How's Fitbit?

Josh: The Daily Talk Show. It's a Daily Talk Show episode 505.

Tommy: It's a nice comfy one. We're out the front of our Airbnb in West Hollywood, and these chairs, these are really comfy.

Josh: Really comfortable. What street are we on?

Tommy: Ogden.

Josh: Yeah, Ogden.

Tommy: Ogden Street. Can you actually see? Oh, you can't see the number. It's cut out because it would be giving away our exact address.

Josh: Oh yeah.

Tommy: You know, and then all those people would be coming to knock on our door.

Mason: Actually, we hope they do.

Josh: No, I'm not terrible. What's the street parallel to?

Tommy: It runs parallel with Fairfax and it's right near the corner of Melrose and Fairfax. It's a cross intersection. Great spot.

Josh: Yeah. I find that when I'm driving, it's extremely difficult to understand sense of direction. When I'm walking, very different. I get into the grid. I get into working out where we are.

Tommy: Well, no, I reckon, I reckon you're good, but I reckon it's the GPS. Like, I reckon most people nowadays, like back in the day when you had to look in the Melways. By the way, I never knew it was, I thought Melways.

Josh: It's Melbourne specific. Yes. You don't ask for a Melways. I was in Sydney once.

Tommy: I was like, we should get a Melways. What's that? Sidways. It's the same thing. Anyway, because I've been feeding you and Siri or Google Maps telling you the directions, I think we just down, like we just listen rather than sort of digest.

Josh: Well, you're looking, I'm looking at mirrors. I'm making sure that there's a lot on.

Tommy: And so I wonder how it would go. Like, I mean, what was the old days of traveling? You had to take a map.

Josh: Like, orienteering. So did you have SOS?

Mason: No.

Tommy: What is SOS?

Mason: Was it at school?

Josh: Yeah, yeah, it was like humanities, but it was, um, it used to be called SOS. I don't know what SOS stands for.

Tommy: So I'm sure Gemma knows what SOS is. Um, anyway, this— so this lovely Airbnb, we're like, we're in this sort of fortress of hedges and it's lovely. And so it's feeling very tropical. There's a palm tree, two palm trees behind us. And there's also another fixture of the location directly out the front. I don't know if you've noticed it, the Lime scooter.

Josh: Oh yeah. Now, can you actually download an app or no?

Tommy: So by the end of this lesson, this lesson, back in school, I just feel like I teach people, you know, by the end of this episode, I'm gonna go out try and turn on the Lime scooter and drive it back into the show.

Josh: Okay. And so is that what— how does the pricing structure work?

Tommy: Uh, it's like a dollar to activate, so a dollar to unlock, and then 35 cents per something. I don't know, I could probably look for people playing at home.

Josh: It's 1:50 PM here in LA, which I think is 7:50 AM.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Uh, can I just say Look at the bites that I am getting at the moment.

Tommy: Holy moly, you need Stingos.

Josh: Yeah, as a kid I would use Stingos.

Tommy: Oh, what about, um, when kids used to get—

Mason: oh my God, it's so big.

Tommy: I actually saw you, it looks like there's something in there. I saw you touching that before, it's actually got a lot bigger.

Josh: Yeah, so this is like, I think I'm slightly allergic to mosquitoes and so I can see the mosquitoes, they're getting in. Yeah, this is like, they've been getting me all night. This could have been you know, since we've been setting up, and they're real little for some reason. But yeah, I, uh, my ankles are getting absolutely destroyed.

Tommy: Gemma says studies of society and environment, SOS.

Josh: Oh yeah, yeah.

Tommy: Um, do you remember when we were kids, uh, people used to put— I remember the girls used to do it because they had long fingernails, like long thumbnails, put a cross in, like on the mosquito bite and it was meant to help?

Josh: Well, I've mentioned it before. Have a look, 97. Like the amount of scars on my foot, on my legs.

Tommy: Your mum had to tell you something, didn't she?

Josh: Yeah, well, she called me—

Mason: All the white dots?

Josh: Yeah, yeah, they're all scab. So they're, they're all scars from little mosquito bites turning into scabs. And there was—

Mason: You're picking them?

Josh: Yeah. And there was also a time in— I think it was Marimbula. Um, no, somewhere else where I was, uh, I went fishing. What is it called when you use a hand thing? Fishing? No, no, no, but not a rod.

Tommy: Uh, no, no, it's still fishing. You're just using a line.

Josh: Yeah, but what's that called? I'm pretty sure— fly fishing? No, no, it's not fly fishing.

Mason: I see.

Josh: No, Rob, just very loud. 97, I'm just turning. I'm just gonna turn it down.

Tommy: I'm pretty sure it's still fishing because I've done fishing on a, on a, like, just a reel. It's the reel.

Josh: Hand reel.

Tommy: Hand reel.

Josh: Hand reel.

Tommy: Yeah, it's a hand reel.

Josh: So I had hand reel fishing.

Tommy: Hand reel.

Josh: Uh, I I got eaten alive by sand flies. And so a lot of those scars are that.

Tommy: You know how people say, oh, I attract mozzies, like they like my blood. Is that a thing?

Josh: Do you think that's a thing? Well, I think it's a thing for me.

Tommy: Well, I think you're allergic. We can clearly see that.

Josh: There's something going on.

Tommy: But I had my brother's best friend, Andy, who actually lives here in California.

Josh: Can we catch up with him?

Tommy: No, he's in San Francisco. He, I used to PT him. I was a PT.

Josh: Yeah.

Mason: Yeah.

Tommy: When you were in Shepparton. He would say, mate, if I'm sitting at a table, there will be no one getting eaten by mosquitoes because they all come to me. Like they flock. They flock to me.

Josh: Well, there's a lot of natural things that you can do. You can use the like burning things and all that sort of stuff.

Tommy: Yeah. Some big news. In the, um, the Jansen v. Jansen.

Josh: Well, yeah, so about 5 years ago, uh, my brother James, who lives in North Carolina, he was in Australia. Him and I growing up would get into a lot of arguments. He's a bit of a know-it-all. I know a bunch of stuff.

Tommy: Hang on, does that mean—

Josh: so he's a, he's a, yeah, he, I mean, he's got a, uh, I think he's got his honours or whatever in exercise science.

Tommy: Okay.

Josh: I've got a honours in life.

Tommy: Where do you clash most in terms of like a genre of knowledge?

Josh: Technology.

Tommy: Okay. Well, because you know a fuckload.

Josh: Yeah, I know a lot about technology. And so when technology meets science or technology meets sports, that's really when it's sort of we start to clash.

Mason: Okay.

Josh: And so we had an argument about 5 years ago. I remember like it went on for days. I think went from the entire trip that he was in Melbourne. Yeah.

Tommy: And your dad got involved.

Josh: Well, yes. Well, that happened later. That happened recently. That only happened the last year and a half or 2 years. But yeah, the 2 and a half years. Yeah, it must be. It's probably 6 years that this feud's been happening.

Tommy: It's a solid JVJ.

Josh: Yeah, but it was, it was when Apple first came out with their new Apple Watch., and I was saying, I think that Fitbit's in trouble. I think that they're not innovating enough. I think that the technology is very basic. I think it's gonna move way further than this, and I think that if Fitbit doesn't invest in other technologies outside of the accelerometer, they're in trouble.

Tommy: Do you think your forecast, do you think it was like, had you seen it sort of progressing, you were like, yes, I'm onto it?

Josh: Well, the thing is that I liked Fitbit so much that I was selling them, remember? Like I had a— if you typed in buy Fitbit Australia, my link on my blog melbangeek.com was the first thing that came up.

Mason: Really?

Josh: And so I was making $700 a month of people buying them.

Tommy: It's amazing. You can hate them and also—

Josh: Yeah, but the thing is, so I was just looking, I was watching, I was like, I'd seen what happened to my Fitbit and I was like, I think that all of this is going to be integrated into a single device.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Like you don't think about what watches have, what phones have even done. Everyone's got the health app. Everyone knows how many steps they've done. Everyone's walking constantly with their phones. We have a big accelerometer in our pants.

Mason: Yeah.

Josh: As in our phones. Yeah.

Tommy: Mr. 97 rocks something different. And so today, has it just been the last week or two? When did this news come out?

Josh: Well, no. So before we announced the news, yeah, it happened. Yeah. So over the last 6 years. It started, I think, the Fitbit went public. I think they IPO'd around $32. And up until like a month ago, it was at like $4 a share.

Tommy: So plummeted.

Josh: Yes, in a massive, massive way. And so there's a bit of a joke that people slid into our DMs, because at my brother's wedding, when the photographer asked for us all to laugh, my dad asked my brother how Fitbit's going.

Tommy: So I reckon it's fair to say your dad's on your side. Like as much as he might not know about the tech, that's a side gig with JJ.

Josh: Yeah, absolutely. Well, which JJ?

Tommy: Oh, 'cause you both, you're the Kardashians.

Josh: I am the JJ.

Tommy: That's actually bad for the Kardashians. They're the quadruple K though. Hampton, who in Conspiracy Jimmy.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: I mean, he's a big fan of this. I walked into his office once and he's like, mate, that Fitbit stuff with Josh is so good.

Josh: Well, I think because everyone can relate to having like, well, what within your family do you have feuds?

Tommy: Yeah, me, my brothers and I, it's an interesting one. We, I think we all there was more of that tension early days because I'm 8 years behind my eldest brother. So 4 years behind Mikey, my middle. And so Mikey and I were close. I became then close with my elder brother when I became, you know, 17, 18, I got older, but we haven't. I mean, Ant thinks I'm a know-it-all, but I mean, what does he know?

Josh: Well, the other contentious thing was when I read 4-Hour Body, which was Tim Ferriss's book. And you can pick up a lot of stuff. And so I'm talking about DEXA scans and shit like that, and James would always be eye-rolling.

Tommy: The deep side scientist.

Josh: And so, uh, it only happened yesterday. I, uh, I was actually, uh, on the toilet at the time. I heard Mr. 97 yelling out, oh yeah, I was like, oh, what's going on? And then so I had to turn because I put Spotify on so no one can hear me in the toilet.

Tommy: Is that why you do it? Yeah, honestly, I just thought you liked music in the 90s.

Josh: Well, I do, but I think it's also like a polite thing to do. It's like if I—

Mason: I'm a bit of John Mayer today.

Josh: Yeah, the problem is that I love acoustic covers. It doesn't necessarily have the, the loud star power.

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, it's a cover, but it's not covering the sound. I was thinking, um, just veering off slightly before we get to that, uh, the toilet's over here. There's a lot of water in the bowl, and the bowl, you know, the— have you noticed that, Siv?

Mason: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tommy: So much water.

Josh: Not much water in ours.

Tommy: Ours is less, but where we were last night, big, massive, big thing of water. And so I'm going to the toilet, I'm thinking I can't hit the side because I like to not make too much noise either.

Josh: I think it's a— isn't it a human quality not to? Who is trying to make noise?

Tommy: Do you think America— no, but you think Americans have that? They're sort of— they don't have that feeling of like there's less of go on a date, use the toilet, make all that noise because you've got no option. So you grow up with a lot of water in the bowl, and so you're making a lot of noise.

Josh: So you think more water, more— I felt like potentially less, given from less care about the noise from America, from ass to water, less time, so it can't build up a splash. So imagine if you're the—

Tommy: I'm talking number ones.

Josh: Uh, I'm so sorry.

Tommy: So there's a lot of— no, but I know you were talking that, but then like the noise—

Josh: I don't give a fuck about stream. I actually—

Tommy: okay, fair enough.

Josh: But some people do.

Tommy: I reckon I've You felt more about the stream than that? No, no, no.

Josh: I reckon for me, within society, more frowned upon on a 2 than a 1. And so my stream is an indication that it's a weird flex that I'm not doing shit. Like if I'm in the toilet, I'm happy to just— and the other thing is that I aim right into the water. Because I don't like, like when I hear you piss sometimes I feel like you're trying to piss on the side. Yeah, because I'm trying to not be noisy. No, I do the same thing. No, no, no, but the thing is it just sounds like you're fucking missing the bowl.

Tommy: No, no, no.

Josh: Pissing everywhere.

Tommy: Every once in a while, let's be honest.

Josh: You know what I mean? Because you hear like you hear a little bit of the water and then you hear the tss, tss, tss, like it's hitting the side.

Tommy: Yeah, it also makes, yeah, yeah. So, um, Mase's situation being on a date, I mean, lovely, lovely young lady, you've gone over to her place. I mean, this has happened before, and it's a small place and you need to go to the toilet, number one. What are you— are you purposefully going, I don't want her to hear my stream?

Mason: Yeah, yeah, I think that's a consideration. Yeah, definitely. But when, when, when— no, when I go toilet, I do that anyway. Like, I don't want to make a massive noise anyway.

Tommy: So yeah, so it's just so— anyway, so Josh covers his Noise. Gemma Watts has said, hey Google, play Missy Higgins. And Craig Harper has said, The Daily Talk Show, the front door edition.

Josh: Yes, I love that. If you're only listening, we're literally— there's a green front door.

Tommy: And Gemma says toilet chat is a lot at 8 AM. So let's move on from the toilet chat.

Josh: I had more to add, but the toilet, it was happening.

Tommy: Mason had a stroke out in the lounge room.

Josh: And so yeah, he's yelled out, he said, ah, Google, ah. Fitbit. And it turns out that Google, uh, has acquired Fitbit for how much?

Mason: $2.1 billion.

Josh: $2.1 billion. And so the thing was, uh, Tommy, what was your initial reaction to that?

Tommy: Um, well, I mean, immediately I go to a success for Fitbit.

Josh: Well, it seems like a real big number.

Tommy: Anything that sells for billion, like the B word, it's fucking ridiculous.

Josh: What if you're buying a country? Yeah, the T word.

Tommy: You need Julian.

Josh: Yeah, exactly. But, um, yeah, it's a lot. So that's my point, I guess, is $2 billion sounds really good, but I—

Tommy: so I initially think, oh my God, has he lost this? Like, it's just questioning, has Josh lost this? Is James— is this, is this JVJ over?

Josh: And so Conspiracy Jimmy even was messaging about it.

Tommy: Well, he's a tech guy, right? Yeah, has a tech business. And I— and he said to me, did you hear about Fitbit?? And I wrote back saying, yes. Who do you think won? And he said, I don't know. Yeah. He said Google will pump them up though.

Josh: Yeah. I mean, I think that the thing is that, you know, why do you— I mean, I don't know much about all of this stuff, but you've got a publicly listed company that was bought by a company for— so it was bought for, I think they're paying $7 bucks or something a share cash. I don't understand how that works. So do they just fucking, I guess they pay all the shareholders out? There's agreed to thing.

Mason: Yeah.

Tommy: So I think the shareholders would know that they were doing the sale.

Josh: Yeah. And so it was like 4, I think that it was, you know, before it got announced, it was at like 4 bucks or whatever. So like, okay, we're getting an extra 3 bucks. But what that says, if you started at 30 and then you sell for 7, to me that seems like a massive loss.

Tommy: Yeah, well, IPOing, I mean, we are the financial experts. This is the Daily Talk Show Finance Edition. Uh, when they, when something IPOs, it usually does send it up. There's a lot of hype around it.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: And so then it does come down, but I mean, that's like losing how much percent?

Josh: Like, especially like, uh, yeah, tech technology specifically, like when LinkedIn IPO'd I think that was a really big public offering based on Facebook. I don't think it had gone public at that point. So everyone was hungry for backing a social media company.

Tommy: Yeah, well, off the back of the Facebook stuff. And but so I asked you, had you spoken to James yet? And at the point you hadn't.

Josh: No, but I have since spoken to him. And so I didn't go into— I thought Do I, do I need to sort of deconstruct? I'm sure he would come up with some form of reason why it was a win.

Tommy: Mate, there's always Christmas for that. What else are family gatherings for? Spark up your feud again.

Josh: Keep it face to face. I know. I agree. I think that makes a lot of sense.

Tommy: But just in your heart, is this a win?

Josh: Yeah, definitely. No, it's a win.

Mason: Absolutely.

Tommy: Or does it still—

Josh: It's a win. And I'll read a few articles that will sort of cement my position, and then I'll be fine.

Mason: The Verge cements your position.

Tommy: I really like what they say.

Mason: Uh, it's the way that they're treating Fitbit is similar to the way that Google's treated Nest. So they're bringing it all in-house into the hardware, uh, production team or whatever. And so you'll probably maybe see Google Fitbit, like, watch, whatever the name is.

Josh: Yeah, sure.

Mason: So it'll be like Google brand, then Fitbit. And so it's all in-house, not keeping separate.

Josh: Yeah, well, the thing is that it's What's happened is exactly what I thought, which is Fitbit, they had one specific bit of technology, one specific thing, but Google's having to bring them in being like, guys, you can't—

Mason: They don't have the software chops.

Tommy: But then is it a rescue job at $2 billion? So I mean, the founders are like—

Josh: Well, it's not a rescue. Yeah, the thing is, it's like, okay, we're cutting our losses. We're doing okay. We're not as super, super rich as what we thought we were going to be.

Tommy: I mean, walking away with all that money, if they did, it's a, I mean, it's a win for them and it's a win for JJ. Josh Chance.

Josh: We've been talking a lot about wealth specifically, like walking down different streets.

Tommy: I actually just opened my phone to get into Instagram and I saw that it was my last Google search, which was the house across the road. How much is it worth? Because there's something nice about being in a, country that's not your own, you don't really have a great knowledge about property price and stuff. So, you're like, "I reckon that might be worth blah, blah, blah." Yeah.

Josh: I've got a mate who gets so into the whole moving to places that he will actually, he's multiple times in different countries asked to book appointments with real estate agents and goes in and does inspections.

Tommy: Is he a tyre kicker though? Like, is that—

Josh: Absolutely a tyre kicker because he doesn't have the finances. And so, he's like, "Oh yeah, I'm thinking about doing this or whatever, like Barcelona. He spent fucking days in Barcelona looking at places.

Tommy: And no, no, does it like, no.

Josh: Well, no, I think that he probably does. But then you're like, oh, will you be able to get like a mortgage from like, it's like, oh no. So it seems like a little bit ill-informed, but yeah. So we'll look at, we're trying to guess. And it's, you know, we were doing this even on the way to the, to the airport, we were asking our driver, you know, if you, uh, private planes versus, um, flying first class, what would you rather? And we were saying, I think we were all saying first, or no?

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Have you changed your mind?

Tommy: No, no, no. I think the, um, the first thing, it's just like, it's a bigger plane. It's like you're in first, you got the best, you got a bed.

Josh: Do you think that, that, us picking first class instead of Private. Does that make us humble? Do you think? Or just like, mate, it's also like the hype. I don't—

Tommy: We're smart with the money that we don't have.

Josh: Well, yeah, I just think that the private plane, because there's also the admin of private planes is— I know you have people at this point, but it's like, it seems like when you go on trips, I feel this, like being on this trip, you feel like you're more primed to be fucked by something and have to pay a bunch of money. So you're ultra sensitive to, okay, like we've budgeted this all okay, but you could easily have something that goes wrong and then it costs you a couple of grand. Imagine having a private jet. They're like, oh, you know, the stairs aren't working properly. And so we've got to get new stairs. Yeah, $20 grand, new stairs.

Tommy: But as we know, trash is cash. Cash is trash.

Josh: Cash is trash.

Tommy: Grant Cardone, who owns a jet. That's his mantra. So he dropped all his money on a jet.

Josh: But we then got to fame and talking about You know, we— you were pointing at one of the houses and saying, oh, you know, I really like this setup. I could really live this lifestyle. I mean, they had 3 luxury vehicles that would have been over $150,000 each.

Tommy: No, no, no, not in LA. That's the thing about LA. Luxury vehicles do not cost what they do in Australia. There was still probably $100,000 worth of cars there.

Josh: Oh, there's more than $100,000.

Mason: There was more than $100,000. There would have been $250,000 worth of cars there, at least. Maybe.

Josh: Well, that Mercedes— What's that Mercedes called?

Tommy: It's a G-Wagon, but it wasn't a— it wasn't like a— It was probably a GL or one of the 550s. It wasn't the top of the line.

Mason: And then they had a Range Rover.

Tommy: Yeah, but look at how much a Range Rover is here. They're full.

Josh: What do you think?

Tommy: I reckon for a Rangey, like a Sport—

Josh: $70,000 US?

Tommy: No, $50,000.

Josh: Yeah, sure.

Tommy: Only because in Australia they're about $120,000, and so you don't pay the tax. So maybe—

Josh: What is your average?

Tommy: $50,000 to $70,000. Max, max 70. But anyway, that's why you— this is why most people over here have better cars.

Josh: I do think I have a similar relationship with you that I have with my brother James.

Tommy: Do you?

Josh: I think just because you're fucking— everything's like, like you need to be right. And so anyone that needs to be right, I need them to be wrong.

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nah, I feel you.

Josh: So I want— so we need to— 97's looking up. What are you finding, 97?

Mason: I'm just on like the alternative to Car Sale.

Tommy: What is the name of the place here?

Josh: Don't look for it. Secondhand. No, that's secondhand.

Mason: Yeah, okay, there you go. 2020 secondhand, $131K.

Tommy: It's fucking expensive.

Mason: Well, it's actually—

Josh: it says new, but for a US— yeah, yeah, that's exactly what you were saying, $50 grand.

Mason: So you'd be— this is the 2020 version, so it's in the future. 2020, it flies.

Tommy: Okay, 2020.

Mason: Yeah, yeah, it flies. Yeah. $131K.

Tommy: That's expensive. Anyway, they're expensive. I was wrong for 2020.

Josh: And so I reckon I was right that with the amount of cars, I reckon $150,000 a car. I think that where it gets— a Prius is way cheaper. You can get a Prius for maybe $28,000 or whatever for a decent one in the US. And they also have leasing and shit as well, which is very common where it's like people pay $100.

Tommy: But I think your point, there's wealth everywhere here. You really see it. You see these cars.

Josh: There's also the poverty as well on the other end.

Tommy: It's a city of extremes, I think, because you've got a tent city just down the street, and then you've got the Hollywood Hills where Zac Efron lives in a, you know, $15 million mansion.

Josh: So wealth versus fame. '97, fame. When you were growing up, did you ever think about being famous?

Mason: No, no, growing up, growing up I always wanted to be an astronaut.

Josh: There's a bit of fame that's associated with that.

Mason: No, it wasn't even the fame, it was the experience of it. I've never— I've sort of shied away from wanting any of that.

Tommy: I reckon—

Mason: I don't know, I don't have an interest in—

Josh: So could you have done the whole Armstrong thing? Is that his name?

Mason: Neil Armstrong.

Tommy: Yeah, they called him Lance.

Josh: Yeah, I could have done the whole drug thing. Yeah, yeah, Neil, yeah. Do you think— would you have accepted the same?

Mason: I mean, that's too full-on, going to the moon to be the first person.

Tommy: Okay, well, there's more just be like to the International Space Station and back.

Mason: That's it.

Josh: How many astronauts are doing that?

Tommy: They just said there was two females that went very recently.

Mason: They just did a mission and they probably go up, went out, maybe like, maybe, maybe six flights a year they might have to the International Space Station.

Josh: So how much did you actually look into doing this?

Mason: Not that much.

Tommy: He's called the top 5 jobs when you're young what you say you want to be, like astronauts there, fame. I want to be famous, which I don't know what that even means.

Josh: And so because I told myself that I wanted to be famous by 19.

Mason: Did you?

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: And what did you think you wanted to be famous for?

Josh: Look at me. We're fucking— we're here. No one knows about us.

Tommy: You've been bitten by a mosquito.

Josh: Let's say the only thing I should be famous for is some sort of fucking mosquitoes.

Tommy: It's just slightly bigger, but it's— it definitely is.

Josh: We almost need to do the thing that doctors do, put a pen around it.

Tommy: Yeah, draw around it.

Josh: Um, they usually don't know what I think I was gonna be famous for, uh, at a time. I remember looking up about applying for a job at The Verge, actually. Really? I thought that I was going to— within geek culture. Yeah, I think that the thing is that things have changed a lot too. Like, I think that what I— the fame, the people that I thought were famous growing up were famous within what I was into. So it was like technology. It was the tech entrepreneurs. It was the journalists covering it. Guys like Nick Bilton, who wrote a book called, I think it was Hatching Twitter. And he was really into like— his job was writing about technology.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Uh, and so I thought when I had Melbourne Geek and I had that, all that sort of blogging and doing that, I thought that that was the area that I was going to go into.

Tommy: I do have to give you credit. Cause I think that's, that's pretty dialled in understanding what you want to be famous for. Because I think most people would say fame, I want to be famous, but they don't quite yet have a craft or something to be famous for. So you look at reality TV stars. I mean, that's the, That's the— that could be the road to I want to be famous with no, nothing attached. No, like writer, film producer.

Josh: But I even— I was thinking about it. No, I was thinking about like in year 11, I got really serious for a bit about going to the US and studying, going to UCLA. My IT teacher, an American guy, moved from the US the year that he came to our school. So he was mates with Jay Leno, which I thought was so cool. And good mates or just mates? Ah, he would like— it sounded like because Jay Leno is really big into the motorbike stuff, I think that my teacher was into that. He had photos with him and stuff like that, so it seemed legit. But He, I remember being on the website and looking up, like doing that. Like, I wonder how, and the reason I didn't do it was it was like, you know, 30,000 minimum a year or something. And my grades weren't going to be good. So I sort of knocked out the idea of doing uni and I was just going to start my own business.

Tommy: Which I think is good. I think this, this place Hollywood is geared around fame. Like last night I saw a sign and it was like a tequila bar. Label and it was just flashing. So the tequila bottle, then it would flash to, um, 'Fame is fleeting.' So it's always like pro, uh, marketing around, 'Don't, don't be here to chase the fame because it's fleeting.' But I think it is everyone— it changes people's view on people, especially in this town. Like, you're looking forward, you're seeing famous people.

Josh: We were surprised that when we were filming the, the Holly— uh, the Halloween parade how many punters were so excited about a camera, by our big camera. Everyone was taking photos and people were asking for it from the news.

Tommy: In the town where that shit's everywhere.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: You'd think that they'd be desensitized.

Josh: But then we got thinking, I'm like, do people actually go out? Like I was with an actor at South by Southwest and he had a premiere. And we hung out with him in his hotel room because he's like, if I go, especially in this town with this vibe, there's a festival on, I'll just have people everywhere bombarding. And so I guess there is that transaction that's going on that when you become famous, you lose anonymity, obviously. But then I guess you can't do with the things that you would normally do.

Tommy: We look at the documentaries like the Lady Gaga one. Like, Pete, it is so full on. Like, it becomes this— they're sad about it. They don't want to be involved.

Josh: Did you ever think that you were going to— because you did the immersive— what was that? Hollywood Immersive?

Tommy: Oh yeah.

Josh: Was that just for presenting or for acting as well?

Tommy: Presenting, not acting.

Josh: And so did you ever think that you'd do acting?

Tommy: No, never, never. I think, I think if it would have to be just you playing yourself. Yeah, just like just sometimes. Yeah, it's, I think that's what I think you'd be good at that too. Just like your own, that's playing yourself. But then what about Jackass?

Josh: Did you ever get into Jackass and be like, I could be Johnny Knoxville?

Tommy: I loved him though. I love watching it though.

Josh: Why didn't you think just because you weren't I don't know.

Tommy: I don't know if I like hurting myself. I don't like doing that kind of shit. I remember I had a kid that I grew up with, Ben. He was really good at it. And Reece Mitchell used to film him.

Josh: Just being a jackass.

Tommy: Just hurting himself. And it's like you have this like part of your brain where you're not thinking about the consequences. You're just doing it.

Josh: And you felt that you didn't have that?

Tommy: In a lot of areas I did, but not around the hurting myself and fucking jumping off stupid shit. Nah, not at all.

Josh: So talking about hurting yourself, how are you gonna do this Lime scooter?

Tommy: All right, to finish off, this could go pear-shaped because the other night, but what I think what happened the other night, I download the Lime app, signed up, and there was a festival on that Halloween thing and they locked off scooters so that everyone couldn't just ride in on the scooters and dump them. But I've got the Lime app here, which I've just opened, and it says— it shows you that these two scooters out the front have half bar of it, like half tank of energy.

Josh: Great.

Tommy: Half tank of battery. Half tank of battery. Oh, there you go, look at that. So you can see there's a map and there's the red— that's why it didn't work, someone had ridden it into a red area. It's all gone green.

Josh: Red foil. So did you see it? Because last, last time you loaded it, it was all red. Yes. So when you've just refreshed it, it's all green now.

Tommy: Oh, fuck yeah, this is gonna work. All right, I'll see you boys in a second.

Josh: So I'm— so I'm scooter. So Tommy is just heading, heading off right now. Uh, 97, uh, give us a bit of an update on, uh, things with you. How are you?

Mason: I'm great, I'm loving this.

Tommy: This is—

Mason: it's nice, so much fun. Yeah, LA's amazing.

Josh: Uh, any, any other highlights?

Mason: I mean I'm really keen at the moment to, I guess, like, have a bunch of experiences. Like, you're overseas. But actually, before I left, Mum was just like, oh, this is a perfect place.

Josh: Go, go experiment.

Mason: Yeah, experiment. Yeah, literally.

Josh: Really?

Mason: Yeah.

Josh: So she obviously trusts Tommy and I enough that we're not going to— Yeah, here we go. It's beeping. We're hearing a beeping sound, so it's— that's— I'm guessing that's not good that it's beeping. Why is it stopped? Why is it beeping? Why was it beeping?

Tommy: It didn't work, but I lifted it, and so that's an alarm system saying that it's, um, that it's not working, that it's, um, being taken, being moved, and it doesn't want to be moved anymore.

Josh: No riding on sidewalks. I mean, that's fucking hard.

Tommy: Can we please get a photo, Josh, of you and I just at least doing Why wasn't it working? Titanic together.

Josh: Yeah, absolutely. Why wasn't it working?

Tommy: I wonder if it's something to do with the—

Josh: my Australian credit card or something.

Tommy: Australian iTunes.

Josh: Okay.

Tommy: Oh, downloading. It says, we're currently unavailable, but we're working to bring your Lime scooters— bring you Lime scooters. Hang on, let me just get out of this. I'm going to try it one more time here on the show.

Josh: So they've got a few rules.

Tommy: Do you want me to read them to you?

Josh: It's very hard to read.

Tommy: P, so it says park properly. Yeah, it says do not ride on sidewalk or block traffic. 18, so 18 years or older to ride the scooter. Says you need to wear a helmet.

Josh: Helmet is required. I haven't seen anyone wear a helmet.

Tommy: The hard thing about that is in America you don't have to wear a helmet. It's not law on bikes.

Josh: But so they're saying helmets required based on their terms and conditions, not based on—

Tommy: maybe, maybe, yeah, maybe government have enforced it. Like, if you're going to use it here, let me try one more time.

Josh: All right, so he's—

Tommy: I've got the app. Here we go.

Josh: So what do you have to do is scan a barcode? It's like a QR code.

Tommy: Unlocking. Nah, unlocking. We're currently unavailable. That's very sad.

Josh: You're never going to be able to do this.

Tommy: If anyone who's watching on the Instagram Live has been here in the States and worked out how to use this, because that's the second time. So it wasn't— maybe it was the geofencing thing wasn't real, it's just my fucking—

Josh: it could have been that. Do you want to quickly read an email before, before we finish up?

Mason: Yeah, sure. We got an email from Shannon. First of all, Gronks, happy 500 episodes.

Josh: Thank you, Shannon.

Mason: Sorry, that's all good. What an epic achievement. It just automatically—

Tommy: I thought he was giving you sass.

Josh: Just stopping.

Mason: I just wanted to drop you guys a quick email to congratulate you. What you have achieved in the last 2 years has been incredible, and you all should be very proud.

Tommy: That's lovely.

Mason: Tommy, your commitment— Tommy, your commitment to whatever you set your mind to is truly inspiring and something that I've taken and implemented into my everyday life.

Tommy: That's lovely.

Mason: Uh, sorry, just keep scrolling. Your dedication to your family, to Amy and Bodhi, is another thing that I highly respect in you. It's really lovely to hear you talk about them on the show and how much you value quality time with your little family.

Tommy: That's lovely, that's lovely. Thank you, Shannon.

Mason: Mr. 97, when Tommy said the other day that Amy had commented on how much she was loving hearing more of you throughout the show, I felt silly but I was literally nodding along saying, yes, me too.

Tommy: Proud of my son.

Mason: It has been fantastic to listen to you from the start of your time at The Daily Talk Show and to where you are now. You have such talent in this field, and you should be so proud of how well you've integrated into the team. You're an incredibly well-spoken young adult who has focus and drive, not to mention the commitment you have made for The Daily Talk Show is what business owners' dreams are made of. You treat the show as if it's your baby.

Tommy: You got a lot more than me.

Mason: And that's all Tommy and Josh could ask for, I'm sure.

Josh: Not a competition.

Mason: Josh, getting to know you and your personality through the show over the last year has been so good.

Josh: Personality or personalities? Which is—

Mason: you've brought out a more inquisitive and critical thinking side to me I never knew I had, and your honesty when it comes to your life and how you live it is truly refreshing. Your ability to be vulnerable and talk openly about personal struggles you have is something I think that sets you apart from others in the industry, and you should be really proud of that.

Tommy: That's lovely.

Mason: Your vision and the way you talk about the future of the daily talk show is inspiring, and the confidence you have in yourself and your team even more so. Thank you guys for putting out such a great show every day. I know I speak for many listeners when I say I genuinely look forward to it popping up in my podcast feed each day. Congrats again on episode 500 and enjoy LA. P.S. Just left a 5-star Apple review because I'm a massive gronk and hadn't done it yet.

Josh: Shannon, thank you so much. Uh, my lips, by the way, are absolutely burning.

Tommy: Yeah, are they? Mine are good. Mine are getting better from the stuff.

Josh: Yeah, we're in trouble.

Tommy: We all look like we got lipstick on because they've gone bright red.

Josh: Um, No, thank you for the email, Shannon. Also, Michelle pointed out, uh, she'd— Michelle's— she was listening in the early, early days. We actually had her on, I think, episode 50 or 40 or something like that. Uh, she was pointing out, do you remember she was into all the BDSM stuff? And she had a very good point. I think, uh, at the Halloween event, uh, doing shtick, we, uh were reacting over the top to the people on the chains.

Tommy: I don't think so.

Josh: Well, the thing is, I didn't actually care. I feel like you're like, oh God, oh, what? Whereas I feel like I react to that being like, yeah, but I actually don't like it. I don't find it being that much of a thing.

Tommy: I disagree. There was a woman chained to a guy and he was holding it and the chain was to her throat. Like, if we—

Josh: I mean, it's a—

Tommy: no, I get it. I get what you're saying, but I think that I haven't fucking seen that ever in my life.

Josh: Have you? Uh, no, not within these contexts. I'm sure like within subcultures and stuff, like you've seen references or imagery of that type of thing.

Tommy: But what's normal to someone isn't normal to everyone.

Josh: And so I guess a part of it is it's fine for us to react that way. If it came across as negative or judgmental. I don't think that that is our intention with these things.

Tommy: Definitely not. Definitely not. Like, you can do what you want, but you can also feel like, I want no part of that, and I don't want any part of that as a person.

Josh: Yeah, I guess that.

Tommy: But then there's someone— someone might not want any part of what I do in my life.

Josh: But I guess there is that element of deciding— you know, through the way that we speak, the way that I think anyway. It's like there's heaps of ways of living life. Everyone's got unique experiences. There's lots of things. Just because I wouldn't go to a prostitute, does that mean that I'm judgmental to sex workers and things like that? No. Everyone has their unique perspectives and insights that I might not necessarily be able to understand. But I think potentially in moments where we're quickly reacting, that can get lost and it can just come across as judgmental.

Tommy: I'll say this, drop the chain from around her throat, I wouldn't have made as big a reaction.

Josh: Yeah, well, I think that, I think that that's you applying some sort of judgement to it, which is fine.

Tommy: Of course, of course, which is chaining a woman's throat walking down the street. I think I still have the same, I think I would flat out have that same response. The leathers and stuff, it's like I've seen that before. I've been around people wearing that stuff. And I don't think that's what it was. Just the chain. And then the photo of her. So there's like this, is there a different, like holding her up like that?

Josh: So is your uncomfortability around it that, so there's an, so there's consent. So two willing adults consenting to an experience.

Tommy: You can think something's weird as fuck.

Josh: Yeah, I think that that's a thing. Yeah, I think it's, uh, I think it's weird as fuck.

Tommy: I think it's unusual, but it doesn't mean—

Josh: I think that—

Tommy: I don't— I think they're horrible humans.

Josh: Yeah, but I think that— what do you think, 97?

Mason: Yeah, I mean, it's, it's— I mean, it's not something you see every day, right? And it's, it is, it is unusual and yeah, interesting and a little bit uncomfortable to see, but it's like, if they're If they want to do that, then by all means. And like, yeah, I mean, I can see the way that we reacted to it, how that could portray the idea that, oh, that's like, we're not having any of that. That's weird. That's wrong or whatever.

Josh: Well, I guess we just don't understand. And potentially in the way that you're framing it there, there's probably connotations of like domestic violence or things like that around like a woman with that type of thing. Which I think is connecting an issue with a subculture which might be misplaced potentially, which is what I'm saying is I don't, I don't understand, I don't know, which is why I probably lean on not having an extreme response or opinion on a thing, if that makes sense. Anyway, I got the email and we really respect Michelle. She's someone who's listened for such a long time and she opened us up to everything from the, you know, growing up trans and being on the, you know, in the '90s being on the forum and helping people with suicide prevention and doing all that sort of thing. And I think she has unique insights that we don't have. And so I just wanted to make sure that we reflected it because, you know, that wasn't my intention anyway. And also I'm like, actually, I don't value the idea of being closed off. So yeah, just thought I'd bring it up. Anyway, it's a Daily Talk Show. We love your emails. As you can see, we read out a couple just then. hi@thedailytalkshow.com is the email. I'm actually losing my voice, which is horrendous. Really? Yeah.

Tommy: Well, you just feel it.

Josh: Yeah, I feel maybe just a bit dry. Do we have any La Croix left?

Tommy: There's one left.

Josh: Okay, I'll have that.

Tommy: You have that because last time—

Josh: Do you want to see if there's any live stream, any comments on the last one.

Tommy: That was me in America that lost my voice.

Josh: That was so bad.

Mason: He's just probably lost them all.

Tommy: I've probably lost it all. Okay, or it's gone. Hang on, maybe— no, you might have lost them all.

Josh: Yeah, that's okay.

Tommy: Or it's gone. We can't see us.

Josh: That's okay.

Tommy: Hopefully it's still there anyway.

Josh: All right, it's a Daily Talk Show. See you tomorrow, guys, and we're going to be in LA for the next, you know, what, 20 episodes? So stick around. Catch ya.

Tommy: See you soon, guys.