Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Ricky Gervais: Mortality   Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality (Netflix).     His & Hers   Two estranged spouses, one a detective and the other a news reporter, vie to solve a murder in which each believes the other is a prime suspect (Netflix).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A huge weight has been lifted off Kevin Milne’s shoulders.  For the last couple of years, he’s been running dangerously close to having his driver's licence suspended as a result of speeding.   While things are fine now, he did find that demerit points are far more effective in curbing dangerous driving and speeding than a simple fine.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hamnet  William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, celebrate the birth of their son, Hamnet. However, when tragedy strikes and Hamnet dies at a young age, it inspires Shakespeare to write his timeless masterpiece "Hamlet."    Anchor Me: The Don McGlashan Story  A documentary tribute to one of the nation's best loved songwriters, charting Don McGlashan's storied career from arty punk upstart to one of the strongest voices in the national identity of Aotearoa.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blackberries are like summer’s jewels and are even more precious if you’re having to buy them! Make this little mini galette (small quantities of homemade pastry are quick to make and so gratifying) and you won’t be sorry.   Makes one 12–15cm tart     Ingredients  Pastry    2 tablespoons chilled butter   2 heaped tablespoons plain flour    ½ tablespoon sugar   3–4 tablespoons ice cold water    Filling    1 cup peeled and diced apple   ½ cup fresh blackberries    1 tablespoon sugar + extra for sprinkling   1 tablespoon flour   1 tablespoon vanilla extract   Juice and zest of ½ lemon    1 tablespoon butter   Milk for brushing   Whipped cream to serve      Method  To make the pastry, whizz the butter, flour, and sugar in your food processor, pulsing until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.   Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the water and pulse again, adding more water as

I’ve done my best to avoid the headlines over the last few weeks, but Scott Robertson being booted from the All Blacks snapped me back.   I feel for him. Just as I did for Ian Foster, last time around. These guys are in high profile jobs, coaching high performance athletes. All top coaches know it’s a perilous business. But to be cut after just two years in the job, and after a period of inconsistent and occasionally poor but not absolutely catastrophic results, will leave Razor and his keenest supporters forever wondering what might have been.   I don’t have any inside running on the review or the process that led David Kirk and NZ Rugby to swing the axe. But it occurs to me that one of Scott Robertson’s biggest errors was one of his first major decisions in the role, and I’ve been wondering to what extent it set the tone for his tenure.   June 24, 2024. The All Blacks were preparing for their mid-year tests against England and Fiji, and Scott Robertson named the man who would captain the All

Nearly a million people in New Zealand are currently receiving Superannuation, getting payments of between nearly $600 and just over $1000 every fortnight.   But in this cost of living crisis, how easy is it to survive on the pension?  Ed McKnight tried living on it for a week and came to a couple of conclusions around what it would be like to retire.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"A snapshot in time": Guy Sebastian discusses his creative process, latest album  Guy Sebastian is an Australasian icon with a career that’s nothing short of extraordinary.  From winning the first season of Australian Idol back in 2003, to carving out a place on the charts, to mentoring new talent as a coach on The Voice Australia – he's been in the spotlight for over two decades.  And now he’s embarking on a new chapter with the release of his tenth album ‘One Hundred Times Around The Sun’.  The album has taken Sebastian nearly five years to make, a much longer period than the typical six months to two years most artists these days create them in.  He told Jack Tame that in the early stages of his career, he felt pressure to create quickly.  “Don’t take longer than a year,” Sebastian explained. “Or you’ll disappear into obscurity.”  “Then there’s like, the pressure of doing the right thing by the fans, y’know, you don’t wanna make them wait too long.”   It’s a mentalit

"Fit for a King": Nici Wickes' Lamington Cake  If you ever need to produce a celebration cake, this is it!     Serves 8-10     Ingredients:   Sponge cake    130g unsalted butter, softened   1 cup caster sugar   2 teaspoons vanilla extract    3 large eggs    2⅓ cups self-raising flour   1 pinch salt   1 cup milk      To decorate    1/3 cup raspberry jam, warmed slightly    1 ½ cup icing sugar    30g butter, softened    ½ cup raspberries (fresh or frozen, defrosted)    3-5 tablespoons, boiling water   1 ½ cups coconut thread   300mls cream, whipped with one tbsp icing sugar       Method:  Preheat the oven to 170 C fan bake. Grease two 20cm round cake tins and dust with flour. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until well beaten. Stir in the flour and salt then the milk and mix u

Ed McKnight has been working in personal finance for a fair few years and although he typically tries to be encouraging when giving advice, he does have some more brutal truths to tell.  He joined Jack Tame to offer up the three brutally honest pieces of money advice that most Kiwis will need to hear.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the end, it was just over an hour. Just over an hour between being asleep on the floor of Auckland hospital, to standing, bewildered under the delivery suite lights, helping to dress my newborn son. Mava had been induced on Sunday – the scans had suggested that all was ok but that our baby was small for his age. We spent an oddly serene day waiting for the induction medication to kick in. They give you a dose every two hours until you go into labour but sometimes it takes a few hours to work and sometimes it takes days. It was actually lovely, in a way. Mava and I both read for hours in-between the doses. We went for coffee and a stroll in the domain, Mava constantly assessing baby’s every shift and every hint of a contraction. My goodness, though, when it happened... it happened. Zero to one hundred. A blur.  I won’t labour you with all of the details but it’s become clear to me that there's a reason every parent has a birth story.  It was surreal. It just felt like a week’s worth of crazy exper

There’s no more iconic a reality franchise than The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – which is back for its 15th season. And there is perhaps no Housewife in history that has a heftier and more prestigious CV than that of Bozoma Saint John.  Boz joined the series last year off the back of a 20-year run as a marketing executive working with brands like Apple, Netflix, Uber and Pepsi and has been recognised by Forbes as the world’s #1 most influential CMO.  She quickly became a fan favourite for her ability to bring boardroom realness to the drama of the 90210.  She joins Jack Tame to chat about authenticity, watching herself on TV, and marketing.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a little kid, I always slept terribly on Christmas eve.  I’d try and go to bed early. I’d tell myself that the sooner I went to sleep, the sooner I’d wake on Christmas morning. But sure as anything I’d be up all night, listening for any sound of activity on the roof. Together with my three little brothers and sisters, we’d be desperate for mum and dad to throw open our bedroom doors at first light, and we’d scramble down to our spindly-and-slightly-off-centred Christmas tree to see if Dad’s old football socks had been attended to by Santa.  I suspect this Christmas eve will be another poor sleep. Not because I’ll be excitedly listening for the sound of shuffling reindeer on corrugated iron, but because it’s my first Christmas morning with our ten-month-old son. We’re taking both our boys to their cousins’ place. Five kids. Average age: four-and-a-half. Our eldest is already fizzing. Our baby will have absolutely no idea what’s going on but will sure as anything wake up a minimum of three times in

Who doesn’t love a great roadie? Self-drive adventures rank highly in my pantheon of golden travel experiences and Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast touring route is a show-stopper. Bookended by Derry~Londonderry and Belfast Lough, this sublime 185km drive threads together a stirring mosaic of fishing villages, secluded beaches, wondrous rock formations, rugged coastlines, crumbling castles, storied history and mouth-watering scenery. Pointing the car northeast from Derry~Londonderry, I began tracing the nooks and crannies of Northern Ireland’s theatrical coastline by stopping off at Mussenden Temple. Dramatically perched on a cliff lording over Downhill Beach, this flamboyant folly was constructed in 1785 - inspired by the Temple of Vesta, near Rome. This circular stone temple served as a library and retreat for the eccentric Earl of Bristol who was also the Bishop of Derry (Earl Bishop), along with enormous views over the Atlantic Ocean. The setting is lip-smacking, wrapped in glorious estate gardens which

Whilst many of us are decking the halls and merrily celebrating, spare a thought for those who suffer from Christougenniatikophobia. Literally translated from Greek means Christ-related-birth-fear i.e., a phobia of Christmas.  Is it a real phobia? Not really.  Dougal Sutherland of Umbrella Wellbeing talked to Jack Tame about the discomfort and anxiety that surrounds Christmas for some people.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 20 December. Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 'age-old' advice of property investment is to buy the best house on the worst street. The idea of the advice is that property values have a higher ceiling in nicer areas, so renovating the worst home could bring in some good money Ed McKnight of Opes Partners discusses with Jack Tame whether the advice stands in today's economic climate.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been the year of AI.. and it seems we're just getting started  OpenAI is on track to hit $13B of 2025 revenue, up from $4B in 2024, according to The Information. It's looking at annualized revenue now of up to $19B.  But, Merriam Webster has named 'slop' as the word of the year - the dangerous byproduct of AI use.  Slop is "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence". You start to see it on Reddit, emails, documents.. it's now just so easy to create 'text' that it can appear in abundance - which isn't always ideal.    Passkeys are starting to have their moment too  The new alternative to passwords which verify the website you're trying to log into before actually sending any information to them. They're great because they eliminate phishing attacks, but.. they are a little tricky because unless they're shared to a password manager, they're stuck on that single device. So if you can't access that device, or it's d

Song Sung Blue  Starring Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman. Two down-on-their-luck performers form a Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it's never too late to find love and follow your dreams.  In cinemas January 1st.   My Brother’s Band   French film. Conductor Thibaut discovers he has leukaemia and needs a bone marrow donor. Learning of his adoption, he finds an older brother who works in a factory. Their reunion leads to a musical journey as the town faces a factory closure.  In cinemas December 26th. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you think of the most meaningful song of all time, what comes to mind? For Kevin Milne it's Silent Night. Jack Tame and Milne reflect on the significance of Christmas music.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alan Davies is known for his natural, relatable storytelling skills across the page, the stage, and the screen.  The comedian is a staple of British television, with roles on the long-running ‘Jonathan Creek’ and popular comedy panel show ‘QI’.   It’s been more than a decade since Davies last did a stand-up tour, but he’s happy to report it’s going well.  “It had been so long that it was feeling, beginning to feel like a gamble,” he told Jack Tame.  “I spent some time unpacking stuff from my childhood, doing a, writing about it, and that process took a while and changed a lot of how I viewed myself, and what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to say.  This show, ‘Think Ahead’, was created at around the same time Davies was writing another volume of his memoir ‘White Male Stand-Up', which deals with issues from Davies’ childhood, career, and his adult life.  “And I’ve got to a place now where I think the show’s really quite sort of, it’s a bit richer and deeper, and better than stu