Two Doting Dads with Matty J & Ash - Three Doting Dads feat. Anthony Field from The Wiggles

Episode Date: October 29, 2023

Would you bloody believe it, we've manage to lock down Anthony Field a.k.a the Blue Wiggle for a chat. Anthony has lived one hell of a life - 3 years in the army, accidentally falling into a career in early education and then helping create one of the most prolific music groups of all time. The Wiggles have knocked up 30 million combined sales in CDs and DVDs and released 12 platinum albums since their formation in 1991. In addition to this, Anthony is also a great dad to three beautiful kids. He opens up about not ever thinking he'd be a dad, the parts of parenting he misses the most and what it's like to share the stage with his daughter. If this ep didn't give you the full Wiggles fix you wanted, Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles is out now on Prime Video and it's an absolutely fantastic doco. Follow @twodotingdads on Instagram here. Or slide into our DM's with any Doting Dads or Mums you'd like us to interview. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we have a very special bonus episode. We have with us today Anthony Field. Now I know what you're thinking. Who's Anthony Field? I'll tell you who he is. He is Anthony Wiggle, the blue Wiggle. I'm sure everyone out there knows the Wiggles, but for anyone who may be thinking, don't know who that is. Wiggles were founded in in 1991 they are globally one of the biggest children's acts ever ever they have saved me countless so many times but i only do my kids like watching them i absolutely love them yeah they've been a part of my family and i'm guessing your family since the dawn of time i was it was one of those ones where when i'm like don't get nervous yeah i was a bit like that he's just a normal guy but he is an absolute legend and uh we had a quick little chat we had

30 minutes he's a man who was wanted right now yes and it was an absolute privilege to have anthony wiggle on the podcast so enjoy this episode. Welcome to Three Doting Dads. I'm Matty J. I'm Ash. I'm Anthony. This is a podcast all about parenting. It's the good, the bad. And the relatable. And if you've come for any type of advice.

Steer clear. Although when we have a guest. We might get some today actually. I feel like if ever there was going to be advice given today, it's going to be from our guest, Anthony. For sure. But no pressure. No pressure at all. I had a good role model with my dad. I think the best thing he ever said to me was, I make mistakes. That's straight away, we've just dished out some wisdom, which is amazing. So I'm looking forward to it. Thank you so much for joining us oh my great i said to myself as i was coming up the elevator i'm like i'm not gonna i'm not gonna yeah i'm not gonna pass your ego too much but i honestly mean this when it is an honor to be in your presence

totally oh mate glad to be here you've been a part of both of our families for i mean i'm a 90s baby born in 1990 matt's a little bit older nearly 40 I like to point that out a lot but now we've both got kids in the era of Wiggles and we're just chatting on the way here about just jog my memory when I had my first child and I don't remember being a toddler and being entrapped by the Wiggles as these young kids do but remember when I first had Oscar and he was just gone mental I'll try this Wiggles thing and put the Wiggles on and he just shut up straight away and he's loved it ever since he's four now and he's just like got the pop-out books and got everything so it's amazing to have here but the day will come when he he goes wiggles is for babies no it never and when that happens it's like no it's not no it's

not keep watching it you'll keep watching it my When my kids were young, play school, as a preschool teacher, I loved play school. I still love it. And I would put it on and they came to a stage where it's for babies and I went, are you sure? I know it does. Matt's been on play school. Oh, yeah, you have.

Well done, mate. Yeah, it forced my kids to watch it every day. Before we get into the Wiggles, you mentioned your dad. Do you think, looking back, were you drawn more towards your mum, your dad, or did you have an equal relationship with both parents? Oh, no. I think my dad, because I love my mum, but dad was, he was unbelievable. He did revolutionary things.

This is how old I am, right? I'm 1963. I was born in 1971 or 70. He sat us all down. Now, I was only six or seven, but I still remember it. And he said, I'm wrong about the Vietnam War. I just want to say that. I'm wrong about it.

Because Dad was all gung-ho. And even then, as a kid, I went, wow. He sat us down to tell us he's wrong about something. How old were you at this point? I was six or seven. Straight away, he's just like, listen here, son, I've got some hard truth for you. I'm wrong.

One time I came to him, you know, I'd done something crazy and he said, Anthony, don't be hard on yourself and don't tell your mum. He was a good man. So then it was your mum, though, who introduced you to music, is that right? Yeah, mum went through all the grades for the piano and she loved music so much and she just wanted us to learn music,

have music as part of our lives and she did it. We love music. And so of all, you're one of seven. You're the youngest of seven, correct? I'm the youngest of seven, yeah. So musically talented-wise, who was the best? Where do you rank? Oh, I think Johnny, my brother, he's like an incredible songwriter,

just an amazing guitar player. He was also, I don't know if you guys are into the sport, he was a cricketer and he played for New South Wales under-19s. It's annoying, isn't it, those people who are good at sport and music? They're like, come on. Save some of it for us. But he tortured me as a kid while I was batting. Body line.

It was just. Bit of body line down the driveway, eh? I imagine though with seven kids growing up, like that must have been absolute chaos. The boys, four boys, three girls, and the boys just stuck to each other and the girls just stuck to each other. It was really – and by the way, we had four guys in one room and three girls in another room.

Oh, my goodness. And mum and dad in the other. So we had a three-bedroom house in Laylaw Park, which is – I can imagine the fights and stuff that would have gone on. You know, it was funny. There was no preschools in those days. Mum had seven under six. Oh, my goodness.

Seven kids under six. And she said, you didn't need a preschool. Because they're all there. Yeah, yeah. You've got your own in-house preschool. But you know what else? Talking about the old days, mum would always say, I look at you guys with those disposable nappies and I'd say,

why weren't they around when I was in the middle of the wash? You had to wash all of them. All of the wash. But I'm sure you guys went through it and you go, oh, the environment, I'd rather do disposable. I'll let them poop in the lawn. I'll just get out there. Do the disposable.

Yeah, look, it's a path of least resistance. We have occasionally said like, oh, the environment, absolutely, it is important. But at the same time, when we're working and we're so said like, oh, the environment, absolutely, it is important, but at the same time when we're working and we're so time poor, it's just like whatever is the easiest route to go down. Yeah, I was always disposable, so I'm not. Don't judge us. But also apparently it costs so much to the environment washing.

Oh, yeah. I'll just throw in the excuses. Think of the emissions from the washing machine. What about dummies? Oh, yeah. I'll just throw in the excuses. Think of the emissions from the washing machine. What about dummies? Oh, yeah. He's a dummy guy. Mine grew out really, really early. Yeah.

So I'm like, sorry, Matt. Yeah. Sorry. But this is not a guilt thing because my kids were dummies. Dummies. They love the dummies. Matt still has his dummies. Yeah.

But do you think growing up, I think my first dream was to be a cricketer. Like I remember vividly watching it and seeing it and playing it and going, that's what I want to do. So when your mum introduced you to music, in your head were you like, this is it. This is for me as a kid, this is what I want to do when I grow up. Well, it actually wasn't because when I was seven, you know, when you're seven at primary school, I don't know if they still do it,

but you just write down what you want to be when you grow up. Oh, yeah. What did you say? I wrote, I've still got a teacher, a soldier or a policeman. And I did two of them because I was a teacher and I was a soldier. They're all attainable to people who's like, I want to be an astronaut, I want to be a lion tamer. Anthony, it's not too late.

We still, we could make the policeman happen. Make the police force. We almost joined the police force after the army. I think that's the biggest surprise is, you know, for anyone who doesn't know, you had three years in the army. And I can't imagine there's many people out there who have made the transition from being in the army to then working their way into early education.

How did that transition come about? It was just an accident. My sister was in the early days of the early 90s and late 80s, because I didn't graduate from high school, but you could do a mature age test to get into university. And so I was 23. I'd just come out of the army and my sister said, oh, look, I'm doing this mature age test to get into become a preschool teacher. Would you like to drive me? And I said, yeah. And then I went, you know what, I'll do the test too if I can. And I signed up. So it was all an accident and I passed. She did too, but she didn't want to do it, but I stayed there. And it was just an accident. But as the course went on, I realized it was all about empowering children. Preschool education's about, it was like Bill Gates came up with,

where do you want to go today? That was what was great about preschool education. It wasn't set curriculum like primary school gets. You could be a bit more creative. Much more creative. And really, you'd set up little areas of learning for the children and they could pick out what they wanted to do. But when you get to primary school, it's more like 9 o'clock to 9.30,

that's maths. Schedule, very routine. That's it, yeah. So I loved preschool. And before you took a test to go in, did you have a list of things that you wanted to study or did you just go, I want to teach the young minds? No, no, I had no idea.

I didn't even want to study. I just left the army. I was trying to get into the police force, which I would have done. Yeah. And my sister just went, I'll come and do this. And, okay, here's the male testosterone thing. I had three years in the infantry and I was surrounded by men, learning about, you know, weapons and driving an armour personal carrier.

I just go onto the campus and I look around and there's women everywhere. And it was so. Great. So it just felt peaceful. You're like, this is the place. And it was so – Great. So it just felt peaceful. You're like, this is the place. It really was. I thought that. So I said to Colleen, I'll do the test too.

And I did. And that's how I became a preschool teacher. But it was never in my ambition. But honestly, as it went on, I was sort of going, wow, this world. And putting it in perspective, there was only three men in the 102 years at the Institute of Early Childhood that had graduated before us. So it was really strange that a man was doing at that time. Well, even now, you know, Ash and I were pretty hands-on parents.

And sometimes, you know, if I go to the pub and I'm talking to mates who work full-time and they have a more traditional setup, I go to the pub and I'm talking to mates who work full-time and they have a more traditional setup. I sometimes feel, I don't know, self, I guess, like insecure about my role as a parent because, you know, sometimes I feel like I should be the man who goes and works and brings home the money. When you're talking to your mates, did you ever feel insecure

about saying, oh, I'm going to be a preschool teacher? Not really because my mates, I was always a bit musical and always I never really was the macho man at the time. But it was really different on that, especially in 1990 and 1989. When I went through uni, we had a part of our course that we had to do as males called There's a Man in Our Preschool. Wow. What it was was it was to protect yourself and to be above suspicion

because it was so strange. Even though men are parents and we should be part of children's lives. Yeah, totally, yeah. But, you know. There would have been some stigma, of course, like as there is with a lot of things. And, I mean, it's good that they have that module where it's like it covers you and puts a lot of parents at ease.

That's right. So total hands off. Little children come, they fall over and hurt themselves. They come over for help. Well, I would always direct them to the teacher's assistant. No nappy changing, which was the greatest thing I ever heard. I wasn't going to argue that. You know, so.

Can I get that at home or? Yeah. But I had this really great friend of mine. I went through the Institute of Early Childhood with Andrew and he went on a prac teaching at a primary school and he was waiting outside, like the toilet time, and he would, you know, direct the kids in there. He was waiting outside the toilets and a passing mum called the police.

Oh, my goodness. So, poor Andrew. I mean, that was the sort of thing. It would traumatise you a little bit too. Like just the – I know it's like the mum's probably just being extra cautious. That's right. But for him, he would have been like –

Yeah, this guy suffered from anxiety anyway, so it wasn't a great – But I'll tell you another funny learning thing, what I was teaching. Now, you know children are very, very concrete thinkers. Yep. And when you give an instruction, it usually should go one instruction only. Don't overload. I'm just like, there you go. This thing can do that.

Well, it was probably my first week of teaching and the kids came into the classroom, the three-year-olds, and I went, okay, if you five over there go to the toilet and wash your hands, that would be fantastic. So they went to the toilet and washed their hands in the toilet. Oh, my goodness. And I walked in. Yeah, that was.

They're all in there down there. Was it the same toilet or did they change toilets? I don't know what I'm talking about. But one of the teaching helpers said, they're washing their hands in the toilet. Do they still call the bathroom the toilet and you go wash your hands in the toilet? I guess so. I think so, yeah. That in the toilet. Do they still call the bathroom the toilet? And you go wash your hands in the toilet? I guess so.

I think so, yeah. That's the terminology. As adults, we know, okay, you don't mean wash. You've got to be more specific. In the sink that's in the bathroom, near the toilet. While she was studying, that's when the original cast members of the Wiggles came together. Do you remember what it was like that very first time that you guys,

I'm not musically inclined myself, but had a jam and played together? Jam sesh. Yeah, well, the jam sesh was playing nursery rhymes. It wasn't playing rock and roll. We had a music in theatre education component of the course. And I had this idea because I was listening to ABC and the artists that were out at the same time. And they were doing some good stuff. Don Spencer, Peter Coombe, lifted a Canadian guy called Raffy. He was fantastic. And I thought, well, we've got the early childhood education.

Why don't we make some music? And I can't sing. So we came in and I said, guys, let's have a bit of a jam. And it came from that. Wow. So the first gig that you played, at this point were you thinking, oh my gosh, we could be something really big here? Never thought that.

No, we were real education heads. Yeah. So let's put what we know from child development and see if we do a little show for children that they respond. And that's all it was. You know the guys you see, street performers and all that stuff. We were busking. We just loved it. You're just doing know, the guys you see, street performers and all that stuff, we were busking. We just loved.

We were sort of just doing it for the love of it, really. That's all it was. It still is, really. But, yeah, that's all it was. Have you ever had a song that you've written in the studio and thought, we're onto something here, played it to an audience of kids and it's just not hit the mark? Well, not really because you don't see that.

But what we did once, it was my idea and it was bad. It wasn't great. It was called Dorothy's Question Time. Okay. So we would stop the concert and I'd say, it's Dorothy's Question Time. And we had Dorothy there and we'd say, has anyone got a question for Dorothy?

Now I'd point to it, you know, a little kid put their hands up and say, I'm four. Oh, you're four. It's not quite a question. Then we go to someone else, I've got a dog. And what we realise. It was just Dorothy's statement time. What we realise is that children that age don't understand

what a question is. Yeah. They have to learn that. Yeah. So the next week we change it to Dorothy's News Time. Have you got news for Dorothy? I've four. That's clever, yeah.

And it became, but what Murray labelled it in his very humorous way was the Dorothy Question Time. He said, you should call that Dorothy's Crash and Burn Time. Just a flop segment. It adapted to suit the audience which is great and during that time when early days started to play shows you were doing like city hall town halls and stuff like that and then it just exploded do you remember what that was like like as a group you're like oh my goodness like how do you wrap your head around how big it just went?

Well, in Australia, it was really just word of mouth because you don't get played on the radio with Dorothy the Dinosaur or Rock My Bear. And it just, we called it the Bush Telegraph. And we were the only group doing, like a male group, doing children's shows. And it just, the word spread. And then we did 21 days in a row of RSLs, raising money for the Nursing Mothers Association.

Yeah. And it just grew and grew and we got on television. Then we went on the Ray Martin Show, which is a big show. Yeah, yeah. And then it just, ABC signed us. But America was a different matter. I don't even know how we did that. It's unclear to me how we got over there the first time.

I don't remember, but it just exploded. Really, yeah, like that time, like there was no social media, so it was just like, have you heard of these guys? Eventually it's going to cross over the ocean to someone that they know over there. They put our TV show on Disney Channel. Oh, wow. And the Disney Channel was four times a day.

And I remember when the American fellow from the Disney Channel. Oh, wow. And the Disney Channel was four times a day. And I remember when the American fellow from the Disney Channel came and saw us and said, you know, we've got 84 million subscribers, you know. Oh, my goodness. Oh, really? Okay. Wow. Just like Australia. Yeah.

Totally. When you look back at the history of the Wiggles, this may be a tough question to answer, but is there one particular memory or achievement that stands out as being one of your favourites? I really, look, all the OG stuff was so much fun and ridiculously accidental success. And, you know, doing the Macy's Day Parade, we did three of those with a young fellow, you know, Steve Irwin. We were in the same bus as Steve and just laughing about it, you know, Steve Irwin. We were in the same bus as Steve and just laughing about it, you know. Had a lot of great moments with Steve.

I think the Macy's Parade, we played straight after 9-11 and it was very emotional and I think that was one of the great, great moments. Playing Madison Square Garden in America, Gamblin's brilliant. In Australia, just being able to tour and keep touring. But I really love how the wheels have expanded now and we're more representative of the cultures in Australia and we're gender balanced

and I love that too. I thought you were going to say doing this podcast. Doing the podcast is one of the best. Playing to, you know, adults and then playing to kids, the crowd, what are the differences you see in the crowd? Well, we do the original Wiggles reunion tour and over 18s playing to kids. The crowd, what are the differences you see in the crowd? Well, we do the original Wiggles reunion tour and over-18s come to that. Yeah, yeah. And during one of the first time we did it, the crowd were going crazy

and Greg whispered into my ear, they've spiked the Ribena. So, mate, that is fun and the other ones are fun, but the children's performances, there's much more of a responsibility, of course, that – Yeah, you can be a bit loose with the adults. Well, we keep it the same, though. We keep the show the same because people don't – you don't want to ruin someone's memory by swearing and all that stuff.

I didn't know Greg had such a mouth on him. Yeah, it's true. I mean, he doesn't, but it's true. You don't want that. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy because I can imagine, like, you see, like, you know, rock bands and all sorts of stuff playing to adults and they go to mosh pit and then you guys are playing to kids

and they've got their own little, you know, bit of call and response mosh pit, really. So it's an interesting, different dynamic for sure. Do you know where the kids sit in the mosh pit? Because a lot of the shows we have not seated and children and parents can sit down with their children, which is great. But if they ever come up to the stage, they never push. Children just stand there. They know the boundary?

I know it's just adults later become pushers. Yeah, yeah. But the kids are like, okay. Just, yeah, respect the distance. Because I can imagine those young ones, like, you know, when they saw Dorothy from a distance, for example, they'd be like, oh, my God, it's Dorothy. But then when they got right up and close, they'd be like, oh, my God, it the distance. Because I can imagine those young ones, like, you know, when they saw Dorothy from a distance, for example, they'd be like, oh, my God, it's Dorothy. But then when they got right up and close, they'd be like,

oh, my God, it's Dorothy. Yeah, that's right. Their face would change. So if they get too close to you, they might be like, oh, shit. That's true. Did you always want to be a dad? No, I didn't. I never had.

No, hang on a second. You can't. Wait, wait, wait. I thought someone who worked in early education, it would have been something that you would have always wanted to become. No. Again, I suffer from depression and never thought I was good enough and I just thought, no, it's not for me.

Family's not for me. I'm not good enough. I don't want to be able to, you know. What sort of world am I bringing the kids into? You know, all that sort of stuff. So I really didn't. And Mickey, my wife, she got told by a doctor because she had bad endometriosis that she would never have children.

So we got married and went, okay, we're going to party on, dude. We're going to go. I know I was 41 or 42. Yeah. You know, we're just going to have fun. Yeah. And then nine months later we had a child. Mickey was the same. Would we change it of course not those beautiful beautiful things that happen to us being a dad and a wiggle i mean

when your kids are at the age where it was like really influential to the wiggles were you doing you know daycare drop off and kids would be like a bit in awe or look you know we've got the documentary out at the moment and my kids went so so I went and watched them with my kids. And after it they said, we, three of them, we didn't realise until we've seen this how close friends you were with Murray, Geoff and Greg. Because we were on the road nine months, ten months a year. That's the truth.

I was away so much. They never saw Murray, Greg or Geoff because the last thing you're going to do when you get back to Australia is get the guys. I'm going to go hang out with my mates. So that was, you know, my boy has a little bit of anxiety. He's 16 years old now, 6'3", big boy, but he has anxiety, which comes from when he was a kid because I was away so much. So there's, look, the good side, we provided great education

and lovely home and all that sort of stuff. The other side, they had to put up with me being gone so much, you know. So it's, you know, the way it is, I guess. Did you ever have to perform at one of their parties, like a kid's party? Oh, no. We provided Dorothea and all that for the local schools, plates and stuff. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah.

But when they got to about six, seven, eight, and the Wiggles were no longer cool, I used to threaten that I'll drop my seat in the car or I'd go into the classroom and say, oh, potato, would you like that? I think that's a joke. Dad, stop. No, no, no.

Stop. Now it's cool again, but at the time from about eight to about, you know, 15, it's like I don't want to know about the Wiggles. I bet, I bet. We're at a stage now now our kids are four and two and already now i'm starting to think about the stages of parenting like a newborn phase and i'm wondering like i wonder if i'm going to miss that the most when i'm old or maybe it'll be when they're teenagers you know when they're adults that's what i'll miss

is there a phase of parenting that you look back on and you miss the most oh you know when young toddlers mispronounce words? Oh, it's the best. I love it. My little boy Antonio used to do the YFL, so lollies were yoggies. And I had a great moment with him one time because Mickey, when I came back, she'd go, okay, you're looking after him. I'm getting some time.

She'd go, no worries. And one time I was taking him into town and he started going, bucked beans. Oh, I bucked beans. Bucked beans. I bucked beans. And he started having a freak out. So I pulled over and went into a 7-Eleven, took him in and I found bucked beans. And I said, bucked beans. He goes, no, bucked beans, bucked beans. He went crazy. Anyway, he's crying. He's on the ground. He said, buck beans, these are buck beans. And he goes, no, no, no. It turned out they were jelly beans.

So he pointed to them. Oh, that's amazing. I love it when they're mispronouncing it. Yeah, it's really good. For sure. Do you think it was ever something that you tried to instill into your kids that the Wiggles is something that you guys could do as a career? Never, never, never, never.

I'm really a long way from being a stage dad and Mickey has been brilliant as a, again, that philosophy, go where you want to go. Saying that, there was a little bit of an influence because in our lounge room there's a full drum kit, a guitar. He likes to be like, come on. Yeah, no, there's a full drum kit, a guitar. Yeah, like, be like, come on. Yeah, no, there's everything there. Yeah. So if they became a doctor or a lawyer, I would have been disappointed.

But be a doctor and a lawyer that can also play guitar. Yeah, that's the way to look at it. Yeah, totally. What was it like then sharing the stage with your daughter for the first time? Again, it was because, you know, Lucia went to the Australian Ballet School for three years where she boarded and I was on tour, so I didn't really see her as much as I would have liked to.

But Maria, my other daughter, she's an actor and I hate to say it, but sometimes you pigeonhole your children. Maria was the singer. We called her like she's the singer, Lucia's the dancer. Antonio's the drummer, guitar player. He's pretty amazing. But it happened, we did the re-Wegald album. We did all these covers of Australian songs. We did Lime Cordial because she suggested Lucia. We did Apple Crumble. And we came to the studio. She said, I want to be there. And I said, okay. We needed someone to do the harmony. I never knew she sung. She said, oh, I could jump in and do it.

She did this harmony. And Al, our sound man, when we were looking for Blue Wiggle, said, why don't you let Chia sing? And I went, she sings? And I went, okay. And I asked her and she went, well, okay. But never, ever pushed her. So it's been great.

She's been amazing on the road. And you guys will know as your kids get older and older, they start giving you, you know, you start being the guys giving them advice. She's like, Dad, you know, we've got a meet and greet in 20 minutes. Or she knocks on my door, are you ready yet? Oh, amazing. Just keeping you in check, which is great. Nice, mate.

As a dad, what do you think your most proudest moment is with your kid? You know, each kid, each child makes you proud. You know, like Antonio, he suffers from anaphylaxis. So he's anaphylactic and I'm so proud of him the way that he just accepts it and goes, okay, and he's kind of very sensible about it. When you're a parent, when they're four and two, that's one of the most frightening things that someone could give your child a nut. Yeah.

and two, that's one of the most frightening things that someone could give your child a nut. Yeah. And, you know, but I've been so proud of the way that he's taken on that challenge, you know, and that's been great. Maria works and works and works at her studies and stuff like that. She wants to be an actor and she's brilliant. And the same thing, I'm just proud of them, how they've just got their own destiny.

Maria's the one, because she was the singer, I said, would you ever like to be a Wiggle? She said, no, no, no. And I'm really happy with that, you know. So, yeah. Time is running out. I'm going to ask one last question. Can you confirm the official term for a young Wiggle, a toddler Wiggle?

Is it a Wiglet? Oh, I know because that'd be a female usually. Oh, good one. Yeah. Okay. Is there an official term for a young Wiggle fan? No. There should be.

Yeah. Have you guys got it? No. That was ours. No, that's it. Back to the drawing board. Yeah, we'll go back. Sorry, we didn't even think about that.

We've got to keep it gender neutral, Matthew. Yeah, you do. I do just want to say before you go, on behalf of parents from not just Australia, but from all around the world, thank you for everything you have done to make our lives just a little bit easier. Mate, thanks from all the dads. Thank you guys for handing out the advice. It's great.

No worries, no worries. It's been an absolute pleasure. Anthony, thank you very much. Thanks, guys. That's the quickest half hour I've ever had. Is that a good thing? I hope it's a good thing. I know.

Mate, we could do this all day, but thank you so much. Yeah, great, mate. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. All the best with the parody. Holy shit. I felt a bit like that afterwards because he's such a great guy. It just felt like a really good chat i blinked my

eyes it was over and 30 minutes was up and i was like oh my god and i was like don't go i felt like he wanted to stay yeah i mean i'm sure if we had a couple of beers in the fridge crack them open can i just say that fucking guy who came in and knocked on the door i was like don't i've enjoyed this too much yeah it's like does anthony need anything you're interrupting one of the reasons why we had the opportunity to sit down with anthony wiggle anthony field is because there is a cracking new documentary that's just come out tells the story of the wiggles i know the opening scene gave me goosebumps just the vhs segments in that just nostalgia and i really really just bring back a whole lot for me early on like straight away like oh shit here we go it was a

really well done doctor like i'm not not just saying it because we spoke to anthony but it was really well done yeah if you grew up with the wiggles and you're in your 30s now watch it because it just brang back so many memories for me like it brang back memories from you know spending time with my grandmother she used to vhs everything and then all these little things about the 90s and that just i'm like shit i forgot about that but also with some of their songs like there was because the guys met when they were in early child care at uni when they were studying a lot of the songs were written with like what they were being taught at university at the forefront.

So like, you know, kids like action, so they wanted action. A lot of child psychology in a lot of the songs. Yeah, and it's amazing to get that background on those songs. And even like how they came up with Dorothy. Captain Feathersword, I was like, because Anthony in the doco actually says everyone was going to parties dressed as both a pirate and a dinosaur, but we didn't want the guns, we didn't want the weapons. Feathersword.

The Feathersword, which is genius. Yeah, it's so good. It is such an awesome doco. And if you want to watch it, it's on Prime Video, and it's called Hot Potato, The Story of the Wiggles. It's out right now, and we absolutely bloody loved it. And also, if you haven't listened to The Wiggles, I don't need to say this, but hey, I recommend it.

100%. And also, if you've enjoyed this episode, as always, we would love it more than anything if you would just give us a little review, subscribe. Five stars. Send it to a mate. And if there's any other parents out there, could be guys, could be girls, let us know who you'd want us to speak to and we will try and get them on the podcast. We will stalk them, hunt them down, get them on.

But we'll see you guys next Wednesday. Thanks, guys. Bye. Bye. Two Doting Dads podcast acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. This episode was recorded on Gadigal land.