# Australia's Best Bloke

An episode of [Hamish & Andy Plus +](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1616749262), 27 Apr 2022, 19 min.

Audio: https://enrichment.soundstack.com/4vjqq8/episode.flightcast.com/epkhlzmh7au0akyh9fmtoe5p.mp3

What did K-Rudd do in the studio that may have lost him the 2013 election? Plus how hard is it to score a Private Jet for free? Finally the boys revisit one of the best pranks they ever did… trying to find a complete stranger to be an instant job referee. Hamish & Andy's Remembering Project. Season 3, Episode 1.

## 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 Wurst here for any technical stuff.
[0:32] Hello.
[0:32] Mike, what date was randomly chosen today?
[0:35] It's the 6th of September.
[0:37] Okay, then.
[0:38] It's Hamish go.
[0:39] Let's kick this off and find out what years Hamish will take us back to and see if we remember anything from those years.
[0:47] This is Hamish and Andy's Remembering Project.
[0:53] And 6th of September, it is another one of my patented hot, hot, hot holiday zones.
[1:01] Play the sound effect, Mike.
[1:03] Don't have one.
[1:04] Sorry, you didn't tell me.
[1:05] Oh, yes.
[1:06] Hot holiday zones.
[1:07] One of those times of the year, we're always on holidays.
[1:10] Sorry, Mike.
[1:11] Sorry, I forgot to have that conversation with you.
[1:13] Yes, I had an idea to the tune of feeling hot, hot, hot.
[1:16] We're going to have like a holiday zone.
[1:19] Sorry, Mike.
[1:20] So you've just not been doing much.
[1:22] We've only ever done three shows in our life on the 6th of September.
[1:27] Wow.
[1:28] And I'll tell you what, they were always interesting.
[1:31] They were always interesting.
[1:32] Before we get to the one I want to focus on.
[1:33] I got the feeling like we should be on holiday.
[1:35] They had an air of them.
[1:36] Yeah, we were like, oh, this is a bit silly, coming in on a holiday to work, but let's have a good time anyway.
[1:42] In 2017, as we've discussed probably many times on this program before, we were about to – that was the year we did our private jet tour.
[1:51] Our Cool Boys and the Frontman.
[1:52] We reformed our band for the second year and we wanted to have a private jet to fly us around.
[1:57] Now, somewhat arrogantly and like Radio Piggies, we thought it would be fine to organize a jet.
[2:03] I remember that clearly.
[2:04] We lived in a world and we had done for over 10 years where our whims were met.
[2:09] simply by the promise of on-air mentions and being part of, quote, the fun, end quote.
[2:16] And our boss would come in and say, can you stop saying you're going to do things without it being sorted?
[2:21] We've gone overseas.
[2:23] We went to a war zone.
[2:24] We're sailing boats.
[2:25] People at the show probably felt, our producers probably felt like on Succession how like Kendall Roy's assistant is like, stop asking for this stuff because I don't know where to get it.
[2:35] We'd be coming and we're like,
[2:36] where are we at with the jet?
[2:37] And we'd be like, yes, as we discussed yesterday, they're very expensive.
[2:43] No one's interested in giving them for free.
[2:45] There's no commercial benefit to advertising private jets on FM radio.
[2:49] Like, it's not going to increase the customer base.
[2:52] So there really is no deals we can cut with people.
[2:55] Yeah.
[2:56] And we realized that.
[2:57] We did realize that after a few days.
[2:58] We're like, oh, right, okay.
[2:59] Well, we've definitely gone out hard saying we're going to get a private jet.
[3:02] Yes.
[3:02] And I remember that time…
[3:05] We were still confident we'd get something.
[3:08] And mostly, most days on air, we were pretending that everything was going well with the jet and we were inundated with offers and we were just sifting through the worst reality out the back.
[3:17] And I was like, look, you know, there's a guy that has a crop duster that will give you a joy flight.
[3:23] So that was 2017.
[3:24] No real specifics there.
[3:25] It was just like, you know, a treading water day.
[3:28] It was like, you know, can we continue to organise the jet?
[3:32] Which, you know, we've just been padding.
[3:34] 2013, we had a man come on the show that I can't remember what he said or what he did, but we have a very clear off air memory where I'm going to say two words and then you're going to say the name of the man that was on the show.
[3:49] I promise you.
[3:50] I like playing these games with Ando because I just know we have… I wish we wrote it down one time, like all our shared… Yes.
[3:58] Vocabulary and like, you know, when I say Fitzpatrick, you know we're talking about a guy called Mike Fitzpatrick.
[4:04] Like you just know… And that became a code word for like a bad thing happening, a car crash.
[4:09] I miss that.
[4:10] I miss that.
[4:10] Yeah, yeah.
[4:11] Because we were in the Celebrity Grand Prix.
[4:13] And he kept crashing.
[4:14] And he kept crashing.
[4:14] Yeah.
[4:16] But you know what I mean?
[4:16] Like just dumb.
[4:17] Yeah.
[4:19] The word that the guy we had on the show, he… After the show, the key word or the thing he noticed for you is bare feet.
[4:28] Oh, Kevin Rudd.
[4:29] Kevin Rudd.
[4:30] Kevin Rudd.
[4:32] Because he came on on election eve or… Yeah.
[4:35] 2013.
[4:35] So he was going for re-election.
[4:36] It was like… He was the prime minister at the time and maybe it was a few days to the election…
[4:42] Sometimes you would often wear thongs.
[4:44] You know, we'd always wear thongs in the studio.
[4:45] And you like to barefoot.
[4:46] You like to be grounded.
[4:47] You're a bit of an earth mama.
[4:48] You like to be grounded to the carpet when you did the show so you could feel the essence of the building to really get into radio.
[4:55] And you just happen to have bare feet on.
[4:58] Not a big deal.
[4:58] No.
[4:59] And you can see your feet anyway.
[5:00] No.
[5:01] K-Rod is just in like media mode, you know, a bit like SkyMade.
[5:05] It's like, you know, just see something, do something, show that you're a man of the people.
[5:09] Try and connect with anyone.
[5:10] Anything.
[5:11] Any hat.
[5:11] At all.
[5:12] Any way, something, something.
[5:14] It all's got to count for election day.
[5:17] And he was so tired though because he would have been dragged to like 50 of these interviews that day.
[5:21] And so he's sort of walking out the door.
[5:23] He's got a suit on and R.M.
[5:24] Williams, which was like the uniform of the PM.
[5:28] And then he sees Andy in bare feet.
[5:30] And he doesn't even really say anything.
[5:32] He goes, oh.
[5:33] Yeah.
[5:33] Points to them.
[5:34] Oh.
[5:35] Oh.
[5:36] Andy's like tired brain is like, out of the ordinary.
[5:40] Do something with it.
[5:42] And then he takes off his boots.
[5:43] He takes off his R.A.Million boots.
[5:45] So he's in socks.
[5:46] He's in socks.
[5:46] And points to his photographer and goes like, does it, does it, does it?
[5:51] No talking.
[5:52] No, I'm going to use this for this.
[5:54] No, nothing.
[5:55] Just...
[5:56] Something.
[5:56] I'm doing something.
[5:58] Look at me.
[5:58] I'm doing something.
[6:00] He's standing there with socks on.
[6:02] He's standing there like, I wish we could find that photo.
[6:05] And he's standing there bewildered with me.
[6:07] What are we doing?
[6:08] Is this a movement?
[6:10] Are we taking our shoes off for democracy?
[6:12] What are we doing?
[6:13] And then the very next day, he loses the election.
[6:18] Should have taken your socks off.
[6:19] Should have gone the whole way.
[6:22] And like, we're not laughing at K-Rab.
[6:24] We're laughing at the situation where a Prime Minister of Australia, I reckon he's gone back.
[6:30] Who's his wife?
[6:31] Is it Therese?
[6:32] What was his wife?
[6:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[6:34] He's probably that night looking back at the things he did the day before, wondering if he should have done anything differently.
[6:39] I should have committed.
[6:40] I should have committed.
[6:40] I should have taken the socks off.
[6:42] And I wonder whether he thought, A, was it worthwhile at all going to see them for their very niche afternoon show, The Happy Hour?
[6:50] Yeah.
[6:50] Because I reckon, I reckon too, because we were doing, we were doing not drive.
[6:55] No.
[6:55] We had, we were basically doing a podcast.
[6:57] And they were broadcasting.
[6:58] That got broadcast just during the afternoon.
[7:00] Like no one listened.
[7:01] Yeah.
[7:02] I reckon his media person probably got confused with back in the day when we were doing a trial show that was widely listened to.
[7:09] The podcast is getting listened to quite a bit, but that's bad news for K-Rod.
[7:15] That was next week.
[7:16] People would have been hearing it after they've got a chance to vote.
[7:20] It's like when you and I did the wine show when we were promoting our show True Story.
[7:27] We were like, you know, you get handed the list of all the interviews you're doing, you've got to pump up the TV show.
[7:32] We went and did this YouTube wine show.
[7:34] Yeah, with this lady.
[7:35] We're like, what are we doing?
[7:36] What is this?
[7:37] And you're in a channel on publicity.
[7:39] You're like, oh, she gets a lot of hits.
[7:40] She's widely watched.
[7:41] I'm like, okay.
[7:43] And we're honestly just drinking wine and eating cheese.
[7:47] And it was half an hour with this lady.
[7:49] Half an hour.
[7:49] We're exhausted.
[7:50] And, like, Annie and I are very strict on time available.
[7:53] So we're like, Terry, half an hour?
[7:56] With someone we've never met.
[7:57] Eight minutes.
[7:57] Eight minutes.
[7:59] Anyway, we do it all.
[8:00] Like four months later, we get tagged in a post, like, very excited to put up my episode of The White.
[8:06] Oh, my gosh.
[8:08] The show is launching that week.
[8:09] The reruns are finished by now.
[8:12] Months later.
[8:13] Anyway, we had K-Rod.
[8:15] That will always be a day that lives on in infamy.
[8:17] Yeah.
[8:18] His boot.
[8:19] He's de-booting for democracy.
[8:22] Who got him Abbott, did it?
[8:23] Was it Abbott?
[8:24] That could have been the Abbott.
[8:25] Nah, it could have been Abbott.
[8:26] Jeepers.
[8:27] He's taking his shoes off.
[8:28] Abbott's eating onions.
[8:29] What the heck was going on?
[8:31] Maybe that was just the air.
[8:33] That was like the time, you know, and like that was a sign of the times.
[8:36] They were like, it's just a race to do photo ops.
[8:38] It's funny.
[8:39] You've got to think too, 2013, early-ish days of social media.
[8:43] Yep.
[8:43] Yep.
[8:44] Trying to get your head around it.
[8:45] And you're right.
[8:46] Like, Twitter's been around for a long time.
[8:47] ScoMo's in exactly the same place at the moment.
[8:49] But early-ish days of Instagram.
[8:51] Yeah.
[8:52] Like, you know, which was then all about, like, oh, maybe photos are taking over 140 characters, which is what Twitter was at the time.
[8:58] So great fun.
[9:00] A lot of good fun.
[9:02] The real thing we have to get to, though, Ando, is how's this?
[9:06] Of the three days ago, geez, I need three shows.
[9:09] What are the chances of one of the funnest things we did of all time landing on one of those shows?
[9:16] What is it?
[9:17] 2016.
[9:19] The best bloke in the world prank.
[9:21] Oh.
[9:22] Still.
[9:24] Still one of our – still one of the most miraculous – and as often happens on the show, in fact, I dare say it always happens on the show –
[9:30] Somebody else being far funnier.
[9:33] Yes.
[9:33] Like this was just, we just couldn't believe our luck that we stumbled across this guy.
[9:38] Well, listen, let's go.
[9:39] Let's talk about the sponsor first and then we'll talk about it.
[9:41] Yeah, because when we're in a good mood, like we are now, we're excited.
[9:44] We always think of the sponsor.
[9:47] The funny thing about this prank was when we discussed in the meeting, we were like, oh, is it going to be a time sapper?
[9:53] How many of them are we going to try?
[9:55] Because sometimes with a prank, you just need to find the right person.
[9:57] The idea is fine, but people hang up on you.
[10:00] People don't care.
[10:00] Especially because we really liked the idea.
[10:02] I remember we went through a real zone of just calling randomness.
[10:05] Like the fun was the randomness.
[10:07] It wasn't sort of like we're calling the council and seeing if we can make them bark like a dog.
[10:10] We were like, let's…
[10:12] It was always about who you're going to get on the end of the line when you call a random number.
[10:15] So the discussion was, let's just get in there and let's just try it.
[10:18] Let's just try it?
[10:19] Yeah.
[10:20] And it was the first person to pick up.
[10:22] First go.
[10:23] Now, I don't know if this audio contains the setup.
[10:25] It probably does.
[10:27] But essentially it was me calling the person, wasn't it, going, I'm about to go into a job interview.
[10:31] I've just written down a random number.
[10:33] It's your number.
[10:34] If you get a call, here's my name.
[10:37] Stick up for me.
[10:37] Please be a reference.
[10:38] Be my reference.
[10:39] And then the bloke just went, yeah, no dramas.
[10:42] The rest is history.
[10:45] The 6th of September, 2016.
[10:49] Hey, Micheney, driving you home.
[10:50] And we had fun last week seeing if people would cover for a stranger if they were in doubt and needed to be cross-referenced.
[10:57] People might have heard on the show last week we had a young guy pretending he was in charge of collecting the censuses and was in a lot of trouble.
[11:02] And strangers were protecting him when he's boss.
[11:04] When you were playing his boss, Anna, you'd call up and they'd look after him.
[11:08] We thought we'd try that again today.
[11:09] It's a slightly different format today.
[11:11] Yes, you're going to be playing the role of someone who is about to go into a job interview and needs a reference.
[11:17] So what would people do?
[11:18] Like, I'm just going to pick a mobile number at random, call someone and say, listen, walking into a job right now, I've put your number down as my reference.
[11:25] What's your name?
[11:26] Can you just back me up if someone calls?
[11:28] Will people... Will people say yes to that?
[11:30] Will people back you up?
[11:32] Probably not.
[11:32] If they do...
[11:34] I'll put in a call a little later on.
[11:36] Stage two is you being the boss.
[11:37] Yes, the same.
[11:38] Stage one, though, is...
[11:39] It's difficult.
[11:40] Will someone be my reference?
[11:41] Okay.
[11:42] Good luck.
[11:43] Jack's got the random number.
[11:45] Hello, James speaking.
[11:54] Oh, yeah, g'day, mate.
[11:55] Sorry.
[11:56] My name's Tim.
[11:56] How are you?
[11:57] Good, mate.
[11:58] How are you?
[11:58] Sorry, did you say your name was James?
[12:00] Yeah.
[12:00] Mate, I wonder if you can help me out of a slightly sticky situation.
[12:04] I'm just about to go into a job interview at an accounting firm.
[12:08] I've got to put, like, references down on a list.
[12:12] I don't have enough to fill it up.
[12:14] I've just...
[12:15] I don't know why.
[12:16] I've written down a random number, and I just thought I'd call it to see if it's a real thing.
[12:19] It's your number.
[12:20] Yeah.
[12:21] Oh, sorry, you've just pulled this out of nowhere.
[12:23] Yeah, go on.
[12:24] Well, I just didn't want to leave an empty list, but then it's occurred to me they might call it.
[12:28] I doubt they will, but if someone calls you and says, do you know Tim Barnard?
[12:31] Yeah.
[12:32] Yeah, I'll just say he used to work.
[12:33] What job's it for?
[12:35] I'm going for a job at an accounting firm, but just say that I'm just going to put you down as a personal reference.
[12:40] Yeah, sweet.
[12:41] I'll just say I know you're from way back, blah, blah, blah.
[12:43] I'll tell you a ripper, bloke.
[12:44] You know, I've got you covered.
[12:45] Is that all right?
[12:46] Yeah, not a problem, dude.
[12:47] Mate, you're a legend.
[12:48] I'm going in like one minute.
[12:49] I mean, I doubt you'll get a call, but if you do, Tim Barnard.
[12:52] Yeah, yeah, sweet.
[12:52] No worries, dude.
[12:53] Thank you, James.
[12:54] Cheers.
[12:55] See you, mate.
[12:55] Have a good one.
[12:55] Good luck with it.
[12:59] What a great knockabout guy.
[13:01] I know you're from way back.
[13:02] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[13:04] Keep it vague.
[13:05] I won't say I was in prison with you.
[13:07] Tim Barnard.
[13:08] Yeah, good.
[13:08] Nice, polite cellmate.
[13:10] Let's go.
[13:10] Kept to himself.
[13:11] Stayed out of fights.
[13:11] Bit of a white supremist.
[13:14] But apart from that, pretty good guy.
[13:16] Now comes the test, Dan Day.
[13:17] I'm going to call as a fellow called Graham from the accounting firm and to see... You've just had a chat with Tim Barnard?
[13:23] Yes.
[13:24] Are you happy with what you saw?
[13:25] I was wrapped.
[13:26] That's why I would like to get straight on the phone and just check his references.
[13:28] Through to the final round.
[13:30] Check his references.
[13:31] We're going to make this very difficult for James.
[13:34] Good luck, James.
[13:38] Hello, James speaking.
[13:42] Oh, hi, it's Graham Byrne there.
[13:43] Is that James?
[13:44] Yes.
[13:45] I'm calling from Kells & Co. We're an accounting firm.
[13:47] I've just come out of an interview with a friend of yours, Tim Barnard.
[13:51] Oh, yes, yes, yes.
[13:52] Yes, who looked to be a great candidate, so we thought we'd make our way back through the references quite promptly.
[13:59] You know Tim?
[14:00] Yeah, I know Tim on a personal level.
[14:01] I've known him for a few years now.
[14:03] We go back a fair while.
[14:05] How did you guys become friends?
[14:08] Through sport, through footy, the footy club.
[14:10] Right.
[14:11] Fantastic.
[14:12] He didn't strike me as a footy player.
[14:14] Oh, he wasn't really a player.
[14:16] He just more come in as a spectator sort of thing.
[14:20] Oh, yes, helping out around the club.
[14:22] Yeah, yeah.
[14:23] Okay, fantastic.
[14:24] He'll be dealing with higher-end companies in his role, businesses of profits of a million dollars plus.
[14:31] Is he known to be good with money?
[14:32] Do you know anything about that?
[14:34] From my understanding, he'd help out a lot with a few fundraisers and stuff like that.
[14:39] Yep.
[14:40] Um, so yeah, as far as I know.
[14:43] Any other examples of him taking on responsibility?
[14:46] Um, off the top of my head, how I know him is probably around the footy club mainly.
[14:54] Yeah.
[14:55] He helps out the treasurer a lot.
[14:57] Mm-hmm.
[14:57] Oh, that's good.
[14:59] Um... And yeah, he does that a fair bit.
[15:02] How many languages does Tim speak, do you know?
[15:06] Uh, from what I know, I know...
[15:09] Definitely true.
[15:11] Yep, we've got that one down here as well.
[15:14] That's all right.
[15:14] I was just double checking.
[15:15] That's all I know of, though.
[15:16] Yes.
[15:17] What was the other one in addition to English?
[15:22] Good question.
[15:26] I don't know.
[15:27] I'm complete Australian, so I've never really spoken to him.
[15:30] I just know he does.
[15:31] Yeah, right, just knew he's bilingual.
[15:33] Yeah.
[15:34] He...
[15:34] Sorry, I can't be able to help there.
[15:37] That's all right.
[15:37] And then just describe to us the best thing about him appearance-wise.
[15:44] Appearance-wise, well, what you see is pretty much what you get with him.
[15:48] He's just a go-getter, and when he says that things are going to be done, they get done.
[15:54] Fantastic.
[15:55] Sorry, James.
[15:56] James, sorry, mate.
[15:58] It's Hamish and Andy here, James.
[15:59] Oh, you're kidding!
[16:01] James, mate, you are the best guy in the world.
[16:05] You're the best bloke in the world, James.
[16:07] You are kidding me.
[16:09] James, what a reference to give for a completely made-up person.
[16:14] You know what?
[16:17] I was actually thinking, how am I going to get in contact with Tim to say that I've done such a good job for him?
[16:28] James, you're the best Aussie we know.
[16:30] Mate, what a legend.
[16:31] We're giving you a glowing report now.
[16:33] Do you really play for a footy club, James?
[16:35] I actually do, yeah.
[16:36] All right, well, we're going to send some beer to the footy club.
[16:38] If you've missed out on Tim Barnard helping around the club, the least we can do is send something out for the club, mate.
[16:43] James, thanks very much, buddy.
[16:45] Unbelievable.
[16:46] He helped out the treasurer a lot too, which you'd think is good accounting skills.
[16:49] Is that what you were thinking?
[16:51] I couldn't even tell you how to sell accounting.
[16:54] I assume it's got something to do with the treasurer of the club.
[16:56] Always reliable when we did a Jaffel stall.
[16:59] Thanks, James.
[17:00] Cheers, mate.
[17:00] Yeah, no.
[17:02] Thanks, mate.
[17:03] Fire out.
[17:08] Still the best.
[17:09] Just every twist and turn is the greatest to listen to.
[17:12] And perfect for radio.
[17:15] Even when you do the reveal, he knew who he were, which is always a worry.
[17:18] You go, I'd say we should only hear, like, who?
[17:22] Yeah, and this is not serious.
[17:25] But also, I mean, yeah, and I think of all the thousands of times we've told people I had to do the old switchery there in the moment.
[17:32] On top of him being the greatest...
[17:34] Like one of the funniest blokes and like the greatest performance.
[17:36] He gave us the greatest, oh, you're joking!
[17:39] That's what you want for radio.
[17:40] Every radio station.
[17:42] Dreams of that.
[17:43] And what is really funny, and Hamish and I never did it because it just felt too icky, but a lot of shows that we know.
[17:49] Yeah, yeah.
[17:50] Early days too, back in the day.
[17:51] Particularly a lot of daytime jocks if they give away money.
[17:54] Yeah.
[17:55] It's so funny walking past the studio and they go, you've won $1,000.
[17:58] And I'm like, oh, great.
[18:00] Yeah.
[18:01] So, ah, look, I'll tell you what.
[18:02] All right, Cathy.
[18:03] Yeah, we're just going to do that again, Cathy.
[18:04] I'm like, really, lots of energy, lots of fun, thinking about what it could do for your day.
[18:07] Here we go.
[18:08] Three, two, one.
[18:09] What a thousand dollars?
[18:10] Oh, no way.
[18:15] So, okay, Kathy, we might go one more.
[18:18] Can you give us?
[18:18] And then you see the radio just going like, give us a woo-hoo!
[18:21] Or a, oh, my God!
[18:22] And they start mimicking back and Kathy is just hitting the same level.
[18:28] And then you do hear it go to air and you're like, how can no one tell that that's coached?
[18:32] That it's kind of you with enough music behind it, you sort of get away with it.
[18:36] If someone was particularly underwhelming, you'd get a lot more ch-ch-ch-ching sound effects and fireworks going off.
[18:43] I'm happy.
[18:45] Great remembering it.
[18:46] Really good.
[18:47] Plenty of times.

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