Simon Bridges: Generally Famous

With an “elder sister” management style, Theresa Gattung became the youngest woman to run a large public company when she took over Telecom aged 37. Since stepping back from fulltime corporate work, she’s focused on philanthropy and entrepreneurship - while continuing to spearhead change for women in business. The trailblazer explains how her father’s groundbreaking attitudes shaped her success, says women still face “the motherhood penalty” and reveals the industry she believes is still one big boys’ club.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

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GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

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Pax Assadi started working life as a vacuum cleaner salesman. Now he’s hoovering up plaudits as a stand-up comic, TV presenter and creator and star of Sky sitcom Raised by Refugees. Born in Auckland to a Pakistani mum and Iranian dad, he discusses representation in mainstream media, the one country where he’s experienced outright racism, and why the backlash against The Simpsons character Apu was unfair.

You can watch Raised by Refugees on Sky Go and Neon.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trailblazing business brains and childhood sweethearts Geoff and Justine Ross sold their premium vodka brand 42 Below to Bacardi for $138 million. Now they've swapped "wine and cheesing" in Auckland for running a 6500-hectare sheep and beef farm in Otago. The self-confessed environmental activists and passionate New Zealanders discuss why they took "the harder road", reaction to their Country Calendar appearance and why regenerative farming is much more than a "hippie crock of shit".

Justine's memoir about swapping the city for the high country, Meet You at the Main Divide, is available now.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Dr Love to Dr Loving Life, Shortland Street's sole surviving original reflects on playing Chris Warner for almost three decades. He opens up on the panic attack that marred his return to the show, ageing on set, and "calming the f down" and finding happiness. He also talks his new play, Mannbannd, his love of theatre - and the celebrity he's mistaken for.

Mannbannd runs from November 18 to December 16 at the Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr Alia Bojilova is a registered psychologist who worked in the NZ Defence Force, including with members of the SAS, and recently starred alongside Hollywood hardman Vinnie Jones in international reality TV show Tracked. She shares her story of working as a United Nations military observer in Syria, where she and two colleagues were kidnapped, held at gunpoint and told they were going to be decapitated.

Alia specialises in resilience and has recently written a book called The Resilience Toolkit.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After early appearances in The Billy T. James Show and Once Were Warriors, Blair Strang became a household name as ambulance driver Rangi Heremaia on Shortland Street.

Six years later he quit to complete his legal degree and now juggles family law with acting and running his own theatre company.

Beaming in from his Northland home, he discusses how he handled fame in the heyday of Kiwi TV, getting recognised in court and why he finally agreed to reality TV when Celebrity Treasure Island came calling.

Watch Celebrity Treasure Island here.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Top chef and TV favourite Ben Bayley has returned to his Kiwi roots after almost a decade of culinary discovery in top kitchens across the globe. With a string of highly regarded venues in Auckland and Otago, he's also a regular on our screens. Ben has fronted two series of A New Zealand Food Story, with a third on the way, and The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes, an experiment that saw volunteers with dementia run a restaurant under his supervision. Ben talks Michelin stars, the joy of good sardines, how he maintains high standards across multiple kitchens - and why he won't open a restaurant in hometown Te Awamutu.

Warning: Discusses suicide. For free help, text or call 1737, 24 hours.

Check out Ben's website here.

Watch A New Zealand Food Story here.

Watch The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes here.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 1000th All Black talks frankly about the brutal toll of rugby, life with early-onset dementia and his battles with alcohol. He outlines how the sport should change and recalls the circumstances in which he left to play - and stay - overseas.

Oh, and he explains why he doesn't want to ditch his 1992 Nissan Patrol!

(Carl also offered his thoughts on New Zealand's Rugby World Cup prospects, but it's only fair to point out the interview was recorded before the All Blacks' record defeat, to South Africa.)

Warning: Discusses suicidal thoughts and alcoholism. For free help, text or call 1737, 24 hours.

Carl Hayman's memoir Head On, written with Dylan Cleaver, is out now.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected].

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producer: Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Executive producer: Chris Reed

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best known - in Aotearoa at least - for her roles in Outrageous Fortune and its prequel Westside, Antonia chats about her distinguished career and why she's big in Germany. She also offers insight into her royal links and swaps stories with Simon about on-set snack tables.

Watch her latest show Double Parked.

Listen to her podcast What Matters Most.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected] 

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producers: Chris Reed and Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kiwi comedy icon Dai Henwood drops in to talk about his incredible career and surprising family back-story. Born into a proud Welsh lineage with illustrious forebears, he knew he wanted to make people laugh from a very young age. He talks comedy in Aotearoa, Eastern religion and mindfulness - and how his latest gig on the phenomenon that is Taskmaster NZ gave him a positive focus after he went public with his stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

You can watch Taskmaster NZ here and Legomasters NZ here.

Dai is hosting The Comedy Treatment, a night of stand-up to raise money for the Cancer Society, on August 24. Guests include Mel Bracewell, Josh Thomson, Ben Hurley and Justine Smith. You can buy tickets here. The show will be broadcast live on Three.

You can read stories supporting this episode on stuff.co.nz.

Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here.

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? Got a guest you’d like Simon to talk to? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected] 

CREDITS

Host: Simon Bridges

Producers: Chris Reed and Jen Black

Audio editing and mixing: John Ropiha

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices