is And then
even worse, pushed Andrew Dyllon and I'm like sorry, and
he's like, do you want to run at Louis?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
And I'm like, oh, we need to. We really don't
need to get out of this.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
How did you become the Tiger's mascot?
Speaker 4 (21:14):
So my mate, who you know, actually go by the
name of Jeff.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, legit, no, this is one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
I ran around on the m c J as to
the Tiger.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, okay, no, So I saw the skit on the
project and thought it was an elaborate.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
No, In fact, there was one. I don't think.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
I don't think they usually gymnast the heavy head. But
also like I'm sorry, you're a lawyer at the time,
in the mascot in my head are like teen gymnastics.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
No, no, no, the gymnastics things you have to let go.
That's that's a different.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That's like Australian cheerleading with respect versus American cheer leading.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Yeah, it's different thing, different thing. I was a law
student at the time. But my mate Jeff, who Tonny
knows and has played games with, he had the job
full time, really yeah, and he was in fact, he
also had the job of being the Sydney mascot for
away games in Melbourne. It was had a whole racket going.
(22:20):
I don't know if you know this, but he's a
Victorian College of the Arts graduate, so he I know,
we can see, yeah and act and anyway, he put
a lot of thought into it, so he had Tiggy
had a whole backstory in Jeff's era. So for example,
on Friday night games, he would turn up wearing a
suit carrying a briefcase because he wanted to imagine that
Tiggy had a day.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Job, and.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
I don't know if anyone at the NCG got the backstory,
but it's like, why is he running around?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You're overqualified to be a mascot, So there's this backstory.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
It's brilliant it anyway, So basically, whenever he couldn't do it,
I stepped in, but I I did a bunch of times.
The other other time that was there were two humiliating moments.
One was when I was doing it at Docklands, because
that's what I call it given my ABC backgrounds, and.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh my gosh, it's so annoying.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yeah, yeah, sorry, Melbourne's rectangular stadium.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
I'm like, what's that?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Anyway? I said Docklands and I literally couldn't find the change.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Labyrinths.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
No mascot that day?
Speaker 5 (23:26):
You like it?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
So?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Did you still sit there in.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
The stands with a tiger head in a rubbish bag?
Going well, oh there was one other time We're playing
Melbourne and Kane Johnson, who ended up captaining Richmond, and
Clinton King were both in the Richmond team and I
grew up playing sport with them, Like I played cricket
with them, I played basketball with them, and I hadn't
seen them for years and then suddenly I'm in a
(23:49):
change room while they're about to run out and play
a game of Fall and I'm putting on a tiger
and I'm like, this is not the reunion?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Do I take the head? Would be like, guys, no
dreams of tigers we all made.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Let's get the footy team shot.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Because no, no, I'm a law student. I'm going to
do something proper.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And that you did that you did.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
It depends who you are well.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, from tiger suits to then lawyerdom, to academia to
the Project Desk among many other media gigs too. We
are entering our final date, our final show is coming up.
This is also an opportunity for us to give a
little welfare.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Check but also to genuinely and Georgie and I were
saying this behind your back when we were coming up
as journalism students. You looked at the Project Desk and thought,
that's the dream. And that was when yourself were hosting,
and it was Carry and it was you know, Pete,
and you just looked and thought, and Charlie back in
the day and you just went, they are the mecha
(25:01):
like that is the pinnacle of Australian media.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
That you almost couldn't.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It was a fantasy to think that you would end
up on that desk because of just the caliber of
media that it was. And I'm so proud of George,
and I'm so grateful for the project for showing your
range and who you are and how brilliant and bright
and irreverent.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
It can be all at once. But you were just
the voice.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
No, but you were, and in a time, especially before podcasts,
before those longer form discussions where people could find a
way to go, Wait, how do I feel about this?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
How do I dissect this? You did that for a country.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Well, I mean that makes it heavy.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
And it was heavy, though. It is heavy to have
those discussions in one of the only mediums that were
doing it at a time.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Yeah, that's probably true. It's funny though I didn't think
about it that way, and I couldn't. If I'd thought
about it that way, I probably would have just gone
home and.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
The old compartmentalization.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, well it kind of is. Yeah, I don't know.
I think I found the whole experience pretty shocking actually,
And when I went there, because I came from the
ABC and so I started kind of just doing things.
I was doing on the ABC on Channel ten, except
like when I'm interviewing a politician whatever, and I just
(26:22):
found people were kind of like, WHOA, what's this? And
I'm like, what do you mean? This is actually pretty
strong forward. And the big thing that shocked me was
when I was at the ABC, I suppose. I mean,
I still am, but in a slightly different way. But
when I was at the ABC, you were never the focus.
You were never the issue. The story or the issue
or the interview whatever that was the issue. And then
(26:45):
when you go into the world of commercial TV, suddenly
it's all about personalities. And I remember doing I think
we did a statement on I don't know, renewable energy
targets or something like that, and the next day there's
just like headlines about me doing this thing, and I'm like, what,
how's that? How's that of any interest? And that kind
(27:06):
of was what was hard about it, I think was
that you became it all became about you rather than
about the thing you're talking about, and so it's like, well,
what's the point of this? You know? But I think
we just found a way of especially things that wouldn't
easily be explained on commercial TV in a commercial TV format.
The thing I'm probably happiest about through all of those
(27:28):
sorts of things we did was that we found a
way to take an issue to people that otherwise would
never have found it, or to think about an issue
with a level of depth that is impossible to glean
from just you know, a bunch of thirty second news
stories or whatever that you would normally get. Yeah, it
was pretty wild ride. It wasn't always enjoyable, but it
(27:49):
was for all those sort of public reasons, but it was.
It was pretty wild.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
What will you miss most and why is it me?
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Well, because I just don't have enough people in my
life talking at me about thank you about the broncos
It's so hard to say it is the people, Like
I'm an intensely nostalgic person just but I don't know
why it is them, And so I find that really
(28:18):
really hard. It's hard to look at you right now, Tony,
because it immediately just conjures up all these things. And
there's producers that I've worked with for like, you know,
more than a decade that we've done all sorts of
stuff with Now they're rolling out these packages of things
we've done on the show.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
How have you found that because we spoke just before
you got here.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
A biology that's gone.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah. Yeah. And it's both.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It's both incredibly humbling, it's really touching, but it is
also it's hard.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
And I'm also funny, really hard because we do it
in front of a studio audience. They're coming, they're giving
us gifts, they're telling us stories about how much the
show mattered in their lives, all this stuff, and I'm like,
can't this just be a horrible experience that I'm glad
to get rid of at the end of the week.
But it just isn't, you know. So it is really hard,
and there will be other stuff I missed that I
don't realize. Yes, you know that I'm probably taking for granted.
(29:11):
You know, I'm delighted to, you know, for however long
the rest of the year, another year, maybe the rest
of my life not having to see something happen and go,
what do I think about this? Yes, delighted about that?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Or just organically allow yourself to feel what you feel
about it instead of going around I'm going to editorialize
this or how does this.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Make its way into content? So I'll be delighted about that,
But I also reckon. There'll be a moment where it's
like I need to be the one interviewing the treasurer
because there is something about and that sounds egotistical. I
don't mean it that way. I just mean there's a
thing where actually been getting to ask the question, and
I guess I don't never really value that. But maybe
(29:56):
when I'm not doing that, I.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Don't think it's egotistical.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I mean for all of but we work in the media,
so it's such a I think it's it's completely natural,
such a natural want. Because I'll be watching I'm like, oh,
ask this, and of course my watching.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
The Olympics, I wanted to hurt myself, yeah jokingly.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
But as you're.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Watching and you're like, oh, you've got to ask her
about this, like you just naturally want to be the
one in the driver's seat.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yeah yeah. And then you stop and think there will
be all these people watching you do it, thinking exactly
the same thing. Well, that's not fair. I think that
should be no. But look, it's been a while, right,
it's been. I never imagine myself doing anything like this.
Even when I started. I remember carry saying to me, look,
if you're going to do this, you really need to commit,
like we need you need to do three years or
(30:39):
something like that. And I was like, oh god, that
seems like a long time and then you know.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
It is.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
And also just there were you know, other things I
would have loved to have done that never happened up,
Like I would go home from the project and sit
on the couch and watch I don't know, someone who
looked a lot like you're presenting what the Fox and
one day us one day, one day that could be,
but they never what the Fox?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Never What the Tiger. You can't host What the Fox?
You're What the Tiger?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Probably appeared on What the Fox?
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Okay is if you're not one of the three people
on the planet that remembers that segment. When I was
all of twenty twenty five starting out at Fox Sports,
the first on air segment I did, which sounds so
jealmy coded was what the Fox? That was Tara Rushton
and I used to who's a staff and we used
to alternate between who would find weird clips on the
(31:31):
Internet and just basically be like, here's Steph Curry making
a trick shot, how about that Fox?
Speaker 3 (31:37):
What the Fox?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And it was like it was the fact that it
still doesn't exist in a world where clips go more
viral is bizarre to me.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
The cheap seats basically do it. So that was great.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
You're a Sprier and like you, I assume just get
lots of people coming up to you talking about what
the fox.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Just as you go through, who's brought up to me?
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Now it's a deep cut. It's a deep I.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Love the deep cuts. The best thing is we had
the Prime Minister in here angling to get on off
side and Walid wants to be on not revealing.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Thing that doesn't even exist. That was canceled, by the way.
Speaking of Tara Rushton, I did offer to give up
my job so that Tara Rushton could have it for Cooper,
so that Copron would stay in Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
A couple more questions from US project related ones.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Yes, are they projects book questions?
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Well, actually, I've got who's your favorite sports star you've
met via project? That was going to be one of them.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
That's a very hard if is now included because he
did f one movie, well, I suppose sported with him.
The one I really remember is Eric Cantona. So I
got to interview Eric canton Like you know, Manchester United
legends was just about to be inducted into the Premier
League Hall of Fame and hadn't been at that point.
(32:52):
Were saying, I don't I don't care about this, and
then when you did it, it was like yes, but
also I don't know how well you know him, but
absolutely bonkers French guy, like the guy who would get
up receiving some award from FIFA or UEFA or something
and then just proceed to deliver some kind of poetry
(33:12):
that no one understood. And it's just like, what just
happened this guy? And it's rare that you actually get
to interview like I know, Peak on interview Lebron I think,
and that was a big moment. Yeah, yeah, like things
like that, but it's actually rare. You're always interviewing people
in the moment when they do something. You know, look
(33:32):
beverage after the dogs won the flag or whatever. Lots
of footballers, Sam thoughid I was always great, fun like,
there's always those, but then there are people that are,
you know, at a level where they're just in there
there forever, you know what I mean, And he was
one of them. And I hate Manchester United, absolutely hate
Manchester United. But to talk to the guy who fly
kicked a spectator and talk to him about.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
That and have him answer, yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
It was genuinely amazing and something that this is peeling
back the curtain a bit. Sometimes we do the interviews
at home on a zoom link and then we go
into the studio and re record the questions because that's
the studio is not available or whatever. And that was
when I did at home and my youngest Zaide, is
obsessed with football, and I'm doing the interview and Zaide's
in front of me listening, and I just called him
(34:23):
around and I said, hey, Isaiad Eric Cantoner? And he did.
And Zaid's just like like, he's this doesn't happen. How
does this happen? Those sorts of things. That's a really
good question, I reckon he would have been about maybe thirteen.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
I just love that he's gone to school and he's like, anyway,
so my dad's friends with him. Yeah, yeah, he just
talks to him on the regular.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Yeah. It must have felt really weird like that. Yeah,
So I don't know. That's that's the one I remember
the top of my head.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
And was he a good interview?
Speaker 4 (34:53):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, because sometimes you get excited to meet people and
you let down another ones.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Wow, you've got great.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Can you tell us who that's been?
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I can tell you mine? Do that?
Speaker 2 (35:02):
What if I tell you mine? Though, and then you
can tell me and the.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
World knows what yours is. Mariah care No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
I mean that's one of them, but no, no, no,
because I was only I was expecting that from Mariah.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
I was like that, I.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Was she owns yeah, yeah, and I was.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I was just like, that's to be honest, I actually thought, and.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
As Maria was just disappointed that it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Mariah's favorite is Walid? Like that is that's actually project
for she?
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Like where's Waldo?
Speaker 2 (35:26):
She said, where's ma lead? She called Walid Malid? So
Mariah wasn't you know? It wasn't a peak like achievement
for me in terms of how that interview did go down.
But my most personally disappointing, and it's nothing on them.
It was me building up the interview so much because
I was genuinely so excited to talk to them. Was
(35:46):
Tom Holland because I adore.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Him and I love Spider Man and I just love
him and Zendaya. I've loved him since The Impossible, that
Tsunami movie where it's him and the brothers and.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
That Lucas Lucas and he runs down anyway. I adore
the man. And it was for a very serious project that.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
He was working on, so he was in serious he
was in a really serious.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Mode, and there was part of the interview that he
actually looked at his once and I was like, that's
my time of death. Thank you, let's write that down.
And it was just one of those moments where I
was like, oh, like, hopefully I get intoe him again,
whereas I think, sure he'll be delight.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
The week after, didn't Timothy Shallamo singer Chance.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
I remember that because Georgie loves the pop cult and
I was like that, I remember you were so excited
about it and you were like, he wasn't that right?
Speaker 3 (36:33):
And then I saw the cuts of Timothy shell May,
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
They've resurrected themselves, the heart throbs of the twenty twenty.
They're back, We're back, We're back. But yeah, that was
That's when you.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Don't have to say who was bad, but who outside
of sport did you lull?
Speaker 5 (36:46):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Well, I think it asked my favorite guest, and my
answer hasn't changed for many years.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
And say at the same time, I know who two
one Elmo?
Speaker 4 (36:55):
Oh it was magnificent.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Do you know what? Yeah, fellow mascot, that's right.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Have you ever been in a wrestle Elmo?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
I can give you some.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
T it's weird. Almo. I don't think he's ever done that.
That's something I got up.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I don't think you can see why was it?
Speaker 4 (37:14):
Well, So interviewing Almo is kind of a bit of
a production because of course, like, okay, cover Kiddy's ears,
it's not he's not real. There's a guy who does
that anyway, So Elmo comes to the guy who plays
Almo comes in. Not the original guy. It's different.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Guy comes in, Wow, flifting behind the veil. Is there
another one?
Speaker 4 (37:31):
Wow, there's a whole backst Elmo's old. You can you
can google the original guy and you'll find out why
I said that. Anyway, So okay, there's a The guy
comes in and he's obviously under the desk holding up Elmo,
so he can you know, but we had to install
a monitor under the desk so he can see where
(37:52):
is looking. And like if Elma wants to look down
the barrel of the camera. He's got to know.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Where the camera is.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
Yeah, So this all happens like an hour before. And
so he's coming in and it's like, hey, mate, how
you doing, And the whole the magic is totally ruined, Like,
oh my god, there's like a little rag on the
floor that used to be Elmo. Is this guy anyway?
He's great, really enjoyed speaking to him. Seems like a
really regular guy. Anyway, we can't back Later an hour
later do the show. He comes out, same same guy
(38:18):
you're from before. Hey, hey doing man. He's under the
desk doing his thing. I ask him a question. Elmo
looks at me and I am under his spell. Elmo's
real and I'm talking to him. Yeah, And it does
not matt all. The fact that the artifice has been
made abundantly plane doesn't change any of that. And then
(38:41):
to watch him work, like we would throw questions at
him and how old's almost four?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
I think he's three or four years Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
To watch him make adult jokes but never break the
boundaries of the character being a four year old kid
is something like it would be the easiest thing in
the world for Elmo to work blue right, all right,
here's a sex gag that's hilarious, but it would destroy
the character. So he knows the bounds of it, but
to work within it, but just throw little bits out
(39:09):
there for the adults without its being inappropriate was unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
He was on Chicken Chop date, right Elmo. It was yes,
and it was fantastic in.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
That like es, yeah, he's remarkable. It was genuinely he
started making jokes about rent control buildings and I'm just like,
this is genius. And then he made us some for
his own social for Elmo social media accounts. He made
us tell him a joke.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
What was?
Speaker 4 (39:36):
Can I try to remember it was? I think it
was a knock knock joke? Oh it was, and it's
something like I said, I'll tell you a joke, but
I just needed to promise you one thing after that.
I don't miss this to be a thing where right
here a joke, you laugh, and then you just forget
about me. Will you can you remember me? Will you
can you just promise me you'll remember that we had
(39:56):
this moment and that he goes, yeah, sure, let's do it.
Knock knock, he said, who's there. I said, you've forgotten already,
and he looked at me and he went, great setup, and.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
That's what you're going to do after the project, you
make it a long campaign's magical.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Yeah it was. It was one of the greatest days
of Oh and there's been so many Yeah, almost a
great setup to me. So yeah, there are so many
we could talk about. But that's the one.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
What what are you going to do?
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Well, I don't know. There's this sporting podcast I've been
hoping to three No, honestly, I don't know. I don't know,
do you know? Really?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, I'm turning a book right now.
Speaker 4 (40:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's probably something that I should. Yeah, you've
been doing that for a while. Maybe now you'll actually No,
I just I don't know. I'm going to I'm hoping
to take a break. I've still got things I have
to do, like weekly, I've got a radio show, a column. Okay,
so I've got to stuff. Yeah, so that stuff. But
(41:09):
I'll figure it out.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
And daunting or exciting.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
It's both, you know, because doing something new is to
take risk. Probably I guess I'm risk averse, even though
doing commercial TV is pretty risky thing to do, so
I guess you know, I would.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Say being a mascot is quite risky, but you went full.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
You're wearing the mask. That's why the spinoff has to
be the mascot. No, I don't know. I don't even
know if it's media, but you know, we'll see it
probably will be. And I've got some ideas and I've
got you know, there are people I'll have meetings with,
but I don't know. I've got time now, which I've
never had never.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
We work in a weird world where you, more so
than Georgia and I, your job becomes affiliated with who
people think you are. As in I used to feel
like Abby from Channel seven meant something, and when that
was taken from me, I thought I was a lot
more secure in who I was as a person without
(42:14):
that brand being attached. And whether we like it or not,
we're humans but conditioned that when people are loosely impressed
with us it feels nice. Has any thought of what
that might feel like when it's been such a part
of We'll lead from the project, what that will feel like?
Speaker 4 (42:31):
Yeah, And it's sort of confronting in its own way,
especially because it's not something I've thought a lot about yeah, right,
And I always felt that I maintained a pretty clear
distance from whatever job I was doing. But I guess
when something like this happens to.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
You, can you win a gold LOGI yeah, yeah, there's
all that that happens to you.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Yeah, it happens to you. And then when it's so
now that's going away, there is that moment of like, Okay, now,
I guess I discover whether or not the distance I
thought I had from that job or that person is real.
And I don't know, I'll find out, but the fact
that I'm feeling such strong pangs of nostalgia that's partly
(43:18):
just me, but it's also I think it says that
there's something of that that's worked its way into me.
And then maybe it's a great thing not to be
doing that, Like maybe that's actually really important thing I
have to go through. But it's a really insightful observation
that you make, one that comes from experience. I guess
maybe that's the only way you can come across it.
I don't know, but I guess now I just figure
(43:39):
out all the other things that I could possibly be
because which is exciting. It could be exciting, Yeah, and
I will say, I don't want to overread this, but
I will say there is a lot about not being
that that is really appealing. Because you know, I've spoken
before about the show of going into commercial TV and
(44:01):
what that was like. There is this really weird associative
feeling you get when there is someone out in the
public domain, like this character who has nothing to do
with you but just happens to have the same name
as you. It takes a while to come to terms
with that, and I'll be really glad to Well, maybe
(44:21):
I won't be able to let that go, but it
would be nice to. So that'll be good things about it.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Well, anytime that you feel like having an existential crisis,
you can come back and talk to us. See, I
think we're pretty famous for it. Dear listener, I correct
me if I'm wrong. We may have mentioned a couple
of times.
Speaker 4 (44:36):
They're the only terms. Yeah, don't come back unless you're
having an existential crisis.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
You could come back in the Peaks and the Trocks.
The existential crisis for sure. I mean, you've had to
listen to mine many times over the years, so we
can repay it, we can figure it out.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
Yeah, good, I didn't I didn't record yours and put
it out internationally.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
But well that seems that she has.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah from you, But thank you. It has honestly been
such a joy having you. It's meant a lot to
me that you come on this podcast, in this that
you came on this podcast. In this last week ahead
of our final show interject here Georgie spoke about your friendship.
Can you talk a little bit about Georgie's friendship and
when she first wandered.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
In what you're expecting and what you because it's been
three years.
Speaker 4 (45:23):
No, but it's true, Well that depends what Georgie said,
because I don't want to I don't want to outbah Tony,
don't cry cry No, look I will say and unfortunately
I'm going to be one of a trillion people who
say this. But Tony is an absolute delight to work with.
(45:44):
And there are days when you know Tony is going
to be on the desk in whatever capacity, it's like, oh,
this will be this will be a great day. I
know that whatever comes up as an issue will have
better off screen conversations and we will on because we'll
go deep and random, and that she'll introduce me to
(46:06):
people and their partners like their celebrity partners that I've
never heard of, and try to get me interested in it,
but that you'd know this being friends with Georgie, that
her capacity to at the very least incredibly feign interest.
(46:27):
Oh you've skewered me there, and whatever it is that
you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
You're the most important person.
Speaker 4 (46:31):
In the world.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:32):
Yeah, And to be wholly present when you're talking about something.
And I've had those moments where I'm talking to Tunny
about something and halfway through, I'm like, she's not interested
in this, Why are you talking about this? But there's
not a flicker of that on her. No, It's genuinely remarkable.
And I've worked with a lot of people on that desk,
but having worked with Tony is something I'll cherish for
(46:54):
a long time. I've already spoken to her about doing
something again in future. Pretty sure we can't think of
anything that would actually work that way, but the dreams alive,
and maybe it'd be something about etymology. Yeah, the show
can be called Fanaticus and it'll be a sports show
done entirely in Latin.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
I've got to study for it.
Speaker 4 (47:16):
I think the new Channel team will be very interesting.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Well, thank you. You made me absolutely so get some
of these tears out before our final show. But you're
just the best, and.
Speaker 7 (47:31):
Honey, oh, I just think you're wonderful and I hope
that everyone else knows that about you because you can
see you on screen and everyone thinks that you're this
voice of authority, and you are, but you're also the
biggest kid that I know, and that joy is just
truly infectious. Thank you, And you can't get away from
(47:54):
me because it's Jeremy knows I'm a fucking.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
And I think that still find you. You've invited her
into your home. She'll find you.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
This is a niche reference, but for Gelm it all
makes sense. I'm unsure for you. Have you seen wedding crashes.
She's got red hair. Now she's il Fisher.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
You may run, you cannot hide.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
We will round out this and I'll save George because
you need a moment deep breath. You've also got it,
you got you gotta pull it together. I'm pulling it together.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
Got a couple of days, babe.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
I believe in pulling it together.
Speaker 3 (48:29):
Believe in you. We have a segment called fun Fact.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Can you what is your do you have a random
sporting fun fact.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
And usually I.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Would think this is unkind to spring on a guest
of anyone I know that's already dropped eight during the episode.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
They are all my facts.
Speaker 4 (48:51):
I do have a fun fact, that is, it's a
current fact, so this is not historical. I could go
to historical for example. You know those players, you know
how players out through a race surrounded by like a
cage type thing that began at Victoria Park because the
Collingwood crowd was so horrible that the players needed to
be protected from the projectiles that they would throw. Yeah,
(49:14):
it's amazing. That got so bad one year I think
in eighteen ninety nine or something that Fitzroy, we're playing
at Collingwood, had to be escorted by the police back
to their suburb. Amazing. But that's not my top.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
That almost happens to Adelaide.
Speaker 2 (49:27):
Yeah, fanatic, No, that's.
Speaker 4 (49:29):
Not my fun fact. My fun fact is right now,
there is an enormous but also ignored tournament going on,
the Club World Cup. I don't know if has anyone
paid any attention.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
We haven't yet.
Speaker 4 (49:41):
Club World so soccer tournament, so you know, the World Cup.
It's that, but it's clubs from all over the world.
So you know, Real Madrid are playing their Bayern Munich
playing their matches to City and they're playing like Auckland
City at FC, who like anyway, yeah my fun.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
Fact, who have done amazing things.
Speaker 4 (49:57):
In an augural year. Yeah yeah, no, no not, that's
the amazing thing about it. So Auckland FC plays in
the A League. It's not them because they're part of Australia,
because that's they're in the A League. This is Auckland
City FC, who play in the New Zealand League because
they represent Oceania. It's this bizarre situation and they're amateur
and they played their first game against Bayern Munich in
(50:19):
this tournament and they lost ten nils. Unbelievable anyway, this
is it's a bonkers tournament. It might end up being
amazing anyway, be that. But the fun fact is this.
The highest paid player for Auckland City FC would have
to be paid his salary for one hundred and seventeen
years to match the weekly salary of Harry Cage.
Speaker 2 (50:45):
Fun fact weekly salary weekly And there it is. That's it.
That's even got our pres Wally can just pop in
and do our fun back every.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Week because usual.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Georgie's fun fact last week was that she and Luckie
Neil must be the same person because they both like Pokemon.
Speaker 4 (51:06):
Okame, that's fun. That's fun and to be fair, I
didn't know it.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
That's why forever my wing man. Yeah, com my back,
go my back, Harry Kane, Tottenham could use you'd like
to return? Thank you, oh Aid, we love you, Thank
you very much for being here. Thank you and look,
let's pray for me that I cry this much and
the final show, but you'll always have Pokemon and the
(51:34):
fact that you were actually a mascot and that that
hasn't been an elaborate joke.
Speaker 3 (51:38):
No, it has gone on for a long time. Has
it blown my mind? So as a true good sport.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
Thank you having that's all we have time for on
this extended episode.
Speaker 4 (51:50):
It'll be fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
I literally did say that fifteen minutes. Will There'll be
a latte maybe Jack Rae. Well until next week, dear listener,
bey a good school
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