Audiences love listening to long term friends Hamish and Andy, as they share experiences, pranks and have fun on Australia’s top rating LiSTNR podcast.
Chris Marsh, the show’s Creative Producer, shared how the show’s effortless vibe is achieved through hard work, planning and keeping the listener at top of mind in everything they do.
Chris began by giving an overview of the Hamish and Andy show in it’s different formats and their relationship from the beginning. They had their first break on community radio, had the highest rating drive show, were early adopters of podcasts since 2006, consistently number 1 on the comedy charts and had successful TV shows together and separately, plus are winners of multiple media industry awards.
“Preparation is over 70% of our work,” said Chris. “ Hamish and Andy are involved, though we keep one day solely for recording. We do our content prep first and after we’ve captured this in the field we review what we’ve learnt from the process.”
Chris shared that even the ideas they don’t use are held onto for another time.
He suggested keeping any audio prep for another show, for example an archive show which could be used as a second revenue stream behind a pay wall.
On the team since 2009, Chris believes the focus on 50 percent team and 50 percent content is important for a successful team. “We never hold to an issue… the boys are good at having tough conversations and then they move on.” The boys also recognise that making time for fun in meetings or scheduling activities is also a great way to strengthen a team.
“Finding the DNA of your show can take time, in this case it took a few years to recognise that Hamish and Andy is ‘the people’s show.’” said Chris. Our brand is two typical Aussie Mates so I’ve crafted a sound that is cheeky and playful and our sonic design references the fun of the show.”
Chris said, “Keeping the show’s authenticity also requires meticulous planning and editing. For example our audience often makes suggestions for the program. We give half of these to each of the boys as a way of keeping the surprise, then we develop secret codes so as not to give anything away.”
Respect for their listeners was at top of mind when Hamish and Andy transitioned to the podcast.
“Listeners are at the heart of what we do and we want to build experiences for them. We create unique experiences for our listeners that will be hilarious and funny.” Chris gave one example of a segment that came from the audience sharing their ‘special skills’ and how audience participation was built into the show. This gave the audience member a chance to shine on the show by sharing their special skill. What was his special skill? He could carry 7 beers at a time in a shout, so they took the audience member and a few other listeners to the pub to prove it, and recorded it all to broadcast later.
The quality of content is important over quantity. “The boys are good at knowing how many legs there are in an idea and also recognising benchmarks in an idea. This means that some segments don’t make it to air.” said Chris.
Sometimes you have to know when to pivot in order to save an idea. Chris gave the example of a segment planned for a country racecourse during Melbourne Cup. The original idea was to have different breeds of horses run against each other, until they found out that race horses wouldn’t run against other animals such as donkeys and Clydesdales. In that case they decided on a segment with people racing in costume.
“Play to your strengths”, Chris said. “Andy recognises Hamish as the comedian and he plays the straight man.
Hamish and Andy’s philosophy “breeds loyalty in our teams, audience, advertising base (sold out until June) and loyalty to SCA and LiSTNR.”
Chris summarised his key takeaways in the slide below.
