Hello, Leigh.
Hey. How are you?
I am dressing up
as Amanda Keller today.
I feel like we both went
for the razzle dazzle today.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
MAN: There she is.
Where? Where? Where is she?
WOMAN: OK, everyone on their
best sitting position.
Where is she?
There she is.
Wow.
That's actually her!
They didn't send in the android.
Well, hello.
Hello.
Oh.
Come on around.
Come and say hi to everybody.
Everyone, this is Amanda.
Hi, Amanda.
Hi!
Hello, hello.
Hello!
Hi!
Hello.
Hello.
Hi.
It's lovely to meet you.
You too.
Aren't we sitting close? Hello.
You get to see my earlobes.
Well, well, well,
if it isn't Amanda Keller.
(LAUGHTER)
And we've got an evil genius
amongst us as well.
OK, everyone.
Amanda, welcome.
Lovely to see you.
Thank you.
Silas, would you like to
kick us off today?
Hello, Amanda.
Oh!
Silas, hello.
We are a collective
of autistic journalism students.
Our rules are
no subject is disallowed.
Any question could occur
and probably will.
(LAUGHS)
Now I'm getting scared.
Welcome to The Assembly.
MAN: Quiet on set.
And action.
For the first time in Australia,
autistic students are undertaking
an autism-friendly
Introduction To Journalism course.
They will be mentored by one
of Australia's best journalists,
and attend classes at university.
So these are our microphones.
Testing, testing.
To test their skills,
the students will interview
some of Australia's
most famous people.
Hi, everybody.
Hello!
OK.
To get behind the spin,
to find the real person.
Do you like your wife?
What's the weirdest thing
you've had to sign?
Ooh.
What is the most awkward moment
you've ever had?
Ooh.
Can you please find me a job?
That's a really good question.
Should I be worried?
ALL: We are The Assembly!
MAN: Back to our headquarters!
It's the last prep day, and I feel
sad that this is like the last one,
because I got to bond
with all the, um, the people here,
and, um, it'sit's a job
I finally found a job I like
and love being at.
Where am I sitting?
Am I at the front
or am I at the back?
Yeah, Abbey, you're with me.
You know what? If no-one else is
sitting there, I'm sitting there.
I don't bite.
Ah!
Much.
(LAUGHS)
There is a bit of a different feel
in the room today, I think,
because people
are starting to kind of realise
that this is a finite experience.
It's not going to go on forever
and we're coming
to the end very quickly.
So there is a bit of
a different energy.
I know this is the last interview.
I'm not overthinking it.
I just want to make it,
like, on point.
Yeah, I've got mixed emotions about
this being the final interview,
but, um, hopefully it's going
to be a good one too.
Ooh, here comes Leigh!
ABBEY: Morning, Leigh!
Whoo-whoo-whoo!
Morning!
Oh, my God, it's Leigh Sales!
Leigh Sales! Leigh Sales!
How am I going to go back
to my normal life,
where no-one even notices
when I walk into a room?
It's just going to be
Aw!
Surely your kids react that way
when you walk in.
My kids do.
My colleagues not so much.
Oh, damn.
OK, are we all pumped
and ready for our interview?
Let's do it!
We are ready!
Great. OK.
Our next guest is someone
who's a very experienced
television and radio presenter.
Ooh!
She was the first female
to be inducted into
the Australian Radio Hall of Fame.
Hm.
She's had a really long career
of about 40 years,
and she's been nominated
for two Gold Logie Awards.
She's very funny.
It is Amanda Keller.
ALL: Oh!
My mum loves her.
I love her too!
I'm very excited
to be interviewing Amanda.
I've watched a lot
on The Living Room.
What do I do?
You just use your own body weight
and your own momentum
to glide up and down.
Wow!
I listen to her radio
breakfast show in the mornings.
Oh, it's sour.
Oh, that tastes like hell.
Is it because
it's early in the morning?
Oh, that's dreadful.
So I think she will be really funny.
She's done
lots of different TV shows,
including
Talking About Your Generation,
Dancing With The Stars
and Beyond 2000.
Yes, I remember that one too.
Oh, you remember it too, Andrew?
Yeah.
Can you have a stab
at explaining for everyone else
what that show was about?
It's a show about
technology and gadgets
and how they can make
our lives easier.
The manufacturers claim that wear
and tear on the fibres is minimal
and will even function underwater
without leaking under pressure.
CHAU: She just happens to be
in a lot of good things.
And, um, I'm just glad
that we finally get to talk to
Amanda Keller just by herself.
See how she feels about it.
Mm.
What are you thinking, Savannah,
for Amanda?
What interests you about her?
Yeah, something about her husband.
Does your husband
drink a bit of beer?
Hello.
I'll show you my poster.
"It's an awesome feeling
to be too happy."
I love laughing.
Feels. It feels really nice.
WOMAN: Hello.
Hello.
This is my mum.
Hello. I'm Kylie.
Savannah loves comedy.
So anything slapstick,
anything crude, anything disgusting,
um, it's funny.
Savannah, what are you drawing there?
Yeah, what are you drawing,
Savannah?
Who's that directed at?
That is not safe for work.
KYLIE: She is very inquisitive.
The questions
that she comes up with,
sometimes I think,
"Where did that come from?"
This is the gym room.
We just never work out in it,
so it's an empty gym room.
Oh, and the art desk.
People would describe me as honest.
Yeah, sometimes I'm too honest.
We decided to have the
crappiest chair for the art desk,
so we could have all the good chairs
for sitting at the table
to eat dinner and that.
I'm a nosy person.
That's why I would love
to be a journalist asking questions
and get to know much more
information as being a nosy person.
Cool.
LEIGH: She's a
she's a very smart person.
So the kind of questions
you like to ask,
I think she would handle really well.
So I reckon don'tdon't be scared
to go kind of philosophical with her.
I know Amanda very well,
and I think that she is the most
hilarious, wonderful anecdote teller.
The students will get
the best from her, probably,
if they give pretty
open-ended questions
and just give her the floor.
Always love your questions.
Oh, no.
I like stealing them
for my own interviews.
(BOTH LAUGH)
She's very warm.
She's very entertaining.
I think she'll be great.
Yeah.
There's never anything wrong with
asking about your interests.
Yeah, OK. Yeah, that's
probably a good thing.
'Cause that can actually be
quite revealing
about what the person's like.
That's right. Yeah,
that's a good thing. Thank you.
OK.
I'm very excited
to interview Amanda.
Um, just get to know her better.
OK.
I just put in,
"What does confidence mean to you?"
Yeah. Why does that interest you?
It's because I think
I struggle with confidence.
Mm.
What I'm hoping
to find about Amanda is
if she ever lost confidence
and if she ever knows
how to get confidence
because I'm having trouble
with myself.
I think that's a great question.
Yay!
It's interesting because
she is actually an interviewer.
Like Leigh Sales,
she's an interviewer.
Of all the things she's done,
I'm getting the sense that
the dancing is mostly
mostly what interests you.
Yes.
Have you ever done any dancing?
Well, I am doing dancing lessons.
Are you?
What sort of dancing?
Mm, tap, jazz
and some other things on my own.
That's fantastic.
Can you show me a move?
You don't have to.
No, thanks.
OK. That's fine.
Hello. I'm Jackson.
And these are allall the medals
I've achieved in swimming.
But I actually
don't do swimming anymore.
It's because it wasn't
actually really my thing,
but I was good at it.
But I actually
found my dream thing to be.
I like to write about
superheroes of the multiverse,
and I'm writing my first novel book,
which is going to be published
one day this year,
and my imagination
just keeps on Bleurgh!
..coming and coming like that.
They just don't stop.
This is just one
of my illustration books.
A dragon named Chelsea,
a fairy named Emma.
The most important thing about
the world is to respect others.
Make everyone feel like
they're somebody, not just a nobody.
Just because everyone's different,
deep down inside,
we are still human people.
Is there anything
that you wanted to ask me
while we've still got a chance?
Mm.
You're welcome to buy my book
if it gets published.
I would absolutely
love to buy your book.
And you will have to autograph it
for me.
(CHUCKLES) Yeah.
(CHUCKLES)
Quite the salesman, Jackson.
Everyone's come up with
great questions.
I feel like I don't have
that many tips to give,
'cause they're all very good.
WOMAN: We'll see you tomorrow.
Yes, we'll see you tomorrow.
MAN: OK. Yeah.
MAN: Thanks.
Hi, Amanda.
Hi.
Hi!
Hi, hi, hi.
Look at us with our suits on.
Don't we look grown up?
Fancy.
OK, everyone looks like
we're all here and set to go.
Chau, would you like to give
the inclusion statement
to kick us off today?
By all means.
This is a safe space.
Everyone here can relax
and be themselves.
There'll be no judgement.
Please do what you need to do
to join in.
For example,
fidget, move around, take a break.
Ask if you need anything
to help you be included.
Thank you.
MAN: Thanks, Chau.
LEIGH: Thank you, Chau.
OK, Stephanie, you're up first.
Go, Stephanie.
Um, on TV and radio,
you have done some
crazy, crazy challenges.
What is the craziest challenge
you have done
and is there a line
you wouldn't cross?
Umwith Beyond 2000,
I had to jump out of an aeroplane
and the cameraman missed my landing
and we had to do it again.
Oh!
Oh, no!
Yeah, and that was a solo jump.
And at the beginning of it,
I thought it would be like
a w*r movie.
I don't know if you've seen
those old films
where you stand up in the door
of the plane
and you just jump out.
But, in fact, what you have to do
is climb out onto the wing,
hold on, and wait for a signal,
'cause that's when they know
you're over the drop zone
and they say, "Go."
And my hand slipped off
and I thought,
"I'm falling off an aeroplane."
And so I fell off
and my chute got tangled,
the wires were tangled.
And I you bicycle your legs
to untangle.
And I followed the training.
Got down there, landed.
And I was so excited to have landed
and to be alive.
I think I might have wet my pants.
I just didn't care.
And they said,
"Oh, we missed the ending of it."
Can I do it again?
Oh!
Oh, no.
It was the most extraordinary day.
Oh, no!
At the end of that day, I think
I had nothing left in the tank.
OK.
You have written an autobiography.
I've read the entire thing.
It was really good.
What inspired you
to write an autobiography?
At what point do you go, like,
"Oh, I've done so much.
"I can write this."
To be honest,
when you put it like that,
I do sound like a w*nk*r.
No!
No, but it isthat is a thing.
'Cause they approached me
about whether I'd like to write
a story or an autobiography,
and I went through exactly that.
I thought,
A, what have I got to say?
B, who would want to read it?
Even I'm bored by me.
The editor said to me,
"Let's just cherry pick
parts from your life."
And she talked me
into having the confidence to think,
"OK, I've got a story to tell."
And I loved the experience,
in the end, of doing it.
Very nice, yeah.
Um, you've been nominated
twice for a Gold Logie,
but sadly, you didn't win.
How did that make you feel?
Did it make you feel sad
or anything?
Um, it's an interesting question
because it sounds trite to say it,
but it was such an honour
to be nominated.
And I've got a diary
from when I was 14,
and I often think
my 14-year-old self
would never have believed
the thrill of being nominated
for a Gold Logie.
So I was just thrilled
to be part of the mix.
And the first year
I lost to Grant Denyer,
who's a friend of mine.
The second time I was once again
thrilled to be nominated,
and Tom Gleeson decided to make
it comedic for himself, as he should.
I like Tom very much.
He's a comedian. That's what he does.
But in the midst of him
making fun of it,
it got picked up
in a way by the media,
and I felt like
I was the butt of the joke
in a way that I found hurtful.
And I don't blame Tom.
Yeah.
It's how the story was told.
And it was seen that,
"Oh, it's Tom versus Amanda."
And it's Tom saying
the Logies are worthless.
And I felt really old-fashioned,
saying, "I think they're alright."
I felt like everyone's grandmother.
I felt 100 years old
versus this new comedic wave
of "Aren't the Logies silly?"
And so I don't mind that I lost.
Really, I didn't mind.
But I wish I'd enjoyed it more
because it was such an honour.
I wish I'd enjoyed the process more.
That'll be all. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
LEIGH: Thank you.
Abbey, you're up.
Oh, thank you very much.
Is it hard to be funny at
6am in the morning?
Do you have coffee, energy drinks
and cold showers?
Which one works best for you?
There are some mornings
where it's very hard.
I don't even strive for funny,
to be entertaining
early in the morning.
and I don't actually drink coffee,
so I drink a lot of tea.
And I'm glad we play
some long songs
Boo!
..'cause I have to go to the toilet
every 10 minutes.
Um, so it's one of those jobs
where you hit the ground running,
you really do.
The alarm goes off
at four in the morning
and you just hit the ground running.
And I don't do the show on my own.
I do it with my co-host Jonesy.
So if one of us is having
a hard day or a bad day,
the other person
can help you through it.
But there are some days also
where I think the job saves you.
It doesn't matter
what's going on at home,
you get in there
and something else takes over
and for three hours
it's its own bubble.
And I love that.
It's a great space to be in.
You have worked with Jonesy
for 19 years.
What makes it
such a successful relationship?
Successful? Mm.
I do think we are like siblings
in that we know
where each other's bruises are.
And some days we avoid them
and sometimes we press them.
But we're great friends and I think
some radio shows
they put people together
who aren't necessarily friends.
And that way
it's not going to be organic
and it's not going to be real.
Whereas we had a friendship
even before we were on radio.
And I think that that's what's
made our relationship last this long.
Do you ever just get sick of him?
Oh!
Oh!
(LAUGHTER)
Day-um!
Well, yes, like any friendship
and any friend of yours
that you see every day
under some stressful circumstances.
Some days are easy and
other days where things go wrong,
it'syou just Yeah. Yeah.
The answer is yes.
Fletcher, would you like
to have a go?
Oh, yes.
Go, Fletchy-boy.
Go, Fletcher.
Go, Fletchy-boy.
Just before I ask you my question,
I'd like to give you a heads-up
on my mother.
She loves listening to you on radio
all the time.
I knew there was one.
(LAUGHTER)
Please say hi to your mum from me.
I will.
What is the most fun part
about being on radio?
I love the idea of radio
because it's three hours live,
funnily enough.
So you turn up in the morning
and you have no idea
what you're going to do.
So we have a meeting
at 5:30 in the morning,
and there's a blank piece of paper
broken into six half hours.
And we think, what are we going
to put in here?
And that's the bit I love
is when you go,
"OK, well, let's just plot this out."
And you may plot the whole thing out,
and then at the last minute
something will happen.
So I love the spontaneity of it.
That's the most fun for me.
And can you please tell us about
your audition for Beyond 2000?
(LAUGHS)
Oh, I'm sorry I'm laughing.
This is athis is a story
that triggers me enormously.
Um, I
Well, I had been working
as a researcher,
and I'd wanted to do stuff on camera.
And I went along
for Beyond 2000 audition.
And it's a show
about science and technology.
And I had to find my own story
for the audition.
And my cousin knew a professor
who had a single-person submarine.
And so I said,
"Look, I'll do the story on that."
I get terribly seasick, so you
can see where this story is going.
So I was in a submarine.
It's a one-person submarine,
but he was crouched down inside,
behind me,
holding my legs,
and I opened up the hatch.
And I was supposed to say something
like,
"Well, because of craft like these
exploring the waterways,
"we will never have pollution ever
again," or something like that.
Instead, I opened up the hatch
and I opened up the hatch.
I spewed everywhere.
Oh, no!
Awful.
And then my stomach
was in such turmoil
that I passed some wind in his face.
(LAUGHS)
So he must have thought,
"Why have I got up this morning?
What a beautiful day I'm having."
Andand so that was my audition.
And I got the job.
So I can only imagine
what the person who didn't
get the job must have done.
So, bizarrely, I got the job.
Cool!
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you for your lovely question.
You're welcome.
Well done, Fletchy-boy.
Alright. Who's next?
It's Dylan's turn.
It's your turn, Dylan.
Yeah, OK.
Thanks. OK.
Hi, Amanda Keller.
Are you a comedian?
I would never say so.
And I struggle with the term,
when it comes to me.
I would call myself
maybe a broadcaster.
I like to work on shows
that I think are funny,
but I wouldn't call myself
a comedian.
This is where you're supposed to say,
"No, you are."
No, I'm joking! No, not at all.
She's so funny.
Can you show us
your red carpet walk, please?
Oh!
Wow.
I'll show you how I wish I walked
on the red carpet.
What you're supposed to do
It's terrifying.
You're supposed to go like this.
And I'm too embarrassed
to do any of that.
I'm even too embarrassed
to take a selfie.
So instead, I go like this.
And that's about it.
That's my red carpet walk.
Can you do your red carpet walk?
Come on, Dylan! Dylan!
Go on, Dylan, do it!
Yes! Yes!
Slay! Slay!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Slay, Dylan!
Yes.
That's pretty good.
Yeah, thanks. Thank you.
Nicely done.
Well done.
Chau.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Evie.
Um, there was an episode on Beyond
2000 I watched many years ago,
which was about a child
who spent her whole life
fighting to hang on, to stay alive.
It was a brain cancer story.
It was about a very experimental
treatment back in the day.
And it's still kind of affects me,
you know, to this day.
Like, she was barely older than me.
And, um, what was something
you did that really affected you
and you still kind of think about
to this day?
Mm.
She was 12 years old.
Yeah.
It wasit was Japanese.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I don't know why I remember it.
Yeah.
It really stuck with you.
Yeah.
I always found it interesting.
We'd dip into someone's life
for one day
and fly off and we'd never know
what had happened to them.
We didn't have the internet then,
so you couldn't follow up.
It wasn't easy to do any of that.
I did a story with this woman
who had ovarian cancer,
and we filmed her
working as a waitress.
And then the next day,
we were watching the operation
of them, you know,
doing surgery on her.
You think, "I'm just one segment
of their lives.
"I'm here seeing that,
and then their lives go on,
"and I never know
what happened to them."
That's the bit that would affect me.
I'd think, "How are they going
a year later? What's the story?"
Mm.
And I
And we didn't have
easy follow-ups then.
As I said,
we didn't have the internet.
It wasn't easy
to keep connections going.
I often wondered about that.
Amanda Keller,
thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Well done, Chau.
UmSilas.
Thank you.
Uh
What are the last sounds
you'd like to hear in life?
Hm.
Oh, my God.
I was going to say laughter.
But you don't want people to be
laughing when you're dying, do you?
(LAUGHTER)
No.
What would I like to hear?
I think I'd like to hear someone
whisper in my ear that they love me.
That's all I'd require.
Aww!
And maybe if my dog was there,
just a slight little snuffle
on my ear as well.
Aww! (LAUGHS)
Thanks.
Uh, what would you endure
to save a stranger from suffering?
Would you lose an arm, your blood,
your money, your sanity?
Ooh.
What would you give up?
How severe is the suffering?
Permanently distressing.
Mm.
I'd give up money.
I don't think
I could give up my arm.
I would give money.
I think that's
the best thing I could offer.
I'd give up my time.
I'd put my efforts towards it,
if I could help.
Um, I wouldn't like to
physically harm myself,
but stopping short of that,
I'd do what I could.
But we all know the world
is filled with those stories
that are heartbreaking every day.
I get asked to do a lot of work
for people who really need help,
and it's very hard to draw the line
as to who you can help
and who you can't,
'cause it's a hard world, isn't it?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Um, Bethany, you're up.
OK. Hello!
Um
Oh, gosh.
Hello, Amanda.
Hello, Bethany.
People often judge me
because of how I look.
What are some snap judgements
people make about you
that are totally off the mark,
either about your looks
or your personality?
Wow, that's a hard question.
Would you like to answer
that one for me?
FLETCHER: Uh, nope.
(LAUGHTER)
No helping. No.
I think I was lucky that when
I started in the TV industry,
it was before the days of stylists
and before anyone judged you.
I felt I was able to
slip under the radar
of being judged by my appearance.
Yeah.
And I look at some of the early
things I did on television,
and I wore earrings that were
kind of bigger than my own head,
and I'd have
big home-made jumpers on,
and I'd do my own hair,
and it looked crazy.
And that seemed to be OK.
Now, I don't think
you can get away with that.
So I think I would have found it
very hard if I were starting today,
because I wasn't classically groomed
and I didn't look like
I belonged on television, really.
Whereas I've sort of
morphed into looking
like I could get away with it now.
Um, so what are some of
the other assumptions?
When I was younger, it was because
I was young and female,
and working on a show
like Beyond 2000,
when I was travelling,
people would talk to the crew
and would ignore me
as if they thought
I was the researcher.
Um, and so that was annoying.
So they were assumptions made that
because I was younger and female,
I couldn't have been in charge.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, very nice. Thank you.
I have been thrifting
since I was six years old.
Do you like thrifting and antiquing
and if so,
what is your favourite find?
Oh, I'm a giant hoarder.
Um
I have found some great things
over the years.
I'm a collector
of royal memorabilia,
but the weirder, the better.
I've got a Princess Anne mug.
And you don't see
those very often, do you?
Yeah, yeah.
She'sshe's one of the royals
that's managed to keep her face
off everything.
So I've got a Princess Anne mug.
Um, and I've got also from the
might have been from the 1950s,
Prince Philip and the Queen,
like a 3D-image.
And if you moved it,
she slightly turned into him
and he slightly turned into her.
Wow.
It was fantastic.
That's my favourite thing.
That is so weird.
Really, yeah. that's so cool.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Andrew, would you like to ask
Amanda your question?
Thank you. Hello, Amanda.
Hello. Nice to see you.
Um, do you like indoor plants
or outdoor plants?
I really like indoor plants
because they make my house
look nice.
I love indoor plants.
I really find it hard
to keep them alive.
Are you good at it?
Yes, I'm very good at it.
Are you?
I'll bring mine to your place.
I buy flowers because I know that
I can't keep indoor plants alive.
That's right.
So I k*ll them,
then bring them into my home.
That's right. (LAUGHS)
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Um, Anastasia.
Anastasia.
Oh, thank you.
Come on, Anastasia.
Yep. And there goes my things.
Yep, I'm very clumsy.
Yep, that's what me, I do.
Yep. Me. OK. Alright. Hello.
Hi.
How long did it take
to make the wax sculpture of you
and does it creep you out?
Oh!
Yeah.
I was so honoured to be turned
into wax for Madame Tussauds,
and it was incredible.
They fly a team out from London,
and in their luggage when they come
out, they've got a bag of eyeballs.
There's a bag of teeth
and a bag of hair.
That is so creepy!
They would have looked like
serial K*llers.
And then they do
the most bizarre measurements.
They've got, like callipers, which
are like these metal kind of prongs,
and they'd measure from your elbow
to your nose,
and your kneecap to your ear,
and a really strange set
of measurements.
And then they hold up the eyeballs
to see if it matches your colour
and to see how yellow
your teeth are.
It's quite disarming
when you look at
At the start they're white and they
make their way down the chart.
And you sort of end up
halfway down the yellow.
And then it's very weird
when you see the finished product.
I thought it would be like
seeing a photograph of myself,
but it felt so different.
I actually burst into tears
because it
And I don't know, I still don't know
what that emotion was,
because it was like I had a twin.
And it was me where Silas is now,
sort of looking over my shoulder.
It was the strangest experience ever.
And when my kids went in to see it,
they of course tried to put
their finger up my nose.
And they looked under
to see if I had undies on.
Ooh! Naughty!
And, yes, I did have undies.
OK, my final question is
what does confidence mean to you?
Oh!
What a question.
I still battle with it sometimes.
I look back at many junctions
in my life where I thought,
"Why didn't you just relax
and feel more confident?
"Whywhy did you wind yourself up
about this stuff
"that just doesn't matter?"
Because confidence
is such an attractive quality.
If you could fake it,
wouldn't it be great?
Yes!
I still battle with it.
I'm better at it, but I still have
certain projects that I'll do
Even this.
I had huge imposter syndrome
thinking, "Why would
they want to talk to me?"
So every new project I do,
I still battle with confidence.
And some stuff I can do easily,
and other stuff I still wish
I was better at it.
And that's a great question.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Amanda.
Well done, Anastasia.
Evie, it's your turn.
Do you want to pass
the microphone along?
Oh, OK.
It's OK.
Um, I just want to say
I really like your shoes
and your pin, by the way.
Oh, thank you. Actually, this is
the same colour that you're wearing.
Oh, yeah.
Matchy-match.
Yeah. Matches.
You guys are twinning!
We spoke this morning
and decided to match.
Um, OK.
Um, I have a niche
sense of humour and interests
that I don't think
many people understand,
especially when I was younger.
Do people always understand
your jokes and interests?
(LAUGHS)
No, they don't, and that's OK.
I love puns and Jonesy hates puns.
Oh, me too!
He hates them.
And so on air
It's terrible because
I'll make a pun and he'll just
He'll look at me like this.
(LAUGHTER)
And so you just, you hear nothing.
And, I go, "We're on radio.
"People can't see your face.
You're gonna have to say something."
And I'll say, "Come on!"
He'll say, "You know I hate puns."
So, yes, not everyone
gets our sense of humour.
And that's OK.
OK.
And then, um, I know before you said
you don't consider yourself
a comedian,
but, um, so my second question.
Not many people know this,
but I've always wanted to do comedy.
But I've always been afraid
of making a fool of myself
in front of others,
probably due to the culture
at my school.
Um, what advice would you give
to anxious people like me
who want to pursue,
like, comedy or TV or Yeah.
I've never been brave enough
to do stand-up comedy.
The idea of that
sounds terrifying to me.
But I think
no matter how you're feeling,
you'll find your comedy tribe.
Don'tdon't be put off.
Because there's a number
of times when I've thought,
"I don't want to step through
this door that's in front of me."
"I'm scared to step
through the radio door."
"I'm scared to step through
the comedy door."
And as soon as I did, I thought,
"Why did I wait so long?"
So always step through the door
'cause there'll be someone who will
get you the other side of it.
I like that. Thank you.
Thanks, Evie.
Go, Evie.
Yeah, Evie!
Angus, you're up.
Go, Angie boy! Go, Angie.
Angie-boy!
Um, hi, Amanda.
Hello.
So, another thing
I found really interesting
when we were doing research
about you,
was that the fact that you went
through IVF to have your boys.
I'm actually an IVF baby too.
Mm-hm.
Um, you can tell I was pressed
against the side of the test tube,
so my nose is
my nose is flat.
Now, I was born at a very
similar time to your boys.
I was born in '99.
I believe your boys were born
in the early 2000s.
Yeah.
My mum was 38 when I was born.
So a very similar age,
um, to you as well.
What were some of the difficulties
you faced going through IVF?
It's a really great question.
Um, in those days,
two out of three couples went home
without a baby after the process,
so it wasn't as successful
as it is now.
We did year after year after year,
and it was so hard.
And I was working on radio
with Andrew Denton
and I didn't want everyone to know.
So I'd leave work,
go and have a general anaesthetic
and have some kind of procedure,
come back the next day
and just get on with it.
And I think that work saved me
through all that.
I had somewhere else
to go in my head.
Yeah.
But what a great story,
'cause here you are.
Yeah, well, I wasI was attempt
number four for Mum and Dad,
and there was a twin embryo I was
with, and, um, he passed in the womb
and I kept kicking on.
And I make the joke all the time -
if I'm the fittest, imagine
how screwed up the others were.
(LAUGHS)
Thanks, Amanda.
Lovely question.
Thank you.
Thank you.
OK.
Um, Angus, do you want to pass
the mic along to Jackson?
Hello.
Hello.
I'm Jackson.
Hi, Jackson.
Hi, Jackson.
How did you feel when you had
your two precious sons?
Oh, 'precious'. That's a good word.
Aww!
I couldn't believe it
for a long time.
I'd see the baby seat
in the back of the car,
and I couldn't believe
it had happened
because we'd tried for so long.
And I'd really come to the point
where I'd almost say to the doctor,
"Tell me when to stop,
"because I don't want to
keep going forever."
Um, and Liam, our eldest son,
they changed the technology by then.
And so we'd gone through
embryo after embryo
and nothing had happened.
And there were three left frozen.
And they said, "We've got
a new technique we'd like to try."
And I said, "I think I owe it
to those last three of that batch."
And Liam ended up
being one of those.
And he wouldn't have
passed muster now
because they scaled them differently.
And he's this big
six foot bruiser now.
So it was a miracle to me
that we had a baby
and then a miracle
that we had a second.
And I still cannot believe my luck.
Mm, that does sound like a miracle.
Mm.
How did you feel becoming
the first female broadcaster
inducted into the Australia
Radio Hall of Fame in 2017?
Wow.
It meant a lot to me.
My mother had to leave school at 16.
She joined the bank.
She met my dad.
When she got married
she had to leave the bank.
You couldn't work there
as a married woman.
And mum felt that
a career had passed her by.
So she was so supportive
of all the stuff I ever did.
And I thought of her that night
and how far
one generation could come.
And that meant a lot to me.
And I was very, very, very grateful.
Now that does sound exciting.
Mm.
Thanks, Jackson.
Are you done? Is that yours?
You're done? Good. Thank you.
Thank you.
Well done, Jackson.
Well done, Jack! Well done!
Mitch, it's your turn. Yes.
Oh, um
When Amanda finishes having a drink.
Um Sure.
"When Amanda finishes
having a drink."
Isn't that a familiar term?
I'm really close to my mum,
even now, as an adult.
Are you close to your sons?
I am. I've had to learn
not to be too much in their faces.
And I'm sure all your mums
deal with that too.
To allow you to be adults.
That's something
I've really had to learn to do.
And it's made me really miss my mum
because I left home to study
in Bathurst for three years
and I didn't even look back.
And then when my children left home
to study,
I wanted to say to my mum,
"Thank you for just letting me go."
I found it really hard
when they left home.
But I'm very close to them now.
But I have to remind myself
constantly that they're adults
and to let them
make their own decisions.
Thank you.
Thanks, Mitch. Thank you.
Do you want to hand the mic
to Savannah?
Do you love your husband?
Oh!
That is a beautiful question.
And I think I feel like
I'm going to cry
'cause my husband's going through
some stuff at the moment.
My husband has Parkinson's disease.
And we've been married 34 years
and life is changing around us.
He's so good with it
in a way that I'm not, actually.
And we're learning to
..to find ourselves in the midst
of changing circumstances.
And part of me thinks
It's easy for me to say,
he's the one going through it.
But part of me thinks
it's a real privilege
to be with someone long enough
that you go through
these changes with them.
So, yes, I love him very much,
even though we've got stuff going on.
Thanks, Savannah.
Evie.
You and your husband knew about
his Parkinson's disease
for six years.
How did you feel about
sharing it publicly?
Well, I had to think long and hard
about sharing it,
and I think I did
for a couple of reasons.
One is that
I work on breakfast radio,
and a big part of that
is sharing your life.
And even though
it wasn't my story to tell,
it affected me too, and our lives.
And at one point, Harley said
he didn't mind that I told,
because his mum had passed away.
His mum was in New Zealand.
She was in her 90s.
He didn't want her to know
'cause he knew she'd worry.
And I thought once he was OK
with me speaking about it,
I thought, "Maybe it's time
to share this with listeners."
And another reason I wanted to
was that I wanted to, in a way,
open the window
to why people would look at us
strangely when we were out.
Harley felt that people
might think he was drunk,
or that they'd look at me
and they'd look at him
and they'd think, "Well, something's
not right there. What's going on?"
I wanted to free us up by saying,
"Here's what's going on."
I think that's why I did it.
And it is hard because you
I do appreciate that
by speaking publicly about it,
I invite people to talk to me
about it.
And some days that's hard.
But I'm glad I did.
And that's
a really sensitive question.
Thank you, I loved it.
Yeah. Thanks.
BETHANY: And just one more question.
I've been looking at
your beautiful wedding ring.
I wanted to know
if there was a story behind it
and why you've got
This one or this one?
Likethat's your wedding ring?
This one.
Well, I mix and match all the time.
OK!
So this is an old piece of jade,
and I've had that for a few years.
My husband gave me that
for Christmas.
This ring is my mum's one,
and I miss my mum every day.
And because mum passed away
before I had my sons,
there's a thousand things
I wish I'd said to her about,
"I get it now.
I get why you were"
What I thought was
a pain in the neck at the time.
But it's, you know, it's love.
And love is a doing word.
And thank you for folding my clothes
and thank you for, you know,
when I'm folding the kids clothes
and putting them away
and they just take that for granted,
I always think it's an act of love.
And I get that
my mum did all that.
And this was a ring my mum had.
And I think of her
every time I wore it
and I wear it on special occasions,
which is why I wore it today,
'cause she'd been so proud
that I'm doing a show like this
and talking to all of you.
And so it means a lot to me
that you asked me that. Thank you.
Oh, pleasure. Thank you.
Amanda, we have been so lucky
to have you here today.
I've so enjoyed hearing you
answer everyone's questions.
We've all loved it.
Thank you so much.
Everyone, thank Amanda.
ALL: Thank you, Amanda!
What a life highlight this has been.
Thank you.
Thank you. I've loved it.
OK, everyone hang around
and we'll get a photo taken
in a second.
Thank you.
ABBEY: One, two, three.
Whoo! Sorry!
MAN: Oh, yeah.
I forgot about the photo part.
Do I sit in the middle there?
ABBEY: You sit right next to me.
Is that terrible woman
behind me again?
Oh, sorry.
I know what you're like,
farting on people that stand
behind you in film shoots.
MAN: Alright.
Simon says to look down the lens
of the camera with a big smile.
Simon says!
Big smile.
Simon says don't blink.
I can't!
(LAUGHS)
Good to go!
One, two, three!
Great. Thank you.
Thank you.
That's good.
Can I give you this?
(GASPS) Wait, really?
You said you loved it. It's yours.
Oh, thank you!
It's OK.
I love that you loved it.
Oh! That's so lovely.
ABBEY: What are you laughing at,
Evie?
Amanda gave me her pin.
Oh, my gosh.
Her badge.
FLETCHER: Oh!
She gave you her badge.
Yeah!
Yay!
For more of The Assembly
Abbey!
Hello, Leigh.
How are you?
Good.
..join me behind the scenes
Excuse me, sir.
You look personable.
..for the first practice interview.
Here she is!
Hello, everyone.
Did any of you know
who I actually was?
No idea.
Sort of.
How does it feel
now the tables have turned,
and now that you're the one
being interviewed?
And the journey
to becoming The Assembly.
That's fantastic.
(EMOTIONALLY)
Thank you for trusting me
to steer you through this experience.
Sorry.
Aw!
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01x06 - Amanda Keller
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A half-hour special where thirty-five autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people ask actor/director Michael Sheen any questions they want.
A half-hour special where thirty-five autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people ask actor/director Michael Sheen any questions they want.