Hamish & Andy (radio show)

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"Hamish & Andy", occasionally written "Hamish and Andy", is an Australian radio show created by and starring comedic duo Hamish Blake & Andy Lee. It is broadcast on the Today Network to every state in Australia as well as the ACT for two hours in the key weekday afternoon drivetime slot. The show is the highest-rating radio series in Australian history, consistently gaining up to 20% market share in the crucial Sydney and Melbourne markets. [ [http://www.austereo.com.au/docs/survey/Release8-2007.pdf Media Release: Austereo’s Today Network wins the year for FM in Sydney and Melbourne] ] The show has approximately 2 million listeners each day, and has 240,000 monthly podcast downloads. [ [http://www.fox.com.au/shows/hamishandandy/team/hamish-and-andy Meet The Team - Hamish & Andy] ]

Daily podcasts are available for download and minicasts are also available. They may also be downloaded from the show's official website.

Notable activities

The Peoples' Chip

Hamish & Andy ran a competition to invent a new flavour of potato crisp. They eventually invented gravy flavour. 495 packets were manufactured and distributed for free. After the flavour became popular, a further 60,000 packets of the crisps were manufactured and again distributed for free.

It was later announced that the gravy chip would be sold in stores all around Australia for a two week trial period starting from 11 August for people who did not receive a packet of gravy chips.

The People's Greyhound

In September 2006, the duo purchased a greyhound and named it Fred Basset, after the comic strip character of the same name.

Afghanistan

In April 2008, the duo travelled to Afghanistan and performed their show live (except for the Friday show) alongside Australian soldiers.

At the end of each show in Afghanistan, Hamish & Andy would compose a song for the troops, in which Andy would play guitar and they both sang.

The trip to Afghanistan was first instigated when the duo received an email from an Australian soldier serving overseas, excited about hearing "The Hamish & Andy Show" at his base. [ [http://www.fox.com.au/shows/hamishandandy/australian-troops/email Email from Australian soldier] ] The letter opened discussion of whether the show should go overseas and broadcast with the troops.

Hamish & Andy, after contacting the Australian Defense Force several times, were told that they would be able to broadcast in a overseas location where the troops were serving.

The trip was coined 'Operation Radio Storm' by a listener.

Caravan of Courage

In October 2007, Hamish & Andy set out on their Caravan of Courage trip, with the intention of travelling from Perth to Brisbane and visiting many towns along the way. They broadcast their radio show from wherever they were at 4PM AEST each day. [ [http://www.fox.com.au/shows/hamishandandy/caravan/ofcourage/ Caravan Of Courage] ]

The conclusion of their trip was broadcast on "Rove" from a caravan park in Brisbane.

Photos of each day's events can be found on their website. They went salt lake surfing, saw a double headed pig, went prospecting, visited a haunted church, saw a car graveyard, waterskiied in an irrigation channel and were forced to eat $25 worth of fruit at a fruitfly inspection point. They played lawn bowls against Jack and Alex, two elderly men. They made a bet on the game, which Jack and Alex lost. They were required to serve Hamish and Andy a drink in their underpants.

Broadcast points:
* Day 1: Wednesday October 3: Southern Cross, Western Australia
* Day 2: Thursday October 4: Norseman, WA
* Day 3: Friday October 5: Cocklebiddy, WA
* Day 6: Monday October 8: Tailem Bend, South Australia
* Day 7: Tuesday October 9: Donald, Victoria
* Day 8: Wednesday October 10: Benalla, VIC
* Day 9: Thursday October 11: Goulburn, New South Wales
* Day 10: Friday October 12: Bulahdelah, NSW

The day before they started driving Hamish checked his driver's license and found that it had expired. Therefore Andy did all the driving until Hamish was able to renew his license.

In October 2008, Hamish and Andy were challenged by a caller to 'hug' Australia again. After first hesitating on travelling Australia again, the duo are likely to set out on the 'Caravan of Courage II' from Tasmania to the Top End in late October.

egments

Blast from the Past

Every Wednesday, a pre-recorded phone prank is played. Hamish & Andy, with the help of their Panel Operator, Giggling Ben, dial a mobile phone number at random. Formerly, the challenge was simply to keep the other person on the line as long as possible, and the record was set when Hamish held someone on the phone for an impressive 4 minutes and 4 seconds. Presently, the challenge is for one of the boys to convince the person who answers that he is someone from that person's past. A challenge is typically added in which the prankster has to use a specific topic or request in their conservation with their purported "old buddy". To date, only two prank victims have appeared to recognize the call as a radio prank, although others are suspected to have played along.

Fred Basset

At the end of the show on Friday, Hamish, much to the disdain of Andy, reads the Fred Basset comic on air. (This is not to be confused with the show's purchase of The People's Greyhound of the same name.) Andy has tried many different ways to prevent Hamish from reading this comic, including playing with his mobile phone's ring-tones, interrupting Hamish with comments, blackmailing and bribing him. Andy even once brought Hamish's mother into the studio, who begged him not to read Fred Basset. On another occasion, Andy rang up Hamish's girlfriend Anna and threatened to obtain a 'sex-ban', but Hamish ignored them both and continued. Andy once walked right out of the studio and went home when the Fred Basset Segment started. Andy has also retaliated by reading a different comic: Snake Tales.

Towards the end of 2007, Andy's efforts to stop Hamish reading the comic increased. Notable efforts included forcing Hamish to eat chilli, and making him run on a treadmill only a week after him having run a 41km marathon and having his grandmother Moosie write him out of her will. On a rare occasion, Andy would help Hamish read a panel, such as the time they were strapped together as conjoined twins. Panels have also been read out by UK comedian Ross Noble, a self confessed Basset fanatic who also voiced the dog. The only time Basset has not been read was when Andy put aside a pallet of The People's Chip, to be placed into a steel crusher if the comic was read. Hamish backed down, but promised listeners that he will double the reading of Fred Basset in the future.

Tell 'Em They're Dreamin'!

Every Thursday, Hamish & Andy play a prerecorded segment in which they take turns to telephone someone who has placed a classified advertisement in the "Trading Post" newspaper to sell a particular item (the advertisement having been selected by the other person). The task is for the caller to ask five questions about the item, and try to work out what item is being sold. Hamish has guessed correctly on two occasions, firtst when the item was a dressmaker's dummy and second when it was a portable toilet. Andy won when the item being sold was a metal detector. To date, two people have identified the callers as Hamish and Andy, while one other participant was tipped off by a bystander just as the boys hung up.

Get Us an Autograph!

This pre-recorded segment is broadcast any day of the week. Hamish & Andy ask their celebrity reporter (Brad Blanks, who is a humble country boy) to obtain an autograph from, or arrange an interview with, various New York celebrities. So far, Brad's only autograph was from Lindsay Lohan after Hamish and Andy challenged him to get his man-boobs signed. [ [http://www.foxfm.com.au/shows/hamishandandy/guest_audio_video/h__a/lindsay_lohan_red_carpet_interview Lindsay Lohan Red Carpet Interview] ]

Trivial Claims Court

A listener calls in with a trivial question. One example is 'Do penguins have knees?'. Other callers then provide their response to the question. Usually twelve callers are taken, simulating a criminal jury. Hamish & Andy then find out the correct answer by SMSing 'The Question Guy'.

Race to find celebrities

On occasion, Hamish & Andy battle against each other to make contact with celebrities, for some purpose.

*One time, they sought a celebrity endorsement for their greyhound, Fred Basset from Paris Hilton and John Travolta. By the end of the competition, Hamish gave up on finding Paris Hilton, and instead obtained endorsement from Mike Whitney.
*Another time, they attempted to make contact with two celebrities who two listeners had a crush on when younger. The celebrities were Taylor Hanson and Jennie Garth. Titled Celebrity Crush Hunt, Hamish won the competition by finding Taylor Hanson.
*A segment called "Where the bloody hell are they now?" was a race between Hamish and Andy to find Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel.

Irish Dave

Once a week a single man named Dave explains to listeners how he and his star chamber of single friends have rules for dating women.

Awards

Nominated

*2008 ACRA Best Multimedia Execution (Caravan of Courage)

Won

*2008 ACRA Best On Air Team [http://www.commercialradio.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1001&display_news_id_2698=1355]
*2008 ACRA Best Show Producer – Entertainment & Music (Sam Cavanagh)
*2008 ACRA Best Station Promotion (Caravan of Courage)
*2008 ACRA Best Networked Show
*2007 ACRA Best Show Producer – Entertainment & Music (Sam Cavanagh) [ [http://www.commercialradio.com.au/files/uploaded/file/ACRAs_Conference/Archive/WINNERS%20FOR%202007%20ACRAs.pdf Winners for 2007 ACRAs] ]
*2007 ACRA Best Music Special (Hamish & Andy with Robbie Williams)
*2007 ACRA Best Networked Program

References