Purpose, Parenting, Posca - and how you can do everything you want, with Merrick Watts

Merrick Watts is a comedian, radio and TV personality, actor, event and festival manager, highly certified sommelier, parent, fitness nut, SAS Australia selection-passer, entrepreneur and drink developer. And he has a jet-ski license.

So if you wanted to talk to someone who can tell you exactly what it takes to balance your commitments and still go after your passions and curiosities, and to get a good dose of inspiration and wisdom while you do it, Merrick's your guy. 

It's exactly what he talks to Osher about in this episode, along with how to find drive, where to really place your effort, the place of sacrifice, what he hopes to instill in his children, his thoughts on service, leadership and bravery both in the media and outside of it, and how he came to launch a drink based on a 2000 year old recipe...

Check out Posca here

Pre-order Osher's new book “So What? Now What?” here

And all the other links for Osher here

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Do you ever get the feeling sometimes like this just
too much, like too much to do, too much to
care about, too much to want to spend time on
too many things to be interested in. You probably know
the stuff I'm talking about here. We all do family, career, hobbies, fitness, ambitions, dreams.
How do you do it all? Can you do it all? Today?

(00:25):
We're going to talk to someone who will help us
shine a light on that question and ask some pretty
tough questions in return, some questions that I struggle to
ask myself. The conversation starts right after this good a,

(00:47):
welcome to the show. This is better than yesterday, Useful
conversations to help you make your day to day better
than yesterday every episode in twenty thirteen. My name is
Oshi Ginsburg, and I'm glad you're here. A guy he's
on TV sometimes, I'm a best selling author. I'm about
to be on a dancing show on Telly. I've got
another book coming out, So what now? What is out

(01:09):
on the fifth of Augustick and pre order it right now.
There's a link in the show notes. And I'm very
glad you're here because my guest today is the one
and only Merrick Watts. You might there's loads of places
you might know Merrick from his comedy career, his work
on radio, his podcasts. A Picture Discuss was a great one.
Also the festival that he runs. He runs an entire

(01:31):
comedy festival called Grapes of Mirth, and he's recently made
a show called The Idiot's Guide to Whine. He's a
very clever man. He's an incredible I'll call him a
mentor of mine. He's one of the only people you'll
hear has discussed this. He's one of the other people
I can actually call up and chat to about the
business wherein Oh yeah, there was also that time that

(01:51):
he was on TV when he passed selection on sas Australia. Yeah,
because he's the kind of guy that can do that
sort of shit. Merrick's done a fair bit and he
keeps adding to that list. Most recently he has launched
a brand new drink. Well, he's relaunched a drink because
the drink is based on a two thousand year old
Roman recipe. Because of course it is, because only Merrick

(02:13):
would find a two thousand year old recipe. Now, as
I can imagine, there's a lot here and I could
have chatted about, but we end up going on a
bit of a deep dive about his work, ethic, the
importance of purpose, preparation, sacrifice, his warm, generous and level
headed approach to parenting, the untapped potential he sees in
both radio and podcasting, and what really really drives him.

(02:36):
It's a big one today. You'll understand at the end
of this why I think Mark is one of the
absolute best. And you'll also hear that I loved every
minute of the chat and I know you will too.
And you'll hear us do a bit of a taste
test of his new drink and this. The drinks are
called Posca, and he's not paying me to say this,
but I've bought cases of it since because it's really

(02:57):
good and I don't drink alcohol. It's nice to have around.
Enjoy the chat. Good to see Thanks for coming in. Men.
How is it doing Breaky radio again?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Brecky Radio is good. It's I think it's because of
the purpose and the reason why I'm doing Breaky Radio
because I was asked to fill in for a month
on Triple M and initially I was like, Nah, I can't,
I'm too busy. I've got too much on and also too,
I had an enormous personal upheaval. Just prior to that,
my mother was dying, literally dying and passed away just

(03:34):
three weeks ago. Yeah, so it was like, I don't
need this, This lasting line need is breakfast radio. But
then I thought about it and it was what inspired
me to do it. On is number one. Knowing that
it's going to come at the end of four weeks,
it's pretty good. It's not an open thing. It's like, yeah,
I can do this for four weeks, but also it's

(03:55):
an excellent opportunity to hone the blade. And I'm a
big bleed if there as a stand up comedian, we
often get a push every now and again for managers
to be like, how long has it been since you've
done stand up? And it's not about generating the money.
It's about keeping that muscle memory and that skill set.
So I big believe and I've seen I know all
too well that if you go too long a period

(04:16):
without doing stand up, you lose that ege, you lose
your timing. And it's the same with radio. It's not
about losing it's just about just bringing it back to
a very very fine edge, because then that that edge
allows you to perform in so many other different realms.
I was like, actually, right now, more pressure is probably
going to help me with things rather than hinder me

(04:37):
with things. I don't need stress, but pressure is different
to stress. Fuck man.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I remember when I was doing breakfast radio when my
mom passed away, and I did take a couple of days,
but I liked just I just got to get up
and do this today.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah it's good.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
I've got to get up and do this today. And
I've got to compartmentalize this bit, all that part. And
it was hard, but it was an active choice to
get that done every day. And I'm one of four
brothers and where everybody processes grief completely differently from everybody else,
and so neither of us had the same experience. But
it certainly helped me kind of get through that. And

(05:10):
notice when I was getting stuck.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
It's a weird thing, because you know, the compulsion to
put yourself into work so close to a grief is
really quiet. It's a decision that I think some people
might judge and other people don't. It's one of those
things for me. My mother passed away on a Thursday night,
I was with her until the very last moment. I
stayed with her in the hospital for four days in
a cancer ward, and then when she passed away on

(05:35):
the Friday, I flew to so I. Less than twenty
four hours later, I was in Adelaide doing shows for
part of the French vessel so I did three days
of shows. The next Thursday, I had my mother's service.
The friday, I was back in Adelaide doing shows again.
And it's not about being stoic or tough. I literally
I know it's not because I went and did the
right thing. And I went and saw a psychologist and
a grief counselor on Saturday, and I just talked through

(05:57):
and she said, people process things in different ways, Mack.
And she said, it's it's not a bad environment for you.
Going into a bad environment is a bad outcome. You
can expect a bad outcome.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
I'm not taking two weeks in Kuta to think about that,
you know what I mean. I'm not going to clear
my head and I'm going to go to cos Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Correct. What would have been bad is you know, like
legitimately flying to Vegas bad bad? So I mean you
know that I was I heard you discussing Vegas. Vegas
is a is a different you know option, but yeah,
very much so. So it was it was kind of
it was actually I think in hindsight that you know,
I made the right decision.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
I feel a life when you wouldn't have reached out
to a grief counselor, Yeah, definitely, there would have been many,
many times. I mean there's times, even just a few
years ago, just talking about seeing a psychologists, I probably
wouldn't have done. But like now, I just whatever, I
didn't And it's not because truthful, it's not actually because
I felt bad, even though it's very recentince my mum's passing.

(06:54):
My mum and I was very close, But it's it
was just more about going, all right, let's preemptive strike this.
Let's if this is if I'm in denial of a grief,
let's go expose it.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Let's open it up. If there's a nut to crack,
let's be brave enough to go and do it. So
I went to see a grief counselor and just said,
you know, this is what's happened. Yeah, and then they're like,
here's some things you should you know, you could do
about spending time with my family and focused attention with
my own family. And she said, do I reckon? You're right, miss,
And I was like, not broken.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
At least you checked. It's no more than like, ah,
I'm looking to get a pr or my squat, but
I think my form's bit off. I might work with
a trainer to make sure I don't lean to one
side too much.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, you know, I can't do this part by myself.
It's just heavy lifting when you come into the big
stuff in life. But there is also something when you
speak to a grief counsel or something like that, when
they start going, look, you can expect this, this, this,
that and that the other.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
You're like, have you been watching me?

Speaker 1 (07:53):
All right? No, I'm just experiencing what normally happens when
you lose somebody. Therefore it's way less scary. Yeah, when
it happens. Yeah, okay, that's just that thing. Yeah, it's fine.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, there was I think also too, with seeing a
mental health professional, it's not necessarily the things that you
expect to be addressed or things that you think will
be the subject matter. It's something else, like a little
piece of advice or something like that, or a little
moment where that's the takeaway. It's not what you went

(08:22):
there for a right, So it's like going shopping, you know,
It's like you walk, you walk into a department store
and you go, I need a pair of jeans, and
you walk in and you've gone, I've got a pair
of fucking shoes. Now what have I done? How did
I came here for pants? And that happens to me
a lot. Strangely, that literally happened to me on Saturday.
But it is one of those things where the takeaway
is not what you expected, but it is in fact

(08:43):
the thing that you needed.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, it's true, It's true.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
You've got to Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
When I sit down in a meeting of other people
who are trying to not drink, I always get told.
You get told listen for the similarities, not the differences,
and just trust you can to hear something you need
here today.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, and there's always something.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
At first, I was like, fuck you, fuck everyone here
all this, But after a while you're like, actually I
really needed to hear that.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
It was unfortunate because you were at a bus scout meeting. Yeah,
they were all like, what was this?

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Sorry?

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Room three.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
I apologized to him, I apologized, I've.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Stepped into the wrong meeting. No, dip deep dop dog,
keep going, I've done that.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, I walked into the wrong meeting.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
One. No, what was the meeting for? Can you tell
me what the group was.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Let's just say the one that I was going for
was around liquid beverages that are you know, have a
fermentation about them, and the other one was about heavy
duty kind of opioid things that one might ingest. Two
very different things. And I walked in and it was
my first time there, and it was in Venice Beach

(09:51):
where I lived. I walked in and I sat down.
I was like, Wow, this is a very different vibe
normally experience and these cats are real heavy. Okay, well
all right, I'm here for this. In otherwise, learn a
lot in these places here similarities not doing so they
want to get something and then they open it up
and I go ah, and I next to me he goes, yeah,
it's next door. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Was a giveaway. The fact that most of them are
on the NOD and they.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Know it was the It was the I have seen
hell and I've stared it in the face, and I'm
alive today because I'm a powerful, strong human being. It
was that. It was these are the people that lived
and stay living. These are the people that have been
able to beat and stay beating it every day and

(10:37):
it's incredible to strength. But they are, you know, because
of the things that those drugs can do, have shall
we say, contact with parts of society that you otherwise
would think.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's best to stay out of. That sob and there
was a lot of that.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
I was the only one without a neck tat in
that too late mate, you never know. I was listening
to getting ready for this. I listen to the time
when you came on this show fuck ten years ago
now more. And look, I really got to tell you.
I've got to thank you so much for what you
did for me. I don't know if you realize what
you did, because after you came on my show, you

(11:14):
started bringing me in in the afternoons on Triple LAMB.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
True.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
And because of that, the people in their room, like
make no mistake Australia, like the guys in the room
Mart's searching for the next radio star. They're just like,
oh they're here, good you go.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
If they can if they can make a decision in
less than eighty seconds. Yep.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
It's yes, live in the lift well of a radio station,
and you will get a job.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
If you're around and you can solve their problem, they
will say yes to you.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Because there's so little time, so true, and so little budget.
But they so they heard me on air and they
heard me talking, and that's the thing that led to
getting back on radio and Brisbane. But I remember listening
to that and you talked about your experience, and I
recommend people going back and listen to it because it's
a fantastic chat. But you talked about that your dad
would take you on educationals you would get your dad

(12:01):
would want you to just see parts of the world
and ways other people lived, to get a perspective on
your own life. The story that one of the stories
you shared was about a slum in Manila, which is
pretty fucking awesome. But now your kids are kind of
mid teens, almost late teens, I'm wondering, like, how much
of the way that your dad did things did you
keep And how much of the way that your dad

(12:21):
did things do you like?

Speaker 2 (12:23):
That's a great question. That's a great question. I think
in some ways you know you doomed to become your parents.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
But I look at yourself saying shit, they yeah, yeah,
just become of me. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
It's it's funny like you pick up you Actually you
inherit idiosyncrasies in some ways, right, not necessarily behaviors. You might,
you might inherit behaviors, but sometimes when you inherit behaviors,
there learned behaviors that they might actually be poor behaviors.
But it's nice when you inherit idiosyncrasis because they tend
to be the softer, more convivial social side of aspect

(12:58):
of your parents behavior. I mean, I'm not even the
man I was four years ago, five years ago. So
you know, any influence I had from my father has
been that is resonant, is good. I find the positive
aspects and that I still have a thirst for knowledge.
I love. I'm so curious. I realize that I've become

(13:18):
with my age. I'm incredibly curious anyway, but I'm aware
now of how curious I am, and I get that
from my dad. So that's a massive gift. That was
the only thing that I had. But also too, he
had great timing. He was a raconteur, and he was
not without fault. But you know, probably his greatest fault

(13:39):
is the one that I've been able to not only control,
but certainly master. So I feel very very pleased that
that's something that I've I've taken what I believe was
his potentially his worst attribute, several of his worst attributes,
and I don't I don't have those in my life
control them. Yeah. So, but that's that's through awareness of

(14:02):
that as well. So I don't think you doom to
be your parents. But you know, the funny thing is
you do you pick up the little things you go,
oh my god, I'm like, my dad want to do that.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
I've got to notice that You've got to understand that
it's there. You might not realize that that joke about
the fish, Yeah, the old fish swims by the two
young fish and he goes, how's the water boys? And
one turns, the other goes.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
What's water?

Speaker 1 (14:20):
You know, if you don't know that you're doing, or
you don't realize you're copying things that your parents have done. Yes,
your bloody will when you hear your children when they're
too say shit did your dad? U says say, You're like,
how do you know that You've never?

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Fuck you learn it from me.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah it's the worst. Yeah, it's the best.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, it's also the best.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
It's the best because that's the legacy that you've got
in your own family chain, you know. And like I say,
those idiots increases those weird things as opposed to behavior,
they can be generational. And what a tribute to the
people who have come before you that they've got a
legacy imprinted genetically and a legacy imprinted behavior through this

(15:01):
kind of not it's not even a learned attribute, it's
just a gain to osmosis.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
You're a very disciplined person. Have your kids picked up
any of that?

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Ah? No, it's okay, No, Look there, I think they
understand how disciplined I am, and they see it and
also too, they see, you know, the public figure, and
they see how I am and how other people relate
to me. But they also to they see, you know,

(15:36):
an early rising father with tight disciplines around my lifestyle.
My thinking now is rather than trying to imprint the
disciplines and the procedures that I think that they will
benefit from, is if they see, they will learn. I
don't need to force them into those structures because they're kids,

(15:56):
they're just kids. Then when they choose what they want
to do, then they can employ those disciplines to great effect.
You know, if you look at if they become an artist,
an artist is great, but people think, you know, unfortunately,
many people believe that artists is not even a real job, right.
But if you look at the great artists like a
Dali I'm thinking of people either like Dahli or Picasso

(16:18):
or something like that, they worked very very hard. They
produced art every day as a discipline, and they got
better and better, and it was through the disciplines that
they had. I mean, they could be absolutely you know,
mad in every respect, but they still had the discipline
towards the art. So I'd rather let my kids form
the basis of who they are going to be then

(16:39):
employ the structures and the disciplines around it, rather than
the structures and the disciplines, because that might inhibit their
choices in what they wanted to.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
One of the things about parents didn't really suck for me,
and I've said it before, it's like they don't do
what you tell them, that they do everything you show them,
which is the worst and best part of it all,
because if anything that's annoying annoying you because you do
it yep, and they learn it from you.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
But what you're saying, you know, I'd like to think
there's I've had some influence at all. Maybe I don't know,
but I like to know that. Look if i've if
George is now twenty one, but I know, right, but
seeing this is a thing that it came from an
idea that I had and I spoke about while we're
driving a netball or something one day, and now it's

(17:20):
a book. You know. Now it's a thing because I've
pushed the project and made the contact and worked and
disciplined and worked and worked. We don't know, or here's
this show that's not there and now here at the
comedy festival like whatever. It is, like you can just
have an idea, but then there's that's where the work
comes in. And then now we've created a thing, yep,
But there's work for it. You've got to work for it.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
And the work is it's such an underrated thing, Like
it's amazing. I think that I all pushed the idea
of like you've got to do the grind and work out.
I don't necessarily believe in although I do the grind.
It's just that I think that having a work ethic
is a great gift. Some people can't work, They can't

(18:05):
do things because they're unable to do them for one
reason or another. They might have physical or mental abilities
that don't allow them to do certain things that they would.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Like to do.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
So it's a gift to be able to work hard.
But you've got to do it with direction and purpose.
And so once you find the direction and you find
the purpose, then you apply the work. It's literally just
putting the horse in front of the car.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Man. I hated any job ever until I became a
roadie at seventeen. Like I worked at you know, fast
food and all I was like, this is shit. It
was like doing detention with a uniform one.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, I hate it.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Why are we even here? The money doesn't I think
the bus fare up to Andrew Pilly was two dollars
twenty each way and I was getting paid four bucks
an hour. Yeah, Like what the fuck are you giving
me two hour shift?

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Like?

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Why do we even leave the house?

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (18:50):
No, But once I started, what I get to go
to a nightclub and load a PA out of a
van and you turn it on and make noise and
make Yeah, I did for fourteen hour days for fifty
bars because I didn't care. Once that got unlocked, then
I was mad into.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
It because it's in line with your purpose. Once you're aligned,
it's not even work anymore. It's like, you know, I
say this to young people who are getting into radio,
and I repeat it all the time, which is, you've
just got to reframe your perspective around what you're doing, right,
because people can play and go, oh, I've got endless

(19:23):
meetings and I've got to speak the guys from marketing,
and I've got sales and stuff like this. Go yeah,
I'll just reframe this.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Right.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Is that if you go into radio and the three
hours that you're on air, you're doing for free. Right,
that's just fun, right, you're doing for free. You're doing
for free because it's unreal fun and let's be honest,
you'd rather do that than not do that. So that's
for free. You get paid for the meetings. So when
you're in a meeting at ten thirty am and you
don't like it, shut up. You're getting paid to be there.
That's what you're getting paid for. All the stuff on air,

(19:51):
that's your playtime. That's your playtime. Afterwards, you're getting paid
for that. That's a great way to look at it.
I've heard the someone say that about it acting. It's
like the acting I do for free. I get paid
for people to hassle me when I'm at Disneyland something
like that. Yeah, get paid for the publicity.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I get paid for. Is I
can't go to the groceries. That's why I get paid
when I get paid. But I love the other part,
which is, you know, it's kind of cool. Radio is
a huge part of your life, and you gave me
a huge gift by getting me back on. But also
you give me a huge gift. But when I text
you going fuck, man's all the TV's gone away. I
don't know what to do, and you're right back to

(20:28):
me going pivot, Man, everything's about a pivot. When did
you become the Marcus really is of business?

Speaker 2 (20:33):
You'd be surprised, I reckon. I would be surprised if
I went two weeks without somebody in the radio industry
reaching out to me. Wow, Holy moly, people, I reckon.
I'm a lightning rod for when people are displaced or

(20:54):
need advice, or they need something outside of the industry
that understands the industry.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
So you see it like the fucking matrix. That's the
thing that a lot of people see it the way
you see it. Not a lot of people see the
entire I know now because I learned from you. Like,
if you're not looking at the share price and the
ratings and the sales market, then you don't have a
picture as to why they chose that person to do
the breakfast shit correct. And I'd never knew that before.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
There's so many different things to bring into the equation
of making good radio, and part of making good radio
is understanding your position within it and understand that position
is not just to talk into a stick. Right, Talking
to a stick is well done, you know, it's a
great achievement. I'm doing it now. Try it at home.
Get a real stick, fashion one from the backyard if

(21:41):
you don't have a microphone. But it's really just talking
into a stick. The art of it is balanced relationships.
The art of it is understanding the importance of other
people in the building sales. Understand they are good people
trying to get a good outcome, not being resistant to them,
and The most important thing is leadership. Leadership when you're

(22:03):
in there, you have if you are on air, you
are a leader. So stop thinking about yourself, think about
the tangible effect that you have on other people and
affect that positively. And if you're doing anything less than that,
you're doing it wrong. Simple as that.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
You have been in some I mean, you've been enough
of them so people won't reverse engine Europe. But you've
been in some on air teams that no doubt have
a lot of personality in the room. Yeah, absolutely, a
lot of energy in the room. Yeah, what would you say?
I mean, not everyone is going to be on air
with big personality people, but every workplace has got big
personality people. Yeah, what would you say? People might want

(22:40):
to know to navigate a situation like that.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Hmmm, that's a good question. I think focus on the
team win and the team outcome. Don't worry about mix
of voice, like you know. One of the mistakes I think,
and I understand why it happens a little bit, is
like that the the share of the pie. You've got
three people. We need you to do about thirty percent,

(23:05):
and we need you to do forty percent, and we
need the other person to do thirty percent, and that's
the perfect equation is go.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
What I love you and straight to the content director voice.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
That's a radioiz that like, that's the person who's sometimes
never been on air telling on air teams exactly how
to do their job well.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
And I actually understand why they do it because it's
a simplification of an equation, right. But the problem is
is that it's in every voice break. If everybody's just
doing thirty, thirty and forty out of three people, then
you've got a very predictive state. Okay, sure, but what
does it really matter if in one break one of
those people's only putting in fifteen percent, or at a

(23:44):
couple of breaks only put in fifteen percent if you
look at the whole show over the day holistically, if
you go narrowscope into one mic break, which is often
what happens, they separate a mic break and they look
at that and they go to share voices out here,
what you've got to do is look at the team win.
So I think that some people are better off just
being twenty percent and being you know, pitch hitters, like

(24:06):
really really good at dropping you know, really succinct pieces
to the team, and other people are going to offer more.
So I don't think the equation is important. The most
important thing I tell people is clean outs. Get a
clean out. That's the get the clean out, the first
best out. That's what I say to people, first best out.
So when you open up the mics, don't worry about

(24:27):
what you so much about what you're staying. There's so
much like within radio is when you're going into this break,
how did you think it was going to end?

Speaker 1 (24:34):
What? Sorry like just the fucking cadence and the way
you're talking. My thousand times you know how it works.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
I can actually put it on even Moore. So, okay,
you've gone use the word cube.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
At some point you've.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Gone to this break, you're thinking what are you thinking?
You've gone in there? What's your beginning, what's your middle?
What's your endpoint? How did what did you think was
the out? I wasn't thinking about that. I never I've
never gone into a good break in my life thinking
about how I'm going to exit right. It's just not
You don't walk into a circus and just go right.
Let's identify the exit here. What you're at a circus? Mate,
Enjoy the circus, worry about the exit when you need

(25:11):
to get there. Worry about this. You're in a playspace.
It's a play space. Every time you open the mic.
You should know what your starting point is and then
let everything happen about it, and then first best out,
first best exit. So what that means is, in radio terms,
as soon as and this does not matter whose mouth
it comes from, as soon as somebody hits that punchline,

(25:34):
hits that point, bank, chop out, get out. If it's
at two minutes, it's probably too short. If it's at
seven minutes, what's happened You've missed the earlier.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
So if it's in anywhere between three and five minutes,
typically in commercial radio, the first best out, bank take it,
chop it. If you want to come back, excellent, but
hit the punchline with the next point.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
It's a very specific thing doing breakfast radio or any
kind of team radio thing, but it could happen in
a real estate department, financial department. Everyone's contributing ideas to
try to get the great outcome, and we all want
to make.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Sure this is what we've done here.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
What else can we do? Like, hey, trust me, the
amount of work to get from as good as that
one was to the next really good one is fucking
so beyond with the amount of momentum we need to
rebuild to get to another tag or another great idea. Yeah,
that's a great idea.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Let's action that I think for people. The other example
I use if you're a stand up comedian and you've
got twenty minutes to do right. Twenty minutes set is
pretty common, so you've got a twenty minutes set, but
then you get to seventeen minutes and you know you've
still got three minutes to go right, but you get
to seventeen minutes and the joke that you normally do
pretty well on like it gets good laughs is just

(26:52):
this For whatever reason, it is just absolutely smacked the
crowd and people are literally applauding. You know what, you
don't do there are the three minutes because you've got
at least at least a fifty chance. Mathematically it's not
going to be as good. So why would you take
a fifty to fifty bit after you've just won lottery?
You've won the lottery, nobody comes along and says, would

(27:14):
you like to double it? No, I'm good, I've won
the lottery. Get out, Get out.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
The mc'll be thrilled that you're keeping the night on time.
If wants to chat to you, like.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
No one's watching the clock. Nobody's watching the clock, nobody's
listening to the radio and just going oh, I feel
like that break could have gone for another thirty five seconds. No,
don't open it up, close it off, done, take the win.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
We're just going to take a bit of a drinks
break from Merrick play some ads move back in a moment.
Do you think that I mean, we've spoken about this.
When you look at that big picture of media in
Australia and you had a podcast on another network to

(27:57):
this one.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Up until I've had podcasts on every network. I'm absolutely
gun for high. I looked at the camera when I
said that, because that's how good I am at it.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
I do it all the time.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
I look straight down the Burrow. I am a media whore, but.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Look, I have been selling myself for money for a
long time. I like to think I'm good at it.
When you look at the industry, the Austria, particularly Australian
media industry, I have some thoughts of this, but I'd
like to know your your angle when you look at
the broader scope of what we now call I guesst
content or audio content. What have the you know, where

(28:34):
have people got it right as far as the business
models that are moving and where what are some rude
surprises that people might be facing. Advanced media commentary from
Merrick Wise.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
I think podcasts are great. I think podcasts are fantastic.
I think if people started a podcast thinking it's going
to be a high way to cash, you are driving
the wrong way up in all it's like anything you should,
you should do it because you want to do it.
I think that there is now a lot of replicable

(29:09):
forms in media and in podcasting, just by the nature
of so many podcasts. So I think trying to identify
something unique and individual you are not enough, Like you've
got to have more of a hook than just yourself, right,
And people go, oh, but what about this person or
that person? You know, somebody will always say Joe Rogan
and so got what I get? Well, that was built,

(29:31):
that was built, and that became that through you know,
persistence and consistency. But I would say, you know, if
you're looking at that podcast, look to make something that
is serviceable to people, not just about you talking it.
So your podcast actually services people. It gives people who

(29:52):
have a need. They want to hear, something, they want
to feel, something they want to be, they want to
be that's like me, It's safe for me to feel
this way. That's what I get from your podcasts. As
a lot of people go, it's safe for me to
talk about this, It's safe for me to feel this.
I'm not alone bingo, right, and you might. You know,
some people just make a podcast for human says, that's fine.

(30:13):
But I think looking at how you can differentiate yourself
as the big thing with podcasts. I actually think radio.
I think radio could do lots more. I think radio.
I know it's taken a bit of a beating, but
I actually think radio is one of the best forms
of media. I think I think it could could actually

(30:36):
do something really exciting and very interesting.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Put your content director voice on. Let's say, you know,
we're in the building next door to where you used
to work here in pim one. Okay, what are your
what's your grand vision? What are you what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Bravery?

Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, what's that look like?

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Come doun to bravery. One word that I would encourage
in radio is bravery because it's at a stage out
where repeating the same thing is proven to not work,
and repeating it and repeating it it doesn't have the
same effect. So throw it the rule book. Allow people
to play loose. You look at radio's threat would be podcasts.

(31:15):
Podcasts have no rules, right, and because they have no rules,
they draw interest. I think if radio was in some places,
it's not like across the I'm speaking very broadly, and
it's more specifically, of course, towards FM rather than AM.
But I would love to see people acting with more bravery.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
And I.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Have given this example literally to some of the people
I've been working with Triple M when I talk about this,
just to get clarity around that bravery is. It's not
about the use of language and pushing boundaries and trying
to get yourself, you know, so close to the edge
of saying something or causing fire or anything like that.
It's not that. It's the bravery in backing yourself into

(31:58):
make good content, good content, and make good content that
resonates by being brave in your actions. If your mic
break is it five minutes, but it's really good, push it,
keep going, keep going. And if that out that I
was talking about comes at seven and a half minutes.
Good good, Whereas the structures are very much in place

(32:20):
of like it's a four minute break, it's a four
minute break, it's a form minute break. Don't do this,
don't do that. There's a lot of structures around it.
And I think that's come from potentially from trying to
get people with less radio experience into positions of high
standing in the radio industry. You'd know this, you know
what I'm talking about. You get people who haven't done
five or six years of radio, and all of a sudden,
they're in the pressure of a breakfast radio job in

(32:42):
a cap city. That's a lot. That's a lot. So
they need to employ a lot of structure around them
so that they can give them the guide rails. But
then what happens too is they become I think sometimes
you risk becoming a battery hen and becoming a cookie
cutter process, whereas bravery is making rules and convention so
much rules like in the sense of rules, but break

(33:04):
the conventions. And that's what I'd like to say. I
think radio has got this. The ability to be live
is what I'm talking about. That's its edge.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
The do you think radio has the ability to and
I guess the standards that people expect as far as
authenticity from the people that are listen to in their ears.
Podcasts are very intimate medium. I go gardening with my
podcast friends, you know, they don't realize that I'm out
there shoveling and gravels, you know, and we're all hanging
out together. It's such an intimate medium, and the authenticity
it's available to you with the space that the podcasts

(33:34):
gives changes the expectation of how close that parasocial relationship
can be. Do you think radio can meet that?

Speaker 2 (33:40):
I reckon radio can absolutely own it.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Is anybody doing it?

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Not the way I would I want to see, not
the way I would. I think that it's the most
beautifully connective media we've ever invented. Right, people talk about
social media. That's that is that connected? I don't know.
It feels a lot like me telling you something that
I want you to believe about me. That's social media, right.

(34:07):
It's somebody telling somebody else, or as many people as
they can, this is what I would like you to
believe about me. Yeah, radio radio podcasts is good because
you've got the ability to edit's it, You've got the
ability to have long form. But radio is live, it's accountable,
and it's a dialogue with your audience.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
I mean, just as you were speaking there, I was like, fuck,
all social media is prerecorded except for the live shit,
which is fucking boring because being live and me on
the whole engagement and hold an audience and keep someone's
attention and ideas moving for ten minutes, let alone an
hour is hard to do. I've watched enough boring twitch
stream so to go, guys, come on, you know I

(34:49):
can't just sit here and look at the fucking scrolling chat.
Come on, do something.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
But the only thing too with radio sometimes referred to
as like, you know, the barbecue analogy, which is you
don't go to barbecue with a sheet of topics that
you're going to talk about at the barbecue.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
And relatable topics. Relatable topics.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, get some relatable topics here. What we can do
is we're gonna start.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Town is going to love that one.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
We're going to talk a bit about football because everybody
loves footy. And then what we're can do is we're
talking about Pearl jam here for a little while, and
then we're gonna come back here and you know what
we're gonna do. Then no one does that. No one
does that, no one does that. We start a conversation.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
People don't even know content director getting.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
The emphasis on pearl Jam wrong, pearl Jam so true.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
I know I'm not going to say his name, but
I know the exact person, you know, I don't know
who that is.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
I don't know who's a real guy.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
It's like the generation now I've learned it from like Whispers,
Pearl Jam and nickel Back. Nickel Back's fun in there.
But at some point radio you went, I mean radio,
breakfast radio. Famously, the stakes very high and it gets
very expensive to make because the people have become on
air become so valuable, and that the relationship that gets

(36:02):
built up is like I get up in the morning
and I listen to these people in the morning, and
they're always there for me in the morning, and so
that relationship becomes very becomes very very valuable in some
cases astronomically so. But that value for you, at some
point you're like, I'm going to.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Go do other stuff.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
People would in your position, they might pivot to just
doing only stand up. Yeah, that's great. Running a fucking
festival I've seen easiest second gigs to pursue.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Events are always tricky. They're always like it's like that's
a game of you know, constant game of Russia, Roulett,
It's just like su spin. But it's but events. I
love events. I love I love doing. I love all
the things that I do, and I do lots of things,
and I think people go, how can you do all
of the things you do with focus and clarity and effort,
and you know, there's there's no way known you can

(36:50):
do it? And I go, well, I do it and
I have and not only that, I've been doing consistently
for years, so maybe I can do it.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Well.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Nobody else can do it. No, no, nobody else, you know.
But I know some people like myself who and myself
include but I know other people who have multiple businesses
operate at an incredible level and they just you just
make it work. And to be frank, a lot of
it comes a personal sacrifice. That's that's the that's the pain.

(37:18):
Pain is your time you have to commit to these things.
That's fine. That's if there's any wiggle room, if there's
any issue that comes out to you. As soon as
you understand that then that's and that's your obligation, your
responsibility that if there's a requirement made that becomes that
comes out of your personal time. That could be sleep,
that can be exercise, they can be family time, the

(37:38):
tough ones, all the things you love. That's what gets burnt,
that's what gets thrown under the bus.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Austin Cleon, He's got this great line. It's about the
art scene, but it could apply to anything, work, family scene,
pick two. Yeah, Yeah, that's really it. Where do you
stand on that when it comes to this, Because I've
got told once you're awake, if you're sleeping out hours night,
A good for you, But b you've got about one

(38:05):
hundred and four hours every week, what are you going
to do with it? What are you gonna do with
that time? Because you don't get it back.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
So I've been very, very fortunate where it looks as
though I'm just working all the time, But I'm working
on my hobbies all the time. These are the things
I want to do. So if it was just work,
I wouldn't be able to sustain it. There's no way known.
So what do I sacrifice? I sacrifice. I do sacrifice
a lot I do. I sacrifice a lot of social

(38:33):
time I don't have, and I've learned to accept this
is that I've had to sacrifice social interactions and my
friendships because I'm just I've just got too much work
on But that's my choice for my longer my longer goals.
But what I have been able to do for my

(38:54):
entire career is I weave friendships and social interactions into
my work. I enjoy working with people. I really like
workplace social interaction with a team. Now, if I was
working in isolation, that would be problematic, but it's not

(39:14):
the way I am. I feel like I get enough
social interaction at a good level, at a meaningful level
for me through the work I do. I love people,
I like working with people, so I don't when I
go to work. I'm going to work, but I'm going
to have fun when I'm at work, and that's my
social time, that is my work time, and also to

(39:36):
that is in some ways even my spiritual time, because
I know that when I'm doing these things, I am
driving towards my goal, my purpose, my reasons. So that's
how it's done. Because people go, you can't, you can't
do that many hours a day, like you know, at
the moment, it's nothing for me to do fourteen sixteen
hours a day, no problem. I can do that, and
I can do that sustainably for days and days and

(39:56):
days on weekends. I've cooked a lot of the time
for work a lot of weekends as well. Again that
the personal sacrifice is working weekends.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
So it's very very.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Common for me to go month, two months, maybe three
months without having a day off.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
Can you weave your kids and your family into this
as ways? How does that work?

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Always? I make them line up at the door and
a high five of them on the way out. I
don't have time for kiss. I've got to make a choice.
Like you said, it's a high five, a kiss or
a hug.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
What do you want?

Speaker 2 (40:26):
We've only got time for high five. Let's go line up, kids.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Are you able to like, you know, open the garage
and point to the old Mustang and say, one day
all this will be yours? Like, have you got the
ascension sorry, the secession plan in place for the kids
to get involved?

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Yeah, definitely. But my succession plan for my children is choice.
That's what I want for my children. I don't want
them to be me. I don't want them to follow me.
I want them to have choice, and that's not about money.
That's about being enriched enough in themselves that they can
make a decision. They go, Dad, I want to do this,
and I'll go do it.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
Yeah, do it? Do it.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
You know, I grew up wanting to be a comedian,
amongst other things, but primarily a comedian. And like I
used to tell people, I'm going to become a comedian,
and my parents is like, oh, that's cool, that's good.
Like my parents just went, yeah, that makes sense, go
and do that. Whereas I think, you know, when a
lot of people tell their parents that they want to
become a comedian, and their parents is like, we were
hoping you'd go to university, but you want to enter

(41:23):
the arts. So now my kids, there's nothing my kids
could tell me that they wanted to do unless it
was harmful towards others. And I don't seen my kids
are not. They're not going to do anything that harms others.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
So what part of the Yeah, I like my hobbies
and I do what I want, and you know, I'm
integrating my friendships and personal life and you know, spirituality
into my work. How does that play out when like
you went and got yourself certified as a samelia. Essentially,
I only had one joke about that. He told the Jimmy,
why did the samelier get asked to leave the Newdiest Beach? Well,

(41:56):
he had a semi on.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
A joke in my show about it, But I don't
not that, but it's it's similar. Mine's better. Hegee, if
you're listening dick jokes, which you're not, Dick jokes always right, Yeah,
Dick Joke's work. They just do because they're hilarious.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Did any part of your struggle when it was you know,
you know, we talked about the last time you came
on the show. We talked about how you went at
school and learning, and that school might not have been
maybe it's different now. And the way see the way
they're talking a Wolfgang. He's five, and I see the
way they're talking to him, was like, he's a kidding.
What you meditate every day as a class?

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Is that great?

Speaker 1 (42:31):
It's fucking awesome?

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Isn't that great?

Speaker 1 (42:32):
He knows what is fucking frequental cortex is. He calls
it something else, but he knows, he knows what his
amigdaler is. He calls it his guard door.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
A lie.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Yeah, they had a poster on the wall, Like now
it's all they know. They know, like, oh no, let's
just your guard dog piping up some Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, it's incredible.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
However, so in the previous conversation we had you talk
that you in school didn't exactly gel what.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Was the learning aspect of applying yourself to that? Like,
now it's interesting because I I don't think I'm necessarily
a great student, and I don't think i'm a scholastically
not well suited. But what I am very very very
good at is preparation, very good at preparation, and I've

(43:14):
become better and better and better, and I pride myself
on it. But I take everything I do very seriously,
even comedy. Like you know, people who work with me.
When I go and do my show, I will prepare,
I will get myself ready, and I don't roll up
half fast. But then I'm on stage, it looks like
I'm just goofing off, and I love that, right, But

(43:35):
everyone's just like this guy is just loving spat and
I am. But I've worked really, really hard behind the
scenes so that I can really enjoy those moments because
I'm not in the moment just going, oh, if I
just rehearse, it's a little bit better or or something
like that. I mean able to enjoy the moment because
the hard work I've done before. And so because I'm
a polymath by nature, I like to get certification and

(43:58):
qualifications because then I know that I've got a skill
and application towards something. So I've got a motorbi classes.
I've got a car license obviously, but I also have
a boat license. I don't have a boat. I've got
a jet ski license. I've never owned a jet ski.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
I'm never going to anyone that would be great on
the back of a jet ski any fucking powers, but
I don't have one.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
I have no intention. But I had to get it
for something. So whenever I see something, I've got RSAs
for every state and every territory in the country. So
I went and got those because I knew that in
my wine show and Idiot's got the wine, I was
going to be potentially having to serve wine. So rather
than just fob it off, I went, I will get
every qualification that I'll do it because I'm going to

(44:43):
be doing this thing. So when I did wine study.
I was like, okay, I got level one and I
was like, I'll get level two. And I was like, well,
if I get level three, I know that the wine
industry will respect me in a different way. I'll have
a great capacity to speak to the people that I
want to speak to if I bridge it with a knowledge.
So I didn't want to do it, but I went
and did that. And then I became a Borosso Master,

(45:04):
which again study and I did some you know part
of that you do wine assessment and I did that
as well. So I keep adding to these suite of things.
Then when a few years ago, when I decided I
wanted to give Posca a red hot crack, I was like, wow,
what will this become? What will this be? This is
like literally months after I've come up with a basic

(45:25):
formulation for a drink from ancient Rome. It's so it's
so Merrick's I can't even tell you. So I just go,
what am I going to do?

Speaker 1 (45:33):
I think it just literally just will referred to yourself
on the third person. Yeah, I know this is I
have to because everybody's got to look out for Ricky STEWARTT.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
So I was like, all right, well what do I
want this to be? How far can it go? And
what do I need to do right now? So I
went and studied at the Austraine Institute of Company Directors,
which was the worst thing I've ever done. It was
so hard for me. It was really hard for me.
It was really really difficult. I liked the governess aspect
of what I was studying, the fiscal stuff that you know,

(46:03):
the basically the the business aspects of it that I
needed to learn were so deep and so important and
so difficult that I did one of the exams and
I failed it and I was like, oh my god.
And I had all this like back to school, this
is like when you filed at school. And I went, no,
I've changed since then and I never ever quit. So
I went back, did it again, passed, and then went

(46:25):
to another exam. Failed and I'm like, oh, can this
just stop? And I went no, back again, passed it
and then I'm a third exam I passed, and I
was like, all right, well we've done that. That's that's
locked now. But that was all in preparation for where
I am now. That was three years ago that I
started doing that. How do you I did that from
the second of January. I was prepared to commit my time,

(46:47):
my family time, my own personal time, my holiday time,
and I was hiding away doing work, getting ready.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
And so now there's no way that you could do
the Europe married you got kids, Like, how what is
the support of your your wife?

Speaker 2 (47:03):
How did that plan to this? Georgie? And my kids
are very very supportive because they know that everything I
do I do for them ultimately, my vision of my purpose,
my goals, all those things. Yes, they're very selfish, but
they will produce results that will benefit my family. Like
I said, I work hard, now I will be able
to give them the gift of choice. So they're very

(47:27):
supportive of it, and it is it is tricky when
I spend time with them. I'm very affectionate to my kids.
I love them. We're very very tactile family. So I
feel that the time I spent is valued and it's
good and I know when to invest more time in
them when I need to. So that was like literally yesterday,

(47:49):
I said, kids, here's the plan. We're gonna We're going
to watch Grimsby and they're like, what I get. That's
right and completely inappropriate film for a family and we're
going to sit down and we're going to have we're
going to have a nice little meal together, you know,
just sit down. Very basically, we're going to watch television.
It's television. And they're like, oh, okay there. But it
was great.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
It was a real family bonding experience of a sashon
barricans ball so funny, but we're all laughing. It's a
great moment.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
We're all laughing. It's great. And that's that's like, Okay,
this time is this time is for family. So I
do try to do that. There's another saying as well,
which is if you can't spend time, spend money. I
buy my way through my relationships is what I do.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
The only one. So you meant you mentioned it, So
there's a I was I was semi joking when I said,
you're the Marcus Aurelius some business. But like you've literally
gone to ancient Rome to find a recipe, an.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
Ancient Roman recipe. That's it's cool. Do you want me
to explain it what it is?

Speaker 1 (48:45):
So? Yeah, so there's some here in the room, like
it's pasca is the name of it.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
It's yeah, non alcoholic, Well this is good and gluten free,
which is great and vegan friendly.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
And this is good because I'm a friendly vegan and
you probably had forty thousand cans in it, so you
probably know cold.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
I brought one from Oh yeah, that's good.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
This is the thing. Like, I'm glad that shaped it
like this, because even even a soft drink can. For
the first couple of years after I stopped drinking, when
I held a soft drink can, because it's the same
size shape as beer can.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
I was to get me the willies. Yeah, yeah, we'll
talk about this. That sound isn't that good. I'm going
to make it even better by Oh it's spilled from
a decks.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
That's really good.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
It's great, and there's pineapple. But I'm not here to
do aids. But I'm here to do aids.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
No, no, no, like because I can't because I'm Celiacs.
I can't drink every I can't drink any zero alcohol beer.
I wouldn't do it anyway because I had one white.
So I was like, that makes me want to kick
in the door of a bottle of No thanks, I
can't do that.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Yeah. So it's got you know, like magnesium, potassium and
salts in it, which comes from you know, an extension
of the ancient Roman formula for poscar yeah, which is
about two and a half thousand years old. But it's
gotten sugar at all. It's got no artificial ingredients whatsoever.
It's vegan and friendly, got my name on it, it's
got prebiotics.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
That's why I brought it in.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
That's actually why we named it that as you should
available for ambassadors that I'll take equity. What was the
noise your wife made when you told her I've just
discovered this, shes is like.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Of course you have, of course you have. Nothing I
do ever surprises Georgie, Like, I'm not kidding, There's nothing
I ever do that really is surprises because her expectation
is that if it's unique and difficult, I'll do it.
If it's unique and difficult, I'll do it. If it's
if other people wouldn't do it, he will do it.
That's that's kind of so. Yeah, she wasn't surprised at all.

(50:41):
But I was doing some wine research during lockdown because
the worst thing for me is not overloading with work.
The worst thing for me is to have nothing to do.
It drives me quite literally mad. I like work work.
So I was doing some research for a Needo's God
to Wine. I was planning on writing the show. I
was doing some research for it, and they discovered an

(51:02):
ancient formula called Oscar, which was ancient Roman drink that
the legionnaires drank right around Europe. The Roman army marched
on it quite literally, and it was a base of
red wine, vinegar and salt to which they added water.
And what the Roman army would do is they would
march all the way through Europe and this actually allowed

(51:24):
them to take so much ground, and when they came
across a new water source, they would purify it using
the red wine, vinegar and the salts. And of course
they're just they're just microbial killing all the crap in
the water, because more people would in those days, certainly
more people will dive through disease and battle. Oh yeah,
it's really common. So as they were on the march,
they come across a new water source, they would make

(51:46):
a blend of posca for people to drink.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
This.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
The gladiators drank it, the Roman soldiers drank it. Empra
Hadrian who took it to the UK, and he was
of course the Roman emperor who conquered Great Britain. He
actually mandated that his troops were only allowed to drink
wine every second day because he didn't want to and
they were drinking pasca. The other time. He himself would
drink Posta and solid already with his troops. So all

(52:09):
these crazy Marcus aureli Is probably would have drunk this.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
Everyone was drinking so rather so what just saying is
like as they traversed across the countryside, it's probably a
fair bit of stabbing and stuff going on. They found
a stream, so rather than let the people drink directly
from the stream, they don't drink it yet, Let's get
it in these cauldrons, let's spoil it up, let's make
this didn't boil it, and I think let's just just
stretch it through, give it a couple of hours, and

(52:32):
now you can drink it. Now it's safe to drink as.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Soon as you blended it because it's got a cidic
acid and salt. So there you know. They're preservatives, their
natural preservatives. We don't need to add anything. So it's
about what it doesn't have. It doesn't have sugar, doesn't
have artificial ingredients. But I'm very proud of it.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
I can't imagine I've invested in in the thing. It
was a beverage and it didn't go in the.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
End an alcoholic.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
No, it was an alcoholic. But what happened in the
end of it, Like work, you got to do beforehand,
just to go, yeah, this is a great idea. But
now this is a great idea worth pursuing. Yes, at
what point did you realize no, No, there's a in
the energy drink market, which is shall we say, crowded.
When did you realize, actually, this is there's room for this.

(53:16):
This can work because it's entirely unique. It's actually a
new category itself, which presents enormous challenges, but also to
long term I believe the greatest benefits. So there's no
there's no stimulants in it, there's no caffe it's not
an energy drink. It becomes in a can because I
made the decision from day one. I don't want to
put it in plastics. Plastics are out, they're moving out.
Why put it in there?

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Put it into tin. Also to have made it effervescent,
you know, I wanted to be sparkling because I thought
it tasted better than it does. But no one's ever
done this. No one's ever done this. No one's ever
made Posca like this anywhere. Other people have made it,
but no one has gone out with a brand called Posca.
No one has brought it to life. And for me,
the challenge was, all right, well, what do I want

(53:55):
to do this? I thought, I would love to see
an Australian made, invented drink, supported and developed here, spread
throughout the world. I would love that red Bull did it.
Why can't we have a little Izzie red Bull story?
And so there has been a hundred times when I've
just gone Mark, what are you doing? What are you doing?

(54:15):
What are you doing? And then the answer is always.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
The right thing.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
I'm doing the right thing. I'm producing something I believe in.
I love the history, I love the story, I love
studying about I love everything about that. It's an incredible drink.
But I know in my gut that this is the
right thing to do. Everything I do, I just apply
myself one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Have you say in a case to Ryan Holiday, No, mate,
you fucking should yeah? Really? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Fucking arrange that? Can you arrange that? Yeah? Done? I
don't know who Ryan Holidays?

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Zing two thirty five insurance coming up first, pasted out
with peric What.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
That was the out that was all punched in straight
into a song?

Speaker 1 (55:05):
It was really good. Yeah, I was already hearing a
taylor'swoit song. You know the phones have already lit up
even though she's not during I still think they're getting tickets.
There was a time in your life when exercise wasn't
really a part of your day. Exercise is now very
much a part of your day. What kind of you said,
you're not very good if you don't work or want
to work on. What do you like when you don't exercise?
And what do you like when you do?

Speaker 2 (55:26):
Oh? Yeah, exercise is very very important to me, very
important to my mental will.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
People who are listening, they got to realize that Merrik
just put his cand down, then realized it was out
of shot, slightly moved it closer to the microphone logo
face and people should realize that always be closing right here?

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Can I say always be closing? Can I say that
probably no one would have noticed this subtle movement that
I made there but a television professional at the moment
of doing this, going, osh, we'll see this. I wonder
if he calls me out on that he did well,
aren't It was awesome?

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Just that subtle.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
There's the label in front of the camera product placement
whilst we're here for.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
The key to success.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
It's the key to success.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
You're telling me what you like if you don't exercise,
and what you're like when you do.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
It's actually just the mental well being. I just feel better.
It's not like I feel bad if I don't. I
just feel a lot better and a lot more capable
when I'm in a good routine of exercise, and I
just it's just in orphins.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Yeah, I just like it.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
I like, you know, doing a good session and just
feeling good. Yeah, but it's important. I'm training for Kakoda
at the moment. So I got to Kakoda in about
five weeks, so I've had to change the way I train,
and that's that's great because it gives me something. It
gives me different purpose, it gives me a different style
of training for a period of time. I like to
do that. I like to emphasize something different for a

(56:54):
period of time and then go again on something. I
don't want to just be doing the same thing. Yeah,
I'm off for barbels for the I'm back on kettlebells.
It's great, So there you go. Yes, but that doesn't
sound like a lot, but it actually is. Yeah, it's
actually it's completely different. So it's still throwing ten around.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
But you know, sure, iron sert iron iron, I'm checking
tin around that what kind of soka codas. It's a
couple of days and it's quite very challenging to rain.
It's nine days, it's a hike, it's nine days through jungle. Yeah,
it's fairly intense. What does training for that look like?
Can I think you know you can't train by walking

(57:31):
all day? You can't.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
But you have to carry weight.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
So you might have a job and you've got a
family and yeah, do you have a treadmill?

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (57:40):
You know what it is.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
It's like I'm saying about the sacrifices. Yeah, so at
the moment, I'm having to sacrifice some of the training
to do breakfast radio. But then what I'll do is,
like tomorrow, I'll get up early in the morning. I'll
get up an hour early, so I'll be up at
about three or maybe a bit shy of three, and
I'll go and train and I'll sacrifice my time, my
sleep to get that done. So there's always a trade

(58:02):
off because time, this is the thing. Time is fine.
If there's one thing I could have more of, it
would be time. Time is time is the most valuable thing.
Count buy it, that's it.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
You absolutely count buy it.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
But you can make it. Yeah, you can't buy it,
you can you can make it.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Make Timeah.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
So yeah, I'm training for that at the moment. Otherwise,
feel pretty good.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Well, you don't. Thing is you are one of the
other people that Haggy is one of the other ones
that we're all similar ages when we don't look as
old as we are. No, you don't look as old
as fifty one. Yeah, I'm fifty one in a week. Yeah,
and I don't look fifty one because forty nine maybe
maybe and a half because I'm a bit haggard. I'm

(58:46):
a little bit hagger You grab in Queensland and there
was a lot of fucking sun early inside damage.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
Yeah, but you have set it with the hair. That's
the true.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Well, that's yeah. Yeah, I have very short hair for
a while there. I've become quite old.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
When I go to the bus cut this is good,
this is a good cut.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
I'm working on the like I have a key tar
and I play in an eighties funk band.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Wow, that doesn't sound tragic at all.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
Mate. It's what I'm going for. You know what I'm
going for. I'm going for a snake in Escape from
New York. That's just without the eye patch.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Oh yeah, it stake Pliskin.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Yeah. Yeah, sick Kurt Russell, yees, sick he wont Kurt Russell. Yeah,
that's what I'm going for. That That was my reference for.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
It's gonna have to get some tiny jeans. But you'll
be all right. You can get there.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
These are made of kevlar. So that's right.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
You've hit You've hit fifty years years of age. If
you start buying jeans that are so practical that they're
made out of kevlar, you're in your fifties.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
I am.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
You know how your dad moved?

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Do you know how dad move? I am. I was
going through a wardrobe the other day. I was holding
up pairs of board. He's going, I'm never going to
wear them again because I am now. I am budget smugglers,
and I don't care. I just don't care.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
It's been great being Thank you so much, Osh again,
that's another out, second best out.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
It is second best. It's great. I love it. It's
it's lovely to give a ship after years and years
and years of giving a ship.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Yeah, okay, care now, Yeah, I think that's a wonderful
freedom that you can explore. I'm in that phase now
where I care about things, but I don't care as much.
I care about the impression I leave, not the impression
people take of me. So you know what I mean.
Like if people if people look at me and they go,
they can think whatever they like. I don't care. I
care about the impression I leave, the impression I deliberately leave.

(01:00:26):
That's what I care about.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
It's the only part you can control it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
That's it. That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
Go to bed, sleep at night.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
I don't care what people say about me behind my back.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Eighteen and a half minutes before you get up and
do some training and some radio and run three companies
and study to be a level four DIP. You haven't
got the diploma yet. That's now, go for diploma.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
I'll go for you. Yeah, yeah, you're not going to
do I need to wait. I need a few years.
I'll wait a few years and then I'll do a diploma. Yeah, yeah,
I'll get there a good time. I'll probably in the meantime,
I'll probably get a pilot's license or something stupid that
I also don't want. Do you hear the Merrik's got
a helicopter license? Has he has? He got a helicopter?

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
No, no, no, not that, because he's Merrik. One day.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
One day you just won with a big Osca written
on the side. Landing on your Oscar chopper is the dream.
Landing at the gig at the Grapes of Mirth. You're
landing there like deep purple at fucking mountain stadium, grabbing
the microphone and hello out of valet.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
People going, he's gone full elon. Never go full elon.
This is really delicious. Try the other flavors. I reckon,
you're a grape. This is a mix. Yeah, yeah, I
brought a mixed box for you because I'm a great
guy and I think I had one pre prepared at home.

(01:01:40):
But I do overthink that ship.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
No, not at all. That's great, Thank you for coming in.
Thanks That was Merrik Watts. You can get his new drink.
It's called Poscar posc A. We'll put a link in
the show. It's rather good. Like I said, he's not
paying me to say and tell you this, but I
bought it. I bought a case of it a bt more.
It's really delightful and he's such an impressive man, an

(01:02:04):
incredible guy. He's going to make so much money with that. God.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
I'm thrilled for him.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
He works real hard and he's a fabulous human being.
I'm also trying to convince him to come and do
a story club on the sixth of July, but keep
an eye out. I'll let you know next week if
I've locked him in, but I'm trying to get there.
Don't forget to pre order your copy of So What
Now What? Helped me help a whole bunch of other
people for getting the word out about this brand new book.
I'm going to be talking about it a lot between
now and when the book comes out, probably more after that,

(01:02:31):
but yeah, please get a copy of So What Now What?
You can pre order it right now. You're pre ordering
that book sends a huge signal to all the people
that make book purchases, so please jump on the show
notes and click that link. Thanks to Adam Bunch for
making this episode. I'll see you Monday.