Hank: Hello, everyone. Two pieces of news. First piece, if you've been a long time follower of our work and our community, you probably know that usually by now, the Project for Awesome would have already happened, but it has not; that's because a while back, we decided to move it to early in the year instead of late in the year.
So this year, Project for Awesome is happening the weekend of February 12th. This was not a response to COVID. Usually every big change is blamed on COVID. It's not, it’s just something we want to do to make life easier for all the people on our team who are often working really hard at the end of the year for various reasons.
But, since a calendar is less useful in February than it is in January, we're releasing the 2021 Hank and John Project for Awesome calendar now, which you can get at dftba.com. At the very least you should check it out because it is real weird. And I love it. Thanks to Megan Toenyes for the design.

Second, if you can believe it, we have a special episode of Dear Hank and John for you that was filmed- recorded at VidCon London, which yes, makes it very old in a lot of different ways. So come and be transported back in time with me with this special episode with guest-John, Hannah Witton.

(DH&J intro music plays)
Hank:  Hello and welcome to Dear Hank and John.

Hannah:  Or as I like to call it, Dear Hannah and Hank.

Hank:  It's a comedy podcast about death, where two brothers and sometimes two friends, answer your questions and give you dubious advice and bring you all the week's news from both Mars and AFC Wimbledon; today in front of a live studio audience.

Audience:  Woooo!

Hank: That's great. If you guys could be that enthusiastic at every possible moment, that would make the podcast sound fantastic. Hannah,

Hannah: Yes, hello!

Hank: What do you call an egg in hunting season?

Hannah: (laughing) I don't know what you call an egg in hunting season.

Hank: You do know that because I sourced it from the audience.

Hannah: Yes but I'm playing along!

Hank: It's a poached egg.

Hannah, Hank and audience: (laughter and applause)

Hank: Oh Hannah, how you doing? Welcome to VidCon London.

Hannah: Oh, thank you for having me.

Hank: Your town is nice. Is this your town?

Hannah: Yeah.

Hank: Yes, sounds like it.

Hannah: I'm not from, I'm not from here. I'm actually from Manchester, but I've lived in the Southern regions of the UK for far too long, but my accent's gone.

Hank: Oh, I see. Well, you've lost your Manchester accent.

Hannah: Yeah, sad.

Hank: Can you do, can you do a Manchester accent?

Hannah: Do you have a shot of vodka?

Hank: (laughs)

Hannah: Hang on, (in an accent) I'm from, I'm from up North, I'm from Manchester. 

Hank: Okay.

Hannah: There you go. That's kind of a bit like that, really.

Hank: Any Manchestonians in the audience?

Someone in audience: (whoop)

Hank: Howdy.

Hannah: (laughs) Nice.

Hank: You sound like that, whoop! Um, so we do questions here on Dear Hank and John and, uh, and dear Hank and Hannah as well.
And we've got-

Hannah: Hannah and Hank. (laughs)

Hank:  Sorry (laughs) Well done and we've, uh, we've sourced some from the audience and, uh, and also we, are going to be on the lookout for million dollar ideas.

Hannah: Oh, yeah.

Hank: So if you've got any of those, just let me know.

Hannah: Right, roger.

Hank: And I'm going to start here with, uh, with a question from Wolfgang. Are you here? Hey, yeah, I guess because you're Australian, it says so right here.

Hannah: (laughs)

Hank: Um, so Wolfgang wants to know how do you make new friends in a new country if you're Australian and you're in England.

Hannah: Oh, there are so many Australians in England.

Hank: Just go find some Australians is Hannah's suggestion.

Hannah: They all live in West London. So to move there-

Hank: Do you live in West London? Kind of.

Hannah: There you go, like, go to Shepherd's Bush, like-

Hank: Is that a pub?

Hannah: No, it's a name of an area, but there's loads of Aussies around there.

Hank: So just go to an area and just sort of like, wander around and flop on the sidewalks.

Hannah: That's if you want to make friends with other Australians.

Hank: Right.

Hannah: But you might want to branch out.

Hank: How do you make friends with British people? Because you guys are a little bit, different and reserved.

Hannah: (laughs)

Hank: And you've got culture. You've got things in your culture that I don't understand.

Hannah: Well, I kind of feel that the making friends thing is just the same across the board. It's more like making friends as an adult, which is the difficult thing.

Hank: Yeah. Just go back to school. It's the only way I know how to make friends.

Hannah: Go back to school, it's about being in close proximity with people, but you could also be in close proximity to people in the internet as well, but then you might not be making friends with people who live close to you, but yeah. Come to VidCon, go to the pub, join a club. Yeah, genuinely, like, go to spaces that you want to go to and you'll find-

Hank: your magic, the gathering,

Hannah: If that's what you're into.

Hank: No, it's the only way. That's the only way I know how to make friends. We got some nods in the back. Okay. You guys talk in teaching magic? That's all I know. That's all I know.

This is a question for you and I don't understand it. Can you read it?

Hannah: Hannah? What do you think of the new vulva Lucy and Yaks? So Lucy and Yak is a clothing brand in the UK. Like ethical and sustainable and they make these really amazing dungarees and this isn't sponsored by them, but I do have some gifted pairs of their items.

Um, yeah. And they've recently partnered with an artist. Who's- who's the artist? Do you know who it is? No? Um, they partnered with an artist and they've got like a vulva print trousers and vulva print dungarees and-

Hank: Whoa. You gotta make a video.

Hannah: um, yeah, in, in them, yeah, I'm very excited to get them.

Hank: So what do you think of them? Just excitement?

Hannah: Just pure excitement. And also I'm very excited for like, all of the people who will potentially get them and then like be out in public with them and the questions or conversations that it might spark, hopefully. But like you said, our Brits are a bit reserved. So even if you spot someone wearing like vulva patterns, dungarees, you might not even talk to them. 

(Hannah and Hank both laugh)

Hank: I mean, I think a lot of people might not talk to them, but even the ones who are excited might not talk.

Hannah: Yeah.

Hank: Got a question from Bailey who asks, Dear Hank and Hannah. Uh, I have a very cute seven month old puppy. So people often notice him while we are on walks. What am I supposed to do? When someone says hi to my dog, my dog is named Leo, but I also have a dog named Bailey.

Hank: Bailey is a dog name, right? How did that happen? We had named dogs, not human names. I know so many Hanks that are not human (Hannah laughs) and I'm, I'm just like, I'm over at my friend's house. And they're like, "Hank!" And I'm like, "What!"

Hannah: Good boy.

Hank: That's a lot. It's much easier to talk to a dog than a person isn't it. 

Hannah: But it doesn't talk back.

Yeah. It also, well,

Hannah: It's also cute.

Hank: And they're always cute, and, unlike people.

Hannah: Yeah.

Hank: (laughs) Can they judge you though, I feel like I've been judged by a dog.

Hannah: I think that says more about you. You're like, cause you're feeling better judgment.

Hank: You know, now you're judging me about me being judged by dogs. That's very human of you.

Hannah: (laughs) I don't know. I don't know what that's like, but I would enjoy almost like being a little bit passive aggressive and like saying something that makes them feel bad about not doing it.

Hank: Right? Yeah. Like my, my eyes are up here.

Hannah: Just really direct. Yeah right, okay. (laughs)

Hank: I am a human too. Wait.

Hannah: Or, just bark at them.

(both Hannah and Hank laugh)

Hank: I, uh, I, I like this with my son. I have a three-year-old and when I, and like, I know that not everybody is in this bag, but I like it when people are like, "hello, little buddy, how old are you?" I'm like, yeah, talk, talk. And like, and so, because I like it when people do it to my son, I do it to other people's kids. And then I'm like, you do not like me doing it.

Hannah: Ah, so you don't, you don't mind if they don't acknowledge you.

Hank: No. And I understand! People - grownups are intimidating.

Hannah: So you're like, yes. Great son have this conversation for me. (laughs)

Hank: Yeah. It's like it's uh, it's. It's uh, it's like a catalyst. So I think in chemistry terms a lot. Um, so you've gotta lower the activation energy so that the reaction will happen and dogs and babies are ways to lower reactive- like activation energy.

Hannah: Right, okay. So it's like de-escalating awkwardness.

Hank: Yeah. It just like brings it's like a, it's a door into the relationship.

Hannah: Yeah. Because you would never like talked to a stranger if they didn't have a dog or a baby. Yeah.

Hank: And also like the best thing is when one person has a dog and the other person has a dog and then you like become dog buds. And you're always on the same walk. And I (?~8:12) the guy,

Hannah: Isn't that the start of 101 Dalmatians? And then they get married,

Hank: and then they murdered the Dalmatians or they try to, I don't know. That's the only thing I know about that movie/ book show. I don't know what it is.

Hannah: I think that's what the starting is, that's all I know.

Hank: Yeah. So there's like John, who was from my old neighborhood and Rusty and his dog.

Hannah: Oh, I thought you were talking about John like, your brother, then John, from your old neighborhood- I was like (laughs)

Hank: Now we see each other at the grocery store sometimes. Cause we moved, we moved to a different neighborhood and I'm like, "How's Rusty?" And he was like, he's great. He's such a din(?).