Episodes
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For their final guest of the second season, Sammy and Lesa are joined by Hoani Hotene (2022 Raw Comedy Quest WINNER and recently announced 2025 Billy T Comedy Award nominee!). They already know they are friends with Hoani, so much so they had told him repeatedly that he couldn't be on the podcast, but maybe feature 'on a mini off-shoot version'. Undeterred, Hoani remained one of 'Are We Pals?' biggest fans, and when Sammy messaged Hoani to say congrats on the Billy T nom, he asked if this meant he could finally be on the pod. So they agreed, mainly because they hadn't secured another guest yet.
In all serious, Hoani is one of the best emerging comedy acts in Aotearoa, and this is a fab chat covering his university education, his party days in Spain, what it's like competing against friends and how he thinks he is the only person that has ever listened to Are We Pals?!
But are they still friends by the end of the chat? Or does the risky non-negotiable put a stop to all that, for the first time in AWP history?!
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Sammy and Lesa got together for a cosy catch up at the start of Spring, diving into the latest happenings in their lives. Sammy shares her experience joining an antenatal class, hoping to make new parent friends in her area—and to learn a thing or two about giving birth too.
Meanwhile, Lesa has some incredibly strong opinions about children's entertainers that she just can't hold back. What starts as a pretty normal chat about local community life somehow spirals, complete with an unexpected amount of singing and Sammy reminiscing about her time in The Sound of Music. And for return listeners, you'll be delighted to know that Lesa's daughter Frida makes another brief cameo.
Join from the beginning for some sensible grown-up chat, or skip to the 17 min mark for when it all starts to derail as Lesa confesses her true feelings about those who sing sincerely in front of her.
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Missing episodes?
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This week Sammy and Lesa are trying to find out if Jerome Chandrahasen (TVNZ's Comedy Gala, Wellington Paranormal and the main comedy booker in Wellington) is their friend or just simply a work colleague. Jerome started comedy back in 2003 alongside people like James Nokise, Ben Hurley, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement. He also runs Wellington's longest running stand up comedy gig Raw Meat Monday, co-founded the Humorous Arts Trust in 2010 and has had a direct impact on many a New Zealand comedy career, including Sammy's and Lesa's!
Find out what he likes to do in his spare time, how he got started in comedy and what he sees for the future. We also decide if we should stage a live birth at the Carterton Events centre.
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Sammy and Lesa have decided that this cosy catch up should be used for actually catching up. Both have had some good news and bad news in the last week (including fun gigs, babymoons, break-ins and failed driving tests) so now is the perfect time to talk about it.
During this far-ranging yap, they discover they lived in the same part of London at the exact same time. Have they met before? Could they have been London friends? And why did neither of them go to the Olympics 2012? Grab a cuppa and settle in for a cosy catch up with your favourite pals!
Want to share your friendship activities? Head to the Are We Pals? facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2326562730880809
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Sammy and Lesa are trying to find out if David Correos (who you'll know Taskmaster NZ and all those Burger King ads) is their friend. But, the window to find out is tight! In between work, school drop off and Sammy and David having to head over to Grey Town for a comedy gig, the pals have roughly half an hour to pin David down, and get him to tell them where they rank in his top 100 friends list.
In this chaotic and completely UNEDITED episode (there was no time for that!), Sammy and Lesa forgo their normal intros, forget their own format, try to find their non-negotiable on the fly, and end up bringing comedian and comedy promoter Jerome Chandrahassen onto the pod for the last five minutes, because he was designated gig driver and turned up SO early to the meeting spot that they panic and invite him over to Sammy's house instead.
We also find out just how popular David is, the concept of screenshotting memories and why he would struggle to have a wedding. It's an Are We Pals? ep like no other! But the exact kind of chaos you would expect when you invite David Correous over to your house.
Make sure to follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/arewepals/ and check out David Correos at https://www.instagram.com/davidpostoffice/
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Lesa and Sammy are back together for another Cosy Catch Up. But sadly, life has not been the easiest for one of our 'Are We Pals?' twosome. Having had to put the podcast on hold for a couple of episodes, the pals manage to get together to have a chat about everything that's been going on and generally catch up on life. In between a more serious chat about loss, they also manage to cover 'getting your colours read' (the spiritual kind), planning a fake holiday to Greece and then almost start getting into foreign politics before reigning themselves back in. Enjoy, and don't forget to tell your friends you love them.
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Join Sammy and Lesa as they catch up with Kiwi comedy legend Steve Wrigley on the latest episode of "Are We Pals?".
Steve, once a staple on the New Zealand comedy scene, now tours the US comedy circuit but recently returned to Wellington to visit. There, he invited Sammy and Lesa to open for him at his gigs and even back to his "dodgy" Airbnb (which, despite its alleyway location, turned out to be just fine—thanks to Sammy and Lesa's thorough background checks).
They kick things off by dissecting quirks of friendship in the US versus New Zealand, Lesa confesses to not knowing who Steve is and Sammy blurts out a secret towards the end as Steve and Lesa gush over the cuteness of children,
And of course, don't miss out on discovering Steve's ultimate friendship rule—his non-negotiable when it comes to pals. So are Sammy, Lesa, and Steve officially friends? Tune in to "Are We Pals?" to find out!
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Sammy and Lesa are back and their friendship is as strong as ever. So why did they disappear off the face of the earth for a while? Why did they mysteriously start Season Two and then go silent? And why has someone unfriended Lesa on Facebook?
Find out all the goss in this (newly titled) Cosy Catch Up.
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Sammy and Lesa are back for Season 2!
Before the NZ International Comedy Festival kicked off they managed to score a chat with the wonderful Comedian Olga Koch while she was performing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
In this episode, they discuss how to forcibly invite yourself to a new friend’s wedding and the pain that can come when you think someone wants to be your friend, but discover they were simply "networking".
Make sure you grab tickets to Olga’s show Prawn Cocktail - book one of the last few tickets here! https://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/find-a-show/prawn-cocktail/
While you’re at it, why not grab a ticket to Lesa and Sammy’s shows:
Samantha Hannah / Female Lady Women Comedians https://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/find-a-show/female-lady-woman-comedians/
Lesa MacLeod-Whiting & Gabby Anderson / Flow State https://www.comedyfestival.co.nz/find-a-show/flow-state/
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As Season One of 'Are We Pals?' comes to a close, there's a switcheroo version of the first episode. This time, Lesa interviews Sammy. Are they still going to be friends? Will there be a Season Two? Do they have new non-negotiables? Are cousins a dying concept? Settle in for the last ep to hear all this and more. Then make sure to follow @arewepals on Instagram, join the Are We Pals? Facebook Group, or if you're feeling particularly generous, support the patreon!
Make sure to check in next season for another round of chats about Adult Friendship.
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Sammy and Lesa are back in the fort and are rather full from too much lasagna and nachos. But after one of their pod pals wrote in asking what to do when a friendship fizzles out, they have a job to do. They simply must chat about it! This Snap Chat is longer than usual and goes on some surprising tangents, including one about being intimate with the contents of a wine bottle. Enjoy!
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Sammy and Lesa chat with Real Life Wife social media superstar and comedian Krystine Nation over video call from The Fort. Krystine talks about her 172,000 friends, how comedy has helped her manage her emotions and spills the tea on some pretty juicy friendship drama. We also find out her non-negotiable and discover if she is a pal! Be sure to catch Krystine, Samantha and Lesa's shows at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival this May. Tickets are available now.
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On this week's Snap Chat, Lesa's four-year-old daughter Frida joins the Are We Pals? team in the fort! They answer a Pod Pal question from a male listener who realised, after being asked to produce photos of his best friend for a hen do, that he had a distinct lack of photos of his friends. This reminded him of a song by NoFX which was sung by the lead singer after his friend passed away, and touches on the fact you never take photos of your best friends because you never think that you'll never see them again. As they try to tackle that, Lesa and Sammy also try to keep Frida entertained. Who says the modern podcaster can't parent AND work at the same time?
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Sammy and Lesa are back and this time they're in the lovely Te Auaha Cinema Room in Wellington to find out if New Zealand comedian Ben Hurley regards them as friends. Ben (7Days, The Project, Seven Sharp) shares his friendship history, his thoughts on male intimacy and tells us why we need to eat more kina.
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Lesa and Sammy have made a fort and have cosied up inside it to talk about friendship. This week, they share their thoughts on what to do when you've committed to too many friendships. They mull over an Italian custom known as 'squillo', accept that some friends are bad at communicating, and discuss the controversial notion of bringing all your different friend groups together for a party. They also share who the 'friend of the week' is! And it's Sammy's mum's best friend. Cute!
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Samantha and Lesa chat to New Zealand comedian Justine Smith in a dressing room at the Wellington Opera House, before Jussi and Sammy perform at Dai Henwood's homecoming gig. They talk Taskmaster NZ, how Justine has become 'Auntie' to up-and-coming comedians, and they all find out if they are all friends.
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In between celebrity interviews, Sammy and Lesa dive into friendship topics provided by listeners of the podcast, or "pod pals" if you will. Here they ask, "are sleepovers still cool?" and reminisce on their experiences growing up while chatting about what constitutes a sleepover. They also start to dream of setting up Are We Pals? live events! Would you come to a sleepover with them in a planetarium?
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Dai Henwood gigged with Sammy once but met Lesa for the first time in this podcast episode. While finding out if friendship could be on the cards, they talk about left-field friends, Dai's cancer diagnosis and reveal their non-negotiables. Have a listen to discover their friendship fate.
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Are We Pals? is a podcast all about adult friendship. Where co-hosts Lesa and Sammy (Wellington comedians Lesa MacLeod-Whiting and Samantha Hannah) find out who their true friends are, and try to make some new ones along the way. Before they can do that though, they must first establish their friendship. Are they friends? Or are they destined to be solely podcast co-hosts? In this very first episode, they find out! And the results were not quite what they were both expecting.
