If you’ve turned on your TV at all this week, it’s likely you’ve seen the friendly faces of Hamish Blake and Andy Lee.
The pair, who are two of the country’s most popular comedians, are currently dominating the Australian media space after taking their popular radio show to TV screens, and launching their very own podcast.
But long before the pair became the massive names they are today, both Hamish and Andy started their careers with humble beginnings.
Take a look at some of our favourite Hamish and Andy moments below. Post continues after video.
Speaking on The Kyle and Jackie O Show earlier this week, Andy Lee, now 38, shared that his career in media actually began on the radio show.
“Do you guys know that I panelled for you guys for the Hot 30 Countdown?” Andy asked the radio hosts.
“Noooo!” Jackie responded.
“Oh hang on, all those years ago you were panelling in the Melbourne studios,” Kyle chimed in.
After sharing that he had worked with the radio hosts in 2003, Andy admitted that he was soon “moved on” from the role.
“I got moved on after I thought I’d put you guys to air for one entire break and I’d gone to the toilet and hadn’t, so Melbourne just had nothing for a fair bit,” Andy admitted.
“And I felt really bad and I was like, ‘I need to talk to Kyle and Jackie O and apologise’ and he [Andy’s boss] said, ‘No, if they don’t find out, let’s just leave it,'” he added.
“And now I know a lot more about Kyle and I’m glad I never mentioned it.”
In the same interview, Andy shared that his first TV show alongside Hamish Blake didn't exactly perform well.
"Hamish and I had a failed show on Channel Seven called Hamish and Andy," he said.
"It was a terrible show that lasted six episodes back in 2004."
Several years after the show was cancelled due to bad ratings, Andy tried and failed to track down the master tapes for the show as he had never watched the series.
But after contacting Channel Seven, Andy was told that the network had taped over the show during the Commonwealth Games.
Andy Lee's career.
Hamish and Andy first met while studying at the University of Melbourne in 2001.
After their disastrous Channel Seven TV show was cancelled, the pair hosted the national Hamish & Andy radio show on the Hit Network between 4pm and 6pm, Monday to Friday, from 2007.
In 2011, the show was cut back to a weekly Friday show, as the pair wanted to pursue other opportunities.
At the end of 2017, Hamish and Andy left radio entirely, with their show now continuing in a weekly podcast-only format.
The pair have also created a number of TV series together, including Hamish & Andy's Gap Year, Hamish & Andy's Caravan of Courage and Hamish & Andy's "Perfect" Holiday, which is currently airing again on Channel Nine.
Andy Lee's 'feud' with Wil Anderson.
In a podcast interview in June 2019, Andy Lee addressed the comedy duo's years-long feud with Wil Anderson.
Speaking on Anderson's Wilosophy podcast, Lee recalled the pair getting their start on a TV sketch show called Big Bite, which also starred Chris Lilley and Kate McCartney.
At just 21 years old, it was decided by executives that the program would be renamed Hamish & Andy, which didn’t sit comfortably with either of the two comedians.
Lee described it as an "awful experience," and feeling as though the rest of the cast was looking at them like they’d stolen the show.
"You guys were young, and you were put into a show where I knew a whole bunch of people who were involved in the show, and some of them were not happy that these two young people had been thrown into this show, so I was getting a lot of stories," said Anderson, 46, implying they weren’t popular on set.
In the years that followed, Lee and Blake became the punchline to Anderson's jokes, with Lee later confronting Anderson about the jokes in person.
Although the confrontation didn't exactly change Lee's view of Anderson at the time, Anderson eventually dropped his grudge against the pair.
The comedian explained that he had built up a profile of them, as two guys from "every American college movie" who were arrogant and "swanned into this thing" without any comedy credentials.
"I’d forgotten that Hamish and Andy were people… not a brand and not a symbol of something but actual people," he said.
Andy Lee's relationships.
Andy Lee started dating Rebecca Harding in 2015, after she served him in a Melbourne cafe.
After briefly separating in 2016, the pair reunited and are now self-isolating together at home.
Throughout their five year relationship, the couple has been subject to constant engagement rumours.
Speaking on her new Instagram series, The Lady Bunch, Harding shared that she's used to hearing questions about her future with Lee.
"I don't know, hopefully, one day," she said, when asked about whether she hopes to marry Lee in the future.
"That'd be great, but we are, as a couple, really happy with our life as is and don't currently feel as though we need a wedding and diamond ring to complete us. But also, I've never been one of those girls who would look at bridal magazines and say 'that's my ideal wedding dress' or 'that's the venue that I want to get married at'."
Prior to dating Harding, Lee dated Megan Gale from 2006, after meeting the Australian model on his radio show with Blake.
The couple remained together until 2010, when they amicably went their separate ways.
Speaking to Mia Freedman on Mamamia’s No Filter podcast in March, the mother-of-two shared how the public sentiment drastically changed after their split.
"It was very demeaning. I get how it happens, I don’t like it, I don’t accept it. It was really challenging to navigate for a while," she said.
"It wasn’t a good time. It almost felt like I had done something wrong and I had been tarnished like I’d done something wrong. When I was with [Andy], everyone loved us together.
"We were going through what we were going through very privately for quite a while, so when people found out we were broken up, I think it came as a bit of a shock and I did appear to have moved on relatively quickly.
"It was new for other people, but it was old for us."
Listen to Megan Gale’s chat with Mia Freedman on No Filter below. Post continues after podcast.
Gale later began a relationship with Richmond AFL player Shaun Hampson. The pair, who now have two children together, announced their engagement in mid-2017.
Andy Lee's brief encounter with Lily Allen.
While speaking to Nova 96.9’s Fitzy and Wippa in 2019, Andy Lee admitted that he once had a very brief romantic encounter with Lily Allen, after the British musician came into the studio to do an interview with Hamish & Andy in 2006.
"I went on a few dates with Lily Allen back in the day… Two dates with Lily Allen, and I was really into her," he said, explaining it felt very "Notting Hill".
After attending Allen's concert, the singer's manager asked if Lee could stick around.
"So we went out for dinner and then we shared a kiss in the car on the way home as I got dropped off," he said.
The pair then went out for a second date in Sydney after exchanging phone numbers.
Once Allen returned to the UK, however, Allen... ghosted him.
Yep, Lee emailed her and she never replied. Yikes.
Feature Image: Channel Nine/Instagram.
For more on this topic:
- "I lean over and it's blank." How Hamish and Andy almost had their own 'Moonlight moment'.
- “It wasn’t a good time." Megan Gale on the aftermath of her split from Andy Lee.
- Andy Lee's interview with Wil Anderson was a masterclass in calling someone out.
- Andy Lee and Lily Allen dated in 2006. Then she ghosted him.
- Andy Lee's boyfriend fail saw Bec Harding trapped in a bathroom for 8 hours.
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