Episode 188 - Merry Ugly Christmas
2019-12-24
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
Guest co-hostScott Watkins
Roving reportersGerard Grette Wilkinson Lyndell Murray Mark Scarborough Matty Trent Paul Kitching Tony O'Connell
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Merry Ugly Christmas! Episode 188, our final episode for 2019, is here!
The dashing 'through the snow' Dr Scott Watkins brings a bunch of merry and bright as guest co-host this week, and the Channel 5 News Crew get in on the festive fun!
Plus we have roving reports from Maylands Peninsula (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Bunyaville (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Wilson Botanic (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Pakapakanthi (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Traralgon (opens in a new tab) parkrun and Carisbrooke (opens in a new tab) parkrun in Australia, and Nautical (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Bronte in Canada!
Tis the season to be punny: http://parkrun.social/pa-pod
From the podcast feed
The parkrun adventurers celebrate the season finale of the pod’s fourth season with all the cheer a tinsel of Ugly Christmas Singlets can bring! The Channel 5 News Crew are in fine festive form, and we have roving reports from Maylands Peninsula (opens in a new tab), Bunyaville (opens in a new tab), Wilson Botanic (opens in a new tab), Pakapakanthi (opens in a new tab), Traralgon (opens in a new tab), and Carisbrooke (opens in a new tab) parkruns in Australia, plus Nautical (opens in a new tab) parkrun in Canada. Merry Ugly Christmas!
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Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptGuests
Scott Watkins
Brought on as a one-off guest co-host and questioned by Mel about his weekend at Albert Melbourne, his year of parkrun travel (the Seoul Flyers running group in Korea, RecPlex North in Pensacola, Florida), Ugly Christmas Singlet Day, and his Christmas wish for parkrun to come to Korea.
Scott Trickett
Santa drops in on the Christmas episode for a bonbon-cracking session, bad jokes, his highlights of the year (the listener meetup at The Beaches, a road trip to [Campaspe], running Torquay in the rain) and a Christmas message to listeners.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:22
Melissa Erbacher alone, introducing the season four finale (episode 46 of the season, episode 188) before going straight into the first segment.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 17:41
The bulk of the episode: a long block of Ugly Christmas Singlet Day roving reports and Christmas messages from the crew. Matty Trent at Maylands Peninsula (interviewing Emma and Ben, who are getting married that day); Gerard "the G-Train" at Nautical parkrun, Oakville, Canada (Roderick, Berenice Schuller and Richard); Lyndell Murray at Bunyaville with four Run Directors; a Christmas message from Cameron Drake; Mark Scarborough from a Canberra breakfast after every ACT parkrun was cancelled for bushfire smoke; an unnamed reporter at Wilson Botanic; PK at Pakapakanthi; TOC at Traralgon with Run Down Under founder Travis; Greta at Carisbrooke; and a sign-off from David in Adelaide. Reporters are explicitly identified as the Channel 5 News Crew and.
Dad joke starts at 26:27
Inside Lyndell's Bunyaville report she puts Run Director Tim Ellis on the spot, "Now, Tim, you are the king of the dad jokes... I'm counting on you for a cracker of a Christmas joke", producing "What do you call Santa when he lives at the South Pole? A lost clause." Steve Marston follows with a deliberately punchline-less one, "why did the koala cuddle the pineapple?", which he lodges as a question on notice to Mel Erbacher; Mel answers it back in the studio with "because he knew it was sweet on the inside and he wanted to live pineapple-y ever after."
Season finale year in review starts at 55:36
Season four finale reflections. Scott Watkins picks his highlights (running with the Seoul Flyers in Korea, and visiting the isolated RecPlex North parkrun in Pensacola, Florida); Mel picks International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day and the birth of her second son. Mel thanks the Channel 5 News Crew by name, "Cam, Dave, Gary, Greta, Lyndell, Mark, Melissa, PK, [TOC]", for stepping up as co-hosts after Scott Trickett left mid-year, and Scott Watkins notes the milestone that with episode 188 the parkrun adventurers overtakes the original UK parkrun show as the parkrun podcast with the most episodes.
Christmas bonbon jokes starts at 1:09:26
Mel and guest co-host Scott Watkins physically crack Christmas bonbons down the microphone and read out the jokes inside (the elf who won the lottery; "what do you call a crate of ducks? A box of quackers"), then riff on who writes them for a living. Santa cracks another with Mel and gets an Easter joke by mistake. Santa names it a show tradition, "it's a parkrun adventurers tradition, Christmas jokes", and nearly every roving reporter in the episode also contributes a bonbon joke, so the whole episode is threaded with them.
Sign-off starts at 1:15:05
The guest co-host Scott said contributing to the last episode of the year had been an unexpected honour and privilege, congratulated Mel on all she had achieved, wished her a happy end to the year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and said he looked forward to more next year. Mel thanked him for joining her, said it had been a big deal having another Scott on the pod, that he had done a great job and was welcome back any time; he said he would be happy to but remained first and foremost a passionate listener, and signed off thanking everyone who had been with them, telling listeners to enjoy any break, stay safe, stay running and keep enjoying their adventures.
Santa's Christmas visit starts at 1:17:24
Post-outro bonus segment: Santa "lands on the roof" and joins Mel for a chat, cracks a bonbon, tells a broken-drum joke, and shares his year's highlights (the listener meetup at The Beaches, a road trip to [Campaspe], running Torquay in torrential rain) before wishing the community well. Santa is transparently Scott Trickett, the show's founder and departed co-host, in character, Mel slips and calls him "Scotty".