Between Two Beers Podcast: Jordan Watson aka How to Dad: Behind the Scenes of Viral Success

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On this episode of Between Two Beers, we talk to Jordan Watson.

You will likely know Jordan as How2Dad, one of New Zealand's biggest social media stars,

with his YouTube channel and Facebook account boasting a combined 3.5 million followers.

It all started eight years ago when he sent a video demonstrating how to hold a baby to

a soon-to-be-dad friend.

Overnight, the clip went viral, Watson ended up quitting his day job to focus on the How2Dad

series and has now racked up more than 172 million video views on YouTube and 250 million

views on Facebook.

In this episode, we talk about the realities of life as a content creator, what really

happens when a video goes viral, why he left Jono and Ben in the process of going pro,

managing his brand, the best stories from the road, his expanding business empire and

much, much more.

Jordan's work ethic and creative brain have turned him into a modern-day Kiwi icon and

it's easy to see why he's been so successful.

This was a fascinating look at how someone created a world of opportunity, business and

unbelievable reach from an idea.

You love this one.

Listen on iHeart, or wherever you get your podcasts from, or watch the video on YouTube.

A huge thanks to those supporting the show on Patreon for the cost of a cup of coffee

a month.

Also, follow us on Instagram and TikTok where we cut up all the best video clips from each

episode and join our private Facebook group, Ambassada, to chat with our community about

each one too.

This episode was brought to you from the Export Beer Garden Studio.

Enjoy!

Jono and Watson.

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It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

It's just, it's nuts that how far and wide it has spread.

150 countries around the world.

Like almost every country, I don't know how many there are.

I think it's 192 countries.

I don't know, I'm trying to say I'm fancy here.

But it's like, every country in the world,

there's a subscriber to How To Dad and it's just,

it blew my mind.

That's awesome.

That is so cool.

And I'm so excited about telling the whole journey

from when it started.

But before we get there, I want to give a little taste

of Jordan pre How To Dad.

And the story I've chosen is,

it's actually a business idea that we kind of

have thought about getting into.

And it's Memoirs of a Geyser.

When you started your,

the idea was to sort of

interview and document people

towards the end of their lives for their families.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, this was the idea.

Have you had this idea?

Well, we're thinking of doing it in podcast form.

You know, people can hire us to come in

and we'll do it between two beers.

Oh yeah, that's a great thing.

You can charge people.

I think I've always been someone,

a big ideas guy.

Always had a little side thing or side thought

I'd love to try this.

And that was one where I actually watched,

it's funny that you brought this right up,

because just yesterday we needed to send a photo

from our wedding off to some publisher

that's doing an article on us.

So I had to plug in the old hard drive from like,

you know, 10 years ago and get that wound up.

And it had,

I remember my wife and I,

when she was pregnant

and when our first kids were really young,

we did these videos

and they're in a folder called 21st Videos.

So it's because me growing up,

I have no idea what my dad was like

when he was 25 or 20 and he had a kid.

So we sit down like once every six months

and me and my wife would just speak to camera

and tell our kids and it would show them when they're 21, right?

We'll edit it up

and they'll get to see what their mum and dad were like.

And in it, there's a moment

where my wife's pregnant.

It's with my first kid who's now 10.

So we're going back to like 2013.

She's pregnant with my first

and then it cuts to me talking in a mirror

and I'm holding a fancy, I've bought a DSLR camera

and it's got like a unit on it.

So I've got a radio mic on, I've got headphones.

And I'm like, by the way,

because your mum's gone and got knocked up

and we're going to go to one income,

I've had to try and start a second thing.

So I'm starting memoirs of a geezer.

When you watch this,

I'll either be real, real rich

and loaded from memoirs or a geezer

or it would have been a failure.

And it was a pretty quick failure.

The idea when you explain it to people,

they're like, holy crap, that's amazing.

Why isn't this taken off?

But to be honest, I didn't put that much effort into it.

So I came up with the idea

and it was basically going film with old people

so you've got their story forever, right?

So I went and did it with my two grandparents.

So they were like part of my show reel.

One of them's passed since,

and I did it on my wife's,

my father-in-law, I did one on him.

He's passed away as well.

So they really appreciate having them now.

And then I got one gig by a guy that employed me.

He got it for his father-in-law.

It was a surprise for his wife and that blew her mind.

And the only marketing I did

was I'd made the Facebook page

and got my seven likes from family members.

And I printed off flyers

and I just walked around my two suburbs

and put them into letterboxes.

And because I never got an email or phone number back,

I think I just gave up.

I had no idea about how to get the word out.

And you try and quote it up

and how much it would cost.

But once you explain the idea to people,

they're like, oh, that's great,

but it's really hard

because old people are never going to get it for themselves,

pay for it to be done.

And then so you're trying to convince

a collective of their children.

So let's say they have three kids.

You kind of need to get everyone on board to pitch in

and be like, this idea is great

because you need all the photos from them and the stories.

And it's a lot of research in that.

But yeah, memoirs of a geezer.

And then someone said the name was a bit too on the nose

and old people might not like that.

So when we changed it to your memoirs,

thinking this is going to be the moment now,

I've changed the name, I've softened it a bit.

But no, it never took off.

So you guys, I'm happy for you to take and run.

No thought of how to memoir.

Well now, yeah, I could try it up now.

Get back, you got the brand behind you now.

Yeah, there is something about that sort of legacy interview.

We did an incredible one with Bushwacker Butch

before he passed, like a few months before he passed.

And just the ability for him to tell his whole story

and get that captured,

it just makes what you do seem really meaningful.

So I can imagine those ones with your family members.

Yeah, yeah, with my grandmother.

And yeah, she passed away recently,

but even just as you're sitting there recording it,

like you've always seen your grandparents

through that filter of being a kid.

And so you were always separated from their adult stories.

And then once you actually sat down

and I had all these bullet points from her kids to run through.

And she starts telling these stories you've never heard.

Like, what? Sorry, what now?

You were bloody awesome when you were 23

doing riding on a motorbike on the granddad off to the war

or whatever.

So it was really cool, really cool.

I'm really proud.

We've documented Stephen's dad Bruce on an episode

when we started out.

We've documented another friend of ours, Sam Wilkinson,

his dad Roger Wilkinson,

that those will live on for their kids

to kind of pick up and run with as well.

It's a pretty powerful thing.

We're getting pretty deep and meaningful here,

but my advice to anyone out there,

because you hear people like, that's a great idea,

is you can also just do this yourself.

iPhones can record for like an hour.

Set your iPhone up on your grandparent,

sit down, have a yarn with them.

You got it forever.

We're actually going to edit that bit out

because it's our business idea,

so that cannot ever hear the other day.

Or scratch the 5K and pay these guys

and they'll do an amazing job.

Except your grandparent has to sit there holding

two export golds in each hand.

Beautiful.

Or an export Ultra if they're rig-watching.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

We'll be right back after this short break.

All right, I want to start getting into the back story

of How to Dad.

And I actually remember a conversation I had

with a friend when you first blew up,

like eight years ago.

And this friend was a bit pissed off

because they found out that How to Dad

actually had like a background in TV.

But I thought that was a really weird take

on something which has been so universally loved,

like it wasn't this authentic video

that perhaps this person thought it was.

But I did want to talk about the back story

because from what I understand,

you were heading to radio school in Christchurch

until your now wife, Jodie,

sort of decided she was moving to Auckland

and that changed your course

and sort of bought you into TV land.

So can you take us to that point in your life

with the radio TV crossover?

Yeah, yeah.

So I did my...

I went to Te Kofata in Morinzel College

in the Waikato region.

And I went to Morinzel College.

I did my last few years at school there,

until seventh form.

And unlike all my mates, I had no idea...

Not just making up,

I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be.

And one mate said,

I'm going to tauranga to do a six-month certificate

in sport.

I said, oh, yeah.

So I asked the careers advisor

on like the second to last day of school.

And she said, oh, you've always been good at speeches.

Like, I always won the speech competitions at school.

I was like, there's a radio course.

It's only five months at Polytech in Tauranga.

Straight away, I was like, yeah, I'm going to do it,

because I can go flat with my mate.

I had no interest in doing this radio course.

Went there, met my now wife.

She was part of it.

And through this course of doing the radio,

I got right into it.

I loved it.

I was looking at the switches and kind of editing

the ads that they do.

And yeah, bringing a broken bottle sound effect

and a cat meowing and a car horn.

And I was always playing on that stuff.

And then the lecturer,

she always said she regretted never exploring the TV side.

So there was only like 13 of us in the class.

But they had a big day where they sat us down and they asked us,

look, we've got the people from Christchurch

broadcasting school coming up.

You can choose between TV, journalism, or radio.

At the time, me and this new girlfriend,

we'd only just started dating.

And so they went around the circle saying,

what's everyone going to want to do when there's people come?

Like, if you want to explore it.

And I was going to be saying journalism.

I went to go, I was thinking,

I'm going to be the next Neil Walker.

I'm going to be the 6pm Neil Walker.

I'm going to read the bloody news.

And my girlfriend goes before me and she's like,

oh, now I'm going to go up to Auckland

and do study TV up there.

And they got to me and I was like, yeah, me,

I'm going up to Auckland to study.

I was just head over heels or 18 year old in love, bro.

And so goodbye to that journalism thing

and followed her up to TV.

She had done media at Todonga Girls.

So she knew how to hold a camera,

what was left to right, everything.

I knew absolutely nothing.

Went up to this TV school for the interview.

Basically, because I'm part Māori, I was just a tic.

You're in.

Like, people were to submit fancy ass videos

and that to get in.

And we submitted the worst things.

Like, I should try and dig it out and get it to you.

It's somewhere and it just, like,

one shot I'm walking, we're left to right.

The next time right to left, the shots are up.

It's so cringy bad.

But did this one year of this film school,

what did I do?

I did documentary directing and production

and you could practice being a presenter.

It was all a kind of mix.

You kind of got chucked a camera in your hand.

And so you left there with your diploma.

And then I went and like everyone who left that school,

you just got the bum jobs on TV shows.

So I worked behind the scenes in TV

for a good amount of years.

Eating media lunch.

Some really wet, the unauthorised history of New Zealand.

All these shows that I worked on,

the series that they ended up being cancelled.

So I think I was the bad one coming along.

But I worked on the very final season of any media lunch.

Then it was cancelled.

And then they did the unauthorised history of New Zealand.

This is all with Jeremy Wells.

And then that was cancelled.

And they did Birdland with Jeremy Wells.

And that was cancelled.

And I was like, I'm going to go.

I'm going to go.

So I went overseas on my OE for two years.

So we spoke to Jeremy Wells this morning

and he said he could tell already back then

that you were destined for much bigger things

than what you were doing on those shows.

Yeah, it could be just...

That's very kind of him.

It could be just because I was eager to know

what everyone was doing.

I was just that guy who always wanted fingers and all the...

Like the editor guy used to get really angry

because I just stand behind him.

I knew nothing about editing.

Like film school, you didn't really touch on that stuff.

And so I just stood behind him.

And then I remember I shot...

Like while I was working there,

I shot my auntie's wedding.

And I just sneak into the editing suite

and he came in one time

and I was editing my auntie's wedding.

So what are you doing?

Like the show's on there.

Did you save and quit the show?

Like, yeah, man, it's all good.

Wait, wait, wait.

Give me a sec.

I just got to put this Rod Stewart song in there.

It's good reference.

Time stand fit.

So was it shade?

Did you say it's like the forest gump of New Zealand media?

It's just kind of connected to all these incredible shows.

Yeah, it's kind of a rudimentary analogy that I had

because we'll get to it eventually.

But on Jono and Ben,

I imagine you had a front row seat

for some of those incredible pranks

that they played on one another as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was the guy who put the pilot costume together.

Oh.

Amazing.

So I got...

That doesn't seem like such a hard one to do, though.

Nah, nah.

A little bit weird into it

because you had to get the little pilot things

that go on the show.

I forget what they're called,

but the little things that go on the shoulders.

Wings.

They were down to first scene,

the costume shop, and they were like,

yeah, no, you can't do those ones,

but we could give you these ones.

And then I just went and printed off bits of paper

and stuck them on to look more official.

Yeah.

But in our head on that day,

we never had any thought that anything bad was going to go.

It was just a casual day.

Oh, what do we need?

Oh, pilot costume.

Like, look, legit pilot.

Okay, sweet.

And we're doing this stuff and setting them off,

and then it shit hit the fan.

Okay.

Oh, we need to talk about this.

So for those that don't know,

it was Bryce Casey.

Yeah, it was Bryce Casey.

Well, a lot of people now always say it's Ben Boyce,

but Ben was the show producer and on it.

So he copped some flak.

And this made like front page news on the hero,

John Key, I think was involved at the time,

like it was this big thing.

Yeah.

So you as part of that,

as the snowball of kind of drama builds after it,

what are you?

I'm just, I'm just ducking my head.

We're all in the office looking each other like,

holy shit, holy shit, what's happened?

Holy shit.

But I, yeah, I start off in TV,

just that on a production side,

which was basically a script would come through,

and they'd be like, we need these props and stuff.

Oh, let's pay this company to build this prop

and give them five grand.

And I was the guy being like,

I don't know, I could do that.

Let me go to my 10 and I'll do some stuff.

So I became the what now version of props boy,

but like a real life props boy,

where I was like, no, no, Jordan can do it.

Like, just get Jordan to do that

or trying to string together random costume shit

or build props or make something explode,

like for free.

Like we did action things where I just thought about,

and then some switches and you put a million hoses off

just to compress what we have at home

and put them into little paper cups with flour in them.

So then as people are running through shot,

I'm just behind hitting all these switches

and flowers going everywhere.

And we had Hollywood style gunshots.

Everyone's like, we would have paid so much money

last year to do that.

Like, thank you, Jordan.

I was like, thank you to co-fighter brain mate.

We're all brain.

Yeah, is it from your old man

was a bit of a mystifics at DOI MacGyver?

Yeah, look, I don't want to say that all Aucklanders

are like this, but it was the first thing moving up there

and getting into TV world and that.

One, because I come from a small rural New Zealand.

One, everyone was real rich in my mind

because you all bought coffees

and bought your lunch every day.

And I remember showing up with my lunchbox

to my first, like, eating me at a lunch with a lunchbox.

And then by second day, I was like, oh, you know,

I'll come out and pay $9 for a panini.

What's going on?

And the fact that everyone was just so quick

to spend money on things that you could just do yourself.

So I kind of bought that mindset

into the John O'Nan Ben world of, no, let's just do it.

Let's just paint and do it all ourselves.

Stop hiring fancy prop places.

Sorry to the props people out there that lost their jobs

because of a bit of paint and a bit of MDF from Bunnings.

So you're five years at John O'Nan Ben

and you're Mr. Fixer and you're putting out fires

and all this sort of stuff

and you're starting to climb the ladder.

Is there a part of you at that point

that's thinking, maybe I'll be better in front of the camera?

Like, did that come into it

as you were getting higher and higher positions?

Yes, I've worked on...

TV's always never full-time, so you'd be on John O'Nan Ben

and I jumped between... I was really lucky.

I jumped between John O'Nan Ben and Let's Get Inventing.

Amazing show.

It's the one where kids would come up with an invention show

and then you'd bring it to life, an invention idea

and then you'd bring it to life.

So I was able to jump between both of them.

Sometimes on that I'd have to be in front of the camera

playing some weird character, like for a two-second bit.

John O'Nan Ben's sketches would always need...

couldn't afford extras, so all the cast

and production team would have to be asked to come down to set

and stand there and dance, whatever.

I think maybe a little bit in the back of the mind,

but I was never looking like,

man, I could be John O'Nan Ben tomorrow, let's do this,

get these guys out the way.

But I think it's just that always being kind of out there

in the class clown, it's in the back of your head

that if you had an idea like,

should I get this off the ground, let's give this a go.

I remember sitting with Jeremy Wells,

where here I am at 18, I've left film school with my diploma

and I did a little bit of presenting there.

So now I think I'm a voice artist,

and I knew that Jeremy at the time had all these voice gigs,

and I'm like, bro, can you get me in on this agency

that does your voice work?

I'll put together a show reel.

Man, I just remember it didn't hit me

until I'm standing in the same edit suite that I told you about.

Jeremy's there, and I'm hitting play on this thing that I've recorded,

and I just felt all the realisation of, what are you doing?

You're 18 straight into this thing.

You've only just met this guy like a month ago,

and now you're like, hey, man, I'm ready to be a voiceover guy like you.

Can you just listen to this?

And it was so bad, and I just started sweating profusely,

as he politely just gives me some feedback.

And he did give me the email,

and I sent off my little voiceover thing.

Never heard back.

Can you give us a little sample of what that might have sounded like?

I remember it was like a McDonald's thing.

I was like, come into McDonald's and you'll get $2 off this Sunday.

But I was just really bad.

I think everything I did was just basically Aussie NRL commentators,

was my version of trying to be a voiceover person.

That's just because he's growing up watching The Warriors.

Okay, so this is the start.

This is such a cool story.

We've listened to a few things in recent interviews,

but it's so impressive what you've done since this.

But take us back.

You were at Jono and Ben 2014,

and you send a video to your friend

on their Facebook page back in the day.

I think you post on their page a bit.

Yeah.

Tell us the story.

Yeah, so I always get asked,

was there a big plan behind it?

There wasn't.

Straight off the gate, there was no big plan of,

this is a video that's going to change my life.

I'm going to make a viral video today.

So all it was is, I had two kids at the time,

a four-month-old and a two-year-old.

My wife went out with the two-year-old.

This is on a Sunday,

and I was left home with the four-month-old

and just a little bit bored.

And I knew that a good friend, Sam Smith,

who is a writer on Jono and Ben,

you guys may know him.

I mean, not the singer,

but he had a baby on the way.

And so I thought,

I shall make a funny video for Sam.

I did write down,

because I had my laptop,

and I wrote them down,

so the rugby ball hold.

And then I set my camera up,

because I had my camera filmed,

my failed memoirs of a geezer.

They can set my camera up and went to shoot it,

and I thought it would be funny as if I just, like,

act like I'm rough as shit, like,

here you go, Sam.

The rugby ball hold,

and just leant on the Kiwi-ism,

the Kiwi stereotype,

mumbled through it,

and put that on my YouTube channel

that only had two duck shooting videos on it at the time,

which had now been clicked to private

before I get attacked by greenies.

And I put that link on his Facebook page

and went to sleep.

And that was it.

There was no thought.

I don't even think I told my wife

that I made a video with...

I don't even know if I mentioned it to her.

And then woke up,

and my phone was just full of these notifications

I never had from YouTube.

Like, congratulations.

Your video has hit 1,000 views.

10,000 views.

500,000 views.

A million views.

And, like, overnight,

or in a couple days,

it had hit a million views.

And I was like, wow.

And that's where I just rode this endorphin high

of, like, two days of fame,

five seconds of fame,

like the Paul Henry show,

all these radio things,

your emails full,

people are just trying to get in contact with you,

want to piece you,

and I'm like, I've just made this stupid video.

What's up?

And I got...

Going back to what you said earlier,

I got a phone call from Stuff.

And ring, ring.

And I'm at John on being at the time

as the phone call comes through.

And they're like,

oh, hey, Jordan,

blah, blah, blah.

And they start asking me,

oh, and what do you do for a job?

And in that split second,

I had been a landscaper when I was in London.

I was like, oh, I do a little landscaping.

And I think I just went with it.

I was like, should I just go with this Kiwi figure?

Just go with the...

I am a bit of a landscaper,

because I think I did.

In that split second,

I had enough thought that I was like,

if I say I'm a full-on TV...

Well, I wasn't a full-on,

but if I work in the TV world,

they might go, oh, no, let's leave it.

It's a plan skipped for John on being or something,

but it never was.

I'm just a landscaper.

And that got published,

and that kind of went into other articles.

And then I got stuck in it,

and then I was bumping into people on the street

like, hey, Matt,

you're a courier, hey,

Matt, you're all these rumors.

So I just never really said it out loud,

but I did.

I think that is a big part of that early success.

Yeah.

The genuine thing.

Because you say you had a mate who was like,

oh, I heard he works in TV.

I think I was so afraid of that for so long,

and now I don't give a crap.

Like, I'm fine.

But there was a time where I was like,

no, no, no, I don't work at John on being...

But I was the floor manager

for the live shows that they had.

So you'd have 100 people come to the studios,

and then I come out, get a guy,

because I'm the guy who'd count John on being

into camera like 3, 2, 1 with my headphones on.

A lot of energy, guys.

A lot of energy, guys,

and then it's all good as,

because they're like,

oh, that's how to dad.

And I'm like, just, just, just,

we're here for John on being like,

are you the guy?

What are you doing?

Thought you're a landscaper from Rotorua.

With what you know about analytics

and how things go viral now,

do you have an understanding of what happened

in that, with that first video?

My, my only thing from that one

would have been that I think I was,

it was the first.

Like, there hadn't been a dad.

Dad's making videos with their babies,

but also it was kind of taking the piss,

because it would have been,

I'm guessing there would have been a world,

already the internet would have been flooded

with proper serious parenting advice videos.

So now you've got a dad doing it with their kid,

but taking the Mickey out of that almost.

And I think it was just the first.

I was just, I don't know what perfect storm

came together for it to go viral,

but it went viral on Facebook and YouTube

and emailed around to everyone.

So I have no idea.

To this day, like, I remember I made a video

my biggest video ever on Facebook

was how to put a baby to sleep.

And I thought, when I come up with the idea,

once I'd fully started How To Dad,

I was like, this will be gold,

because my daughter never went to bed,

Alba never went to bed when I put her down.

She'd just jump on her cot.

And so it was like middle of an afternoon,

and I was like, I'll shoot this video.

I always just shot them on the weekend.

Like last minute thought,

shit, I gotta do a How To Dad video.

Went in there, get out.

This is how to put your baby to sleep.

I just said the intro to camera,

and she just dropped,

like she just dropped in the cot

and like put her thumb in

and almost fell asleep.

And what you don't see in the edit

is I crack up laughing,

and she's only like eight months old.

And I think she clicked in her head

that I'll dad like that.

So then I'd go through all these

dad stereotypes that I'd come up with,

like the hypnotized dad

or the hop into the cot dad.

But every time I said sleep,

she just kept doing that.

And so I remember editing it,

and I said to my missus, this is shit,

like this video,

I'll put it all as effort

of actually writing this one properly,

and it's gonna be crap.

Like she just kept going to sleep

instead of jumping around.

It's not relatable.

And we posted that,

and it went like 20 million views

in the first week on Facebook.

And it still took my biggest video ever.

Because you didn't go straight into How To Dad

right after that first viral vid.

No, no, no, no.

You called your jets for a while.

Well, I wasn't How To Dad.

I was just Dad, Jordan.

I was landscaper, Jordan Watson.

Because I wore the bush shirt to Paul Henry's.

Well, I was, I did happen to be

seriously wearing a bush shirt in Stubbys,

which was like the weekend comfort tie.

I would have been mowing the lawn or something.

So that very first video I was wearing that.

And then when Paul Henry called me in,

I was like, I'll just put on that again.

There were no big plans again.

So what do you wear?

Am I gonna wear a suit or anything?

I'm not gonna dress up in jeans and a shirt.

I'll just put on my Stubbys and bush shirt.

That'll be pretty funny.

And then did nothing.

That was in 2015,

middle of 2015, that video.

And then we did nothing for six months.

Like there was no thought of,

I had my two days of fame,

and then everyone's forgotten it.

And then I think it was friends and family that suggested like,

hey, you should do more of those video things.

And I think they just kept all on saying it.

And it was fun.

It was like a fun time.

Like when do you get all this attention and emails

and people saying, hey, do you want to come to this,

this basketball game or random email things,

opportunities you'd never see in your life.

So we were like, hey, should we start this?

And we, at the start of 2016,

we made a Facebook page and a YouTube channel

at the same time, How To Dad.

And then just started chipping away,

making a video every weekend and posting it on Monday.

I just want to spend a little time in that first week

after that, that first video goes viral.

Is it quite, when you're talking,

I imagine you're talking to Jodie, your wife,

the next day and you're seeing the numbers blown up

and it's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Is it kind of like a, like,

are you guys just laughing at how ridiculous this thing is?

And is there any part of you at that point

that is thinking, I'm on to something here?

I know we talked about you didn't do anything for ages,

but was there any part, like, when Paul Henry's calling you on

and you're getting all these media spots?

No, no, there was no thought of that at all,

just everyday regular family.

Like, if you think about it now, if you had a viral video

of your cat tripping you over and you went viral

and Paul Henry called you in, you know, it was just still that.

It was just everyday thought, oh, look at that.

I've got a funny photo of Nala who's in the video,

Alba who's in the video on her little rocker chair

and the TV's going behind it and it's Paul Henry

with a pre-recorded bit playing.

And we've got a photo that every year comes up

in my Facebook memories.

I'm like, oh, well, that's the time it went.

Look at that.

Eight years ago now, but I mean, it's been eight years,

but if I think back, I don't think there was 1% of me thinking,

right, I'm on to something here.

If there was, I would have done something

because I'm that kind of person.

I would have done it the next day.

I would have kept on going and started it,

but we did nothing for half a year.

So when did the penny actually drop then and you go,

shit, actually, there's something, there's something in this.

Well, yeah, so we started, still it wasn't,

they were saying, you know, we just like the fun of it,

like making your own videos was just fun,

like doing your own projects, like starting a podcast.

Starting a podcast is fun, yeah.

It's like a new project, something new in your life,

something different.

And so it was my own thing.

And once family and friends had kind of suggested it

and then we sat down and had a serious chat with the misses,

we're like, we could do this,

like just make a silly fun video every weekend.

They're only going to be like a minute long.

And then we'll post it on a Monday.

And I remember I Googled how to do a good YouTube channel

and it said consistency.

So I like for probably five years, I never missed a Monday.

I had a new video every Monday.

And it was the same as anyone else making a Facebook page

or a new business and you start your page

and the only followers are like your family and friends

and you get a few clicks and it just slows right down.

And we were that for like four or five months,

like nothing was going off, like just,

oh, who's this?

Just Jordan with his kid again.

Hey, mate, you've had your viral time.

Was this that your brother ribbing you,

the ones that can rib you?

Like, what are you doing, man?

You're trying to be this viral guy now?

Like you've lost that, mate.

It's done.

It's bloody done.

What are you doing?

I can really relate to that.

Are you simultaneously trying to build Facebook

and YouTube operations?

Yeah, there was no thinking behind it.

All I did was I made the Facebook page

and I made the YouTube channel on the same day

and all the videos went there at the same time, on both.

On a Monday and I was doing nothing else.

Like I didn't look into how to do that.

I just posted them both basically the same time,

on the same day, YouTube and Facebook.

Just for clarity, 7pm, right?

Yeah, you can look into, but yeah, 7pm,

although I'm weird now, that used to be it,

but because it's so international,

some analytical insight here,

most of my subscribers on YouTube are online at 3am,

because it's so international.

US is my biggest following, not New Zealand.

So there you go.

But back to whatever we were talking about.

Yeah, so slowly growing,

and then made that video that I said was a shitter,

like this video is shit about trying to put your kid to sleep.

She has not jumped around at all.

And my wife watched it over my shoulder and goes,

oh no, it's cute.

And I was like, yeah, lame.

I'm not looking for cute.

I'm looking for funny.

This isn't funny.

And that one went nuts.

And like the biggest video ever.

And then two weeks later, we did...

Nuts?

Were we talking like 10 million?

20 million.

20 million views.

20 million views on a real short amount of time.

On the Facebook video.

Yeah, on the Facebook video.

Yeah, like nuts.

The comments like, he's back.

You know what I mean?

Like...

Nah, I can't remember, but no, I don't think so.

It's just like, oh look, it was just kicking it off again.

And then they're going to the back catalogue.

I know at the same time, like TV and Z,

one user that were picking them up and being like,

dad strikes again.

Yeah, there was a few stories like that.

Maybe, yeah, not like people in the comments,

like, yay, thank you, bowing down.

He's back.

We needed him.

And then we got a...

Then we got an email.

I think this was the first time it sparked something like,

hang on, what?

We can get paid for this thing?

Actually, let me rewind.

Remind me to come back to this, but let me rewind for you.

Because look, I got a million views on YouTube

for that How to Hold a Baby video.

And I'm like, holy shit, I am a millionaire.

Like, I have made it.

I am so rich.

Like, holy shit.

They send you something, right?

No, if you're going to get followers.

Subscribers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I, in my head, am thinking, holy shit, I have made this.

Like, we're going to be rich.

And then you click into your little analytics

and you go in the back.

What's a million views got me?

A hundred K?

A million dollars?

Something.

980 bucks.

I was like, a million views gets you 980.

Yeah, that's a good amount of money.

But still, here I am thinking I've made at least 100 K.

So that was a quick slap in the face.

And then some media agency got hold.

This is after the first video.

Hey, we represent viral videos and we can make you money.

Sign up here.

Sign this contract.

I'm like, yeah, it's done now.

Yeah, we'll sign it to you.

I, to this day, don't own that video.

Really?

I can't get it back off them.

They are evil, evil people.

They make no money from it because I've hidden it.

If you go on my YouTube channel,

you can't even find how to hold a baby.

And I'm like, I was like, guys, you've made,

this is like last year.

I was like, guys, you've made $60 from this video

in the last year.

I'll give you $5,000 right now.

You give that video back to me.

Give me the rights to that video and they just won't.

I'm like, what is wrong with you?

Have you tried to exchange it for the shitter?

Yeah, yeah.

So I've learned out there people don't ever sign your videos

to these weird.

If you have something go viral,

there'll be one person listening that's had a weird video go viral.

Your email gets full of a lot of shady people.

So watch out.

We'll be right back after this short break.

So you have this second big hit,

how to make the baby go to sleep.

And then it's got 20 million views.

How many followers do you get as a result of that?

Oh, it was nuts.

Like, yeah, crazy, crazy, like 250,000 followers,

like in a week.

Yeah, in a week.

There were times where it was growing

like at 20,000 followers a day,

like just continually through 2016, 2017.

And is that the point where you're starting to think,

holy shit, I can run it.

No, no, straight.

It happened in a real short one month window.

So we had that video that went absolutely gangbusters,

20 million views.

Then we get an email from destination Rotorua.

Hi, Jordan.

We'd love to bring you and the family up

to enjoy Rotorua on us if you make a video out here.

And we like me and Jodie like jumping around the lounge.

Holy shit.

This is so cool.

How yeah, how yes we'll come out to Rotorua,

make a video.

And they were real cool about they kind of

sowed the seed in my head before I even thought about it.

But they're like, we don't want you to overdo it.

We don't want you being like, hey, I'm in Rotorua.

Just have some backgrounds.

Make sure we're in the background.

And you don't even have to have the welcome to Rotorua sign.

And I'm like, this sounds great.

So we did this video how to travel with a baby.

And so this is only two weeks after that video has gone massive.

And we've traveled.

I've edited this video and another 20 million views.

That was what kicked that.

I had two insanely massive videos within like a fortnight.

And they paid us like, we got the trip and we got like a thousand dollars.

But when you think of what they got,

some of the best marketing I know, I know, I talked about it.

I got invited to speak at something like a year ago and the lady was actually,

I was telling the same story.

And I go, imagine if I bumped into them now,

I'd be saying, where's my money?

And then afterwards she's like, I'm the lady.

Because they got 20 million views out of a thousand bucks

and hosting a family for a week.

But that was when, when that paid gig came through,

we're like, oh, shit.

Oh, okay.

So there can be like money in this as well.

And then your brain just starts going like, I can quit my job.

I can be my own boss.

Everything starts.

Yeah.

So you're still Jono and Ben.

I'm still Jono and Ben.

You've had this huge month and then the wheels are starting to turn.

Shit.

How there must have been a period of time when you were still working,

when you were thinking about throwing in the full-time job.

An entire year.

Was it?

I worked myself ridiculous hours and freaked out just for the fear of,

I had two kids.

We were renting.

And Jono and Ben was a consistent,

it was known that if you got onto Jono and Ben,

it was a real good gig because they were such long production times.

They had like, you know, 30 to 40 episodes in a row.

So where other TV gigs you might be on there for like six weeks to a month,

two months, and then you've got to find another job.

And I was like, I can't throw this in.

How did Dad blow up?

They could fall over tomorrow.

But we were slowly getting more and more kind of brand deals.

Air New Zealand were coming through.

I had an agency reach out, so I was able to sign on with them

and they helped you do all the money stuff.

Yeah, more and more paid gigs.

But it still just didn't give me that.

I could have left Jono and Ben way earlier,

but I was just freaking outside.

Jono and Ben was like, I'd leave home at 7.30 and not get home until 6.30.

Like it was big, big hours on it.

And so you hardly seen the kids.

And I'd worked mainly like till midnight, at least midnight.

And that's mainly sifting through emails, bro.

Just you don't know one video that even goes slightly viral.

Your email's just full.

And 99% of it is dodgy things like real bad English

from countries you've never heard of.

You sell 20,000 glow stick.

We give you cents.

Like what?

Thanks, delete.

Like delete.

It's so much just deleting, deleting, not even replying.

It's people that are copying, pasting.

But then now and then you'll see a brand or a Kiwi brand, you know.

Like Air New Zealand or Ford or something will reach out.

And then you're like, oh.

Before you left Jono and Ben, did the attitude change around you?

Like they must have known they had this star

that was blowing up as part of the team.

Like was there any attempt to bring how the dad

into what they were doing?

There's a little bit.

It was definitely, it was weird.

In a way it was weird.

Like there was all like, oh.

Like there'd be moments or a lot of the writers

where this very click together comedy guys

where they kind of had their writers click

that stuck together.

And they would never really care about anything

until they saw, I hadn't even heard of what read it was.

And then they're like, all of a sudden they're one day,

they're like, you're on the front page of Reddit.

Like you're the number one video on Reddit.

I'm like, what?

And that video wasn't even going viral on any of my platforms,

but it was number one on Reddit.

I'm like, what?

All of a sudden it was this, oh, shit.

And then it was a weird chemistry.

I was still just Jordan who cracked the whip

because I climbed the lattice.

I was still Jordan who's like, nah,

you've painted that bloody thing wrong

and you've built that wrong.

Or I was like helping direct John on Ben's.

I was still that guy, but there were bits of,

at the same time, shit, this dude's really blowing up.

And even I was weird with it.

Like it was a weird thing to deal with.

And there was a time that we did a few skits with me.

But I know it was just a, it was a kind of weird,

it was a weird time.

It was the easiest way to put it.

Was there a moment where you'd been thinking about it for a year

and then there is a day where you hand in your resignation notice.

Was there a point that, was there a specific moment

or something that forced you to do it that day or that week?

No, not that I can think of.

I just, no, not at all.

I would have been talking about it with the misses

constantly for like a year

and then finally kind of built up the courage

and maybe I got another gig come through.

It's like we were just getting these gigs

and I was just thinking, okay, there's kind of a cycle here.

We're not stuffing this up.

It's growing.

Now's the time.

And we got a, we got a place.

I was driving scooters at the time because I hated traffic.

And I'm quite a big guy.

I'm not a tiny guy on a scooter.

Scooters can hardly propel anyone, right?

So I'm on a 50cc scooter

and trying to get these hills around Auckland

and they just go down to like 20 kilometers an hour

and you've got buses trying to pass you.

And we moved to the North Shore.

And so I, when I got a motorbike license

and bought this big bike because I was like,

should I can't drive a scooter over the Harbour Bridge?

I'll die.

So now I've got a motorbike.

And within a month of moving to the North Shore,

I quit John on Ben and then just had this motorbike

sitting in my shed.

But there was, yeah, there was no moment.

Just 2017.

That's all I can remember.

Throw it in and how to dad full-time.

Okay.

So now we're into full-time how to dad.

I wish I'd gone to like a psychic

to stir up my memory better from,

it's like trying to drag through all the list,

but I think I'm doing all right.

You're doing a great job.

You're doing a great job.

Can I just have one more John on Ben question?

Are there ever any reunion get-togethers?

Because that's an incredible conveyor belt of talent.

They, yeah, the boys, John on Ben,

have never stopped working.

Those guys are just workaholics.

But the crew behind the scenes, we now and them,

but no, there hasn't been like a proper let's get together.

It would be amazing to do it.

But every time, at least a couple of times a year,

if I'm up here, I'll get all the production guys

that I've met and known, camera guys and that.

We'll get together and have a beer or so

and find out what everyone's working on.

Because you do kind of think back to John on Ben.

It's like a great comedy show, great group of people,

but it's also like one of the hardest shows.

Everyone knew it in the industry.

Like if you're working on John on Ben,

you're like, it's a stress cooker

because it was a topical show.

Like, let's say the show's gonna air on a,

you do the studio record on a Thursday night

and you've planned out your show,

you've got your sketches that are topical

of what's happened in the week

and then something massive happens on Thursday morning.

You can't not put it in the show.

So all of a sudden it's like crew, Jordan,

or whatever, whoever's available, go,

get out there and shoot that with thing,

quickly go into it.

And it's just, you know,

six months of constant stress of pumping out a weekly show.

It was a, it was a crockpot.

I'm gonna dip into that memory bank one last time.

What was the most elaborate set design

or prop that you needed to construct from scratch

during that time?

Oh, shit.

So many, oh, it's more like just little tricks

of trying to do stuff as opposed to massive,

oh, explode, oh, Holden's going under,

they won't care anymore.

There was one where we pretended

that we blew up Jono's ute

and like health and safety was,

we weren't always the best.

It was like, oh, no, we'll be right.

And we went out to this farm and it's on a steep hill

and it's just a narrow race.

And Jono's up on this field, it's a photo shoot

and there's this big barn.

And we've got this dodgy guy from Topity

who does explosives, he's come out

and he's rigged this massive fireball explosion.

And we've got to, we'd planned it all out,

well, I had kind of, I was the only guy planning it out,

about how do we make out like his utes

accidentally rolled down the hill

because he can't see the park lights on.

So since Jono's been dropped off

and he's parked his ute on this hill,

oh, sorry, Jono's arrived, he's parked his ute on this hill

and he's hopped out.

Then I've had to sneak in the other side, hop in,

turn the key on one click,

lying down with the seat lay flat

and I've got the handbrake on,

so the brake lights aren't on, I've got it in neutral.

I've tilted the right-hand side electric mirror

all the way down because I'm lying down right in this ute.

Now I have to reverse it, only using one hand

and steering it this mirror

I've got to commit and I can't touch the brake

and I've got to roll this ute down this hill

in reverse through this farm race

and then I've got to go over this wooden bridge

and not go off the edge of the wooden bridge

and then hit the pins at the exact same time

so it doesn't spit out the other side of the barn

and then the explosion's cued

and everyone is stressing the shit out

and we absolutely nailed it, it was amazing.

It was absolutely amazing.

That would be my proudest stunt,

even though I wasn't a stunt guy,

but it wasn't saying I constructed,

but it's something I pulled off.

I'd like to thank my rule upbringing there.

Yeah, cheers, cheers.

Beautiful.

I could have done it with like six trailers on,

but I didn't want to show off.

Okay, so you leave in John and Ben behind

and we're out into the world of content creator

and I imagine you would be the only person

that you knew that had this job title.

What's your strategy?

Who are you talking to for advice?

What is your game plan from there?

Yeah, there wasn't a lot of game plan at all.

It was, I definitely remember Googling

like how to parenting ideas,

not ideas, but trying to find out what are the main things,

but I was already living that, so that came easy.

So all those classes, how to change a nappy,

how to hold a baby, how to burp a baby,

how to stop a baby from crying,

all those ones you're going to question anyway

were easy bankable video ideas.

Like, great, I can do that, I can do that, I can do that.

But there was never a sit down, right,

I've got to come up with this, I need this.

For that first, before I went full-time,

but for that first year before it was my full-time gig,

it was usually like a Saturday or a Sunday,

I was like, shit, we got to do a video,

and that's how quick that come together

and we'd quickly shoot it and edit it and get it up.

But even once it became a full-time thing,

I never really had a big plan,

I just knew that I had to pump out a video every week.

And now that I'm doing it full-time, maybe a tour week.

And then, yeah, you just start exploring other things,

trying different things at the same time,

sticking tried and true to the how-to.

I remember being real strict on that,

like we had this brand approach us from Australia,

they had a, sorry, B is really bad for a podcast

because you get quite burpy and I'm trying to politely burp to this side.

Just burp away.

I coughed through it there.

Just burp away.

But I had this, we had this brand reach out

and they're like, they had a really good chunk of cash.

Like we do a GPS hiking unit that goes on your backpack.

And I was like, okay, what's the how-to though?

Like it had to be a how-to title or I couldn't do it.

What's the how-to?

And they're like, and I was like, I could do,

oh yeah, I could do how to hike with a baby

and then have all these stereotypical dads

and then the, you know, the serious dad with the GPS.

And they're like, no, no, no, it's got to be called

exploring with whatever brand it was,

exploring with the Export Gold GPS unit.

And I'm like, no, no, it can't be that.

Like every video I've ever done is how-to.

I'm not going to do that.

Yeah, no, it has to be, mate.

And I thought he was joking and I started laughing.

He's like, mate, it has to be called this

or we won't be doing it with you.

And that was, and we hadn't made a lot then

and we turned that down and that happens,

I guess that's been a big success of it as well,

without sounding real wanky, but we turned down a lot.

To this day, like I still smacked myself from a gig,

I turned down last year and I'm like, financially,

I'm like, we probably should have,

we probably should have done that one again.

Would really help the bank account.

But you've got to turn down stuff that isn't going to sit with you

or doesn't feel right or you don't get that.

You usually know within the first minute of a brand wanting

to work with you, you'll have that quick idea in your head.

But if you're forcing it, it's never really going to work

and my agents all hate me for it.

But I turned down way more than I accept.

Because that's critical to the success as well

as the management of your own brand, right?

Because even to the point of bush shirt, stubby's, jandals,

like did you really commit to that bit in everyday life?

I say commit to it, but it was every day.

100% committed to it.

So that was the first video I was wearing stubby's

in a bush shirt, so then it was either going to be

gumboots or jandals on the bottom.

We went to, we got flown to some insane shits happen.

We got flown to New York to go to the red carpet

of the Boss Baby Premier and that was with Universal

and all they wanted was a live streamed video.

I was like, this is great.

It's a New York thing and like it's Boss Baby.

She's a baby.

This all ties in.

It doesn't have to be a how-to thing.

Oh, I think I typed in the top of the how to red carpet.

I just needed it in there so I could sleep at night.

And it is three degrees winter in New York

and I'm in stubby's at a bush shirt and jandals

and we walk down the street carpet

and all cameras just are going nuts.

And I'm thinking, oh, they're filming Nala

because Nala was a little Boss Baby thing

and it was more just on me, like who's this guy

and what's he wearing?

And I froze my ass off but I committed to the bit.

And at the other end of the spectrum

we've been to like, when we went to Shanghai

and it's like 35 degrees in the most humid time ever

and I'm just sweating.

Like, so I'd be in a singlet

and in the moment we had to film anything,

pull the bush shirt out the bag, get it on.

Just quickly get the shot.

And then quickly back off singlet and the bush,

everyone out there that wears a bush shirt

or a fleece knows how they're famous for moisture.

Like you can pour a glass of water on one

and it'll beat off.

So imagine that on the inside.

Like I'm like cotton that'll absorb

a little bit of your sweetness

so you don't feel like you're just sitting in water.

You put a stuffed bush shirt

that's been in your backpack all day through China,

back on, it's just putting on like a wet,

flippin' piece of glad wrap over your body

and then you're running, trying to,

ah, it's a bad time.

And sometimes I regret sticking to the bit

but hey, it's made its way through

and it's made it to success.

These international trips,

I imagine there's been so many.

I think there's one of Amsterdam.

You went for like five days to do a 20 minute talk.

Yeah.

Business class.

Business class.

I want you to talk about that

but how's that being received at home?

Like is Jody happy for you to be going on these

like long weeks away to do very minimal work?

Or is that a non-negotiable?

She has to come.

I, she's great.

I actually live video called her from,

we've been to Amsterdam on our OE many moons ago

and I actually FaceTimed her and the kids

from the red light district because I went back

and I was like, let's go to red light.

Oh, this is me on my own now.

I'll go back to the red light district for a look.

We did on our OE and I was shocked about how many families

were walking through and like tourist people

and so I kind of get to the side of it and I pull out my phone

because I realized the time I was,

I'll say goodnight to the kids and I'm there

and she's like, are you in the red light?

I was like, yeah, I've come back for a look

and she's fine and then she's like,

what's happening in the background?

And it's, oh, you're not allowed to film there.

I've just completely forgot.

And there's just this prostitute in the background

banging on a glass wall and it's at me

and you know that they've always got people watching

so I'm like, see ya, hang up and I just power walk

into the bloody, into the crowds to hide.

But I was the creeper who's acting like,

oh yeah, I'm fully FaceTiming but zooming in

on the prostitute behind me.

But she's been, no, she's been awesome.

Yeah, she's been great.

Definitely like, when you say who do I ask,

now that I've thought about it, it's her.

She's like the executive producer where I'll film something.

Everything goes past Jodie before it goes out.

Not that she's like, hmm, change this, do this, do this.

This will be her busy hanging in the washroom

but hey babe, watch this for a second.

She's like, oh yeah, that's good.

That's all I need and I'm happy.

I just need someone else to see it

before I put it on the internet.

Everything that I've ever put out on the internet,

Jodie has seen.

Because she was largely anonymous for a while, right?

She's only just come out.

She's only just come bursting out there.

But that was just talking, going back to the fame thing.

So once we kind of got more, I got more known,

more and more people wanting photos and seeing you on the street

and it's all a bit weird.

And she was always, like I say, a few steps back.

So people almost sometimes never connected

that we were all together.

And so she was like, I don't want this.

I don't want to be pointed at.

So then it played into this really fun thing

where she became like Wilson from Home Improvement.

And the YouTube audience loved it

where we'd tease the part of her hair

or just like her arm would be in a video

where we did in April Fool's time,

where like finally you're going to meet her

and they just cut to like the face swap

but it was my face on her face.

So we just played that for so long

and it was such a fun gag to do.

And now, yeah, it was her idea.

She's like cracking up at all these couples challenges lately.

She started a How To Mom Instagram page

probably a couple of years ago.

But everything she films is just from POV.

Like you just see your hands

and you're just never going to see her.

And then I was like, what?

And post it.

She's like, yeah, why not?

And that was the, there was no big,

we could have sat down and made a semi-viral video

by going actually now meet How To Mom.

But we just did it casually

and there's so many angry people messaging.

Like I spent all last night scrolling through

Instagram feed looking for the reveal video.

I was like, there wasn't one.

We just casually did a couples challenge

and there you've met my wife now.

I saw those comments on the video the other night

and it's like, where was the reveal?

But it was just a fun way to do it.

And yeah, she's out there now,

but it was a good fun years just hiding her.

But she's got a good thing going on.

I think she's got 30,000 Instagram followers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like is that as a result of you pushing audience to her

or did she just do that organically?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mainly a lot coming from me and tagging around at the start

like how the mum's got a page.

But yeah, post it.

She's real up and down.

She's not a big like, I'm going to be How To Mum.

Not at all.

She just said I want to start a page like two years ago.

I was like, oh, you should call her How To Mum.

That'd be pretty funny.

We'll be right back after this short break.

We'll be right back.

Take us into the nuts and bolts of what a week looks like.

Maybe over eight years, you know,

you've started doing two videos a week.

You know, you're still working a nine to five day, right?

Like you're still on the tools at science for an emails

and then an idea comes to you and you decide to film it.

How does that whole process actually work?

Yeah, now it's, well, I've got Golden,

which is the Jandle company we started a couple years ago.

So it's usually waking up.

We don't have a big team at Golden.

It's me waking up, checking all the socials

and then checking all the customer service

and checking all the orders and dealing with any issues

that have happened.

And then it's usually checking a little time

and checking social media.

Just trying to stay plugged in as well,

which is also just for your own,

like anyone swiping on TikTok.

But for me, it's usually checking YouTube

and seeing going to the popular, what's popular on YouTube

and just seeing what's happening.

And then it's, I'd like to say to this day, eight years later,

I am not one of those YouTubers who are ahead of the ball

and have 10 videos in the back pocket.

Right now I have a video due tomorrow.

Well, let's say I'm trying to do twice.

I don't have it.

I've got a video due on Monday.

I don't have one.

I don't even have the eight.

I've got a few ideas I wrote down yesterday,

but I'm still of the week and it's real bad.

I've just got a brain that's stupidly just firing ideas

at me all the time.

And so let's say I have a brain fart idea.

I work by emailing myself.

So if I'm in the shower and I come up with an idea,

I'll leap out the shower nude and search for my phone

before I forget the idea and I'll email myself it.

And then later on, when I get back in the office

and I sit down, if I see it in email and I read it again

and if I think it's great,

I'll add it to a little Google Doc list.

But I think the John-on-Ben thing almost scarred me

a little bit of being topical and having to get shit done,

where I'll be like, shit, that's a great idea.

And let's say I don't film at that day.

And then the following day I have another idea

that ends up almost never being seeing the light of day

and never being filmed,

because I'm so excited about this idea.

I just had it breakfast.

And as soon as the kids are going to school,

I've got the camera out and I'm just doing it.

My whole day will change just out of pure excitement

of, shit, I love this idea.

I love the fact that you had to add in the detail

that you jump out of the shower nude.

Yeah, I just, I know there's some female viewers,

listeners, and they might just want to visualize that along.

I thought it was to shatter the illusion

that the Stubbies are run 24-7.

No, no, yeah, yeah.

I mean, people freak out to this day

when they see me out on the street in jeans

or if I go out somewhere and I'm in a shirt

because it's a bit fancy.

And again, it's like, oh, you big lie, you big phony.

I was like, so you actually think I never,

never, ever change.

Yeah, by the way, just while we're,

I've got a great view of the legs.

Yeah, sorry, man.

No, no, no, no, no.

I've got a great view of the legs and up rat alley,

but the legs particularly, they're good, they're good pins.

Oh, thanks, man.

You should run them out more often.

She's a big legs guy.

I do, I do, yes.

At the bottom.

I'm the most comfortable in Stubbies.

When I'm not filming, I'm in Stubbies.

Stubbies are the number one short in my draw.

But I'm usually rocking a T-shirt.

It's either a, it's mainly a golden T-shirt these days.

I'm just shoveling that stuff as much as I can.

It's a good jandal.

When did that come about?

Was it just a natural progression of an extension

of the How to Dad brand?

It was through, so How to Dad, you then,

if you're a social media person,

you're usually connected to an agency,

and those agencies help you figure out

brands usually approach agencies,

and they're like, hey, we've got this,

and we want to do this.

Who have you got on your books?

And so my agency, another separate idea,

someone at the agency had a contact

who was a product manufacturer,

for example, let's say export golds,

like we want hats this summer.

They go to this guy.

This is the go-to guy, like a lot of people use.

And so he got in contact with my agency

and said, look, you've got these people on your books

that have a large following.

If any of them ever have like a business idea,

or a product idea, get in contact

and we'll see what we can come up with.

And as soon as an email came across my desk,

I was like, Jandal, I was just sick of blowing out,

I won't say the name, but the most common Jandal.

We all are.

We all are sick of that.

I was a common Jandal in New Zealand.

We've had them only lasting like three months.

So we have this first meeting and I, well,

what are you going to do?

I say, well, make the thing big.

Make the plug big.

And we're Googling it.

There's no one done this.

Make the plug bigger.

Bigger like what?

Like a bread tag.

And that's what we did.

And it was like, this is four years ago.

We only just launched 18 months ago,

but it was years of just testing behind the scenes

and getting different manufacturers to do them

and they come back wrong or blah, blah, blah.

But yeah, it's a thing now.

But golden goes okay, right?

Yeah.

Oh, it's on the side.

No, it's still growing.

It's definitely still growing.

It's not, we make out like on social,

like it's smashing down doors and doing all this,

but it's definitely still a startup and still growing.

And we got into the warehouse, which is awesome.

And we had a trial with them.

This was when last summer,

so there was only a small number of Jandals

and the community got behind that hugely

because I was like, you've got to go out there.

We need to sell these so we can show the warehouse that it's hot.

And like they sold out in six weeks.

This will trial them out.

So we're like, great.

So we got back in this year and then, right,

we had the best summer ever.

And so no one, yeah, no one was really buying,

like their summer sales on all products

in the summer areas in the store were down.

So it was down for us as well, even online sales.

So we're learning.

We're still young and it's figuring out.

And right now, like here I am,

we're trying to have like a,

here I am making fun content for the Golden Channel.

And you're like, why am I doing this?

No one's going to buy them in winter.

Like, let's just go into hibernation for four months

and come back.

But you just want to stay present.

And it's all about brand awareness.

I'm learning shit.

I'm not a businessy person, you know,

from memoirs of a failed geezer.

So I'm the bloody geezer right now in the Jandle World.

Is this, is Golden in the business side

safeguarding you for future?

Is it because multiple income streams,

you know, you've got a family now, the video game,

while you've got these followers that aren't going to go away,

you don't know how long it will go for?

Yeah, 100%.

You talk to a lot of people and they're like,

I have no idea how you do your job

where you don't have a regular pay packet.

And that's what it is to be in my shoes.

So when the Golden thing come around,

you're like, yeah, if we can get something on the side,

that isn't going to take away from too much how to dad stuff,

and I can handle doing it right now.

And if we can build this side project to then end up,

you know, in five years or 10 years to be a monster product,

the brand that we've done,

and help secure myself, definitely,

yeah, that's a massive part of it,

because I'm very aware of how to dad,

I don't know if I'm going to be 50

and making how to dad videos that people are going to be going,

hey, that's really funny.

We're going to watch this a million times

and give you 900 bucks.

Is there a part of it which is a locked in income?

Like when you've got a certain number of YouTube followers,

does that equate, like you can bank on a certain amount

each month as like a base?

Yeah, yeah, YouTube and Facebook started monetizing

like two years ago, but yeah, YouTube,

you get paid by your YouTube views,

doesn't matter how many subscribers you have,

there's people with way less subscribers than me

that get more viewers on per video,

I've got a large amount, but I don't get paid that well

by YouTube because I'm real short form,

which is the shitty, shitty thing,

and I'm not going to change all of a sudden

just to try and bank more money on YouTube,

but people that are making three minute or 10 minute

is the golden one on YouTube.

If you're making 10 minute edits on YouTube

and you're getting 20,000 views,

you'll make more money than someone

who got 100,000 views on one of my videos

because there's more ad placements within the video.

So I don't make a lot, I've never got to a point,

even close to a point, that I could say,

no brands, I don't want to work with you

because I can live off YouTube and Facebook money,

I don't make enough on YouTube and Facebook to live.

Just on that YouTube piece in the 10 minute mark,

Legend of a Gumboot, how did that go in terms of views,

which was a project between New Zealand on Air and Google?

Yeah, it did go amazing.

It was quite a left field idea

and a bit wacky for a lot of the international followers

because I had so many international,

such a large international following,

and even the title, they're like, what the hell's a gumboot?

It was called Legend of the Gumboot.

And it was my story, a pistachio,

but it was my story to impress my kids

by becoming New Zealand's best gumboot thrower.

But it was still awesome.

That was all me, my own fun thing.

It was the first time that I got to write something,

script something, had an actual crew,

not just me running around with a camera

and trying to, the amount of times I've done the dodgy shit,

because you're on your own.

People think you have a film crew.

I'm like, no, even some of these slicker edits

that I put time into, it's still just me,

writing it, shooting it, editing it,

trying to bring it all together.

But no, this had a film crew,

and we got to travel down to Taihepe,

saw the big gumboot.

It was a moment, man.

It was a moment.

So that's probably a point

that maybe people don't respect or realise,

is that it is you.

You're a one-man production crew.

Yeah.

In terms of everything that you do

on the How to Dad channel.

Yep.

Self-taught.

Like, I know you've done that,

you did the edits back in the Rod Stewart music

and the wedding stuff,

but is it all just self-taught?

Like, how do you keep up to date

with modern transitions?

Yeah, but I'm quite lucky because

I'm lucky, the world that I'm in,

that I'm just a dad

who makes videos

that never have to be polished.

Like, I'm not making cinematic things,

so even now,

I could switch to an iPhone tomorrow

and no one would even notice,

because mine's always just been,

it looks pretty average.

Yes, I am shooting it on a nicer DSLR camera,

like I'm not on my phone,

but I don't need to be up to date

with all the trends and things like that,

so it is all self-taught,

but again, in saying it,

my videos are one minute long.

Other times, there's like five cuts in that.

Like, it's pretty easy.

There was a time

in 2017 on YouTube,

there's a guy, Casey Neistat,

who's just famous for making vlogs.

He's like the godfather

of vlogging.

I was like, we need to get into vlogs.

So we started, I committed to that

for like six months.

He was doing one every day,

a vlog every day.

I did one every week

and it almost killed me,

so we gave that up.

And it wasn't getting the traction

that I was hoping,

I was like, vlogs is going to be our new thing.

And also it just brought people

into your personal life too much.

As much as people love to think,

they know how to dad

and they know all the kids,

to be honest, people know jack shit.

And that's on purpose.

Right now, there's other Kiwi dads

out there doing stuff

that really bring you into the home

and it's real life, daily stuff.

That's never,

they're doing more of that as well

on the motivational side,

showing you this is how I do it,

this is how happy our family is,

but that's never been us.

Like, I'm in it for the laughs,

I'm in it for the tongue and cheek.

This is what we're in things like.

Are there ever moments in the comment section

where there are some quite serious themes

or people message you directly

about either the help that you're providing

or the support or genuinely like,

like I would not have known

how to change an app

because my wife is away.

Had I not watched that video.

Yeah, yeah, there's those ones

on the shallow ones

are people like, holy shit,

I actually learned something from this.

Thank you so much.

And then there has been a lot of

serious ones over the years of,

mate, I was like in a depressed mess

and finding your channel's been

uplifting, I'm a dad.

I get these all the time

of dads and mums like,

which is still not my plan.

I make videos that I want to make

parents laugh and relatable

and so you can be like, oh shit.

Okay, I can stuff this up.

Like this guy's just put on the internet

that he's done this.

This is fine.

But so many parents are like,

thank you so much.

Like this has helped me

and dads are like, oh great.

So I can't hang out with my kid

and be a goofball.

I'm like, yeah, if anything,

I want to take out show people

is yes, be a goofball as long as you can.

Like being a parent is the biggest excuse

to be a big kid for as long as possible.

And I think how the dad kind of shows

that by being an idiot and a goofball.

This kid's in most of the video.

So that's pretty cool.

It's been, it's been such a cool eight years

going out on your own.

I hate how you keep saying eight years.

I like to think like only two years ago, man,

it was viral and popping off.

Yeah, but I just think it's so impressive

how you've sort of just snowballed it

and it's just continued

and the work ethic involved

in not missing a Monday and videos every day.

But that was my question.

Like, does it feel, are there times

when it feels like a job?

Like from the outside, you're working from home.

You're working your own hours.

You're creating things.

But are there times when you're like,

I really don't want to do a video this week?

A lot of the time.

Yep, a lot of the time.

Never got close to,

you'll always see dramatic YouTube thumbnails

like blow out.

I've had blow out.

Why I quit?

Not talking about jandals,

but yeah, why I quit.

I do pistachio ones of that.

It's over.

We'll do one every year.

People have caught on now,

but like it's Christmas times.

I don't shoot for a month over school break.

Like from Christmas to January,

there's no content comes out.

I always take a whole month off.

But our last video right before Christmas

will always be like, this is it.

And it's always a look back of the year

and I'm like, and we'll be back in a month.

But people fall for it, man.

It's always like the biggest views video.

But I love those ones where I'll purposely

make fun of the clickbait

and I do them all the time.

Like, I need my wife.

One of the biggest videos last year

was a message to my wife,

please stop sleeping around.

Everyone clicks on it.

It's just me real serious.

And all I was talking about is how

she just moves around in the bed so much.

Sleeping around in all these different positions.

And this is how it's morphed

where for the first two years

I was so freaking out that I could never

do anything different than the how-to guy.

Like, I have to be how-to videos.

And then these new ideas pop up

and I try them and they do great.

And I'm like, great. Boom.

Another layer of the onion has exploded

and I'm free to come up with other stuff.

So, like, these kind of, these wife version

clickbait style ones.

I've done The Difference Between New Zealand

and Other Countries, which was a real good series.

I did a How to Sport series where

I just went around, like, the All Blacks

and just went to people direct.

But Kieran Reed was the captain of the All Blacks

at the time, had just had spinal surgery,

hadn't come back.

And I messaged him, hey, bro,

I'd love to do a video with you, a rugby,

How to Rugby.

I need you to tackle me real hard in it.

He's like, I've just had spinal surgery,

but we'll figure it out.

And on the day, so he's had Crusader's training

and so I've met him on a back field.

He's like, they can't see me, I'll get in trouble.

We shoot this video and I'm like, you've got to tackle me.

He's tackling me, he's not doing it hard enough.

He's like, the back, I was like, go on, bro, you can do it.

And he hit me real hard and both of us looked up,

like, have you just done your back?

And he's like, nah, I think I'm good.

And so I'm ready to fly back home and he's just like,

oh, mate, want to go burger fuel?

And I'm just pinching myself.

Oh, holy shit, the All Blacks captain

is just inviting me to burger fuel.

And I can't remember what it's talking about,

but that was a real cool moment.

No, that's cool.

That's a great story.

Normalising these pinch yourself moments,

like that must happen.

Do you get used to it?

Like the celebrity culture in New Zealand

where you must have met pretty much everyone

in the game at this point.

Everyone's a normal person just like you.

Apart from the two or three in New Zealand

that definitely think that their shit don't stink

and they're way better than everyone else.

But everyone's just a normal person.

I've learned that real quickly.

Like, I've never, I don't get these people who run up

to people for photos or anything.

Even before I was out of there,

like if I saw Sean Johnson in the,

or even, let's say, your biggest,

if Bloody Michael Jackson was alive and walked past,

I'm not going to scream and run over and be like,

can I get a photo?

Is that because of the allegation?

Mainly that.

But I've never been that person and I remember,

I remember it's like this unspoken,

it's almost like this unspoken celebrity role in New Zealand

where I did, I saw Sean Johnson in the airport.

This is like three years ago.

And I saw him and he nodded at me

and you almost knew straight away that you both knew each other

and you don't have to say anything.

And we both went in bro-shaped

and just start talking about family

because he knows I'm not a fan.

I was inside, I'm fizzing.

But he knows I was just going to talk about normal shit.

Like I wasn't going to, I wasn't like,

can I get a photo?

And oh my God, are you playing this?

I was just like, hey bro, how's it going?

And that has, I feel like that's the unspoken role in New Zealand.

Like if you're anywhere on the celebrity ladder

and you see another any person on the celebrity ladder,

you can just go in, if you're out in the public

and you can just go and have a yarn.

And if you want to do it through video content,

all you need is what, 500 million views?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But that, well I quite did that.

The cricket game, I did the cricket game

and met like all these cricketing heroes

and rugby heroes in one night,

had them all in a, we did a court session

and I'm just sitting there like,

oh that shit is all these regular people

and this is effing fucking awesome.

And that was Kyle Mills and Brendan McCullum

and Stephen Fleming and Will...

Well, was your cricket pedigree before that game?

Nothing at all.

Yeah, it showed.

We had a, this is the black clash

and I got, I was the wild card

and the email comes through,

hey Jordan, we'd love you to be the wild card

and this year's black clash.

And my honest reply was,

I think you got the wrong person,

I don't play cricket, I've never played cricket.

And they're like, no, it'll be fine, you'll be fine.

And I'm like, yeah, fuck, sounds great, let's do this.

And I remember two weeks out,

my mates are ribbing the shit out of me,

a lot of them played cricket

and so I start going to my local nets

trying to get the arm over

and I'm setting them,

I've got my iPhone set up

and I'm setting them videos.

I'm like, look, look at this hole over,

I've sped it up, I hit the wickets every time.

That's amazing, I think I'm there, I've done it.

And then we get there a day before the big event

and you have a meet and greet

and we did lawn bowls

and you meet everyone, which is great.

And then we had a day in the nets

or an afternoon in the nets.

And I'm like, nervous as shit, everyone's around.

And I'm like, all right, Jordan, off you go.

Full, full bush shirt, stubby sandals.

No, no, no, there's no cameras,

there's nothing dramatic happening.

I think I was stubbies, I know I had stubbies

and I had sneakers on, I had sneakers.

And I run in and I bowl

and Stephen Fleming, he took me under his wing

like I was his weirdly, his weird son

that had no idea what was going on.

And I bowl and he just comes up,

hey, Jordan, so you know how, can you just show me,

can you get your arm to touch your ear?

And I go like this and he's like, can you not?

And I was like, yeah, sort of, it just hurts.

He's like, so when you bowl,

try and make sure your arm brushes your ear.

I was like, it was, he's like, it wasn't me.

It was like on a 45 degree angle out from your body.

And so then the whole nets is like,

everyone trying to mother me and help me.

And I was like, I'm in a bad place.

Everyone's just like, you know,

Kyle Mills and Dan Vittori didn't come to this pre-day.

So we only met them in the sheds the day of.

And Kyle Mills walks in, I've never met him.

And I'm in his team, Team Cricket.

He's like, oh, hey man, you're joined the World Cup, yeah.

He's like, are you batting?

I'm like, no man, I think they'll have me way down the list.

I've never played cricket in my life.

And you just saw him like, he laughed like I was joking.

And then I was like, no, I haven't.

And you just saw him be like real perplexed.

Look at me like, why the fuck are you here?

Are you here just because they all get,

they all like to think it's a laugh,

but they're all secretly want to win that thing.

But yeah, had my, had my over and met my heroes.

Did you bat?

No, I didn't bat.

I had my one over.

Shay had on this list, Jordan at Black Clash.

And this morning I was like, hey bro,

what's this about Jordan at Black Clash?

I didn't come up with my notes.

He's like, yeah, it was not great, man.

I don't know.

It was great for me.

Yeah, what was it like?

I heard it's just a big piss up, right?

Like you just go down there and people reconnect

and they enjoy each other's cup.

Piss ups is a bad way to phrase it.

It's reconnecting old friendships

and a chance to have a weekend away.

We get there and because we're all on the celebrity ladder,

there's a lot of just cocaine, methamphetamine,

a lot of illegal like backdoor stuff from Mexico coming in.

Basically it's a lot of middle-aged ex sportsmen

who are like, this is the biggest night of their lives.

But you don't look at them like that

because they're legends.

These are legendary middle-aged sportsmen getting together.

And yeah, there's a few beers.

We went lawn bowls, had a few beers.

You wake up the next day, quite groggy.

The whole of Team Cricket is meant to meet at the NAPS at 10 a.m.

And the whole of Team Rugby is to meet at some other nets at 10 a.m.

Only three of the Team Cricket showed up,

me, Fleming and one other, McCullum, not Brendan, but Nathan.

And all of Team Rugby showed up.

All these middle-aged cricket legends.

So I'm just texting, won't make it to the nets, guys.

But then the day of the game comes up and it all gets very serious

and awesome to see how they've still got it.

Like, holy shit.

And I'm out there like freaking out.

People are there, like inside I'm freaking out.

They've never played cricket.

Big crowd as well.

Massive crowd.

I don't even know where to stand.

What I'm doing, McCullum, Fleming just looks at me

and you know he's taking that face.

Like, don't worry, mate.

I'll look after you.

Come out here.

Stand in.

Apologies if I say the wrong word.

Go stand in slips.

But I'm right in the dead zone.

Like if there's a nick.

I've never played cricket in my life.

My reactions are just going to be a cricket ball to the face

and death.

Because I know, mate, you're in the safest spot.

And left me there for a few overs.

And then having to change every over,

like running the wrong way.

People are like, where are you going?

So I got put out on a boundary.

And even there, it's all the running between overs.

Like, gosh, you got to be fit to play cricket.

But I bowled my one over and I only went for 19.

Some guy went for 23.

All right.

So I'm proud that I was.

We'll look that up.

We'll look that up.

We'll look up who went for 23.

Yeah, I just, my bowling went out.

Everything I learned went out the window.

Because the hardest thing was, I just remember,

I couldn't see the line.

Like the line of where you left the ball from.

So I hear, I did a comical run up on the first one.

But then for the rest, I was like, I'll sprint up.

I can't see the line.

So I was bowling from like two meters back,

freaking out that I was going to get.

But luckily.

No ball.

No ball.

No ball.

I'm glad that that came up organically.

That's great.

Thank you.

Oh yeah.

And then we had a court session and it was the greatest night.

It was one of the greatest nights ever.

As per court session rules, we'll leave that in.

Yeah.

You can't really tell much.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the latest part of the How to Dad Journey is a new podcast,

The Parenting Hangover, which is grab listen,

I think three episodes out for your fourth tomorrow.

I've listened.

I've heard about circumcision, childbirth, kid stories.

I think it's an area where there's a big gap in the market

for dads to talk about these things.

You bring humour to it.

It's insightful.

How did that come about?

And how does that experience?

I've known Clint from ZDM for like a decade on and off.

Through the John on Ben world.

He had a radio show with Guy.

We used to prank him a lot.

And yeah, he reached out with the idea.

Probably two weeks before I had gone out and bought podcast gear.

I was ready to like, I don't even know what my idea was.

How to pod.

How to pod.

Yeah.

And I bought some simple podcast gear because I think I need to jump on this.

I need to do something in this podcast world.

And then two weeks later Clint said, hey, we should do this.

He said, this is a way better idea.

This is a way better idea.

So yeah, this is like took six months to plan and get off the ground.

But now it's up and running and it's bloody awesome.

It's like dads around the watercaller talking about parenting stuff

that hopefully other parents out there, it's not just for dads.

Like we have a good amount of mums tuning in and listening and messaging us,

which is cool.

So it's for parents just to relate to.

Look, we're these celebrity dads.

And we're doing it just as rough and making it up as everyone else out there is.

That's the point, right?

It's normalising.

Normalising mistakes and normalising the parenting journey.

We talk about the everyday stuff and just how's things going?

How's life?

What's happened this week?

And then we usually have a good topic that we kind of chunk into.

And it's always with a bit of fun and entertainment.

We're not there to give you advice because we're not that.

We don't have a degree in how to raise a kid.

How's the initial feedback been?

Award winning, probably up for two Tony Awards in Academy.

We'll see you at the awards next year.

Oh, no shit.

Here he is.

You guys just bloody won one, didn't you?

A little plug there.

A little plug there.

I'm embarrassing that came up.

Whoopsie.

After this, I'm grilling you guys on what I need to do.

Just do what you do.

That's all.

That's all.

Good advice.

Is this added to the weekly hamster wheel?

Is it seasons or are you just going to keep ticking it a long week?

Right now I think it's weekly.

It was meant to be like 10 Eps and then chill.

And I know that Clint just said, oh, let's just keep going.

And right now we're still getting into the rhythm of it and figuring it out.

It is another project into the how to dad world.

Like again, trying to make a living off being an internet guy.

You've got to have your fingers in a lot of pockets.

So I've got the brand stuff.

You get a bit from YouTube, but from Facebook, but from Golden.

Maybe a bit from podcasts because everyone knows that's a hard one to monetize.

Yeah.

The how to dad universe.

It's quite cool.

It's quite a cool, all the different things that you have going on.

Yeah, there's been a lot.

There's been a lot of things we've tried, a lot of things that go away.

I remember we talked to like a US production company for like a year,

getting a TV show off the ground and that went away.

And there's a lot of passion projects on the side that you're trying to do.

And sometimes it's hard.

There's so many passion programs that get emailed to you.

And I always have to be real.

I feel so bad, but I always have to just write these people back.

I've got a mortgage.

I've got three kids.

I have no time to be taking on passion projects unless you can show me that

we can monetize this straight away.

Like unless it's worth my time financially, which is such a sad way to be.

But I was like, yes, give me 10 more years where I'm real set up.

And I'm like, yeah, I'm good.

My mortgage is ticking over.

I've got good income from Facebook, YouTube.

I don't have to do so much brand stuff.

I'm ready for your passion projects.

But right now I'm still hustling.

We're still trying to.

It's one of those things.

You've got to keep your foot on the accelerator and going,

because I don't have a weekly income coming in.

You don't know when the next brand or something dramatic happens in the media world

and brands just are like, no, we don't want to use online people anymore.

I'll be up shit creek.

I'll be coming here as the third host.

How do you like that guys?

This is the warm, velvety tones of doing Watson.

I think that for me, what you've done is really inspirational.

It's no secret.

It's what we would love to do in eight years time.

Look back and have a between two beers universe.

But it comes with consistently hitting those videos when you don't want to,

you know, working doing nine to five when no one's putting pressure on you to do it.

But when you look back at what you've created, are you filled with immense pride?

Are you able to say how proud you are of what you've achieved essentially by yourself?

Yeah, I'd say the proudest moment is in a nutshell is to look back and be like you.

I remember thinking, I'm not going to speed other one hit wonder.

Even when we started out a dad, don't be a one hit wonder.

Stick with it.

See where it goes.

And yeah, when you look back, that's the line now wasn't a one hit wonder.

We made it into a thing, a big thing.

And it's my thing.

That's the coolest thing.

I don't have a boss.

Like I can wake up, have a silly idea.

And I can film it that day.

And if I'm fast, I can have it out on the internet that night.

And it's such a cool little rush still.

Like you can just have that little spike of, oh, look at us.

Look, 63 people have done a little smiley crack up face on that one.

Great.

I'm happy.

Yeah, I said at the top, you might have the most unique job out of anyone we've talked to,

but it's such a cool job.

Yeah, you should be really proud.

Did you have a few little bits and pieces before I read this beautiful quote out?

Only one little bit, which was remiss of us.

Your Te Kofata upbringing is close enough to qualify you for ambassador status,

which is a movement that we've started, which is people.

I have heard about this.

Yeah.

Would you be willing to lend your significant A-list celebrity towards endorsing Hamilton

any opportunity that you get?

Or if someone shitbags the town, just go, it's actually, it's not as bad as you remember.

Te Kofata more kind of falls in like the counties Monaco area.

So we're on the border.

We've been very mistaken.

It was hard growing up.

A lot of confusion of where.

Well, I know you wanted to distance yourself from Huntley.

Yeah.

So yeah, again, we're trying to get away from Huntley like the plague,

but then Huntley every day to college had about six buses showing up

and dropping off Huntley kids to Te Kofata College because at the time Huntley College was terrible.

And then are we like, so are we in the Waikato area?

We got the river real close Waikato River.

But then we're playing rugby in the counties Monaco.

Yeah.

Provincial tournament.

Okay.

So it's a confusing time.

So I can't throw all my weight behind.

Whoa.

I can't throw my heart because I'm not a true.

Morinsville College though.

Yeah.

But Morinsville is only a.

Don't force it.

All right.

You said no.

One thing I will say to build Hamilton right up.

This is always my big speech to anyone is we've all been 18, 19, 20 and gone clubbing.

Right.

And I've lived in Tauranga.

I've lived in Morinsville and I've lived in Auckland.

And in those years I've clubbed.

I've gone clubbing, right?

In all these areas.

Hamilton hands down is the best out of all.

Auckland, look down you with a big long nose.

Tauranga, everyone had flat peaks and wanted to fight you as soon as you walked into the grumpy mall.

Hamilton, you could be who you wanted to be and it was embraced.

That's beautiful.

What a town.

We're going to put some inspirational music behind there.

I had a dream.

That's all we needed.

That is lovely.

Yeah, Shay for the big outro but I'm going to do the mini outro.

We actually went to Jody, how to mum and asked her what is it about Jordan that has made

him so successful and so sort of widely loved and adored.

And she said, Jordan is insanely talented.

He has this massive creative brain that constantly writes scripts and skits in his head.

You could give him one idea and he'll hit you back with ten better ones.

He's an amazing work ethic which has come from his TV days.

And even though he's his own boss, he still makes himself work in 8am to 5pm day.

I think he's been successful by being consistent, genuine, relatable and funny.

His audience love a good laugh and that's what he gives them.

And I think that pretty well sums your success up.

The hundreds of millions of people that keep coming back, they are relating to that authenticity,

that fun, that humour you've created so much for so many.

So well done but I'm not the outro guy.

You can reflect on that if you want.

No, it's like she's known as being the cry.

She cries at everything.

I'm not a Terry Uppery guy and I almost tear it up comically the other day as we went

to a school teacher meeting and they're telling us about our kid.

She's right there.

And I'm like, if I looked at my wife, I would have broken down.

I was like, holy shit, it's happening.

I'm fine.

I'm softening up.

And during that just then, I got all goosebumps and had to break it down.

So look, I'm getting softer in my older age but that was very nice words.

Thank you.

Well, I think she's spot on.

And for me, I've been super excited to have you on because for us learning what we're

trying to do, there aren't really that many benchmarks.

It's kind of the Wild West and uncharted territory from us.

But to have researched your story and then to listen to you, it's really, really inspiring

and uplifting to see that it can be done and to have the perseverance and determination

and commitment to what you do is really admirable.

And there's four words in there, consistent, genuine, relatable and funny, which are universally

great traits to have.

And I like to think that we share those with you.

And if we can walk in the big gold and jandal printed footsteps that you're leading with,

in eight years' time, we'll be in a very, very cool place.

So thank you for leading the way.

And thank you for just being an inspiration for content creators to follow suit.

Hey, cheers mate.

Just get yourselves a couple of cute little four-month-old babies.

Now, prop them in your arm for the next year.

You guys are going to go through the roof.

Cheers Jordan.

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.