‘I went for a joke of my own … pretend to be shocked’: Hamish Blake on what REALLY happened at the Logies
It was the moment that had everyone talking at the Logies – cameras cut to an unimpressed looking Hamish Blake during Sonia Kruger’s speech. Now, the Lego Masters host explains the real story.
Stellar
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Whether alongside creative partner Andy Lee, wife Zoë Foster Blake or as a solo act, television presenter and podcast host Hamish Blake has been making Australians laugh for two decades with his winning mix of smarts, self-deprecation and goofiness.
As he kicks off his sixth season hosting Lego Masters Australia, the Gold Logie winner reveals to Stellar’s podcast Something To Talk About that he believes the true driving forces behind his success are luck and a keen sense of fun.
You’ve now been working in TV for two decades – your first series, Hamish & Andy, with your friend and frequent collaborator Andy Lee debuted 20 years ago last month. At the time you were a rising radio star; you’re now married and a father of two [Rudy, 6, and Sonny, 9, with wife Zoë Foster Blake, Go-To skincare founder] and you have won two Gold Logies. Is there anything you wish you knew then that you know now?
“[Andy and I] were really lucky to begin when we began. I was three or four years into being an adult and, now, as a 42-year-old dad, of course you’re different. I would hope I’m vastly different, but that I retain some of the characteristics we had when we were 22.
“There’s no rule book for TV or radio or podcasting or any creative pursuit. There are no guarantees. Obviously our lives have changed a great deal but one thing I’m really proud of, between Ando and I, is we’ve always been very clear with each other: this is really fun in its best form.”
It’s always interesting to hear what people who have had great success for a long time in any industry say their guiding light was. “Fun” is a great one.
“You’ve just got to go with fun, and remember that it’s not a right; you don’t deserve a TV show. I’ve never felt that way. You don’t have the right to be on TV. No-one owes it to you, so if it happens, that’s great. And if it doesn’t happen and you tried hard, that’s fine, as well.
“The industry is riddled with a bunch of luck and a bunch of things you can’t control. For anyone that has had longevity, I think it’s your responsibility to acknowledge luck in the process, which isn’t to say you didn’t work hard, didn’t take risks, didn’t put it on the line in a calculated way when you had to.
“There are a lot of people out there that did everything they could … but there are only a few spots and, for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. I think there’s that perception, too, if you say it’s luck, you’re somehow discrediting any of the hard work. But two things can be true.”
And in those 20 years, you must have seen such disruption – across all genres, but specifically TV. You and Andy were recently announced as ambassadors of Hubbl, Foxtel’s new technology that fuses together streaming and free-to-air TV (Foxtel is majority owned by News Corp Australia, publisher of Stellar). What does that say about the changing consumption of viewing habits?
“It’s a rapidly shifting world. I think we all know it. The way I describe Hubbl to people is if you’ve sat on the couch and you’re like, ‘Why can’t you just search for something without having to jump in and out of apps and all that sort of thing?’ That’s what Hubbl is: a great reflection of technology meeting people where they are.
“That first Hamish & Andy show, it was like 7.30pm or 8.30pm, on Seven. When you’re in TV, you care about the ratings. If you rate high enough, you get to go again. I never really understood why people cared that much. My question was always, ‘Can we keep doing it?’
“But we got axed because we had fallen below, like, an inconceivably low mark. This is in the days when MasterChef finales were doing like three million viewers. If Cathy Freeman had been cooking something while she was running the 100 metres, it would be like a 10 million-viewer event.
“I think we rated in the six hundred [thousands] and the mood was like, we can’t believe this. This is like every Formula 1 car crashing at once for a race. This is a disaster. These days, that’s a celebrated number. I know [the ratings] are moving around to reflect how people watch [now].
“I’m a catch-up person. [The numbers] have to move, because that’s how we’re watching TV. I don’t think my kids will ever understand when we’re like, ‘So, the show’s on at 8.30, and if you’re not there, you miss it.’”
Listen to the full interview with Hamish Blake on Stellar’s podcast, Something To Talk About:
You host Lego Masters Australia, which returns soon with Australia Vs The World. Are your kids in that sweet spot in their interest for Lego? What do they think of you being the host?
“My little girl is six. This is our sixth year; I’ve done more of Lego Masters than any other TV show I’ve done. It’s accidentally become a large “chunk of my life – and [for] 100 per cent of her life I’ve been this person that goes and plays in this shed full of Lego.
“So it’s probably skewed her idea of what Lego is. She has more exposure to it as the thing at Dad’s work than what I had as a kid, which was just standing in the toy store coveting it and not being able to have it until it was your birthday or Christmas.
“So I possibly have ruined her in that sense because, I know this is admitting to theft from work, but you do take a bit from the brick pit and bring it home. She loves the animals. I get a hit list of things to boost from the brick pit.”
It’s very hard to get everyone in a family all in the one room watching a show together these days. But Lego Masters is one of those shows that manages to cut through.
“Which is really lovely, and I take that now – even more than I did at the start – as the ultimate compliment. Season one, [my] kids were much younger. My boy was watching Bluey, my daughter [was] a baby. I didn’t really understand what a prize that would be.
“Now that I have older kids, I understand it a lot more. That is a huge component, that that could be a fun thing for certain families to actually watch the show, and then the ultimate layer on top of that compliment is that people play Lego while they’re watching.
“And then, God, everyone’s just patting themselves on the back going, look at what great parents we are, the kids are doing something creative. We’re all watching TV together! One of those very rare moments when you’re like, ‘We’re doing this. I think we’re doing it’.”
As you mentioned, you and Andy lead different lives now – which he talked about when he and his partner Rebecca Harding joined Stellar for a cover story in 2022, and mentioned how you and Zoë eat dinner at 6pm because you have two little kids, whereas he and Rebecca eat at 10.30pm …
“We joke about it all the time on the podcast [their weekly chart-topping show Hamish & Andy]. To any parent reading this, imagine, every weekend he just wakes up after he’s had enough sleep. What a wild concept.
“And if he wakes up and he’s tired, do you know what he does? He just goes back to sleep. And he can because it’s quiet, because Bec is also asleep. The fun part about Ando and I is we’re very different people but on some levels, we’ve never met anyone more similar.
“piece of cross-promotion – but we’re also extremely different pieces. That’s the beauty. With the bits we do together, we’re in complete lock-step. And we love that we have very separate lives, too.”
You and Zoë will mark 12 years of marriage this year. People have always been very invested in your relationship. Is that sweet, or does it create an expectation you have to live up to some fairy tale ideal?
“To be honest, I never really think about that. I suppose in the general sense, if people wish you well, that’s sweet. If people have an unrealistic hope or dream for you to be something that isn’t real, then I would say that probably says more about them than us.
“Every relationship is different because people are different and so the combination of two people is always going to be a unique thing. So you try the best you can.
“You have ups, you have downs. You work on things, you come back, you never really feel like you’re nailing it but you’re always in there to keep going. I wouldn’t say other people’s opinion of our relationship is anything that takes up too much mental space.”
Last year, you were up for the Gold Logie, but Sonia Kruger won and, during her acceptance speech, made a gag about how your shared agent said, “I think people are
a little over Hamish” – at which point the camera cut to you. As she later admitted, the joke fell flat. What was going through your mind?
“A real confluence of unlucky events. I’ve got to say this right at the top: I know she’s joking, I didn’t care for two seconds at all. More and more the media is like, ‘Great, you guys all got together and gave each other awards. Who cares? Who messed up? We need a scandal.’
“[Not] ‘This is lovely. All these really privileged people should give each other awards and have an even better night.’ They don’t care about that. They were like, ‘OK, we’ve decided [Kruger’s speech] is the bit, we’re going to jump on that.’
“So, unfortunately, the camera cut to me and I went for a joke of my own, which was pretend to be shocked, like ‘What? I can’t believe I’m hearing that my manager thinks this’ and then laughing afterwards because I’m joking around with Andy and my wife sitting next to me.
“But the camera had cut away by the time I was laughing at Sonia’s joke so to the room it probably looks like it hasn’t gone down well. Again, love that Sonia won, she deserves it. So I was like, great, we can go home.
“I went home, cuddled my daughter in bed and I was sitting there thinking, this is so nice, I get to lie here, I don’t have to wake up in the morning to do the Today show. I’m grateful for the honour if it happens but there is a silver lining to not having to do media the next day.
“Foolishly or not, I sometimes take [time] off Instagram, so I just wasn’t on social media … I didn’t realise [what was going on] until late into the next day, and by that stage the news cycle is gone. I probably should have posted something and said, ‘I don’t care about this at all’, but I just wasn’t paying attention to it, so unfortunately for Son the blowback happened.
“I can’t remember if she emailed me or I emailed her, but I realised late that next day that she was copping heat for this so I think I emailed her and just went, ‘Hey, if this is a bother, I don’t care at all.’ I know what it’s like to be up there.
“Your mind’s racing, you’re trying to think of something to say. People are exhausted. Everyone on stage is going for gags the whole night. Some hit, some don’t. It’s not a big deal.”
You’ve supported a call for the federal government to fund 12 weeks of paid parental leave for fathers and non-birthing parents, and recently posted about getting a skin cancer check. As a public figure, how do you decide what issues you speak up on?
“I think the things you end up talking about [are things to which] you have a personal connection, or you have those several factors aligned for a moment and you’re like, ‘All right, I think this could do some good in the world to lend my voice to this.’
“By the same token, it doesn’t mean that everything else you’re against or you have no opinion on. I also think there are some things where you’re like, ‘Well, I don’t think that’s what people are coming to my account for, or looking to me to say.’ And I think there’s value in that, too.
“There are many, many avenues we can get news, resources and facts. I’m not rushing to take a stand on everything, because I don’t think that’s necessary to do just because you happen to be on social media.”
Lego Masters: Australia Vs The World premieres at 7pm on April 14 on the Nine Network.
Listen to the full interview with Hamish Blake on Stellar’s podcast, Something To Talk About:
Originally published as ‘I went for a joke of my own … pretend to be shocked’: Hamish Blake on what REALLY happened at the Logies
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