Kiwi Yarns

We're lucky enough to have "Palmerston North's funny girl" with us today! Enter the hilarious and delightful comedian Laura Daniel - who lights up any screen or stage she graces.  We walk about those first few gigs - including getting heckled by her dad. And, a really awesome love story between her and her fiancé AND comedian partner Joseph Moore.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...

Matthew Saville and I recorded our first episode way back in August when he was JUST about to release his first feature length film Juniper. And, well, we all know what happened in August (Delta came) which meant his release date was postponed. So we thought we’d catch up again seeing as August feels like ten years ago, to chat about this amazing film I thoroughly enjoyed. Matthew has worked exten...

Today’s guest is the extremely talented Makeup Artist Michael Ashton - a Kiwi with skills that are so world class, he’s got a quite a few famous clients. One of them being Adele. Yes I said Adele. And I think that word on its own says it all really. So, we’ll find out about how THAT eyeliner came to be and whether Michael can help me become friends with Adele too... Learn more about your ad choice...

I've been hanging out to chat with investigative journalist and documentary maker David Farrier for a while now, so this big long decent yarn, best dissected with a long walk or maybe even a nice drink (or both haha). From his hilarious TV3 sign off from back in the day, to chasing Mongolian Death Worms, interviewing Colin Craig in the sauna, to now spending a lot of time looking into conspiracy t...

Today’s guest Joe Daymond, a delightful young man who hails from Wainuiomata. He’s smart, he’s bloody funny and Joe is basically taking on everything - which is awesome to watch unfold. When he’s not selling out stand up comedy gigs, or featuring on Celebrity Treasure Island, he’s making an amazing show called Bouncers, for Comedy Central and Sky UK. Pretty epic for someone who has only been in th...

WARNING: This episode discusses suicide and mental illness. It’s an absolute honour to speak to today’s guest - the 2021 Young New Zealander of the Year, Jazz Thornton. Jazz is a Mental Health activist, a TV and Film director, an author, not to mention a beautiful young woman who puts her heart and soul into everything she does. She is a shining light of hope in New Zealand, and she shares that li...

Honestly, if you don’t walk away from today’s episode with a cup so full it’s overflowing, I’ll give you your money back (lol). Seriously though, this young woman is such a beautiful soul, an amazing role model and someone pretty brave to open up and share her story - the good, the bad, the funny and the sad. Jess Quinn has achieved so much, and can now add book author to her long list of awesomen...

We have two guests who are multi-sport legends. Simone Maier (2x Coast to Coast Longest Day Winner) and Emily Wilson (2019 GODZone winner with Simone) have had their fair share of success in endurance and adventure racing - their mental toughness, grit and determination is very inspiring. How cool then, that Simone and Emily have decided to pass on all their knowledge and experience to others - pa...

Today’s guest is the remarkable young woman Siobhan Terry, and I think we’ll all have to keep an eye on her as she’s destined for big things. Siobhan has just featured on the global stage as part of a series called “We The 15”, which is sport’s biggest ever human rights movement to end discrimination. It aims to transform the lives of the world’s 1.2 billion people with disabilities who represent...

Today’s guest is a very special young woman called Lizzie McKay who works at Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand. Lizzie is about to embark on "Sweatember" which is all about challenging Kiwis to commit to any sweaty activity throughout the month of September to get fit and raise money for New Zealanders living with cystic fibrosis. Lizzie herself has been living with CF since she was born, she's just cel...

Today’s guest is world champion mixed martial artist Michelle Montague. An amazing story about how she literally discovered MMA on YouTube - and is now traveling the world representing her country! Michelle grew up on a farm in Matamata, has played rugby since she was four and almost became a police officer. A really fascinating chat about the strength, discipline and training it takes to be a wor...

This episode is a bit different. It is still a great New Zealander, there’s no two ways about that. Today’s guest is Dr Nikki Turner, director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre, an academic General Practitioner and an Associate Professor in the Division of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Auckland. Dr Nikki Turner is here to talk about the COVID Vaccine. I, like many, have...

Matt Brown is the man behind the powerful and vital movement, She Is Not Your Rehab. He's just released a book of the same name. Matt openly shares his own experiences of family violence and childhood sexual abuse in the book, but also in public talks and at his world famous barbershop, My Fathers Barbers in Christchurch. Matt is playing a major role in trying to stop the cycle of domestic violenc...

Today’s guest is one of my favourite Kiwi actors, and I think it would be fair to say anyone around my age who grew up watching Shortland Street every night in the 90s with Claire Chitham playing the wonderful Waverley would have a similar fondness! The loveable actress talks how she gets into her roles, the cool thing she did when she turned 40, and how she's helping others, after years of battli...

Today’s guest is one of the most remarkable athletes we have here in New Zealand.  If I were to list or read out Nathan Fa’avae’s achievements over the years, we would actually run out of time to speak to him! In short, he’s one of the greatest endurance athletes in the world. And when I say endurance, I mean races that last for DAYS. Nathan and his teammates have won six Adventure Racing World Ch...

A cool, funny, smart, awesome woman who talks money/finance AND makes it relatable AND interesting AND easy to understand. She is Frances Cook and she's the host of the podcast, Cooking the Books, a columnist for the NZ Herald and the author of Tales From A Financial Hot Mess. She is awesome. Thank you Frances for all the valuable bits of advice I got from this! Learn more about your ad choices. V...

Today’s guest is a lycra legend! A five-time Olympian, a World and Commonwealth Games Champion and someone who was at the top of both track and road cycling for 20 years. Greg Henderson has achieved success on his bike all over the world - but since retiring from professional cycling, he still can’t quite keep away - now devoting his time to make other awesome cyclists like him as Coach Hendy. Gre...

Today's guest is quite simply, a national treasure. Tammy Wells is someone we all feel like we have a connection with, she is pretty much part of our furniture...and of course the Briscoes furniture too. Tammy is the woman who, with a big warm smile, delights us with that welcome news that Briscoes is indeed having a sale. She's been the Briscoes Lady for a remarkable 32 years - and still loves ev...

Today’s guest Guy Williams - has been part of the New Zealand comedy furniture for a fair whack - even though he's only 33.  The Billy T Award winning comedian has achieved a lot in this career (although he says achieving a lot could also be defined as failing a lot haha), across the stage, on the tele and on the radio. It's a full noise episode, where he takes the piss out of my questions and at...

Today’s guest is such a phenomenal woman who I had the pleasure of meeting in 2018 when I ran my first ever marathon, raising money for the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust. Catriona Williams is the founder and driving force behind the charity - which supports researchers in the bid for a cure for spinal cord injuries. Catriona was one of the country’s leading international equestrian riders - but...

Kendra Cocksedge is one of the best rugby players in the world, and has been at the top of the sport at an international level for 14 years. She is an absolute weapon with the rugby ball, and good luck to anyone who tries (see what I did there) to get in her way on the footy field.  At the moment, she is taking some time out from playing rugby after battling mental fatigue - so we talk about how s...

Kara Rickard is a smart, funny and very talented broadcaster. A proud wahine Māori with three beautiful children, Kara is a music and martial arts enthusiast and cancer survivor. She's a respected name in radio but after a decade at George FM, decided to put the mic away at the end of last year. A really lovely, insightful yarn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest makes something in a jar that brings so much joy to so many Kiwis, including my own mother who I have seen scoop it out of the jar with a spoon on MANY occasions! Pic Picot is the man behind Pic's Peanut Butter, which has become a bit of a national treasure. The funny thing is, Pic only started making peanut butter when he'd retired, in order to make a couple of hundred bucks a week....

It would be fair to say today’s guest is one of New Zealand’s most-loved Dads. His name is Jordan Watson aka How To DAD. He lives in Tauranga with his wife (How to MUM) and three daughters AND girl dog. He's a dad who makes videos about Dad stuff. A dad who’s first dad video started off as a bit of a laugh six years ago and now he’s got books, he's done a Ted Talk, and his videos have hundreds of...

Guled Mire is coming to us from New York, after winning a Fulbright Award to study at the Ivy League-listed Cornell University. Not a bad achievement for a young man who dropped out of school at the age of 16 after being told university wasn't really for people like him. The former refugee drew on the strength from his mother - who as a solo parent, fled Somalia in the midst of civil war with her...