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Homer’s Barbershop Quartet (with Sammy J) · Four Finger Discount (Simpsons Podcast)

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Baby Fine on my Cars, Hello Human Fly, Yeah, come on,
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I stayed up all night. Dime my underwear, extra extra b sharps,
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sing on roof, Do give me one of those? Wait a minute,
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there's nothing in here about the b sharps. Come back here. That's being
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done pretty chief it Charin is little Sarish, get the care gass. I'd
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like to take you in behalf of the group, and I hope we passed
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the audition. I don't get it four finger Discount, dude, Welcome to
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four figured Discount of the podcast where we always eat ourselves some funny foam.
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This week we are going all the way back to season five, the premier
2:21
season five. It's the Beatles episode of The Simpsons. This episode nine f
2:23
two one Homer's barbershop Quartet. I am dando, IHI am guying. Yes,
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very pleased to welcome you to a podcast. It is witty at first
2:30
and gets less funny every time you hear it. Exactly right. But it
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won't be today though, because we're lucky to be joined by one of Australia's
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most popular comedians of the last twenty years. You may knowme as that guy
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who sometimes reforms alongside a purple puppet, or perhaps you're old like guy on
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myself and you know him as the host of Abacy Breakfast Radio. He's the
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one and only Sammy Jay. Sammy, thanks for your time. How you
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doing very well, Brendan guy, Thanks for having me. Today's the day
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for Sammy Jay. That's exciting. It's been quite a trip down memory lane
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for me checking out this episode and getting my head back into Simpsons World.
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Yeah, so you said you're a big fan. Drawing up you would have
3:02
been you know, tennish when when the show first launched. You were a
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child of the nineties. So how was it going back and revisiting an episode,
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he said, have been years since you've watched the Simpsons, like the
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older ones anyway, Absolutely, and no doubt, Like many people you talked
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to, you know, grew up knowing every line. You know, was
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huge part of my life and then fell off the wagon, as it were,
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and yeah, life comes along, and family guy comes along, and
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then kids come along, and then it's been oh gosh, I missed thirteen
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seasons or whatever. So it was incredible. I went back to watch Homer's
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Barbershop cordette, and first of all, like I knew every line, which
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was, you know, just a reminder of how many times I rammed those
3:42
VHS tapes in the nineties that I would tape on Channel ten every time the
3:45
new episode went up. And also on a broader level, just reminded me
3:50
how influential the Simpsons was, which sounds so almost predictable for anyone, any
3:53
Committian to say that Simpsons was an influence to the point where I think I
3:55
just have never brought that up. When I'm interviewed in things and people say
4:00
who influenced you in the comedy world, I always say, oh, Lana
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and Woodley and The Late Show and a lot of buzzy traditions and influences.
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But The Simpsons was always just like a heartbeat in the background, to the
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point where I probably have not even acknowledged it enough until I went back and
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watched Oh my gosh. That was my introduction to subversive humor, to absurd
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human to musical comedy. There were so many parts of it which I and
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you know, the first CD I ever owned was Songs in the Keep Springfield,
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Like I learned that I say it, and that undoubtedly had a huge
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influence in my approach to songs as well, and particularly in the length of
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them, Like a lot of my songs have always been very short, because
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I just try and get the joke and move on. And that's The Simpsons
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in a nutshell. Yeah, it really is. It goes without saying kind
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of thing, You're right, Sammy, and that it's just sort of seeped
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into the bones and the DNA of so well, not even people who are
4:46
professionally funny like yourself, but enthusiastic gammages like myself and Dando. You know,
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it's sort of become a shared language or a common tongue among people.
4:56
I mean, watching this episode, for instance, I mean I was just
5:00
I just realized, how you know, something something Burt Ward is just something
5:02
that you say automatically when you necessarily can't think of it. It's something something
5:08
Bert would And you know, I write comedy songs, and that's that's the
5:12
joke I'll do. And it's sometimes I'll write Bert Ward as a little you
5:15
know, to fill in a letter ric. I also just want to steal
5:20
Bird's eye view. I remember this was the start of the series. I
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remember Channel ten promode this episode so hard. I think it was over summer
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holidays. I could be fetch checked here completely. But in Australia the year
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he came out, I remember it was always I'd go camping and then I'd
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get back and Simpsons will be starting in like Lake jan or Early Fair That's
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my memory anyway. So I've been building up to this episode for so long
5:42
on TV, waiting for it to play and then kick things off, and
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I just remember I just I love this one so much. You're a big
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Beatles thing because you specifically chose this episode to a review, you said you're
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a big Beatles fan. So was this a thing? Well when you're kick
5:55
growing up? Did you watch it from a different perspective when you got older
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and became a Beatles fan, Because not all of us grew up as Beatles
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fans, So the Beatles references for me were lost on me as a kid.
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When I got older and became a Beatles fan, I was like,
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Wow, there's so many more layers to this episode that I realized totally and
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like, I'm not a you know, I would say, I'm a bigger
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Simpsons fan, the Meadles fans. I'm not like a rusted on Beatles fan.
6:13
But it's in terms of appreciating their role in their place in the world.
6:15
And as you just said, all those jokes going over your head,
6:18
Yoko owner, jokes bigger than Jesus, all the things that then became funny
6:23
in retrospect. It was that was another joy to watch it back also,
6:28
but it wasn't It also taught you, I think some things and the Simpsons
6:30
when I got to a certain age, I would then go and look it
6:31
up, Like, yeah, different episode, we're talking about the Constitution,
6:35
you know, the amendment to be having singing a song as well. I
6:39
think at the time that was my introduction to American politics, so I went
6:42
and learned about it so I could enjoy the joke. So it's sort of
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a two way stree. Yeah, it's something I found really funny about this
6:47
episode as well, particularly the early stuff at the swap meet. There's so
6:50
much stuff in there that is not just very American centric in a time when
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you know, this is pre internet, when you can't necessarily go what exactly
6:59
are they talking about this Bob Cummings guy or anything like that. They're also
7:04
very sort of dated references as well, but nevertheless they work. I mean,
7:09
I just I just find it. I think we've talked on the show
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in the past down to about how, you know, even the most esoteric
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gag can hit every can hit every mark if you're doing the funny voice,
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so you know, moo talking about I've just gotted me Bob Cummings. Oh
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there. It's like, I've got no idea whether theres lucile ball reference,
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but I'm still just cacking myself massively and one in that scene. Actually what
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delighted me because I do like my musical theater and lay Miss is my favorite
7:36
musical of all time. And I don't remember. I think I first got
7:40
into Layms in like nineteen ninety five. That was when I was in grade
7:43
six. And there's a two four six one joke which is a Valjean the
7:46
convict's number in the lay Mis, and that would have gone over my head
7:50
as well. So I suddenly thought man Simpsons was even doing musical theater jokes
7:54
just for me. Before I knew it was The Simpsons. The first Easter
7:57
egg show. Oh that's a big question. Are you put in the case?
8:01
Are you're asking the question? I'm asking the question because I you know,
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I can't I was born in eighty eight, so I can't recomm any
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show beforehand. So but the Simpsons, to me, growing always felt at
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the show that was filled with Easter eggs. And was there anyone that any
8:11
show beforehand that had as many Easter eggs as as the Simpsons did. I
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mean, I'm not an expert in this field at all. I'm a child
8:18
of eighty three, though, and I will say clearly it's the clearly it's
8:20
the show that blew Easter eggs out of the water like it wasn't he Man
8:24
and the Masters in the universe, that's for sure. Yeah, yeah,
8:26
I'm sure the Brady Munch had probably a very quirkingly placed kettle in the kitchen.
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But for some reason, well you were nine when the show first started,
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right, you're now thirty nine. Apologies for out in your age.
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That's Homer Simpson is that's Homer Simpsons age. So you've now you you were
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bart and now you're a Homer rewatching this episode as a father, did you
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did you view it any differently because did you feel from Homer's perspective or were
8:50
you still sort of like seeing it from like nine year old Sammy Jay's that
8:52
is That is an amazing question and an incredible observation. Wow, okay,
8:58
So I mean can I can I waffle on a bit voiser or There's so
9:03
many different things that you're firing off in my brain. The first thing is
9:07
when I was when I was hanging on seven years old, nineteen ninety,
9:11
I went to live in England for a year. Now Simpsons had been around
9:15
for you know, a year by then, and I remember being at the
9:20
airport flying back from the Heathrow to Melbourne. I was a kid, and
9:22
I remember someone was wearing as a little kid was wearing a Lisa and Bart
9:26
t shirt like, and I'd see I must have seen it in the zegeist
9:30
a little bit, but I've never watched an episode. I remember thinking of
9:31
one of these stupid characters, like you know, I was. I was
9:35
all about Scooby Doo or something, you know. But I remember thinking that
9:37
that I made a conscious decision that I didn't want to care about this character
9:41
because they annoyed me. The look of them annoyed me. Two year low,
9:45
when Lisa had spiky hairs, I was like that. And then six
9:46
months later the craze had reached Australia because it was back in the day when
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actually things took a long time to get there. That was my first,
9:52
so I have an actual first Simpson's memory. And as you say, I
9:56
was, I was Bart's age, so I was all about Bart. I
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was all about the I made slingshots, early nineties and all that. Once
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you get back, I watched it with my ten year old daughter, so
10:05
I said, you should go and watch this show. And it was only
10:07
as the episode went on, I was like, man, there's some stuff
10:11
that is properly still inappropriate. Being raised on a diet of comedy and swearing,
10:16
so they're they're cool with that. But it was incredible to watch it
10:20
with her because she found some bits funny, but a lot of it she
10:24
was just like staring blank eyed at because again she doesn't get the Beatles references.
10:28
She doesn't get all the other levels, so appreciating how much of an
10:31
adult show it was, not in terms of being rude or anything, just
10:33
how clever it was. At the end, I was secretly thinking, oh,
10:37
I'm getting back into The Simpsons and now this is this is her chance.
10:39
She's really going to get into it. She was like, I said,
10:41
did you enjoy it? To the girls, that's pretty good, but
10:43
I think you know, we've watched Seinfeld recently together and she's enjoyed that a
10:48
lot more, for example, more physical and you can sort of The Simpsons
10:50
has so many of those meta things going on and cutaways that Seinfeld don't do,
10:54
So that was that was interesting. But no, I didn't the actual
10:58
and we're just going deep psychologists couch if you guys don't mind In terms of
11:03
which brain space I was inhabiting. It wasn't but it wasn't home. It
11:07
was actually as a comedy writer. It was like, because I've spent enough
11:11
time now in the comedy world in different ways, writing narrative comedies or did
11:15
a sitcom as well, and it's a world away from the Simpsons, of
11:18
course, but knowing that language a bit more and knowing the pain and the
11:20
joy and the challenges of trying to write jokes. I watched it with this
11:26
renewed respect for the amount of work that just went into writing these scripts.
11:31
I actually thought, oh, that that line that I always thought was hilarious,
11:33
That was someone in a writer's room came up with that and made everyone
11:37
laugh, and they put it into the script. So it was sort of
11:39
like watching it with three d gogs for me, like, it's definitely you
11:43
know, the old year get the magic sort of disappears in a way.
11:46
It wasn't like it was just this beautiful, untouched thing. Instead, it
11:48
was the product of people working, you know, doing a job, getting
11:54
going to work in the eighties and nineties and going home and having sort of
11:56
normal lives, but having all contributed something together that that was that was the
12:01
feeling I came away from, which was this real respect for it. Well
12:05
that's replaced with a different kind of magic then in that regard, because I
12:07
mean you're looking at it as a kid, going how do they come up
12:09
with this stuff? And then when you realize, oh my god, someone
12:13
actually came up with this stuff. I mean the creation of something like that.
12:16
And you know, whether it's just one person and with a pat and
12:18
the pen going something something bird would, or you know, a group of
12:22
people coming together and yeah, finding this comedic chemistry, that's a magic all
12:28
its own, its completely, And I think I've seen that happened enough where
12:33
jokes don't get through, because that's what you know, the nature of writing
12:35
comedy in particulates. It's an argumentitive, it can be full of conflict,
12:39
just ask the multi Python guys, and so for jokes to still survive in
12:45
a pure form can actually be quite rare, particularly when it's a sort of
12:48
black commedie and stuff. And I just had that real sense that whoever was
12:50
writing at that time, it was a tight knit group and they sort of
12:54
trusted each other, and the producers trusted the writers to see their vision get
12:58
through because there are some jokes and sketches that if you try to explain them
13:01
simply don't make sense. You know, even Bird would like to try.
13:05
And if I said that, and I'm speaking maybe with some battle scars of
13:07
working for ABC the last five years of having to get everything past lawyers who
13:11
were worried about me being sued, you know. And but if I'd said,
13:13
oh, the joke is someone singing a song and doesn't know what to
13:16
say, so it says something something Bert would, someone might say, well,
13:18
why why is that funny? I mean, explain that to me.
13:22
And as soon as you're trying to explain a joke, the joke is no
13:24
longer funny. So as as yeah, there was a real I got a
13:26
real sense of joy and of trust and just thinking, man, I would
13:30
have loved to have been there in those rooms when they were coming up with
13:33
that. Well, they had the power in a sense that James L.
13:35
Brooks was so clever to have the contract where Fox were not allowed to interfere
13:39
with their writing. So the occasion had sort of things where they maybe had
13:43
to censor, but most of the time they're like, this is our show.
13:46
We can pretty much do what we want like the power they had is
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incredible, absolutely, and that's that's I think key, and it's sadly it's
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twenty twenty three, but you know a lot of networks have to keep on
13:54
relearn this over and over again because I'm all for if a network is funding,
13:58
as of course they get to have some say and you know, some
14:03
control, But ultimately the best form of control I think is trusting the creatives
14:07
because if you want something that's not bland and mediocre, you need to let
14:11
people take a risk and it might succeed or might fail, but if it
14:15
works, it'll be special, it'll be unique. Order in the house.
14:24
Nomber for Davis, you can speak no, no, I'm just saying it's
14:26
a shame that we're living in such a risk averse herea because yeah, it
14:30
doesn't result in stuff that pushes the medium forwards I speak, but to to
14:37
interrogate that, like, I think in some ways we are of course very
14:39
risk averse in comedy and stuff. But also we've got all these streaming services
14:43
that are actually sort of seemingly sometimes throwing money people to make outrageous shit because
14:48
it's it's not just on primetime TV, so it's not going to you know,
14:52
offend as many people at once. So I think in some ways it's
14:54
heartening as well. You know, when you've got the Auntie Donna boys getting
14:56
it to go and make stuff, and I think it's there's still some positivity
15:01
out there. But yeah, I've seen the best and worst of that.
15:03
Have you ever written a gag and just think this is just absolute gold but
15:07
then thought, no, they're not going to approve it, and having to
15:09
be bothered to pitch it because you just know it's just not going to be
15:11
approved. Yes, in short, I'm trying to think of examples here,
15:16
but yeah, that you self censor a lot, and I think, okay,
15:20
so to use my examples. The last five years, I've been doing
15:22
a weekly sketch for ABCTV about politics and society and stuff, and I just
15:28
finished that up at the end of last year because after five years, I
15:31
sort of felt like I'd said what anything I had to say, and you
15:33
know, in that world, I've done my job, but it was it
15:37
was no longer inspiring me as much as it did five years ago, some
15:39
sort of ready for the new challenges. But in that world, I learned
15:43
that it's a certain audience, and it's a certain there's an expectation of what
15:48
I'm going to deliver, you know, So if I'm writing a crazy comedy
15:54
song about a dead guy in a park, for example, that's not what
15:56
the ABC crowd want to see at five to seven on a Thursday night.
15:58
There After a political joke and social commentary, which is great that that was
16:02
the job that I took, So I loved that, But I learned to
16:04
certainly focus in more on commentary and satire and leave my more absurd sort of
16:10
leanings to the side a bit, not so much because someone would have said,
16:14
don't do that, but more just from a self preservation. You know,
16:17
you've got to know your audience, and so there are different audiences at
16:18
at different times. To use the lingo of the Internet, you understood the
16:23
assignment will now uta is that the abbreviation let's trying well here, I assume
16:33
the internet its abbreviates everything. Well, you kind of became for the last
16:37
five years, particulars, especially during COVID. You thought it became like the
16:40
country's COVID comedian. You're the guys sort of bringing laughter during that era.
16:42
But do you do you feel like one of the decisions for you to leave.
16:45
Was that because do you feel like it's kind of a pigeonholeders that the
16:48
political comedian now, like you want to sort of get away from that kind
16:49
of stuff. Or was it just was that sort of an add on to
16:52
Sammy Jay's repertoire. Yeah, like my my joy and where where I'm happiest
16:59
is in variety. So I love mixing it up. I love that I
17:00
got to do stuff with Randy for so long and we might do that stuff
17:03
again in future. And I love that I then accidentally sort of became a
17:06
political comic. So I don't mind being pigeonholders political comic because that's what I
17:10
am and that's what I did, and it brought me this huge, big
17:11
audience. But it was more about just the fact that I did, you
17:15
know, the worst fate, worst than death for me creatively, would be
17:19
just be doing the same thing over and over. And we hadn't quite got
17:22
there yet. But I was like, you know, we had a character.
17:23
I had a character, the government coach, who was around for five
17:26
years pretending to you know, coach the government as it were, And they
17:30
lost the election last year and I actually committed and the character resigned on TV.
17:33
You know, so like I tried to commit to my beliefs that you
17:37
shouldn't milk something for too long. So I know it was just more that
17:40
I just would on a Monday start writing the sketch. And we're just getting
17:42
less excited about the ideas because most of them I'd done a version of.
17:47
And I'm excited now about, yeah, getting less political for our maybe working
17:51
on a musical or narrative stuff. But no, I will never complain or
17:55
winge about being pigeonholed because you know, for five years I was the guy
17:59
with the puppet, and then for five years I was the guy who do
18:00
politics. So I'm excited to know what I'll be in five years. Maybe
18:03
I'll be that washed up guy who used to be the guy with the puppet,
18:06
but I'm comfortable taking the risk. Do you love Bob's Burgers? Of
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course you do. Who doesn't. Well, what if I was to tell
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have the parent inside you right now, so use it with your breakfast radio
18:55
right. So you started with the beginning of twenty twenty, is that correct?
18:57
Yeah? Yeah, like January twenty twenty. That how the pressure I've
19:03
taken that on at that time? But a pandemic has just launched. What
19:07
was going through your mind? Was it okay, there's lots of material to
19:10
work with this or was it how am I possibly going to deliver something that
19:12
people are going to hear during such tough times? So well, you know,
19:17
January twenty twenty, the world was my oyster. I was doing my
19:19
weekly spot and I just landed this breakfast radio gig for this is in Melbourne
19:23
for ABC, and I thought I was going to have this amazing year of
19:26
going and getting invited to free events and maybe traveling around for outside broadcasts,
19:30
and so I didn't have a care in the world in January, and then
19:33
come February much I'm like on air telling people live that they have to stay
19:37
in their houses or they'll be arrested. Like it was. It went from
19:41
light breakfast chat very quickly, so that honestly, it was I think as
19:45
far as my radio stuff goes, it was the best thing for me because
19:48
I went in quite performative, you know, and I've always hidden behind different
19:52
versions of myself over the years in terms of comedy, whether it's in the
19:56
character form or with Randy or on my own. But basically, in the
19:59
course of one month, I got that smashed out at me where I had
20:02
to be just completely real because people were terrified. And it's a talkback radio
20:04
station, so people calling me live on radio in tiers like not knowing what
20:10
was going to happen, and everyone thought it was going to die. And
20:11
so it humanized me very quickly, and it made me sort of appreciate what
20:17
radio is in an old fashioned sense, which is like a sense of community.
20:21
It's everyone together. It's different to a podcast in that sense because it's
20:23
live and happening in that moment. So no, I never freaked out because
20:29
I genuinely, at the same time this is all was happening, I was
20:32
canceling all my comedy festival shows and all my mates were canceling their festival shows,
20:36
which is the world I've normally inhabited. So I honestly just had this
20:38
immense sense of gratitude, almost survivor's guilt, that I had this stable job
20:44
that I'd just taken when you know, friends were sort of losing work and
20:48
stuff. So that pretty much got me through the full to the big two
20:51
years here in Melbourne. Of all the lockdowns, I was able to come
20:53
to work and you had an essential workers permit, which my wife works at
20:59
the hospitals. She was pretty pissed off by me also having one, But
21:03
yeah, like it was. It was challenging in terms of the workload because
21:07
it was still you know, a lot to try and turn around a weekly
21:10
sketch and do breakfast radio every week. But the way I got through it
21:14
was by being grateful and then almost burning out at the end of last year
21:18
which is why partly why I stopped TV and took radio. End of four
21:21
days, Sammy, can we talk about a bit about the talkback aspect of
21:26
the gig as well, because I mean, when you're a stand up or
21:27
when you're performing, I mean, you're primarily a transmitter, one might say.
21:32
I mean, you know, it's a it's a communal experience, particularly
21:33
with stand up. But I mean when you've got you know, Keith from
21:40
Finesford galling In, you know, with his two cents on the world,
21:42
do you find that invigorating? Do you find it easy? Is it complicated?
21:48
Is it an absolute shit shower times? I mean all those things,
21:52
but I've definitely it's it's it's back to the knowing. The assignment genuinely,
21:56
because I took the radio job came up unexpectedly for me. I thought like,
22:00
ABC Radio might be something I did in fifteen years when I was more
22:03
mature or you know, had more wisdom or something, and it came up
22:07
as an unexpected opportunity where someone said, hey, I think you'd be good
22:08
at this job. So I sort of freaked out of me because it was
22:11
a bit terrifying the idea of talking to thousands of people every morning and being
22:15
exposed as a you know, because my political stuff, I looked very smart
22:18
because I get to research it and write a script, you know, just
22:21
like the Simpsons do you when you work on it and you present something radio,
22:23
I felt like, oh man, I'm completely exposed. You I don't
22:26
know something, and everyone's going to realize I'm a fraud and all that.
22:29
All those insecurities popped out. But I have learned, and it's been this
22:33
is now my fourth years. It's been a journey, but I've learned that,
22:36
you know, it really is just about hanging out with people. A
22:37
radio, for what it's worth, is about company, just like podcasts are
22:41
as well. If people like your vibe, they like what you're talking about
22:45
or that, it almost doesn't matter what the topic is. It almost doesn't
22:48
matter what the news thing you're talking about. It's about shared company and a
22:52
shared sensibility. And that took me a while to learn because I was so
22:56
scared early on. Like I said, I was sort of coming trying to
22:57
do comedy sketches or pre record, trying to make it Martin Malloy, you
23:00
know, which is not what again? Not what talk back listeners want,
23:04
they'll go to Netflix as they want to watch comedy. So it's been good
23:08
for me. It's opened up a whole different world. But I'm no longer
23:12
scared about sounding stupid or anything because I've learned that I'm just myself. If
23:15
I don't know something, I'm the first to say it. I'm like,
23:17
hey, Hey, what's going on here? Give me a call? And
23:19
then suddenly people call up and chat to me. And I actually really like
23:22
that. It's something. It's cool, and it's to be like the other
23:25
sports. You never know who's on the other end of the phone. You
23:26
might, you know, got like a former premier might call up just because
23:30
they're listening, or they want to correct you, or it might be yeah,
23:32
Bob from Boundaring And so that's it's been a cool and very different world
23:37
to get into. You're really exercising those yes and muscles. Yes, And
23:42
why do you think we should cancel cricket? My suggestion, I'm still talking
23:49
about cricket four years and I don't know anything about the game. Yeah,
23:52
neither do I really, But do you think working in radio now as a
23:56
full time gig has it changed the direction of your comedy going forward. It's
24:00
changed it in it's changed my direction in terms of my energy levels. Like
24:04
obviously, you know it's four days a week, I get up at four
24:07
thirty in the morning, and so I'm not doing as much other comedy stuff,
24:11
absolutely, but it's also it's I see that as also a blessing and
24:15
it's opened up this other career for me, so I don't necessarily always want
24:19
to be making jokes or just writing songs. It is about variety. So
24:23
yeah, I think before I took the radio job, I was learning with
24:26
my comedy that showing more of myself was an asset. You know, everyone's
24:30
got strengths and weaknesses, and I think me being vulnerable or being questioning is
24:34
way better than me being a smart ass or being really harsh on stage,
24:37
which I did a lot of that in my early years, just from nerves
24:40
and you know, putting up a barrier and hiding behind something. So this
24:45
idea of being myself and talking more normally, like the way I'm rabbiting on
24:48
now, Like I never would have talked like this five years ago about my
24:51
career. It's I would have thought it's too self indulgent or reflective and anything
24:56
you know, and now I'm like, no, it's just I'm about turn
24:57
forty. It's great sharing stories, it's great being honest. You know,
25:00
smart arsery and walls are for people in their twenties, which is great as
25:03
well. So it's life stage. But I think when I stop radio,
25:07
I'll bring that still back into my comedy in terms of, you know,
25:10
the way I tell stories and the way I present because I think I can
25:15
reach a different audience or at least have my own point of difference by by
25:18
being a bit more open and honest. So I think that's a good thing.
25:21
Can you recall the moment you are no longer scared of doing comedy and
25:23
the moment you're no longer scared of being on the radio? Oh wow,
25:30
no longer scared of doing or are you still? Because I mean there's that
25:33
saying, you know, if you're not nervous, you're not caring. This
25:37
is okay. So last night I went to the Local, which is my
25:38
favorite comedy room in Melbourne, which has been around for twenty years now,
25:41
and tried two new songs because I've got a two coming up which has new
25:45
gear. And it was an interesting feeling because I was nervous about the songs
25:51
going well, but I also knew that if they didn't go well, I
25:52
wouldn't take it personally. I'd like, I'd be fine with that because it's
25:56
alert like this sort of humbling thing of going it just works. You got
26:00
to make it better. You're gonna put in front of a crowd. And
26:02
whereas ten twenty years ago, if I'd done new songs and they went badly,
26:06
I would have really been dark on myself for a couple of days.
26:08
Equally because of that, they went really well, because I'm probably more relaxed,
26:12
and so you know, it's this sort of it's a snowball effect of
26:15
confidence. So as far as my comedy stuff goes, I think probably probably
26:22
quite later than I would have thought, because Randy and I as a duo
26:23
had, you know, heaps of fun, heaps of success, but there
26:26
was always a an anxiety behind it for me, them like, oh man,
26:32
what about without Randy you might just a total piece of shit, you
26:33
know. And so after that, quite soon after we made our sitcom,
26:37
I got the gig offer for ABC six seven years ago through political stuff.
26:41
That's when I first came up with Playground Politics, which was a little world
26:44
about making fun of politicians through a play school prison. But that was a
26:48
pure idea from me again that I was left alone to do so, you
26:52
know, obously didn't interfere with it too much. I think that's what gave
26:56
me confidence, and I thought, Okay, I've got some skills here.
26:57
I've got my own sense of humor on its own has an audience. That's
27:02
the key, and I think for me it's always been. You start off
27:04
wanting to please everyone in comedy and you want to be the best thing in
27:07
the world, and either quickly or slowly, you realize that will never happen.
27:11
It's just about finding people who share your sense of humor, and then
27:15
it just becomes a big injoke, like you know, whether it's with three
27:18
people or a million people. Comedy to me, he's still about an injoke,
27:22
which is you're all laughing at something because you get it, you know,
27:23
and other people don't get it, and that's all makes it funny.
27:26
Yeah, it's gonna kind ask about Randy just quickly, and I don't know,
27:30
I don't want to open a whole Martin and Lewis candle worms here or
27:33
anything like any but when you first started quote unquote working together. I mean,
27:40
how did you sort of view him as like maybe it's like a buffer
27:42
between you and the audience, or you were, you know, a duo.
27:47
I mean, how did you sort of I mean to break it right
27:49
down and full disclosure, because some people listening, as many people do,
27:53
still sometimes assume that I'm a ventriloquist because I see me next to a puppet.
27:56
But Randy is the creation of Heath macaver, incredibly talented performer, writer,
28:00
puppeteer, comedian. We met nearly twenty years ago at a comedy night
28:04
in Melbourne. It was Randy as the puppet was and I still feel weird
28:08
saying he's a puppet because I don't se him as a puppet. I accept
28:11
that that's an old thing, you know, but I see it's very much
28:12
a known person. But he was in seeing and I was on the bill,
28:15
so we had a little banter back and forth and with all that was
28:18
fun, and then he sort of grew from that. So we both started
28:21
in the pursuit of our own solo careers and then we started doing stuff together.
28:26
But we were quite adamant for a few years. We would say to
28:27
people, No we're not. We're not a duo. We're just doing things
28:30
together like people who were having an affair but not prepared to admit it,
28:33
you know. And then then we happily land into the fact that and that
28:37
was this ego, the completely ego and ambition were you sort of still had
28:40
your own dreams and desires because we were in our early twenties or whatever.
28:42
And then we got more and more success, and we did at sitcom with
28:47
ABC, and we were quite happy being a duo, but we also kept
28:49
investing in our own stuff on the side, and so we were still doing
28:52
you know, in twenty twelve were over in Edinburgh doing Sammy Jan Randy show
28:56
at six o'clock, and then we both do our solo shows at nine o'clock
28:57
at night, which grew, but we had the energy for it, and
29:00
it meant that we never felt like we were stuck together. I think that
29:03
was really important for us because when we decided to put a pause on stuff
29:07
because Randy, because Randy Heath wanted to travel overseas and I had kids and
29:11
family and was getting this political stuff back home, there was no sense of
29:14
bitterness. There was no sense that we were letting each other down anyway,
29:17
that's the Korean side of it. As to Randy himself, I feel like
29:21
Heath is one of my best mates and so is Randy, and they're two
29:23
very different relationships. So when we're performing together, it's a whole different language,
29:26
a whole different set of expectations of how we will behave and it's a
29:30
beautiful thing, like we've still got plans to do things in future. And
29:33
for me, it's magical the idea that I will one day be back on
29:37
stage with Randy in that world, because it is almost like a dream,
29:40
like I get to go into a dream and be in this outrageous musical comedy
29:44
duo where anything goes. How much of the Sammy j and Randy content was
29:48
improvised. You're watching it sometimes you think this is just two guys just on
29:52
stage just winging it, And to me, that just seems incredible. I
29:55
think that the puppeteers able to do that, that Heath has the ability to
29:59
focus the puppet but also banted with you winging it at the same time.
30:03
I think that's just incredible talent. Oh it's it's insane talent, and you
30:07
know it's it's he's being rewarded for it. Right now, he's traveling in
30:08
Europe and the States and just getting his huge following just off the back of
30:12
that, because people, you know, the gimmick of a puppet will last
30:15
you sixty seconds, you know, on stage if people will laugh, and
30:18
then it's all over. And after an hour with Roundy, no one is
30:22
thinking about him as a puppet or laughing as it was a puppet. It's
30:25
because of the writing, the performance, and the fact that he's made have
30:27
felt is another layer a part of that. But yeah, he just inhabits
30:32
it completely and it's you know, his back is completely fucked and that's just
30:34
how it is when you have to crouch like a lobster for half your life.
30:40
But it's a small price to pay for the glory. Well, I
30:41
first sort of discovered you. I would have been I don't know, my
30:45
mid teens and I was mid teens. I was like trying to find the
30:47
Puppetine. I'm like, is there somewhere it's going to be? Can't he's
30:51
clean up the puppet, He's over that side of the room. Where's this
30:52
Puppetine? I can never find him. We would do like an hour show
30:56
together and people would still afterwards come up to me and say, hey,
31:00
and that was great. I can't believe you can do both voices at once.
31:02
Like they would just not get it. They would think that I was
31:03
a multi instrumentalist with my voice. I didn't answer your actual inpro question,
31:10
which was simply a lot it was improd and a lot of it as always
31:12
was, you know, rehearsed spontaneity, where most of the time what would
31:15
happen is something would go wrong in a show. We would muck around with
31:18
that and have fun and then it would just so happen. Let's say it
31:22
was because my my hat always fell off and I couldn't get it stayed,
31:26
so Randy'll be ripping into me. Well, then the next night probably I'd
31:29
ensure the hat would fall off again because it was so fun and so it
31:32
sort of gets baked in. But if you watch our stuff, we are
31:34
always just having so much fun, whether it was doing galla spots and things,
31:37
and we just loved it when things went wrong because we knew we had
31:41
each other's backs, and in our live shows that were not recorded, it
31:44
just got even more wild, like it would you end up with all sorts
31:47
of shit happening or dragging all these members on stage or whatever, and that
31:52
was the best. So we got to a point where we could almost predict
31:55
what the other person would say, even when we were improvising, which was
31:57
a beautiful thing to have. If you feel like having yourself a time,
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you find your podcasts. We're here to talk about home as barbershop courts.
32:22
Here. One of the questions I want to ask you was, so Barton
32:24
Leasa in this episode, they're not aware of homer success. They can't remember
32:28
it right. Are your daughters well aware of your success? Or will you
32:30
sit them down much like Homer did Barton Lisa in this episode One day Ango,
32:34
here's the story of Sammy Jay. That is incredible question, and it's
32:38
very relevant because I was cleaning stuff out over summer and I had, like
32:43
I've got a folder of all my flies. I always keep a few of
32:45
the brochures that I hand out at you know, standing on the Royal Mile
32:49
at Edinburgh, trying to hawk my show outside Melbourne Town Hall or Adelaide for
32:52
him. So I've kept one of each of the shows going back fifteen years,
32:55
and to me, they're really special, like there you know a huge
32:58
part of my background. It's to throw them a lark into I was like,
33:00
hey, girls, you want to see this? And they both came
33:02
and they they looked at it for thirty seconds and literally could see them waiting
33:07
to like when is the polite time? And I was like, oh,
33:12
did you want to We've got more? He do you want to keep them?
33:15
Like? No, that's did you ever meet Billie Eilish? Dad?
33:19
No? Not interested them, forget it totally. I don't know Harry Styles,
33:22
nor was I expecting them to be that interested. In fact, it
33:25
almost flips the other way where I'm like, shit, I hope they don't
33:28
find some way early work because it was, you know, horribly offensive and
33:30
like it would get me canceled. So they are. They liked that I'm
33:34
on radio thing that's school. They like it when I pop up on TV.
33:36
But then they've got no interest in the backstory, and nor should they,
33:39
which is also nice, like it means something to me. Um,
33:43
it shouldn't mean anyone in the of anyone else or I care about is them
33:46
liking what I'm currently doing whatever whatever it is I'm working on. So that
33:50
was a nice liberating moment. I might just chuck them all with them in
33:52
now see, you've never shown them the nerd song. No, I don't
33:55
think. I don't think they've seen my hay hay. They watched bits of
33:59
Sammy and Randy, because Randy is always funny anyway. They like it when
34:01
Randy fats in the bath in episode three of Rickard's Nae Now sitcom. But
34:06
no, I don't think there's the nerd song, which was my greatest crowning
34:08
glory in year ten. We're still in schoolhen that happened? Wow? Yeah
34:14
I was in year ten. Red Faces? Look if you know, you
34:16
know we're talking about in jokes. I don't want to explain red Faces to
34:19
any of your listeners to the pod. They just either a lot of people
34:22
right now going oh oh yeah, four people are like, what's going on?
34:27
Just google it needs But a talent show where back in the day when
34:30
two million people would gather around on a Saturday night to watch TV in Australia,
34:35
like ten minuts out of the population would watch one thing at the same
34:37
time, which is unheard of in this day and age. So yeah,
34:40
I went on the Talent Show and I sang a song about being a nerd
34:44
and it was the first song I'd written, and it was it was in
34:49
terms of confidence you're asking me earlier, you know when I that was probably
34:52
the single key moment of my life, the turning point where I thought that
34:54
was really fun. It was really weird. A lot of people didn't laugh,
35:00
thought the strange. Some people did laugh, but I just thought,
35:01
yeah, I love doing this. I love the attention. I love just
35:04
putting something weird out of the world when the world is so straight and normal.
35:07
And I won four hundred bucks from McDonald's, so you know, the
35:12
great night. It's the purpose. Do sometimes, look, the purpose of
35:15
your comedy not so much to make people laugh at just to make people think
35:16
about certain things. I hope not, because that's that would be improval.
35:22
It's like, no, I've always said, like the joke comes first,
35:24
but what I do try and do perhaps more than others, and perhaps just
35:28
again knowing your own toolkit, you know, I use people thinking in order
35:31
to get to a laugh, which is a weird thing to say, but
35:35
but so yeah, I'm more than happy having a minute of silence or no
35:38
laughter if I'm explaining something or telling a story, if it's going somewhere that
35:43
ends in a laugh, that is an authentic laugh. And this has been
35:46
my problem for years, Like I will, I don't do panel shows anymore.
35:50
You do panel shows, and I would sit there thinking of things I
35:52
could say that would make people laugh that I wouldn't feel good about, like
35:55
an easy jokes for what of it, you know, And that's been that's
35:59
been a problem of mine, Like it's probably stopped opportunities. But I'll sometimes
36:01
you're thinking overthinking things far too much because I just am so keen on originality
36:07
and jokes that haven't been made before. So yeah, if that if that
36:13
require. But the problem without is, as he's sort of intimated in the
36:15
question as well, you know, there's a fine line. And I've done
36:19
a lot of stuff where it's just very very clever but not fucking funny at
36:22
all, you know, so it's it's a it's a balance to achieve the
36:27
two, and I'm still working. I'm still working towards that is. It
36:30
disappointing though when that happens, you think, oh my god, this is
36:34
a beautifully cut gem of a gag, you know, but oh, you're
36:39
you're not You're not into it. Come on, this is an aging again.
36:44
But I think ten years ago, fifteen years ago, yeah, I
36:45
would have come away going on, they weren't clever, they didn't appreciate my
36:49
genius. And now I'm like, oh, your audience. My job.
36:51
Wherever I am, if it's on radio, if it's on stage, there's
36:53
an audience there that don't have to be there, that don't have to be
36:55
listening to me. They've chosen to. So my job is to entertain them
36:59
or you know, make them laugh or making whatever the droll is at the
37:01
time. So I see it as a really good challenge. Now I'm like,
37:04
okay. In fact, I did a song last night. I've written
37:07
a new song. Was the first time I've sung it, which was it
37:09
requires a lot of setup to get into the joke that the song is called
37:14
canceled by the Left, and it's all about how I want to be canceled
37:16
by the left, because then I wouldn't have to try anymore, because I
37:20
am a sort of progressive guy who tries to do the right thing. But
37:22
I'm aware, you know, it's that in the modern world, I think
37:24
progressives can particularly turn on themselves more than their actual enemies. But it requires
37:30
a lot of set up in a comedy song for the audience and then relax
37:34
and enjoy the examples I then give of mucking up. And so that's something
37:37
I'm going to go back and redraft the day because I felt like they were
37:38
half with him, but about half not. So no, I don't go,
37:42
oh, they just didn't get it. I go, no, I
37:44
need to work on that song and make it better until it's full of proof.
37:45
Well, was one of the things of The Simpsons writer's room. They
37:47
create the scalton of the script, and there was like ten to twelve guys
37:52
just their day job was just to sit there and just critique every bitty line
37:54
of the script to make sure it was perfect so good. Well, it's
38:00
the episodes, the episode of kicks off of Them or the swap Meet.
38:01
What do you guys think of the swat meat scene. Like you mentioned the
38:04
lame miss reference and things like that I actually got to kick out of.
38:06
We recently went back and revisit A Brush with Greatness where Ringo Star makes the
38:08
appearance and marches the painter. I like that March had her painting, but
38:13
she was just flogging about a swapman. I was like, ah, I
38:14
kind of feel bad for it because she won't the Springfield Prize is not for
38:16
the best artist in that episode. Now she's flogging her paintings at a at
38:20
a swat meat. Like you know. I adored the scene from a narrative
38:24
perspective because because I knew where it was going, because of course the episode
38:28
is a flashback episode. But I just love that they got this couple of
38:30
minutes of great comedy out of a single story beat, which is Homer discovers
38:35
old record. But you could place that anywhere. You could put it in
38:37
the attic, you could put it in the you know, in the bedroom
38:39
at home. But to put it a swap meat just gave them such a
38:43
great launching pad. Oh. I was just so taken with mere Quimby's utter
38:46
disdain for his constituents. Just completely loathed these people. But then then throws
38:55
in the JFK quote as well. I had to say, it works on
39:00
so many levels, but it does work. And because I mean Quimby is
39:02
clearly you know, a Kennedy rip off and to you know, use his
39:06
famous igmen in Berlin a line but just refashioned for the swap mean I thought
39:09
was so marvelous, But then you know he's absolutely two faced career politician of
39:15
a person. It's wonderful human roaches feeding off each other's garbage. The only
39:21
thing you can't buy here is dignity. Welcome swappers to the Springfield swap Meat.
39:29
It been ain't Springfield swap meat patron. I need a drink and a
39:36
shower. I'd seen that, even like the fact that I haven't thought of
39:39
me Quimby in a decade, as you know, as a person or a
39:43
character, like I said, because I've been away from it, and to
39:45
see him and feel so familiar with him, so familiar with the trope,
39:47
but a renewed appreciation of Oh man, that's I haven't just made like a
39:52
half dodgy politician or a half you know, they've gone as you say,
39:54
the full JFK, it's Simpsons I think, in particular in those moments as
39:59
an example of where you just push something to its absolute extreme within as small
40:02
amount of time as possible. Well, it's right what you're saying earlier.
40:06
I do think the Simpsons introduced a generation of a just kids in general of
40:08
the nineties to politics, yeah, completely, and hypocrisy and all the reception
40:15
and yeah, and then he saw it all playing out in the real in
40:17
the real world in ever increasing times, particularly in America obviously with their predictions
40:22
of Trump himself as president. But yeah, it seeps in it, except
40:27
it seemed in so much more than I realized, But so many other aspects
40:30
of that as well, like you know, incompetent police or police corruption or
40:34
just corporate mouth feasance or anything like that. You mean it really, it
40:37
really was the Simpsons family versus the world to begin with. Absolutely anyway,
40:43
it all happened during that magical summer of nineteen eighty five, maturing Joe Piscopal
40:49
left Saturday Night Live to conquer Hollywood people. Express introduced a generation of Hicks
40:53
to plane travel, and I was in a barbershop quartet. Hello hello,
41:01
hello, Hello, my baby, Hello, my hearty, Hello, my
41:07
time, time so we get umah, most Tavern is down, most Cavern
41:12
reference to the Cavin Club and things like that, which as a kid,
41:14
I had no idea it was talking about. I did. I did love
41:15
the Aggy Breaky Heart reference, so because a little like for Your dand I
41:19
loved that song. So they're talking about how barber Shop was taken over,
41:24
and you know that the singing. So what they did with the sing was
41:27
they got the Dapper Dance from Disneyland to do the to do most of the
41:30
songs, but they got the voice actor to sing the song, but the
41:34
Dapper Dance were sort of like the backing vocals to make sure it sounded legit.
41:37
That's how they made it works. I'm thinking, Harry Share, they're
41:39
good singers, but can they pull this off? Yeah? They sing Coney
41:43
Island Baby, That's how they did. They got the Dapper Dance. Yeah,
41:45
amazing, And yeah, I mean who can fit you know Barney's operatic
41:52
Yes, soulful, irish baritone water but also too so they kick out with
42:00
him. So he was essentially the Pete Best replace of a Pooh who is
42:04
now the ring star. But they want to change his name because they did
42:06
with Ringo Star too. You had to change them. What's his real name?
42:07
Ringo Star, Richard Richard Starkey, that's it, right, Yeah,
42:10
he changed it to Ringo Star. But yeah, but I had no idea
42:14
that there was actually Beatles fans who would would go to contents and say,
42:19
what was it? Pete Forever, Ringo never, because they really just Pete
42:22
Best the original Oh my gosh. Yeah, so of course they refashioned this
42:28
into what was it? Wig Him forever, Bardi never, Pooh yeah never
42:34
fit on a Marquis love from now on, your name is a pooma shay.
42:37
It is a great dish note my ancestors and my god, but it
42:43
struck me with the Pooh name joke. I was like, I might,
42:45
you know, I got my spider senses up because of the problem with a
42:47
Pooh and all the discussions all in that vein. But actually I thought that
42:51
joke remains pure because that is a satire on the industry having issues with someone
42:57
with a complicated name, not just a joke about the name. I'm trying
43:00
to recall when showbiz actually sort of made the shift from that because it seemed
43:05
almost standard operating procedure for anyone with even a vaguely ethnic name, certainly in
43:09
Hollywood. No, we can't. We're not putting Bernard Schwartz on a marquee.
43:14
You're Tony Curtis from now on. So yeah, okay, and then
43:17
Australia, I mean we've had I mean this is just a local entertainment example.
43:22
But Osha Gunsberg who is now known by that name and we all knew
43:25
it was Andrew Ge for many many years when he hosted idol similar so so
43:30
that wasn't his choice. I think it was his dog. Good, good
43:32
question. I assume it was his choice. But for that reason though,
43:37
yeah, yeah, for that reason, potentially because I'm putting words in mouth,
43:40
so I should you do your own research Internet. But I think he's
43:44
spoken about the fact that using his real name, Osher Gunsberg was the chances
43:46
that to reclaim his actual identity were kid. I got this cool pencil holder,
43:55
old man, I haven't seen a bong in years. No one bought
44:00
a was bone necklace. Well, one of us made of money. I
44:05
told a guy O spirit tired dope. The joke you mentioned before. He
44:10
said, you're washing it with your ten year old and jokes went appropriate.
44:14
Was it the bomb that Bart hasn't the backseat or no, the one.
44:16
The specific one was, you know a lot of women are going to want
44:21
to have sex with you when we want to think that they can. When
44:24
when Homer had to pretend not to be married, another reference to when John
44:29
Lennon was told not to mention Cynthia. Yeah, yeah, the little the
44:32
little button on that gag as well, though it was like, it'll be
44:36
fun once we finished our tour of Sweden and I just sobbing for any noordum
44:40
amount of time. There was nothing in al Capones bolt but it wasn't herrolds
44:52
boult dope, look what I got now, But we'll stop. Intentionally,
45:00
we're amming our car. Mm baby on board, baby onboard something something birtward
45:09
this thing raged. So there was a part in this episode though that sort
45:14
of I felt link it on really we long, which was weird for a
45:16
peak era of Simpsons episode Eusually it's just bang, bang, bang bang.
45:20
When Grandpa was listening to the song on the radio, you're just sort of
45:22
bopping back and forth. It goes for like twelve seconds. I was like,
45:24
twelve seconds doesn't seem like a long time, but it is. In
45:27
a Simpsons episode to just have the same thing on repeat. It it's almost
45:30
like what a family guy would do. But just felt it stood out to
45:32
me that moment. Do you think it was it? Because I would,
45:36
you know, because the music was all so beautiful, comically beautiful in the
45:39
show. Is it just doesn't want people to enjoy that that singing. Maybe
45:43
I think they're trying to turn baby on Board into a real earworm. It's
45:46
why you hear that thing you do so many times during that thing you do,
45:50
it's you've got to realize, oh, wait a minute, no,
45:52
this is actually something that would play on the radio or would top the charts.
45:54
I felt really upset when I went to see I think it was now
46:01
it was Nancy Cartwright. Both Yardly Smith and Nancy cart Right both came out.
46:06
I think it was Nancy cart Right who I went to see though in
46:07
a live sort of speaking to it in Australia and around the time she was
46:12
doing press and she said I was talking about her favorite episodes and she said,
46:15
we did a barbershop called that episode and that was horrible. I think
46:19
she picked as one of her least Now your your fans will correct me.
46:22
It was either Yard of the Smith or Nancy cart Wright who said this,
46:25
but they picked it out as an example of a really bad episode where they
46:30
acted like the writers that sort of phoned it in or jumped the shark.
46:31
And I remember being really cut by that, because, as you know,
46:36
it was one of my favorite episodes of the music and I wondered whether it
46:37
was potentially because of the lack of involvement of you know, Barton Lisa in
46:42
the narrative, or she said it was a Beatles parody. Maybe she though
46:45
it was too like Capitals satire that it was it was just based around joking
46:49
about the Beatles, but didn't have much more to it. But you know,
46:52
I've got to vehemently disagree with that position. But if you're gonna if
46:54
you're gonna do satire the Beatles, go ball to the wall to make a
46:58
Beatles little things, you know what I mean. Don't just don't just do
47:00
the obvious ones, like the things like changing the name and you can't tell
47:05
your wife that you're married and things like that. They're sort of not non
47:07
Beatles fans wouldn't know that kind of shit, you know, Yeah, I
47:09
agree, So I was I just remembered that that was It struck me as
47:15
an odd choice for an episode to slam. Yeah, so when they're going
47:17
they're huge access. Now he buys Grandpa the pink Cadillac, which is what
47:21
Alvist did apparently for his mother or his father. I think it was his
47:23
mother. The air bought at the pink Cadillac, and they're right at the
47:25
airport. Now, what do you think of them? The press talking to
47:28
them. This is how they dealt with a lot of big groups in the
47:31
sixties. It's just the precious laugh at everything they did or they ever hated
47:34
them, or they overly loved them so good and I just you know,
47:37
it did made me again just want to go and watch John Lannon. You
47:39
know, all those press interviews in the States and just how much State has
47:44
famed over him because he just didn't care. It was beautiful, beautiful to
47:46
watch someone who's a bit like you know, Hugh granted this years oscars,
47:51
but you know more change is about to say that. I just got such
47:53
an absolute kick out of that. I mean, there were so many people
47:57
on social media saying he was so mean to that. Actually Graham, I'm
48:00
well, if actually Graham could actually do her job well. But you know,
48:04
you got to know your audience. Maybe maybe he should have been more
48:07
charming. He thought he was being charming, but she wasn't charmed to guy.
48:09
That's true, that's true. But I do like that he was reached
48:13
the DGAF stage of his of his career. Okay, Gilligan, the Skipper,
48:21
and Chief Wigham name three, cash leaves client use the remote. Oh
48:36
yeah, can we talk about Chief Wigham? How did you feel about getting
48:43
some Johnny Carson in this episode? Take you back again what I was saying
48:45
though about how you know these are very American references and also very dated references
48:51
as well. I mean Channel nine used to show the Johnny Carson Show occasionally
48:54
pride of them getting led Himan, I guess, but you know, I
48:57
can't imagine many much the Simpsons core audience was staying up saying, oh,
49:00
let's watch the Johnny Carson But yeah, just to hear I mean, I
49:05
think like they all became part of my vocab as a as a as a
49:07
response to that, or even just you. I mean, like I said,
49:12
it's just hearing a funny voice automatically just ramps the joke up and gives
49:15
an extra five or six points. Those two phrases or sound effects or mannerisms
49:22
must be, you know, two of the most commonly used ones in the
49:23
in the live comedy world to this day, just when you're traveling around the
49:29
scene or talking about a gig. But yeah, that's an example Johnny Carson
49:31
for example, where I I even now as an adult, you know,
49:36
I appreciate it was a towering figure in entertainment, but I never was a
49:39
personal you know, a fishonado or anything, so sort of watched it just
49:43
quite casually. Whereas for others that that means the world. Did you know
49:45
the Simpsons created as saying yoink? Really they turned the pink. No one
49:51
had ever written youink before. That's a term we use and every day life.
49:55
You know, what do people used to say when they stole their friends
49:59
chips? Um I want one, I don't know or nothing? You lose,
50:05
you lose. That's a classic for a shower in it snooze you lose
50:08
that the Grammys now and David Crosby gives them given the award. Now the
50:12
after party, did you know in the background we had Aero Smith's spinal tap
50:15
and Leon Compowski the man who pretended to be Michael Jackson. Amazing. I
50:20
saw Aero Smith, I didn't see the others. Yeah, I didn't know.
50:23
Here we are talking about Easter eggs. Yes, And this is of
50:25
course where he meets George Harrison, who they've said that he was very sort
50:30
of unenthused when it came to being on the show. Not that he didn't
50:34
like it, but a lot of a lot of the cast and crew were
50:37
asking you Beatles questions, and apparently he was just like, fuck more Beatles
50:39
questions, you know, I didn't really want to answer the Beatles questions.
50:42
But then Um Greenning asked him about wonder War music wanted to be solo albums,
50:45
and after that he was just like, yep, cool non Beatles stuff.
50:47
I'm all about it. But I thought he had I thought he was
50:50
a great guest because it was just so George Harrison. It was just so
50:52
sort of not bland, but it was just it just felt very George.
50:58
Then came the greatest thrill of my life. Hello, Homer, I'm George
51:02
Harrison. Oh my god, Oh my god, where did you get that
51:07
brownie? Over there? There's a big pile of them. Oh man,
51:17
Wow, What a nice fellow. My memory was that that was still at
51:23
a time when you know, it wasn't Simpsons hadn't been saturated with cameos either,
51:29
so it was still a quite a big deal that it was a great,
51:30
you know, pr move as well. People talking about the fact that,
51:34
you know, anyone who might not have been aware that it was a
51:36
Beatles parody. This really sealed the deal. Yeah, and the fact that
51:39
George is playing it just so sort of dead pen and straight. I mean,
51:43
I would say deadpan. Would that implies sort of not that he didn't
51:45
put any effort in, but almost the lack of effort is the joke.
51:51
There was no joke. Wow, Wow, what a nice fellow. So
51:57
good, just a non plus by Homer just going to town on these brownies.
52:00
Then we get an anti Grammy gag as Homer sort of he's feeling sad,
52:04
he's missing his family. He tries to pay the r the bellboy with
52:07
the arm with the Grammy, throws it down, throws it back up again.
52:09
Has this always been the case? The Grammys had just been had the
52:13
piss taken out of them when it comes to awards. I didn't think that
52:15
was the case. In all honesty. I mean again, like you,
52:20
it feels like the Symptons might have been the first people to do that.
52:22
I thought it was actually regarded with some degree of credibility. I mean,
52:27
if you know you had the Oscars for movies, the tone is for the
52:30
theater, and the Grammys for music and the Emmy's for TV. It's like,
52:32
if there's anything else, it's kind of like a second rate award.
52:35
But this is the pinnacle. This is the one you want. That's why
52:37
you call it egot. That's what I think. So so either either the
52:39
joke there is based on it's just an absurd twist that someone wouldn't care about
52:44
it, or that they were effectively creating a narrative, because then people like
52:47
us watchouldn't think, Oh the Grammys must be a bit crabber and chip the
52:52
editors Trump style. Well, I take the piss out of everything. They
52:54
always take the piss out of the Emmys as well. On The Simpsons.
52:57
Yeah, absolutely, that's true. This is where home opens up. The
53:00
the merch Box, got lunch boxes, coffee, Mark's Poison's funny fame.
53:02
Have you ever had Sammy j merch And if not, what's what's the Sammy
53:06
J. Mercer You've always wanted to release but just couldn't get around to doing
53:08
it. I will never win an Emmy. I just realized was the chalkboard
53:12
gag in this episode. Yeah, I've done lots of merch over the years.
53:17
I had one like a T shirt called I Held Hands with Sammy J.
53:21
And so every time I had to hold my hand that was creepy.
53:24
And then the phantom comic, which is a discussion for a whole other podcast.
53:29
But I because I first got into fantom comics by getting a showbag at
53:32
the Royal Melbourne show, which were used to always just offload the extra comics.
53:37
So I had a showbag built for that show which included like a comic
53:39
about my life and my childhood and stuff like that. So that was the
53:42
most authentic and a whiz Fiz as well. Of course whispees in there were
53:45
Bernie Beatles showbag kind of kid. That was probably a little too low part.
53:50
I's just spend five dollars rather than two dollars fancy pants. But no,
53:55
I'm trying to think if if I'm about to have new merchandise made for
53:59
my We were coming up and I'm having to decide right now what to do,
54:01
so we might just do, you know, Melbourne keep cups with the
54:05
Melbourne hook turnerstand flag that were designed for for the sketches. I'd like to
54:08
do something really outrageous, though I just haven't quite settled on it yet.
54:13
Maybe like a plush doll with stretchy arms, stretch Stretched Armstrong nineteen ninety style.
54:15
Well, the stretched Armstrong things are huge now they've got these new things
54:19
called Goujitsu's got got a four year old son, so the houses full of
54:22
toys, but they basically just got Stretched Armstrong's just licensed them all. So
54:24
it's Marvel characters and stuff and what this is a genius idea. It's like
54:29
the you know, little what do they call the popheads, bubbleheads, Funko
54:32
pops. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean that's just person has an
54:36
idea and then just just just hauls it out there. Yeah, Sammy,
54:40
I just put one eye on the clock and we have got about six minutes
54:43
to one. Again. I was thinking, maybe you'd like to talk about
54:45
your upcoming show. Do a little bit of Spruken. Well the Spruk is
54:50
I mean probably largely the last hour has been the spruce. If you're like
54:52
hanging out with me, come along. If you've thought, oh, this
54:55
was a poor episode of this podcast, then stay away, and I respect,
55:00
but it is effectively a bit of a victory lap slash farewell to it,
55:05
to the ABC sketches that I was talking about earlier. So I've been
55:07
doing those for five years and I thought, you know, may as well
55:09
in a fitting way sort of, because it is a chapter of my career
55:15
say goodbye to it properly. So it's going to be heaps of fun.
55:16
You know. There's like seven different characters on stage. I'm playing government coach,
55:21
yoga character, a royal commissioner, a country music singer, and heaps
55:24
of songs, plus just me as myself telling some stories. And so I'm
55:28
sort of designed it as a chance for people who may never have seen me
55:30
live before, so it's a bit more outrageous than what they might know,
55:32
but also people who have come to me from the TV or from Sammy Jan
55:36
Randy. A bit of something for everyone. So it's called Good Hustle and
55:39
it's coming to pretty much all the capital cities. I'm excited it's going to
55:43
be. It's gonna be a lot of fun. First show March thirty Forum,
55:45
I believe that's right, Yeah, in Melbourne for the Comedy Festival for
55:47
the whole month, and then sort of doing one or two nights in all
55:50
the other cities throughout May. All right, that's make sure you get to
55:52
Sammy dash Jay dot com for more info on the on the tour and tickets.
55:57
But before we go, and if if I haven't finished any of the
56:00
songs in the show, don't worry. You'll just hear something something. But
56:02
would you'll know? I do want to ask you. Have you ever tasted
56:07
a single plum floating in perfume served in a man's heart? No, but
56:10
I'm hoping this tour is my time. It's not too late to rename it
56:15
Strange New Places. That's actually one of my favorite references in the whole episode,
56:21
by the way, just that shot of them just looking so given up,
56:22
because there's that photo of the Beatles where they're just the Beatles were done
56:25
by that point and they're just visualized just right there. But yeah, once
56:30
again, something's been absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you
56:31
so much for giving up your time, and I'm all the best with the
56:34
upcoming tour. Very much appreciated. I've felt bigger than Jesus talking to you
56:37
both, and I hope to have you all on the tour as well.
56:42
Thanks a bunch, Thanks so much to the heaps of fun. Okay,
56:50
what an absolute champion Sammy Jay is. Wow, what a nice fellow.
56:52
No, indeed, very happy to have him on board. Yeah, just
57:00
an incredible career and boom not ongoing one. It's same because I mean,
57:02
yeah, he's a constantly evolving kind of guy. So but now great to
57:07
talk to him about the Simpsons and uh yeah about this episode in particular,
57:10
which I was so happy to revisit. I mean, I think, yeah,
57:15
Dan or you'll agree, when we go back to these sort of vintage,
57:16
your golden era ones, it's like not, Oh, they don't make
57:20
him like they used to be. Oh man, these are just beautifully constructed
57:23
comedy machines, aren't they. I just love getting to watch the full intro
57:25
because I never have it in the season seventeen episodes. I'm like, ah,
57:29
this is nice. It just reminds me six PM week nights. But
57:30
we didn't actually get to touch on the end of the episode. So let's
57:32
just do that, you and I here because Sammy was short on time.
57:36
But so they've everything's gone to shit, They've given up, they're throwing the
57:39
throwing in the towel. Now we get them sitting on the roof of mos
57:43
of Mo's cabin, right, which is a takeoff of when the Beatles got
57:45
up on the roof at the end of their Last of a Show. Yeah,
57:51
yeah, yeah, yeah, which is but I think you see the
57:53
full bit in that documentary that they released that time the Beatles and get back,
57:58
Yeah, the big Jackson one here, yeah yeah, And even what
58:00
they were wearing was exactly the same. It was just a complete sort of
58:02
spit image. But what did you think of that moment? Was was just
58:06
very sweet? It was, wasn't it. Yeah. I mean it's like
58:09
these they had their moment in the sun. I mean they were actually good
58:13
at what they did, you know, and I liked that they It was
58:15
a moment of sweetness, but they were able to sort of, you know,
58:17
sprinkle it with a few nice little gags as well. Then weren't even
58:20
related to the whole b Sharps thing. I mean that the human fly bit
58:23
is just a lot of way I was up there all that damn my end
58:30
away it is, Yeah, that's fund and also the paper boy doing it
58:35
very well. It's a it's a non Nelson. Yeah. Yeah, it's
58:37
a very surprised to hear that capitalizing on the situation. The paper actually says
58:42
snowstorm hits the Midwest. Yeah, but they're also to close out over the
58:47
when they when they go to the credits of you know, executive producing all
58:50
that, and you hear that we hope we passed the audition, which is
58:52
you know, exactly what John Lennon said during during the letter B thing as
58:55
well. So yeah, there's so much yea B was call out in this.
59:00
It was clearly put together by people who are you know, admirers of
59:05
the band and you know, admirers of their work. But they I think
59:07
they were careful not to just rely on that. No, you know,
59:12
I mean I think if it was all Beatles all the time, you know,
59:15
you're going to appeal to a very specific subset of the audience. You
59:19
know, I think other people are going to enjoy it, but then maybe
59:21
not going to hold it close to their heart. But there's so much other
59:22
stuff in here that's great, you know, I just I got the biggest
59:28
kick out of you know, they're returning from the swap mate. I mean,
59:31
now I saw that guy. I spent up. Bang that goes,
59:34
But then the next thing seat is Marge walking, And then they came back
59:39
later and Marge are changing the darks like I think. You know, we've
59:45
talked recently about you know, season sixteen and seventeen and how you know home
59:47
it can be a real jerk. Its being a real jerk here, but
59:51
I don't know, maybe we weren't used to it and we're just sort of
59:52
like it's pretty poor form, but it's still kind of funny. I guess
1:00:00
I didn't have him saying it's I don't know, they didn't have him saying
1:00:04
Marge, it's your turn on Marge. You have to do this because and
1:00:06
he's giving a stupid reason. It's just cutting too her walking off. It's
1:00:08
just so awesome. Yeah, you can almost you can almost see him,
1:00:12
Um, well, I'll take care of this one. I've also been able
1:00:15
to bring up the it's been done a line that's you know, that's not
1:00:17
a gag, it's been done, yeah, and he drives off. The
1:00:21
gag is the fact that you know he's pointing out, hey, this is
1:00:23
a Beatles reference that the Beatles were already done this. Yeah, that's now
1:00:25
taken a life of its own. Whenever you see somebody who has copied an
1:00:29
idea, they get the screenshot of Harrison saying it's been done to the point
1:00:31
where that's now called is this a Harrison in the Simpsons ship post World,
1:00:37
in the Simpsons ship posting word. If someone's copied an idea, they're like,
1:00:38
hey, that's a Harrison, Like it's actually George Harrison now lives through
1:00:42
Simpsons, means his legend lives on through Simpsons means it's an incredible That good.
1:00:46
That's good news for him because you know clearly wasn't gonna do anything related
1:00:51
to the band. No, who's going to remember it for the No,
1:00:52
not at all. But yes. That is our review of Homer's Barbershop Quartet,
1:00:55
featuring the ones I mean ja I hope you guys enjoyed it and don't
1:00:59
forget. You can find gets to his show. They available on Tickertakoa.
1:01:00
You can head to Sammy dash Jay dot com from info on all the different
1:01:05
different two dates. But if you're in if you're local to us where in
1:01:07
Geelong View. In Melbourne, he's gonna be at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
1:01:09
beginning March thirtieth at the Forum going throughout April as well. But plus check
1:01:14
out all the other comedians for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival because it's one of
1:01:16
the biggest comedy festivals in the world and it's always a great time. Indeed
1:01:20
it is, he is. Get yourself along if you are indeed ready to
1:01:23
laugh. Yes, indeed, all right, don't forget guys to Please follow
1:01:27
us on Twitter at fourth Finger Pod. Follow Sammy Jay as well at Sammy
1:01:30
Jay Comedian. But this has been our review of Homer's Barbershop Quartet. Mister
1:01:34
Davis, any final words for those incredible listeners out there, We hope you
1:01:37
did not find this episode a great dishonor to your ancestors and your God.