Before it was great: the PS3’s awkward debut

Rewind to 7 – 13 May 2006 — and it’s giving high-speed chaos, awkward tech flexes and absolute main character energy.

🚌 When public transport goes rogue
A former Dublin Bus driver hijacks a double-decker and turns peak hour into a literal action movie — ramming cars, tearing through suburbs and leaving a city in shock. One person is killed, multiple injured and suddenly your daily commute feels a lot less chill. Real-life Fast & Furious, but deeply not fun. 

🎮 599 US dollars and the room goes silent
Sony pulls back the curtain on the PlayStation 3… and immediately fumbles the vibe. Between the eye-watering price, chaotic demos and that painfully awkward ‘Riiiidge Racer’ moment, it becomes less “future of gaming” and more “we have lost the audience.” Meanwhile Nintendo’s out here making fun actually fun. 

🚗 They see me rollin’…
Chamillionaire drops Ridin' and suddenly everyone knows the chorus… even if they absolutely do not know the verses. It’s catchy, it’s cultural commentary and it’s quietly one of the biggest crossover hits of the decade. Bonus points if you only remember it via White & Nerdy. 

💔 Reality TV breakup album era
Nick Lachey releases What's Left of Me and yes, it is exactly as emotional as you think. Post-Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, it’s heartbreak, reflection and a man processing divorce via soft rock. Peak mid-2000s ‘I will heal publicly’ energy. 

💣 Spy movie, PR nightmare
Mission: Impossible III hits cinemas with Tom Cruise sprinting, shouting and saving the day — but off-screen chaos is stealing the spotlight. Couch-jumping, intense interviews, a LOT of Tom Cruise. The villain (hello Philip Seymour Hoffman) is chilling, the action slaps… but audiences are slightly distracted wondering what Tom’s gonna do next. 

💃 Golden retriever energy wins the Mirrorball
Grant Denyer takes out Dancing with the Stars Australia with pure chaos charm. Not the most technical, absolutely the most committed. It’s all effort, vibes and ‘he’s just happy to be here’ — and honestly, that’s exactly what 2006 TV audiences wanted. 

📚 Madea said what she said
Tyler Perry drops Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings — part advice, part chaos, fully unfiltered. It’s bold, it’s divisive and it’s very much ‘did she just say that?’ energy. Book clubs were not prepared.

Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast). You can also contact us there if you want to be a part of the show.

Transcript

Transcript is generated automatically.

The year is 2006. We head to the hills and learn reality is scripted. Your Sony Cyber Shot uploads 462 blurry regrets. A Facebook poke makes everything complicated. And Twitter's like, cool story, you've got 140 characters. Go. T-minus 20. Rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel. Week, 7, May, 2006. T-minus 20. Bringing sexy back. I want to forgive you. T-minus 20. I hate this long-distance relationship! And I want to forget you. You have no style or some succession. Right, this is a beauty. This is very nice. 

Yeah, boys. 

If you've ever wondered what the world looked like before, TikTok, when songs lived on burned CDs. Oh, it sounds so primal, doesn't it, when you talk about it like that. Celebrities lived in magazines, and that's the only place they lived. And Sony thought that $599 was a chill price point. Well, I still kind of do. Welcome to T-minus 20 with your hosts Joe and Mel. Hello, Mel. 

Hello. Each week we rewind exactly 20 years to relive the news, pop culture, music, movies and moments that shaped. It's what we now call the good old days. It's nostalgia. It's context. It's weight. That really happened and that really happened 20 years ago and that 20 years ago this week is the 7th to the 13th of May 2006. Agent confirmed. It's 10 article live on my mark. 

Five. Do you have a wife, girlfriend. 

Four. 

Three. 

Whoever she is, I'm going to find her. 

Two. One Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mission Impossible Three. It was a big, big cinematic debut. It's not a debut because it's the third ones, but it's a sequel debuting at the cinema go to the top. 

Cruise and his antics. 

Yes, he would have had Suri born. He's married Katie Holmes. He's jumping up and down on couches and we'll jump over and have a listen to that a bit later on. 

But at 50 gigabytes, a Blu-ray disc is nearly twice the capacity of an HD DVD. Giving game developers the ability to create worlds that stretch far beyond the horizon of previous consoles. 

And all the collective nerds had a collective nerdgasm as the PlayStation 3 was revealed at E3 2006, which was the most, well it was pretty awkward actually. 

But they usually are. 

Some awkward moments. They usually are. 

They see me rolling, they hating, patrolling and trying to catch me riding dirty. 

That would have taken the awkward out of it if the nerds had just got up and started jiving. 

Riding Dirty. 

To Riding Dirty by Chamillionaire. 

Yes, that song is 20 years old. 

What is a chamillionaire? Is that like an undercover boss? 

Like a cross between a chamillionaire that just blends in with their background. 

Yeah. This is like a chamillionaire. Blends in with the other millionaires or perhaps is maybe a homeless person that's actually quite wealthy. What's A chameleon? 

Never gonna know. 

Oh, really? I was gonna use it. I was like, we'll find out later on, but we're not gonna know. 

Well, if they're hiding and you can't see them, how are you gonna know? They're not hiding. I was still on the chameleon. 

They're riding dirty. 

We'll be talking about riding dirty. Well, actually, the Blu-ray discussion. 

Yeah. 

How the guy was saying the things you could fit on a Blu-ray. 

Yeah. 

I remember. It would have been late 90s. I remember going into Harvey Norman and it's when the DVDs, the DVD players had just hit the market. 

I love it how he name drop businesses. 

Went into the Harvey Norman. 

You were near the ABC name drop businesses like we did. 

That's where I went. It was Harvey Norman in Fishwick, but it was upstairs. I think it's Linkcraft. 

There's no commercial affiliation. You just went there. You know. 

Yeah. It's just something that happened. Linkcraft. 

Linkcraft. 

Yeah, like Linkcraft. Harvey Norman, though. We went into Harvey Norman. 

Bit sexist though, Linkcraft. Very quickly, they've got those two skeletons that they've got up in the window of the Tuggeranong Wynncraft and there's a sign next to it saying husband waiting area. 

Oh. 

Yeah. Sexist. I sew. Okay. 

You do sew actually. I saw you sewing up your lunchbox the other day. 

That's not a metaphor. Was my actual lunchbox and had come unstitched. And I thought, I could go and buy another lunchbox and spend $40. 

I could stand here for 40 minutes. 

It wasn't 40 minutes. 

Stitching it back together. 

It's not 40 minutes. 

That's pretty good. How did the pictures hold? It's insulated. I don't believe it's stitch insulation. 

Very well, and the insulation is shulating. So just anyway, back to your story, back to you, Mel. 

Harvey Norman. 

You're in Harvey Norman, yes. 

I went in Harvey Norman and then there was this fancy little pocket at the back. They kind of built this little area and it was all lined and dark like you're going into the minis. And they were selling these things called DVD players. 

What's that sorcery? 

They were over $1000 or about $1400. Do you remember that? When DVD players first came out. 

Yeah, Oh, look. 

It's crazy to think about that. And then Blu-ray came out and that was super crazy expensive. And then the Blu-ray discs were more expensive than the DVDs. And I thought, that's never going to take. 

Now you can pick them up for about 60 bucks. Which is the price of 2 movies. 

Anyway, I just thought that was just crazy. 

Quick, before the hips and the knees give out, it's the hatches, matches, and dispatches clue. 

Oh, that would have sounded good on surround sound, wouldn't it? 

What's that? Hips and knees give me out. Oh, but yes, it would have. 

Imagine that in... 

5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. Is that, did they have that in the pocket, in the little pocket area? Is that what they did? 

Yeah, they did. They hooked it all up and it was very, very good. 

I could watch this screensaver for days, yeah, sort of thing, which is, and that's because that's all that was in high def at the time. It's unless you spent money on the expensive Blu-ray. This is the hatches, matches and dispatches clue portion of the program where we're going to revisit a dispatch this week. very famous person who passed away this time 20 years ago, who said this? 

But now to Brisbane and Mr. Bob Hawke. Mr. Hawke, could I ask you whether you were feel a little embarrassed tonight at the blood that's on your hands? 

Yes, I think that's a pretty obvious one. We'll get to that at the end of the show. It was a very, yeah, it was a very sudden and shocking departure as well. Yeah, we'll find out at the end. 

It's the 9th of May, 2006, and this is a story about don't **** *** your bus driver. Did you ever have that at school where the kids were so naughty that the bus driver would just pull over and be like, I'm not driving you? 

Oh, no, I never had that. I'm not really. 

I'm not, you all sit down and you all shut up. 

I had a couple. 

Of times back behind the line. 

Yeah. 

Bums on seats. Get out of the stairwell. 

It was almost a competition to see if you could push him to crash out. It happened a lot. 

It happened a lot on our buses. Yes. And I have a feeling that this particular bus driver 20 years ago was driving the school bus. 

Spoiler alert, this bus driver that did this was a repeat offender. 

More than once. 

Yeah, he's had another incident. But yeah, we'll talk about this one because this was a big one. 

He was a former employee of Dublin Bus in Ireland. He hijacks A double-decker and drives through multiple suburbs, deliberately ramming cars and causing chaos. 

Yes. 

Smashes into dozens of vehicles over a sustained period. And while we joke about ******* off the bus driver, this guy actually killed someone and injured around 13 other people, including pedestrians and other drivers. So terrible story. 

Yes, and there was a pursuit all the way across the city of Dublin, and they eventually got him and they arrested him. His name was Peter Clark. And it wasn't a random thing. It was targeted anger at the bus company. He was a disgruntled employee. And like I said, I think he's got some anger management issues because he'd been involved in something not quite as extensive as this, but he'd shown behaviours and he'd committed an offence where he'd actually rammed another car with a bus prior to this. So he was really annoyed at his employment conditions or lack thereof. He may have been fired. He knew the routes and the roads well, which made his rampage even more dangerous because he's like driving a bus that people are like. 

A double decker bus as well. 

Yes, a double decker where people are like, oh, wait, hang on. And there's signalling the bus and the buses. 

I mean to get to the shops. 

Yes, and they're like, oh, he's not stopping, he's ramming all the cars in his path. So it was, it was full. 

Of traffic as well, I think. 

Yeah, it was. It was using the bus as a weapon, basically. Yeah. So mid-2000s Europe, think about it, heightened sensitivity, public safety in urban spaces. We've got people talking about the Charlie Hebdo stuff over in France. 

Well, we had the bus explosions over in England. 

That's right, in England as well. So when you talk about incidents like this, like it creates a huge amount of fear in the community. It also was something that was happening pre-social media as well. So the first thing they hear is a bus has been hijacked in Dublin and it's on a rampage across the city and everyone leaps to terrorism. In this case, it was not, well, it was a form of terrorism at the hands of a disgruntled employee from the bus company. Just a guy with some really bad anger management issues. 

Yeah, but I mean, because you're relying on radio and TV and word of mouth, you're only kind of getting bits and pieces of the story and it's sort of unfolding as it goes. So yes, would have been a very scary situation. 

I think there's big, big discussions. I mean, these sort of incidents tend to sort of be like, well, how do we ensure this never happens again? So look, I mean, if there's anything positive to come out of it, maybe it's, you know, mental health in the workplace. And let's face it, like I said, as school kids, we really did **** those bus drivers off. 

Yes. 

And I think about that, that's not a very mentally healthy workplace. 

Mind you, because I was such a nerd. There was a bus driver that I quite liked, and I used to talk to the bus driver, and then I got teased even more. 

Because you were friendly with the bus driver. 

I would stand up the front of the, I'd stand behind the line, because you were in front of the line, and I'd talk to the bus driver on the way home, because I had no friends, so I'd just talk to the bus driver, and then... 

So you're lumped in the same category, and so they teased you. 

Yes, Kids are ******. Anyway, so the bus driver wouldn't have been mad at me, but I could have seen him being mad at all the other ****. Eating on the bus. 

Really good too, because when that driver has a crash out, you're not on the list. 

No, he does it after my stop. 

Yes, And let's just say not all bus drivers as well. Oh my God. Like, you know, I've got friends who drive buses. 

Yes, this is an isolated institution. 

Really even-tempered people that don't have anger management issues and really enjoy their jobs as well. Because yeah, I think it'd be kind of cool being a bus driver. Maybe I think a train driver would be better. I've got a friend who's a train driver as well. He loves driving trains. And I do think that would be a sweet gig, driving a train. I mean, it's a lot of responsibility. 

It is, yes. 

It's a lot of responsibility when you're going up in those weight classes for the vehicle. So you can understand why the stress, you can understand the stress. Not to mention the amount of lives that are in your hands every day as you're shuffling them around in your bus or your train. There's only so much you can discuss about that before you have to move on to the next subject. And the next subject is technology. 

Technology. This would have been a big week for you actually. You would have been very excited because Sony unveils the upcoming PS3, PlayStation 3, some show. 

I think this is the first time I may have been able to... I had a job where I didn't need to get it on finance and spend 2 years paying it off too. 

Oh, you did buy a lot of things on finance. And you got those couches on finance. I had to. 

I was impoverished. Anyone who thinks that working in the entertainment business pays a lot of money is full of it. Unless you're like, you know, Kyle and Jackie O. And even then, I mean... 

Wow. 

I guess we'll let the court decide that. But you don't have a lot of money doing that sort of stuff. So everything's on finance and we'll figure it out later. 

What's the worst that could happen? 

It's a terrible way to live, but not this time. No, you were ready. Not as Sony officially showcases the PS3 at E3 2006. 

Some big tech show. 

Yeah, E3 it's called. And I don't even know what E3 means. I probably should like, but that's not part of it. I was researching the PS3. because that's my wheelhouse. And I knew a lot about it because I had one. 

But I think we bought it together, actually. I think we went halves and bought it in Gungahlin because we wanted to do we wanted to do Singstar. 

Jeez, I did well to manipulate you to get that, did I? And we can do Singstar and also. 

Actually did watch Blu-rays. 

You can play Blu-rays on it and it takes a lot of memory. Yes. And you went sold. 

Oh, I remember standing in that DVD room that time and that was impressive. So imagine Blu-ray. Wow. Yes. 

It's so thrifty. Here, shut up and take my money. 

Yeah, exactly. 

So they only showcase it at the moment. This is November 2006. 

We'll talk about it again. So you've got a runway. 

You've got an opportunity to save you money. November 2006, it's coming. The launch price shocks everyone because it's $499 US dollars for the 20 gig version and $599 US dollars for the 60 gig version. 

Well, you got to buy the bigger gigs, don't you? 

Yeah, you do. You need more gigs, especially when you got the Blu-ray handling that much memory. You got to have Some gigs to throw around, there's some gigs behind it, yeah, exactly. New wireless controller, the six-axis, wow, that was revolutionary, love that thing. 

Why was it, is that 'cause it had six buttons? 

Yeah, and you could move it around and it vibrated and stuff. 

Was that when the vibration one came out? I don't like that, creeps me out. 

I can't remember what the six-axis is, I don't know. I should know, but I just used it. And it was wireless, so you didn't have to plug it in. 

Yeah, remember the microphone's wireless? 

Yeah, that was good too. 

That was good. 

You could go in the front yard and be like, can I still sing? 

Yeah. 

From here, you could. Neighbours didn't like that. The launch fell flat though, it was pretty awkward. They did Ridge Racer. I think they tried to hype Ridge Racer, the game Ridge Racer, which was just not a huge game. Like it's just nobody really cared. 

And I think the presenter was just a bit flat. He's trying to be a hype man, but he came across as more a parody of, I think it turned into a big meme moment. I think the video afterwards was shared and everyone had a bit of a giggle. 

I mean, when you mentioned, when you mentioned. 

This is not Jobsy. This is not Jobsy in one of his keynotes. 

He's not cutting a podcast like Jobsy was. 

He's not, you know, a million songs in your pockets kind of vibes. 

So they've just gone. 

A guy. 

Here's a game called Ridge Racer. And everyone went, yep, that's a game called Ridge Racer. Nobody cared. And then he said, oh, and this is going to cost you 600 bucks. And everyone just went, oh. just like the **** just fell out of the room. It was terrible, terrible. And then he did, I don't know, there was some footage of a Genji Days of the Blade. That's what it was. 

I think that was one of the big, one of the big titles that was going to come out with it. 

Boss battle with a crab. They showed that. 

Great. 

Always wanted to fight a crab. Great, awesome. You know, the developers like, yeah, this is rooted in Japanese history and here's a boss fight against a giant crab. The demos didn't look really all that next gen. They just looked like kind of PS2 era stuff. 

Yeah, I think people were really disappointed with the graphics. 

Yeah, and I think at the time too, Nintendo were launching the Wii over in the other pavilion or whatever, and Microsoft was showing off the Xbox. So Sony were kind of just like saying, here are our specs and look at this big crab. And so it went down like a lead balloon. I mean, they catch up eventually though. That's the PlayStation I've still got mine. It still works. It has never missed a beat. And it's still got some really good games worth playing on it as well. It's a fantastic console. It's probably out of all the consoles, the PS2 was pretty good as well, because that had a very good play. 

PS2 had the eye toy, didn't it? 

Yeah. As well. 

I loved it. Remember when I used to do the dancing and you'd have to press the buttons? 

And I just kind of, I didn't really choose Sony, Tony. Sony chose you. Sony chose me. I just, it came out at the time and it was all I could get the finance for. And so, and that's, that was literally, I got finance for the PS1 and then I was just Sony Boy all the way along. 

I didn't know you, but I thought you could only get finance for cars or couches. Nah mate, you can. 

Get it for game consoles as well. They get, you get a bit of side eye because they just look at you as if like, are you a Darrow? Are you just going to sit in your house and play this all day and not get a job and not be able to pay this off? And the answer to that question is, yep. Absolutely. You know, I miss game console so much when I think about it like that too, because like, I just, you just do not have the time. And they put these games out now and it's like, it's 100. I've whinged about this before. Actually, it's probably worth just doing this. I know it was impromptu. 

You're already there, yes. 

It was impromptu, but it was headed that way anyway. Yes. Like, because I've whinged about having hundreds of hours to complete a game. Like, it's like, how long does it take to finish the game? Oh, it's got about 100 hours of gameplay as if it's value for money. And it's like, I don't have time for that because I work. And then, and then it's not. Not only that, it's like if you're going to play an online game, kids have got really fast reaction times and they're really good at it and they beat you all the time and you just spend like an hour and a half, which is the only precious time that you've allocated to it at the expense of some other thing that you should be doing, playing that game and having your *** handed to you by a six-year-old called Mr. Big Balls 2026 or some ****. And I don't have time for that either. Anyway, enough of my booming. That was very self-indulgent. This is your place as well, your safe space to bring your booms to us. And your boomer style complaints or booms as we like to call them, where if you did air them out in public in the company of maybe someone a bit younger and cooler than you, they'd probably look at you and say, okay, boomer, but not here, not now. You're welcome to send them in to us. Come and find T-minus 20 podcast on the socials platforms and slide into our DMs, as the young hip people say. I don't think they say that anymore. Why do they use that term? It makes me want to have a shower afterwards. 

I don't think they do use that term. I think that was about 17 years ago that they said that. It was a very long time that they said that. 

Okay, boomer. 

It's gross. 

Okay, have you got one for us? 

I do, yes. 

Who is it? 

From at... Hasty Flitchy. 

Hasty Flitchy. 

Hasty Flitchy. 

Thank you, Hasty Flitchy. 

Hasty Flitchy. 

Oh, Hasty Flitchy. 

Okay. 

Yeah, right here. 

Are you ready? 

Yeah. 

I guess somewhere around the age of 12, it became my turn to go on the computer. And it still is. My turn just didn't end. More than a decade later, I'm still here on the computer. 

I know, right? 

Remember when you used to have to wait for your turn to go on the house computer? I was so excited to play Microsoft Paint. 

Yeah. 

Draw something, to draw a d***ing balls on Microsoft Paint. Oh, it's my turn. I'm going to colour in the left testy. Yes. Or Mahjong. Or Mahjong. 

You put a couple of bristles on there. I never really spent a lot of time on Microsoft Paint. Oh, I did. You had that on your mind? I used to. 

Not always d***ing balls. Sometimes it'd be shapes and then you colour them in, fill them in with colour and all kinds of. 

Teenage brain was that. 

So mature, right? 

Yes. Where can I find a good to draw? 

Cambar. We saw a lot of them drawn in bus shelters and underpass. 

Textbooks. 

Yes, it was the graphic of the time. 

I understand it was the graphic at the time, but I think it was very popular. I would argue. 

Very popular in Cambar graphic design. 

I would argue that it is a timeless graphic. 

It's universal. We all know what it means. 

Exactly. Everyone draws it to that one arch and then a little line across the top and a little eye, 2 little circles either side. 

Yes, I've got a follow up to that one as well about the computer. 

Oh, good. 

I miss when there was a computer room and it stayed there. 

Yeah, we can't get away from them. We can't get away from the computers. And we really need to. I feel like we need to. As much as you're probably listening to this on a device now, at least you like listening to this and not doom scrolling and getting that weird dopamine thing. It's really interesting. This is, I don't want to get too serious, but we put a phone in the hand of our 12 year old, which is the first time he's kind of used one of them. And he's used iPads and stuff and he can pick them up and put them down. It's kind of easy. Easier to regulate with that, but the phone is a different beast. 

It just walks around attached to it. 

It's a different beast. It's just like always looking down, like scrolling through for the next little dopamine hit that can happen in 10 seconds. It's a terrifying device. 

It is, yes. 

When used for the powers of. 

Put it in the computer room and wait your turn. 

That's it. Go into the computer room. 

Go into the in balls in Microsoft Paint. Maybe Photoshop, maybe in Canva. Upgrade to Canva. 

Here's a pen and a piece of paper you can draw your own while you're waiting for your turn. I feel like reborn after that. 

Do you remember when someone spray painted * **** and balls on the path down to the shops? Yeah, And Jenny was outraged. 

The local busybody was. 

I saw her painting over it. She went down and painted it with house paint though. 

I think it was like a tin of ceiling white. 

No, it was off-white. It was like a grey, slightly grey tinge, but it wasn't cement paint. So, therefore, when it was cold in winter, it got slippery and icy, and you'd slip over where the. 

D*ck in balls goes. I know. It just nearly killed me. Nearly killed me. What happened to you? I slipped on a d*ck in balls. Great. Broke my coccyx. Anyway, let's do it. It's music time. 

Yes, Niles Barclays still number one in the UK. I think you're crazy. 

I think you're crazy. 

Did you say, did you say like 8 or 9 weeks before he's pulled from the charts? This is like 3 weeks in, so he's going to be sitting. 

There for a while. Oh yeah, that story. No, it's about week 4, isn't it? 

Oh, okay, sure. 

That was a good story. 

It was a good story. Go back a couple of episodes. 

Yeah, it's a good story. That was a good story, too, about the guy that wrote the song lyrics. 

Yes, I did a really good reel that we put up, or it was a story or a short or whatever it is. I get so confused between the platforms, the reels and the shorts and the longs and the trousers. I mean, who knows? Sorry. 

That was also a good story. 

Slipped out of the boom lane a little bit. Sorry. 

Before we go into the top five, I did say last week about LL Cool J, because you were saying that I couldn't, you know, I feel he belongs in the 90s. 

Bit of respect for LL. 

And you said that I was being disrespectful. He's not actually in the top five, but I feel like, you know, we mentioned it, so we still have to discuss. 

Right. What was the song? It was Control Myself. 

Yes. 

You got, you got, you got what it takes to make. It's hard to control myself. It's hard to control myself. I'm jumping on you like I won't. 

Like I won't. Tilted. 

That song. And you're like. 

J-Lo. That's cool. J-Lo. 

That's really cool. 

Yeah, it's LL Cool J. Like he's back. Don't call it. Come back. 

He's been there for years. No, OK. Well, there's a bit of the song and it's going to make you not take him seriously anymore and just question why you ever said that. Can you go towards the end of the song, please? What is that? 

That, what is that? And now J-Lo's z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z. 

It's horrible. Imagine the first time you're listening to that in headphones, you've got headphones on, and then that just falls into your ears. 

I love it. 

That's horrible. 

I think it's great. I think it's stupid. I think it's the best part of the song. 

It's dumb. It's ugly. 

It sounds nice to say. I've got that in my head. I'm enjoying. Stop it. Sing it with me, Mel. Come on. 

Can you not move like that? 

No, stop, That's so good. 

What? 

It's horrible. 

It's awesome. 

That is so horrible. 

Let's do it again. Oh my God. I won't do it again. I don't want to, you know, poke the bear, so to speak. Maybe later. 

Go and slip over a balls, would you? Listen to the charts in the US now. Move on. 

See me rolling, they hating, patrolling and trying to kiss me riding dirty, trying to kiss me riding dirty, trying to kiss me riding dirty. I got the right temperature fishes to you from the storm Hold on, girl, I got the right tactics to turn you on And girl, I wanna be the papa, you can be the mom 'Cause you had a bad day, you're taking one down You sing inside a song just to turn it around You say you don't know, you tell me don't lie. 

I didn't, you know what? I did not retain any of what just happened to that. Do you know why? Because I'm just like, that's just it. That's all I'm doing. That's what's going to. 

Be going on in your head all day, every day. It's actually the soundtrack of your single life. 

It quietened, quietened my mind. 

It's horrible. 

There's nothing going on in there. Nothing going on. It's genius. 

Why would you put that in a song? Genius. 

Didn't even need to write a lyric. It's genius. 

It's gross. 

Anyway, we've got a new... Yeah. What happened then? 

Seems like you should be zipping and unzipping a jacket to it as well. That's what it feels like. It's the soundtrack to. 

Well, you fly. I knew you used to do that, actually. 

Yes, me too. 

You just stand there and fiddle with these flies. And now, okay, now it's ruined. Now it's ruined because I'm seeing that guy and I'm seeing him doing it in time with the zizz, zizz, zizz. 

While he's looking you in the eye. 

He's standing there like I'm sort of sitting on the chair and he's standing next to me and he's his crotches at eye level and it's just, I mean, that's dangerous too. It is. 

We all know. 

So now it's stressing out. 

Let's talk about chameleon here. 

Okay, yes, because we did the, did you do the top five? I don't even know. 

Yes, we did, we did. He's entered the top five. 

Once again, I told you nothing's going on there. 

Number 4. 

Yes. 

Can you play a little bit more of it? 

Sure. 

Trolling and trying to catch me riding dirty, trying to catch me riding dirty, trying to catch me riding dirty, trying to catch me riding dirty, trying to catch me riding dirty. My music's so loud, I'm slanging. 

That just always makes me think of when we were riding over the Golden Gate Bridge because you made a video and I was riding and I thought I was riding really well and I thought I looked really cool and then you played that song over the top of it and it didn't look very cool at all. 

It just looked pretty white. One of the whitest things you'll ever see. 

That is chameleon air feet crazy bone. 

Yes. 

Number one, it gets to on the Hot 100. It won a Grammy and one of the biggest crossover rap hits of the mid 2000s. I didn't realise it's actually about racial profiling and police scrutiny, particularly targeting black drivers. And the hook, riding dirty is slang for having something illegal in the car. 

Contraband in the vehicle. 

And being busted by the cops. I didn't realise that. 

Maybe something. Yeah. I mean, and you know, I mean, if you're riding dirty though, communaire, it's like your music should not be so loud and you shouldn't be swinging. You should just be like white knuckle on the steering wheel, like going. 

No one can see him. He's blending in. 

Five K's under the limit, you know, just so that you don't get pulled over for speeding, you know, just that's riding dirty in the truest sense of the word. Ridiculously paranoid, you know, that is riding dirty. Not my music's so loud, I'm swinging. I mean, I mean, he's a tough guy. He's a tough guy. He's a chamillionaire. He's hiding in plain sight. He's a millionaire, but he's also a chameleon. Hence, chamillionaire. That's just what I'm assuming it is. That's what I'm assuming it is. 

There's a radio edit. Have you ever heard the radio one? That feels funny because it goes riding, riding instead of riding dirty. 

Does it really? 

Yeah, it sounds very odd. 

Really. 

And that's the one that most people would know because that's what was played on radio. 

There's probably some other lyrics in there that they need to censor before they censor the word dirty. I mean, it is a rap song, you know. Oh, we better cut the word dirty out. What about those other words? 

But I'm not gonna say I'm sure they're removed as well, yeah, good, but you know you've made it when we... Heard Al, does a parody of your song, and he did one of that one, white nerdy, white nerdy, yes, introduced it to a whole new audience. 

I know they're all thinking I'm so white and nerdy. Think I'm just too white and nerdy. Think I'm just too white and nerdy. Can't you see I'm white and nerdy? Look at me, I'm white and nerdy. 

And we have an album released as well this week, 20 years ago, the second solo album from Nick Lachey, What's Left of Me? 

Now I'm broken and I'm fainting. I'm half the man I thought I would be. But you can't help. What's left of me? 

Stay out of it, Nicola Shay. The big power ballad. He's broken and he's busted. 

He would have had a big white unbuttoned shirt and he'd be doing those ones in the rain. 

You can have what's left of me. That's like... Is that you can have, you can have more sloppy seconds. 

Oh, I don't know. 

That's what it feels like. 

It is his most successful song as a solo artist. I think when he was in 98 degrees, I think they did a bit better. 

Yeah. 

Certified Gold, the album by the Recording Industry Association of America. 

I mean, he was sort of. 

Shipped over 500,000 units. 

One foot in a music camp. one foot in a TV camp. So I think he's a bit lost here. 

Newlyweds is over at this stage, isn't it? 

Are they divorced? Is that what this is? this the breakup song. 

Oh, would they be divorced yet? 

Yeah, like he's all broken and busted because of Jessica, so, but you can have whatever's left. 

Maybe he is. 

You can have all the bits that she didn't, you know, chew up and spit out. 

Possibly. I don't know when they broke up. I feel like it would be around now. We'll have to do it in the Hatch Match and dispatch. 

It is me assuming that, like, you know, Nick Lachey pens his own tomes. I don't think he does. 

I don't think so. 

I don't think he does. Yeah. Anyway, that's not how pop music works, is it? 

No. 

They don't write heartfelt ballads. Somebody else writes them for them and they go, oh yeah, that sounds like some **** I went through. We might do that one. And then meanwhile, like you've got LL and bloody JLo. That was a bit silly, wasn't it? We need to get a bit serious here. We're talking about box office heavyweights right now. 

Yes, is it a spy movie? He's a spy, is he? 

I kind of, I started watching these and then didn't really know what's going on, so I half watched them. And then I started watching them recently and they're pretty, they're decent movies. They're just big dumb popcorn, blockbuster, spy espionage kind of, you know, gadgets type thing. We're talking of course about Mission Impossible 3. 

Agent confirmed. 

Stand by to go live on my mark. Five. 

Do you have a wife, girlfriend? Four. 

Three. 

Whoever she is, I'm going to find her. Two. I'm going to hurt her. 

One. And then I'm going to kill you right in front of her. 

What are you not telling me? 

Execute. Such a nice car. Do it. 

Go, go, go, go, go! It's Hunt. 

I know it's Hunt. 

It's Hunt. It's Ethan Hunt. Oh, yes, Hunt. Ethan Hunt. Doesn't really roll off the tongue as much as James Bond. I guess it's why he probably never introduces himself as Hunt. Ethan Hunt. 

No, I don't think he ever did. 

No. 

Is that, was it #2 the one when Limp Bizkit did the song for it? Was it number? 

Maybe it was. I don't know. Maybe it was. I feel like they did do the song. 

It was one of them. 

Yeah. So this was JJ Abrams. JJ Abrams. Yeah. He was big, big deal at the time. 

Yeah. 

He's kind of this new director that was like saving all these franchises. 

Did he do Star Trek as well? 

Star Trek, Star Wars. Did Star Wars. He just wanted to be. He just kind of, yeah, it was this guy that just came in and was this big director. Big director. He was the it's director. 

He was. 

JJ Abrams. His name, again, rolls off the tongue a lot nicer than Ethan Hunt. I mean, that's just me. So that came out, mate. Philip Seymour Hoffman, of course, he just won an Oscar, so he was pretty hot property at the time. Paired up with Michelle Monahan and Tom Cruise. 

Michelle Monahan. 

That's not being paired up because there's three of them, but don't worry about that. Just move on. 

Michelle Monahan, what was she in? I know that name. 

Kiss, kiss, bang, bang, gone, baby, gone. Source code. Source code. That's pretty close to a Mission Impossible thing. So yes, Ethan Hunt. More emotional storyline for Ethan. Features one of the franchise's best villains, which was played by Seymour Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Big action pieces in this film. A bridge attack sequence. 

Oh yes, I remember that. 

Big box office hit. Slightly overshadowed by Tom's Tom, Tom behaving like a Fruit Loop off screen. 

Well, he was doing that during the promo tour, wasn't he? was using the promo tour to be a little bit. 

I don't know that it hurt the box office. 

No, I think we were all very curious as to what this movie was about and why he was being a bit silly. 

Yes. And the story, the story was that Ethan Hunt, semi-retired at the moment, which is interesting because there's like seven or eight more of these movies to go, training IMFA. agents and trying to live a normal life with his fiance, but that lasts about 5 minutes and then he gets pulled back in to go and take on the arms dealer, Owen Davion, who's kind of calm but really quite scary. Philip Seed by Hoffman stole the show in this, I thought. It was pretty good. Like I said, I hadn't really seen the Mission Impossible movies until recently. They're just ones that, it's not that I avoided them, I just never watched them. But I think too, you were either into Tom Cruise blockbusters at the time or you weren't. And I don't think I was, but I've gone back down. Like Tom Cruise is, love him or honey. 

But I think you could separate the wacky Tom from him in, like, because he's always really good in them. What was the one we watched? 

I think the cynic in me at this time was like, he's kind of doing all this stuff. Like I thought he was kind of faking it and I thought it was to do with kind of promoing this. And that was a bit as they are, as they probably said 10 years ago. Ick. Yeah, it was a bit ick. I didn't like it. So I think that's what kind of made me go a bit cold on Cruise. But I will say that no matter what you go and watch of his, especially if you go into the cinema. 

He goes all in. 

You're in for a good time. Oh, yeah. He delivers. 

What was the one we were watching with the lady and there was like lots of war stuff. 

Oh, Edge of Tomorrow. 

Yeah. 

Fantastic film with Emily Blunt. Yeah. The lady. Straight away, as soon as you said the lady, I'm like, yep, that's Emily Blunt. Yep, I know the one that you're talking about. Yes. No, it's right. So there you go. Hive of Minds. 

It's good. It's very good. But yeah, this one did pretty well. 

See, that's why I like Picasso. You know, we talked about Picasso last episode. You're my muse. Because like you just given me the paints and I'm just swirling them around on the palette. We come to a solution. 

She's a very good looking lady. I think JJ Abrams also brought a bit of a TV style emotional arc as well. Like I think he brought some of those skills which. 

Yeah, it was a bit more grit to it. It was more grounded. and you gotta remember he's competing now. Like this is an old franchise, Mission Impossible, that's now competing with things like Jason Bourne. 

Yeah. 

But it also, I think... kept Mission Impossible relevant because you get later films like Ghost Protocol and Fallout, which are huge as well. Blockbusters in their own right. Looking at it now, and because I have, it's dated a little bit. 

Yes. 

Like they're using flip phones and it's like, oh, cutting edge spy technology. The future. Yeah. I mean, Maxwell smart spoke into a shoe and looked more cutting edge than a flip phone, if we're being honest. DVD menu screens with big music loops on them, so you'd fire up the Mission Impossible DVD and go, oh, 

yeah. 

I'm just at the menu here. Calm down. So let's go over to TV. Let's see. Oh, Dancing with the Stars. I think we, did we talk about it when it started. 

Yeah, this would be about the, is this the third? I don't know. 

I just think it's a really good way for Channel 7 to groom talent and sort of test them with the public to see how over they are before they give him a gig hosting a game show or something like this. 

And this is also a chance to promo TV shows as well or series that they want to give a little bit of a boost to. 

Well, as is evidenced by who won Dancing with the Stars back in 2006. 

So, is it funny how it's always a Channel 7 star? 

Yeah, so he ended up with the... Everyone's favourite weatherman who ended up hosting Family Feud, Grant and you. I'm not that good a dancer. I think you've probably got limited dance ability. 

I don't know what Todd's looking at. 

I think you've got talent. We might use these on Todd's nuts. Yeah. 

The muscles on the inside of your shin have gone into spasms. Well, I just jumped off on the wrong foot, rolled the ankle a little bit and took me a few steps to pick it back up, but I love this. 

You made some very brave decisions there. Congratulations. 

I thought it was like Warwick Kappa meets Leroy from Fame, mate. Oh, look, the scores are already up. 

I think this is, because he won, right, he won. I think this is like the longest job interview ever. That's what I think it is. Like Channel 7 are like, all right, mate, there might be a gig for you at the end of this, but first you got to do Dancing. 

With the Stars. I thought it was the weather guy already. So he's the weather guy after this? 

But it's like, you know, if. 

You- Oh, then he gets more shows. 

Win Dancing with the Stars and see where you will be propelled to. And look, he did it. 

He wasn't very good, but he went for it. And I think that's what we liked. He gave it a go. 

It was the way he was all in. It was the way he carried himself. 

Body on the line. 

Yeah. 

And good at an interview, obviously. 

Yes, loads of personality, always very positive. 

Even when Nana's love him. 

Even when he rolled his ankle. Nana's always loved other men. 

They always love game show guys too, don't they? Yeah. Particularly Grant. Lots of Nanas like Grant. 

I like Grant. 

Still do. 

Because he's, I guess he's kind of. 

He's kind of. 

Charming, non-threatening. 

And he's not, you know how some of the game show hosts, there are some undertones and you're like, there's a little, I don't know what's going on there. Some of them can be a little bit creepy, but he's just, no. He's just beige. He's beige. He's beige. 

Well, he's, yeah, golden retriever energy. 

Yeah, before that was the thing. Yes. Yeah, very much so. Very much so. 

Yeah. And I think that was the thing. It was because he went for it and he was so positive and, you know, he rolled the ankle and he kept going. You know, he had some good storylines in there during the whole. 

He's a bit charming. 

Yeah, he is. Look, I think Grant Tenure is actually a very nice guy. 

Oh, yeah, absolutely. 

On and off the screen. 

Not like some of the other game show hosts who we find out about years later and go, oh, okay. 

Are you gonna, I don't want you to refer to anyone in particular. 

No, I'm going to. 

But I'm just concerned that there are some game show hosts that are really nice, that are good at their job, that are like, oh, I hope she's not talking about me. 

There's so many game show guys listen to us. 

I mean, for example, like, Larry Emda. 

Oh, no, not Larry. I mean, Larry is another perfect example. Larry is like, is like Grant. 

Yeah, they're like, they're like Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. the Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon of games. 

But I think though, I think if you gave them a show together, it would implode. I don't think you could have two of them together. I think they'd destroy each other. Yeah, something bad would happen. 

Two like forces. 

Yeah. 

It's like when you try and press a magnet together and it. 

Yeah, and all that thing that was spun around that was going to end the world. The world would end. Something like that would happen. The collider. Yes. Something like that would happen if you put Larry and Grant in the same show. 

Larry and Grant in the. the Haldron Collider and face them in opposite directions and say, now one, two, three, go and get them to run until they meet it. Okay. Yeah. That's dangerous. That could spell the end of the world. 

Yes. 

Thank God, the only one dancing with the stars. That's really good. Oh my God. My goodness, just when we thought it couldn't get any more nonsensical. Let's go with a book we didn't read. 

Yes, from the non-fiction section. 

Yeah, too busy drawing balls, that's why. Too busy drawing balls to read. 

In the books at the library. Don't do that. I didn't do that. I didn't do that. I was a library monitor, for goodness sake. My favourite job was the date stamp. I hated doing shelving. 

Did you? I thought you meant where you're like trying to administer like an amphetamine up your ****. That's shelving. That's what that is. Didn't you know what that is? No. Yeah, shelving is the art of sending drugs into your ******. I'm going to shelve it. 

No, I had to put the books back on the shelf. So you could be, you could do the date stamp. 

You could be careful trying to shelve a book, that'd be painful. 

The bookshelving. 

What's the other job? 

There were three jobs. I don't know, but the date stamp was mine. That was mine. 

The Dewey Decimal stuff. 

Favourite. That was my favourite thing. 

The other thing would be telling people to shush. 

That's the other job. yes, of course. Shut up. Of course. 

Yeah. 

So this was on the non-fiction shelf. That one was more confusing because the fiction was alphabetical order of the author's name. 

How did you go in that role? Considering you ended up in a career in sort of broadcast where you do actually have to talk and make noise, how did you go as a library with the silence? 

That was fine. That was fine. That was fine because I was concentrating. I was concentrating when putting the books back. So the fiction was fine because it was the 1st 3 letters of the last name and it was all in alphabetical order. Yeah, of course. Non-fiction was numbers and there's lots of numbers and then a dot and then more numbers and I never understood. Yeah, and I still to this day don't quite understand what that actually means. So it's very hard to put the non-fiction books away. 

I bet you it was very hard to find books in your library as well if you didn't understand how the system works. 

I've got no idea where this book was a prerequisite in my library. Coins called Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings. 

Oh, goodness me. What sort of thing is this? Is it a? 

It's Medea Medea. 

Oh, it's a Tyler Perry book. 

Tyler Perry has written a book as Madea or Madea, Madea, Madea, Madea, when he was being the lady. 

Yes. In the movies, the Big Mama's. Well, I think we understand what Madea movies are, but they weren't very big in Australia. 

No. 

So they were like, so for anyone who doesn't know what they are, they're like Big Mama's House Martin Lawrence thing where it's like, you know, dude playing an older lady in the film. 

Disguise comedy, I think we've decided to call it. 

Disguise comedy with some kind of moral thing in the background. 

And they're often dressing up as the opposite gender. 

So in an attempt to. to cash in on the success of these disguise comedy films. 

Tyler has written a book as Medea. 

Yes. 

That's non-fiction. 

It's like it'd be like Barry Humphrey's writing a book as Dame Edna. Yes. Same sort of thing. 

Non-fiction. So have you got a have you got a synopsis for us? 

I'm thinking like comedy sort of stuff. So this is from Broken Sea Music. 

That's nice. 

Somebody would say that Madea has a broken seat. But anyway, let's go through this. Don't make a black woman take off her earrings. Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life by Tyler Perry, aka Madea. If you can count on one thing from Madea, Mabel Simmons, star of the smash hits Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion and Madea's Witness Protection, it's that she's got something to say. Now, the beloved, sharp-tongued, pistol-packing grandmother has her own lifestyle book, part memoir, many parts hard-won, hilarious, straight-up, in-your-face words of wisdom. Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings is a #1 New York Times bestseller and won a Quill Award for Book of the Year, Best Humour Book in 2006. And I mean, that's, I've got to rethink my life if that's a book of the year. 

Best humour book. 

Best humour book. 

Humour book. 

Like written by. What was it up again? 

A disguise comedy. 

And the nominees are Garfield, What is that? Max Walker's How to Smile at a Crocodile or some **** like that. 

There's some bits of advice as well from the book. I grabbed some bits of advice. Do you want to read those out for us all? Because that's what the book is. It's advice. 

You sure? Okay, go. some key bits of advice. So this is actually still part of the synopsis. 

This is from Medea. 

I screwed this up, sorry. On sex, if you're looking for a roadmap to heaven, follow these stretch marks along my thighs. On weight, there's nothing sexy about a rib cage. On the effects of ageing on the body. You know, I stepped on my ****** today. I mean, this is crass, isn't it, really? You know. 

Yeah. let's see what the people thought. 

How did their reviews go? People loved it, I betcha. They ate it up. 

Oh, Rav Neat, three stars. 

That's a pass on Goodreads, I reckon. 

Much of the advice shared is commonly known. Ravi's obviously stepped on their ******. 

Maybe. Amongst other things, perhaps. Pamela Bird. That's bird, not as in, bird as in turd, but with a B. B-U-R-D. Pamela Bird. Bird as in turd, but with a B. One star. Quite vulgar. I threw it in the trash. Okay. 

Lub T, one star. 

Lub T. Lub T. As in bird. 

I listened to this one on walks, but it took me forever, since I took a long break from both walking, it's winter, and Tyler Perry content, now having seen all of his feature films, sponsored by Vaseline TM. 

Oh, dear. Ronald, Ronald Wise. Ronald Wise gave it two stars. The New York Times listed it as a non-fiction, but the library has it in the fiction section. 

Must have been my library. I was being lazy on that day. Shoved it under P.E.R. 

For Perry, the Dewey Decimal System. 

It's like, No, no, stuff that it's going under P. Great. 

Well, I think it's fiction, anyway. 

It's somebody, yeah, I don't see how it's non-fiction. It's a fictitious character. Yes. 

I guess the advice. 

Maybe the advice is correct. 

It's non-fiction. 

Well, Ravine. 

No. At what point when the advice comes from the lips of the fictitious character, is it fiction or non-fiction? 

I don't know. 

This is. 

I don't know. Have you stepped on your ****** today? 

This is a really... That's a great title. Have you stepped on your ****** today? What else have we got? 

Judy 2 stars, I completely agree with Nick's review. 

What was Nick's review? 

There was no review from a Nick anywhere within Goodreads. So I've got no idea what Judy's talking about. 

Great. Wow. What a silly little show we've had this week. 

That music that you played. You know what would sound a great overlay for that would be? What? 

No, it's incorrect. 

It does feel like that would go well over the top of it. 

Don't mess with the genius of LL Cool J, okay? It's the Hatches Matches and Dispatches clue time. That's not it. That's a tweet. Hang on. 

Did you just tweet something, did you? 

Yes, I twarted. Just slipped out. Apologies for that. Look, we need to get serious here because it's a dispatch. It's somebody that was very famous that passed away quite unexpectedly that said this. 

But now to Brisbane and Mr. Bob Hawke. Mr. Hawke, could I ask you whether you feel a little embarrassed tonight at the blood that's on your hands? 

Yeah, if you said you like, obviously a journalist, very controversial interview, very famous for that particular interview. We'll play a little bit more of that in a sec. But if you said Richard Carlton. You would be correct. Now, this, I remember this so well. So a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the Beaconsfield mine collapse. And obviously, we condensed that down into one episode. And this is where we're sort of getting to the end of the Beaconsfield thing. So in 2006, obviously, the Beaconsfield mining collapse and the rescue is happening sort of across these few weeks. And during that time, there's a lot of media there and whatnot. And Richard Carlton was there. there reporting for 60 Minutes, I think. And he actually, he had a heart attack and passed away. And this was particularly shocking because it happened, he was in a media conference or a press conference. He was part of a media scrum and he was asking questions at the time. And then he, I think he started getting chest pains. And it was reported across the news as part of the daily bulletin. But this is, these are his colleagues reporting on this. 

Good afternoon, 60 Minutes reporter Richard Carlton has died after collapsing during a news conference on the Tasmanian mine rescue. We'll cross now to Mark Ferguson at Beaconsfield. Mark, can you tell us what happened? Yeah, Mike, there's a real sense of shock down here at the moment. Richard was working alongside the large media contingent covering this story. There was a very large press conference just in the park beside me here. Richard waited his turn and asked As only Richard can, a very direct question to mine management about safety down there. He didn't get much of an answer, but he sort of peeled away from the press conference and collapsed. Paramedics were rushed to the scene. There were some paramedics involved in the rescue who were very close by. They arrived on scene. They worked on Richard for 20, 25 minutes. An ambulance took him off to Launceston Hospital. The last you and I spoke, we were I was hoping and praying that he would pull through, but sadly he was pronounced dead at Launceston Hospital. 

That is just devastating. Like that's his colleagues. That was Mike Munro and Mark Ferguson there, who were obviously colleagues for Channel 9 with him. And yeah, that's pretty much as it happened. He was down there to report on that and then ended up sadly passing away and having a heart attack during the media conference. But he was so well known as a journalist in Australia. And he was a love him or hate him type of guy. He was a very polarizing figure, but he was also very challenging figure. And I think that was something that spoke to his integrity as a journalist. Even if he didn't like him, he couldn't deny that. He was an interrogator. He was a broadcaster. He was good at making people in interviews uncomfortable. And he was kind of renowned for being a bit smug as well, I think, which a lot of people objected to. But he was definitely the one that was raising the pulse of journalism in Australia in the late 20th century. I mean, he started out on the ABC, went over to 60 Minutes, He's built a huge reputation as a reporter who asked the questions that others softened on or dodged or were too polite to say out loud. He's always very well dressed, very sharp tongued and very sharp minded as well. He was one of the most recognisable faces in Australian current affairs, largely I think because of the fact that he was not, he was so fearless in the face of like a lot of the people he'd interview and he'd just go there and ask the question and you would feel the discomfort from asking the question. I will never forget the interview that he had with Bob Hawke on the ABC. And it was about the resignation of Bill Hayden. 

But now to Brisbane and Mr Bob Hawke. Mr Hawke, could I ask you whether you feel a little embarrassed tonight at the blood that's on your hands? 

You're not improving, are you? I thought you'd make a better start to the year than that. It's A ridiculous question. You know it's ridiculous. I have no blood on my hands. I was not involved in the discussions that Bill Hayden's fellow leaders had with him. I hope the standard of your questioning improves. 

Mr. Hawkland, how do you expect the electorate to believe that you were not party to the plotting that's been going on for the past fortnight? 

If it's a question, Mr. Carlton, of the electorate having to believe between your stupidity in such a question as that and my integrity, I have no doubt where their belief will fall. I had no knowledge of any meeting this morning. I had an indication yesterday that perhaps by the end of this week, Mr. Hayden may make a decision. When I went into that executive this morning, I had no knowledge whatsoever that he was making his decision. Now, Mr. Carlton, you can sit there with your silly, quizzical face. You've got a reputation right around this country. Yeah, it's looking better still. You've got a reputation for your impertinence. Your refusal to accept people at their face value to try and ridicule the integrity of people. Now, I don't mind my integrity being on the line against yours. 

Isn't that great? ****** Hawkey was ****** ***. 

He was. 

Yeah. 

Wasn't he? But he stayed so calm when Hawkey's like insulting him. 

He was smiling at him. He was just like, he was like, but. 

So calm in his delivery when he's asking the next question. But it wasn't just the political questions and interviewing celebrities and things like that. like that. He was also reporting from war zones and disaster zones and his life was on the line sometimes in the situations that he was in. 

Yeah, and an incredible life it was as well. It's just a shame that it was cut short. So he started at the ABC in the golden era and that is a classic interview with Hawkey. You can see that there. Worked on This Day Tonight, did lots of political coverage, really defined that Canberra media culture. I mean, he's a legend in the hallways of the press gallery at Parliament House. Then was the international stuff, went and worked for the BBC, and of course, 60 Minutes from 1987. But again, like he didn't so much as interview them as corner them quite elegantly, which is exactly what he did to Bob Hawke. And that's why Hawkey lashed out, because when Richard Carlton cornered people in interviews, they would eventually lash out. And that was kind of giving him what he wanted, I think, in many ways. 

I think you'd be worried if you knew, if you're going to do a TV interview and then you found out it was him interviewing you, I think you'd be, You'd be on alert. 

Yeah, you'd be **** eating bricks. 

Can it be someone else, please? 

I just think. 

Get that Grant Dania to interview me. Come on. 

I just think like, and if you look at it, like he's the last or one of the last of some of those great journalists. 

Yeah. 

That we've had. I'm not saying that there aren't more, but the landscape is very, very different these days. 

Yeah, you don't get them like that anymore. 

You don't. And you didn't have to agree with guys like Richard Carlton, but you knew when he was there and nobody was coasting on his watch, which I think was wonderful because That's a version of journalism that kind of calls public figures to account. Yeah. And I think that that's something that is, I mean, people, it's being called to account now is almost a community thing, you know, where the community... 

But now it's just cancelling. It's not calling people to account. It's just cancelling full on. You know, you're not getting the story. You're not asking the hard questions. You're just... 

Yeah, but he was something different. I mean, you look at now it's all media training and talking points and very rehearsed. very cautious interviews. And it's like, I'm going to do this interview, but I want the questions in advance and all of that stuff. Richard Carlton, he was a completely different beast to all of that. And he left a gaping hole in the landscape that I don't think actually, and love him or hate him, I was never a fan of his. But retrospectively, I don't think that hole has been filled, you know? But that's just me, and maybe that's another boom. That's the end of the show anyway. That's pretty much it for this week. And it's been fun. It's been pretty fun. We'll have something, of course, for you next week. Any ideas, Mel, or should we just, you know? 

What's the date next week? And then I might be able to tell you. 

Well, what did we finish up on here? Was it this, I think the 7th, wasn't it? No, the 13th, the 13th of May. So it'll be the 14th, the 14th till the 21st of May. 

I feel like there's something big coming up on the 14th. 

Yeah. Mother's Day, perhaps? Or has that already happened? Oh. 

Fire crotch. 

Fire crotch. 

Paris and Lindsay altercation with the fire crotch comments. 

Speaking of. 

Do I need to say anything more? 

Hard-hitting journalism. Holy ****. Can't wait for that one. Come and find us on the socials. Have some fun over there. We post stuff all week. Search for T-minus 20 podcast. You can look at some of the videos, share them with your friends. Tell them to come over and subscribe and have a listen. We can have some more fun together. And then you can stand around the water cooler and say, oh, can't believe. 

You could submit a group boom. You could boom together. 

Yeah. You could just walk past each other or like your friends or your colleagues in the office and just be all like, Thanks very much. We'll see you next week. 

I need everybody to report to the dance floor. 

Thanks for taking the time to rewind. Join us next time for another week that was 20 years ago. In the meantime, come and reminisce on the socials. Search for T-minus 20 podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.