Hamish & Andy

Hamish Blake and Andy Lee met while both studying at the University of Melbourne in 2001.^[2] They entered comedy competitions together and just a year after meeting, they started their career in radio by hosting a show on community radio station SYN FM.^[3]

First radio programmes

The duo began presenting radio on the Student Youth Network, initially hosting Cruise Control in the Monday afternoon timeslot during the station's test broadcasts in June 2002. They later co-hosted the station's Friday afternoon drivetime show The Buzz in 2003^[4]. Soon after Hamish began writing for the Fox FM breakfast show (The Matt & Jo Show), the pair began hosting a Monday night late-night radio program called Almost Tuesday on the same station. The duo then hosted the Fox FM program Almost Midday on Saturday mornings, which was so successful it was syndicated nationally across the Today Network.

In 2023, the duo announced on their Remembering Project podcast that they had retrieved various CDs containing content from Almost Midday and planned on adding them to their Hamish & Andy Unlimited subscription service for Apple Podcasts and their Libsyn-powered Android app.^[5]

The duo presented two radio specials on BBC 6 Music in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2009 and 26 January 2010. On Friday 11 June, it was announced on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show that Hamish & Andy would be presenting three shows in London during July 2010 to cover O'Connell's holiday. Hamish and Andy signed a deal to present a series of shows to air on Absolute Radio Sunday evenings.^[6]

Drive time programme

The duo hosted a two-hour weekday radio show titled Hamish & Andy from 2006 to 2013. It was broadcast in all the seven major cities of Australia in the afternoon drive time slot. The show was the highest-rated radio series in Australian history, with approximately two million listeners daily. During its broadcast, the show had completed two domestic and two foreign caravan tours, a Bass Strait sailboat trip, and trips to Afghanistan, Beijing, Japan, India, and the US, recording live on location. They were also syndicated internationally, with a highlights package broadcast on BBC Radio 6 in December 2009. In 2010, they also presented three shows in London to cover Christian O'Connell on his breakfast show.

The duo have released two compilation albums of segments from their daily radio show, Unessential Listening (2008) and Celebrating 50 Glorious Years (2010). Both albums won ARIA Awards for Best Comedy Release.^[7] The program won 14 Australian Commercial Radio Awards.

Blake and Lee announced in August 2010 that they would be cutting down their show to a single program each week from 2011 onward, in the Friday afternoon drive time slot. The final daily program aired on 3 December 2010.^[8]

Business Brunch/Happy Hour

Hamish and Andy returned to daily radio in early 2013 with a new show titled Business Brunch, airing from 9 am to 10 am Tuesdays to Fridays (except in Sydney, where it would air from 10 am to 11 am, following The Kyle & Jackie O Show). This complemented their regular drive time show which had moved to just be on Mondays.^[9] Rather than having recurring segments each day, Business Brunch aimed to cover one topic per show. Listeners were invited to contribute their expertise on a wide range of topics via their website, rather than through the traditional radio phone-in method. The late Nine Network news personality Peter Harvey provided the voice of the introduction, even after his death (as it was the wish of him and his family).

The pair announced in a June 2013 show that they had been "promoted" to the early drive slot of 3pm to 4pm weekdays. The show was renamed Happy Hour and continued the aim of discussing one topic per show. The move to this slot signaled a hiatus from their weekly 4–6pm drive show.^[10] They briefly returned to the drive slot for two weeks in July 2014 to fill in for current drive hosts Dan & Maz during radio survey break.^[11]

Return to drive time

In October 2014, it was announced the duo would return to their weekly drive time slot on the Hit Network from 6 July 2015.^[12][13] In 2016, the duo announced that 2017 would be their final year on radio, and that they would be retiring to focus on their television careers once more.^[14] Their show's final episodes that year received an estimated 30 million podcast downloads.^[15]

After they retired from radio, Hamish & Andy announced the programme will continue in a weekly podcast-only format from 2018. As of 2024, there have been 244 episodes in seven seasons.^[16] In 2020, they also began a spin-off podcast called the Remembering Project, where they revisit a random segment from their back catalogue of over 2,500 radio episodes.

Hamish & Andy have presented a number of television series and specials since 2003. They began on sketch shows but have found greater success in recent years with their travel diary-style programmes.

  Series  Special

Early days

Blake united with Lee in 2003 when they developed a Channel 31 sketch show, called Radio Karate, with friends Ryan Shelton and Tim Bartley. Blake reunited with Lee in 2004 when they were named hosts of a new Seven Network variety program, Hamish and Andy, a show described as a successor to Big Bite. It premiered in 2004, and steadily built a moderate cult audience. However the show did not rate well and was cancelled after its initial run of six episodes.^[33] The 2004 series was then given a repeat run on 7HD in 2007, and many clips survive from these reruns.

In 2020, it was revealed that the tapes for Hamish and Andy had been taped over by the Seven Network by Commonwealth Games broadcasts when asked if they still had them.^[34]

Rove and guest appearances

In 2005, they were recruited by comedian Rove McManus to develop a satirical television comedy series, Real Stories, which aired on Network Ten in 2006. From 2007 to 2009, the duo appeared fortnightly on Rove in a mixture of pre-recorded segments and live appearances. They hosted the Logie awards in 2007 and 2008 (and went on to open the 2013 and 2014 ceremonies), and the ARIA awards in 2008. They appeared on Joker Poker and Australia's Brainiest Comedian in 2005, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? in 2009, and Good News Week in 2010. The group appeared on The Jay Leno Show twice in 2009, and on The 7pm Project numerous times from 2009, in a similar manner as they did on Rove. They appeared on the UK's The Graham Norton Show in June 2010.

Network Ten specials

The duo have presented numerous televised clip show specials on Network Ten. Hamish and Andy: Re-Gifted at the end of 2008, and Hamish & Andy: Re-Gifted – Another Very Early Christmas Special at the end of 2009, were both produced in conjunction with Roving Enterprises and consisted mostly of highlights of their fortnightly appearances on Rove. Their 2010 Hamish & Andy's Reministmas Special served as a continuation of both and recapped many of their adventures during the year, mostly as part of their radio show.

In addition to these, they produced three travel specials for Ten. Hamish & Andy's American Caravan of Courage in 2009 (another Roving Enterprises co-production) summarised their two-week road-trip across the United States. Similarly, 2010's Hamish & Andy's Caravan of Courage: Great Britain and Ireland recapped their next caravan trip made as part of their radio show. Their third travel special, Learn India with Hamish & Andy, aired as part of the network's lead-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.^[35]

Nine Network and Gap Year

Following a series of media reports, the pair confirmed in February 2011 that they had joined the Nine Network on a two-year contract, to produce Hamish and Andy's Gap Year.^[36][37] The show first aired on 28 July 2011. The show premiered to strong ratings and has since gone on to three more seasons (Hamish & Andy's Euro Gap Year in 2012 and Hamish & Andy's Gap Year Asia in 2013 and Hamish & Andy's Gap Year South America in 2014).

The pair also filmed a fifth Caravan of Courage adventure in 2012, in which they compared their home country, Australia, to their neighbours New Zealand in two 75-minute specials.^[38]

In December 2016, the duo announced that 2017 would be their last year on radio, in order to focus on television. They also announced an as yet unnamed TV show to be aired on the Nine Network in mid-2017.^[39] The duo advertised on their website and radio show, for listeners to contribute "great stories" for "The Great Stories Project"^[40] which was the basis of their 2017 television show True Story with Hamish & Andy on the Nine Network. The series was a success, and it was renewed for a second season in 2018.

The duo starred in the three-part series Hamish and Andy's “Perfect” Holiday in 2019, which documented their holiday across the United States and Canada.

Albums

On 7 July 2007, they presented the Australian leg of Live Earth and appeared at the Melbourne Sound Relief concert in 2009. They played in the 2008 and 2009 E. J. Whitten Legends Game. They made a mockumentary short film, The Greystone 2800, that won the 2005 Melbourne Comedy Festival Short Film competition. They also hosted FHM's Search for Australia's Funniest Man.

They had minor acting roles on the soap opera Neighbours, portraying radio presenters Fred and Big Tommo on the episode dated 27 August 2008.^[44] The episode featured them promoting university drop-out Ty Harper's (Dean Geyer) band, and interviewing schoolgirls Rachel Kinski (Caitlin Stasey) and Donna Freedman (Margot Robbie) about their situation with Harper. They make a cameo appearance in the 2010 short film IA: Interview Artist.

They have also made appearances on many Austereo radio shows, occasionally filling in for Kyle & Jackie O, Matt & Jo, or Fifi and Jules when a regular presenter fell ill.

Hamish and Andy hosted "the richest horse suit race in Australia" in the small Victorian country town of Wedderburn, Victoria. It drew about 7,000 people and featured performances by themselves, Jessica Mauboy, and Birds of Tokyo.

In 2024, the duo (as "Hubbl & Andy") appeared in television advertisements for Hubbl, Foxtel's digital media player device.^[45]

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the music of Australia. They commenced in 1987.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hamish & Andy.

• Hamish & Andy's official site
• Real Stories