Schoolies Week

Harry: The Daily Talk Show.

Josh: It's The Daily Talk Show, episode 534.

Tommy: Happy summer! We've got the heater on in Melbourne. Yeah, it's actually freezing.

Josh: Yeah, not ideal. It's, yeah, December 2nd in Melbourne. Harry, uh, work experience Harry, uh, thank you for being here.

Harry: I love it, it's awesome, mate.

Tommy: It's, uh, we love having you here, buddy. We've, um, so So we've had a bunch of people reach out to us over the time. I mean, it's how we got the logo through 3D Dill, who did his internship with us. Karen, who's come in here and just spent some time. And you, Harry, who sent— you've been following us along for quite some time and you shot us a little formal email. I love that you always like, just there's a bit of banter and then there's a formal email.

Josh: Yeah, I appreciated that. Dear big media company.

Harry: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tommy: I like the tone. It's like, nah, this is serious. He's not just Shootin' us a, hey boys, Grammily helped me with that one.

Josh: You need that.

Tommy: But you're here, mate. Yeah, mate, I don't even need that.

Josh: You were talking about Grammily, like that was literally on your life strategy of 2020.

Tommy: No, it wasn't.

Josh: No, it wasn't. You're not talking about it?

Mason: No, it came up in a whip the other day.

Tommy: Oh wait, but it wasn't it.

Mason: It was just— it wasn't a 2020 life strategy.

Tommy: I think Mason said something, but it's—

Josh: anyway, I've triggered something.

Tommy: Anyway, it might help me. No, I should get it. I have to write first. I have to write first to use it. Anyway, so, um, Harry, thank you for coming down.

Harry: No worries. Put on the weather.

Tommy: Um, so where have you come from?

Harry: So I come from, uh, in between Echuca and Swan Hill, so just on the Murray River.

Tommy: It's like, um, this like, uh, sort of smack bang between—

Harry: yeah, pretty much New South Wales.

Tommy: Sorry, between, um, like, it's closer to Adelaide? Like, is that where—

Harry: no, Melbourne's our closest city. Okay, so we can you can actually stand in one town, look across the river, and you can see Victoria. Yeah, great. It's really— Mum had some med students over the other day, and they went for a drive, and they're like, so that's Victoria? And they're freaking out because it's like, that's Victoria.

Tommy: Um, I don't know, Mr. Nicehammer, can you type this in? Old laws at the river's edge. Just write that in, like, um, where there's these weird laws that are still in place that you can yell something from one side and it's, and it's not illegal. I don't know, there's something, just see if something comes up. I heard people talking about this recently. I've butchered it, but I want to find out.

Josh: So you live on the border?

Harry: Yep.

Josh: And so are there any complications of living on the border?

Harry: Heaps. So emergency services can't cross the river, so they have to— emergency services can't cross the river. Lots of kids who live in Victoria can't get their licence when the others in their class do.

Tommy: Oh yeah.

Harry: So they just use the other side of the river's address.

Josh: Really?

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So a mate of mine, he, when we were 17, he was a crafty MF and he went up and found a way to, it was like an auntie, a distant auntie got his address in Sydney and then sat his driver's licence test and got his driver's licence at 17.

Josh: It's a lot of work.

Tommy: Yeah, I know it was a lot of work, but he did it with his motorbike licence too.

Josh: And so this, this is an alternative for you to do schoolies. You've decided to come and do work experience here.

Harry: I don't like schoolies.

Tommy: Well, it's going to be just as loose. There'll be a few less beer bongs and none of us have been to schoolies. None of us in this room. I mean, is that the telltale of what kind of vibe we are, of the boys that didn't do schoolies?

Josh: I feel like you would have loved schoolies.

Tommy: I would have. You got to finish school though. I wasn't going to be the asshole that goes, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't have even been a toolie. I just would have been the loser that didn't finish school but still wanted to party.

Harry: Yeah.

Tommy: And I didn't do that, but I started working and so I dropped my mates at the airport and picked them back up at the airport when they came back from Byron. So I was like, yeah, I was involved.

Josh: Yeah, I felt involved as much as a taxi driver or Uber driver is involved.

Tommy: I just didn't get paid. Paid the toll and I was the designated driver.

Josh: Desi. And so has— have you completely finished school now?

Harry: Yeah, all done. So I'm just waiting on my ATAR and my results, which come out in 15 days.

Tommy: So how do they come out? Well, where do they—

Harry: text and email.

Tommy: So it's— I remember the paper was a thing.

Harry: Yeah, the newspaper.

Tommy: Yeah, it was both a thing once and it was also a place where you could get your results. Like, there was like a You could find other people's results, right?

Harry: You can still do that, but you need to opt into it.

Tommy: Okay.

Josh: I definitely wouldn't have opted in.

Tommy: Yeah.

Harry: Because what if, what if you get a shit data? Like all of bloody the world knows because it's in the Herald Sun.

Tommy: Who's opting into that? Is it just the smarty pants?

Josh: I opted into it.

Harry: Did you really?

Josh: Absolutely.

Mason: No, I would say, I would say probably 80% of people opt into it.

Josh: Oh, I definitely wouldn't have. Yeah. The one time in my life that I care about privacy.

Mason: Well, the funny thing is, like, I remember, like, people had, like, parties in, like, January after you left school and stuff, and then you'd go in and people would still be talking about your results because they'd look you up on the thing and figure out what score you get.

Josh: Oh, yeah, you did well. It's a bit like, so full on.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Ari, what do you think of Melbourne when you come here? For people, we have a lot of people who listen who aren't in Melbourne. How would you describe it?

Harry: It's just got this buzz about it. It's— there's constantly something happening, and I like— this is creepy— I like walking along the streets listening to other people's conversations. Yesterday I was walking through Maya in Bourke Street, and this couple, she was sitting down and she was putting his makeup on, like he was— she was doing his makeup, and I got the giggles because like she was putting his boy— her boyfriend's makeup on as a joke in Maya, like big drag queen sort of makeup. I got the giggles and they both sort of looked at me like, and I was just, oh, sorry.

Tommy: I mean, I've got the problem of cafes. I just can't help but listen to someone else if they're right next to me. I just, I wonder what I look like. I'd love to see the video of just fake, right? Like, just, you just look, would look like a weird unit looking off into the distance.

Josh: Yeah, I appreciate when people, if someone enters in, I feel like that just happened the, the other day. I can't even remember the context, but someone really buying in. Oh, that's right. When we're at the service station and we were feeling the weight of Cadbury has this new block of chocolate.

Tommy: Yeah.

Mason: Yeah.

Josh: And I was like, wow, that's heavy. And I was like, what's the normal weight? And you were sort of hypothesising, oh, I think it's like 140 grammes or whatever. And then the lady from across the servo said, oh, it's whatever it was.

Tommy: Jumped in and gave us 2 cents, which was helpful.

Harry: Yeah.

Tommy: It's—

Harry: So she knew off the top of her head how much you weighed. Yeah.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: She'd done a lot of research. No, but I don't mind that. I think it's nice. Sometimes it can be a bit weird. I've definitely had moments where someone is, oh, I was just over here. I was just listening in. It's like, ah, I don't know.

Josh: What about people looking lost? If someone's looking lost, would you be one to go up and show, tell them where to go?

Harry: I did that yesterday. You did?

Tommy: You helped them?

Harry: Yeah. An older Asian man came up to this couple. And like, is this the free tram? They're like, no, we're in the free tram zone, but it ends just there. And he's like, oh, but where's the old free tram? The old one? Ah, you know, 2 blocks that way. Because he wanted the City Circle.

Tommy: But yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's nice.

Josh: Have you done the City Circle?

Harry: Do you? Years ago. Years ago.

Josh: Yeah, that's quite good for people who don't know. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't have to be. It's free, Harry. Yeah, what are you expecting, you know? But like, first class treatment.

Harry: But like the new Bombardier trams are free in the city and they're nice and comfy.

Josh: Oh, okay. Yeah, sure. But you don't get like an audiobook.

Harry: Don't get a tour.

Tommy: So, yeah, there's— I think it starts around South Melbourne, the free tram zone. And when you drive, when you're on the tram, you hear it over the loudspeaker. You are now entering the free tram zone. It's like I feel that there are a bunch of people on the tram that just have this Yeah, they can relax. Their bum hole is just—

Josh: they're depressed.

Tommy: They've disengaged their core because they don't have a ticket and they're thinking, I'm out of this.

Josh: It's a very stressful beat, like not having tickets.

Tommy: Well, you see, like, the ticket inspectors are full on. I was once— I told you this story— I was sitting on the tram and acknowledging this woman who was sitting across from me. I thought she was a bit like my mum. And so I felt, I felt kind of like we were buddies. And so I smiled at her a few times and then we got like 20 minutes into the trip and then she just leans over and says, pulls out a badge, says, I don't have to cheque your Mikey right now, thank you. I felt just, I felt the trust, the rapport we'd built had just been smashed. I had a ticket though, luckily. But she was undercover, and so she checked my myki thing on some little beeper, like beep, and it tells you if you've got any money on there.

Harry: When we come down, because we get paper tickets because myki doesn't go as far as us, and with the paper tickets you get a day's free travel in Zone 1 and Zone 2.

Josh: Oh, that's good, that's handy.

Tommy: So how much is it to catch the train from where you are?

Harry: It cost me $16, I think.

Tommy: So it's a V/Line?

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Yeah, like if there was— I remember from Shepparton it was The— that's a student pass, or is that an adult concession?

Harry: Student.

Tommy: Yeah, it's a bit slow. Yeah, but it's, um, just if it was faster.

Josh: Like, if it— I don't mind. Like, did you open your— do you feel safe enough to open your laptop and do some work?

Harry: I didn't yesterday. I had my headphones in.

Josh: Yeah.

Harry: Um, just sat there. Horrible chai. Chai latte.

Tommy: Oh, really? Oh God.

Josh: Do you get, uh, because you're vegetarian.

Harry: Yeah.

Josh: Do you, um, do Do you get regular milk or do you get sort of an almond?

Harry: Just normal milk.

Tommy: Okay. I mean, going vegetarian, there's a bunch of, I guess, the people that do stick at it, not the JJ. So you can't say to them, mate, tell me about the time you were a vegetarian.

Harry: So you're a vegan now, aren't you?

Josh: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I finished it in and out.

Tommy: But for you, Harry, there's a storey behind it. Can you tell us the storey of going vego?

Harry: So I had a high school teacher in year 7 who was the agriculture teacher, and he was telling me how vegetarians are killing the meat industry and all this stuff. So I went, being a pain in the ass up the back, I went, I'm vegetarian.

Tommy: So you weren't?

Harry: I wasn't. And I went, oh yeah, they'll give him the shits. So I said that. And then, and then we had to go on school camp a few weeks later and he was a supervising teacher. So I had to be vegetarian for the school camp. And then I just, it felt so much better. It felt so much healthier. And I just stuck with it.

Tommy: Now you've been vegetarian?

Harry: It's now been 6 years.

Tommy: The only, how do you go living on a farm?

Harry: It doesn't bother me.

Tommy: So what about like the farm industry? Are you— do you think about— I mean, a lot of those places up there, that's how they make their money, through meat products and stuff. Is it—

Josh: is this an ambush?

Harry: Yeah, I just don't really think about it, but I am now. No, I don't really think about it.

Tommy: No, I like the perspective of like, I did it for this reason.

Harry: So my sister raised some— a few lambs every now and then, and then she sees them going off in the trailer after the abattoirs and Brings a tear to her eye. Some don't even go off, they're too special to send off to her.

Josh: Oh, really? So how many of them?

Harry: Aging.

Josh: How many pet sheep do you have?

Harry: Don't have any at the moment. I think she has about 2 a year.

Josh: 2 a year. But then how long?

Harry: And then after the year they go, they go back into the paddock with the others because their mothers like will forget them or would die. Oh, she has to rear them and bottle feed them.

Tommy: What's it—

Josh: because you were saying that the farm used to be a rice farm. So is that just like, you know, you go to Southeast Asia or whatever and you see the like rice fields?

Harry: Yeah.

Josh: Is it just like rice fields?

Harry: Fields of rice with water. It's almost like a lake with weeds growing through it. And then we drain the paddocks and run the header through it and it strips it all. I don't know too much about it.

Josh: I mean, you're on it, right?

Harry: Like, because yeah, but I spend most of my time in my own little bubble. But that's almost like what's happening.

Josh: But I feel like it's the hipster thing to live on a rot— like Tiff our mate from Bali, like, I'm sure I'm always seeing her, you know, at rice fields.

Tommy: There is something about— Not doing the labour, just enjoying the view.

Josh: No, just sort of enjoying the view of the rice fields. Yeah, yeah. Is it— How old were you when they were all sort of flourishing and a thing?

Harry: Well, because I was born in the millennial— Millennial? Millennium. Millennium drought. So, the year 2000 drought. And that didn't break until a few years ago. So, then we put rice in for the first time in a long time. And that's when, that's when I think of my earliest time seeing rice. It was actually quite recently, but they get planes. Planes drop all the seeds.

Tommy: Oh, that's great.

Harry: So we have like, like little Cessna planes almost, and they fill them up with, with the grain and then they do a really low fly over the, over the paddocks.

Tommy: That's great. Christmas, boys. Pretty close. I drove out my driveway today, so out of the garage and reversing down, and someone in our townhouse, you know, block has put like a little, you know, like a little sign, Santa this way, and like candy cane things along the hedges. It's fucking great. I was getting amongst it. It was a good vibe.

Mason: Well, I walked in this morning and you were playing Christmas music.

Tommy: Oh yeah, I thought, yeah, get some Bublé going. We're only what, 20-something days away. It's, it's, you got to get the vibe, haven't you?

Josh: What do you do for a Christmas? Do you do a Christmas tree?

Harry: Don't get me started. Me and my sister, like, we both love Christmas, but mum's decided this year—

Tommy: I think you got him started.

Harry: She's decided, because she's the local nurse, she'll go— well, this is a good thing she's doing, but she's spending Christmas with the homeless. So me and my sister are going to wake up with no family on Christmas Day. And then we came down here And she goes, she goes to Bunnings and she buys a big wooden pot and we go, what's that for? And she goes, oh, I'm not putting up a Christmas tree this year. I'm just going to get some sticks, paint them white and put baubles on sticks.

Tommy: There is some, yeah, there's some crafty ways. My mum always end up getting branches and just, yeah, just, yeah, she'd go the opposite. There is a whole movement around not Christmas trees. They're just like fashionable sticks.

Josh: Did you say what Goldie Guts has done?

Harry: No.

Tommy: Oh yeah, the blow-up thing.

Josh: Yeah. So it's a Like for people who have allergies, it's a blow-up Christmas tree. But the thing is huge. It's massive.

Tommy: And it would have it just— it'd be a little fan, just like has to keep it—

Mason: I reckon it's— I think it's blown up already. Like it pumps up and then you just put the—

Josh: It's not like the second—

Tommy: Plastic? It looked like one of those things that needs constant air.

Mason: Yeah.

Tommy: So, then you turn it off and just—

Josh: It's not like a car sale.

Tommy: Oh, they've got heaps of those ones. So like heaps of toys. Think about the Halloween. Yeah. So that vibe.

Harry: But where does the air go? So it's pumping air in constantly. Wouldn't it just get a buildup of air inside it and pop?

Tommy: Yeah. So it's like the fabric is not— it's like you could seep, seep air slowly out of it. You can buy this shit from Bunnings. Bunnings have a huge selection and some of them are like blow up like dragons and weird shit.

Harry: Marnie7's got a nice trio here.

Mason: Ellen DeGeneres's tree.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Now, I, uh, 97's mum wasn't happy with him because you were saying— she was saying that you were overstating the price of what you guys paid.

Mason: Yeah, well, because the way, the way that it came out sounded like we've got a $1,000 tree.

Tommy: Well, you don't get the credit card statements.

Josh: How much was it? Well, because I—

Mason: because Dad brought it up at home and I wasn't— and then he was like throwing me under the bus a little bit, and then Mum heard about it and she's like, oh, it's not a $1,000 tree. And so it turns out she paid $300 for it.

Josh: So that's a good price.

Mason: I think she got on sale.

Tommy: I mean, like mother, like son. You find a good bargain, so does mum. Maybe that's where you get it from. That's awesome.

Harry: Your socks, you've got your $12 socks. You don't know where they've been.

Josh: He's got a, like, 12 for $12.

Tommy: Yeah. Um, your mum's commendable effort though, Harry. Spending Christmas morning with the homeless. Yeah. What was— what I found interesting in regional areas such as Shepparton, there is a—

Josh: You worked in Shepparton.

Tommy: There is a homeless community. Like you wouldn't— like you think about Melbourne.

Harry: We're nothing like Shepparton.

Tommy: Nothing like Shepparton. But country areas, you know, you don't see it like—

Josh: But are you saying it exists?

Tommy: Dude, it's in the bush. They have like full tent areas.

Josh: Camps.

Tommy: So how do you— are you visually seeing the homeless in your town?

Harry: No, no, because homeless is classified as just people who sleep on a couch.

Tommy: Yeah.

Harry: So like our population's only just under 2,000, so there's next to nothing. But it's all the people as well who don't have family for Christmas, so it's quite nice. They're all getting together in the park.

Josh: And that is good.

Tommy: That'd be good.

Josh: Um, turning 18 and having the final year of school, what are you excited about adulthood? What are you, what are you thinking about?

Harry: Freedom. Yeah.

Josh: What does freedom look like? Because for me it was like, I remember the first time I could just buy it, no joke, buy a packet of Tim Tams and just eat every single one of them.

Tommy: Are you serious? That came at 18? Yeah.

Mason: As if you didn't sneak out of the house and buy them.

Josh: Well, not even sneak out, but there was guilt associated. Like, as an adult, it was like, oh no, I like, it's my job.

Mason: He's going to tell me off.

Harry: Yeah.

Tommy: Is that so? You're saying it's like a switch for you that it was like, because you could have done that at 16. What was your mom saying?

Josh: I got the, uh, what was your mom saying?

Tommy: —like what was the previous—

Josh: I just never bought, like I never bought groceries or whatever. It's like, but Harry didn't even know what the, like you said, your lentils, you didn't even know one of the main foods that you eat, which is chickpeas. Yeah.

Harry: Thinking about it, I know that it's a chickpea, but I just couldn't think of it. Yeah, exactly.

Josh: But if you're at a grocery store, it would be difficult for you.

Harry: Yeah. I'll just go around looking for it.

Josh: Yeah. So, what are some of the things that you, freedoms that you're looking forward to?

Harry: I think just doing what I want when I want. But I could, I could do that now, but I just don't have my licence. So theoretically I could do what I want.

Josh: 97 doesn't have his licence.

Harry: Yeah, but living 28 k's out of town, there's no public transport. So I'm sort of stuck out on the farm. How big is your farm? 2,014 acres or something.

Tommy: 2,014 acres?

Josh: I think so. That's fucking ginormous.

Tommy: That's huge.

Harry: I think that's right.

Josh: And so what do you, how much of the land, like what does the land actually look like?

Harry: Dry, very dry at the moment. I put a photo on Instagram recently of how dry it was, and I got all these comments like, oh no, not— but I can't remember what they were. Like, um, I said to one of my friends, it's as dry as a dead dingo's donger. Like, it's that dry.

Tommy: I'm glad you said that one, but not the one relating to a nun. What's that?

Josh: You don't want to know? Yeah, horrendous. Good, it's probably not your generation, Harry. I'm glad. And so the freedoms, have you started to, have you started slowly doing those adult things?

Harry: Yeah, I was very proud of myself yesterday. I went to the supermarket in East Melbourne, went to IGA, bought me dinner and everything. Oh yeah. And Apple Pay'd it, but then my Apple Pay didn't work, so I was holding up the queue. And why wasn't Apple Pay working? Because it wanted, because I don't have a Face ID, so I've got the fingerprint. Yeah. And then it kept on wanting my passcode. So then I'll type in my passcode, try again. Didn't work. No, that's annoying. And I didn't have my card, so I was that way. So what'd you end up doing? I just had to keep on going and going and going. And it worked eventually. Then I got my own dinner, and then I went to a pizzeria, and I told the fella that I— he took too long, so I said, no, mate, I'm just gonna have to say no to this. I don't want the pizza anymore.

Tommy: Did you pay? Had you paid? Okay, good, good. No, I thought it was— it would have been a real F you if he'd paid and then be like, dude, You're taking too long. Have my money and I'll play.

Josh: And so you're going to be here for a week. We've got a few guests on during the week, but we want to try and get you amongst the show. What are some of the learnings or things that you could bring to the show?

Harry: I'm not sure what I could bring to the show, but I want to learn as much as I can while I'm here. Learn what you— you know, teach me the ropes. Do you know much about TikTok? Oh, I've done one TikTok. Yeah, filmed one TikTok, but I don't know the dances. My sister goes around the house doing all the dances and the only dance I know is the Heather dance, which is just where you do. Okay. Just a little bit. Yeah. That's the only dance I know. And that's the only dance I can remember. Okay.

Tommy: And so the voguing with your hands. Yeah.

Josh: Yeah. And so the idea of looking after our TikTok, would that be of interest or?

Harry: Yeah, but I won't be dancing.

Tommy: I mean, some people think TikTok is for dancing. Yeah, it's not.

Harry: It's got everything.

Tommy: It's got everything. But there is a bunch of people doing the dances.

Harry: So Sam Sheffer, I'm not sure if you follow Sam Sheffer. He's done a phone tutorials and things on it, like folding phones and stuff. And his is just took off on TikTok because he's doing something different to everyone else.

Josh: Yeah, you can do, you can do.

Tommy: What would Harry's signature be? What is his signature? What do people know you for?

Josh: And what's his— oh no, what's yours? Yeah, for you, for you. And what's your, what's your nickname going to be as well? We need a nickname.

Harry: I don't know, I haven't thought about that.

Tommy: So what do your mates from school know you as? Like Harry? Harry. They know who's Harry.

Josh: If you were to create one, like, we didn't really give Did we give you 97 the opportunity?

Mason: We did a whole subreddit post. Oh, that's right.

Josh: Do you remember the subreddit? Yeah, it went viral, obviously.

Tommy: Subreddits blew up. Yeah.

Josh: So I mean, if you were to come up with something funny and fun, what would be a good nickname for you?

Harry: I've got no idea. Give me time. Give me time. I'll think about it. I've got no idea.

Tommy: Hazza? I mean, no, no, no. Harry.

Harry: Harry. Then that way it follows with the rest of my branding. My Instagram's just Harry. Oh, so then people go just Harry and then it comes up.

Josh: You know what I mean? He's missed the point.

Tommy: I know you want to be a floor manager one day, so we could work that out. Maybe you could— Floor manager Harry? Uh, floor— yeah, you're starting out being the floor manager here. I think it's something that needs to evolve sometimes. It could be something you do, could be something if you stuff up, then just become, you know.

Josh: And so what's that like from a floor manager perspective?

Harry: What about The Harry Lodge? So that matches my Instagram.

Josh: Absolutely not. It's okay. Definitely not. No, I think, I think something in the floor manager could be good. Yeah. So what is a floor manager? For people who don't know, what does a floor manager do?

Harry: So my dream job is to work in television, television as a floor manager, which is somebody who cues in the talent, tells them which camera to look at, rearranges the sets, does all that sort of thing. So overseeing the production as they go live or as they're taping.

Tommy: I feel like we've got another old soul under our belt. Harry, I feel like you're an old soul. You're a bit like Mr.

Josh: 97.

Tommy: That's an 18-year-old bloke talking about wanting to get into television.

Harry: Yeah, it's dying, isn't it?

Tommy: TV isn't probably the guy who's managing the TV.

Josh: He's trying to be a bit sort of young cool by calling it TV. He's trying to— I like it, television. Take television, that's great.

Tommy: Yeah, but don't you think there's— so there's something about old soul has old, um, there's something there.

Harry: I think it's, it's gonna work.

Josh: We'll, we'll get there. And so when it comes to, I'm always thinking about travelling, what you're going to eat, especially being a vejo. Have you thought about what you're going to eat? No.

Tommy: Okay. All right. He's fine.

Mason: Do you eat like falafels and stuff? What is falafels?

Josh: Falafel. Oh, mate, you're in for a surprise.

Tommy: Oh, I do have stuff, a bunch of stuff you haven't tried. Like, what have you not had?

Harry: Well, we don't have many vegetarian options back home.

Mason: So what do you eat back home? What is the standard dinner?

Harry: Salads and baked things with lentils and chickpeas in them and all sorts of things.

Josh: Any of your other family members vejo? No.

Harry: Just you? Just me.

Tommy: There's, um, a bunch of stuff Mr. 97 hadn't done before he became mates with us and started working with us.

Josh: Can you name some of them?

Harry: Do you know what some of the things? Uh, drinking. He went on his first date. Yes. Um, lots of things.

Tommy: Yeah. Uh, what haven't you done that you want to do? I'm not a—

Harry: uh, I'm not sure.

Josh: What were you going to say then? I'm not a big doer.

Harry: Well, I was going to say I'm like Mr. 97. I'm not a big drinker. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I went to our year 12 muck-up party, like our final party after the year finished, and I was just drinking soda water.

Tommy: It's all right, old soft.

Harry: I don't remember the night, so I don't know what was in it. As far as I know, it's just lemons. Apparently I was handing out— I had a gig earlier that night, I was running like sound lighting for an event, and then apparently my friends were telling me I was walking around handing out AA batteries. I was like, I don't know how that happened.

Tommy: Something in the water in your area.

Josh: And so the gig stuff, so what do you do? Like extracurricular? I love extracurricular activities. Were you ever in the SRC?

Harry: Not in the SRC. I was in the SRC for one year. Why? Our SRC is not like your SRC where you have a president. It's just not much happens. But I was on our local youth council, which was run by a shire. I did youth parliament, which I'm sure you've heard of. No, I haven't. No, it's youth parliament. It's a YMCA programme, and they take a bunch of young people into Parliament House on Spring Street, and we debate bills in front of real politicians and try and convince them that our bills should be put in place. Oh great.

Josh: Do you think you'd ever get into politics?

Harry: No, couldn't stand it. No? Why? Just arguing, just bunch of arguing adults.

Josh: That's very true. And so the gig stuff, is that in the theatre or what? Yes, so I do a lot of theatre work.

Harry: I've been at our local musical theatre group since I was 9, and I worked my way up the roles there. And I do a lot of concerts and events. I also film a lot of client videos for people, all sorts of things.

Josh: And so you've probably heard our improv, trying to do a bit of improv. You're a director? You've, uh, I wouldn't say I'm a director.

Harry: I'm directing my first show at the moment.

Josh: It sounds like, what does that mean?

Tommy: What are you doing? What is, what does a director do for a show?

Harry: Well, I I like to see what they want to do first. I want to see what they do naturally, how they naturally portray their characters. And then I like to build that up a step. I add blocking, what I think the scene will look like, and I block them like, it'll be great if you're here because that helps you there further on. And then so we walk through the scene and block out the scene of how it's going to look. And then as we go on through the week, we add emotion and things to the scene. So we're— we've just finished Act 1 of the whole play. So this week they're revising Act 1 while I'm away.

Tommy: Do you, um, do you get hard at all?

Harry: I think so. I love this old soul. Well, I have to sometimes. Are the kids older than you or younger?

Josh: They're all adults. Yes, this is the best.

Tommy: Old soul is 18-year-old. Have you ever raised your voice?

Harry: No, no, not at all.

Tommy: I want you to build out a bucket list for this week. Okay, that'd be good. Just like, what do you want to get across? What do you want to try? Maybe, maybe Mr. 97, who is now becoming an experienced adult, can sort of guide you in that direction.

Mason: Yeah, great.

Josh: And so if we were to do like, what's a theatre game that would be— because we always do improv, I feel like you would have— 3 times. As a, as a director, you would have a bunch of theatre games. No, not really. What, what's something that you could get us to do?

Harry: Oh, the other night I got them to do this thing where Because I did a project a few years ago and there was heaps of young people in Swan Hill and we did this thing where we stood in this huge circle and we all went forward slowly and slowly and slowly. And then all as a big group, we jumped and landed on the ground and went, ha. So I tried to do it. You did what?

Josh: And you said what? Ha.

Tommy: So you jump and then say ha. But you do it.

Harry: Nobody leads it and you just do it all together as a big group. So I got— tried to get our theatre people to do it.

Josh: How did it go?

Harry: It didn't go too well. Everybody's just going, ha ha ha ha ha. No one's doing it as a big team.

Tommy: So the idea is to do it as a team.

Harry: It's hard to explain. No, I get it. But there's lots of YouTube videos on it that shows you how it's done properly. But then, so I said, let's do it. So we did it once and then all of a sudden we're going, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Everybody was doing it at their own time.

Josh: And so what did that tell you about the group?

Harry: That we need to bond together a lot more and work out a way of seeing where everybody else is at during the play. So that— so I saw from that exercise that we all needed to work together and work as a team a lot more, and that would help their acting.

Josh: Is there any secret, a secret sauce when it comes to directing people?

Harry: Any sort of tricks? I'm a first-time director, I don't really know this stuff yet. It's a good answer.

Josh: And so from an improv point of view, if we were to do some improv now, if you were to set up the scene for us and maybe even give yourself a plug. Can we go through your act? What does that mean?

Mason: Well, the one that you were talking about just before, your first scene. Can we?

Harry: I don't think we can legally. Oh yeah, thank you.

Josh: At least someone's thinking about it. Um, yeah, no, come on, change a few names.

Mason: Change a few names.

Josh: Yeah, people know it's still great, you know. Um, I know I like the idea of it. A good idea, 97, but you just don't understand how theatre works. Harry, set us a scene. Give it— I want— give 97 a character. Actually, this is perfect. The first one that 97 can be involved in. Yeah, great. Keep in mind that, um, maybe you could think of War of the Worlds. Maybe it could be audio, sort of radio style. So, scene, characters. You've got this.

Harry: Yeah. All right, Tommy, you're an old lady, okay, trying to board the train. Tommy, uh, Josh, sorry. You're an old blind fella. Okay, I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I'm just kidding. Yeah, oh, you're, you're a man with a stutter and you're all trying to fit through a small door. I don't know. No, that's shit. I don't know.

Josh: I don't know.

Harry: I mean, this is hard. Just put it on the spot.

Josh: It's, it's good. You put us all falling. I'm good other than Tommy. Yeah, 97.

Harry: See, I'm a first time, I don't know what I'm doing.

Josh: I think— no, we can give it a go.

Harry: Give up, give up. That's a shot. By the end of the week we'll do one of these.

Tommy: I'll think of one, I'll think of one. Did you do anything in preparation for coming down? No, no, no, nothing. I like this kid. I love this kid.

Josh: Would you consider— I mean, I know it's early days— would you consider getting Tattoo? No, no tattoo but like— The Daily Talk Show Tattoo! I mean floor manager role, we can't give you a floor manager role but I'd love Harry full-time. Yeah me too what's the flow, what does a floor manager look like for a modern day show here like how could today if you were to design your own role and well like you know what screw James C., screw RMIT don't even bother going to RMIT tomorrow for your meeting just don't do it. And you come and you're working here full-time. Okay, what's the role?

Harry: I think, I think you could— one way to grow your business would be—

Tommy: fuck, this is what I want, just answer about revenue.

Josh: Yeah, yeah, perfect. Why do you think about revenue?

Harry: Maybe, um, like, you don't want to rent out your space because you don't know what would happen, but he's across it.

Josh: But there's lots of, uh, have you read my strategy?

Harry: There's lots of one-button Is that what you were doing last night?

Josh: I was doing some strategy stuff.

Harry: Yeah. There's lots of one-button studios that are popping up, but there's none in Melbourne. And that's a place where somebody walks in, sticks a USB in a slot and can film like a PC camera.

Josh: Who's doing it well in the world, do you think?

Harry: La Trobe Uni, I was watching a video on YouTube, were doing it. Penn State University in America started it and it's just like a little room and people walk in and record their own videos. And I think there's a big market for it in Melbourne. And I think if you were to invest a few bob into that. Well, Scooter Derek is getting into it.

Josh: I love that idea. Yeah, maybe. So where would you fit? What would your, uh, if you were to— if you've listened to the show a bunch, you've watched the show, if we were to make you a director of the company, what do you do? If we were to design a role— so that's an idea or whatever, but designing a role specifically around the show, what would you like? What do you think you could bring to the Daily Talk Show and Big Media Company?

Harry: I don't know. This is hard. I liked, I really liked when you were in America, how you did a few, you don't call them outside broadcasts, but like a few out and about podcasts. Yeah. You're not always confined in the space of the studio. I think that worked quite well. So we could see.

Josh: What about if this week for a weekend banter, we do an outside broadcast and it's managed by you. You manage it. That can be the final episode. Maybe we do it as the Sunday ep. Yeah. And you manage the whole thing. Does that sound good?

Harry: Yep, we can do that.

Tommy: What comes to mind? What's the location? What do you like?

Harry: Oh, there's some quirky places in Melbourne, isn't there? Have to go somewhere unique. Yeah, like just doing it out the front of Flinders Street, it's just like, ugh, you have to think of somewhere good.

Tommy: I like it. I like it.

Harry: What comes to mind? I don't know. The Cat Cafe.

Josh: The Cat Cafe? Have you been to the Cat Cafe? No, no, you said, why, what have you thought about? Yeah, mate. I think it's in, it's close to Envato, I believe, because I think that some of the people would go.

Tommy: I'd need to take a tel fast for sure. But I'll push through. Tel fast fix me. It's all good.

Harry: What if you do an episode?

Tommy: That would be so cool. Yeah. And tell me about this cat cafe, Mr.

Mason: 97s. Well, I'm just looking through photos on Google.

Josh: It is awesome. Is this the Melbourne specific one?

Harry: Yeah, yeah.

Mason: Cat Cafe Melbourne. They've got just a bunch of tables and chairs set up and they've got cats on the tables. They've got like, you know, those things things that cats play on. They're like real high and they climb up the scratching poles.

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, you fucking idiot.

Mason: They can run through them and stuff.

Tommy: It's more like a whole, like a course.

Josh: Yeah, I love that idea, Harry. I think we can do that. That would be funny. So I think like you'll need to organise it, so you gotta— I mean, you're across all the legal stuff.

Tommy: Would you be a guy that would call or send an email? Hey, what do you do? What's your vibe?

Harry: I'll do that. I send a lot of cold emails. Actually, I sent one last night.

Josh: Oh, who to? Ellen DeGeneres. Trying to get a Christmas tree? What email is it?

Tommy: Like, what have you found? Sorry, whose email did you find?

Harry: No, it was on the website, just the contact us page.

Mason: Okay, okay.

Harry: I did it. It's always been my dream to go to America, and I did a show quite recently for the ABC Kids, and I said on it 'Everything's big in America. I love America, and I love Ellen DeGeneres.' I said something like that. I said, 'Hang on, I said Ellen DeGeneres's name, so I could write her an email saying, I just promoted your show here in Australia to children.' Great, perfect. 'In turn, could I get a trip to America and spend a week interning at the Ellen DeGeneres Show?' Yeah, that's good. So that way they're getting both promotion Yeah, to the younger demographic and some free labor.

Josh: You know, I tried to actually get a trip to go to see Alan and I dressed up as a big— it looked like a corn chip.

Harry: And so I just end up in the riffraff shop.

Josh: No, so no, the way that I got it, when I was working at FeeFee and Jewels, we did a big brand integration with Shapes and they spent about $2,500 on this costume that looked like a shape.. And Jules Lund wore it. Anyway, once it was all used, Ellen DeGeneres, remember she came to Australia, I think part like Qantas, they did a big thing. Yeah. And Swiss. Yeah.

Tommy: Yes, Swiss. She did a show at the Opera House, I remember.

Harry: Yeah. And they did a no or go into the harbour, didn't they?

Josh: I don't know. Yeah. I'm not across these.

Tommy: I trust you, though, for knowing.

Josh: But anyway, they were giving before she came to Australia. They were giving a bunch of people from Australia the chance to fly over there and you had to just dress up in a costume. And so I dressed up as the, as the shape slash corn chip. What flavour? It was cheese. Okay.

Tommy: We've got a shitty flavour.

Josh: We've got a photo that I'll put up on the Instagram account.

Harry: Would it be more Aussie to do barbecue or something like that?

Josh: Like an actual barbecue dress? Oh, barbecue flavour.

Harry: I don't get it. They've got those Australian shaped chips. Shapes now. Oh yeah, they do. I wanted to try one. They don't have Tasmania.

Tommy: They don't have Tasmania on them. That was— oh yeah, that was a pet peeve.

Josh: Surely there's a, an extra little bit, all the crumbs.

Tommy: That's, that's Tasmania in the bag. That's funny. All right, so yeah, so how would you approach the Cat Cafe?

Harry: I'll call them up, say I've got an awesome opportunity for you.

Josh: We've got opportunity, opportunity, opportunity.

Harry: Locked in, locked in. We've got a podcast company, they've got a big following, and in turn they'll create a lot of advertising for you free of charge. We'll do a show at the Cat Cafe, and we'll just need a quiet location, so possibly just a session by ourselves.

Josh: Um, fuck, he's good. This is really good.

Harry: He's real good. Go on.

Josh: And can I ask questions as the Cat Cafe? Yeah, yeah.

Harry: What's the podcast? The podcast is just a few gronks. They just talk about everyday things. Uh, it's real Aussie banter, um, and they just talk about bits of everything, which has landed them a big following because they're very relatable. Oh yeah.

Josh: How big is the following?

Harry: Oh, I don't know. How big is your following?

Josh: It's growing, isn't it?

Harry: It's an ever-growing following. Ever-growing following. It's constantly rising.

Tommy: Exponential growth.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Just put a few keywords in there.

Josh: Yeah, it's pretty good.

Tommy: And so month on month, just say stuff like that.

Josh: No, that was pretty good. Any other questions? Is the Cat Cafe—

Tommy: We can't close down. We can't give you a time. We're a cafe. We need to be open. We need to make money.

Harry: Well, see, it will actually benefit you if you close one session and reserve a session for us with the cats, because then we can have as many cats as us while we're recording, and then we show how big the cat cafe is and how many cats you have. They have— sorry, this is— he's doing a product character promotion. They have blind cats and legless cats and all sorts of stuff. It is amazing. They take anything, take any cat.

Tommy: It's all the rage.

Harry: We went there years ago. They would have had like 30. Ah, it's 2 storeys and you have to go out. So it's one room with reception and then the bottom floor room and the top level room, and you have to go out through reception up the stairs to get to the top floor where the cafe is. And the downstairs room's like a playroom, so there's like little— and then the cats have their own little ladder that's inside the playroom. And I went in there and I tripped on a cat toy and it went, did you not like, like a ballywhacker into a pool, just straight onto the floor. And all the cats just— there was heaps of tourists in there from overseas and stuff, like some that didn't even speak English. And here I am onto the floor and all the cats went, whoomp, and scattered out of the room.

Josh: I love it.

Harry: I've never seen so many cats.

Josh: Were there any mean cats?

Harry: I don't— there was a cage, like a perspex cage in the corner and it said like, this is for naughty and sick cats or something. I'm going back. I was in year 8.

Tommy: And so it's still there, is it, Mr.

Mason: 97's? Yeah, they've got 21 cats in there.

Josh: And is it on, is it King Street or is it Queen?

Harry: No, it's a little lane, isn't it? Off like Latrobe or something.

Tommy: I wonder, do they charge an entry fee or is it between Latrobe Street and Little Northcote?

Harry: And do they do coffee? Yeah, I think so.

Tommy: Harry just dabbed. I think so. So yeah. Do you pay to get in? Or is it like some of these are gimmicky joints? Yeah, but some of them are gimmicky. You just pay like $4 entry and then you get your coffee. Or is it just the cafe vibe and you just walk in?

Mason: Book your visit online. Okay. Entry ticket, 1-hour pass, $12.

Tommy: Yeah. So yeah, you literally—

Mason: oh, but he— okay, you can— what, 1-hour pass plus brownie and a drink, $18.

Harry: Brownie and a drink, company card.

Josh: Yeah, it's perfect. Brownie and a drink. He's got it all dialled in. So Harry, would you consider, if we were to come up with a nickname for you, would you consider changing? Because this is an issue I had with 3D Dill. Yeah, he never changed. You don't lose it. Well, he never changed his handle name to 3D Dill, and I feel like it would have been way more effective if he'd done like what Mr. Nice7, even though Mr. Nice7's terrible at social media.

Harry: Every year I do a brandathon where I do my new profile pic and all that stuff. That's Sarah Deitch. She does a brandathon.

Josh: We could do that.

Mason: We could get get the pics done and everything. Yeah, so I did a brand.

Josh: You want to manage our brandathon?

Harry: So anyway, back to the story. I was Hazlod on Instagram. Yeah, but I thought no, because that doesn't match my Twitter profile, which is Twitter @TheHarryLodge, which my Instagram is now. And I went, 3D Deal, he couldn't change his Instagram, so I won't be able to. Then I started fretting, thinking, oh no, I'll just have to start a new Instagram account and all that stuff. But it works, you can just change it.

Josh: You can change it. Yeah, well, he— 3D Deal apparently wasn't available or something, or he was a bit on the edge about whether he wanted those his brand. But if we came up with a nickname for you, would you— Floor Manager Harry?

Tommy: Too long. I reckon we will find it and we'll present it to you. Do a ceremony. We will open it up and like a Miss Universe. Yeah. Present you with your name.

Harry: Did you—

Josh: You never had a nickname as a kid?

Harry: No. Okay. Harry. I've always just been Harry. Okay, Harry Lodge. Yeah.

Josh: All right, well, we'll, uh, we'll have a bit of a thing. Yeah. Any emails, 97s?

Mason: Yeah, we got an email from Ben that we didn't get to last week. Oh yeah. Oh, yesterday.

Harry: Yes, yesterday. I was listening to that.

Tommy: That is last week. Yeah, because yesterday was Sunday, and that's—

Harry: well, what do you think? Oh, say a week starts on Monday, so it was last week.

Tommy: So you're right, 3. Yeah, great.

Mason: Gronks, welcome back home, and congratulations on a monumental series of podcasts from LA. Each one was a certified banger. Especially the one with Matt and Nat Diavella. Uh, love that guy. Grant Smiley, I too remember the heady days of One Love and Summer Days, but for me the standout was Alex and Mimi, icon. Thank you for having that conversation with Alex and Mimi.

Tommy: Harry, please feel free to give your commentary as we go.

Harry: No, I was like, that was a good episode.

Mason: Um, that came at a perfect time for me as there were lots of topics covered that I needed to hear and rehear, and that conversation really picked me up out of a slump, put a fire under my ass, and got me fired up for living the way I want to. So thank you. Fired up! Keep being bloody awesome, um, you bunch of gronks, and I look forward to another 8+ years of the daily talk show. Gronk Ben. It's nice.

Tommy: Yeah, how good's Ben?

Josh: Do you have a favourite guest that we've ever had on, Harry?

Harry: Oh, I don't know. I like the episodes with Gemma. Yeah, they're always a good giggle. She's really funny.

Tommy: Queen Gronk. I think Queen Gronkh would love you. Yeah, yeah, mainly, mainly because you just referenced it.

Harry: Mason and her doing the episode 500. I really wanted to come, but that was in the middle of my exams.

Josh: Yeah, and also, yeah, quite the—

Harry: yeah, so I watched the video and all the photos and it was so cute.

Tommy: Yeah, he's a big cutie, isn't he?

Harry: He is, isn't he? See, it's like once all that blonde's gone, you'll be cute again. It's just I don't like the half-assed sort of blonde or It's just you've got to go all out one or the other.

Josh: Fair enough. No, I appreciate that. I really do. I'm pumped. I'm pumped for this week. So good to have you here, Harry. Yeah, I'm just thinking, my mind is ticking.

Tommy: There's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot. I mean, start writing stuff down, Harry. What you want to do, what you want to take. Do you need to see our finances? When do you want to run us through our business plan? Let us know.

Josh: I think it's going to be great. Did you say it's a joke?

Tommy: It's a joke, but no, it's serious. Josh is working on a strategy and he needs we'd sign off from you by 2 o'clock tomorrow.

Josh: Definitely. hi@thedailytalkshow.com is the email address. If you've got any ideas of what Harry should do.

Tommy: Yeah. Yeah. And if you were on work experience and there's something just like true to work experience, what you, it's like a rite of passage for work experience. Let us know.

Josh: Is there a, yeah, I wonder if there's a specific food that you eat a lot of that starts with an H based on like the veggie thing. I'm wondering if there's something there. Harissa. No, never heard of it.

Harry: Is it chilli? Is it? Oh, I don't like chilli. Yeah, you might like harissa sauce. You know what I was questioning the other day, 97, when you're having your snack dinner or whatever you call it? Snack tea. Yeah, snack tea. And you said you had chilli sticks. Red pepper. Yeah, red pepper sticks. They're not chilli, aren't they?

Mason: No, it's capsicum. Red pepper is capsicum.

Josh: He calls— being in New Zealand sometimes, like, he's from New Zealand originally. And his parents are from New Zealand and there's a lot of Americanisms. And so, they call shopping centres malls. Yeah. And they call capsicums peppers. Bell pepper.

Tommy: What's a bell pepper? Is that—

Mason: Bell pepper is the same thing.

Josh: Is it capsicum? Yeah. Okay.

Mason: I bet you can see it's— They're written like at Coles and stuff. Sometimes it's red pepper.

Harry: See, I Googled that red pepper and then came up with a big long red thing. You Googled it? I Googled it because I was like, what are they? And then it said like a spice or something, and I was like, oh my God, you're eating them with carrots.

Josh: Do you have any interest of being like, um, you're talking about the floor manager behind the scenes, would you ever be talent?

Harry: I enjoy being talent, but I'm not very good at it. I'm not like quick, I'm not quick. Yeah, no, I like it.

Josh: It's a Daily Talk Show, uh, the email again, hi@thedailytalkshow.com. Uh, if you do, uh, want video work, do you know what we do outside of the podcast, Harry?

Harry: Yes. What is it? Client videos and promotional videos and all that stuff.

Tommy: So this is the moment where you actually do the sell for what we do outside of this.

Harry: Take it away, Harry. If you want a good showreel or promotional video or corporate video showcasing your business, feel free to contact The Big Media Company or visit their website, bigmediacompany.com.

Josh: Right. That was not planned. I think we need to do that every time. Just insert it every time. Exactly.

Tommy: See you tomorrow, guys. See you guys.