Gotta Be Done - A Bluey Podcast

From Moana moments on standup paddle boards, to the pipecleaners of the natural world, Lake Currimundi on Queensland's Sunshine Coast has something for everyone - even Stickbirds!  

Kate and Mary are back and asking the big questions: some universal (what's bugging Bandit?) and some extremely niche (when will Chilli reinvent herself as an Olympic coach??) And some ridiculous, like is Stickbird wearing a tie or a shell-bikini... and is the answer IN A CAKE?? 

Then there's random new year musings (because this was recorded in January), and listen to the end for a (belated!) big rev...

It’s the biggest week of Bluey news since… big screens! But the path to Bluey the Movie has been paved with burnout and mental load – or is that just Kate and Mary trying to prepare for Christmas?

First up, here’s Joe Brumm’s letter that accompanied the Bluey feature film announcement... no advice yet on how to wait until 2027!

Then, is there a way to relax amidst the relentless demands of parenting/ festivities/ life? The girls canvas books that might help – The Wife Drought, Small Habits for a Big Life, and whatever Chilli is reading –...

It's been a long time between galaxies for an honest-to-goodness Gotta Be Done recap - but Kate and Mary didn't disappear into a black hole (of parenting) for ever, just for about a year. 

Space is the mind-bending Bluey episode that brings them back, ready to fix things and figure everything out. But are they chief scientists enough?

Plus, radical candor, space destinations in Adelaide and Parkes, and amazing sponsor the Epping Club in Sydney's north-west is doing Bluey Trivia! Book now and have all the answers for 2025 (and do Gotta Be Done proud!) - t...

When Kate and Mary from Gotta Be Done and Lou from Bluey's Brisbane sneak along to the opening day of Bluey's World, it's not going to be a subtle affair. 

And this epic crossover chat, just outside the new Sunshine State landmark/ destination/ (other) happiest place on earth, was next level excitable. It even prompted Bluey's World and Bluey's Big Play producer Andrew Kay to join the fun! 

Hear first reviews of the one-of-a-kind immersive/ panto/ playful experience at the Northshore Pavilion in Brisbane, Queensland, attempts to divine life advice from fortune cookies and career gu...

Skip out on work and bring your connector pens - it's RUG ISLAND DAY! 

The THIRD album from Bluey maestro Joff Bush and his glorious music team is out globally today (25 October 2024) wherever you get your music (and even on vinyl!)

So of course Mary and Kate were going to drag out the wagon and skive off work Bandit-style, to ask Joff about how this journey into playful imagination came together (it started with a Cafe play-date, and ended with new friends!)

From collaborating with Arnhem Land legends King Stingray, to who you c...

So it's been a while, but when one half of Gotta Be Done sneaks up into Blueyland/ Brisbane... podcast magic happens!  

Mary caught up with Justin and Lou from Bluey's Brisbane for this fun and frenetic crossover episode, on the for-real-life location of iconic Bluey ep Markets (the West End Markets, every Saturday at Davies Park!)

Now in their fourth year of exploring the real life world of our favourite Heelers, Justin and Lou have plenty of local knowledge to share.

And the superfans also spill theories, feelings and insights about new Bluey mu...

Did you know it took nearly two years from Ludo Studio putting finishing touches on The Sign, to actually getting that biggest ever Bluey episode onto our screens??

So really, the fact that Kate and Mary interviewed Bluey creator Joe Brumm after the The Sign dropped on Sunday, and now you're getting the episode on Wednesday - pretty quick turnaround! 

Joe is back in the wagon to talk through his favourite ever Bluey episode, the only one that has involved every single member of the incredible production team, and the one that ripped out our h...

So Gotta Be Done has been missing in your podcast feed for a bit (and you better believe Mary and Kate are missing it too!)

But of course they haven't stopped talking about Bluey in any/every other aspect of their lives, and for this special crossover, Mary talks about Bluey A LOT. Thank you TONTS host Claire Tonti for sharing the mic, over to her to explain!

It's not often an episode of Gotte Be Done has required reading... but when there's three developmental scientists putting Bluey under the microscope, then of course we're all diving in! 

Mary's joined in the wagon by Dr Molly Scott, Research Scientist in Playful Learning at Temple University, Aria Gastón-Panthaki, Research Coordinator for Children's Development at Harvard University, and Doug Piper, PhD candidate in psychology at Georgetown University.

The play-hard trio recently penned a research piece, Bluey teaches children and parents alike about how play supports creativity and other life lessons (lime lessons??), and on the...

Gotta Be Done's been on a break, but Mary and Kate just couldn't keep mum for BLUEY FEST! (For international types, that's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's celebration of five years since Bluey launched... and the top 100 episodes as voted by Australia!)

So, the girls have got the somewhat-broken-down wagon back together, for a lap through the trials of trying to pick top five episodes, the delights of being in a Bluey book (Where's Bluey? At Christmas), and what's ahead for the rest of season three... 

.. and also, what should we see in (new 28-minute Bluey e...

Recently listener Matthew in London emailed Gotta Be Done to ask when the Pizza Girls recap was coming. And Mary and Kate laughed because they'd totally recorded that back in February 2023... and then stopped laughing, because Mary had forgotten to release it. 

So, strap yourselves in kid, for all the late-summer reminiscing, fresh-new-year-misty-eyed-ness... and Muffin dropping the clutch and drifting her way to glory. 

Is Pizza Girls the unofficial sequel to Bedroom, and do families need to hold onto every item ever that has a story? (Well Marie Kondo has given up on tidying, you kn...

Yep, Gotta Be Done is still talking about Cricket... in this second-half recap, and in Mary and Kate's for real life generally!

More music, more obscure cricketenalia, more Rusty love, and the tightrope walk of encouraging your kids without overwhelming them (that Rusty's Dad makes look easy!)

Plus, a good guess at when Australia might see the last of Season 3's new episodes... if Gotta Be Done is right, it will be so spooky! 

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Adelaide/ Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive e...

It's more than a year since Bluey creator Joe Brumm told Gotta Be Done a cricket episode was coming... which is even longer than the average game of cricket! 

Kate (vessel of cricketing knowledge) and Mary (cricketing knowledge vacuum) explore the whys and wherefores of the deeply weird (but supremely strategic) game of cricket. And how the never-ending, convoluted, global obsession impacts a childhood - theirs, their children's, and theirs again as parents of children!

Plus, slips, gullies, silly-mids, fruit and pies - and not the kind you get at tea break! 

(Speaking of...

So Gotta Be Done isn't here to call out annoying habits - but if Smoochy Kiss goes there, do Mary and Kate maybe kind of have to?!

From what (on earth) Bandit's doing in his first scene, to best kitchen weaponry that's not too weapony (and how saucepan lids pre-date shields, actually?!), crimes against laundry sinks, boxes big enough for grown-ups, inversion and flipping the chase (music), and whether it's toughening up or softening up that makes a relationship work. 

In short, it's just another day in the Heeler household/ Blueyverse/ Gotta Be Done... works f...

Gotta Be Done is back after a break, and redeeming oneself is the theme of this recap - in all the ways. Morning, Wendy!

Memories of mud piles and doubts about overly-clean modern life (is Insta to blame??), and is that dirt under fingernails, or potential neural connections? 

Oh, and what IS a chow chow? Well if a dog and a lion had a very adorable baby... that's Wendy and Judo!  

Also, parents modelling to children is a big theme of Dirt - but hang on, has Bluey been modelling to everyone all alo...

CONTENT WARNING: In this episode, Mary and Kate talk pregnancy loss, infertility, and grief... and life in lockdown, because this is a 2020 throwback. It can get heavy.   

Bluey is known for tackling big issues - and in 2023 we know there's definitely a miscarriage storyline in The Show. (Back then and now, there's still plenty of hope, hilarity and happiness to take from this gorgeous episode too.)

And in these overwhelming times (i.e, all times!), who doesn't need a helpful checklist on hand?  

While this trip down memory lane takes Gotta Be Done deep...

Content warning: This episode of Gotta Be Done covers topics around fertility, pregnancy loss and grief. 

Onesies broke hearts and healed them again, and Mary and Kate wade into "the messy middle" to work out how. 

In summary: Families are hard, children who have complaints about the presents they receive are annoying but predictable, incredible Australian actor Rose Byrne (who plays Brandy!) is lovely (even if she's not who we think she is!)

And, two years on, the moving miscarriage storyline in Bluey episode The Show is finally confirmed, thanks to the beautiful bo...

Gotta Be Done loves doing the slow crawl past a garage sale, and Granny Mobile brings more Bluey delights than a giant bargain table! 

Mary and Kate talk the endless possibilities for types of grannies (nobody puts granny in a corner!), the Muffin redemption arc (can toddlers really grow out of their tantrums?!), and weapon-of-mass-destruction qualities of a Glomesh handbag. 

Plus the historical details/ The Crown facts captured by royal wedding plates (spoiler alert, they hated each other), why Bizet is perfect Muffin mood (Joff Bush says: "deliciously grouchy!"), and more of the glorious garage sa...

It's the episode that launched a thousand hot takes, and Gotta Be Done is finally here with a slightly reheated one!

Kate and Mary recorded their Exercise recap before ABC and Ludo re-released an updated episode, then recorded more again after the fact - so get ready for many, many thoughts about the challenges of exercising, the niceness (or otherwise) of bosses, and the fact that kids really do copy everything we do.  

So, let's play more lawn table tennis! Nice shot! 

Big thanks to episode sponsors mathsonline.com.au in Australia, and mathon...

Gotta Be Done has confessions to go with Turtle Boy - Mary and Kate have both let their kids take lost toys home. Can this episode undo the damage? Lucky the childhood magic of a park never changes (captured by Rafferty Amor)! 

Also, are all kids shows either preachy or mindless violence? (No, some have songs about physics and structural engineering!)

Big thanks to episode sponsors mathsonline.com.au in Australia, and mathonline.com in the US!  

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Adelaide/ Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we d...

He's the all-knowing and all-seeing Series Director of Bluey, and Richard Jeffery has all the panicked 4am wake-ups to prove it!

Rich/ Rich J from the Fairytale 80s montage/ Mackenzie's Dad/ RichWOW jumps in the Gotta Be Done wagon to share his Bluey origin story, what director life actually involves, and the true state of Aussie-Kiwi relations behind the scenes at Ludo Studio ("we don't jump on sheep Mackenzie!") 

Plus favourite scenes, favourite character, favourite episode - and just how long it took to make Sleepytime as magical as it is, plus all the series s...

"Finally I've got an outlet for what I'm really good at, that is: singing like a cat."

There's no shortage of surprises on the new Bluey album Dance Mode out worldwide TODAY - and Joff Bush's feline finesse is high on the list! 

Bluey music legends Joff (famously the voice of Cat Squad) and Jazz D'Arcy (famously the singer/songwriter behind Rain/Boldly in the Pretend) jump in the Gotta Be Done wagon to talk through their new album highlights, reveal Bluey secrets (OMG the voice of Chattermax!) and get Kate and Mary even more e...

How's it goin', salad dodgers?! Whether you've been dodging salad or not, you might want to know why that's a shout-out to the original Bluey pilot (now leaked!) - and Gotta Be Done wouldn't mind advice on ending the salad dodging by obstinate kiddos, also?

Puppets has bigger issues than salad to dodge though - and of course Mary and Kate dive straight in! From voicing your children's toys to who's pulling whose strings, and what makes life a lie (or otherwise, hopefully?!), Unicorse is triggering all the big questions. (And just triggering full stop! Aaaaaand why...

She's played keepy uppy on the stage of Madison Square Garden, floated down Sixth Avenue, and beamed into millions of homes around the globe on the daily - but strap yourselves in kids, Bluey's only getting bigger!

And trying to wrangle the worldwide juggernaut and unstoppable tsunami of Bluey partnership requests is BBC Head of Brands and Licensing (ANZ), Kate O'Connor. 

BBC Kate jumps in the Gotta Be Done wagon with Kate and Mary, and shares the couldn't-stop-watching awe of her first Bluey binge, the behind-the-scenes of taking Bluey to New York, and why travelling w...

It's the Heeler history we all need to believe in, and Gotta Be Done is fact-checking and fetishising every glorious 80s moment! 

From montages to hazy memories, violent consequences of jinxes and whether child discipline should be depicted for historical purposes, Mary and Kate have a fairytale's worth of half-baked theories.  

Also, this Fairytale poster by Bluey animator Mark Paterson, art director Costa Kassab's reimagining of little Bandit and Chilli, and the sun, the moon, the prickles, the princess, and everything! 

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Adelaide/ Melbourne mums Kate McMa...

So it's ONE MONTH until the new Bluey album lands - who likes to Dance Mode?! (And second single, the Rain score WITH JAZZ D'ARCY'S LYRICS is dropping on streaming services TODAY, make sure you are following Bluey to hear it!) 

Of course Gotta Be Done can't wait to talk about piece of musical gloriousness (out globally 21 April 2023!), but while we wait, we're going back in time to when we deep-dived the original Bluey the Album - with the original Aussie blokes Bluey recap podcast, The Hammerbarn Project!

Back in July 2022, Frank, Marty and Brendan ju...

Are you triggered by time outs? What about televisual content that recreates pandemic lockdown conditions? Unequal distribution of parenting? Or the sight/ thought/ mention of people/ dogs on the toilet?

Well, dial in and get ready for Muffin (Cupcake) Heeler levels of outrage - because Gotta Be Done goes there! 

So who are the villains when parenting is being hogged? (Inequitable kids!) What are the pitfalls when boundary-setting with kids? (Stripe nails them all!) And what's the Franco-Prussian War got to do with it? (Bizet it on us!)

Are Mary and Kate qualified t...

Nice to meet you Tina... or should Mary and Kate say, SEASON 3'S ASPARAGUS?!

Okay so three years on Gotta Be Done has come to the party (animals) of their previously least-favourite Bluey. But what happens when there's another contender??  

Tina sparks questions about giving kids responsibilities, rights, riot permission, plus the weaponising of toilet hands and commentary on large ladies. 

Will they talk themselves into actually liking it though? She's a whole lotta unlikely!

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we...

We know Bluey is beloved/imitated/talked about the world over.  

So when a British mum, talking on a podcast, and channelling all the Bluey in her parenting, suggests a chat - well, it's gotta be done! 

Louise Salih is a mum of three and the host of new podcast Mums Work & Chaos. Strap yourselves in kids for plenty of great questions for Gotta Be Done's Mary on this fun cross-over ep. There's furious agreement about the new standard Bluey sets for kids tv/ life in general, deep-dives on the philosophy of Bluey, and some sur...

It was a break that threw up more than a few roadblocks... but at Gotta Be Done, obstacles don't block the path, they are the path! 

So Kate and Mary are back, maybe not with a lot of newfound wisdom, but would reading/ swallowing a Little Book of Calm help? 

Plus, money-hungry children, force-feeding good qualities or modelling quads, and the gloriousness of Wendy. Remember, great works are performed not by great strength, but by perseverance. Also, somewhat chaotic podcasts and parenting! 

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McM...

So Gotta Be Done has been gone too long, but don't think for a second that Mary and Kate have stopped talking about Bluey! 

Thanks so much to amazing Tim at Pub Trivia Experience who hosted Gotta Be Done (original Bluey recap podcast) AND Two Bandits Watching Bluey (original upstate New York recap podcast!) for an epic Bluey showdown!

There's musical mysteries, trifficult title cards, character conundrums - and it's brain-meltingly good, by Toutatis! 

If you like this ep, Pub Trivia Experience has HUNDREDS more epic episodes, with trivia themes from Friends to MC...

It's the final Gotta Be Done for 2022, and Mary and Kate are wrapping up in musical style, and on the beat!

Jazz D'Arcy has been a composer, musician and music assistant on Bluey since the beginning, and is a key part of the chart-topping, award-winning gloriousness that is Bluey music! And she's in the wagon to share her Bluey-esque musical origins, and some of the secrets behind scoring the beautiful Blueyverse. 

From the process that has Jazz and Joff Bush scoring five Bluey episodes at any given time, to Jazz's childhood inspirations for the music o...

So Gotta Be Done doesn't need a tourism campaign to tell them Queensland's Glass House Mountains are beautiful/ in Australia... but did tourism dollars help get this Explorers episode to where it was going?

Mary and Kate analyse Jack's Dad/ Hamish Blake's career, ambassadorships and performance (and also his excellent new podcast How Other Dads Dad - lots of Bluey chat on Nazeem Hussain ep!)

Plus, greatness thrust upon unsuspecting Jack Russells, famous and fabulous guest voices and the plot-twist resurrection of Neighbours, and music that makes you go "heave away, haul away!"

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So, Mary went to Brisbane. You might not be as excited about that as she was, but luckily Bluey's Brisbane duo Lou and Justin were just as excited! 

And while this crossover is not quite a Bluey tour of Brisbane - as Lou points out, not many Bluey episodes happen at night! - it's a comprehensive tour of three Bluey-obsessed heads, via plenty of places in Brisbane that everyone should want to go! Oh, actually on location under the Story Bridge on the banks of the Brisbane River! 

(We love Justin and Lou, and they've go...

First things first, when is the right time to teach your kids anything - and is it too late for Kate and Mary to chess master it up?

Gotta Be Done dives into the Breneness of looking after hearts, and the Unicorsiness of low-key undermining of your partner's efforts. 

Plus, the woodwork carving out a place in Bluey fans' hearts! Enjoy (and please remember you're not dead, you're at a pool party!)

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Adelaide/Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive every Bluey e...

Big belts, big heroes of Australian comedy, big plumber's crack - Tradies delivers plenty of big Bluey moments!

Mary and Kate explain tradies, sparkies and chippies for the non-Aussie audience, and find Brene moments in talking to your enemies with defences down. Also ice cream, and the Australian feel-good drama waiting to happen (Leigh Sales, call Gotta Be Done!)

Plus, the extremely confusing Blueyverse timeline of the fish pond, from Stumpfest and beyond - nice lawn, Bandit! 

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as w...

It's the Bluey episode that started in the gutter, but now all of us are looking up at the double rainbows. 

Rain has so much meaning for Kate and co - and especially in a week where rain and memories are coming down hard. 

There's also (Mary butchering) the Serenity Prayer, the double rainbow meme (what does it mean?!), Oscar-winning Balance that wordlessly inspired this episode, and its link to this most televisual bit of Aussie music history. 

And, the girls don't get to say it, but how much is Rain a sequel to...

Is Magic powerful, or is magic just power? Either way it comes with great responsibility... and plenty of other half-baked film connection theories, courtesy of Gotta Be Done!

Mary's asking how much magic/power/autonomy you can give Bluey/ a six-year-old/ her six-year-old specifically, while Kate's taking it back to ancient Grecian agoras to wonder what magic ethos, pathos and logos can deliver. 

Oh, and a fun mail bag filled with Minnesotan manes (thanks Stephanie!) and What Makes This Song Great (keep on rockin' Greg!) and more - it's magic! 

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Gotta Be...

Parents are used to having plenty of purpose, but Gotta Be Done wonders about the bored side-effects of the busy. 

Also, Driving takes Kate and Mary to wild workplaces where staplers are tied down, bangers in the Blueyverse and beyond (like Lollipop Lollipop in Dance Mode Bluey!), and the cats that pee/ scratch/ are the embodiment of evil in a dogs' world. 

Oh, and spoiler alert - it's gonna take more than five minutes! 

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive every Blu...

No doubt Sheep Dog contains important lessons, but is this Bluey at its most simplistic? (Context, text and subtext: Mums just need 20 minutes, dammit!)

Kate and Mary wonder what needs more explaining, mullets or shearers (and wonder if there's cutting-room-floor tape of Lucky's Dad singing Click Go the Shears??), delight in the Wendy redemption arc, and get excited about new voice Emily Taheny (just as her genius array of characters on Mad As Hell disappear from Australian screens, sob!) 

Also, Mary's continued fangirling for Darren Hanlon (here's where it started for her), and all the a...