Sharam Namdarian Makes a Podcast

Vomit Quest!

• Sharam Namdarian

Share episode

THAT'S RIGHT.

We are doing a GOAL SETTING EPISODE.

What off it? Shut up and get some goals.

These are all about my goals with stand up comedy, with art and some huge rants about Australian culture.


00:00 - Introduction to Vomit Quest  

02:23 - The Comedy Vomit Challenge Explained  

06:14 - Sci-Fi Comedy Dreams  

09:29 - Battling Tall Poppy Syndrome  

14:42 - Embracing Creative Vulnerability  

19:33 - Closing Thoughts and Comedy Plug




HERE IS SOME GOOD TEXT FOR SEO:

The quest for impossible creative goals shapes our artistic journey far more profoundly than whether we actually achieve them. Embracing audacious ambitions like making comedy so funny it induces vomiting can transform how we approach our work and overcome creative barriers.

• Setting seemingly unreachable goals creates internal motivation that pulls us forward
• Australian tall poppy syndrome creates fear of being seen trying or standing out
• The concept of "integrated thought" helps process and digest our deepest creative ideas
• Many creators sabotage themselves by setting up environments designed for failure
• Today's AI-dominated world makes authentic human expression more valuable than ever
• Finding the courage to express your unique voice means accepting all parts of yourself
• It's better to fail at something you genuinely want to do than succeed at something meaningless
• Vulnerability and showing your "soul" connects most powerfully with audiences


Send me Fan Mail! It could be anything, we are desperate at this point.

Sharam Namdarian:

Hello and welcome to the Sharam Namdarian podcast. I am Sharam Namdarian and this is the podcast. Yes, we've changed the name again back to the original title of the Sharam Namdarian podcast. I did a vote online. People seem to like the, the. I'm not sure if I do, but I'm just going to try that. Hat on again, let's see what happens.

Sharam Namdarian:

This episode is called Vomit Quest and if I could make a little fun animation, I'll it here. So three, two, one and vomit quest. Uh, but, um, this is a goal setting episode. So this episode is all about setting goals. I want to share my intent with you so that way, when you see them happen, you'll be like, oh my god, he did it. That's crazy. But this idea of this episode is also that you follow along. So if you have any goals or things you want to share, maybe some reflections, please comment them in the video. If you're watching this on YouTube the video version you know there's comment section, so do that, don't be afraid. Or, if you are afraid, be afraid, you're your own, I don't need to, I'm not your coach. But also, if you are on the uh, the Insta, um, spotify, spotify or Apple podcasts or whatever there is a link in the description, a fan mail link where you can. You can drop a fan mail and that will send me a text message directly or look like a text message to you. I'll just have a database cause I'm very fancy like that and I can read your message in the next episode if that was what you would like. And if that's not what you'd like, you know what? Just cower in your little boots, cower, cower like this, the, the something that you are.

Sharam Namdarian:

So this episode is called vomit quest for one particular reason. In comedy that is one of my quests and I'll explain what that is in a second. But this episode, the premise of this episode, is very simply put, it is a goal setting thing. So what are things I would like to achieve, what are things I think should happen? But to preface it of that, I meditate a lot. You'll hear me talk about this on the podcast quite a bit, that I do meditate quite a lot, that there are these ideas and things that come to me while I'm meditating. That was one of the reasons why I started stand-up comedy. But the reason why I want to bring up meditation first before talking about the podcast is healing.

Sharam Namdarian:

Meditation to me is not just about resolving wounds, but it's about integrating thought. Now, what is integrated thought? Integrated thought, to me, is where you've actually digested the fact that you've thought a thing, and so you no longer have to rethink the thing. It becomes part of a new whole. That is who you are. So you have ideas and more often than not, these ideas are hard to do, not because they're too big or too complicated or too whatever, but more because you haven't actually integrated, you haven't actually processed what the fuck it is you actually want to do. So I've got some crazy ideas that I want to share. Some I'm going to only share the idea of it, and some of them I'm not going to share the actual thing.

Sharam Namdarian:

But the first and foremost, when it comes to my quest with stand-up comedy, is to craft jokes that are so good and this might be an impossible goal, but I like impossible goals so good that they do elicit a gag reflex or, the higher goal, a vomit reflex. So that would be crazy. How funny does a thing have to be in order for it to be so funny that someone vomits? Now I shared this with someone and they were like yeah, you could go to an old folks home. You could go to a place you could go to a uh uh, acid reflux clinic. You could go to places where you know you just feed them a heavy meal and then do comedy stuff like that where the where the situation is that more likely they're going to vomit. And I and I laughed and I was like, yeah, set your standards low. You know so. The low, you know. So.

Sharam Namdarian:

The reason why I brought up the whole process of, like, integrative thought is that for me, what I love is impossible goals, impossible tasks, things that are so insane that they inspire thought. And maybe it's because I struggle with some thoughts that I need something that's so crazy that it's like, well, I, you know, maybe, but the goal pulls me. The goal pulls me. The goal pulls me so much that when I see things that are like, oh, that that's funny, it's like how could it be so funny that people vomit? They're laughing so hard that they vomit.

Sharam Namdarian:

Now I asked AI this because I couldn't Google it. I asked AI has there been the case? And of course, the current state of AI is that they gaslight you. They're like, yeah, like you know, you look real hard, like there's been some anecdotes. But there's been some anecdotes, but there's been no specific evidence of either a joke or a series of jokes that are recorded that will make people vomit, and that, to me, is insane, right? How can I be the first person to have it recorded that the joke makes people vomit? And who cares? Who cares if someone else sees this and they go? That's my quest now, now, and I'm going to do it, and they do do it and they beat me to it. Who cares?

Sharam Namdarian:

The level of artistry, the level of sophistication, the level of understanding that you will have to have to achieve that that's not just laughter, that's not just killing, that's not just crushing, that is a level above that, where the physiological response is so much that it hurts that your body is literally at an emotional level, rejecting something I find vomit. When you have an emotional healing and you feel like you need to vomit, it's because you're literally rejecting aspects of yourself or you're rejecting aspects of life. You're trying to push out, you're trying to let go. So to elicit a response so powerful that that is the ultimate goal is such an inspiring thing for me. It puts into context quite a lot of the other activities that I would like to do. The other thing is, yeah, there's like games and stuff I want to make. That sounds fun.

Sharam Namdarian:

One of the other things is my partner and I were watching a show recently and it inspired a show of my own, like an idea. I don't want to share too much about it, but it would be an insane sci-fi comedy. I don't want to throw anything more out there, but I'm coming up with the ideas now and I'm sharing it, uh, with certain people and they're like, oh, I've survived. I only shared it with my partner partner, but I wanted it to sound vague because in the future I feel like I'll share it with more people and they'd be like, oh, interesting, but and when I've shared it with my partner, I'm like, oh, but is this derivative? And she's like, no, I don't know anything else. That's like that. And what I have in my brain is a very advanced world building brain. I've spent my whole life studying Warhammer, looking at Warhammer, making games being this sort of thing where I create a world where I answer questions.

Sharam Namdarian:

I'm let down by TV shows that can't answer simple questions that are simple for me but are complex maybe for their writer. So maybe that's a point where I'm like I need to actually start making my own shows, but to have an incredibly and this is the problem here to have an incredibly realistic, looking, dare I say, sci-fi comedy, it's gonna the one that I would like to make. Like, if you've ever seen the show Foundation, one thing I really like about that is the cosmic scale of the show. It's not that great. Me and my partner love to watch it. To hate on it, to be honest. There's like stuff that just makes us mad about the show, so angry, but the other parts that are so good keep watching it. Uh, but I I love the grand scale of that and in order to do that, I need a high budget. So this is why I'm putting this on the the goal list bing of something that, dare I say, is a long-term goal.

Sharam Namdarian:

And then you think like, okay, I'm gonna make this show. That is a sci-fi comedy. Where am I putting it on? Am I putting it on Amazon, where the Amazon people can see it? Am I putting it on Binge, where the Binge people can see it? Am I putting it on a platform where those specific platform people can see it? But those people have money, so then they can help you fund the show, but am I putting it on YouTube where anyone can see it? So these are the questions. These the show, but am I putting it on YouTube where anyone can see it? So these are the questions. These are the questions, I think, that are really important to answer when you're creating something like this.

Sharam Namdarian:

And for the one time in my life now, dare I say, I'm finally letting myself admit to myself that what I would call is a high level of thought insanity, which is why a previous name of this podcast was called Sharm's Insane Podcast, because to me, the word insane means insane in your sanity, in your mind right, where you've molded around in your head so much that it's insane because you've thought about it. It's in your mind right, and what I used to call insane about myself in a bad way, I'm starting to realize is insane about myself in a good way. But in order for me to finally let this aspect of myself out, there were some foundational aspects of myself that needed to be integrated, and one of those things is you know I've talked about previously struggled with feeling love. Oh my God, did I struggle with feeling love, holy cow, and I am on a roll now, you know, I'm healing. The comedy shows that I've been doing have all been fundamentally rebirthing, nothing less than an egoic rebirth that I am seeing that, yeah. So, like I've got a rant here and I know some comedians listen to this podcast, and if you do and you think this is about you, then it probably is, and I've been a culprit of this in myself.

Sharam Namdarian:

But I do think it's a culture in Australia that we have, dare I say, an aggressive tall poppy syndrome. We crap on and we argue with and we fight and we spite and we gossip and we rumor mill and we attack all the people that are above us in, dare I say, a hierarchy. And I think when you are above, dare I say, someone and you are being attacked, it's good to be able to transmute it, but what that does is it actually makes people struggle. When they're at the bottom of the hierarchy, we become a crab pot, we become this fear of tall poppy and we then participate. You know, if someone is not, dare I say, enough to be on a show to perform, we're more often, as a community, more likely to attack the show and attack the people emotionally than take that as a challenge to be better. We should be challenging each other to be better, to be more potent, to be funnier, to be excitinger, to be better at the job that we have chosen to do, and rather than be afraid to be seen trying and I'm starting to see that more.

Sharam Namdarian:

I think as a community we're so afraid to be seen as trying that when we start out more specifically, we're trying to be seen safe. We're trying to do it a safe place, and let me let me throw this out there there's nothing wrong with being trying to be like safe, about doing a thing. You're trying to develop aspects of yourself. So more often than not, they do to be, they need to be in private, but so, but this is a is a fuck what. What came first? The meatball or the chicken? What came first? The, the meatball or the egg?

Sharam Namdarian:

I don't know what the phrase is, but it is like I have become painfully aware that at least let's look at the comedy scene as a microcosm. What we do is we try and cram a gig wherever we can, because we're trying to get the stage time to, to become funnier. But the gigs themselves are so crap because we're trying to just cram them anywhere, because we're afraid of even trying, we're afraid of failure so fucking much that we just put them anywhere that that becomes, actually, ironically, more harmful. And then we go I'm not good. It's like, yeah, you're not good because this odds were stacked against you. We're not good, or you're not good because you tried so hard. You're telling yourself you're not good so fucking much. The only thing you're comfortable with is failure. And it's the frustrating thing, and I've been a symptom of this, which is why I want to.

Sharam Namdarian:

I'm talking about healing. I'm talking about Vomit Quest. I'm talking about these high goals. You know I keep hearing the phrase there was. There's a video out there of Jerry Seinfeld who has this um. He talks about um, someone told him the advice. It's like someone told Jerry Seinfeld the advice that it's better to fail at precisely it is the thing you want to be doing. Or Jim Carrey's advice, where he says he saw his father fail at something he didn't want to be doing, so he might as well fail at the thing you want to be doing.

Sharam Namdarian:

And the more I think about this, the more I think I've been so emotionally stifled in my whole life that I don't even know how to answer that question. Like great, let me fail at the thing I want to do. But what is the thing I want to do? That's such a hard question to answer, and I do think one of the core reasons is this zeitgeist, cultural trauma that at least Australians have, that I may be projecting onto Australia. If you don't agree, please use the fan mail button. Please use the comment section. Let me know if I'm wrong. But holy crap-a-moly. I do think it's this thing where. But holy crap-a-moly.

Sharam Namdarian:

I do think it's this thing where we're so afraid of being seen as trying because of how it makes us stand out, that when we stand out we might be attacked. That if we were to fucking even think what we wanted to do, that would be scary. That if we tried to even believe in the first place that, yes, I want to make a sci-fi comedy, that's insane, that even I want to. I want to like read. I'll read to you the script when it's done, like fuck it. We'll do a reading, but it's we're so afraid of being seen to want and I have a, you know like why don't we? It's not even believing in ourselves. The problem isn't that we don't believe in ourselves. The problem is that we don't even know how. We're so afraid of wanting that.

Sharam Namdarian:

Then people who make gigs, we cram them into whatever cram hole we can and we're like, if I can make this good, I can make anything good. It's like, no, you can't polish a turd and, admittedly, you can get good at shit gigs. I think it's a skill set. I finally stopped blaming myself. I finally stopped saying that I'm not good because the odds were stacked against me. No, that's a different skill set to doing it in a clean, calm room where everyone's just listening. It's just a different skill set. There's nothing fucking wrong. And so here's the thing where do you want to be? Where do you want to be? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? What do you want to create? To create.

Sharam Namdarian:

We are in a phase right now in our human existence where we as a society are craving meaning more than ever. We are craving consciousness as AI art and AI production gets so much more prevalent. We are craving a quantitative effort of thought, and the more you can put that into a thing, the more powerful it will be. And people, there's a song I can't remember. I heard it in Ikea. People tend to listen when they hear. Your soul was a lyric of that song and they're hearing your soul because you're not afraid to show it. You're not afraid to show it and we're so afraid. We're so afraid of expressing ourselves that we make iterative advances because we're ashamed of even having dreams.

Sharam Namdarian:

I'm fed up, I'm annoyed. The vomit quest I'm on. I want it to be powerful. I don't care if I don't even get there. Failure isn't as important as the quest itself. Sci-fi comedy not as important as the quest itself Human connection, loving one another, art.

Sharam Namdarian:

I'm at a point in my journey now where I'm becoming a wizard, and it might not be so prevalent on stage yet because I have so much, dare I say, trauma that I'm processing that. I watch myself create and think and then I watch myself on stage sort of shooting myself on the foot a little bit. But with every performance I cut that down. And now, since I've had that healing I talked about in the last episode, that is about how I found it so hard to feel loved and if I thought I found something hard, I was failing. It's like just letting myself find it hard is the most empowering thing I have ever done. It's hard. It's hard to not self-sabotage, it's hard to not try and feel safe, especially in a situation where we will constantly try and feel safe but holy fuck-a-moly, where we will constantly try and feel safe but holy fuck, oh moly.

Sharam Namdarian:

I'm posting more stand-up clips that are just I don't know, in the future I'm going to think they're dog shit. Right now, I'm like it's fun that it happened. I'm practicing audio engineering. I'm practicing all the skill sets, even posting, even posting a five-minute stand-up clip with jokes that I'm trying out just then and there for the first time. And people will be like why the fuck did you post that? I'm like, because I get it, I get stuff out of it. Maybe 20 people watch it Great, in the future that'll be 20 million. Great, I can delete them at any time. What have I got to lose? I'm going to die one day and that'll be fine. But the idea here is that even then, like, I post a video and goes, oh, it didn't go viral why? Oh, it felt hard to go viral. Yes, it feels hard, hard. Nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, this was the. I think this went for 15 minutes.

Sharam Namdarian:

This is the Sean Roderan podcast or Sean Roderan's podcast, I'm not sure what I call it. I'm Sean Roderan and this is the podcast. You've listened to it. Please, if you have any thoughts on what we spoke about, let me know. You're on this quest with me. You're on Vomit Quest. You're on it. If you listen to this whole thing, you are on Vomit Quest with me, whether as a participant, whether as a supporter, whether as something.

Sharam Namdarian:

Keep an eye out for this sci-fi comedy thing I keep talking about. Keep an eye out for dreams, goals, stand-up comedy clips. Keep an eye out for art and, more importantly, keep an eye out for your own art. We need it now more than ever. And if you don't know me, come down to Dirty Secrets Comedy Wednesday, thursday, sunday. That's where I'm currently at all the time, because I fucking run it, me and Adem Oletas. We run it together and it's been really good recently, which makes it hard. You know, I've got to be more like. We're just being more harsh, and it's not because I think people are crap. It's that I think the people we put on are good and it's a challenge. Everyone's taking everything so fucking personally. Everyone's taking everything so fucking personally. Anyway, if you like this video, make sure to leave a like, and if you did, then I like you. What do you want to make, let me know. And if you don't want to make anything, that's also good. You're valid, you're valid, you don't need to make anything.