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find your next outdoor adventure. I'm Mike Boris and this is Straight Talk.
You've bungee jumped. You've swum with sharks. Strip naked for Monty. All of these things
are to build a common denominator between you and the people that you're trying to connect
with at the time. Is there anything you wouldn't do in our world today, given the news feed that
we all suffer? Do you think that what you do brings us some balance?
One great thing about my role is that I meet people face-to-face, you know, and I travel the
world. I'm meeting people in all situations, different socioeconomic groups, different
interest levels. There are so many interesting stories out there. And if you give people enough
time in front of the mic, you'll find it. Sam Mack, welcome to Straight Talk, mate.
Thanks, Mark. Pleasure to be on.
Now, we were talking pre-show, you know, just about, I was sort of having a whinge because
I love going on the morning show, you guys, sunrise. And I've been going on for many,
It's been a hassle for me to get down there and I was having a whinge. And then I thought to
myself, my God, you're always out of location. You're never there. In fact, you have to travel
a real long way to get to where you have to get to.
Yeah. On the rare mornings that we're at the studios, that's a sleep-in for me because it's
20 minutes from my house. So I'd absolutely take that any day of the week if I could get it.
I can't whinge. I can't whinge. So I would like to go back a little bit. So Mack stands for?
Macmillan, okay. Is Sam Mack something you grew up with as a name?
Around the soccer club, Sammy Mack.
Used to be the name that everyone would call me. And my dad's also a Sam McMillan. So he was
Sammy Mack Senior. But I had a radio producer when I just started out in radio in Adelaide and he said,
yeah, McMillan, too many syllables, mate. So that tells you a lot about the respect he had
for the audience at the radio station at that time. He said, yeah, we've got to shorten it.
Sammy Mack or Sam Mack, that's better.
Actually, he's right. Because it's funny, if you're writing and composing something,
like a letter or an email or something like that,
and you have to put on Sam McMillan, I often stop and think to myself, is it M-A-C-M-I-A-N
or is it M-A-M-C-M-I-A-N? And it's actually a punish. So Sam Mack is pretty-
I'll pass that on to my parents. Thanks, Mark.
Sam Mack is perfect. I get it. You just take me back to Adelaide. I mean,
you're talking about soccer or footy. You're talking about-
Soccer as in the world game.
Okay. Okay. Coming from Adelaide,
we'll say things like that, especially with Koshy, who used to be, would have been on your case.
Don't get me wrong. I love AFL as well.
He's the president of which club?
Port Adelaide, right.
The rivals of my club, the Adelaide Crows.
Right. You're the Crows.
We've won twice as many premierships as them. Not that it's a competition.
No, it is a competition.
It is a competition. Everybody's like, I mean, I'm on the board of the Roosters and all we ever
talk about is our neighbors, South. We're always sort of competing about how many grand finals.
And by the way, we're competing as to what year we both started.
And we both argue who has been in the longest, and it is the Roosters, by the way.
We have been there the longest. So just take me back. Adelaide, whereabouts in Adelaide
Parafield Gardens.
So that's the northern suburbs of Adelaide, 25 minutes out of the city.
Is that up in the hills?
Not quite, but Tea Tree Gully, where my sister lives, is maybe 10, 15 minutes. That's the
start of the hills, so not too far from the hills.
So your parents, obviously, born there?
My parents are Irish.
So born in Ireland.
Met in Australia.
Like a lot of European settlers, wanted to go where it was affordable to live. A lot
of Irish people were going to Adelaide at the time, and they went there, and they've
never really left.
And how many kids in the family?
Just myself and my sister, Paula.
That's pretty unusual for an Irish family.
Are they Protestants?
Well, we don't talk about religion. In fact, it's interesting you bring that up. That's
part of why they left Ireland.
So they left around the time of the Troubles.
So we're talking about Belfast, or we're talking about Dublin?
Yeah, Northern Ireland. Right in the thick of it. So they left around the time of the
Troubles, where car bombs, stabbings.
Really not a nice place to be. And my parents met in Adelaide, but like I say, a lot of
Irish people were just getting out. And my grandma, my dad's mum, said to my dad, you're
going to Australia next week. He didn't know anything about Australia. This is pre-Google.
He couldn't Google it. He didn't know what was going on. He just said, okay. He was on
a ship for a few weeks, and then he lands in Australia. He's got hair down to his ass.
He's got no real qualifications, and he had to make it work from there. He was only around
And your mum's also Irish?
Mum's also Irish.
So they happened to meet in Adelaide.
That's pretty mad.
Yeah. Well, I think it's like, you know, your background, Boorish and Greek.
Yeah. So you go to Melbourne, all the Greeks stick together, right? Well, they did back
in those days. All the Irish stick together because they want that slice of home, that
familiarity. So it was great on a social level for them to hang out with people from Ireland.
They could share their stories of which part they were from, what Troubles, you know, why
they left Ireland. And it was a bit of a sore point, understandably.
I remember as a kid chatting to my parents about like, what's this IRA thing? What's
Catholic Protestant?
And Troubles, like I was interested in it, but it was too raw. Like they didn't really
want to talk about it. And my dad would always say the same phrase, which is we left those
Troubles behind. We moved to Australia for a new life, for a better life, to get away
from all of that. And I think that's why they didn't go back for so many years. And one
of the best things that I've ever done was surprise them for Christmas a few years back
with a trip to Ireland because, you know, they don't have a lot of money. They're not
big travellers. And I feel a bit of inherent guilt because I travel so much. I live in
I don't see them as much.
I miss a lot of birthdays, family, my parents celebrating engagements. I miss a lot of those
things. So it was really important to me that I made that happen. And I surprised them over
there as well by taking my sister. So we had a family holiday in Ireland.
Like a pilgrimage.
And it was one of the best things I've ever done. It was really special.
So you went into Belfast.
Yeah. And it's a pretty mad place. You can sort of see how it would have been a very
heavy scene during the Troubles.
Definitely. And I think for a lot of people, it's still...
Raw. Because, you know, you've got people there who lost their grandparents, who lost
their parents, or who know people who were embroiled in that warfare, essentially. But
we had a really fun, happy holiday and it was mainly happy memories. I wanted them to
experience the best, you know, and I wanted them to share a little bit of what they grew
up with. And, you know, my dad taking me to where he used to live and saying I used to
kick a soccer ball against this wall every day for 10 years. They were the moments that
My mum saying, that's the school I went to just down there. We used to meet at that big
clock. They're the moments that I was hoping to get out of it and we got them. And yeah,
one of the best things I've ever done.
Your parents' impact on you, do you feel like a sense of debt towards them?
For what they've given you?
Yeah, I do. I do. And I feel, I mentioned it before, a little bit of guilt.
Because I miss a lot. Because I'm not there, you know, something happens with mum, she's
got to go to the doctor.
I'm in the hospital for a day or two. I'm not there to visit face to face. I'm on FaceTime.
And as you know, it's not the same. So don't get me wrong, like I have their blessing and
they're proud of me and they wanted me to chase what I wanted to do. And the type of
career that I've paid my way through to could not have been done really in Adelaide. I wanted
to go to the top of the stack, which was Melbourne or Sydney in media. Apologies, anyone else
in media and other cities, they're also great jobs. But what I wanted to do, I needed to
push a bit further and go to the top of the stack.
I wanted to go to those bigger markets, I guess you'd call it. So yeah, I don't, they
never put that on me, but I put that on myself. I feel that.
We sort of can grow up with Irish guilt though. I know what it's like. I mean, mum was like
that. Like, is there something real for you? I mean, and guilt comes in lots of forms and
it also actually shapes the way you tend to be, not you in particular, but people can
tend to be more generous towards others too, because it's nearly, it makes me feel better.
Yeah, I think so. I mean, that shouldn't be the only reason, but it's a nice little sweetener,
isn't it? If that's helping you go to sleep at night, then nothing wrong with that.
Yeah, but it is a thing in Ireland, whether it's from the north of Ireland, from Northern Ireland,
or whether it's from the Republic of Ireland, which is the bigger part, it is a thing. Whether
you're Catholic or Protestant, it is a thing over there. Irish, no. And they've all got sayings
about this stuff.
Yeah, about having tickets on yourself, for example, and making sure that you get out
of the wind. Otherwise, all the tickets are going to blow off and all those sorts of things.
These are things that's real. And when you're a kid, a little kid, especially when you're
growing up and you've got your mum telling you something, particularly if you're mum,
you know, if you're close to your mum, if you've got your mum telling you something,
you actually, it does form neural pathways, I think.
That stay with us forever.
And they're not bad neural pathways. So therefore, there's no need to go and change them. But
these things stay with us forever.
Stay with you forever.
I think so. I think, I mean, they're really simple in the scheme of things, but you can't
underplay the importance of them. Little things like gratitude, like using manners, like these
are big, little big things that I've got from my mum in particular, but my dad as well in other
areas. And I guess an important part, and this is what's great about my job because I meet a lot
of people, you know, on an average morning, I probably meet about a hundred people, you know,
and I travel the country meeting people in all situations, different socioeconomic groups,
different interest levels.
And I guess something particularly for a mum is to treat everyone with the same level of kindness
and respect, and you never really know what they're going through. And that's such a great
life lesson for anybody, no matter what you do, no matter what your profession,
no matter where you live. If that's your kind of key pillar, then you're on a good start, I think.
Did you have a wall that you kicked a soccer ball up against in Adelaide?
Windows, unfortunately, for my parents.
Insurance policy.
Yeah, I'd kick a soccer ball anywhere. I loved it. It was my sport. It was,
my obsession. And, you know, I had dreams of playing for Manchester United.
Wow. That's a big dream though.
Yeah, I haven't given up on it.
Yeah, there's time. You're only young, but are you a big dreamer?
Yeah. Yeah. And that, I think I got more from dad.
So I guess you could call it being a dreamer or you could call it possibly having a unhealthy
level of self-confidence.
Yeah. Yeah. Dad's a go-getter.
And dad, dad's someone who'll watch a video of Billy Joel in concert and see him playing
Piano Man and go, oh, let's go to the piano. I'll play that. And think he can play it just
like Billy Joel. Or, you know, dad and I will be sitting watching Manchester United. He'll be like,
Gary Neville, terrible right back. I reckon I could do a better job. He just had this,
he has this level of belief, which some would say is, you know, a little bit not in line with
ability level or talent to back it up. But it's a really nice, certainly for what I do,
it's a really nice starting point.
To, and I guess it's come through in what I've done, which is leaving Adelaide,
wanting to go to take on the best. And so it's not completely misguided and it's not a,
I don't see it as a negative quality, but I guess I'm looking at it through
more of an even assessment at the moment, you know, with where I'm at in my career. But I love
that I've got that from dad and I love that I've got the manners, the treating people with kindness,
you know, from mum.
It's a funny thing, you know, in, I've observed it, but it's a funny thing in Irish families
when it's both apart.
Parties are Irish, is that the mum is sort of keeping you within your lane, making sure you stay
in your lane and things like manners and all that sort of stuff. But also don't get ahead of
yourself. That sort of stuff, you know, don't be up yourself and all that sort of, and they're
pretty direct. They don't muck around.
And the dads, yeah, they would get out in the pub, have a beer, watch the footy or play an
instrument or tell a story.
Or dad does all of those things.
Yep. Plays guitar, you know, was in a cover band, loves to tell a joke, loves a beer. He's all of
those things. So in many respects, I feel that I've cherry picked the best parts of each parent,
which I think every kid hopes that they can do and, you know, channel into what I do.
Your parents are both married still?
And they're still alive?
And how do they view your business life? What do they, what do you think? What do they say to you?
don't think they truly understand all of it as much as I try to explain it, the relentlessness of
You mean the effort?
Yeah, I guess it's just the pace of it. You know, I'll be doing the show in Adelaide and
sometimes, and again, this is coming back to the guilt thing, sometimes I'll forget to tell them
and they'll turn on the TV and there's something at the bottom of sunrise, Sam Mac is in Adelaide
and I'll get a message from mum and dad going, thanks for the heads up, you know.
Well, that's a pretty interesting thing. Let's go through that for a little,
for a second here because I know how that works. You're on TV for, I don't know,
on any one morning, like in aggregate, maybe 15 minutes.
No, that 35 minutes.
35 minutes. Okay. So that's maybe seven, eight segments?
Okay. So, and I'm watching TV or mum and dad are watching TV and they see one segment and they see
you for a couple of minutes. Okay. And then they, and that's on Monday morning, but they don't
realize all the stuff.
All the pedaling underneath the water, whatever, paddling, whatever the word's,
under the water, is that it takes a lot to prepare that, that little package.
Like you've got to travel somewhere.
And you've got to maybe stay overnight because you've got to be there before the next morning.
You can't get there, you can't get up in the morning and go because you've got to be there
before the planes aren't even leaving when you're getting ready. Then you've got to,
you've got to talk to your production crew. Let's just take me through that process. What's
that sort of look like? Let's pick, let's pick a relatively speaking remote place, Australia.
Let's say you're going to Cairns.
So what does that look like?
Well, it's, it really depends where we are the day before and where we are the day after. So
there's no normal week in this role. You know, for example, this week I'm going to Perth and
we'll be in Perth for two nights, long way to go for two nights for two shows, but important for
us to get to Perth because, because it's been a while. Now we're not just in Perth, we're at
Rottnest Island. So anyone who knows Perth knows that you don't just land in Perth and then you,
you know, you've actually got to drive to the,
the very spot, get on the ferry, stay the night on Rottnest Island, do the show. Time difference
means you're doing the show at around 3am local time.
Especially at the most, three hours difference.
Yep. Difficult to get guests. Hey, can you come down for a chat at 4.15? Good luck.
Especially if it's at Rottnest.
Yeah. Yeah. It's tricky.
You have to pull them off onto the boats.
Yeah, exactly. Take your cock a selfie and get out. But it's, you know, the other week we did
a week on the road with New South Wales tourism. So a different part of New South Wales and you're
driving every day. Last week we did,
Four cities in four days. So my point being there's no set week, but what it looks like is,
yes, we travel the day before because you can't travel on the morning. Normally you want to get
in, in the afternoon, have an early dinner, get to bed by eight, eight 30.
How many is in the group?
Four of you in the group.
Small team, producer, human emoji, who's produced me from day one. Then you've got a cameraman and
a link operator and they kind of rotate. So small team. I like that. Less politics, less meetings.
Um, so it means you, yeah, you get there, you sleep, you do the show. Then often you're straight
to the airport or you'll drive somewhere, get ready for the next day's location.
Who's actually saying though, what determines why should you go to Perth? Is it your audience?
And who sits down and works at that schedule?
Combination of the executive producers of the show and my producer. And I'll certainly throw
in ideas or say, Hey, I'm getting a few messages on social media. You know, people in Perth saying
what's going on? You haven't been here.
And they're often right. People pay much more attention than you'd think. Yeah. Um, and, and we
know, we know that it's been a long time since a Perth trip and I used to live in Perth. So I've
got friends over there that are like, Hey, we haven't caught up since you become a dad, all of
this kind of thing. Right. So, um, you just know. And like, I, one thing I love about my job is it
really helps me have a national view. Um, you know, for sports, for just what, what living is
like in each city, what property prices are doing in each city. I enjoy that part of the job because
I'm interested in it. And I have a connection to every city through my job, but on a higher level,
I'm born and bred in Adelaide. I've lived in Perth for three years. I'm in Melbourne every second
week. My partner's from Melbourne. We visit the grandparents, you know, her, her parents. So I'm
in Melbourne a lot. Um, I live in Sydney these days. Um, so I'm quite a national person in that
regard. And I love that about it because each city has their great selling points.
But is it, is there, is there an audience factor in this? Like, uh, you said the audience,
I sent you a message just to say you haven't been over for a while. Like that's something mad. Um,
it's important for channel seven to show that they can take the time or be bothered to send
Sam back to, let's say Perth to do a show. Absolutely. A hundred percent. And so they
get it. So they should, if I was turning on my TV every morning and the presenters were going to
every city except mine, I would be like, Oh, what else is on? So yeah, it's crucial that we go,
these are big cities and every city, as you would know, having traveled a lot, has its own,
and as you know, the talking points. And if you ignore that, then I think it might not happen
instantly, but in time, your numbers, your ratings will be affected by that, but it shouldn't just be
about ratings. I know that's a big determining factor, but it should be about the ethos of the
show. We're a national show. So we should be going to all those cities. What is the ethos of the
show? Does it, is that get shared amongst all the talent on the show in the morning? Do you all
share the same discussion about what is the ethos of this show? What are we really trying to do here?
I feel it's a conversation that we should have more often.
But having said that, I feel that we all know, you know, that if people are going to watch,
let's say your average viewer only watches 30 minutes of sunrise in the morning in between
getting their kids ready for school or getting ready for work or whatever it might be. We want
them to get the biggest news of the day. So five or six minutes on what are the big news stories?
What do you need to know? You need them to get the weather. That's where I come in. You need them
ideally to get something to smile about some sort of entertainment, whether it's music or whether
it's a fun interview, maybe even something to cry about, you know, maybe it's a heavier
story, but it's got some heart to it. If you can get all of those things in 30 minutes, then I think
you're on the right track because that will then become part of people's routine. And rather than
having to flick around for each of those things individually, they've got it all in the one spot.
So clearly weather's one part of the information package, but where do you fit into in those other
things? Like, uh, let's call it the entertainment side. Where do you see yourself fitting into the
entertainment part of the ethos of the show of sunrise?
Well, I feel you summed it up when you said light entertainment. I feel like that's,
that's kind of my role. Some morning it's very light, almost lacking. Um, but I look, I,
one great thing about my role is that I meet people face to face. So I'm at their cricket club. I'm at
their schools, you know, I'm at their retirement village. They love it. And, and one interesting
thing I've found is the further we go out from the capital cities, the more they love it. So if you
go out to the burbs, say 45 minutes, an hour out of any city, they're so excited that you're giving
them that moment of recognition. And, and, and I love that because we feed off that energy.
So the fact that I'm meeting people face to face and having a chat with them in their lounge room
or living room, uh, is quite rare for TV because a lot of the time people on TV stay in the TV,
they're in the studio, they're behind glass, security lights, whatever. I'm not, I'm,
and I love that about the role. I mean, it comes with its challenges as well,
because some mornings it can be a bit overwhelming, but I love that I get to chat face to face.
You talk to kids, kids, 40 clubs or cricket clubs or whatever it is. You talk to
I talk to older people at maybe, um, nursing homes, et cetera, like that.
This morning we were at, uh, a gymnastics club in Smeaton Grange, which is about an hour Southwest
Sydney. Tomorrow morning I'm at a retirement village in North Parramatta. So that's a perfect
summary of two days in sunrise weather, literally both ends of the scale.
You've got to be fairly, uh, flamboyant is probably not the word. You've got to be, um,
flexible because not everybody can talk to kids and then older, older people, older generation,
um, at the same time, uh, not everybody can deal with animals, dogs. There might be a, a, a sort of
a Easter show thing going on, like think of it, you know, the pet farm or something. Not everybody
can do all those things, but you seem to be able to do them all. What is it in your personality?
Is it performance or is it actual genuineness? I mean, I know you're going to say it's genuine,
but I mean, is, is there much performance in it? Definitely. Yeah. There is performance. I kind of
see it as it's a heightened version of yourself. I mean, the one thing working for me is that I'm
naturally interested in people. I'm naturally interested in people. I'm naturally interested in
people. And if someone's passionate about something, I feel that's contagious in a good
way. And, and I'll happily point the mic at them and get them talking. And then I'm inquisitive.
So I want to ask, I've got lots of questions. I don't need to write down 15 questions before I
go there. If someone tells me that they have six chickens instantly, I want to know what are they
called? What sort of life are they going to lead? How are the eggs going? You know, which one's
your favorite? All I've got questions, right? So that just naturally comes to me. And I love that
about it. And the more you, you keep digging, you you'll find gold. I think
one thing that I've found in this role is that there are so many interesting stories out there.
And if you give people enough time in front of the mic, you'll find it. Yeah. You'll find it.
They love to talk. I mean, it's funny, you know, um, you're not really the weather guy. I mean,
you do the weather, I get it. Um, but it's, it's really, uh, the light entertainment part of the
show. I mean, I know that on the show that everybody's there's laughter and there's,
you know, frivolous moments, et cetera, but you bring in sort of the, the fundamentals into the
show. Like, you know, as you're talking to older people, retirement people, you're talking to kids
at a gymnastics class or someone, someone raising chickens could be at the Easter show. You bring
that, uh, that sort of, uh, levity. And I, do you think that in our world today, given the newsfeed
that we all suffer, and I don't mean through channel seven or nine, I'm just saying newsfeed,
we all suffer on everything, you know, like we just pick up our phone, but it's just newsfeed
concert, concert, concert, concert. And it doesn't, and, and it's, um, it's indiscriminate. It's
about, you know, can go from Afghanistan, Kabul to, you know, New York to Donald Trump to, you
know, back over to, um, you know, Sunak, Rishi Sunak, whoever, it just moves around all the time
and it's constant, constant, constant, constant. Do you think that what you do brings us some
balance? Yes. I think it's important. It's one of the things I love about that role. Um,
I think COVID was a perfect example. I remember at the start of COVID,
when we all, we're all working it out together, right? And we're like, okay, this is serious.
This is going to affect things. The two things that are the main parts of my role, which is travel
and groups of people were instantly taken off the table. So my producer, Sean, the human emoji,
and I, we decided straight away, we're not going to talk about COVID. And we had to get that approved
by producers. We said the news. And that's the other thing about when you consume news, whether
it's on your phone or whether it's radio podcasts, or whether it's, you know, you're on the phone,
if it's a heavy story, I think you might not realize it, but you'll feel it. If there's a bus
crash and 23 people have died, you don't just go, Oh, well next channel or I'm off to work. Like you
feel it because you're a human being. Right? So that's why we, I might be running around like a
fool and trying to do a helicopter maneuver at a kid's gymnastic class, but you need it. It's like
that, that breath of relief and like the world's not all bad, particularly a lot of kids watch the
show. So we don't want the kids,
who, you know, kids are very perceptive and are seeing more than we think they are. I'm learning
that now as a dad of a one-year-old, but they see, and they listen and they watch and like feel
right. So if all the news for seven minutes is really depressing, horrific, sad, they can feel
their parents' body language. They can see the parents' eyes or the hear the size. So it's
important that we give them, it's okay to laugh now. We can, this is your permission to act like
a goose, like the weatherman. That's great. I'm happy to be the dancing clown when required.
There's value in that, I guess is my point.
Yeah. A hundred percent. So, so self-deprecating really is an Irish way of humor. It's endemic in
the Irish system of humor. Basically just take the piss out yourself and who cares if I get a laugh,
that's all that matters.
And invite other people to take the piss out of you too.
I had a lady at the gymnastics class this morning who said my posture was a two out of 10. You know,
I was like, great. I love it when they get stuck into me because I know the hosts will
enjoy that. And like I say, I'm happy to be the fall guy. I'm happy to have the joke can be on me
as long as there is a joke. And as long as there's something to smile about.
Well, can you take me on beyond that? So like, you're happy to do it and most of us say, oh,
fuck that. Like, why would I want that to happen to me? But what's the greater good that you're
Because like I was saying before, I meet people face to face and I've had so many interactions
with, to me, complete strangers, but I'm not a complete stranger to them who have, you know,
a prime example was a police officer.
Who came up to me in Geelong a couple of years ago and said, Sam, I don't want to be on camera.
I just want to let you know that I've been out of the force for 10 years. I had PTSD,
but your segments have given me something to smile about. And I've watched every segment of yours
from 5 40 in the morning. He said, it's not always necessarily things you're saying. It's
just the energy that you bring and the places that you show and the way that you approach
things just reminds me to, you know, not take myself too seriously and try to have a good day.
And that is like gold to me. That, that keeps me going for another
year. And I have enough of those, whether it's people writing to me on social media
or coming up to me face to face and saying, look, I want you to meet my kids. Our family loves you.
And a lot of the time they don't want to be on TV. They just want to express to me,
Hey, what you're doing means something to our family. And that's the biggest buzz.
Is that a form of, because I sort of get it myself a little bit,
not to the same level, but, or the same extent either, but I get a lot of people
thanking me for the various shows. Absolutely.
But I often think to myself,
Mark, is that you needing some self-affirmation about what you do in the world and that what you
do is meaningful because I was always taught, do something that's meaningful. It doesn't mean you
got to change. You don't have to be Madame Curie and invent pasteurization or something like that.
I mean, that would be meaningful too, but it's like, you don't have to win a Nobel prize, but
do things that are meaningful. And that was drummed into me as a kid growing up.
Because that's what my parents admired. Yeah.
And sometimes I think to myself, do I do these things that I do, irrespective of, you know,
the occasional slap by the media for being who you are, just being well known that is,
do I continue on to keep marching forward because I need to be affirmed
that what I'm doing is the right thing and a good thing. Is that something you've ever thought
through? I haven't thought it through, but in hearing you chat about it now,
we're both human beings, right? And we both have feelings and-
We want to be loved. We want to be loved, but
I feel like someone coming up to you and saying, you know, I loved you on celebrity apprentice or
I love, you know, your tips you're giving me on interest rates, whatever.
That's a nice thing to hear, right? That's a, it's not the only reason you do it, but it's a nice part of-
I feel like, and this is something that I've taken over the last few years in getting those
types of interactions with people and having that feedback is like, I can then pass that on to
someone else who I'm taking something from. So people should hear that they're doing something
well more often. I think that sometimes we think, oh, they know that I'm proud of them, or they know
that I think they're doing a great job. They might not. And they might just, sometimes just hearing it
is very powerful. Like telling my partner, she's doing an amazing job as a mom. When I've told her
that, I can tell that means something to her. Even though I know that and I feel like I'm showing it
to her in other ways, sometimes verbalizing it, saying it is extremely powerful and maybe what
they need on that particular day. So I love it when people, you know, pour their heart out and
say, you know, your segments have helped me through this or my family loved that. Like that's,
if you weren't feeling something out of that, then you probably shouldn't be doing it.
Yeah. Cause I don't think there's anything wrong with self-affirmation, but I often wonder about
it. Like, uh, is it a basic need of humans that we need to have some sort of affirmation? In other
words, we have a purpose. We're valuable in society. It doesn't matter how valuable you're
not. As I said, I'm not talking about a Nobel prize value. I'm just, even if it's just a little
bit of valuable and, and you need to hear it, you need to be told by a third party. And it's
interesting, you said something about your partner. So can we just go there for a moment?
Yeah. Is that okay? Cool. So, uh, how, how long have you guys been together?
We've been together three years.
Three and a half years.
Yep. And, uh, you've just had a baby recently.
More and more recently. How old's your, what have you got, a boy or a girl?
Girl. Her name's Margo and she just turned one.
Great name, Margo. She's one year old. She's going to get into the territory. She,
she's probably crawling.
She's almost walking.
Yeah. She's standing, but not.
Stumbling like me coming home from the pub.
Yeah. Okay. When she's, she, you know, in a year's time, she'll be causing you a problem.
So, you know, I remember I had four kids and I remember they, you know, I said the very first
kid, I was saying, Oh, I wonder when he's going to crawl, when he's going to, I'm looking,
I'm looking forward to him when he's walking. And then by the third one, I'm thinking,
Oh my God, I'm not looking forward to him by the time they're walking. He has to be
opening every bloody cupboard in the house. For years, I had latches on all my cupboards.
It looked so shit. And there was bar, like gates and stairways and like things like that,
you know, like, uh, eventually.
So that's what you're passing on about your parenting tip is that it ruins the aesthetic
No, it's more of a thing. Cause you know, the, the, the gate thing that you just have
at the top of the stairs, a breakdown or the little screw things that you just have to
screw into the thing. They'd make a dent on the side of the,
the wood and you have to sand it back and repaint it. I was just so happy once I could
get all that shit out of the job.
Yeah. It feels like you've really been triggered in this chat.
I have been very triggered, but, but it's a wonderful thing. How, how much are you enjoying
having Margot as a one-year-old girl?
Best thing that can ever happen to anyone I feel. Um, you know, obviously I'm at the
very start of this, this crazy journey, but I think you were probably the same when you
get through that first year of your first born.
It's a bit of a fog, isn't it?
Yeah. Yeah. But there's also that sense of achievement.
You know, we've, we've kept a human alive for a year and it's have a drink with the
mates and celebrate and bring the family round. And, um, yeah, I've, I'm absolutely loving
it. It's challenging with the travel schedule.
Yeah. How do you manage that?
As best we can, you know, work have been very understanding and as flexible as they can
be. But the reality of my role is it's flying, it's driving. It's like we spoke about a national
show. I've, I can't just be in Sydney every day. So I try to justify it. And I guess,
be at peace with it by making it work for us when we can. For example, we took Margot
on a work trip to Disneyland when she was only six months old, you know, kids fly.
She won't remember.
Kids fly for free under two. Yeah. She probably won't remember it, but we'll show her the
photos and videos. Um, but yeah, I, I think that I'd, I try to look at it from this perspective.
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Perspective. Your average person,
your parent, whether it's the mom or dad that's staying at home, often it's the mom staying at
home, the dad's working, often that first year, but it changes. Say they work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
standard hours, they're probably leaving home at 7, 7.30, the commute. They're getting home at 6,
6.30. So they only really see their little one on the weekends and maybe half an hour here and
there. The days that I'm in Sydney, I get almost the whole day and then my partner,
Beck, can go to work. And so I try to look at it like through that lens. Otherwise,
it would just be too upsetting. I'm missing so many moments.
Well, I can tell you now, I never saw my kids because my kids grew up in a different era.
But it was normal for the father to work all day. And if you had a second job, I mean,
I worked 12, 13 hours a day, every day, six days a week. And the only time I saw my kids was at sport
on Sundays at the rugby league. And I never got to take him anywhere, which in hindsight, I now
I wish I had known better. I wish I had known what you know and what more modern parents know,
this sort of stuff. And then those days, you just relied on your partner, their mum, to bring them
up and to do everything for them. And I don't even remember ever changing nappies. Not because I
wouldn't, I didn't want to do it, but because, you know, they, at night they were sleeping and
the nappy, by the time they got up, I'd left.
And by the time I got home, they're back in bed.
And I'd go and literally go into the cot or the bed and just have a look at them, like the sleep.
Um, so I don't really, I mean, I might've probably changed nappies on a Sunday or something like
that, but like, I don't really remember doing too much of them. So that's stuff sacred. You can't go
back in time. You can't say, and you might say, I'll get it with the second or third, but it
doesn't matter. You missed out on the first.
And there's periods that you may treasure that stuff, that stuff. So most importantly, you tend
to, what I tend to do now is I try to make it up for them. Um, you know, um, and especially with
my grandkids, like, uh, I tend to go over the top with my grandkids, do things for them that I
would never have done for my own kids. My kids,
and remind me, hey dad, you would never have done for me. What's wrong with you? And, uh,
probably it's not the right thing to do. So this is a great time to treasure.
Especially if you've got a busy, a busy schedule.
I'm super aware of that. And, um, and it's my number one focus. So obviously we need an income,
we need to work. So when I'm away working, justify it by, okay, I'm going to spend as much time as I
can. I'm going to be completely present when I get home. You know, when I walk in that door,
we're on, I'm not going to relax and chill out on the couch and watch the footy. I'm helping. So to
give my partner a break.
But also I don't want to miss those. The thing that I didn't think about before becoming a dad
was, I guess you call them mini milestones. I thought about the big ones, like walking for
the first time. I didn't think, yeah, I didn't think about hearing her laugh for the first time.
I didn't think about that. I didn't think about when she learned how to point or when she learned
how to clap with a song or now she knows where her tummy is. I didn't think about these and
they're almost every week. So, so any minute that I'm home, when I'm not sleeping, I'll be trying
my best to get on that carpet.
With Margot, give Beck a bit of a break. But, but in a selfish way to see these moments unfold.
I absolutely love that part of it.
It's funny, you know, it just reminded me of something. I remember when my first son was born
and my grandmother, who's Greek, was alive and who could not speak any English. And I remember
one time I was over at her place in Maroubra and my son was probably, he hadn't been christened.
We were going to get him christened. We just waited a bit. I don't know why, but he was like maybe three
or four months old. And he was smiling or he was doing that with his, like a smile. He wasn't
grimacing. It was, it was a smile. The only grimace was a smile, one of the two, the whingeal smile.
And my grandmother said, I said to her, look, he's smiling. Look, you know, she said, no,
he's not smiling. You haven't christened him yet. And I said, what do you mean? She said,
that's not a smile. She said, that is him laughing at the devil. You have to go and get him christened.
She said, I'll fix it up.
So she went and got some whiskey and in a glass and put her finger in the glass and put a drop of
whiskey on her, on the tip of her finger and put it on his tongue. Like an old Greek tradition thing,
you know, like, and she said, he'll keep, what it turned out to be, he wasn't smiling because he
had, he didn't know what he was smiling at. He had a tummy ache and he was just making a mouth
movement that looked like he was smiling. And the whiskey actually somehow relaxed them a bit.
It took the pain away. And she's literally like,
three or four minutes after she did this, this smile went away. And she said,
that'll drive the devil away until you go and get him christened. And I thought,
shit, I better get him christened. So I went and got him christened really quick.
It's funny, these old traditions just reminded me of something. And you're right.
They're the little moments before you have a kid you never knew about.
And they're the little moments that really are the important moments.
I don't remember his first birthday, but I do remember that.
Well, I, I think like a lot of people,
come a parent for the first time. I mean, a few things happened for me.
Yes. We had a little time to prepare, but I think instantly it gave me a new level of
appreciation for my parents because I feel like when, when we're kids, we just, everything's just
there. You know, your dinner's just there. You don't know or think, nor should you, you're a kid,
but you don't know that your parents might be going through some challenging financial times
or that they've had a really tough day at work. And the last thing they want to do is make a big
meal for you that you don't know or care about that.
So when I became a dad and sort of started to get into that groove instantly, I was like, wow,
my parents did all of these things. They had all of these emotions. They had all of these feelings
and I was a little brat. I was a spoiled brat. So it made me appreciate them so much more.
It made me appreciate my partner so much more seeing her. And I guess a lot of dads would
have seen this when mom just clicks into mom mode. It's this magical thing that we would not
stand a chance, but the strength that, that new moms and women endurance ability is crazy.
Oh, so pathetic. It's, it's embarrassing.
I don't want to use it as an excuse because it might sound like I'm using, I'm not,
I am saying it's the truth. We are so pathetic.
Yeah. But you can't use that as a cop-out anymore. You say, I'm pathetic. So here's
a list of 15 things that I'm going to do. That's going to improve this week to make
your life easier. You have to, and you know, like put it this way, little things that I notice
my partner, Beck, she'll make pasta for Margo for dinner. Great. Fantastic. Makes the pasta,
you know, like boils or whatever. And then she'll get the palms and cheese out and she'll,
she'll grate the palms and cheese. This is for a baby. Now the baby wouldn't know any
difference if there was palms and cheese on there or not, but she cares. And every day
is grand final day for her. So I might, if I'm in that house and when I've been away
three nights and I come home, I'm going to grate that cheese. Cause I've got to fit into
that groove that I've missed out on.
You're going to measure up, mate.
Absolutely. And she's making me become better and making me push myself to kind of keep
up, which is, which is a gift for me because that gift then becomes for Margo is going
to have an amazing upbringing. So yeah. And I think that's a pretty standard thing. Moms
just have these gifts.
They've got these gears that we don't know about and you only see them when you're in
it, when you're in that day to day, when they're up at 2am and they've got the energy to sing
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for the 15th time, you know, but it's like they've sung
it for the first time. So you can't help but be caught up and swept up in that. This is
what it takes to be a great parent. So I need to match, I need to match that level.
You become inspired.
It's funny, you know, you should say, because last weekend, um, my son rings and he said,
Dad, can we come around to your place? My, my grandson, George. And, uh,
to have a swim. I said, I'm lucky to live near the beach. And I said, yeah, no worries.
Cause you know, there's a parking spot there. And so I thought to myself, I better get George
something to eat. Cause you know, like I'll buy him an ice cream, buy him a bag of chips
or get him some peanuts or something. I don't know. He's not peanut allergic to peanuts.
And, um, so I text my son and, uh, he writes back, says, Dad, it's all right. His wife
Siobhan has organized, she's made him cookies. No, actually Siobhan texted me back and she
I made him cookies. So they come along with the cookies. And I thought, well, you idiot.
Like, you know, she's made cookies and he helped her make the cookies. So she is like,
he was up there, you know, doing the cooking thing. And then when he got to my place, he
produced the cookies. He calls me Pop. He said, Pop, here's some cookies. They're healthy
to eat. Not like chips. It's straight up.
So he's teaching you now about better diet habits.
And I thought, I felt like inspired now cause he's come to stay with me. They're having
another baby and, uh.
Two weeks or so. And he's going to come and stay with me for a few days.
So I now thought, well, hang on. You got to lift my, I got to lift my game now. I'm going
to have to get a thing for him to stand on in the kitchen. I'm going to have to get him
to help me make some dinner. He's going to have to make some cookies. He's going to,
and it's going to be healthy. So like it's, you know, um, the flowers, whole meal flower,
like the whole thing.
You're right. There's a lot of inspiration, even at my age, a lot of inspiration to be
got from a modern parent, a good modern parent.
And it's not just how you enjoy the kids being a parent for the first time or being
a grandparent for the first time for that matter. It's about what I, I'm always looking
for inspiration. And to some extent, what you do in your job is inspiration for wherever
you go. I mean, you, part of your, your interaction is inspiring people maybe to get up and you
might go to a convalescent home and get up and do some exercise or bring a companion
For people to be inspired to touch, touch the dog, pat him or her and, uh, to feel for
them to feel better. Go to a kid's thing, a little kids in a country town who've never
seen Sam Mack, who I only see on television and they want to see Sam Mack being funny,
clowning around, maybe wearing an outfit or something like that.
And these are, these are inspirational moments.
You must have, like, I mean, I don't know if you keep a log of these things, but you
must have thousands and thousands of inspirational moments where you just try to commit, try
to, try to, try to, try to, try to, try to, try to, try to, try to, try to, try to, try to,
try to commit, store some of them in your own memory.
Well, I wrote a book during COVID. Thanks for reading it as part of your research for
No problem. That's why I raised it. I did it as suddenly as possible.
Could you tell me your top 25 moments from the book?
The first 25, baby.
Yeah. We'll, we'll get to that at the end when you review the book for me.
I couldn't put it down.
Accidental Weatherman. You couldn't pick it up either. That was the problem.
Accidental Weatherman was the name of the book because I kind of stumbled into the job
and never set out to be a weatherman, never really had a particular interest.
in the weather, but I, you know, became the weatherman. Um, but really the book is about
people and exactly what you're saying. The people that I've met, the places that I've been, um,
that you take a little something from everywhere. It's not always a great thing, but you take a
little something from everywhere. And you mean you benefit for yourself, you mean, or you're
having in terms of memory, you learn something, you have a great memory, a great interaction.
You meet someone who you want to keep in contact with because you see something in someone,
um, you become a bit of a mini expert on everything. You can talk about, you know,
you, you name like, uh, motor neuron disease. I've met multiple people with it. I've met their
families. I've spoken about it. So you get these little snapshots of people's lives. And, and often
my challenge is how do I tell their life story in two minutes, which is really tough, but an
exciting challenge to kind of get to the, get to the key points as quick as you can, and, but also
leave them some room to shine. I love that part of the job. And it's,
it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,
challenging when you've got someone in your ear saying, you know, wrap it up. The prime minister
is about to be on. We got to go. We got to go. That happens. But, um, yeah, I do. I, I take those
little, little nuggets from different places around the country and beyond. Yeah. So you have
met a lot of people and there are some causes that you, you do prosecute like pretty, uh,
rigidly, you know, with a lot of energy. What are some of the things you're now,
and what are some of the things now you're looking at and doing? And do you have a memory of who it
was? Do you have a memory of who it was? Do you have a memory of who it was? Do you have a memory of
where it was that inspired you to do that particular thing in terms of cause?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I've been a, an ambassador, a Sambassador for, um, Sydney
Dogs and Cats Home for a number of years that basically rescue animals. So I've had a couple
of rescue cats of mine. I love dogs as well, but just my travel and the houses that I was living
at the time, it was cats. Um, sadly lost Coco, who I was, you know, my cat for 13 years, rescue cat
last year, which really was upsetting, you know, on, on so many levels, anyone who's
lost a pet knows that feeling. Is that the cat you took to the loggies?
Yeah, that's the cat. Yeah. It's a cat that I've got tattooed on my hip.
Really? Yeah. Yeah. And it's, she was a cat that
she had like a resting bitch face. So it was kind of funny on social media. People like grumpy cat,
I guess people enjoyed that and people followed her stories and journey, but, but through it all,
we were raising awareness and raising money. And, and when she passed, I said, look, if,
if you ever laughed at, you know, one of the Coco photos, or if you were in,
enjoyed some of our little adventures, could you please give 20 bucks, you know, to,
to animal rescue, because this is in her honor. And we raised $25,000 overnight,
which was really nice for me to kind of have that. It wasn't all in my mind. People were
really invested and connected to her and to me, and they could tell that it was genuine.
And I wanted to do anything to help this animal rescue place. And I love that
people were on board with that. So that's definitely one of them.
Do you remember the moment where you were inspired to actually support
a rescue shelter for animals? Yeah, I remember.
Was it a segment?
Being, no, it was just at a park and a guy there had a rescue dog. And I think like a lot of people,
this is a while ago now, for some reason, I just thought rescue is something wrong with them. I
just had this perception of, oh, they've got behavioral issues, or that was just how I viewed
it. This was 10, 15 years ago. And then, yeah, then through doing segments, I kind of met, wow,
there's all these amazing cats, amazing dogs. And like, what an awesome thing to share this. You
don't go and have to pay a breeder. You don't have to do it like that. Go to the pet shop at Bondi.
You don't need to do that. You can actually, these, these guys,
really need a home and they're so excited to come home with you. So that's a big animal lover. So
that was definitely one. I wear that for R U OK? Day. I've been an ambassador for R U OK? Day for
over 10 years now. I lost a friend to his mental health battles in 2008. And I think this was,
that was pre R U OK? That was probably, as you would know, around 2008, mental health conversations
were nowhere near as prevalent as they are now, particularly amongst men. So that was a shock to
the system. And that was a shock to the system. And that was a shock to the system. And that was
I was doing radio at the time. And I remember it took me about a year or so before I was
comfortable to speak about it publicly. And I remember speaking about it on radio and it was
one of the toughest things I've ever done because it was-
Speaking about the loss or speaking about mental health?
Yeah, speaking about him, speaking about who Richard, his name is, Richard Marsland,
speaking about Richard, speaking about who he was, what he stood for, what he made me going
through, speaking about how it affected me, but also his family, his friends, that community.
And then sort of leading into speaking about mental health more generally and
things that I'd picked up in that, I guess, year of learning. So that's something that's very
personal, very raw. And I think sadly, a lot of people have a connection to it these days.
So anything that I can do, and I'm again, very proud of, again, I've had people come up to me
and say, you encouraged me to chat to a friend about it, or you encouraged me to reach out to
a counselor. I take real value in that. And I can use my social media platform for that. I can use
Sunrise. Sunrise have been great with supporting me on that. So yeah, mental health is a really big
one for me. As we know, after COVID, it's more important than ever. And I feel that things are
improving. I really feel that men are more open and more, you're not going to get mocked as much
as say 10 years ago for saying, look, I'm going through a really tough time or breaking down and
crying. It's okay. It's funny, we never actually, I don't know if we actually got mocked, but we
felt as though we're going to get mocked. Yeah. Yeah. I guess it depends on your
friendship group.
Like it was, you're offering weakness to whoever your group was. When in fact, in hindsight,
if anyone ever said it to me, you know, that they weren't feeling great and there was something
wrong, I would not have thought of that as weakness. I would have just thought, well,
shit, what can I do to help? Yes.
But it, you know, there would have been a sense of, particularly when I was growing up, there was
a sense of, you know, there's a weakness in this. That's right. You know, like you're,
you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're,
you're offering up your vulnerability. I think R U OK? Day is just a wonderful, it's
for a start, it's a great acronym, R U OK? I mean, that's just fantastic. But it gives
people an opportunity or permission, A, to ask it, but B, to say they're not.
That's right. And, and, you know, there's permission.
Yes. And it's, there's some people who will say, oh, it's only one day of the year. It
should be every day. It is every day. But that one day is the annual reminder to keep
it top of mind. Now, I wear that because it reminds me every day. It's a nice little
visual cue, but I remember anyway, it's so ingrained in me now, but it reminds me to
be alert to people's mental health around me, whether it's a workmate, whether it's
my partner, whether it's my family, friends, random person that I meet at a sunrise weather
segment. It reminds me to be in tune with people's mental health, but, but also myself.
It reminds me to, to keep a check in on myself and, oh yeah, how am I going? Or have I got
too much on my plate at the moment? Do I need to rejig things?
I was going to ask you about that. You've got a lot on your plate. I mean, you do a
lot. I mean, you've got all these various foundations you try to look after, you help
out, you go to mad, mad life in terms of work. You know, it's mad in terms of the, you know,
just the rhythm of it. I think your brain is going at a thousand miles an hour anyway
in whatever, whatever you're doing. But there was, as you just said, if you're home, you're
on the floor with Margot.
Of course, it's your partner, her mother, who you've got to spend time, not going to
spend time, want to spend time with too. It's necessary. Then there's your parents who are
sort of sitting there wondering why you didn't visit them when you went to Adelaide. And
there's, there's your sister. Yeah. And then there's probably others, a lot of, a broader
circle of friends. You've got to have friends.
You've got to have a couple of mates.
You've got to have someone to have a beer with. He's probably the, do you follow a footy
No, I mean, I mean soccer and.
Manchester United or Adelaide United.
So you've got to watch the game.
And you've got to do your research. You've got to find out what's going on. You've got
to know what's going on.
So that's a fairly busy life. Do you ever sort of check in every now and then and sort
of say, hang on, let's just pull up here for a minute and stand and just think about it.
Like, let's say no to something.
Yeah. That's, that's an area that I have to improve in. I feel like I'm getting better
at it. I feel like fatherhood has helped me get stronger with that.
Are you talking about prioritization?
Yeah. Just, it's, I don't know.
It was the same for you, but it's, it's amazing how fast you can answer a question or a prospect
when you've just become a new parent. Because if someone says, oh, can you come to Canberra
and host this event on Saturday? The blah, blah, blah. I already know the answer is no.
Because that Saturday is the day that I want to spend the full day and put Margot to sleep
and have that time at home. Of course there's, there's exceptions. You need to do some extra
curricular bits and pieces, but it's amazing how quick I know now, whether it's a year or two,
How did you work that out? Because I mean, I still struggle with it. So, you know, I got
called pretty late last night. Could I do a segment on Channel 9 at 10 past seven? You
know, I thought, oh, you know, do I feel like doing it?
You were saying you prefer doing Channel 7 as well.
Channel 9 is listening. No, I actually like both stations. I mean, and they're both great
What have you got against Channel 10?
Well, they never asked me to do anything.
Studio 10, come on.
I don't even know where we're at.
I actually do know where it is. But like, I thought about, do I really feel like doing
it? And I said, yes. And I mean, I had to get up at six o'clock. I mean, I had to leave
home at six o'clock. Couldn't go to the gym. I had to be there at, you know, quarter seven
because they'd like to put makeup on me. Although this morning I didn't get any makeup
because I was, I got there late because there was traffic.
Is that why there's dim lighting today?
Totally. There's always dim lighting in here. Don't worry. There's always. The only person
who ever asked makeup in here was Rabs. Ray Warren. Rabs asked for makeup. But like, no,
I have, I still struggle with saying no. I feel an obligation if, if it's to talk about
interest rates, I feel as though there's an audience out there who just don't know and
they're anxious. And, uh.
I must say on that, I feel that I want to say thank you because I'm probably one of
those people. And I, as soon as there's an interest rate announcement, your Instagram
is the first place that I'll look.
So no, genuine, genuine thank you for that.
Well, but I, and I, by the way, I might not get it right.
But, but at least I think people just want an opinion like from someone who's been around
a long time, which one thing I can say, I've been around a long time and I've been through
all the ups and downs. And so I felt as though I, I feel an obligation. And again, it goes
back to sort of my, my upbringing. Um, there's an expectation mark that, um, you need to
turn up and, uh, that prioritization process, um, probably hasn't quite worked for me just
yet. Even now, I'm, I'm still trying to work it through.
Um, but it's interesting for a person of your age, a young person, relatively speaking
to me, um, has already worked it out. It's more, I think it's more, um, more your, your
cohort of people, your age group, that is in terms of cohort, are much more aware of
prioritizing your lives and what's, what's the important, what are the top five things
Yeah. I mean, becoming a dad helped crystallize that for me because.
But it didn't for me.
Yeah. Interesting.
I was saying it was a different era then when it was kind of common that mum would
look after, you would continue to work and that's just the way things were back then.
These days, it's not, I mean, sometimes it's like that for some couples. And again, it's
no judgment, whatever works for your family, whatever happens under your roof. And that's,
that's fair enough. But for us, I don't, I don't want my partner to have to bear the
brunt of all the nappy changes. And I don't want that. Like, even if it was an option
for me, I wouldn't take that.
If I could take it back, I would. Honestly, I would. If I could be you, that's me.
30, 30 odd years ago, I would definitely be different.
I would happily lay there and get pissed on by my sons when you take the nappy off.
That's the bit they're going to use in the promo for this episode.
Or, or those horrible nappies sometimes, it happens.
Oh, I think they're called punamis.
They're terrible. It is like a punami, it's just a shocker. And I, you know, I used to
think to myself, well, I'm glad I, I, my, my, their mum used to tell me about these
terrible events. And I was thinking, thank God I don't have to do that. And, uh, but
I, I probably would happily do it today.
Yeah. Well, I feel that it was a quick education for me. And I feel that, um, in that first
six months, as any new parent will know, it is a bit of a blur. I feel like this is the
timeline for me. The first couple of months, adrenaline, you're just so over the moon,
ecstatic on cloud nine, because you've got a happy, healthy baby. So nothing else matters.
You forget everything else. It's just like you're in the bubble, right? Then around the
three, four months.
Four months, Mark, it starts to kick in. It gets a bit hard. You've had that few months
of not much sleep.
Sleep deprivation.
Yeah. Reality kicks in and you're like, oh yeah, this is forever. Right. And, but from
a dad's perspective, I found it really challenging to connect with Margo because she's, you know,
literally joined at the boob to mum a lot of the time. And mum doesn't really have much
time for dad all of a sudden because it's just focused rightfully so on baby. But then
I had this thing that happened to me at around four months where I realized, you know, I
just needed to view it through a different lens. And that is every single thing that
Beck is doing for Margo that, you know, organizing that food for her, going to buy her clothes,
all of these things, cleaning up after this, planning that, getting this organized for
tomorrow, the washing, all of these things that she's showing that love to Margo is actually
by default and in turn showing love to me because this is our daughter and I'll be able
to pick up the load and I'll be able to show this in different ways. At the moment, it's
through work and it's through, you know, it's through, you know, it's through, you know,
financially us being able to afford our home. But as time goes on, I'll take some of those
roles to free her up to do bits and pieces away from that.
And again, going to the timeline thing, once we got her sleeping correctly and sleeping
well through the night at around the seven or eight month mark, and this could change
tomorrow, but at the moment it's in a good sleep pattern. We suddenly had time to sit
down together and have a glass of wine at 6.30 to have dinner together, to have a chat.
It was a monumental change. So I think a lot of dads will relate to this. That first six
months, the best you can hope for is being best supporting actress, right? You're not
the main event. You're a sous chef. You're like, you're trying to help her wherever you
can, but you are not the main event. And it's not about you. It's about mom and bub bonding
and, you know, getting through that tough time. But then also the personality starts
to emerge from the baby, in my experience, around the sort of seven month, eight month
where she starts laughing, she starts pointing, she starts making sounds, almost saying words,
saying that dad was her first word.
Which is a cruel injustice that I'm sure a lot of moms have experienced.
It's easier to say than mom. Oh, maybe.
Well, it's because I read about it. It's because they hear it the most. Cause mom's
always saying, dad's going to be home soon. Dad's going to do this. Where's dad? Oh, dad
should have done this. Dad's an idiot. You know, they hear dad all the time, right? So,
which I love. So now Beck's trying to get her to say mom, still hasn't said it. One
day she'll say it, maybe by her 21st, but...
I can see another book coming. Where the man dad?
Yeah. Well, better than accidental dad.
Yeah. Where the man dad.
Yeah. So that's, that's how I look at it in our first year.
So you, I, I just move off the, just quickly move away from, you know, Sam the dad, Sam
the weather presenter. Sam the, I just want to talk about just one example when you were
done some crazy stuff. You bungee jumped, you bungee jumped, which is something I've
never done. I just won't trust the, the rope or whatever the hell it is. You swam with sharks.
You got your cat on the cover of Puss Week magazine. It's made up, I don't know. Strip
naked for the real, for Monty.
Um, recorded a song with the Wiggles.
That's, that's one for the, that's fun for the ages.
Um, all of these things are about how Sam connects with people, the things you're prepared
to do, I should say, to build a common denominator between you and the people that you're trying
to connect with at the time. Is there anything you wouldn't do? I mean, is, and do you actually,
do, think about doing these things or decide or agree to do these things without a thought?
In other words, stuff it, I will bungee jump because I, this is, that's my deal. That's
how I'm going to perform. That's how I'm going to connect. I'm going to do it anyway. I don't
Or were you terrified?
Um, I absolutely hated it. And that was on my first day of the job.
Yeah. So the producer called me the week before and said, is there anything you won't do?
And I said, oh, I hadn't really thought about this. They said, I'll call you back in an
hour. Have a think about it.
So I'm Googling most extreme activities you can do, blah, blah, blah. And I foolishly
called him back and said, yep, there's only one that comes to mind. I won't skydive. So
in his mind, he's like, great, bungee jump.
Well, that's different.
Yeah, it is different. Still, I think almost as traumatic. So yeah, that was a horrible
experience. I would not recommend it. I had the exact same thoughts as you. What if it
snaps? And thankfully it didn't, but, um, it made good TV because people like seeing
I mean, were you fearful though?
Yeah, absolutely. And I, I didn't hide it. I was squealing like a child. I hated it,
but you know, getting naked on stage for the real Full Monty, that was a different level
Do you actually have something to cover your up? I mean, did you put your hand in front
We agreed, the group of us agreed three seconds of nudity before we put the hands in.
Well, they didn't show that. They showed from the behind angle.
Luckily I've got a great butt.
By your own admission, yeah.
But it was, that was equally scary. I mean, you know, like they took people's phones off
them before they went in. It was the Enmore Theatre in front of a thousand people then
obviously going to a national TV audience. And I was like, well, what if someone snuck
their phone in? Like they're going to see it all. And there's firecrackers going off
and there's crazy lighting. And, and we did it and we had like, you know, spray tans and
red diamante encrusted G-strings. It was like, I feel gross about it. It's, it's traumatic
thinking about it.
But it's another life experience and it made people happy. And I like to think whenever
I do these types of things, there's some sort of layer or level behind it. So whether it's
getting a cat tattoo or taking Coco to the Logies, like that's animal rescue to me. That
one was to encourage men to get checked for prostate cancer. And that was a really nicely
threaded theme throughout the episode. So it's like, if we can take our gear off in
front of the nation, you can take your gear off in front of the doctor behind closed doors.
And it was, I thought that was really cool.
It was a really clever way of doing it. And again, after I had a lot of amazing pieces
of feedback from people saying we watch with my dad, he hasn't been to the doctor for four
years, but after watching that, we had a good laugh and he's agreed to book in. He's gone
to the doctor in two weeks. Like, great. That's a win. So I like to think that yes, I'll play
the fool. Yes. I'll get the gear off. I'll bungee jump, whatever. But most of the time
there's some sort of reason or purpose to it. And sometimes it's just the purpose is
to make people laugh or smile or roll their eyes. I'll take an eye roll any day.
I was going to say that's a good purpose though.
A quick laugh or a quick smile or a roll of the eyes, whatever the case may be, or something
to talk about later in the day, or just have a giggle out with whoever you're watching
That is so important today. I think it's more important today, post-COVID in particular,
than at any time in the 68 years I've been living on this planet. It has become critical
because everything's so serious. We take ourselves so seriously. And I, I just, I rue the day
that if we ever lose the sort of segments that you and others put on television and
or radio, I rue the day that those things disappear, those segments disappear. And we,
we still see in radio, obviously numbers are dropping in all those categories because it's
being diluted by all the things you've got to compete with. And just naturally, mathematically,
you're going to lose your numbers. But people still need to have that, Sam. And that is,
that is a really big deal for me in what we need as a, as a society. It's too easy to
get caught up in tech and change and being on top of the news as is, you know, as is
burning and, you know, making decisions about how I can take advantage of this or take advantage
of that or criticize this person because there's something I want to get an advantage out of.
What you do is critical to us. So Sam Mack, thanks very much.
Thanks, Mark. Appreciate it. I love the podcast, mate.
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