# Fred's First Race

An episode of [Hamish & Andy Plus +](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1616749262), 8 Aug 2021, 14 min.

Audio: https://enrichment.soundstack.com/4vjqq8/episode.flightcast.com/wwzjyde62753342wtwdqz9uc.mp3

Hamish & Andy remember their early days on the Saturday morning show, and listen back to one of their first song-parodies and understand why the radio bosses told them to stop singing! Brian McFadden makes yet another appearance, as well as Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo. On this day in 2017 they had their first band rehearsal and they discuss the external influences that were responsible for it sounding average! They then listen back to the amazing moment their greyhound Fred Bassett ran his first race! Hamish & Andy's Remembering Project. Season 2, Episode 18.

## Transcript

[0:02] A listener production.
[0:06] Wilhelm, this is our remembering project.
[0:08] Yep, where a random day of the year is selected and we look up the run sheets from all our shows from across the years to find any we did on that day.
[0:17] Over 20 years, that's about 2,500 shows and roughly 26,000 talk breaks.
[0:22] Today, we pick one.
[0:24] One talk break only and try to remember what happened based on what was written down on the run sheet from that day.
[0:29] As always, we've got podcast Mike with us here for any technical stuff.
[0:32] Hello.
[0:32] Mike, what date was randomly chosen today?
[0:35] It's the 16th of October.
[0:36] Okay, that's Andy's go then.
[0:38] Let's kick it off and find out what years Andy will take us back to and we'll see if we remember anything from those years.
[0:47] This is Hamish and Andy's Remembering Project.
[0:53] Haim, we must get our stuff together on October 16 because it's a rich vein of fun things.
[1:00] Great.
[1:00] What have we got?
[1:01] Shows in 04, which is a Saturday morning show,
[1:05] We've got this.
[1:06] We found some of that audio.
[1:07] Got it off CDs for this second year.
[1:09] What did we do in 04?
[1:11] Well, I've got a little grab for us.
[1:12] Great.
[1:13] We were on Victorian only at the time, Melbourne only.
[1:16] Yep.
[1:17] And we used to finish the show with a suburban anthem.
[1:21] Yeah.
[1:22] I remember that.
[1:23] Yeah, we'd sing a song about a suburb.
[1:25] Yes.
[1:25] So we would basically look for a suburb.
[1:28] Very difficult to do in retrospect.
[1:30] It was great.
[1:30] It was easy for suburbs like St Kilda who have very much an identity and you can make a lot of jokes.
[1:36] Unless this is the one you've got.
[1:37] I remember Werribee, which is where the sewage treatment plan is.
[1:40] Yeah.
[1:41] To let it be.
[1:42] To let it be.
[1:42] Yeah.
[1:44] No, I've got Belgrave and it doesn't really strike me.
[1:47] They've got Puffing Billy.
[1:49] That's the foot of the Dandenongs, Belgrave.
[1:52] I can't remember what pop song we tried to rhyme Belgrave with.
[1:57] Britney Spears' Slave for You.
[1:59] Oh, yes.
[1:59] Belgrave.
[2:00] Probably not even out yet.
[2:02] Yeah, you're right.
[2:03] 2004.
[2:04] Maybe Save Tonight by, you know, that song, Save Tonight, Belgrave Tonight.
[2:09] It probably will be that because I think whatever comes up in your mind is probably the same thing that would have happened to you
[2:15] back then, like, you know, probably follows the same neural pathways.
[2:18] Well, this is as old as we get kind of thing, 2004.
[2:21] But people would nominate them too.
[2:22] That was the other thing.
[2:23] People would write in and be like, please.
[2:24] Well, not that many people because it was Saturday.
[2:26] But like, you know, a handful of people would contact the show and go, oh, yeah, do one for our suburb.
[2:31] And it was a way to really appear local, which the station had told us you really want to be local.
[2:36] You want to get local.
[2:36] Yeah.
[2:37] So anyway, I've got it for us.
[2:38] Only a snippet.
[2:39] I don't know what rhyme we went with.
[2:42] I reckon you'd be close.
[2:43] Here we go.
[2:46] The 16th of October, 2004.
[2:50] Belgrave's all right.
[2:52] You've got it.
[2:53] It's a lot closer than lawn come tomorrow.
[2:56] Or the next day.
[2:57] You can hang out with my mate Sean.
[2:59] We're better than Belgrade in Yugoslavia.
[3:03] Cos we're not at war and that remains the plan.
[3:07] We've got heaps of trees so we're scared of fire.
[3:11] At 18 degrees it's a total fire ban.
[3:14] We have a witch and she can be seen.
[3:18] Her name is Kerry Colkins.
[3:20] She's in Teen Magazines.
[3:23] Takes ages to get here by the train.
[3:27] It'd be really handy if you had a plane.
[3:30] Belgrave's alright.
[3:33] We're not by the sea, but who wants that?
[3:37] We've got bushwalks and dead and sheer tea.
[3:39] Belgrave's alright.
[3:42] Phil Graves is alright.
[3:44] Find it, Anne-Andy.
[3:45] Okay, okay.
[3:46] Phil Graves is alright.
[3:49] That was good.
[3:49] Yeah, thanks, bud.
[3:50] Phil Graves is alright.
[3:52] Not a fight.
[3:52] Okay.
[3:55] Oh.
[3:56] It wasn't great.
[3:58] It's not great.
[3:59] I now remember, I was like, what's the hell this stuff about a witch?
[4:02] People would write in.
[4:03] That's what we used to say.
[4:03] We're like, tell us about your suburb.
[4:05] So we'd do like a blurb beforehand and then dazzle the listeners by fitting in some of the factoids like we have a witch.
[4:15] entered the song before their very years, we would weave in references like Devon Sheer T, which is four syllables into a spot that required a lyric that was one syllable.
[4:29] That's as bad as I.
[4:30] As bad as it gets.
[4:31] As bad as it gets.
[4:32] That's as bad as it gets.
[4:33] And no wonder we talk about our boss saying cut out the singing when you guys keep going.
[4:39] He's probably heard that and going, of course.
[4:40] I mean, you know.
[4:41] We're going to put you in a more prominent slot, but you can't dish out that stuff.
[4:46] Think about it.
[4:46] You'd be like you're in charge of a radio station that's like the number one FM hit music, like trying to be cutting edge radio station.
[4:54] You bring him out, Jason Derulo or whatever.
[4:56] Yeah.
[4:57] You've got these guys on Saturday morning singing eagle-eyed cherry songs about Belgrave and then just not fitting some lyrics in some spots, just going quiet for a bit because you've got nothing to put in.
[5:09] It also stinks of October 16 where we've had the idea early in the year.
[5:14] Yep.
[5:14] We've hit the Richmond, St Kilda's, you know, really big suburbs and then they're going, okay, now we're doing Belgrave and we're like, should we stop this segment or should we just keep it?
[5:25] No, we still have 98 suburbs to go.
[5:27] Yeah.
[5:28] Because, you know, Brighton, easy.
[5:29] Yeah.
[5:30] Oh, there's others.
[5:31] But anyway, that was embarrassing but great to listen back to.
[5:35] 2008, Brian McFadden was back on.
[5:37] He's always on.
[5:38] Get off the show, McFadden.
[5:39] Yeah, but everyone really loved him in Australia.
[5:41] It's like we had a cat flap.
[5:42] He'd just come and go as he pleases.
[5:44] 2017, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo.
[5:47] 2017.
[5:48] Yeah, on for Thor Ragnarok, I reckon it would have been.
[5:52] Is that film that old?
[5:54] 27.
[5:54] It's only four years old.
[5:55] I thought it was more recent than that before Ragnarok.
[5:57] Yeah, maybe.
[5:58] Yeah.
[5:58] Okay.
[5:59] Remember, COVID year just flew by with nothing really coming out.
[6:03] Yeah, you're right.
[6:03] You're right.
[6:04] Okay.
[6:04] Yep, yep, yep.
[6:05] We also that same day had our first rehearsal of We Are The Champions with you, Jack, and I playing in our Cool Boys in the Frontman band.
[6:13] It's an interesting thing to listen back to any of the Cool Boys stuff because in our heads it sounds absolute stadium studio.
[6:22] Yep.
[6:23] It sounds like quaint.
[6:26] And unfortunately, when you listen back, it doesn't.
[6:28] That's why I'm not going back there.
[6:30] It is the levels.
[6:31] It's the levels it was recorded at, which is a shame because our engineering department at the radio station is so good.
[6:36] Yeah.
[6:36] But they just somehow, any time they're recording our band stuff, they're just off.
[6:41] Yeah.
[6:41] It's just not – the sound's too thin.
[6:44] They just can't record it properly.
[6:45] Sounds out of tune at times.
[6:47] In the room, it sounds wicked.
[6:49] But unfortunately, when iPhones try and pick it up or the radio station's equipment, they just really drop the ball and their recordings are terrible.
[6:57] So you're just going to have to take our word for it.
[6:59] In the room, it sounds epic.
[7:01] Yep.
[7:02] Yep.
[7:02] And it's just a shame that that's never been able to be captured.
[7:05] And some bands, it's very hard to capture them.
[7:07] They've got such a live feel but it's very hard to capture them on tape.
[7:10] And I guess that's us.
[7:12] We're one of those.
[7:15] So I'm not even going to list the other stuff because we might get this date again and then that'll fill.
[7:19] But we've got plenty from other years.
[7:22] But what I wanted to hone in on is in 2006, it was Fred's first race.
[7:31] Oh, that's it.
[7:32] So we bet on me to win Cleo Bachelor of the Year.
[7:36] Yeah, by this stage you'd won it.
[7:37] We'd won it.
[7:38] We bought a Greyhound.
[7:39] For $10,000 because we won that money.
[7:42] And then…
[7:43] We were touring a greyhound.
[7:45] And we just asked people, anyone, it's a people's dog, a people's greyhound, come down to Sandown, I believe, the race was at.
[7:53] Because we were like, we're going to tour him around.
[7:55] We're going to take him around the nation.
[7:56] Yep.
[7:57] And we were really hopeful of this amazing race where the people's dog, the people's greyhound, was going to have his first ever run.
[8:05] You and I had kind of owner's suits on.
[8:09] As we went out to Sandown.
[8:11] Sorry, I was like, this wasn't the time I was in the helmet.
[8:13] No, that was the next year.
[8:14] That was after the Grand Prix.
[8:16] I lost a bit.
[8:18] We went to the op shop, bought ourselves a couple of beautiful suits.
[8:22] Yep.
[8:23] Cowboy hats.
[8:23] Cowboy hats.
[8:25] So we really felt the part.
[8:26] I think we had the pencil ties too, like the thin.
[8:28] Yes.
[8:29] But we were overwhelmed when we got out there.
[8:31] Because it was our first year, you don't really know how many people listening.
[8:35] The listener parties get filled up because people want to come and see Jessica Melboy sing and have a free beer.
[8:40] But when you just see it, it was the first kind of experience where we were like, anyone can come, open Slather.
[8:45] Let's go for it.
[8:46] And seeing over a thousand people come and watch a greyhound and the Greyhound Racing Association just overwhelmed.
[8:52] Well, it was just like a random Tuesday night or something going, oh, yeah, we normally get about a dozen people wandering down.
[8:58] So this will be a big one for us.
[9:01] Before we listen, though, we're going to take a quick break.
[9:05] Haim, I'm not going to give away how it went.
[9:07] We both remember how the dog went.
[9:09] I actually can't remember.
[9:11] You don't?
[9:12] I do.
[9:12] But I think this might be better to listen.
[9:14] What do you think?
[9:16] I don't think he won his first race.
[9:18] Let's have a listen.
[9:20] The 16th of October 2006.
[9:24] Fred Bassett has absolutely been the people's dog.
[9:27] And rather than just sit here and tell you what happened last night, what we've prepared is a little bit of a montage of exactly what went down last night, Andy, both trackside.
[9:38] Because we were at the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club in Melbourne last night for his first race.
[9:42] Race four.
[9:43] Of his Oz Tour.
[9:45] The Hamish and Andy Stakes, race four.
[9:47] Fred Bassett was dog number one.
[9:49] This is a little bit of a mix.
[9:50] What went to air on Sky Channel and what was happening trackside in the crowd at Fred Bassett's first race?
[9:56] There's a huge crowd out here at Seahawks.
[9:59] A huge crowd.
[10:00] Run, Fred, run.
[10:01] Think of all the chicken nuggets you'll get after the race.
[10:05] My dog, Barjass, would love a toy boy like Fred.
[10:08] Go Fred!
[10:09] Very rarely do you see the crowd lining the fence like they have here this evening.
[10:12] There's a hero born, his name's Fred Bassett, and he's about to run, I guess, the race of his lifetime here.
[10:18] Yeah, this is his first race.
[10:20] He's on fresh legs, golden legs, inside and out the outside of the bike.
[10:25] I think that Fred Bassett, now the channel on Prince is out, is certainly the way to beat.
[10:28] We're in the owners' circle, we're with some of the other owners.
[10:30] Gotta be professional in the owners' circle.
[10:32] Your dog drinks milk, he's a cat!
[10:34] And there's no need to psych him out.
[10:36] We're all professionals here.
[10:37] We're all owners.
[10:37] We're all lovers of greyhounds.
[10:39] I saw your dog chasing a mouse.
[10:40] So that's fine.
[10:41] That's just gentle, professional ribbing.
[10:42] There he gets it.
[10:43] Moving in.
[10:44] He's all over them.
[10:45] Number six is actually trying to run off the track.
[10:47] Doesn't want to race.
[10:47] It'll be tough to get into the box.
[10:49] Scared, I'd suggest.
[10:50] And the green eye on, set the go down.
[10:52] And Fred is already out in front by about three lengths on his way to the box.
[10:57] He's absolutely... Go, Fred!
[10:59] He's absolutely loving it.
[11:00] Go, Fred!
[11:01] Go, Fred!
[11:02] Racing, Fred Bassett's starting to begin on the inside and top edit, he won the start.
[11:06] Then I'll hit the start clear, casual lyrics and Fred Bassett going up on the inside.
[11:10] Out of the straight and Fred Bassett went for the rails, pushed to the outside, top edit, down 6-0 and Fred Bassett losing a bit of ground there.
[11:17] And casual lyrics lead to buy about four links out of Mintaka.
[11:20] They were followed for the back by Bergman.
[11:22] Fred Bassett went out to the top.
[11:24] He's so happy.
[11:25] And top edit, he's going up on the turn.
[11:27] Casual lyrics lead to the outside.
[11:29] Casual lyrics tackled by Mintaka.
[11:31] Yeah!
[11:33] Has I got a little line but it from Casual Lyrics?
[11:37] Fred!
[11:37] Fred Bassett.
[11:37] Who switched the dog?
[11:39] It's a dead heat between number seven, Casual Lyrics, and number one, and eight mint taco.
[11:45] And the time is 30 and 23.
[11:46] We actually got it back.
[11:48] Fred Bassett has come dead last.
[11:51] By an absolute mile.
[11:52] He didn't even...
[11:54] He stopped for a cigarette on the far side.
[11:56] Someone's yelled, Sheelace, he's forward for the oldest trick in the book.
[12:00] I'm devastated.
[12:01] I can't begin to describe.
[12:03] They're seeing people booing.
[12:04] There'll obviously be some sort of protest and we'll uphold that to the full extent of the law.
[12:09] Oh, God.
[12:09] I'd like to test those other dogs for traces of wolf blood because I think they've kicked on him.
[12:15] I can definitely smell Red Bull on the other dog's breath.
[12:17] I can only describe it as shattering.
[12:19] Maybe the nuggets weren't the best idea.
[12:22] We might move him onto the Deli Choices menu.
[12:28] Dead last by about eight legs.
[12:31] I forgot that he came last.
[12:32] I mean, the night was awesome.
[12:34] Hearing, you know, remembering the crowd, it gives you tingles.
[12:38] Yes.
[12:38] The reason I wasn't sure that he won, I was like, no, I don't think he did win.
[12:44] We were just so excited to have him and he was a great dog because then we went on the national tour because Perth was the last leg and he was going for the hat trick because then he won in Sydney, he won in Adelaide.
[12:55] You beat Nitrix in Adelaide.
[12:57] Beat Nitrix.
[12:57] He's an arch nemesis.
[12:59] And then... And you were doing, thank God you're here.
[13:02] That was for the Sydney...
[13:02] In Brisbane.
[13:03] Oh, for the Brizzy Leg.
[13:04] Brizzy Leg.
[13:04] Yeah.
[13:05] And so you...
[13:07] I wasn't there for the second race.
[13:08] You weren't there, but you were backstage and you called and said, how did it go?
[13:13] And I said, good news.
[13:15] Fred Madison's won.
[13:16] And you told me that you told the crowd there that Fred Bassett had won?
[13:19] I told the crowd, got a smattering of cheers from those that knew what I was talking about.
[13:23] Then we were in Adelaide.
[13:24] Adelaide was a huge, that was unreal.
[13:27] The Adelaide crowd was amazing.
[13:28] Yeah, just under 2,000, but then the Perth crowd was... Then Perth was phenomenal.
[13:33] I think it was about 5,000 people at the track, just banners.
[13:36] like marry me, Fred, because at that stage he was going for a hat trick.
[13:39] He had Shane Warne call up and tell him how to behave when you're on a hat trick.
[13:46] Great remembering.
[13:47] That was good.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.