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What I've Learnt - Arj Barker · WHAT I'VE LEARNT

0:01
SPEAKER_00: Comedian Arch Barker has always had an ability to identify the idiosyncrasies of Australian culture, but with an affection developed through his own familiarity with the country.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: And is doing it again.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: His new show is just as disturbing as he free falls into jokes about the pandemic and dictator damn.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Opening the show, he reflects: Australia is a friendly country until a global pandemic strikes.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Then the states split up.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Ra-ra-rah, it's like Game of Thrones.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Part Indian stick and a European, his rich cultural heritage is just part of the fuel for its comedy.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: And it cleverly selects subjects which resonate well with local audiences.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: From discussing Uber versus taxis and the city's sometimes brought relationship with the Melbourne Cup.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Also on his topical hit list of paleo diets and going food-free.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: But as Barker grows up, so does the subject matter.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: What is different to the Arch Barker we've seen in the past is a distinguishable self-awareness.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: We would expect nothing less from the California night guy.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, what we are most interested in are the gags.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: So, Arj, welcome to the What I've Learned podcast.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to laughing out loud with you.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh, that's pressure already.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: No pressure.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to chat to you.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned briefly I watched the gala and I was watching the festival lineup.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: And something that I really noticed with many of the um the international festivals, the comedians seem to be outliers or strange observers of humanity and quite eclectic.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Do you agree?
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Like, are you one of these?
1:47
SPEAKER_00: They they seem quite um unusual, and that's part of the charm.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: Do you think you have to be somebody who observes humanity at a little extra?
1:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think I think as far as getting material to resonate, it helps if it's based on something that rings true.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: And so if you are uh sharp at picking up on the things people do that that are collective, that's going to resonate with an audience.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: Even if they've never thought of it before, they go, Oh my god, that's true.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: I do that every time.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: And some guys could build their whole act off those kind of observations.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: But then there's all ways, different directions you could go with it.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you could just take that and springboard off it and then get ridiculous, uh, or uh, you know, you do whatever you want to do.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: That's why comedians are all different.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: But definitely noticing the quirks of humanity is one thing that really resonates well with audiences.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: And is that something you've done forever, or something that you've just got better at?
2:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, I just never really set out to like achieve one skill with comedy.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: I always just thought what's funny, like what is a funny joke, what's funny to me, I guess.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: I guess in my early days, I probably wanted to sound like a stand-up, like what I thought a stand-up should sound like.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: But as time went on, I realized, well, it doesn't matter as long as it's something I think's entertaining and funny to me, then I just have to uh communicate that successfully.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, you talk about yeah, the stand-up comics.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the comedians reflected in that famous Scorsese film, The King of Comedy, one of my favorite films, with De Niro and Jerry Lewis.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very cool.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: It's all about the trials and tribulations of a New York comedian.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: But he's sort of sad, he's perplexed, he's anxious underneath all those jokes.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's sort of true of many comics?
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's why they're so good at tapping into the audience's emotional slate?
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Is that you?
3:52
SPEAKER_00: Do you have that special barometer, that sense of, in a sense, you have to be aware of that vulnerability in yourself to witness it in others or to sense it in others, do you think?
4:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't know.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some comedians definitely are on the depressive side, but definitely not all either.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: So I've met many, gotten to know a bunch really well over the years, you know, 30 years of doing this.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: So I think I don't think you can like say there's one size fits all with that.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: I think some comedians are just really like some guy might he might grow up in a really solid family, and he's just got a positive disposition, but he's just he's a hustler and he works his butt off and he puts together a good act, might take him a few years, and he's very successful.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: There's another guy, you know, and I know a few of these guys, like they've had a job they hated, like accountants or something, and they get into comedy, and they just have this well of humor inside them that they tap into, and they can be very natural and have you know a great career as well.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: So there's all ways to approach it.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: For me, I I don't, I mean, unfortunately, this might not help your your interview very well, but I'm not I don't like analyze my own psyche too much.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't think, you know, why does my comedy work or where am I where are these ideas coming from?
5:20
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I should, maybe I'd be, maybe that would help, but I I always just again have a simplistic way to go about it.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: I just think, what's funny?
5:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, what makes me laugh?
5:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, what would I want to see if I went and saw comedy?
5:32
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's it's true that you can't help but write about stuff that you experience or that's part of your experience, or that you think about.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: So I tend my show will be a conglomeration of subjects that I've been affected by or thought about my relationship, my relationship with booze, maybe, or the fact that I think UFOs are cool and I'm interested in that subject finally bubbles up into the show after many years of reading about it.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: And so uh, yeah, I don't know.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: In a way, it's like it is a little bit like therapy where like you have hundreds of therapists and they're all just and that because what what do therapists do?
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Like they mostly really listen.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, listening is probably the main skill.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: And one of the big benefits is someone will listen to you talk about yourself and your what you think and your issues.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: If you can make it funny, it's sort of like getting free group therapy, actually getting paid to go to giant uh reverse group therapy, right?
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Where it's uh many therapists, one patient.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: But however you want to look at it, it's uh it's definitely different.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: Each comedian is different, they're coming from a different place, they're coming from different background, they have different motivations.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: Some guys go, I just want to be famous, or I just want to be rich and famous.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: Look, look at these guys, they're rich and famous.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: I want to do that.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: Other guys just feel like they have to let this stuff out, and they it's not even about the money, but they just want to, you know, or challenge themselves.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't think I could do it, so I had to try it.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: I guess there could be so many different reasons why people get drawn to that, and so it's all different, yeah.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: And what about for you?
7:13
SPEAKER_00: What's your what's your inspiration?
7:16
SPEAKER_00: Why why you I mean 30 years is a long time to be doing comedy, so you know that's a it's I think my mortgage is probably one of my big inspirations to get understandably, yeah.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: Understandably, we've got to get the reality check, yeah, for sure.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean initially I did it because it just seemed like it'd be cool and fun.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: And like I did all always have a reputation of making my friends sort of laugh.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: I was one of the funny guys in my group of of of bros.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh but then as I started doing it, I saw a lot of potential.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: I was like, wow, I I I seem to be making some pretty good progress.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: And I just loved it.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: I loved everything about it socially.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: I loved the challenge, trying to think of a joke.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: I was I was obsessed, you know, I'd come home after a show and fill up uh, you know, just do just all these ideas on paper, both sides, notebooks like that.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: But over the years it became more like, okay, this is going pretty well.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: But it did sort of as it became more of a job, it took a little bit of the fun out of it.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, like and that's pretty normal, I think.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: I don't think things are necessarily.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it again, everyone's different, but for me, the most magic times where it's probably the before I made when there's so much uncertainty and it was just an adventure, and just being on stage was such a thrill.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: And then now I still love it, and I'm thankful, and I think I probably have one of the funnest jobs in the world.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: But it's also my job, and so now how I supplement that is by having hobbies.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: Because what I really think in life, I mean, once you're kind of like know how to do something pretty well, but I don't think I'm like the best, or I can't just come out with an hour of material, it takes a lot of work for sure.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: But I know if I do if I if I'm patient and I work at it, I will come up with another show that will be solid and um and at the very least, very good, if I can say that.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: But I I'm not, you know, I'm not tooting my own horn.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: But what I love now is I mean, you can't see, but I've guitars and um photography equipment because I I love hobbies now because I can be bad at something and I and learn a new skill and get all those thrills of the of the progress, you know, like like the first time I played a big audience, you know, like you come off stage, your hand shaking with adrenaline, and now it's like, oh, you know, finish my sandwich and walk on stage, and I'm very used to it.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: We've it's still fun, but it's yeah, I want to get that thrill.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: So now I like messing around with like carpentry and and trying to learn guitar better and being a beginner at stuff is just like a real blast.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: And it that's really to me what makes life kind of more fun.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: I think I enjoy being I enjoy you know being a beginner at stuff because then it's like it's kind of more exciting.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: Sort of ironic, isn't it?
10:26
SPEAKER_00: Because we spend our whole lives trying to master something and to be really good at it, which obviously after 30 years you have become a master in your field.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, I again I didn't I didn't ever use that word, but um But I did that's okay, I can.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think I think it's you raise a really good point.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Like um sometimes the thrill of the journey and getting to where we're gonna go is part of the the enjoyment.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, it's sort of interesting that you've gone back, you want to learn new things, yeah.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: The majority of the enjoyment.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I would tell you, my my most fondest memory uh time in comedy is like my first five years when it was just and I didn't, you know, I didn't make but a few hundred bucks a month, and you know, sleeping on couches, you know, you know, friend of a friend, hey, can I crash here?
11:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm well, I do a support slot for 50 bucks a night at a club, and but I'm like, wow, I'm in Seattle.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: It's you know, it's early 90s, I'm on the road.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: It's the it's like the coolest thing ever, you know, like those, those just that's an example, but spent a lot of time in Sacramento, oddly enough, too, back then.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: But those days are just so like uh just the sweetest.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh I get a nice feeling when I think about that time.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: It's I'm very reminiscing, I'm very uh nostalgic for that time for starting out even with all the uncertainty.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: It was some of the best times for sure.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: And I tell that when guys I get emails like occasionally to say, Hey, I'm a new comic.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: Can you give me any advice or anything?
12:07
SPEAKER_01: And so I tell them the basic, I say, uh, you know, just have fun, don't worry about making mistakes.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, you can learn it's kind of cliche stuff, but very true.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: I say you can learn as much from a bad show or more from a bad show than from a good show.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: So don't worry.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Try to learn to not fear dying on stage.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty good skill for a comic to have.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: But I also say enjoy it because I know what it's like to be that ambitious.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: I was I was actually really ambitious.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: But I tell them those first few years are magic, you know, you gotta enjoy that.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And do you think that, you know, it's a tough gig.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's a lot of people that try to be stand-ups or to be comics, and it really doesn't work, and it certainly doesn't have longevity.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: So so do you think it was your um attitude that you just were like, I'm enjoying this, I'm gonna keep doing it?
13:01
SPEAKER_00: And also you sound like you're quite dedicated, like the way you write wrote lots of notes and made sure that you didn't have to try back.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: That's the thing.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: It was just what I it came out of me.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I just wanted to have new jokes and better jokes, and you know, I could remember every moment of the show, and and and uh think I can make that better.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: And plus, I also didn't have any reservations about what I said or what I did as far as like now.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: I'll think of nine ideas and I'll think I'll throw out eight of them before I even start because I'll say that's been done, that's too obvious, that's kind of hacky, that's uh just I'm just not interested in, you know.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: Like I have all I have a lot of criteria for my material.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: Um that I would throw out a lot of jokes.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: But back then I'd go, I'll do an impression, I'll get a prop, fucking, you know, play a song on guitar, which I still occasionally do, but I had no like criteria for what I would try on stage, which is probably pretty good, a good way to be.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: But on the other hand, you know, as you as you go do it longer, you're you think, I don't, yeah.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that joke is really good enough yet.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: Or I don't I think it or it's kind of too easy, maybe too obvious or something, but you just I'm just very picky now, where I wasn't back then.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, it just changed.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: You can't do something 30 years and and still run home and be like, no, you know, I can't sleep.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: I have to, you know, I mean, you maybe some people can, but I'm not like that.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: So as you've got older, like many of us, you've become more discerning and more self-conscious.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: That's the irony, because the beauty of youth is the complete and utter um recklessness in a way.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: You can just throw caution to the wind.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: And so I think whatever you do in life, what you're saying is it's the same in comedy that you, you know, you're probably a little more self-conscious and self-aware.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Shall we use that expression?
14:56
SPEAKER_00: It's a little less because it makes sense.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: You you know, you're you're probably more aware of who your audience is, what you've done in the past.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: A little bit, yeah.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: And um, I mean it's nice to have freedom and stuff.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: And I do shows where it's like build as like a work in progress or new material, and there I might mess around.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: And I have thrown out impressions still over the years.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: If I had if I had if I had one that made my wife laugh or whatever while we're watching Breaking Bad or whatever, then I've it's ended up in the show.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to put in really rules, and I I'm not adverse to writing a song because I you know I can play the major chords on a guitar, and anyone could sing.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: It's just I didn't say I could sing well, but I can sing.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: And so I I don't put that much restrictions, but you but you're right.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I have pretty good, I feel like I have pretty high standards for myself.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: I feel like it has to be pretty good if I'm gonna put it in my show.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: So, does your wife think you're funny?
15:59
SPEAKER_01: Well, um I'm in the middle of a divorce right now, so uh that probably answers your question.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's really bad.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: No, no, it's not like no, it's not like that at all.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's it's covered in my new show, and it's um I'm pop I'm open about it.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: But um, no, we're and we're terrific friends.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh our friendship really survived because of um it was a lot such a space between separation and divorce.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: We've let everything calm down because we just decided to write up COVID and lockdowns together and not deal with all that stuff because we're like, let's just make sure the world's still here, and now we're moving forward in our lives, but we're much more calm and we're helping each other, and it's really it's quite beautiful, really.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: But um, that was mainly meant to be a joke.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: She didn't divorce, you know.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: She knows we're not separated because she doesn't think I'm funny.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: However, she doesn't always think I'm funny.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times she doesn't when I think I'm funny.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: Clearly.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean, that is interesting, though, what you're saying, because you're obviously good friends still.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: And that that says something.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: The fact that you like could write out COVID together in Australia, and then you're, I'm assuming you're you're still staying on for a while because you've been here for what most of the year, have you?
17:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm staying on your at least through the end of this tour, I'm gonna stay there for a while.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I go back and forth.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: I can't really go home too easily right now because I have so much work here that I wouldn't be able to necessarily come back in time.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: And uh, I don't I don't know.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: I I think I feel like you're not meant to.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you can travel internationally, at least not without a lot of trouble.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just here for now and um it's fine, yeah.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Aussies love you.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're one of the favorites, favorite sons.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: You've been back and forth here for a long time.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember really a comedy festival without Ajbar, actually.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: I've missed I've missed one or two, but yeah, I've been there a lot of years, yeah.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Which is lovely.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: It's so nice that you know we've embraced you and you've embraced Australia.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm interested whether you um whether you've learned a lot from your comedy.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Do you sometimes, in order to to work out a joke or to work out a gag or an experience, does it sometimes take you places that you thought it wouldn't?
18:26
SPEAKER_00: And you've learnt from that?
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Like well, divorce is one of them.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: For example, like that's a really interesting that you've got it in the next show.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, in the current show, yeah.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um it's well I don't know, but I feel like I have to be to a point where I'm comfortable enough with something, and then it comes out kind of naturally.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: I can have some material about it.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't spend a lot of time on it, I just explain to the audience what's going on.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: There's a few jokes about about it, and but it's more of a springboard for other material, like about my hesitancy to start a family, and um just because I'm a little yeah, anyway.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna really do the joke, but yeah, yeah.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: But but that's that's sort of deep human reflection.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: Like I don't you know, yeah, it's a big deal, but I don't really think I learned, I think it's more like comedy is is the is an export of what I've processed internally already.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's in yeah, you've processed it, and then it can come out as a gem or a gag or a job.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: Once in a while, if I'm lucky, yeah, maybe.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not always, but um I know I don't actually force right, like I don't say I'm gonna write five minutes about you know my relationship.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: It's more like I just have ideas pop into my head and therefore they've already sort of been filtered a little bit by my brain.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: I think, I think though, that you have to be prepared if you're gonna get up and talk about sort of personal experiences, which you often do, you have to be prepared to be vulnerable, and maybe that's the shared or the universality of what you experience.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Because everyone goes, Hey, I get him.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Because like I've been through that or I'm going through that, whatever it is.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: And and there's something really, I think that you're very good at doing that.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, I mean, that's good.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, people respond to stuff that's about um life and anything.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: Again, stuff that I observations or things I feel like I've figured out about life, I often share.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: But I don't I try to keep it funny because I want the priority to be that they came to laugh, not to have like a serious, yeah, like a self-help seminar or like they didn't come to see a philosopher.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: I have these I have these feelings, and what I like to do is one thing that I've done with you know that I enjoy doing is presenting like a big idea.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, wow, that's a really deep thing, and then right at the end, ruining it by making it really shallow, like it was all just deploy to get laid or something like that, you know.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, that's not a specific, but yeah, I think I yeah, it's so I so you still have this idea that might be quite beautiful.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you what, like one example.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: Um I had I was trying to tell people, I had basically it's been a while, so I probably can't remember how it goes, but um I just talk about how basically celebrities aren't a lot of people see a celebrity and they're like, Oh, look at that guy.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: Look at Brad Pitt getting off a jet with his family.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: And they think, I want that, I want that.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: But I've not but I basically say, trust me, those guys aren't any any happier than anyone else.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Which is true, and I believe that.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Like they everyone wakes up in the morning and has concerns, and everyone deals with the same shit in one way or the other.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: And then it goes on.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: And then I say, I'm not comparing myself to them, but I say I'm doing all right.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and uh, you know, I and you know, gags about, you know, um, I I you know, I order avocado on a sandwich, I don't think twice about it, that kind of thing.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: But then the punchline is when I say I actually envy you guys, because at least you guys get to live with the hope that maybe one day you'll be rich and famous.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: What do I have to look forward to?
22:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, so it's sort of like a double reverse uh brag, humble brag.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: And um I really enjoyed that one.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: But I but I fully meant all the points I made leading up to that.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Um I I do setups I believe in, but then I also then my dumb character kind of will ruin it at the end by uh arrogant, uh you know, egotistical, uh you know, that sort of alter ego that's where a lot of the humor comes from.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: Self-mockery.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we like to laugh at ourselves, and maybe that's what you're talking about.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: Like you just turn it around and make it a joke, which it's actually more like I make myself turns out, oh what oh, oh, well, he is an asshole, you know.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: So, like right at the end, I kind of ruined all the like I sound like this read I is that how you pronounce that guy.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: And then, and then uh it and then right at the end, it's like, oh, he's an asshole.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: And to me, that's funny.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: See, that's kind of stuff that would make me laugh if I was watching it.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, somebody like Jackie Mason, who I think's hilarious, um, he's very old school.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, massive following, everyone loves Jackie Mason and et cetera, et cetera.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: But he's very old school.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Do you think that there are some things that are not funny anymore?
24:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, has political correctness dampened the mood a little bit so that we're all a little more do you have to tap dance more or not?
24:14
SPEAKER_01: Um they say you do, but I've not personally had much of an issue with that.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: Um I've I think my act maybe is considered quite safe in that regard.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: But you know, maybe maybe I would encounter more issues in some parts of the world.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: I don't think Australia, though, is that politically correct.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's a there's an element of it, but it's not the same as in the states, you know, where you know you can't work at this place because you you can't have gender-specific talk and or something like that.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: Where the where that I know I might get you know in trouble there, but uh I haven't personally encountered much trouble.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: I do shows at the clubs in the states and people seem to enjoy it.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: I think if you had something kind of you know, you know that term punching up, punching down.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you're punching down like a minority group or vulnerable group, like uh or a group that's historically targeted, like women or minorities or or uh lesbian uh what is LGBQ, is that right?
25:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, LGBQ, yeah, but if if you're doing jokes at their expense, that's called punching down.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're doing a joke about McDonald's, that's punching up, major corporation politicians, uh yourself.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: I guess that's punching level.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: That's my favorite target anyway.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: Again, I like to just I like to look like whoa, oh, oh, what an asshole, you know.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not gonna get offended at myself for making myself look like an asshole.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: So it's a safe target.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: And who do you think's funny?
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Like who at the moment?
26:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean, for example, you mentioned Shits Creek, right?
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Before.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: No, I I don't think I did.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I thought you were talking about Shits Creek.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: I love Shits Creek, but separate to that, do you who who do you what do you watch and and what do you find funny?
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, we are watching Shits Creek, and it's quite quite insane what they've achieved because it's sort of that very show though, because I don't think it's that funny a lot of the time.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: It's um I don't crack up a lot of episodes on half once.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's a weird line of just having likable people that I you definitely come to love the family, and um, I mean, Moira, it's a little bit tricky for me to the mom of I don't find I don't feel as much heart from her character.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: It's it's I do still sometimes, but the other ones, all the other ones, the mom and the two kids, excuse me, the dad and the two kids, and a lot of the characters, just a lot of heart.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: But it turns out that's enough because I used to think, well, you still have to be funny, consistently funny, right?
27:20
SPEAKER_01: But that show's not consistently funny.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not, yeah.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's part of its beauty, is you don't have to laugh out hysterically the whole time.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: You don't believe, don't worry, you're gonna, but um I I like it.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say I'm I love it, but it is like it's like uh it's like seeing some friends when you pop it on.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're making our way through it.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: And what um, so who is funny to you at the moment?
27:43
SPEAKER_00: Who do you like?
27:44
SPEAKER_00: What sort of comics resonate with you?
27:46
SPEAKER_01: I don't watch a lot of comedy, actually.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully that's not a shock to everyone.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't um I I mostly uh read nonfiction and uh what do I do?
27:58
SPEAKER_01: I listen listen to some history podcasts and uh I watch a lot of scary movies, horror movies, um are my favorite genre.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: Um there's a show called Norseman that's really funny to me.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: It's like a comedy version of Vikings.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: It's on Netflix.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of a black humor because it's quite violent, but it's it's like um it's like a comedy version of Vikings, really.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: It's the best way to describe it.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: But it's based on it has real stuff like like their attitudes towards slaves as not being as being subhuman.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of just like jokes about that, which is which is wrong, yes, by today's standards, but they're saying, well, this is the way it was, so it's like a sitcom like a space based in Viking times, so it's bizarre, but uh it really tickled me.
28:59
SPEAKER_01: I really like it.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, are you a sort of like somebody like a Billy Crystal or a Jerry Lewis?
29:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, what are there any of those that no, no, I'm not saying you're like them.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: Are there any of those great comic comics that you revere or that you've learned from or that you love?
29:15
SPEAKER_00: Like Billy Crystal.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, so I mean, I've learned from no, I actually watched uh Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: I liked a lot of his characters.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: I used to watch it a lot when I was a kid and and stuff, and um no, I don't have I don't know anything against him, Jerry Lewis.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: I've never like watched a ton of him, but you know, but uh you know Eddie Murphy influenced me just because I saw him delirious when I was pretty young, probably 13.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: And it really blew me away.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: I'd never seen stand-up really until then, and it's such a strong performance.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: Um the material is is is quite dated and wouldn't hold up today as well.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it'd be considered some of it's probably quite homophobic and inappropriate, yeah.
30:01
SPEAKER_01: Some of it's pretty well, it's not very woke, let's put it that way.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, um if you look at it in terms of just the poise that he has and the confidence and the just seeing someone kill like that was inspirational for sure.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: He was only 21, I think, when he did that.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, pretty young today.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: So, Arj, just a few quick questions I wanted to ask you.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, what are you talked about you love docos and you love real stories and nonfiction?
30:33
SPEAKER_00: What are some of the things that you're what are you listening to at the moment?
30:37
SPEAKER_00: What are you watching and what are you reading?
30:38
SPEAKER_01: I enjoy this podcast called Hardcore History with Dan Carlin.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: And he uh just goes through history.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of times it's based around particular uh empires or battles.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's a one-off um historical event.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are he has the World War II one, World War, it's probably in the World War I series are go over like 20 hours altogether, uh, four four hours an episode sometimes.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Really well researched, and he's just superb, you know.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: He he uh I've never been much of a history buff at all, but it's so interesting the way he presents it, and then you start to learn about the world.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, I didn't know anything about World War II in the Pacific, except that Pearl Harbor happened, and I barely knew anything about that.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: And now I'm an expert, no, I'm not, but uh I I know a fair bit about it from listening to a whole series about he documented the Japanese pre-World War II and how their army came to be, and how um ferocious they were, and and uh how much they did how much the Jap the I think they call it the Imperial Empire, Imperial Army, sorry.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: Like how much of the world they actually did control at one point is quite impressive for such a small country, but he just he has a way of putting it in perspective so a modern listener understands it and like gets a sense of how it was.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: He's just terrific.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: The power of the podcast, because I think it's giving people access to information that they might otherwise not read or have access to.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: So they go for their walk or they're in the gym or whatever and they listen.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm I've found that that's quite common and show you know, should you say four hours four hour sessions each?
32:28
SPEAKER_01: Well, one episode's often four hours, three and a half, four hours, and then but you know, you you come and go, might take you a couple days, three, three or four days to get through it.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: But um no, he's terrific.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: And um and what are you reading?
32:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, I've been reading it for a long time, so it's a little embarrassing.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: But um, Sapiens, it's right here.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: That's great, I kind of just kick at it, but I'm also uh very good.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: Just yeah, it's just sort of have you read it?
32:56
SPEAKER_01: It's it's pretty interesting.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: Brilliant, brilliant book, yeah.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: And I have a sequel already, but I've been really sluggish getting through it.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: I love it, but I just I'm a little short attention span sometimes, and um I don't I cut I come and go with books sometimes, I don't finish them right away, so that's normal.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: I think lots of people like that.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: But I also read it, yeah.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: I read about uh reading about chess a little bit.
33:21
SPEAKER_01: I started playing chess a little bit after like a lot of other people after I watch the Queen's Gambit.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: I want to learn chess and um lucid dreaming, that's another um hobby of mine.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: So I'm reading about that when I can.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: And music.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't read much about it, but I love playing it.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: So and listening, who are you listening to?
33:41
SPEAKER_01: What music Black Sabbath mainly lately?
33:44
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what the um my buddy and I we play Sabbath tunes.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, he plays bass and I play guitar.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: So we're we have a drummer that shows up sometimes, classic drummer.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: Um that's a throwback.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna get a singer, we're gonna have a little Sabbath tribute band, hopefully.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: It's a plan.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sure you do really well.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lot of nostalgia for that era.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Like sure.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: And but there are very they're already excellent uh people in that space.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: So if anything, we'll be lucky to have a couple gigs one day for a laugh, but that's about it.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: It's not like a big career move, it's just fun, you know.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: Get together once a week, couple beers, play some music.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like fun.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's been great having you on the What I've Learned podcast.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: You've been an absolute treasure to interview.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: And thank you.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: And I like hearing all your uh views and perspective on the comedy world, but also the world around it.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: And I wish you all the best for the future, and I hope you still enjoy Oz and come back again.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I always do.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: I always do.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: Nice to meet you.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: Nice to meet you too.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Bye.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: The What I've Learned podcast will now be coming to you weekly, with new episodes released every Tuesday.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm blessed to have so many wonderful guests coming on the show.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: So check out my What I've Learned Instagram for updates.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, stay tuned, kind, and curious.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: Loved it.