Speaker 1: You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. Mama Mea acknowledges
Speaker 1: the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
Speaker 1: is recorded on Hello friends, well to get you prepped
Speaker 1: for my takeover. This is a soft launch. Really, I'm
Speaker 1: dropping into your feed to share one of my favorite
Speaker 1: interviews from the series of No Filter I did last year.
Speaker 1: Andy Lee, of course needs no introduction. You know him
Speaker 1: as a beloved comedian, a host, a writer. But in
Speaker 1: this episode of No Filter, Andy opens up about himself,
Speaker 1: which is something that he doesn't really often do. He
Speaker 1: shares how important it is to tell your friends how
Speaker 1: you feel, how he and Hamish Blake haven't always vibed
Speaker 1: with certain projects, and all the nosy people on Instagram
Speaker 1: who by they turned out to be right. I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoy it. Oh my goodness, this is so exciting.
Speaker 1: Andy Lee, Welcome to No Filter.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Nice to be welcomed.
Speaker 1: It is nice to be welcomed. Imagine if I was like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing, which is actually what I did
Speaker 1: say when I walked in, because you got here before me.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm punctual, though you're more than punctual. You
Speaker 1: were unfashionably early.
Speaker 2: It was actually annoying, sit in the car kind of guy.
Speaker 2: I would prefer to be right on time. Five minutes
Speaker 2: early is and more annoying than five minutes late. Often.
Speaker 1: Yes, people aren't prepared for you. That's very unlike most
Speaker 1: people in showbiz. Actually, because you're very now this.
Speaker 2: Is mindful of others, well thoughtful.
Speaker 1: He's a goodful guy. I've never encountered it before. But
Speaker 1: because you're very left brain and right brain so creative,
Speaker 1: which doesn't always sit with order.
Speaker 2: We organized, Yeah, Hamish, and I'd argue he's more creative
Speaker 2: than I.
Speaker 1: Sorry, who's HAMI good of mine?
Speaker 2: He doesn't have the organization right, but hilariously, it'll text
Speaker 2: me and go, I'm going to be either five minutes
Speaker 2: early or five minutes later, and you're.
Speaker 1: So well organized you would know which of those he's
Speaker 1: going to be. Okay, Speaking of Hamish, it is almost
Speaker 1: impossible to talk about Andy Lee without talking about Hamish Blake.
Speaker 1: I can say no more more iconic duo because it
Speaker 1: really is. But it's a very unusual coupling. A because
Speaker 1: it seems so harmonious and organic, seems well, and also
Speaker 1: because it's lasted longer. It's been more enduring than any
Speaker 1: of your more romantic relationships, and.
Speaker 2: His is exactly and we sleep together less than the other. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean I love it. It's never bothered me that
Speaker 2: for a long time I never had a surname. Actually
Speaker 2: I was kind of Hamish's surname and Andy. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: when we both walk down the street, we both get
Speaker 2: he Hamish, Hey, Andy the other person's name.
Speaker 1: But always I get where's Hughesy? And I broke up
Speaker 1: our iconic duo to go to Italy three years ago,
Speaker 1: four years ago. Yes, so it's very much cemented in
Speaker 1: public recognition of who you are. That's also lovely. Tell
Speaker 1: me it's downsides, Oh, if there are any.
Speaker 2: I don't actually feel the downsides at all. Maybe there's
Speaker 2: moments where you'd like to have your own identity, but
Speaker 2: I love what we do. I don't think I would
Speaker 2: have been great. It's just a pop singer. I prefer
Speaker 2: to be in a band, you know. And that's with everything, Yes,
Speaker 2: so much. Prefer doing shows, people my happy places, doing
Speaker 2: stuff with ham love, sharing the excitement and the failure.
Speaker 2: In fact, sharing failures to some of the funniest things
Speaker 2: you can do. But when you fail by yourself. It
Speaker 2: could be very, very low.
Speaker 1: So what when you say sharing failure.
Speaker 2: Got our first TV I got asked after six weeks.
Speaker 1: When was that?
Speaker 2: Two thousand and four?
Speaker 1: What was it?
Speaker 2: Show? Channel seven? Chris Lily was doing Mister g Really,
Speaker 2: Andrew Keith was on it as a Holy comedian improviser. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Someone doesn't like my individual work. It's only me that
Speaker 2: they didn't like. When someone doesn't like our work, I
Speaker 2: can look across at Hame and go, well, I find
Speaker 2: you the funniest person in the world. That person must
Speaker 2: be wrong with their opinion. It's it's an easy, nice
Speaker 2: little shell to be sitting inside. I don't mind it
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 1: It's lovely. Also because within the partnership, both of you
Speaker 1: have explored different partners Yes, but you've explored different aspects
Speaker 1: of yourself and kind of I'm going to say, increasingly
Speaker 1: you are showing more sides to yourself I think, which
Speaker 1: always existed. But I'm kind of reminded of this because
Speaker 1: I remember years ago Hughsey showing me a video that
Speaker 1: you had made, and it was for one of your
Speaker 1: other great loves, the cart and Footy Club. Yes, And
Speaker 1: I went, oh, who directed that? And he said, Andy Lee,
Speaker 1: and it was amazing. When you hold a certain perception
Speaker 1: in the public mind and it's with great affection, but
Speaker 1: it also can be quite limiting. So it's just like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're just a funny guy.
Speaker 2: Or I'm just the guy laughs at the funny guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well there's that as well. We'll get onto that
Speaker 1: because that is a very interesting kind of narrative to negotiate.
Speaker 1: I imagine.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, like you say negotiate, it sounds like
Speaker 2: you have to do something about it. But if you're
Speaker 2: really comfortable just I mean, I think people naturally felt
Speaker 2: that with any comic duo, that has to be a
Speaker 2: straight guy and a funny guy. Yes, Hamish and I
Speaker 2: never felt that. I think Hamish is funnier if you
Speaker 2: wanted to try and do the mass of it. But
Speaker 2: that's never been Our goal is to try and make
Speaker 2: him laugh, and he tries to make me laugh, and
Speaker 2: so I think people would try to slot you into
Speaker 2: those certain roles. Yeah, to say it never bothered me.
Speaker 2: There would have been times and I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 2: want to be the funny guy, but that's probably left
Speaker 2: a long long time ago.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, the thing is it kind of reminds
Speaker 1: me of in every group of girls, ye friendship group,
Speaker 1: there's always an impossibly hot girl. So individually all those
Speaker 1: girls in the group might be hot, but you know
Speaker 1: that there's always one. Yes, you kind of love it
Speaker 1: as well, because who doesn't love to have a hot friend.
Speaker 1: But you're hot friend, You're the hot guy. Your friend
Speaker 1: is ludicrously hot, and so it does. It kind of
Speaker 1: throws a shadow. And I think because of the work
Speaker 1: that you do, it requires and amount of ego to
Speaker 1: be able to do that work, but not so much
Speaker 1: ego that it destroys the work.
Speaker 2: Yes, no, I hear what you're saying there. But I
Speaker 2: think what's lucky for both hamishon for me and our
Speaker 2: relationship is the ego is not huge of either of us,
Speaker 2: I don't think, and that probably what makes it work.
Speaker 2: Hamish is so laid back, he just wants to do
Speaker 2: fun things.
Speaker 1: He's very lovable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so I found the right partner. And I
Speaker 2: mean neither of us were even going to go down
Speaker 2: this path until we met the UNI and we were
Speaker 2: making each other's laugh and we said we should be
Speaker 2: doing this in front of more people. So just in
Speaker 2: meeting him changed the whole trajectory of my life, but
Speaker 2: also what I was interested in, what I ended up doing,
Speaker 2: even though I did have some interesting performance and entertainment
Speaker 2: I was never going to do.
Speaker 1: You were studying Commerce.
Speaker 2: Arts commercience and we met at UNI, which is so
Speaker 2: strange because neither of us went very often.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like a lunar eclipse, right, But can
Speaker 1: you remember when you met?
Speaker 2: Yeah? It was really odd because the year before in
Speaker 2: a Quantity of Methods class, which is so boring.
Speaker 1: What is that? Yeah, I can't I'm already asleep.
Speaker 2: Yes, I hadn't gone for the entire semester and realized
Speaker 2: I was going to fail. And you got one percent
Speaker 2: hitch point per tutorial you attended. So I went to
Speaker 2: the tenth of ten tutorials.
Speaker 1: To claw back the ten percent.
Speaker 2: Well call back, the one was one per attendance.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I got in there and the guy's doing the roll
Speaker 2: call and he goes past Andrew Lee and I say, no, no,
Speaker 2: I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, and he said right
Speaker 2: for the first time, and he was a bit shirty
Speaker 2: at me. I said, yes, but can I quickly make
Speaker 2: a speech to the class? And he was kind of
Speaker 2: a laid back tutor, and he said, yeah, get up.
Speaker 2: So I got up, and I said, I haven't come
Speaker 2: for this entire semester for the good of everyone here.
Speaker 2: I'm destructive, I am distracting. I try to be funny,
Speaker 2: often not so Selplessly, I decided not to attend, even
Speaker 2: though I wanted to, but I knew that you'd all
Speaker 2: do better. And for that reason, I feel like I
Speaker 2: deserved ten percent, not just the one. And this tutor
Speaker 2: found it funny gave me ten percent. I got fifty
Speaker 2: one for quantitative methods. So I passed through and the
Speaker 2: guy as I was walking out of that class country
Speaker 2: and said that was really funny. I said thank you,
Speaker 2: and he said, you remind me of a friend of
Speaker 2: mine called Hamish. You should meet him. Oh And I said, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: where is he? Guse he doesn't live here. He's coming
Speaker 2: next year. I was like, all right, odd man, I'll
Speaker 2: see you later. And then March that following year, he
Speaker 2: walked across the quadrangle and said, this is the guy
Speaker 2: was telling you about. Oh my god, So you're in
Speaker 2: a very strange situation where Pete match made us and
Speaker 2: they got cut out of the deal. Yeah, right, and
Speaker 2: off we went to the pub. So yeah, it was
Speaker 2: only in that moment where naturally I liked being a buffoon,
Speaker 2: but finding someone that wanted to do it with me
Speaker 2: and was just you know, exciting.
Speaker 1: And when you say I wanted to do it with you,
Speaker 1: what did you start doing?
Speaker 2: Haimer took a lot of convincing. Ham was very studious.
Speaker 2: He was doing advanced mathematics, advanced physics, like book smart stuff.
Speaker 2: And you, I know, it's a wow moment because I know,
Speaker 2: because you look at him and he's not street smart.
Speaker 2: It's always like I always say, he's the dumbest smart
Speaker 2: guy I know. So good were hunting type stuff. I
Speaker 2: went to a few of his lectures and they've got
Speaker 2: these stupid equations on the door.
Speaker 1: Not even any numbers, just letters.
Speaker 2: Letters and strokes and so on. And because I'd shifted,
Speaker 2: I was doing kind of product and brand management and
Speaker 2: consumer behavior and stuff, and you didn't really have to
Speaker 2: rock up. You could still pass. And Hamish was getting
Speaker 2: taken away by me. His parents and grandparents didn't like
Speaker 2: me because.
Speaker 1: They're like, you're bad, you were the bad.
Speaker 2: Bad influence. He took some convincing because he was really studious.
Speaker 2: He wanted to do was doing computer science and he
Speaker 2: wanted to go to that path. And I was like, well,
Speaker 2: this is really fun what you're doing this.
Speaker 1: And what did you think this was going to be.
Speaker 2: Well, we were on the radio first at cin FM
Speaker 2: Student Youth Network. We pretended we were enrolled in r
Speaker 2: MIT when we're from Melbourne Union. We went out out
Speaker 2: the road and jumped on their airways and then I
Speaker 2: got a connection for us to have our show on
Speaker 2: Channel thirty one Community TV. And it was after five
Speaker 2: half hour episodes of Channel thirty one, we got offered
Speaker 2: a Channel seven show. It felt like Wayne's Well, I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if people know that the reference, but we
Speaker 2: just came from a basement show and suddenly we were
Speaker 2: on primetime in Channel seven and they thought we looked
Speaker 2: too young, so they put us in suits and it
Speaker 2: lasted six weeks and then we'll go on.
Speaker 1: But it did last longer than the five episodes on
Speaker 1: Channel three. So you were doing my favorite concept in showbiz,
Speaker 1: which is failing upwards, just just just but that was
Speaker 1: probably the last failure.
Speaker 2: I mean, oh, I've had other thing. I mean, I
Speaker 2: did a show called The Cube that she didn't catch
Speaker 2: five on Channel ten even though I loved it. It
Speaker 2: depends what you measure failure on. I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: know aligne failure with people not watching it or not
Speaker 2: making money on it or all that stuff.
Speaker 1: What do you consider failure just not enjoying yourself?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a while. I mean I was certainly
Speaker 2: more ambitious back in the day, but now it's just
Speaker 2: whatever project I want to do, it just has to
Speaker 2: be fun while doing it, because it's in the lap
Speaker 2: of the gods as to whether things work out or not.
Speaker 2: You know, there's so many ways of project can be
Speaker 2: ruined or not getting or not spark. If you've put
Speaker 2: something out that you're proud of and you enjoy doing it,
Speaker 2: success doesn't matter what happens after that. And that's a
Speaker 2: hand on how this is not just something I can
Speaker 2: read from my Kumbe book exactly how I feel about it.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have felt about it like that ten to
Speaker 2: fifteen years ago. I was more worried about we need
Speaker 2: to get through this, to do this, to do this. Hamish,
Speaker 2: on the other hand, he just wants to have fun. Yes,
Speaker 2: Like we've been given huge opportunities and Hay would just go,
Speaker 2: do you really want to do that? I'm sure how
Speaker 2: much fun I would be? And he bring me back
Speaker 2: down to earth and go I go, yeah, actually, you're right.
Speaker 2: And at one point when went from the Tonight Show
Speaker 2: to Primetime O'Brien that controversial, controversial period people, and this
Speaker 2: is Tonight's show was of America with that fascinating David
Speaker 2: Letterman and Colbert and all that stuff. But yeah, it
Speaker 2: was Conan and Jay Leno and they asked Hamish Knight
Speaker 2: to be the first segment of episode one of Jay
Speaker 2: Leno's Primetime Tonight, Oh my goodness, and we said no,
Speaker 2: because you don't see we don't want two idiots, and
Speaker 2: we thought it'd be too much pressure. And we ended
Speaker 2: up being the first segment of the third episode, right,
Speaker 2: and fourteen and a half million people watch it in
Speaker 2: the States. We're on with Robin Williams.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Yes, And so Robin Williams knocked on our door, were
Speaker 2: sitting our chain room and said he I'm Robin. And
Speaker 2: that was really special. And then straight after it they
Speaker 2: were like, we loved it. We want you to stay here,
Speaker 2: we want you to do this, and we we were saying, oh, well,
Speaker 2: we've got a radio show, and they said, we'll move
Speaker 2: the radio show. You can do the radio show from
Speaker 2: la and we just want to go home. We've done
Speaker 2: the caravan trip.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we said we won't do a segment next week,
Speaker 2: we'll do one the week after for you, but we
Speaker 2: just need to fly back. We flew back. We end
Speaker 2: up doing another segment for the Letto Show, which went
Speaker 2: really well, and they said we need an answer by
Speaker 2: the end of that week. They need an answer to it.
Speaker 1: So it was that real American as you would imagine it.
Speaker 2: It was absolutely you imagine it. As soon as we
Speaker 2: walked off stage, producers were sitting there they'd seen the
Speaker 2: reaction from the audience on that first segment and just
Speaker 2: took us and walked us straight out the back and said, hey, Jay,
Speaker 2: want to speak to at the end of it. That
Speaker 2: was fantastic. What can we talk about next? You know,
Speaker 2: like it was just immediate. You do ghost if you
Speaker 2: remember that basically a primary school yard trick of just
Speaker 2: walking behind someone close to.
Speaker 1: Them until to see how long you can do it
Speaker 1: until that night.
Speaker 2: This is before TikTok and before you know Instagram, So
Speaker 2: all these silly little ideas we had. They seemed more novel,
Speaker 2: I reckon than these days. We see probably a hundred
Speaker 2: of them every minute of the TikTok. I was driving
Speaker 2: down to Kill the road and I rang Haimer said, Oh,
Speaker 2: and Ego and me, We're like, this could be great,
Speaker 2: this could be America. I said, I rank. Haym said,
Speaker 2: what are you thinking? And he said I think we'd
Speaker 2: only do it to be more famous. And he said
Speaker 2: do you want that? And I was like, but maybe.
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's hard to answer, isn't it.
Speaker 2: And he said I don't And I just love making
Speaker 2: the stuff here with our friends. We're still making our
Speaker 2: stuff with our mates. UNI. Yeah, andrek would be more fun.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, I don't think it would be
Speaker 2: more fun. He's like, I guess that's our answer.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. So who told your manager?
Speaker 2: There's been many times our manager has gone, you're fucking
Speaker 2: kidding me? Yeah, yeah, but you're sure, boys are You're sure?
Speaker 2: But that's you know. We left Drive Radio at its peak,
Speaker 2: and we stopped Gap Year at its peak, and we
Speaker 2: only get two seasons of True Story, and that was
Speaker 2: going great and it was because we just want to
Speaker 2: try more and more things. And again Haim would go, hey,
Speaker 2: this becoming more run of the mill. We need to
Speaker 2: ourselves and I was a bit the same.
Speaker 1: Well, there is, you're both kind of adrenaline junkies in
Speaker 1: the sense of adrenaline being generated from ideas as well.
Speaker 1: Doesn't have to have that physical overture tour agree. So
Speaker 1: along the way you've had this core group of friends,
Speaker 1: collabory drawers and that seems to have been a constant.
Speaker 1: So it's like you've both got much loved families, but
Speaker 1: you've built this new family as well within How does
Speaker 1: that work for people who can't or for someone like
Speaker 1: you who is constantly you know, you've got the drive
Speaker 1: in you, you've got the engine going yep, how do
Speaker 1: you just build that?
Speaker 2: It was great because we had a company called Radio Karate,
Speaker 2: which is the name of our Channel thirty one show,
Speaker 2: and it was Hamish and I and Ryan and Tim,
Speaker 2: which are two mates from Hamish's school.
Speaker 1: And so Ryan Shelton I know, right, yeah, and.
Speaker 2: He was schoolmates with him, and Tim was also schoolmate
Speaker 2: with year run it kind of be outsider, ah, and
Speaker 2: so it was great that we said, these guys can
Speaker 2: film with us. They're passionate about it. The best thing
Speaker 2: about failing is that you can just reassess and start again, and.
Speaker 1: You've got nothing to lose.
Speaker 2: Yes, And so we got a good bounce on the
Speaker 2: failure because the press decided to even though they were
Speaker 2: writing about how bad the show was a week before,
Speaker 2: it gets asked and they flip it and they go, oh, oh,
Speaker 2: these twenty one year olds. How dare they put two
Speaker 2: twenty one year olds on prime time and only.
Speaker 1: Give them six weeks not to support them.
Speaker 2: Channel seven's you know the worst, all that stuff. So
Speaker 2: we get this halo from having a pretty poor show.
Speaker 2: The show had its faults, and what's great about that
Speaker 2: is if they just let it run for ten weeks
Speaker 2: and the season finished.
Speaker 1: Would have come to a natural, natural remarkable exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Right, So we're kind of grateful. I'm very grateful that
Speaker 2: seven acts us because you suddenly can use that momentum
Speaker 2: and spirit into something else. Now we were doing it
Speaker 2: was called the ham Machinery Show, but it wasn't ours.
Speaker 2: It wasn't our ideas. Some of our ideas, but we
Speaker 2: need to do a lot of other people's ideas and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff exactly the show that we
Speaker 2: would put together. And that is not a great feeling.
Speaker 1: That is not a great feeling because, as my mother sees,
Speaker 1: the camel is a horse designed by a committee. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know, and sometimes you're watching shows and you're like
Speaker 1: you can feel or watching a movie you can feel
Speaker 1: the executives involved.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we didn't know better. But what feels awful
Speaker 2: is someone saying, hey, your show's shit, and you're like, well,
Speaker 2: it's not really. It wasn't really our idea, like realize
Speaker 2: very quickly, Hey, your name's on it, you're on the billboard,
Speaker 2: it's yours. So we incorporated our own company then there
Speaker 2: and said would only.
Speaker 1: Make it's incredible, We'll only make our own stuff. Who
Speaker 1: thought of that?
Speaker 2: Oh, I think it was a bit of a collective.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was Andy Lay. I don't think
Speaker 1: it was. There's no way Hamish's going, well, let's corporate
Speaker 1: a company, because he doesn't think like that.
Speaker 2: Does he Hame definitely participates in all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I know, but I would think in the
Speaker 1: leading of that that that's more. You, that's more would.
Speaker 2: Say that he like I do love that side of things.
Speaker 2: You know, we even talk about that as far as
Speaker 2: even ideas go. Hame would have brilliant ideas, but I'd
Speaker 2: know how to package them. Yeah right, yeah, and so
Speaker 2: I'd hear them and go, oh my god, this is great.
Speaker 2: This is how we serve it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So like he'd have all the ingredients ready to go
Speaker 2: and I could just plait it up. But he always
Speaker 2: felt that my strength was knowing exactly how people want
Speaker 2: to eat this, like knowing exactly how people want to
Speaker 2: hear it exactly. So that's what made the partnership so
Speaker 2: fun and exciting because the parts that maybe doesn't come
Speaker 2: as naturally to him, even though he's very good at them,
Speaker 2: the parts don't come as naturally to me, even though
Speaker 2: I can play in that area complimentary.
Speaker 1: Because I think that's a secret of any relationship, romant
Speaker 1: or otherwise, is that people are always like it got
Speaker 1: to find someone who's got you know, the same interest
Speaker 1: as you know, No, what's the point of that. Actually
Speaker 1: find someone who's got complimentary aspects of their personality.
Speaker 2: But you know you're Cal Pilkington. You might have heard
Speaker 2: of him. Oh I love Carl from Ricky Jay's podcast,
Speaker 2: I'm going to paraphrase, but he said something about a
Speaker 2: relationship which I just it absolutely sat with me. And
Speaker 2: he was talking about romantic relationships, but he said, I
Speaker 2: think the best relationship is when you're walking exactly your
Speaker 2: path and they're walking exactly their path, and you look
Speaker 2: over and you're still side by side. Yeah. Right, And
Speaker 2: it's all words that effect in his acts.
Speaker 1: Can you do the accent?
Speaker 2: So I feel that with Haim. I feel that all
Speaker 2: the time. Is it like we're both doing exactly what
Speaker 2: we want to do and then you turn around and
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, you're still here. Great. And if I'm
Speaker 2: doing exactly what I want to do and I'm in
Speaker 2: trouble or i'msure about it on a personal level, I
Speaker 2: turn around and go, hey, can you help me with this?
Speaker 2: He's like, of course, oh, can I get your thoughts?
Speaker 2: And that's on our individual pursuits and then together we
Speaker 2: did them as well.
Speaker 1: Because you were mentioning Tim and Ryan and you know,
Speaker 1: Ryan did this incredible podcast which I'm sure you've heard.
Speaker 1: The imperfect for anyone who's ever had a friend that
Speaker 1: they've loved and been really tired too. He talks about
Speaker 1: very generously and beautifully and respectfully about when you came
Speaker 1: on the scene, but that he was displaced and how
Speaker 1: he then when he saw the magic of you guys,
Speaker 1: and he was like, it was undeniably magic. The jealousy
Speaker 1: that he felt and the envy, and that for so
Speaker 1: many years he couldn't even feel the joy because he
Speaker 1: was so consumed by himself and then ended up having
Speaker 1: to talk to Hamish about it. How did it feel
Speaker 1: for you? Were you aware of any of that or not?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 1: Always are amazing like that, aren't they?
Speaker 2: Well, we're very busy, Like, let's get that straight. We're
Speaker 2: doing Drive. We're doing five days a week of drive
Speaker 2: radio where Haim and I were getting early and national.
Speaker 2: How many ideas can be put in this and a
Speaker 2: lot of ideas involve traveling out of the studio and
Speaker 2: consume our whole lives and some like that. And a
Speaker 2: period of that time, ry I was off on Nova
Speaker 2: I think against.
Speaker 1: It right, doing drama.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so there were elements of it all. I
Speaker 2: was sad that he felt that way, Like I like,
Speaker 2: when did.
Speaker 1: You know when you heard that you never see a
Speaker 1: woman would have been onto that straight away because I
Speaker 1: think we understand you know, we live in different for me.
Speaker 2: Though, because I'm not childhood buddies at Ryan.
Speaker 1: No, No, I wouldn't tell.
Speaker 2: We're close friends. But it all started to a business
Speaker 2: relationship or a comedy fun relationship. So I'm not picking
Speaker 2: up on nuanced things. And our relationship didn't change.
Speaker 1: No, And he never had an issue with you. It
Speaker 1: wasn't an issue with you. He loves you. The problem
Speaker 1: was he also loves Hamish and Hamish's got a new
Speaker 1: love who's Andy.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it'd be peculiar for me to be
Speaker 2: able to take up on that. I mean, my friends
Speaker 2: didn't like Hamish either because they were protective of their
Speaker 2: friendship with me, and they're like, hey, who's this other
Speaker 2: guy coming along? Think they started and I hate Hamish
Speaker 2: club for a while. They hate T shirts.
Speaker 1: Oh that would be great, So that's that was you
Speaker 1: should have worn that to that.
Speaker 2: So I get the natural feeling that we're all protective
Speaker 2: about people, people that were around, and we feel like
Speaker 2: we shouldn't be. And then you realize when you grow
Speaker 2: up and have family and kids, you just forget about
Speaker 2: all your friends and anyways. But during twenty year old,
Speaker 2: your friendship group is your family. Yeah, in fact, your
Speaker 2: family's probably annoying. You really are strong, so I could
Speaker 2: see how that would be challenging.
Speaker 1: But also I love the raw honesty of it, because
Speaker 1: going back to the discussion we had about you need
Speaker 1: a certain amount of ego to do what you do,
Speaker 1: those feelings will live in that same area. And so
Speaker 1: for him to say that, as himself a very accomplished
Speaker 1: performer and ideas guy and Ryder and whatever, for him
Speaker 1: to say it, it just resonated in a just very
Speaker 1: human manner, and I loved it, and it kind of
Speaker 1: showed the umbrella what you've built, you guys together that
Speaker 1: he felt that he could say that, and he could
Speaker 1: say it publicly, and he had to say it to
Speaker 1: advance the relationship.
Speaker 2: He rang me before it, and he felt that he
Speaker 2: wanted to say it out loud, and obviously it had
Speaker 2: played in his mind for a long time. And so
Speaker 2: whatever Ryan needed to do, you know, as a friend,
Speaker 2: whatever he needed to do to try and resolve that,
Speaker 2: super supportive of it, because no one wants to know you.
Speaker 1: Don't want to live with that.
Speaker 2: It's super hard to go. I didn't, you know, I
Speaker 2: can't remember the exactly the words he said, but like
Speaker 2: to be super hard to go. I don't want you
Speaker 2: to succeed. I'm having trouble with you. My friend's succeeding.
Speaker 2: I mean that's because Ry is such a lovely person,
Speaker 2: so a thing a battle, and he would have regretted about.
Speaker 1: It still to come. I ask Andy how it feels
Speaker 1: to be the butt of jokes, like when people say
Speaker 1: he's less funny than Hamish, which people love to do.
Speaker 2: I think it would be more hurtful if I felt
Speaker 2: like it was true.
Speaker 1: And does he want a wedding and a baby and
Speaker 1: all those things we're all supposed to want stay with us,
Speaker 1: you know when and you've said you've never really had
Speaker 1: those feelings towards Hamish because quite frankly, it's hard to
Speaker 1: imagine who could. But I'm struck by this narrative, which
Speaker 1: is partly humorous but also is a bit snarky towards
Speaker 1: you from not badly, but you know you said before
Speaker 1: you know that Hamish is the guy, and you're the
Speaker 1: less funny guy, and you might have been the more
Speaker 1: funny guy. And the logis last year when Pang was hosting,
Speaker 1: and they made a joke from the start.
Speaker 3: Both Hamish and Andy are here tonight. Hamish won the
Speaker 3: Gold Logi last year for the second time and he's
Speaker 3: nominated again this year, and Andy his mates with Hamish.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, uh, it kind of feels like a
Speaker 1: joke that's sort of run its course. Do other people
Speaker 1: care more about that than you do?
Speaker 2: Oh? I don't know what other people think that. I
Speaker 2: don't care about it at all.
Speaker 1: Well, I was sitting a table of people that kind
Speaker 1: of went, oh.
Speaker 2: I think it would be more hurtful if I felt
Speaker 2: like it was true. I mean, arrogance here we go,
Speaker 2: I shit there and go. I mean I make the
Speaker 2: same jokes. I think I make a joke. Believe you
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 1: I hear you do it on the one hundred, And
Speaker 1: it's just like sometimes if that got me on a
Speaker 1: bad day, yeah, I'd be like, oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I'm really aware of my skill set and
Speaker 2: very comfortable with how it's it, so it's still fine.
Speaker 2: Maybe it does change when you have individual success, you know, yes,
Speaker 2: with my kids books or the hundred or my work
Speaker 2: on this train open all these things. If I had
Speaker 2: just done Hamish and Andy and then then you never
Speaker 2: worked for me again, You're right, and I wanted to
Speaker 2: keep a sying it. You know, some people go off
Speaker 2: and they're quite comfortable in that space. I think that
Speaker 2: would feel different. That would be tough.
Speaker 1: It's funny you mentioned your kid's books because they are
Speaker 1: such a phenomenon and in fact, a very affirming phenomenon
Speaker 1: of you and your talents. There's a series do not
Speaker 1: Open this book that came out just in time for
Speaker 1: my youngest to just love it, of Love Love, and
Speaker 1: now there's a whole series of them, do not open
Speaker 1: this book ever. I told you, do not open this
Speaker 1: fucking book. That's one for grown ups. Anyway, When you're
Speaker 1: selling that book in Australia and there's so many celebrities
Speaker 1: who have done kids books, it's no surprise. In Australia
Speaker 1: people could have been buying the books because you're Andy Lee,
Speaker 1: and that would be great. That's fair enough. But then
Speaker 1: they released the books globally.
Speaker 2: How many countries we're in thirty five languages, okay, so
Speaker 2: that's obviously a lot more countries, okay.
Speaker 1: And how many books have you sold Andy Lee to
Speaker 1: people who do not know who Andy Lee is.
Speaker 2: Well, we've sold over three million around the world. But
Speaker 2: holy moll, I know which way you're heading with that,
Speaker 2: and I totally agree. I actually had a meeting about
Speaker 2: this morning about another part of this project and with
Speaker 2: the books and amplifying it the books, I fell into
Speaker 2: it and again this is luck.
Speaker 1: Was it for your nephew? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I wrote one book on a plane forty minutes for
Speaker 2: my nephew for his birthday. And my best mate from
Speaker 2: high school Hawks, he's a book publisher and they make
Speaker 2: test books up all the time, so he was going
Speaker 2: to make one test book for me. I was going
Speaker 2: to give it to my nephew for his first birthday.
Speaker 2: Hawks argue with me to publish them, and I said, no, no,
Speaker 2: it's a present, not doing it. And it was three
Speaker 2: months of back and forth and I said, okay, I'll
Speaker 2: check with my sister because it was for her, and
Speaker 2: so I said, age your mind if we published these books.
Speaker 2: Hawgs has been on my back and she said, oh,
Speaker 2: it's a beautiful book. I'd love it to be out there.
Speaker 2: And I said, look, proceeds can go to George, which
Speaker 2: is my nephe At the time, we had to change
Speaker 2: the deal a bit cake.
Speaker 1: Co Wow King George.
Speaker 2: So they've got a little school fun for all my
Speaker 2: nephews and nieces. But yeah, so lovely. I was super
Speaker 2: chuffed with how it went overseas because exactly what you said.
Speaker 2: I thought, well, I'm going to sell this, but do
Speaker 2: people like the book or is it just because Andy
Speaker 2: Lee from or Andy from Hamish Andy it's attached to
Speaker 2: this and then to see them travel and when people
Speaker 2: have no idea who I am, and in Rome last
Speaker 2: year doing a book signing.
Speaker 1: They think you're just a book author.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just really strange and great and you go, okay,
Speaker 2: there's something here and the idea. So absolutely I was
Speaker 2: tough with that. I'm really proud of that, and it
Speaker 2: gave it far more substance for sure.
Speaker 1: Tell me about the conversation you had to have with
Speaker 1: your sister when you had to say George was going
Speaker 1: to get the royalties? Yes, what number sales were you
Speaker 1: in where you went? This number is actually getting a
Speaker 1: bit too much for little George.
Speaker 2: Oh, we sold hundreds of thousand years. But my sister's
Speaker 2: just this is the harder part. My sister's a writer,
Speaker 2: and she's a kid's book writer, no young she writes
Speaker 2: young novels.
Speaker 1: Thats why I year from twelve on with Ye Yes.
Speaker 2: And she's got some amazing brands starring All of Black
Speaker 2: was one of hers. She was the writer from Zach
Speaker 2: Powell Books and it.
Speaker 1: Goes Yes, another bigger hit in our family, Zach Powell.
Speaker 2: Yes, and she's got Girl Geeks another one at the moment,
Speaker 2: which is girls and technology and science and that stuff.
Speaker 2: So she's done a great and amazing work in the
Speaker 2: space and that definitely was a worry for me to
Speaker 2: go al. You're so talented. People should look up a
Speaker 2: books because they're so great. Thankfully it wasn't a head
Speaker 2: to head. There's a different category, yeah, right, but you know,
Speaker 2: we're going to book awards together and my sister's there
Speaker 2: and I go with her. Was great to a friend around.
Speaker 2: But because my sister's just so lovely and so with
Speaker 2: my brother. Yeah, there's been nothing but support, which is just.
Speaker 1: Because you know, that's interesting because sometimes it's hard within
Speaker 1: a family when the spotlight is shone on one particular member.
Speaker 1: And your parents both of her I've met beautiful Margaret
Speaker 1: and Michael. They seem to navigate that really beautifully, like
Speaker 1: they turn up at your shows. The first time I
Speaker 1: ever met you, I think you were with your dad
Speaker 1: and I remember the other At the filming of the hundred,
Speaker 1: someone in the audience asked a question about you and
Speaker 1: they mentioned your brother. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: They're very Oh they're the best people. My dad's the
Speaker 2: best person. Yeah, I think to be a full time
Speaker 2: care really yeah, yeah, they're both primary school teachers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what happened to your mum?
Speaker 2: She had a rare disease called cerebral vasculatis, so a
Speaker 2: blood so it's like a series of strokes, but of
Speaker 2: strokes normally and a arterie it's in the veins so
Speaker 2: it's smaller and cerebral. She had it in the brain.
Speaker 2: So she was the first to survive in Australia.
Speaker 1: I think really when was that six?
Speaker 2: So she's given two weeks to live in ninety six
Speaker 2: really and two weeks again at some point.
Speaker 1: So you were still at school then, so you would
Speaker 1: have been like year teen.
Speaker 2: Or yeah, yeah, I was, I was year I think
Speaker 2: it was year nine going to year ten. Happened over
Speaker 2: the Christmas holidays. She just forgot how to walk, talk,
Speaker 2: who we all were, and then was in hospital for
Speaker 2: a long time. Months and month.
Speaker 1: Wow, how is that for a teenage boy.
Speaker 2: Well, my sister calls me the tin man. Really, I've
Speaker 2: actually become a lot more emotional in my old age.
Speaker 1: Actually, Well, I think I have this theory that the
Speaker 1: less this is born from my husband's dad, classic old
Speaker 1: Ossie Brian Brian Lewis of Sunshine who I love. The
Speaker 1: less sentimental they are in the youth, the more sentimental
Speaker 1: they get through life.
Speaker 2: Yep, I'm certainly feeling that. But at the time, that
Speaker 2: was probably the first my sister and I was a
Speaker 2: relationship split. During that time, it was much harder for
Speaker 2: my sister. She was becoming a woman. Yeah right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it doesn't have a mum around, and we would go
Speaker 2: into the hospital and have to introduce yourself to your
Speaker 2: mum every day and so that she.
Speaker 1: Pleased to meet you.
Speaker 2: And that's tiresome.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Dad just went like they'd raise pretty good kids. So
Speaker 2: it was just like every man for himself. All have
Speaker 2: to dig in here, make your own lunches, get yourself
Speaker 2: to school, and will work out what's going on. I
Speaker 2: probably put my brother, not probably, I put my brother,
Speaker 2: my brother and sister a little out of joint because
Speaker 2: I went, Okay, here's the roster. You're on this. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I probably tried to solve it through. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, and admin is required when you're trying to save
Speaker 1: the life of someone. Believe me, I know it's essential.
Speaker 2: However, you don't want your brother telling you that you've
Speaker 2: got to do this and that and this is your
Speaker 2: turn to do the And so they became a lot closer,
Speaker 2: my older brother and my sister during that period.
Speaker 1: Imagine the conversation then.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, yeah so and then Mum just snapped out
Speaker 2: of it. Weirdly, they don't really know why. There's since
Speaker 2: been a few more cases. I think it was the
Speaker 2: I'm don't make up the figures, but there's only been
Speaker 2: twenty cases in Australia. Yeah, So she tried to came home,
Speaker 2: and then she came home and we were it was
Speaker 2: a different family. We spent four to six months saying Hi,
Speaker 2: I'm Andy Margaret, and I'd been introducing dad as Michael,
Speaker 2: and so I started calling my dad Michael. We stopped
Speaker 2: calling mom and dad. Oh, there was these little things
Speaker 2: that happened in your life. She came back into a house.
Speaker 2: It was sufficient. There was just running its own race,
Speaker 2: and that was a real culture shock and so she
Speaker 2: requested to go back to.
Speaker 1: Hospital because it was a bit too much.
Speaker 2: That's the only time I was pissed off.
Speaker 1: Right, It's like they fuck you, yeah.
Speaker 2: Right, I've done this right, and you don't even want
Speaker 2: to be at a very response.
Speaker 1: Because now as an adult you understand, and as a mother,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my goodness that actually now just thinking
Speaker 1: about it is making me cry because it's like.
Speaker 2: And she'd missed my sister important parts of she's growing
Speaker 2: up and yeah, it was yeah, and she's going through
Speaker 2: rehabbing doing this stuff anyway, but you know, at least
Speaker 2: you could be around, you know, which is so unfair
Speaker 2: and selfish.
Speaker 1: For someone who has.
Speaker 2: Just lost kind of five months of her life but
Speaker 2: also just gone backwards. She's forty three or something and
Speaker 2: then became a seven year old. Yeah, and you know,
Speaker 2: she's on a walker and she's can't speak for her
Speaker 2: on her match, she can't do basic mass and all
Speaker 2: these things, and she has to be cared for and
Speaker 2: then she doesn't even want to be around it. It was
Speaker 2: just it was just I can't imagine would have been
Speaker 2: for mum. Oh you know, I haven't really and your dad,
Speaker 2: but dad who was staunch dad about five Whether we
Speaker 2: keep this in the podcast, I don't know. But about
Speaker 2: five years later, after they were really social, they were
Speaker 2: off playing tennis together. Mum was, you know, slim, funky.
Speaker 1: They've got that five and she.
Speaker 2: Didn't want to go out and see anyone because she
Speaker 2: couldn't converse properly, and she is, you know, couldn't walk properly,
Speaker 2: and she was marassed. So she just cut off a
Speaker 2: lot of those social outlets. And close friends stick around.
Speaker 2: But naturally we keep saying no to people, invite you
Speaker 2: to things. Yeah, and so then Dad loses all of that.
Speaker 2: And so in a situation where Dad's living a very
Speaker 2: different life than he was and what signed up for.
Speaker 2: And you know when people say in sickness and health.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no one sickness, no one means that. It's like
Speaker 1: for rich or for Paora.
Speaker 2: I didn't mean Poora exactly. It's a true test of that.
Speaker 2: And Dad and I were drive him back from somewhere
Speaker 2: one day and he said, I want to talk to
Speaker 2: you about something, and what year would this been? I know,
Speaker 2: whole lot later it's about your mother, And in my head,
Speaker 2: I've gone, he's found someone else. Oh, it probably speaks
Speaker 2: to me. I'm like, he's done really well for half
Speaker 2: a decade doing this, but I can't keep doing I
Speaker 2: totally get it, and so I'm getting ready for him
Speaker 2: to go. You know, I found someone else and then
Speaker 2: he's gone. I'm going to take time off work to
Speaker 2: make use of the time with Mum because we're not
Speaker 2: sure how it's going to go. And I'm like the
Speaker 2: opposite of football. I didn't tell him at the time, Hey, yeah,
Speaker 2: I thought you were going to go. Hey, I'm routing
Speaker 2: the librarian. But that's who he is. And do you.
Speaker 1: Think I mean, obviously bad example would say no, but
Speaker 1: that doesn't encapsulate all of you. Do you think you
Speaker 1: are your father? Oh no, I mean very few people
Speaker 1: could be your dad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I also don't think anyone knows whether they can.
Speaker 2: I mean in practice, how do you test that? How
Speaker 2: can you honestly say I do exactly the same thing.
Speaker 2: I'd care for Beck through thick and things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's very hard.
Speaker 2: I'd like to think I would, and I certainly have
Speaker 2: a lot of my dad's morals, share a lot of
Speaker 2: his interests, and hopefully some of his kind bones. But
Speaker 2: I think it'd be pretty arrogant to say, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll do that in a pinch.
Speaker 1: I think it's easier to always pass judgment on people
Speaker 1: in certain situations when they move on, when you don't
Speaker 1: know what it means to be caring for someone or
Speaker 1: to lose someone, or you know, the other idea. We
Speaker 1: always have a people who are chronically ill or is
Speaker 1: that they're somehow saintly, Whereas when people are chronically ill,
Speaker 1: often they're the opposite of that, because they're fighting for
Speaker 1: their life and they're frightened and they're yeah, they're angry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're angry.
Speaker 2: They're angry, and it can come out in really terrible ways.
Speaker 2: Now again, to my mum's credit, she just doesn't complain.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh god, I'd be complaining, would really
Speaker 2: complaining if it took that much time for me to
Speaker 2: get out of beer every day and put all these
Speaker 2: you know, and I know these people are farwer situations,
Speaker 2: and I'm also very lucky to stay around, of.
Speaker 1: Course, but it still doesn't mean that problems are not problems. Yeah,
Speaker 1: stick around, because up next, I asked Andy if he wants.
Speaker 2: Kids, and I love being available to people. I do
Speaker 2: definitely worry that having my own family means that I
Speaker 2: give that.
Speaker 1: Up because you're so family oriented. You know what, I
Speaker 1: have to ask you whether you're inclined to have your
Speaker 1: own family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I'm asked this a lot.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I can imagine that you are, because women
Speaker 1: also get asked. It's just a thing because in life
Speaker 1: there are certain transitions that happen. They're not guaranteed, they're
Speaker 1: not necessary. But because you are who you are, you're
Speaker 1: very family oriented, you're loyal, you're quite good looking. Well
Speaker 1: maybe they would, I don't know, But how do you
Speaker 1: feel about that?
Speaker 2: I'd gone through something I thought I would definitely want,
Speaker 2: then I went through patches if I don't think I
Speaker 2: want this at all, and then I'm in trying to.
Speaker 1: Which is like pretty common for the common. Yeah.
Speaker 2: One thing I do love about not currently having kids
Speaker 2: is how available I am to my family. Yes. Now,
Speaker 2: Mum and Dad wire down the beach house one day
Speaker 2: and they said, ah, when you're going to start a family,
Speaker 2: And I said, you realize you wouldn't be here in
Speaker 2: this beach house if I've.
Speaker 1: Got both, Like, yeah, but you know what I would say.
Speaker 2: They would be happy with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we give it up son, we'd give it up.
Speaker 2: And I spend so much time with them, I think
Speaker 2: because of that, and I spend time with my nephews
Speaker 2: because of that. And I love being available to people.
Speaker 2: That's something that I love with friends, love being a
Speaker 2: reliable source to call upon. I do definitely worry that
Speaker 2: having my own family means that I give that up. Now,
Speaker 2: that could be the right decision at some point. People
Speaker 2: think that's selfless, but it's not. I get a lot
Speaker 2: of self worth. If anyone calls, I'm happy to go
Speaker 2: and work out what we need to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but do you think that having kids would preclude
Speaker 1: from doing that.
Speaker 2: It does.
Speaker 1: Actual I'm mentally going through when I've been available.
Speaker 2: Okay, not to say that it's not the reason not to,
Speaker 2: and but I think these are things go through my
Speaker 2: mind and all my friends and family when they've had
Speaker 2: their own kids. It's a really time and not tough
Speaker 2: as in, it's not rewarding. It's just a lot.
Speaker 1: Well it should be, it has to be.
Speaker 2: And it's beautiful, but it's all consuming, and you go
Speaker 2: into your insular shelves and you ask for help, particularly
Speaker 2: with young kids, everywhere, like you need to because you
Speaker 2: need support group, and so naturally people turn inwards when
Speaker 2: they have their own.
Speaker 1: Kids, and you're still outwards.
Speaker 2: I think so at the moment, I love Beck, Yeah
Speaker 2: I could, and I think she'd be an amazing mom.
Speaker 1: And what does she think? Does she think she'd be
Speaker 1: an amazing mum?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think.
Speaker 1: You know what, Let's watch this space. Let's reconvene this
Speaker 1: time next year, because come on, a year and a half.
Speaker 1: But when I asked that, it's partly there's a thing
Speaker 1: that happens. I always think when people have kids, as
Speaker 1: you used to say, everyone wants you to join the
Speaker 1: misery club. Right, there's a terrible thing to sight. But
Speaker 1: before you have kids, you can see the downside and
Speaker 1: the data and the whatever.
Speaker 2: But there's no rub between Beck and I on that
Speaker 2: front because Vexel doesn't want them now, yes, like this
Speaker 2: is the misconception. It's like if we post a picture
Speaker 2: of us somewhere, everyone's like, oh, haven't.
Speaker 1: You're a tease you tease paper with that, don't pretend
Speaker 1: you don't.
Speaker 2: I put a photo off of me and my partner
Speaker 2: and everyone's like, are you cage?
Speaker 1: Like no, I'm saying to hurt Beck, hide the third
Speaker 1: finger on your left hand.
Speaker 2: The time, I was a tease and I'm not allowed
Speaker 2: to play this joke anymore. But anytime I saw paparazzi,
Speaker 2: I'd get down on one knee. So we beat the
Speaker 2: baggage at Melbourne Airport and the pats would be there,
Speaker 2: and so I'd get down on one knee and pretend
Speaker 2: to propose. I was picking up dog Poo Wonder and
Speaker 2: saw paparazzi, so I pretended to propose, and Beck said
Speaker 2: that job that choke.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, I've got to tell you something else.
Speaker 1: So when I knew that I was talking to you today,
Speaker 1: I sent hay mission message, my dear, And this is
Speaker 1: kind of quite deep, but it's you know, we lost
Speaker 1: cal Wilson. The fraternity lost Cayl Wilson. And when I
Speaker 1: was at her funeral and also at her memorial, I
Speaker 1: was struck by how much she would have loved it,
Speaker 1: and how she would have heard things that she never
Speaker 1: heard when she was alive and had a position in
Speaker 1: all of our hearts and in the broader comedy community
Speaker 1: that she never knew she held. And so I sent
Speaker 1: hammer message and I said, I'm talking to Andy and
Speaker 1: I would like you to write something about what he
Speaker 1: means to you. Okay, he didn't get back to me
Speaker 1: for two days. I'm like, I got back to you.
Speaker 1: That's good. Now he got back to me. He not
Speaker 1: only got back to me, he got back to me
Speaker 1: with this and I'm going to read it to you. Hey, Katie,
Speaker 1: So here's some absolute train of thought musings on what
Speaker 1: my friend Andy means to me. Upon reflection, I guess
Speaker 1: I've always gone through life with a curiosity, an appetite
Speaker 1: for adventure, and the belief that in almost all situations
Speaker 1: there's the option to find comedy in it, but to
Speaker 1: get really deep, really quickly. I also perhaps lacked the
Speaker 1: full belief in myself to pursue that feeling. I think
Speaker 1: I suffered a lot from waiting until it was the
Speaker 1: perfect time to do something, rather than taking a leap.
Speaker 1: I was nineteen and looking back, full of dreams but
Speaker 1: also apprehension. As a nineteen year old, Andy introduced me
Speaker 1: to the term back yourself, and he really did, and
Speaker 1: alongside him, I began to do the same him. I
Speaker 1: think through his friendship, he unlocked courage in me. Maybe
Speaker 1: I would have got there in the end or in
Speaker 1: a variety of different ways. But it really was in
Speaker 1: meeting Andy that I found a partner who brought out
Speaker 1: a desire to take risks together and leap into the unknown.
Speaker 1: And that was a massive gift to me.
Speaker 2: Free special.
Speaker 1: There's more. It's I don't know why I'm so moved
Speaker 1: by this, but I love it. I love it for you.
Speaker 1: I owe him a huge debt for hundreds of things.
Speaker 1: But the older I get, the more I see and
Speaker 1: value that initial change in the trajectory of my life
Speaker 1: and the seedling of challenging what may be possible. We've
Speaker 1: been through adventures and highs and lows that no one
Speaker 1: but us will understand or possibly care about, and it
Speaker 1: feels five hundred times more fun to have experienced it
Speaker 1: with him than alone. So I love Andy for the
Speaker 1: many things he is and the decades of barely laughs
Speaker 1: he's given me, But I also have that deep love
Speaker 1: for the lessons he's taught me during those formative years.
Speaker 1: I really believe I've experienced a wildly richer life because
Speaker 1: of that gift. Okay, I won't ramble anymore, and because
Speaker 1: people have tuned in to hear your thoughts. Not a
Speaker 1: letter from me big love.
Speaker 2: Amazing, Yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I always promise myself I don't cry on
Speaker 2: podcasts because.
Speaker 1: Why not?
Speaker 2: Why not?
Speaker 1: Why not? What is life? Life is laughter and laugh.
Speaker 2: Because it faily male article or something, and that's not
Speaker 2: where I want this to be. But it's special what
Speaker 2: I love about. I mean, it's so lovely for him
Speaker 2: to say it publicly, but we've also said those things
Speaker 2: to each other the privately.
Speaker 1: Get down on one may but.
Speaker 2: I know that sounds odd, bad, and I connect constantly
Speaker 2: about those things. He hasn't put that as beautifully as
Speaker 2: that before, but maybe he has. But yeah, we're not
Speaker 2: afraid to tell each other how we're feeling in good
Speaker 2: times and bad. But people are, and I don't think
Speaker 2: too many mates get the opportunity to do that, as
Speaker 2: in men while they're living, while they're living, and so
Speaker 2: I'm really grateful for that. That's obviously lovely words.
Speaker 1: They're beautiful words. They're richly deserved. You're a treasure, Andy Lee,
Speaker 1: you really are, you really are. Thank you for sharing
Speaker 1: yourself with us.
Speaker 2: Well, it took us a while to get here, like
Speaker 2: two and a half years.
Speaker 1: Why did it take so long. You're elusive. I don't
Speaker 1: think you like to do this sort of.
Speaker 2: I can no, no, but I promised me that I do
Speaker 2: it at some point. That's the other thing. If I
Speaker 2: ever say I'll do something to anyone ever, I can't
Speaker 2: notot do it.
Speaker 1: Oh, I want to get you to tell me you'll
Speaker 1: do something.
Speaker 2: No. Well, often people get the often the raw other answer.
Speaker 2: We just know I'm never going to do that, which
Speaker 2: I have no problem saying to about spaces. But apologies
Speaker 2: to me that I hadn't got around to it. But now,
Speaker 2: but I'm so glad I got to do with you, Katie,
Speaker 2: because we know each other very well.
Speaker 1: I loved it. I know you better now. I'm not
Speaker 1: surprised by anything. Thank goodness, Andy, Lay, thank you chears Well.
Speaker 1: That was such a great conversation. I loved getting a
Speaker 1: look inside what goes on in Andy's head. I think
Speaker 1: the sign of a good conversation is when aspects of
Speaker 1: it stay with you long after the conversation is finished,
Speaker 1: and that was the case with Andy. I thought about
Speaker 1: him a lot, and I thought about his take on
Speaker 1: things and his honesty, reluctant honesty at times. I basically
Speaker 1: loved all of it, and I hope you have too.
Speaker 1: We'll put the link in our show notes for Andy's
Speaker 1: children's books and all the other things he's up to.
Speaker 1: The Executive producer of No Filter is Kimberly Bradish, with
Speaker 1: sound production by Madeline Joannu. Thanks so much for listening.