Skip to content
Sign in
Artwork for Between Two Beers Podcast
Society & CulturePersonal Journals

Between Two Beers Podcast

Steven Holloway & Seamus Marten

Good questions. Great guests. Few beers... Steve and Seamus like asking good questions. And they love good answers. After over 20 years of friendship, they bought a microphone and started a podcast, allowing them to sit with, and learn from, the most interesting people they can access.


From Kiwi legend Marc Ellis, to media personalities Jeremy Wells and Paddy Gower, Rugby coach extraordinaire Wayne Smith, sexologist Morgan Penn, and Olympian Dame Lisa Carrington... Between Two Beers has produced countless hours of incredible stories, career highs, lows and moments of raw vulnerability. All from the One NZ Studio.


Acast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Play
Open in
  • 23 episodes
  • a few times a week
  • Avg 1 hr 15 min
  • English

Episodes 23

NewestOldestLongest
All20Unplayed20In progress0Played0
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • Today · 1 hr 34 min

    Gemma McCaw on Olympic Career, Motherhood, Identity & Leaving Richie McCaw on Seen

    Gemma McCaw has played over 250 times for New Zealand and been to three Olympic Games - but this conversation is about who she is when the hockey stops. In a rare long-form sit-down, Gemma opens up on the reality behind high-performance sport, the grind and the near-misses, and what it took to be okay with herself beyond the medals. She talks honestly about motherhood and the invisible load mothers carry, building an identity of her own, and the wellbeing philosophy she now lives and teaches. And yes - she tells the story of how she left Richie McCaw on seen, and what happened next. Warm, funny and refreshingly open. This is Gemma, in her own words. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #271
    August 23 · 1 hr 55 min

    Mark Law: SAS Soldier on Surviving Death Six Times & The White Island Rescue

    Mark Law passed New Zealand SAS selection at 18 - the youngest ever to do it - and his life since has read like fiction. In this episode we trace the whole arc: a rugged Whangamōmona childhood, the New Zealand and British SAS, private security work in war-torn Angola, and a string of near-death experiences that would have ended most lives - a parachute that opened at 60 metres, an ambush he barely escaped, and a flesh-eating disease that nearly cost him his leg. Then there's Whakaari. When White Island erupted in December 2019, Mark flew his helicopter to the island and helped carry survivors to safety - an act later recognised with the New Zealand Bravery Star, even as his company faced a WorkSafe prosecution over matters predating the eruption. It's a remarkable, at times harrowing conversation about risk, resilience, family, and what it takes to move toward danger when everyone else moves away. Mark's book, Lucky, You're Tough, is out now. This episode contains descriptions of the Whakaari/White Island tragedy and other themes that may distress some listeners. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • August 12 · 50 min

    Israel Dagg Checks In, MC'ing for John Key Goes Wrong & A New SAS Guest on the Way!

    Two weeks ago, Israel Dagg sat down for what's become one of the biggest episodes we've ever released, and it turned his fortnight upside down. So we brought him back to find out what all of that has actually been like: the messages from players he hadn't heard from in years, the days he had to switch his phone off, and why he'd still tell anyone in a dark place the same thing. This is the first of something new - we're reconnecting with past guests a few weeks on, and we want your questions. Keep an eye on our socials for who's next and send them through. Plus: The Foursquare conference saga that nearly took us both out, and the moment Steve had to physically hook Sir John Key off stage in front of 350 people. We recap Grant Baker's massive episode on why New Zealand needs a better attitude. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #270
    August 9 · 2 hr 7 min

    Grant Baker: The Business of Going All In - 42 Below, Turners & Liam Lawson

    Grant Baker started with nothing - biking to sales meetings and hiding the bike around the corner so clients wouldn't know he couldn't afford a car. He'd go on to build and sell some of New Zealand's best-known companies: 42 Below vodka (sold to Bacardi for $138M), skincare giant Trilogy, and the automotive empire now known as Turners. In this episode he tells the full story of going all in - selling everything he owned to bet on one company, the years of "drinking from a fire hose," the midnight deals that nearly sent him broke, and facing a cancer diagnosis at the height of it all. He reflects on his mentor Eric Watson, his partnership with Geoff Ross building 42 Below, why he believes the real key to success is how much pain you can endure, and how he came to back Kiwi driver Liam Lawson's rise to Formula One. Now a Ferrari collector - 50 and counting - Grant shares hard-won lessons on ambition, resilience, giving back, and why you should never die wondering. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #269
    August 2 · 1 hr 57 min

    Living with Incurable Cancer: Becki Ross on Planning Her Own Funeral & Learning “Not to Give a Sh*t"

    Becki Ross was given two to three years to live. Diagnosed at 42 with stage four, incurable bowel cancer, she's a mum of two teenagers, a teacher, and one of those rare people who lights up a room the second she walks in. When we recorded this, Becki had just been told her treatment options had run out - that the cancer was, in her words, "declaring itself," and that her time is now very short. In one of the most powerful conversations we've ever had, Becki talks about planning her own funeral - the plywood coffin, the celebrant, the plan to climb in herself just to make everyone laugh - and about the parts that aren't funny at all: the fear, the reality of leaving her kids behind, and the perspective that's come with facing it head-on. It's a conversation full of light and shade. We talk about the Cancer Crushers, the village of friends carrying Becki and her kids, the health system she's had to fight through, her daughter Maddie's unforgettable words, and the humour that's got her through all of it. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #268
    July 26 · 1 hr 54 min

    Israel Dagg Comes Clean on Addiction, Depression & Getting Sober After Rock Bottom

    Israel Dagg had everything he'd ever chased - a Rugby World Cup, a young family, the life a kid from a Hawke's Bay state house could only dream of. Then he retired, and the question underneath it all hit at once: “if I'm not an All Black, who am I?” In one of the most open conversations we've had on the show, Israel comes clean on the five years that followed - the addiction, the depression, and the spiral he kept hidden while the world saw a highlight reel. After his mum passed away he hit rock bottom: he left his family, moved to Auckland, and spent a Father's Day alone in an apartment wondering how it got so bad. He's honest about what it cost the people who loved him, and clear that no one could have pulled him out but himself. This is the story of how he did it - how ownership became the first step back, why nearly three years sober is the best decision he's ever made, and how he came to see that the happiness he'd been chasing had been in front of him the whole time. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #267
    July 19 · 1 hr 47 min

    Justine Smith on 7 Days, Surviving as a Female Comedian & Her Incredible Adoption Story

    Justine Smith has been a fixture of New Zealand comedy for more than 30 years - a Seven Days regular and one of the few women who lasted in a room that pushed most others out. She opens up on the comedy environment younger women were up against, the treatment she swallowed to keep going, and how she turned that guilt into becoming the person the next generation of female comics now comes to. She's also very funny about the rest of it - falling into comedy almost by accident, the terror of her first gig, and three decades of standing in front of a crowd talking about herself for a living. And she tells the remarkable story of her own beginning: adopted as a baby, and reunited with her sister through a single phone call that almost didn't happen. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #266
    July 12 · 1 hr 5 min

    Graham Norton: The Hidden Psychology of the World's Biggest Chat Show & What Success Really Means

    He's spent nearly 30 years getting the world's biggest stars to open up - but Graham Norton rarely sits on the other side of the mic. The most famous chat show host on the planet pulls back the curtain on his craft: the psychology of who sits where on that famous sofa, why the guests always outrank him, and the research ritual that's funnier than the show itself. He also goes somewhere he almost never does - the San Francisco hippie commune that set him on his path, nearly dying in his twenties, becoming a debut novelist at 52, and how a chance love of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc became millions of bottles with his name on it. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 8 · 38 min

    The World Cup Debrief: What Went Well, What Didn’t & What We'd Do Again

    You can pour everything into the biggest thing you'll ever build - and still find the part you remember has nothing to do with the work. Fresh off three weeks at the FIFA World Cup in North America, Steven and Seamus sit down with their business coach Di Foster for a proper mid-year debrief: the enormity of what they pulled off (19 daily shows, four partners, a whole TV operation), the studio they spent tens of thousands building and then didn't need, and the honest look at what they'd do differently. Along the way: how you actually measure whether a big bet worked, the hire that changed everything, and the case for building rest into growth instead of chasing momentum forever. Plus a listener question - how do you keep the core things humming while you're on the road? - brought to you by Odoo. Try Odoo free, no credit card required: http://odoo.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #265
    July 5 · 1 hr 42 min

    Golden State Warriors Psychologist Scott Goldman: The Science of Winning

    He's got a championship ring his own kids have never seen - it lives in a closet. Scott Goldman is a high-performance psychologist who's spent 30 years inside some of the biggest teams in world sport, including the Golden State Warriors, and works across five professional franchises at once. His whole philosophy flips how you think about success: you're not your talent, you're your talent times your environment. Get the environment wrong and the most gifted person in the room fails. Recorded in a hotel room at the Football World Cup - this is Between Two Beers' first-ever episode made overseas - Steve and Seamus go deep with Scott on what actually separates the best teams from the rest, the science of intelligence in sport, why he keeps his trophies hidden, the luxury of choosing your own hardship, and how he stays a present dad while doing "cool shit with cool people" on the other side of the world. Between Two Beers is proudly brought to you by One New Zealand. We believe that One NZ connects New Zealand, while Between Two Beers connects New Zealanders. And together, we are NZ's most trusted connection platform. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by Barkers Clothing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Showing 1–20 of 23 episodes