Hamish and Andy’s True Stories Season 2 – The People’s Junket

Hamish and Andy‘s True Stories Season 2 kicked off on August 7 and to celebrate they held “The People’s Press Junket”. When shows and movies premier they hold press junkets where the stars of the show/movie sit in a room and one by one members of the press file in and interview them about whatever it is that they’ve done. If you want a taste of what it’s like check out one of my favourite scenes from Notting Hill:

This clip sums up exactly how awkward and strange it was. Albeit there was no apologises for inappropriate kissing in our experience… at least not between us and Hamish and Andy, who knows what the lads talked about when we weren’t there.

Anyway, I listen to Hamish and Andy’s Podcast while I work (it’s easy listening and I always get a chuckle out of it) and a couple of week’s ago they put a call out for people to apply for The People’s Press Junket. I thought it would be a laugh and so I applied. I didn’t think much more about it until I was contacted by one of their lovely producers and asked if I could make it into Sydney for the interview. I freaked out, then contacted Raylee (of Sunflower Stitcheries & Quilting) and asked her if she’d come with me. When she said yes I let them know we’d be there.

Sydney is 3+ hours from Canberra and so on a cold Saturday morning we loaded up my car with quilts and snacks and drove into Sydney to spend 4 minutes with Hamish and Andy. We laughed the whole way in and tried to come up with questions we could ask them that some how remotely related to quilting. We came up with 4 really good questions (if I do say so myself) and only got to ask them 2.

I channeled my inner Hugh Grant with the first one… very are there any foxes or hounds in it. The second question came from Raylee and as you can see the lads really appreciated it. We also went bearing gifts. Raylee turned two quilt blocks I had from the Fat Quarter Shop’s Snapshot Quilt-along (you can get the patterns here) into cushions and custom quilted a special message for each of the boys on there. (In this season of their podcast they’re learning to surf and there’s a running joke about Andy’s birthday.)

I’d love to say I was cool calm and collected, but I wasn’t. If you watch the clip you’ll see a very nervous you’re-super-hilarious laugh. The lads were very lovely – like super patient, very flattering with their support of what we do and just so dang nice. Like serious, they could have been jerks because they’re the stars – but they weren’t. It was obvious that they were focused on making us feel as comfortable as possible during the filming. (Everyone on the day was super lovely – it was so great to be around so many nice people who were having a fun day!)

I wish I could have had a chance, off camera, to tell them how much I admire the fact that they do comedy that’s not smutty, crude or puts people down. Their shows have always been just about what’s funny without forcing it. I love that they’ve kept their feet on the ground through their career and that they promote the fact that in everyone’s lives there’s something special. But alas, we got 4 minutes and I was too busy trying to be cool and funny and wishing my face wasn’t turning beet red and so anything remotely sensible went out my head.

But enough about me and my neurosis, here’s our clip from the day…

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