Yeah. Hey, welcome to 2012 and the first notice podcast of this year. This was Tim mentioned. I recorded this in London in December when I went there to shoot stuff on BBC America. Next noticed TV special airs January 14th with Alison Brie and Kunal Nayyar. Tim is a frickin genius. I met him at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal last year, and then this past year I was looking to get to do the Green Room. It's a Showtime show hosted by Paul Provenza, and Jimmy Carr was in that episode Freelander and Eddie Izzard and Show was so much damn fun. And Tim was hilarious. I'm gonna add one of his songs at the end of this podcast, so stick around until then or you could just go to YouTube. Look up, Tim, mention or find him on the tweets at Tim mentioned M I N C H i n or don't.

You don't have to do any of those things because you know what? You're grown up, God damn it. You can make your own decisions. One of those decisions could be coming to see the notice podcast live when it comes to a city near you. Go to Nerdist dot com slash calendar to get tickets and info about that and others podcast over 1 55 The Amazing Tim Mention now entering nervous dot com Welcome is the opening salvo. It is, uh, welcome

with this. Is the language free? This is This is a podcast,

isn't it? Is language dense, but you can swear as much as you want. Excellent. Um, Tim mentioned this was really This is great because we usually not remotely, in the same part of the

world. No way usually make a a thing. Make it a point, Teoh To make sure it's far away. Far apart from each other, it's possible. But this time it was unavoidable. It was a problem. Yeah, yeah, I think it's good with making lemonade out of the lemons of approximately

thes proximity. Lemons have Really? Yeah. Yielded some good year for tasty pulp proximity Lemons. Sounds like a bandits are banned for the proximity women's. We're gonna about what Wembley The trick is we can never be in the same venue at the same time. One person has to be in one venue and the other has to be other than you, and you need to be watching both shows at the same time. Toe. Understand?

Yeah, You have to put one sort of sound source in one in the office hysteria, I think. And I think we just need to wait for broadband to get better, but

we can restrain it as soon as that happens. It's really good. It's gonna be your building. Your office space is pretty cool.

Yeah, I painted the walls blew in order to make it feel less common. Blue. Yeah, I blew it, Fight it. And I put all these mirrors that used to be a dressing room, and I put black cloth over the mirrors that I didn't have to stare at my stupid fits because you know, when you're sitting in a restaurant, there's a mirror or something in your sitting opposite. You can't help but look at yourself, even for this sort of schadenfreude er of of the awfulness of your own head in some people's cases, and I thought I would be a problem, although by the time we finally got around to blacking out the mirrors, I'd sort of stopped noticing myself. You've

dissented. You were desensitized to yourself

to my an image. I happen to be in this game

anyway. My, uh, the hotel. I'm saying it. There is a full mirror to the left of the toilet. Right? So you have a full views up for Obor. Anything you if you're urinating or blowing your nose or just blowing your load, blowing your load against the back of the British skin. It's disgusting, but

no, it's not. It's travel a lot. Yeah, that's very hotel rooms make you feel sexy than they used to before I started studying them all the time. It used to trigger this sort of hotel room, find someone to have sex with or solve it some other way, sort of response. But now I've lost that. They're not sexy

to me anymore. No, no, no, no, no. It's really just a place to go drop your stuff for a few minutes and then go work. And then what do you do in my toe? Do you watch telly? I never watched television anymore. I just It's just all Internet Internet iPad. Yeah, I falsely congratulated myself recently for, like, you know what? I really used to think I was addicted to television, and I never watch television. You Mark, let me just go back onto the Internet.

Yeah, I think I'm seriously addicted. Teoh looking at stuff online like Twitter and social networking. Bollocks. A mouse. But but I never watched, but I never really did. I'm watching an American TV series called Friday Night Lights at the moment is that

made me bad? Not at all, everyone. That's an amazing show that I just haven't

started watching pretty much a soap opera. Yeah, it's just really well done, mostly, really well acted. And it's so obvious, cause the sports like the reason we love sports, is because we get to know the characters. We get to know the players and stuff, and they're sort of exploiting both sports and drama them just that that movie genre of the Mighty Ducks underdog arc, You do it week after week. You just put a game at the end of every episode so addictive because you care about what you care about your team. Yeah, I've generated fictional sport.

I just haven't started watching it. The thing that initially put me off running highlights is that I'm not a I'm not a football fan but that everyone says it's not about the foot. I don't know. It's going home. It doesn't matter. Are you sports? Do you like eel exports?

Yeah, yeah, I do. But I don't I don't engage. I haven't got into football over here soccer, because I just don't have time. And I don't have sky TV. And whereas in Australia I was pretty pretty keen follower of the Fremantle Dockers. But that's Australian rules, which is a special in the world

robbery. No, not robbery football, but football, footy

or not, it's not. There's not any of the ones you know,

you Australians in your cute ning of words, but a body baby causes

nice nice cause in the West

Sea. That's even more adorable. Common sending love this. What do you call it? Bathing suits, swim trunks, Limb trump, We American that we need to

find one word for that

were just like we're just like Dutch or actually, because English is a Germanic language. So we're just where you were more on the Germanic side where we just like a large inwards and we're kind of ugly stacking.

We dio we really just match from where they discussed it. Does Speedos

you speed up? It's

a brain. You don't calm Budgie smugglers. We

did not call them Budgie smugglers. I mean, now we will. Now, now that's you have brought that you jump So about budgets. No, I think it's I think it is. And I'm sorry to tell you this. It's your responsibility to infect our vocabulary the way the cane toad infected Australia with his many adorable, uh, colloquialisms this polish show. So just going to Sprinkle amount throughout the podcast? I think people really I'm

actually not the worst person. I'm a very un Australian Australian. I don't I don't use any of those things naturally. Although I you don't you don't actually know. I still discover words that people don't use, especially on the radio. When I get in trouble for saying bastard and bugger which which have no weight in Australia, you can say bastard and bugger on the radio. You can't hear no, really no baby Say, Oh, I thought

they were. I thought they were super lax about language. Top Boston's bugger way. We could even say that in the States. Yeah, yeah, we could say bugger, but not buggery. We could say buggery because I think it doesn't really mean anything to anyone in Australia. Isn't really the way American standards works is that if someone complains about it, then it's problem. Yeah, but if no one complains, And the main the main glob of people that would complain live kind of in very rural faces in the middle of the country and they're not gonna know Well, buggery is, Yeah. Now,

if you told them what it meant, then they would complain. Yeah, but they're not, but they're not gonna They're not gonna know. Thuggery. Buggery.

Um, it's in the Bible. Buggery. Is it some translations? Okay. Really based reality is I know what that is. Yeah, because, you know, firing buggery go buggery. Like when you having sex with a goat? No one really cares what hole

you're going. I don't think so. Does it even matter

at that point? I think by date, and you're kind of ethically you've crossed the line.

Yeah. I don't know whether it's got final. No normal cuts. Eggs. Goats always sound like they're being fucked in the ass. The pain is terrible. Go take panel. They hate it. How did you get? I've never been to Western Australia, which you're from perf. I have never been prevented because there is a There's a lot of ground to cover between between Eastern Australian.

Yeah, it's a whole

lot of nothing. Is, is that sort of middle with Alice Springs that middle most realizes it inhabitable

at all. Well, it depends who you are mean. Alice itself has a yeah, I don't know how many people lived there, but it's not many, but some thousands or something. But I think it's mostly I don't actually know the history of Alice what, whether grow up around terrorism or something. There's a train that runs from Darwin in the north, through Alice Down Toe Adelaide in the South, Um, which is about the height of the United States immensity. They only hit one town. You know, there's a lot of space in the middle of Australia that Alice is. No,

you can't drive across the middle of Australia. You don't traverse that the guts you can you can, but you need a special license and a diesel car because you allow petrol. Because of the addiction problems, an average of communities and all this. You need to tell the cops and all that sort of stuff. If you want to travel the dirt road from Calgary to Alice, which is what, 1000 miles something. And then you can drive Alice to the Eastern stats. If you want me, you gotta get through the mountains and stuff. Thing is really boring. It's actually you drive along the South Coast. You can drive from cargo port, period their potential,

which is across the bottom of the nalubola plane. And then you drive up. But no one drives through the middle of Australia and there are, um, only pretty much only aboriginal communities in a big, big part. Probably 2/3 of Australia my be occupied by I'm just pulling figures out of my aspect. Maybe 100,000 something people and much of them are original communities.

It's incredible cause because the landmass of Australia is quite large, but there's only about 20 million Australians.

Yes, there's 20 million Australia's, I think, 4/5 the size of the United States and 20 minutes what most of them are within the 5% of land on

the cut stone just on the coastal region. What's what's perfect. I mean in comparison to Eastern Australia, like Sydney Melbourne.

Well, I don't know. It's very hard when it's your hometown, have any sort of judgment of it. But there's two million people in Perth or something that's very, very beautiful. It's got a big, wide, amazing river and mountain. It's not really a mountain, but a big, steep hill called Mount ELISA that overlooks the river and go up to what's called King's. Parker's is huge bit of, um, touch land in the middle of the city and acres and acres and acres. What is 1000 1000 acres or something and look down over the whole city in the river and stuff. And then you drive 15 minutes the other way,

and the Indian Ocean, which is just on any day. I grew up near Swappable Beach and pretty much any day off the year you can go down to the beach, and it could be 25 30 degrees whenever that is in your language. Really nice, perfect day, and there'll be three people on the bitch instead of just acres of what's that? And yet you can get good coffee and great food, Great wine, and I don't know this sort of how to know. It's definitely something about birth. Makes people a little, uh, defensive. Oh, or,

uh, paranoid about it's got a little bit of small town stuff going on. Not a small town but isolated small town. So it's a big thing to go to the next town. When you live in Perth, you gotta get on a plane to get to Adelaide, and that's the next town, basically. I mean, you can go down to Albany, which is six hours away, and I think it's got 400,000 people.

I've never I always kind of toyed with the idea of just kind of going into Sydney and then, like a little go perfect little fly over to New Zealand. But actually, it's a trip until a picture. I'll tell

you, it's not popping toilets the same from New York, but you should do it one day, but and take three ways and go down to the southwest into the wine reagents and then got through Cow Barry up into the Kimberly. It's insane. Change your life. It's

beautiful. Was there any? Is there any kind of comedy scene in Perth. But you did you start more of the music scene and then kind of

Music Theatre yet? So I didn't really I wasn't doing comedy when I lived in Perth at all. I did a bit a uni theater sort of comedy. And actually I had done a couple of things with a couple of friends that you'd size comedy, but that that's more putting on theatre shows. Putting on sketch, show something. There was one venue in Perth that did comedy called The Brass Monkey a Room and Stand up Stood stuff there. I never went. I never watched comedy there. Um, so the answer is No, there's not. You certainly could live as a committee in Perth unless you're on the radio. Good morning birth.

So those are pretty much the same everywhere the morning

radio shows. Yeah, that's right. Um, there's not really anyone in Australia making a good living out of stand up, uh, a mess there. Radio Two Presenter at the same time. That's why people like may live here because the vast majority of what I do is live. Yeah, I don't really do much TV already set when I'm trying to flog a Davide.

Yeah, but you But I know that you play the biggest venues in England that you can play like

the Oh, too. Well, not that I don't play stadiums. Yeah, the biggest, biggest indoor arenas. You comply? That's that was my last tour. I'm not gonna do that. Even 15,010. I picked a 10 0 God, the I t. Oh, well, that was the sort of stupid experiment and had an orchestra. And we needed to play those venues to make it pay for itself,

but yeah, I mean, it's incredible here. You can play a lot of shows in a year, um, and specialize in live. And it's been interesting from a starting to work in America because, uh, this plenty of places to to you can tour endlessly in the States to colleges and theaters and towns and be alive, guy. But the culture off live isn't there. You have to sort of try and train your agents and managers and booking agency to realize that there live is an end in itself. Because in the States, that seems to bay. So, you know.

So once you've done your a few years of having to do the lives. You'll get your TV show. You'll get into film any well, no, no, I wanna live performer and I write musicals. And I suppose if some amazing script came up that someone wanted me, the acting do it because I used to be a an active um, But that's not why I'm a comedian. I'm not a comedian to try and not be a comedian. I'm a comedian because I do concerts that people laugh.

Well, there's a weird sort of back and forth with live performance and because you you need to be able to sell tickets in the States, which is very hard, cause our country's very big. Yeah, and so you need to do television and film and ourselves to get people back out. So it's just I feel like it's sort of this constant controlling thing. Have I done enough public stuff yet? So that I could get 800 people who commits up? Not yet. All right, I'll go back into more. Yeah. Now I have.

Okay. And then you got alive is yes. So you need to do the live to in the to earn the right to Dotel a which in turn, yeah, facilitates your desire

to play a lot. Yeah. When did you start figuring out or when did you decide to sort of drift into the comedy world?

Then some October the 11th 2000 and three Something find The day I did. I was playing a lot of piano. So cabaret act since stuff playing in original bands that went sort of taking off, mostly because I had turned money and playing in cover bands and doing whatever came up acting in plays when that came up. But really wanting Teoh. When I moved to Melbourne in 2002 I thought I wanted toe really push the band thing trying Get a record deal and on the other hand, try, try and be an actor. I wanted to be a active bandy, Um, but actually they were both the wrong thing to be doing. But well, not really. Because what, what? That what that did is made me very frustrated because I couldn't get agent because I'm not a trained actor, and I I had only worked in person known.

Not that has no credibility in the Big Eastern states on Duh. And as I say I was in a bit of a Catch 22 situation with the music thing because I do try out nights with my original band and the venue ago. This is great. Come on, play Friday, Saturday and I got Can't Cover Band that pays me or whatever, but at least it's guaranteed. So I can't let him down or I'll lose that job. I can't afford tardio original cells in that trap, you know, just like so many people are in different versions of it. You know, I have to be a journalist to be a writer, which gives me no time to be a writer. Whatever. And,

uh but I'd did this thing in 2003 hours playing piano from my friend Eddie. Perfect. And we've both been on this sort of mission to see who could write sort of the most. Hes a serious music were both writing satirical stuff, but relentlessly being musically good as well. That was trying trying not to let the fact that for writing satire, uh, allows to take the easy way out. We really pushed each other and I booked a room in the Melbourne Fringe Festival in October gave it a title, made a show image, got my friend, took drawer, were show image called a naval cerebral melodies with umbilical cords Onda and just booked a room and said, I'll do a 90 minute show and then I had to figure out what that show was. And basically what I did is I took all my stupid songs and wrote a couple of extra's poem bit of monologue about stuff, and I was really saying It is Cabaret notice stand up not as comedy and did that for about 18 months and then stuck what I had come up with in the Melbourne Company Festival in 2005 which is when I really made the change from calling it cab ride calling comedy.

Good did. But that's a that's a great I mean for a lot of people who has a lot of people who want to be comics or wannabe writer's. Whatever. Listen, listen, the podcast and a lot of them always say, How do I start doing something and that's an interesting way to start where you go. Well, I just book the show, and then I had figured out, like giving yourself that kind of ah, structural deadline.

Yeah, that fear fear is the great motivated because the hardest thing about doing anything creative is that it's really hard toe motive. It's really easy to progress tonight, easier than if you've got a job that has a very designated and structured aim on a paycheck, which implies a certain level of yeah, work. If when you're trying to just make stuff, just got nothing. Unless you impose those deadlines on yourself, you won't do anything well. I want. Anyway. I don't wake up in the night. No need to write a song I used to when I was young, but no, not for many years. You just have to scared the shit out of yourself.

So booking of any I it's the best thing to do. Having said that, I never waste on that. Even was playing original bands. I wasn't very good at doing the sort of weekly gigs that just record an album book of 500 Seder and Side as my launch, and it's because of the sort of theater background that I've got, where a show is something you put on from scratch, a show mentality. It always has been for May that you put on a show in my comedy reflects that it's not stand up. It's a show. It's a concert or something. But it's no I've never done five minutes ever or 10 in a club. Um, I might have recently because friends asked me to, but I didn't come up that way. Having said that,

booking 90 minutes If you haven't got a hell of a lot of hours under your belt, getting good at what you do is just self indulgent nonsense. Some in when I booked that venue, I had played piano in public in various forms for 10 years and had been writing music and having that performed in public for theater and in bands and stuff for 10 years, and had spent hours and hours and hours on stage in cover bands or plays order for 10 years. So regard is the fact that I didn't have any experience as a comic in inverted comments. I had done my 10,000 hours over the theory. So you've got to get the bounce. You've got a get to a point where you think I'm proud of this and then all in you know, once you got to a point where you think this is different and I'm proud of it, you got it all in every cent every hour or your fear. Just calling because everyone's trying to do it. So if you don't go and you're fucked,

well, im it also it. You can tell when someone's not either comfortable or confident with what they're doing in the audience. The audiences like a fucking wolf like, Yes, they'll they'll smell it, they'll sends it. And if they feel like if they feel like you're not in charge of the show, there is a weird sort of Alfa thing that happens with a performer on stage where you kind of have to show the meal the later at the past exactly because they because they want to follow you. That's why they paid money. That's why they came in, sat down and see if they want to be led

around. If you look like you're not willing to late them, it's right in a much more subtle way. In comedy that translates is heckling and shuffling and coughing. But heckling and silence dreaded silence. But in a lot you know, the band that'll translate people just going to the bar and play. It will be rustling and coughing, and people will only my attention if you make them.

You did amazing show the other night at the SoHo Theatre. Matt Kirsten. I saw that I was a wonderful British comic, saw that I was in London. It's, you know, we're doing this show with so theater, and Paul Prevents is running it, who have known for 20 years. And it was a such a simple genius idea that had never occurred to me before in the years that I've been doing comedy but an improvisational stand upset. Yeah, where you have to go on stage than they project a series of topics throughout your set that you have to hit. But you have to make it seem like this is the set that you have been you, that you have perfected the name

of exercise. But there's not really that the audience and you see the topic at the same time so that the topic is projected onto the wall. It hits the wall, and you have to be talking within seconds. Uh, and I was so scared, but it is it is a brilliant idea and it's brilliant. No, not because most people have the capacity to make up stand up comedy in the moment. No one does, uh, and no. Nor should you be able to If it was that easy. You know, there are people who can be funny just talking. But But if you did that without telling the audience that this was the structure of what we're doing, it would not go well,

you know? But the audience is in on it. They know that you are saying the topic, as they say, the topic on their carrying around, all their baggage there going, Oh my God, I would just die And they're saying they're thinking, What would I say? What would I say? And when you're when I was backstage watching great proofs and all these amazing guys do this, I was like, Blink. But when you're on stage with a mike in your hand and a lightning affects the adrenaline's running for, people like us have done that a lot. It's kind of like flicking a switch so it can be a very,

very positive thing. And because the audience knows that you're improvising, they are Gede up and so on the edge of their seats, waiting for you to say something just clever or to turn a corner that I didn't see coming or to just interpret the topic in a way they didn't see coming on, dig up pun or order to go some securities route to landing on the topic. Whatever the sort of currency that you play with there incredibly enthusiastic in their response, it's a really cool idea. It's really enjoyed it, but it was

sketchy. I know I wouldn't because Matt came up to me before the show and he said, Well, what other performers isn't here? Do you want to go up? And I My response was, What? When? When? When do you want me to go like, Yeah, I'm The wheels are turning in my head like what am I gonna the same way that you're backstage kind of blanking? But that's that is the perfect distillation I think of when you can get your brain out of the way. You're OK when you're backstage and you're thinking about it, your brains in the way. Yeah, when you're on stage, you're just you just kind of fucking shoved way. Get in this. No

room for the second layer for the for the self. Um, editing. You layer your just your brains entirely on the next thing. It's a bit like playing sports. If you've played my sport, you don't actually have space. You're just thinking about the game. And it Z, I thought was a really interesting experience and gratifying for May because they put a keyboard on stage for me because obviously playing funny songs is my stock in trade, and I'm very able. Teoh improvise songs and and it's and you don't have to be very funny to make a song Funny if you're improvising that you just have to hit one rhyme or land on a tagline that sounds like a pop song. And I and I was glad that I was there because I thought I'll probably just got straight to the keyboard and kind of wow them with song improvised action, cause that's something most people don't understand. But I didnt stayed, stayed up the mike, and that was my mission to go to the piano as little as possible, and I basically went,

I want something You went for. The Limited committee. Yeah, which sounded like a jingle. And actually, I didn't do a very good job with that. I thought it was great and the other the other thing. That and I don't know if the audience picked up on this, but I but at least when you when you did when you did a little bit of a two piano. The committee. Yeah, you did the song. And I think you just like AIDS. No committee. Yeah, but then you did the quick song and you stood up in your like See, I didn't even need the piano that much?

I don't know. It sort of felt to me like, Oh, yeah, that's really that's also he's still pushing himself. T not have to feel like he's relying on the thing that he's been doing for so long. I thought that was really charming. Thanks. It was.

It's a nice safe space, and it's and it's different from improv in this sort of improv game. If people have watched improv, you don't really have that the rules on the structure of because if you ever go see an improv troupe that there's sort of training you do learning not to block and how to take up offers. And, you know, they're sort of signs and ways on. Actually, groups was sort of playing the topics like an improv came and acting scenarios absolutely brilliantly. I'm in his complaint genius, but if you're not an actor and you haven't got a lot of improv, you just got to stop talking. And that's interesting to me, because I've done a bit it. I watched a lot of improv because I used to play piano for an improv troupe. Um, and, uh, this is a very different thing that really is proper freefalling. It's cool.

The show is called the set list for Anyone is listening and it's It's a really terrific showed I believe a

lot on YouTube. I don't think I was going to, but

they might be well, but I think, yeah, so I think that so they do it here. Then I think I'm gonna start doing in a D. C. B in L. A Rich Hall who I hadn't seen in years and who I loved on SNL. And then he recalled it all the snow glitz stuff and all he did a bunch of really cool prop pieces on SNL in the eighties and then just kind of disappeared. And then turns out he's he's been in London all this time and he's He's pretty pretty huge successful here.

Yeah, does great. I mean, I remember watching Rich Hall on some stand up a broad variety show or something in the nineties when I was still in Perth thinking, Oh, my God, that man is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Does that dry?

Totally. Yeah. And he turned. He turned his set lists into into just a straight rant where he just kind of got in the audience faces. And it was a

non state on a player piano under. Did you say my Not without

No, No. Yeah, I without

Yeah. Yeah. When we were on our on our when I played piano under him, I think he I think he thought that was a good idea.

I don't know whether he regretted having a list. I didn't keep pushing yourself. And if you if the whole idea is that you I need to put yourself in uncomfortable situations and you need to sort of scare yourself and you you know, when you go after you played for 10,000 people and after you've done, you know, like all the British television shows, How do you How do you manage to keep doing that?

Well, I think it's about making, I guess related to what I was saying that booking a space if you haven't on the hours the the it's about finding a balance between doing things that challenge yourself and not being a self indulgent dick. So So I want to in the next couple years, right? Another musical? Um, you know something more more difficult. Although I've got this musical called Matilda that's on the West End, which is rolled out in Adaptation and it's going really well and it was incredibly challenging and really, really great. But I want to do something even harder than that which is right, a musical based not on the famous story. Um, so that's something I want to dio. I've been somewhere out over 20 years. I've never done a studio album,

and I think I will be judge ist uh, that's scary to me because because when you're a comedian, if you go, I'm gonna write us album of not comic songs. Now that that's putting yourself in a very judge. Herbal position says plenty of really scary things. We still dough. I do want to act again. I'm gonna get back on, do some theatre in the next 18 million mid next year, meet 13 in Australia, hopefully and just striped just doing a stop out play that I've always wanted to do on Duh you know, that sort of thing. So luckily for me, because I and, uh,

songwriter, pianist, singer, comedian, actor, you know, arguably, I'm not good at any one of those things, but I'm fine at all of them. There's no shortage of scary shit still to go, but it is your right. It is about. It is about scaring myself. But I do want to know, use abuse, my position of power that I have now having an audience and having interest and just go off peace to end all of stupid projects that no one's interested in. But I really believe in changing it out as much as you can.

I always I was in a musical comedy duo for a long time, and I always thought I don't wanna be easier to do music because even if they're not getting the bits, you can just distract them with harmonies are musical road are you know, just the fact there's music, But then when I found is we stopped playing comedy clubs because our songs more jokey, Yeah, they were sort of like sketches. So I guess we're going. This is Did you find that? You know, when you start playing in front of an audience because you can't bail out of a song, really? The way you bail out of a stand up it, it's like a four minute sketch. So if people aren't on board, you just have to They just have to sit through it.

Yeah. I mean, I might be a bit diluted because I just don't notice if people who enjoy it up, I guess, uh, I, um mostly my songs, Uh, I don't know. It's like when they're not that funny. I don't really mind their songs in my shows that are not funny at all. Um, they're absolutely, completely not funny because, as I say, I don't see myself as a stand up. My my only currency is not laughter.

As I keep telling myself because, uh, just cause I didn't come to this with any heroes. I didn't watch Bill Bailey or know who Tom near awas or I just wanted Teoh. I don't know. I don't know. I just thought I should write stupid something. I've always written stupid songs. I get started at parties drinking and with a guitar at 18. And we all just made up stupid sons and and, uh, yeah, I just don't. I sort of feel like I I write the songs that fit the show, and the show has a sort of arc where, you know,

I make sure it doesn't go swing song swings on. You know, I'm making sure that the styles of varias and that we don't get stuck on religion for too long and that, you know, whatever my the ark is and that we come down here and then up there in a big number at the beginning and a big one before the end of the first act. And you know, he's in slowly and save that really that intellectually difficult stuff when they're prime but not tired. All that all those considerations. And once I put a show together, I kind of think fuck him, Um, by which I mean the opposite of fucking, which is that I've worked as hard as I can to make this a show that everyone alike, uh, and if a bit consistently doesn't work, I'll change it out.

But usually I just sort of make it work with eyebrows, piano, solo, whatever. I don't know. I just sort of I think because I don't think I need last all the time, I'm just not under that pressure. I do get up plenty of laughs. I mean, people walk out of my show feeling like I've watched a comedy each other, but then they're not laughing every 10 seconds, like a stand

up. I think that's kind of Well, yeah, that's, I guess, with Stand up. Well, if you're in the club scene, you really kind of have Teoh. I've never

had that pressure. That's the short answer. I've never done the clubs and pain put through that cookie cutter off stag nights. You know that that you just go. These people are not gonna listen. I have friends that it stand up, do a long time in Stewart. Lee's a perfect sound with someone who's does whole bits where people sort of laugh uncomfortably or don't laugh. And he's one of the best comedians in the world, if not the best. And if you don't make yourself think that laughter is the any currency you can create basically interesting one person theater or it doesn't have to have a genre assist. If you confined your audience like Daniel Kitson has and you do what you fucking want, I'll come. What, you do it too Out spoken word Mom look

like he does. I guess that's true. It's sort of the difference between just want to get ways. When you start doing stand up, you don't start with one hour shows. You start with five minutes sets. Yeah, so you kind of get into this mindset of Well, that's another five minutes. Okay, here's a new five minutes. Start piecing those together. But I guess that's a great approach of thinking about your set. Really? Is more of a narc.

Yeah, it's a case of the I mean, the trouble is the John. If you're a stand up comedian, you need to have Yeah, I laughs a minute. Whatever you need, Teoh, you need to do that relentlessly. If you want to be Louis C. K. Well, say there's another example. You, you Lou is incredible. But as he's got more developed, he goes longer without a laugh because he's an intelligent guy.

People just listen to it, you know, I don't I don't know. But I bet you I bet if you went back to his club days, you'd find that he's got more expensive and, you know, whatever. Once you're free of the clubs, you realize that you have people in your company for 90 minutes to hours and they're what you listen to what you have to say. In my case, I've got I've got a very strong sort of world view that comes through my work. So people coming Teoh here that articulated and they're coming to watch me play piano a bit and, um, I send people out crying, you know, because it's because I just don't I've never had that pressure on comedians as they get away from that pressure, you find they they go in that direction as well, laughs at the only currency.

That's a really interesting thought that it never occurred to me before. You just it's so ingrained in your head like must get laughs, but this needs more tags. All right, let me take this out. Take out the

fat. Yeah, we'll see people, comedians listening to me or anyone listening to me that doesn't like my work will go. It is making excuses for not bang funny, which might be true as well. But it doesn't really worry me because I never called myself standing committee. Never all I wanted very early on I went. I'll be loved, love to get to the point where the journalist stopped saying, Well, it's stand ups, not a strong is his songs or oh, he's like a young Bill Bailey or comic musician like I can't I wanted desperately to get to the point where people just went, What's what's This guy got off for us this year because we always go to the shows and we always enjoy them and you just become a bit your your name becomes your category, and I think I'm sort of their here and in the States. Interestingly,

I'm sort of there as well, because people tend to come because they're saying storm or the Pope song. They come because of the world view. They're not coming because they saw a stand up and they saw the words stand up on my poster. I might be a bit No, it's OK. They're not coming for that. They're coming because they're saying a particular set of ideas presented.

The first time I saw you was a Montreal in for just for laughs in 2010 and we're doing those weird club soda shows which early the club soda shows there's a There's like a best of the festival that they do every night of the festival, and it's like a seven show. It's in the summer. It's still light outside. It's kind of a weird and, you know, the people that come to those shows are there just older French Canadian people that fit the median age is like 45 50 years old. They're very polite, but they're not really they're not really shows that sort of prime you for shooting a gala this week, and I feel all pumped, too. So the first time I saw you did the view did the Pope show and um, you know that song killed, But then there were definitely older people in the audience that just couldn't process. Yeah, what you are saying and what what, Uh,

you know, like like a like a outrage, but a little like who this is. No, he's not supposed to be able to say that out loud. It's It's so good

And and I've been lucky. I really think that that's a huge thing. I mean, we're treading over the same ground, but it's just sort of firming up in my head as we expect that your material is a result off the evolutionary pressures that have been put on. You know, you're if you've spent 10 years in clubs, you will be dumbed down because success in comedy is laughter and laughter in clubs is not necessarily very smart. Laughter, because they're drunk on there, they're in a group, and then whatever. No, that that sounds condescending, but it's just the atmosphere is not that they're not smart people, is that it's a club and you got 10 minutes and you got a delivery. A staff in everyone's pissed. And so that that's the pressure and the jokes that don't survive that pressure die like like attributes in the Spacey's And yeah, you

know I love you say? That s Montreal.

You know those sorts of things, That which is quite a corporate festival where the crowds are not really necessarily comedy crowds and stuff That stuff coming, damaging if you think about it, If you if you let yourself worry what the Montreal crowds think, Yeah, you fucked, you know, because you you shouldn't let Montreal crowd. I mean, I love Montreal, and often there are great crowds there. But those corporate show those mashup shows called down under 17 Australian comedians and all that those shows if you let them influence you and it's very hard not to go that hurts. Hurts in material. Dying hurts. Wherever it happens, you gotta walk off stage. Let yourself have.

You have night of self loathing any morning of thinking of quitting and then get the fuck over and remember that you need to allow yourself to be judged by the crowds you want. So if you've got a crowd of people in front of you, smart, savvy, interested, you know, in my case, rational comedy, your nonreligious comedy goers and your joke doesn't work. Then you let that let that place it's pressure on you and fix it or dump whatever. But don't. Don't let a bunch of drunk fox on a stag to change materially. Just can't

do most unless you want to do this, Cubs friend. Exactly. Do you've got to get that right. Most clubs air a step above us, boy. Not even a step above that. There is there, like a cousin of a sports bar. Basically what you're in and I've always just sort of special. And this time, especially in the States, but even just, you know, even adjust Los Angeles Just seeing the different identities of the clubs there. Each club I always referred to them is Galapagos. I'm like these air, different little islands, and they breed different types of comics, you know, because

exactly, exactly. That's and stopping in. You gotta you gotta play the clubs that bring the crowds that will enhance your material in the direction that you you would want to watch. Yeah, four cents a little bit. So, you know, it's a bit of a good incestuous over. Basically, if I've got a crowd of people, lighten sort of should I like and my shit's not working, I'm in trouble, you know,

How long was it before you were able to start getting your? How long would it take for your crowds to start coming out to see your shows instead of having to that moment where you kind of have to win the crowd? Oh yeah, like the stranger

crowd. So I guess that Melbourne 2005 sort of it was just papering the house the whole time is getting freebies, freebies, freebies and within the Melbourne comedy festivals are very. It's a great festival that's got a lot of comedy, and a lot of people goto. So if you're shows good and you give away enough tickets in the word of mouth kicks off, then you're good. So I was in 100 80 seater or something, and I started with 30 40 50 people, sometimes 20. And by the end of the third week, I was feeling, um so that's a little dense microcosm of the real world, because in Melbourne you have a during comedy festival, you have a crowd of people who want to be watching comedies. If your word gets out,

it's good that doesn't reflect in the real world, but it works the same way on then in Edinburgh in the same year did the same thing. I was in a 350 cedar, are papered and painted and papered it on the reviews come out everyone Rates of reviews and burned by the end of the first week. I had a couple of you know, you know, this is this is something you should say This sort of your views. Um, inside. By the end of the second week, I was selling out, and then I did a couple of shows on the West End that sold out because of the winning the prize in Edinburgh and lots of the stuff. And then I did it. Teoh Onda. Uh so So most of the states, instead of 300 state is around Britain. I went back to Australia same sort of thing and then just doubled every year. If you know anything about exponential ality means you get

big numbers very quickly. Yeah, Yeah, it only takes a couple of years, but I think the trick, it sounds like and where you're luckier than most people. Is that you? I knew what you wanted to say, and I think a lot of performers know that they want to perform, but they don't exactly know what it is that they want to say and then takes a while to figure that. I don't know if

I didn't know what I wanted to say, but it had never crossed my mind that you weren't supposed to say the things that I wanted. I didn't have a sort of macro intent. I wanna be a comedian, talks about, you know, hypocrisy and ethics and religion. But those of things I was reading about thinking about. And then no point did anyone or any crowd or any club teach me that. That's not what you do. So I said before, the naivety has always been my greatest asset. I was incredibly naive. I didn't know anything about comedy. Um, similarly, with my musical,

I don't really watch loads of musicals, and I don't read music, and I don't study sometime and, um, and minor name. But it was very important going into that because all I did is read. The scripture went, What would she sing and how it sounds? You know, it's incredibly simple, which isn't to say it's simplistic, but it's a simple process and, um yeah, Look, I've been I've been incredibly lucky. I mean,

straight up not, notwithstanding the fact that I came with some skills because that was 30 and I had been playing for a long time. But the fact that my version of what comedy is on my well view it's a conflation of time and place and staff. I mean, I struggled a lot through in my twenties, and when this came, it went really well, really quickly, quickly, for may I mean, no, I expected quickly, but, you know, in five years it's been really good, and I Do you think I'm very lucky that there's a certain zeitgeist audiences,

people wanting to read about on listen to and watch, uh, stuff about, you know, rationalism. And

I don't think I don't think X factor Quick is I don't think anyone should ever strive for that. I don't know. I don't think you should ever want that, because if you became famous in a week, you can get unfamous Exactly because you don't have a foundation of skills. You don't have a foundation off. I mean, you have to have enough sort of fuck ups under your belt and learning experiences under your belt. Teoh be comfortable with who you are, and it's just not

No. One that you know. I was 30 when people started listening on this one small way, and I guess the three or four before I started getting recognized on the street. I'm now 36. I wouldn't have wanted to be any younger, nor would I wanted it to happen any quicker. I mean, it's it's really head fuck. In fact, in fact, it's no, it's it's actually fine, But every now and then it's a head fuck. And if I didn't have my experience and my wife and my kids and my family and my self a stain which is built on something deeper than success because I had done for so long, you know that self esteem you build up in your twenties that you have to build up so you don't get depressed when you're doing night after night of terrible Gibbs. All that all those tools and just knowing what you value,

because that's when you learn what you value in your twenties, you sort of have a pretty good Internet in your light attains that sort of person you want to pay and stuff, but it's your twenties that teachers you what? What? You what you value and expands your knowledge base and all that stuff. I've got a song that I've never quite written called Spend Your Twenties Poor, I think. I mean, obviously on an optimist. So I looked back at my history and think it's a good one, but I Do you think it's a really It's a huge problem to be rich and famous. A 22. I don't know who you are. Who the fuck are you? If you're rich and famous? 22?

Well, I think that's why a lot of people kind of crash and burn because they don't know. And also, when you get to that level of success and you're really young, you don't have enough people in your life kind of keeping you. And you know their motive. Yeah, exactly. I have a photo and Reggie Watts. That's a fucking great picture Dandy and took a Montreal. Sure,

Bosie was famous, a six day in Internet finest huge, you know, And then the whole lot of people scooped him up. Agents and stuff try to figure out what to do them. And he's got such good parents and a girlfriend from the early days and and he's really, really brought shockingly bright is annoyingly brought. I was in a room in Montreal with Eddie aside and man, a couple of agents and producers and always kind of quite big wiggy PayPal. And I just had a happiest moment where I realized that Bo was just so by far the smartest

person in the smartest talking shit. Yes, it is like is like six sixes and he loves you know what? In Montreal, the main hotel, which I think is the higher everyone stays, there's a circular bar. After everyone shows, everyone just kind of It's like it's sort of like Montreal's like a rain gutter that just spills everyone out, spews Comedian. There's just all the comedians of it, Uh, and you know, I would end up talking Teoh Bo there for a while, like he would come up and want to start talking about science and physics because he he knows that I love that stuff and he knows he knows way more than I do, and he just starts talking about wormholes, and I feel like I could email him because they're about to have exposed on tour at the moment with someone who works. And are you seriously want

to Brian Cox? My science show How you're not saying this sideshow, you're gonna be gone. I'm gonna told you on Tuesday nights on bond not on. You should see it because they're gonna go live to serve at the shot.

That's amazing. Yeah, there close. They think they're gonna discover some time living in a

really interesting thing is that soon have some results that I've seen the paper, but I can't what means, but I can't read that language. But, um uh uh, and Brian has read the paper, obviously. But science being science, of course they've done it. My understanding is that Cerner's down a test, and although certain is the only place that can do the acceleration required toe do this. Some other other group. I don't know if it's in another accelerator or just another group working at the L A SE, but they they're not gonna They won't look at each other's papers until they're prepared because they don't want they want to be blind. They don't want anyone toe be biased in what they're looking for. This sort of shit is incredible and some very, very exciting.

So as far as I know, sort of today, sir. Getting the results from the CMO, whatever. But he called, you know, that collecting their results toe and I have no idea something in the eye off Cox made me think that it might be bigger than we think. This daughter now, in my it might be like a serious indication of Higgs.

I wonder if that's I wonder if it like what the next step is once they discover his last fundamental piece. If that means that they're going to pretty quickly have an understanding of why objects have mass Or is it like No, no, no, no, no. This was just so that we could begin that process.

My understanding of sort of the fundamental I must say, I have no idea what I'm talking about. I can talk about this stuff in the most stupid language. I don't even know what I'm talking about when I'm talking about it. But but my understanding is that the sort of central equation in quantum mechanics access if the Higgs bo son is true. The the equation sort of requires Higgs hypothesis to be the case in order that I can make the calculations that quantum physics makes successfully predictive Lee and all that. So it's so I don't really under I could be wrong about that. But that's what confuses me that area because it seems that quantum physics is going about businesses. If Higgs is right, and then if they confirmed the Higgs, right, Okay, is right. Thank

goodness we've been using

that all along. But anyway, it's, you know, it's very very, uh I mean, it's a whole lot of space, and we don't know what it is. And isn't it a step towards understanding

dark matter? Well, they're gonna look at it. I think I think we know that what's gonna happen is they're going to see the particle. It's gonna be like opening the Ark of the Covenant. Everyone's gonna be like, it's beautiful. And then they're gonna get zapped in the face and the everyone's gonna die. You're not supposed to see its big stunt is gonna roll after. And then some weird German guy's gonna melt. Yeah, right next to the oh, so I think that will happen. Yes, that'll be in some sort.

That'll be nice. Yeah, well, hopefully we'll get it live at the gig on Tuesday.

But he's very, very young on

every now and then. You see it. You see how young is not that he tries to hide it. He's saying that of a kid, you know, they couldn't drink last time, was in town, right? He's only just turned 21. I saw incredible stability around him, but I'm still worried about it. Even the most stable smartest kid. I'm worried about it. He's so insightful. So he knows that he's got it. And he's making this tape a show of MTV, and it's gonna be really interesting and quirky.

Never made the obvious decision. He's how many 20 year olds in the States given millions and millions of YouTube hits and all these agents going, we're gonna make your star, which is what they all say over and over again until you start not being out of here. The words What sort of how many American kids would go? Sorry, I'm going to Edinburgh. I'm gonna

freak. I mean, I think Bo and maybe five other people because our whole culture is built around like No, no, no. You need to be on TV and be famous quickly as possible

in America is where everything happens. Yeah, I mean it. I suffer that when I come to America. This kind of What do you mean? You're going home? This is

your here. You have arrived. Where you going? Come back. Going from England. What is the biggest live company will take a lot of their show. Just make our own birth. Exactly. That's it Will make you. Will you find on then Reggie Watts, also in the picture. Was is genuinely one of my favorite people in the world. A so good. He's another one of those guys that you talk to when you're like you're a lot smarter than I am. Eyes

well, small. There is an interesting I tried some sort of hippy line. I don't really understand Spend enough time with him to know because I think he quite likes hallucinogens and stuff. And I don't really have that. I don't have that side of May, so it's kind of a bit of a a mind traveling. You definitely, and that's his sort of you in the world on this sort of hyper rational guy. But he's he's he's basically really smile. I said I have to strain to keep up. He's good.

The music show at Montreal has become really huge. And I did it the very first year. They had a music night with my buddy Mike. You think it was 2005 on and it was very small and no one came to the shows and we

didn't do well. It was a cold. What is it called my thing. What They called a

show. You know, I don't remember. I think it was it was called amped or something. Still, okay, But it wasn't It wasn't going that I am. The first year we did it, it was the music show or something. And it was late night show a club soda, and no one can like is that no one came and then, But, you know, in the year since people like yourself in Reggie and Bowie, like have really made it the show to go to to the extent that they shot it this year, didn't they? Yeah, well, in 2000 like they shot

as a television. I think it was last year, and it was two years ago. That year. That photo was taken Reggie and May and Bt man.

Oh, yeah, of

course. And it was this just we did a couple nights in the row, ever came the first night. This is sort of just one of those nights that you wish you could force all the time, but you just can't because Reggie was bit kind of had some cookies or something and be the man. I was a bit drunken, and we'll improvised and did a bit of phrase styling and tasing each other. And it's just kind of wicked, uh, and everything a comedy not should be. But you can't make it just that thing. With people feeling generous, comedy nights are often for the people feeling a Ndjeng. Lists of comedians find it hard to make space for other comedians. It's very difficult to improvise and stuff, but with music that opens all that up. Um,

Layton live in Edinburgh is a place where people are constantly walking on stage and kind of interacting. But it often this becomes we had bullying and stuff. It's quite strange, but with music. It's very easy to be generous because you could just groovin bait box and make space. And if again, it's laughed is not the only currencies no one's freaking out People are in

love. Have you thought about maybe at Edinburgh one year? If you guys were all there kind of maybe getting together again. That's what an amazing line up the floor of your beardy man. Is it someone else? By the way? That is, I think, a lot of hard core comedy nerds in the States. No, but not everyone in the States knows beardy man, and you definitely should look him up. If you don't know. Beardy man is always because things that you can't sexy process

I've done more than I've gone some way down the track of trying to create a full on big theater show with Beauty and Reggie and on May and some violinists and of twice gone down that track and got close to booking venues. And it was gonna happen now actually is gonna be in December this year. But Reggie's on toe with John Legend or something, or he was going to pay. So we lost Reggie and thing fell over and then I sort of reinvention in my head to involve Cem. Sort of careful about talking about too much. I think that's a good idea, and I'm not sure, but I don't want tape, but I think it's gonna happen. But anywhere. Some big, big violinist take place through pedals and beauty, man. And you know, I create create this sort of music freak show, which is bitter,

and then try and get some like Tim Key or someone toe do some poetry or, you know, make it really weird and musical. And then in the second act, just open it up and improvise and make it so stunning. That's really what's brain, because with Bt man, you can apply people's minds.

That's our our we hit like right exactly an hour.

Amazing. It really was going to say something. Pity to finish off. I have no pity.

I e think the proximity lemons will be performing nowhere near each other on either side of the globe, undetermined. Wait a minute. This did come back around because the two particle accelerators are essentially proximity lemons, approximately 11 firing approximately lemon at the same

time, very close to the speed of light, but not but then but then hooking up to full a data set that is useful.

So if you could talk to Mr Cox about maybe renaming these two facilities, the proximity lemons, then I feel like our job

here will have been accomplished. It's made the last hour with it. Was that with enough? That's piteous, Hellman. All right, good. Thanks, man.

Enjoy your burrito, everyone. I would wait. Don't enjoy your burrito just yet. As promised, I'm tacking on one of Tim songs at the end of this podcast. This is taken from an Australian TV show called The Sideshow With Paul McDermott. It's one of my favorite songs by Tim I just I love it. I love the musicianship of lyrics of the performance. So here you go from a few years ago. It's a rock n roll nerd. But Tim mention yeah, can There is radio. Oh God, sorry. Old radio habits.

Bad host, Bad, bad theme. He doesn't have a problem with drugs. He just doesn't get them. He's fine that his mates have tattoos, but he thinks they'll regret them. He likes going to pubs, but he hates it when the music's too loud. Hey tends not to go to rock concerts because he can't stand the crowd that all these have a wanted to pay is a rock star Ranger MTV, but he knows that it's not fucking likely. He just turned 30. He knows that he will always be a rockin wrong dad riding songs The world will never hear duty. Want me? Just keep writing. Oh, yeah,

But you see, the problem is he always draft off being a star, that he learned piano instead of guitar, which in the nineties didn't get you very far. So while the other kids were learning Stairway, he was the piano to their forte. Body wants convinced one day, Rock that fuckin ass sales be an icon for the disenfranchised masters Long and Rebel against the state. But just for now that at half the weight cause he's running late, farmers morning classes and evil always be wrong. Keep playing gigs that no one knows about. It sounds upset. We'll just keep playing. Oh, yeah, But you see,

the problem is, there's not much depth in Wadi singing. He's a victim of his upper middle class on Bring Him so he can't write about food or bling bling. So he sits and imagines his girlfriend is dead. China Vote some angst in his middle class head and bitches always fine at half past nine when they go to bed and he's not spent a single night in prison. He has no issues with nutrition, has no drinking problem and no drug addiction unless you count the drugs. They But if she can wander, always tends to make him cause he doesn't look good with his T shirt off the when he tries to act tough telling trick. Go out like pills on having fun eagles home with showers and get a good eight hours. He gets thrills from his morning run. One is make one dates taking speed and drinking cans of chipping. Told me Put the book with gullies had 17 because he's never really been in the same given. Roses will take Queen Foreign Beetles sounds. Stevie walked up and you never shot a man. He doesn't know.

The difference between mental of trash slashing spending falls on the tracks and the words I know he wants to be a crunchy and cool spent 11 years at a private school lithe that he knows that is music lacks depth, but it just he has nothing interesting to say. Celie writes about himself, but he doesn't want to seem self obsessed. So he right to the person in an attempt to see more rock n roll. But he suspects it's not work deep in his heart. He knows that will never be silver jail. Eskimo. Even if he was quite pretty with small pans like Kylie, he knows that he will always Oh, yeah, yeah Huh

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