5 things we learned in March
1) It’s interesting to reflect on which guests we feel intimidated by these days.
With 122 episodes in the can, and many of NZ’s highest-profile sports stars and entertainers amongst them, we’re pretty comfortable in our own skin. Yet we both felt a little intimidated in the leadup to our chat with Guyon Espiner. It’s because we are operating in his domain; trying to perfect the art of the interview. Guyon is an award-winning journalist, exceptionally bright, doesn't suffer fools, and made his name by being a ruthless, hard-nosed interviewer. With the tables turned, the intimidation stemmed from just wanting to do a good job; valuing his respect.
And the nice words he spoke at the end of the episode, and off-camera, about how much he enjoyed the experience and respected our process, meant the world to us.
2) The most surprising thing about the episode was how it turned emotional.
The build-up to the recording had been a fairly stressful, chaotic 48 hours for us, and when the chat turned to alcohol towards the end, all the feelings bubbled to the surface. It’s been over 500 days since Seamus last had a drink, and as he closely connected with Guyon’s sobriety journey, the emotion in the room took over. Seamus and I have shared some difficult days and some incredibly difficult conversations across 25 years of friendship, and we've found it makes the good times so much more powerfully charged. And this was a good time. And they were good tears. To share an hour with New Zealand’s best journo, connect, and reflect on how far we’ve come. It doesn't get much better than that.
3) When we asked Melodie Robinson for a suggestion for a future guest, she couldn’t get the name out of her mouth quick enough: Awen Guttenbeil.
“The man has so much depth,” she said. And boy was she right. Awen was one of the most eloquent guests we’ve had on the show and his stories about thriving through adversity, overcoming a horror spell of injuries, and reshaping his path as a businessman were incredibly inspiring. The best quote though, once again, was from our biggest fan.
“I listened to the audio podcast with Awen and he was just the gentlest, most articulate, thoughtful, and humble man. After I finished it I had to go and see what he looked like.... and the photos were all of this huge, big, tough-looking guy! Not what I expected!”
Nice one, mum.
4) Beating the algorithm is all luck!
One of the reels we cut from our chat with Awen (about the All Golds haka in Buckingham Palace) has had over 700,000 views on Tik Tok! The same clip has had just a handful of views on our other social platforms.
5) March has been another epic month for BTB.
We have bumped up to fifth on the Triton New Zealand podcast ranker (behind Casefile, Mike Hosking, Fletch and Vaughan, and the Front Page) and have a number of exciting guests booked for April.
