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Speaker 1: My Heart podcasts here, more gold one on one point

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Speaker 1: seven podcasts.

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Speaker 2: Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app and

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Speaker 2: Amanda jam Nation.

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Speaker 1: We've given him some headphones and don't it's like a

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Speaker 1: rubik q it is.

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Speaker 3: Look there you go, I'll look it out, you'll work

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Speaker 3: out you've got.

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Speaker 4: How is that act as if nothing's happened, and do.

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Speaker 1: Your introduction for you know, some people make you feel

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Speaker 1: good the second they walk in a room, and Ndou

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Speaker 1: is one of these. A comedian and artist, a writer,

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Speaker 1: a TV host is privileged to be painted by him.

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Speaker 1: He's extraordinary in all those categories and one of the

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Speaker 1: nicest blokes you can meet. He's back on the road

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Speaker 1: with his live show The Happiest Refugee, which is one

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Speaker 1: of Australia's most successful books. By the way, he joins

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Speaker 1: us now Undau.

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Speaker 2: Hello.

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Speaker 3: On the show, guys.

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Speaker 4: It is good to see and congratulations. That book is

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Speaker 4: so enduring. It's been around for ages, but it's all

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Speaker 4: you're winning award. It's getting awards that much.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, A great thing for it is it is and

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Speaker 5: I'll turn it into a stage show. It's been going

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Speaker 5: about fifteen years. It's great.

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Speaker 3: I don't have to write another show. We keep selling out.

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Speaker 5: But Amanda, you were one on my Armsbrush with fame.

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Speaker 5: Oh my god, the ratings were through the roof. One

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Speaker 5: of the most popular, most awesome guests we had in

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Speaker 5: the whole seven series.

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Speaker 1: So lovely of you to say. People still talk to

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Speaker 1: me about that. So I think it must be on

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Speaker 1: high repeat.

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Speaker 4: Where's the painting now?

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, I had it on my wall for

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Speaker 1: a long time. It's big and it's like Mussolini. The

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Speaker 1: eyes followed you around the room, get the kids in check.

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Speaker 1: But then it became a bit much, so I've got

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Speaker 1: it in the spare room.

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Speaker 3: I tell you.

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Speaker 5: Like about ten years ago, I went back to Tafe

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Speaker 5: to study painting a man and I walk in and

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Speaker 5: this guy comes up to me and he goes, you

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Speaker 5: look just like Arndeau and I went, yeah, that's because

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Speaker 5: I am. And the guy goes, nah, you're not, but geez,

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Speaker 5: you look like him and walks off.

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Speaker 1: Well he'd no better than you.

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Speaker 5: What of it?

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Speaker 3: But that it happens in different ways.

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Speaker 5: The other day I was walking along and this mom

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Speaker 5: comes up to me and she goes, you are one

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Speaker 5: of my son's favorite people. In the whole world. Can

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Speaker 5: he have your autograph? So I'm signing this autograph for

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Speaker 5: this little kid, and the mom looks at me and goes,

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Speaker 5: you were by far the best wiggle Ah.

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Speaker 3: She thinks, I'm Jeff Jeff seventy.

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Speaker 4: All you entertainers look to say.

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Speaker 3: You were going to go say something else, James, I.

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Speaker 4: Was not going to do that. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Many years ago, when I dabbled in stand up comedy,

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Speaker 2: you were the main act when I was at the

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Speaker 2: comedy store.

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Speaker 4: So this was two thousand.

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Speaker 2: My last gig was really successful, but that was the

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Speaker 2: night of September eleventh, and then that was it. After that,

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Speaker 2: I thought we're all going to war. It's the end

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Speaker 2: of the world as we know it. So that was

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Speaker 2: the last stand up gig I did. And you've gone

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Speaker 2: from strength to strength since.

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Speaker 4: As you have.

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Speaker 3: Guys. Yeah, it's really great to be back on the show.

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Speaker 3: A man.

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Speaker 5: My wife's just written a book and she really wants

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Speaker 5: me to give it to you please. It's about It's

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Speaker 5: about twin, a twin who's investigating her twin sister's death,

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Speaker 5: and my wife she has twins in her mum was

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Speaker 5: in her thirties. She has this operation because you know,

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Speaker 5: this pain in the abdomen turns out to be a

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Speaker 5: cyst with a little bit of hair and tooth. And

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Speaker 5: it was her twin who wasn't formed. And someone was

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Speaker 5: obsessed with twins. Her brother has twins, and I always

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Speaker 5: want to be a twin when I was a kid

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Speaker 5: because I wanted to know what I look like from

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Speaker 5: the back.

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Speaker 3: That's my sort of contribution to that for yourself. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: but I will give you that bit. I mean, yeah, I.

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Speaker 1: Asked you, as you say, you've done this show for

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Speaker 1: fifteen years, have you seen a shift in how we

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Speaker 1: feel about refugees? Do people treat you differently to the

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Speaker 1: way we treat other refugees today?

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Speaker 3: Look, I don't know, Amanda, you know, I mean, I

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Speaker 3: don't know how. I'm just I just go about, you know,

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Speaker 3: being me.

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Speaker 5: But I know that, you know, in my childhood, we

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Speaker 5: had a lot of support, you know, like turn up

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Speaker 5: some he was some nuns from Saint Vinnie's used to

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Speaker 5: come and help us out. And so you know, I

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Speaker 5: love I love those charities and and yeah, I look,

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Speaker 5: I think a little bit of compassion is good. But yeah,

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Speaker 5: had had a great childhood with you know, we were poor,

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Speaker 5: but it doesn't matter. Lock For like, when I turn ate,

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Speaker 5: I wanted I wanted helium balloons for my party, like

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Speaker 5: John o haad, you know the ones that float up

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Speaker 5: to the ceiling. Yeah, And so I said, Mum, how

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Speaker 5: about those? And Mum says they're expensive, aren't But I'll

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Speaker 5: see what I can do. So my birthday comes around,

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Speaker 5: my mum buys normal balloons, blows them up, stick it

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Speaker 5: tapes them to the ceiling. Jonesy and me and my

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Speaker 5: mates are doing the high voice thing and we're all

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Speaker 5: going your voice.

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Speaker 3: Changing though it's not.

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Speaker 5: And then one guy goes, this helium smells like spring rolls, guys,

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Speaker 5: And I'm there trying to pretend, going.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's working for me. You got just aren't

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Speaker 3: doing it right. And then one other guy goes, oh,

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Speaker 3: yeah it's working now. So you do your best, you know.

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Speaker 5: So so I've got nothing to complain about, Just you

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Speaker 5: do your best off.

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Speaker 3: Sold I was in I was like that one of.

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Speaker 5: Those kids that couldn't read or write real well because

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Speaker 5: I'd just come over from Vietnam. But you know, the

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Speaker 5: teachers help you out and you get better. And now

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Speaker 5: I've written. I've written a bunch of kids books. Who's

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Speaker 5: sold ten million around the world. Yes, so I'm just

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Speaker 5: in the process of turning those books into TV shows

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Speaker 5: and movies, and once that is achieved, will be eating

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Speaker 5: steak tonight.

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Speaker 3: Kids.

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Speaker 2: Do you go back to Vietnam for holidays? Because everyone

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Speaker 2: I talked to in my circles, they all, you've got

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Speaker 2: to go to Vietnam. You will love it there. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you go back. Oh, Vietnam is awesome. Vietnam is awesome.

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Speaker 2: Get a beer for about eighty cents. Yeah, you know

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Speaker 2: what I mean. And there's a lot of fresh beer.

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Speaker 2: I don't want it's breakfast time radio.

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Speaker 5: But like you just there's like breweries just like a

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Speaker 5: little like a little you know what I mean, And

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Speaker 5: you get fresh beer in it's right, you know what

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Speaker 5: I mean. It's like eighty cents, so maybe a buck eighty?

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 4: Can you still speak Vietnamese?

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Speaker 3: I speak, you know.

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Speaker 5: The first time I went back there, I'm walking around

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Speaker 5: and because I speak the language and I read and write,

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Speaker 5: I went and I bought a whole bunch of secondhand

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Speaker 5: clothes from the Vietnamese Saint Vinnie's, you know, sort of

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Speaker 5: virgin and I walked around like a local and no

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Speaker 5: one could tell us from overseas, and I really enjoyed that,

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Speaker 5: you know, so I wasn't a tourist.

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Speaker 3: I was just like a normal dude.

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Speaker 2: Do they pick your Aussie accent though, because you have

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Speaker 2: a bit of an accent to you?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, No, I speak Vietnamese in a completely Vietnamese accent,

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Speaker 5: and just like I'm pretty good, I'm actually pretty good

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Speaker 5: at at accents, right. Yeah, I won't I won't do

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Speaker 5: my Indian or anything like that, but yeah, I'm pretty.

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Speaker 1: Good kids Vietnam.

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Speaker 5: You know, No, they don't. They say, yeah, mom is aussy.

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Speaker 5: She's Anglo Australian. Sometimes she jokes that I'm her male lord,

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Speaker 5: a husband to that sort of thing, and that my

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Speaker 5: head got squashed in the letter box. But you know

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Speaker 5: that's just when she's joking. She's mostly lovely.

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Speaker 4: Well man, it's always good to talk to you, particular

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Speaker 4: to see.

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Speaker 1: And there's no Hallmark cards for that.

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Speaker 4: It's lucky you got that book. Plugging early.

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Speaker 2: The Happiest Refugee is live ahead to ando dot com

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Speaker 2: dot are you thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 3: Great to be back, so good to see you.

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Speaker 1: Guys, you too want thank you