What Jason Gunn and Matt Heath have learned about life so far and why it’s important to celebrate the small moments, as well as the big ones.

Jason Gunn and Matt Heath have packed a lot into their lives. The well-known TV and radio personalities are both proud fathers who have both lived through challenging times. Here they sit down together to discuss what they’ve learned, accompanied by a glass of Johnnie Walker Blue, the perfect partner to an auspicious occasion.

On meaningful moments

Jason Gunn doesn’t have to think too hard about the most meaningful moments of his life. “I think it’s wherever there is family, right? Sometimes that’s good times, sadly there have been funerals there, too,” he says. “If I could have my family all together in one place all the time – they may not want that – but if I could have that, that’s where the best moments are.”

Family holidays, stopping for ice cream, getting an extra hotdog with the fish and chips, board games – it all comes back to one thing for the pair. “It’s about quality time, isn’t it?” says Jason.

On marking auspicious moments

Jason’s family have started a tradition where everyone sits around on certain special occasions and takes a turn to say something positive. He recalls an especially poignant example after his heart attack scare in early 2017.

“It wasn’t until New Year’s, and we hadn’t readied ourselves for what this chat around the table was going to be. There were two boyfriends new to the family. I mentioned the heart attack and then we were all just crying. These two boyfriends were, like, ‘is this a standard family chat?’”

Matt recalls a recent big birthday for his father with all his family gathered.

“It was a great moment and I sort of messed up my speech,” he says. “I didn’t realise how much of a significant moment it was. I went for quite a jocular ribbing, more of a roast. Afterwards, we had a whisky together because he loves his whisky. And then I delivered the proper heartfelt boom. It was hard to do, actually. It was hard to be sincere. I should’ve said it in front of everyone. But did say it in the kitchen over a couple of drinks,” Matt says.

On success

Matt and Jason have a long list of credits between them, but they say sharing what they’ve achieved with the good people around them feels most like success. Coincidentally, they each cite sausage rolls as an example.

Jason recalls a time after he signed a contract for a job in children’s television. “We went down to the bakery, and we all had a sausage roll. And I thought, ‘this is what success is like’. And I was like, ‘Dad, I’ve got this. I’ve got this’.”

Matt relates. “Dad was up here recently, and we went along to an All Blacks game, and I’d been invited to a box. And there were sausage rolls. The next game my dad was back home but he texted me, “What are the sausage rolls like?” I texted him a picture and he was like, ‘pretty good’.”

Matt and Jason agree that “pretty good” means you know you’ve made it when someone’s serving free food while you’re watching rugby.

On gratitude

Jason returns to family again when it comes to gratitude. “Having lost Mum recently, I’ve had a lot of thoughts about her,” he says. “I do a lot of standing on stage telling stories and sometimes there’s this beautiful moment halfway through a story and I go, ‘I don’t know where she stopped and I started’, and I feel the most connected to her. I’m just so grateful I was brought up with this amazing storyteller.”

Matt makes a conscious effort to be grateful for everything, all the time. “Because when something bad happens I’d give anything for the time when I had it great and I was walking around complaining the kitchen extractor fan was making too much noise,” he says. “My God, that was the problem I was dealing with then?”

On what they want their children to know

Matt realised a while back that people tend to live for the future. “We think that life will start when something particular happens,” he says. “I really want my kids to know that life’s happening now. Now is as important as the future.”

Jason agrees. “Just be a good person. There are just so many people out there who could do with just a little moment of your time. I always try to teach my kids to just create a moment for that person.”

Matt concludes with, “Ask yourself, am I the good guy in this situation or the bad guy? Just be the good guy, whatever possible situation there is.”

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Pour yourself a Johnnie Walker Blue and let the conversation flow. johnniewalker.com