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MAFS Funny Podcast

Mum's co-host audition: Family secrets

13 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What embarrassing stories does Josh's mum share about him?

0.031 - 24.529 Joshua Fox

okay mum okay josh that was your episode take the lead not that easy just to come up with funny stories about yourself this is your episode you need to intro the episode i need to what do an intro oh hi this is josh's mom What can we say? It's asked me to come up with funny stories, which is quite hard to do.

0

24.549 - 34.124 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

No, no, no, no, no. A podcast. You listen to mine. It's like, hello and welcome to the occasionally funny podcast. Like it's an intro. You can't sound bored.

0

34.144 - 34.584 Joshua Fox

Okay.

0

36.788 - 38.691 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

You can't do it. Is that because dad's in the room?

0

39.652 - 54.92 Joshua Fox

No, that's not me. It's a podcast. It's a show. Right. Okay. Welcome to the podcast. See, it counts on now. I'm getting all fussed.

55.643 - 56.205 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Fantastic.

58.011 - 62.597 Joshua Fox

Okay. Why don't you just give Sam the job?

62.617 - 65.361 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Because people have asked for you as well.

65.641 - 66.342 Joshua Fox

No, why?

Chapter 2: How did family dynamics influence Josh's upbringing?

209.689 - 238.62 Joshua Fox

So I explained, and you were like, ooh, nearly throwing up, and ooh. So the following night, you'd booked us in a lovely restaurant, rooftop cocktails, everything. And you said, right, mum, you need to dress up. Right, okay. So I put a lovely dress on. And you and I were walking down. Oh, it was gorgeous. Some pathway just lined with trees. It was lovely. And we were taking pictures.

0

238.7 - 246.946 Joshua Fox

And you turned to me and went, mum, what? Are you pissing? Are you pissing now? And I'm like, oh, my God.

0

247.406 - 268.38 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

For some context for the listeners, when I saw your tenor lady things, I wasn't aware that post-children women can need them because you may, for decades after, apparently, have a little wee now and again, unexpectedly. Well... Yeah, no, that's fine. I was educated. But then...

0

268.428 - 284.908 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

When I asked you that, we were enjoying this lovely sunset, the flowers, the arches, pictures, and you just suddenly gone from a smile on your face to like a strained expression that reminded me when you look at a baby and it's like, are they doing the business? So that's why I said, are you doing a piss?

0

284.928 - 287.692 Joshua Fox

No, I'm absolutely not. What, you mean I'm a Jovianette now?

288.152 - 296.663 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

No, in that moment in Italy when you suddenly had the smile, then I was like, oh, she looks a bit in discomfort right now. Is this happening?

296.883 - 296.983

Yeah.

297.453 - 308.608 Joshua Fox

So yeah, so that was a funny little story about you. I've got lots of little stories. So do you remember when you started primary school?

309.169 - 309.229 Unknown

No.

Chapter 3: What funny anecdotes does Josh's mum recount from their travels?

426.8 - 440.16 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

But is that thing, you know, when someone goes, oh, look at my baby, it's the cutest baby in the world. And someone else looks at it and goes, oh yeah, nice. I'm your son. So you're like, oh, they're great stories. But no, carry on. Maybe they'll get a bit better.

0

441.122 - 449.915 Joshua Fox

Right, well, the other stories I've got, and you can tell me, right, which ones. So there's one about Costco where you sold off a pagoda school. No, we probably won't do that now.

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450.215 - 452.098 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

I was selling Costco things in school.

0

452.855 - 453.496 Joshua Fox

Well, yeah.

0

454.197 - 456.82 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Well, that's business model wholesale to the market.

456.94 - 480.908 Joshua Fox

What about when you were going to the Leeds Festival for the first time and you asked if a couple of your friends could stay and there was a minibus turned outside and they were all dying at our house. But then did you not also do it when you were watching people like us and you wanted to organise coach fits from my house to the Laundrette on Boston Lane?

481.108 - 481.208

What?

481.863 - 487.738 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Well, the thing is, so People Like Us was, it was like a fly on the wall documentary showing the area we grew up in.

489.608 - 501.429 Unknown

Just north of the city centre is a little-known Manchester suburb called Harper Hay. Ten years ago, a government report branded it the most deprived neighbourhood in England. It's a simple question I ask. Yeah, and I'm trying to answer it.

Chapter 4: What lessons about entrepreneurship does Josh's mum share?

685.108 - 689.884 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

And this sums up, you say that people like us show, this is how we were raised. And I remember...

0

690.286 - 712.159 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Damien again your brother he one day he was insistent to you that he must pick me and you know my siblings our brothers up from school yeah and you're a bit like oh that Damien's never cared to do that before all right nice he's trying to be a good uncle pick the kids up whatever and then you find out that as he's picked us up in the school car park he's arrived not in his car but in a transit van

0

712.139 - 731.818 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

And in the back of the van, he's got hundreds of pairs of like fake Nike trainers. And instead of picking us up, he's made us help try and flog these trainers to other parents, moms. And you're like, why are they home so late? And then you find out the school have reached out. Can you please not sell counterfeit merchandise in the car park?

0

732.524 - 755.866 Joshua Fox

Oh, so funny. And I remember when he used to take the three of you to the pictures with his kit and he said, make sure they put the hoodies on. And I'm like, oh, why does it get cold in the pictures? He's like, yeah, right. So I put hoodies on, but unbeknownst to me, before he took you into the pictures, he took you to the pick and mix. where you couldn't just help yourself. I remember this.

0

756.327 - 776.369 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

I felt I was going to prison after this. I was about six years old and terrified because what did he do? You weren't even there. I was there. I still have the fear and anxiety. First, he's got me, Michael, Jamie. So that's our three. Then he's got his three. That's six kids with Damien. So that's seven tickets he needs. First, we arrive. He goes, right, I'm going to distract them.

776.429 - 793.504 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Four of you run in. So then we've snuck in the cinema and Then before we're allowed to go to the screening, we go to the little suite section. Again, he's insisted we all wear big hoodies. You're like, all right, must be cold. Then as we're in there, each child, he takes one handful of sweets in my hood, one handful in someone else's hood.

794.065 - 812.76 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Then we finally get to the cinema full of all these stolen sweets. And he's like, oh, don't go back there. Yeah, we finally finished Harry Potter. Three hours, mind you, and I don't have much attention span. Then we think we're on the way home. Then he goes, right, we're just going to jump in this one. Makes us watch James Bond. And then when we're leaving James Bond, Lord of the Rings.

812.981 - 817.088 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

We were gone about 12 hours. And this was before mobile phones.

817.658 - 830.162 Joshua Fox

I nearly had the police. It's like, where are they? I'm ringing them. Man, where are they? You suck them out of the pictures and I don't know. This is like all day. It's like, oh no, these freaks have been kidnapped.

Chapter 5: How does the podcast explore the concept of community in deprived areas?

894.788 - 920.515 Joshua Fox

And where did you get it from? And they went, well, Cobden Street round the corner. And my dad said, what? You've robbed off your own. So they went, well, yeah. And I said, your granddad gave them all a good slap. And said, take it back. You never rob off your own. If it would have come out of the warehouse, yeah, that would have been fine. But no, you take it back to where you pinched it from.

0

922.52 - 926.729 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

See, I never knew that, but the more I'm realising, I was raised in a life of crime.

0

927.19 - 929.335 Joshua Fox

You weren't playing me in your town. Not at all.

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929.355 - 935.849 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

You know one thing I always remember, though, which sticks out with me, do you remember when I had my iPod robbed at the local bus stop?

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935.95 - 937.753 Joshua Fox

Oh, God, that was horrendous.

937.774 - 959.787 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

And I think I'd just turned 17 because I'd just left school. And I remember it was middle of the day on like a Wednesday, like midday. And then I had, you know, you get the wire up your t-shirt back in the day before the AirPods. And I was listening to my iPod and this guy comes up and he's like, presses a knife on my torso and he presses his other arm on me.

959.988 - 974.592 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

And like my arms are in my pocket, so I'm kind of trapped. Then he goes... give me your phone. I was like, it's an iPod. Then he's like, give me your iPod. And then I like thumb it out. Cause my hands are in my pocket. Like, there you go. Unplug the wire. Then he's like on the headphones and I'm struggling.

975.174 - 975.274

Yeah.

975.372 - 995.021 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Yeah, I'm struggling trying to get the headphones out because they're all caught up inside my jacket. And this knife still pressed on me. And I'm like, oh, my God, am I going to die? And then, you know, he gets the iPod and the headphones and runs off. And I'm stood there like, and I had two thoughts. First was, oh, my God, I could have died.

Chapter 6: What humorous stories illustrate the family's resourcefulness?

1073.473 - 1095.103 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

They're like... And then this like young person opens and they grab him by the collar. They're like, Josh, is this him? Is this the dickhead? And like, this guy looks terrified. He's like, well, all these tooled up guys ready to bash him. And everyone looks at me, stood at the gate in my skinny jeans and my emo fringe. And then I'm like, uh, no.

0

1095.083 - 1117.885 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

and then they just like oh and then they all went oh sorry to the guy and we just left and that was um where we were raised and that may also explain why as soon as i was of legal age i did leave the area i know and you know what we make it sound horrible um and yeah it was the rough area but it was also

0

1118.168 - 1143.096 Joshua Fox

um family we have community there was all of that amongst that and that thing of we don't phone the police we settle this ourselves i mean that i don't like violence never have so i don't that's not me but that's how everyone is raised there it's like your family looking out for you as well and because there was a lot it was done out of love as well

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1143.38 - 1164.595 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Yeah, well, it was like you protect your family. We have each other's backs. We don't need anyone else. We don't need police because there's like a distrust of police in these communities. But yeah, amongst all that, everyone kind of had each other's backs. And when someone did that to me, it wasn't just like my family mad. It was everyone. It's like, no, we don't do that anymore.

0

1164.575 - 1187.129 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

and like you said like oh they'd pinch a camera from the BBC or however they got that you're not pinching off someone local who's just like you with as little as you that's the one you don't take from your own you look out for one another Anyway, if anyone's ever wondering why I ended up in Australia, because after living on the estate, I moved to Manchester City Centre, still a bit rough.

1187.21 - 1205.396 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

I then went to London, even rougher, and then I end up in Sydney. And I'm like, oh, this is, I feel so safe. And it's weird, but I remember after a year or two here, I'd be like, I've never clutched my phone. I've never looked over my shoulder. I know that obviously there is crime, maybe if you live in Melbourne, especially, but in Sydney, I don't know, it just.

1206.297 - 1218.794 Joshua Fox

And you know what? That was a bit like me. You'd have moved into Cleveland. You feel like we've gone back 20 years. Everybody's nice and friendly. There's a community going on.

1219.055 - 1238.355 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

For the listeners, so you've moved maybe an hour away from where we were raised to the coast. And this may be the equivalent of, say, you lived in Sydney, then you've gone up to Newcastle or the Central Coast. It's like not too far from the big cities, but it's quite a smaller, older, more slower pace of life.

1240.36 - 1244.366 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Anyway, I must interrupt, Chris, and say there's not been a very funny audition, has it?

Chapter 7: How does the discussion reflect on the impact of upbringing on personal growth?

1316.762 - 1323.27 Joshua Fox

He blushes a lot, doesn't he? Yes. He just looks coy and he looks that sweet and cute. He really does.

0

1323.588 - 1353.51 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

well you've not got him because i've seen this look before no no no i'm just thinking you're not doing very well imagine this was a job interview and you've got two candidates imagine the apprentice you're in the boardroom and you're like oh i've got this idea but you know he's got a better one ultimately the listeners are going to decide here do they want more storytelling with christine do they want a bit of blushing sam where time will tell but i suppose for now the other thing for you to look forward to is in a matter of weeks now you'll be here in australia

0

1355.313 - 1367.205 Joshua Fox

I've got three more weekends left, Josh. Three more weekends. Three very busy weekends. But three weekends and then I'll be there.

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1368.507 - 1369.868 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

What are you most excited for?

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1370.529 - 1396.282 Joshua Fox

Just spending time with you two. Yeah, spending time with you two. So what's the situation now with the fights in the Middle East? How would I know? No, I don't really know. I'm just... I think they are flying some flights. I just need to get there. Even if I get rerouted and it takes me five days, I don't care. I am coming to Australia. I wouldn't bother if it took that long.

1397.465 - 1404.145 Joshua Fox

No, you wouldn't, but I would. Well, it nearly took you that long. Do you remember last year when you came to Spain as a surprise?

1404.485 - 1415.483 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Oh, because I booked it like three days before. Then I was like, oh, this is cheap. I'll do that. Let's do 12 hours stop in China. Let's go to bloody Helsinki or somewhere. I felt like I did a round the world trip before I got to you.

1417.125 - 1419.609 Joshua Fox

So you actually did that for your mum?

1420.07 - 1424.537 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Yeah, but remember I filmed myself doing the surprise to you?

Chapter 8: What insights are shared about the importance of family support?

1561.063 - 1584.948 Joshua Fox

So I'm thinking, all right, they're lovely, lovely and friendly. So I've gone off and he said, don't you sound like him? And I'm like, don't you sound like who? Don't you sound like that? Shameless. And I'm like, oh, no. And he said, did they film Shameless near where you live? Well, they actually do. And I went, no, nowhere near. Nowhere near us.

0

1586.511 - 1589.237 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Yeah, that's not the reputation you want, I suppose, is it?

0

1589.909 - 1618.667 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

but hey that upbringing where we were raised what we went through that made us who we are Christine and for me at least I now appreciate where I live the life I've built like my fact I make okay money now like I've built that so it like I have that appreciation and it's funny in Sydney because a lot of people around me in the east generational wealth rich families private school everything's handed to them and I see people

0

1619.305 - 1627.335 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

their like classism and the elitism and the judgment even of people in Western Sydney, which is more where we would have been raised if we were here.

0

1627.876 - 1645.719 Joshua Fox

Well, you were taught to never treat people differently. Whether they're a cleaner in the hospital, a consultant in the hospital, you just treat everybody the same. It's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice.

1646.28 - 1648.182 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

Well, that's a nice way to end this, isn't it?

1649.528 - 1653.694 Joshua Fox

Actually, yes, I quite like that. Why is my face dead red? I look like I'm burning.

1654.295 - 1654.996 Christine Fox (Josh's Mum)

You look like Sam.

1655.337 - 1668.297 Joshua Fox

Oh, my gosh, yeah. It must be you. You make people good at red. You give them blood pressure or something. Oh, thanks. No, I'm kidding.

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