The Laughter Clinic
The Laughter Clinic Podcast brings a refreshingly different approach to mental health education. Your host Mark McConville, is an Australian professional Comedian of 25+ years who also has a Masters Degree In Suicidology from Griffith University. Mark delivers you evidence-based self-care strategies, curated research insights, and meaningful conversations that inspire, educate and entertain.
The Laughter Clinic
Chatting with comedian Ellen Briggs: Relationships, Rural Comedy Shows and Redifining Success.
A good joke can change a room; the right night can change a town. That’s the pulse of this conversation with Ellen Briggs—mother of twins, touring comedian, and co-creator of the hit show Women Like Us.
We chat about the craft behind creating an “alive silence,” and the hidden workings of a sustainable comedy career that doesn’t rely on festivals or TV appearances.
Ellen walks us through a decade of building shows that bring people together across Australia. There are stories that land hard about drought-stricken audiences using a comedy show to reconnect with neighbours after months, a woman turning to humour days after a traumatic home invasion, and the way post-show chats open doors to conversations about domestic violence, anxiety, and suicide risk in remote communities. The theme is constant: laughter creates connection; and connection is vital for our well-being.
If you’ve ever wondered how stand-up intersects with mental health, why small towns pack out big halls, or what it takes to craft a life in the arts, you’ll find something here to hold onto.
Like the episode, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more curious minds find us.
Follow Ellen:
Instagram: @ellenbriggs
Facebook: Ellen Briggs
Website: www.ellenbriggs.com
Website: www.thelaughterclinic.com.au
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thelaughterclinicAus
"If you or someone you know needs support, please contact one of these Australian mental health services. In an emergency, always call 000."
Lifeline Australia
Phone: 13 11 14 (24/7)
Web: lifeline.org.au
Suicide Call Back Service
Phone: 1300 659 467 (24/7)
Web: suicidecallbackservice.org.au
Beyond Blue
Phone: 1300 22 4636 (24/7)
Web: beyondblue.org.au
Kids Helpline (for people aged 5-25)
Phone: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
Web: kidshelpline.com.au
MensLine Australia
Phone: 1300 78 99 78 (24/7)
Web: mensline.org.au
SANE Australia (complex mental health issues)
Phone: 1800 18 7263
Web: sane.org
QLife (LGBTIQ+ support)
Phone: 1800 184 527
Web: qlife.org.au
Open Arms (Veterans & Families Counselling)
Phone: 1800 011 046 (24/7)
Web: openarms.gov.au
1800RESPECT (sexual assault, domestic violence)
Phone: 1800 737 732 (24/7)
Web: 1800respect.org.au
Headspace (youth mental health, ages 12-25)
Phone: 1800 650 890
Web: headspace.org.au
13YARN (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support)
Phone: 13 92 76 (13YARN) (24/7)
Web: 13yarn.org.au
Music by Hayden Smith
https://www.haydensmith.com
Welcome to the Laughter Clinic Podcast with comedian and suicidologist Mark McComptil. Bringing you practical, evidence-based self-care strategies, the latest research in mental health, along with conversations that inspire, educate, and entertain. This is the Laughter Clinic Podcast with your host, Mark McConville.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome to my dear friend, fantastic comic, wonderful human being, Ellen Briggs. How are you going?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Thank you for having me on here. I've listened to your podcast and I love it. I just yesterday listened to the one with Yvan, and what a beautiful conversation between two people who I really admire and care about. And you're such, you're such both really bloody good men. I really loved it. It was very insightful. And listening to two men with big hearts talk, that should be like that. That's middle-aged porn for women. Especially coming from a woman who lives with a man who never talks.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I really did enjoy that conversation with Avar. Like he's he's a deep guy, you know, like he's quite a deep guy.
SPEAKER_02:You wouldn't think he was a comedian. You would think he was like a philosopher or something.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_02:Well, yeah, loving loving the podcast. I'm very happy to be here.
SPEAKER_01:Wonderful. Okay, so uh so as you would know, we uh we start by diving into the saying laughter is the best medicine, which has been around for 3,000 years, and we've now got modern research proving the physical benefits of laughing and the mental health benefits of your sense of humor. So uh so when you hear the saying laughter is the best medicine, what is that what does that conjure up for you?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it definitely uh it definitely resonates with me. I've seen it firsthand, as you would have, you know, being being a comedian and having people come into a room and that that that moment when you have you've conjured up an idea that you think is funny, and you convey that to a room, and every single person in that room, regardless of what is happening in their life, laughs collectively. They're all joined at that moment in their thoughts, and you can see the endorphins are going, they they're looking at strangers, they're laughing together, it's a connection. I I absolutely believe it, you know, and and the science backs it. I I see it, I feel it myself. You know, if I'm feeling down and then I all of a sudden I'm laughing at something, be it my dog or my husband or something on, you know, some stupid reel. I saw a thing the other day about these kids pranking their auntie, and they gave her a a boiled egg to eat, and it had just come out of the microwave, and it kind of blew up in her mouth, and she was American. And the thing she was saying, she was she was like, You've Osama bin Laden me. It was the funniest thing, and I laughed for so long. I watched it like three or four times, and I felt great afterwards. Yeah, you know, so yes, it is the best medicine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's like like when I had Mick Meredith on our Fred Mick, he was saying about how how good it makes him feel being able to be that deliver, you know, to be the person who's delivering that to these total strangers.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what a what a joy and a gift, huh? But we we all know that feeling, and most people will know if they've told a funny story to their friends, or you know, they've they've tripped over and made everybody laugh or whatever. They've been away on a on a weekend with friends, even at a dinner party, whatever. But they know everybody would have experienced at some point making other people laugh. And it's it's such a it's such a gift and such a joy to see people throwing their heads back and laughing.
SPEAKER_01:And it's one of those things that you know, because UMC gives as well as as as well as headline them, and like when you've got 200 strangers in a room, they're not an audience yet, you know, and and you get on stage and you bring them all together and have them collectively thinking as one, it's oh, it's it's so I just love it. So how long have you actually um you know, because you and I have been friends for pretty much as long from when you started? And I'm I was trying to figure it out the other day. So when did you actually start?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it's like 20 to 21 years ago.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:And so I it was it's about 20 years, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and it was you did comedy course with our mutual friend Mandy Knight. So what was the what was the lead up to you actually going, I'm gonna go and do this comedy course?
SPEAKER_02:Well, certainly not wanting to be a stand-up comedian. It was never, it had never even crossed my orbit. You know, I loved comedy, I loved, I loved watching comedy. I must admit, I hadn't gone and watched much live stand-up comedy. But you know, I loved I loved watching it. I loved I loved everything funny, you know, even growing up as a kid. I always watched like things like Laverne and Shirley. I loved that silliness, you know. Oh, and in fact, when I think back to the shows that I really loved, they always had women at the center, you know. It's so good. I mean, I haven't watched it for a long time. I probably should watch it again now and see how it comes up because I remember. Yeah, does it still hold up? I don't remember Lenny and Squiggy, they're always up doing some some shit. But I do remember I'll come back to this in a minute, but I should watch it and see if it holds up because I remember when we had our boys, Alex, my husband, was talking about the six million dollar man and what a great show it was. And we found it on YouTube and we sat our kids down. We were like, this was the best show ever, and it was so bad. The graphics and the running, like it was and the kids were like, Oh yeah, this is tops. And maybe Laman and Shelley's the same, I don't know, but I do remember it was written really well, and they were both fabulous characters. So I had always had corporate jobs. I worked in HR, I worked in staff training. So I was I used to deliver staff pro staff training programs, so I was not uncomfortable being in front of people, but you know, it certainly wasn't comedy delivering new policy changes to government employees. And then I had kids, and I was at home, uh, you know, I'd worked at Byron Council and I was at home and I was incredibly bored. So this must have been the kids were probably four, and I started writing a book, and it was sort of leaning towards being more funny. And my you know, our good friend and who became my colleague in a business partnership, Mandy Nolan, ran these adult education courses of stand-up comedy, and they were they're really like a rite of passage around where I live in the Byron Shire. And so she does a six-week course with you, she teaches you how to do five minutes, hones that five minutes, and then at the end there's a big gala show called The Virgin Sacrifice, and hundreds of people go, everybody knows about them. She's taught thousands of people. Now I contacted her and said, Would the course help me with my writing? Because the writing is kind of leaning towards being funny, but not funny enough. And she said, Yeah, it will, but it's it's not a writing course, it's a stand-up comedy course. So come along and you'll get an idea of the formula of how to write comedy. But you know, you'll have to do stand-up at the end of it. And I remember being on the phone with her and thinking, oh, that's not going to happen, you know. And so I went and did the course, of course, got up at the end because she has it in an environment where you've just feel so confident and so excited to do it, yeah, and loved it. And she actually said to me afterwards, and look, most people, when they do that course, their first night, of course, is amazing. You're never going to get a more supportive audience. You know, it's full of the friends and family of all the people who are on stage. It's wonderful. So it's a great night. And she said to me, You should do this again. You should go to an open mic and do it again because you've got something on stage. There's you've got kind of the comedy X factor that you can't nail down what it is, but the audience really loves you. So, you know, if you're interested, do it again. So I just went and did a couple more com, you know, like open mics with that same five minutes.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And then the raw comedy uh heat came up in Byron Bay, and Mandy said to me, Oh, you should go in it, you know, like it's just another opportunity to be on stage. And I remember that day my kids had had one of them had got in heaps of trouble at school, and I'd had this sort of really heated argument with the with the teacher because she started off because I have identical twins, as you know, and she started off saying that it was Jared that did something, and then she was saying that it was Eden that did it, and then it swung back to Jared, and I was like, you don't even know which kid you're talking about, you know. Like I so I had this really awful, was really awful. She she was sort of accusing me of being a terrible mother, and she she was sort of at the end of her tether, and I was, you know, really not happy with the way she was speaking to me. It was awful. And so I went and did the gig and I said to Mandy, I'm just gonna do it and then go home because I really feel a bit washed out after today. So I did it and went home, and then I woke up in the morning and found out that I had won that heat, and so then had to go to Brisbane. You know, I'd never been to yeah, so it was like my third or fourth time on stage. But then I got to Brisbane to the so you go straight to the state final and I won that. And so I think probably the sixth time that I was on stage was in front of 2,000 people in the Melbourne Town Hall. And when I watch it now, I almost turn myself inside out with cringiness because it's it's so bad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but well, you say that though, but you're you're only saying that now because of the quality and the heights that you've reached. You know, you look back at it and it's it's so cool that when people find they I can't remember how this terminology goes, but it's almost like when people find their thing in life that they're meant to be doing, an indicator of that is immediate success to a certain extent. Like right when you start, there's immediate success to a certain extent, which gives you the taste of what this could be like. But then it's after that that the hard work starts and the week in, week out doing the actual hard work and doing the hard yards. But it's that initial success that is the is the bait to make you think.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, right. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah. So that first that first your first ever experience on stage was at the end of that comedy course.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, at the at the Bar and Bay Bowling Club.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and going back to going back to the book, did that ever because I know that you've written a book with Mandy, but did that book itself ever actually eventuate?
SPEAKER_02:No. And it was a book, no, it didn't. It was a book, it was actually about, excuse me, it was actually about parenting twins because I'd had the boys and there was actually no Australian. This is back when we used to look at things in books, Mark. You know, the kids are 25 now. And so so we had all these birthing books and and parenting books and you know, what to expect when you're expecting those all the ones that everybody gets. But there was nothing, they would have like a very slim chapter on twins.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_02:And it's terrifying when you're gonna have twins, you know, like you're thinking, how am I how am I gonna do it? And being on my own predominantly with Alex's work at the time. So we had to order all that America had quite a couple, you know, maybe five books or something. So we ordered some books from America at a huge expense. I remember back then they were like 80 bucks per book to get them here to Australia, and they were just very American. And so I wanted to write a I wanted to write a book like What to Expect When You're Expecting But Four Twins. And then it just didn't happen.
SPEAKER_01:Could you imagine that's what you imagine what that what that book would look like now going if you looked at rewrite like getting back into writing that book now, now that you've actually raised these twins into being two very successful young men that they've took because your boys have turned out fan. They're a credit to both you and Alex, your boys.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we're we're very proud of them. They're they're really great young men. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. So I think you know, maybe that book's still there, Elliot Briggs.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, well, yeah, maybe it might be a bit it might be a bit more sort of lax now than I was at that time, you know, like honing in on all the little details now to just be like, Meh, let them cry. Treat them whatever you want.
SPEAKER_01:So when when you were you were still doing the corporate work when you went and did the stand-up comedy course.
SPEAKER_02:No, I was I I had taken maternity leave.
SPEAKER_01:Of course.
SPEAKER_02:With all good intentions to go back to work after 12 months. And then when we had the boys, Alex was, you know, working over in Europe as a Moto GP mechanic. So he was away eight months of the year, and I realized very quickly it was going to be very impractical for me to put two babies into childcare and try and manage that predominantly on my own. And we're in a position that I could stay home with the kids, and I'm so grateful for that now because those formative years when really they only did have they only had one parent at home all the time, and Alex was coming and going, and he's a brilliant father. I couldn't have asked for a for a better man to breed with. He he, you know, he was he wasn't there consistently, and children really need that consistency, I think. And I think that's probably part in why I have such a beautiful relationship with my boys and how and why they are the way they are. So I didn't go back to work. So no, I was doing I was sort of doing part-time work, like a bit of office work from home and stuff like that. But no, I wasn't working. I was I was well, I was working at home, looking after a farm and two young boys.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Oh, it's it's incredible. Incredible what I look back at your life as to how how much time that you were doing it by yourself because Alex spent so much time overseas. And it is it it makes it even more of a credit to the pair of you, you and Alex, that you've the the boys have turned out the way they have, because it's not only not only you're in an environment where Alex is away for so much with work back then, but you're also living in a very not really isolated, but you are in a rural environment where it's you know like it's not suburbier, it's you know, it's not like they can just zip around the corner and catch up with their mates.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I remember when they were not that confident on push bikes, or they were too young to go, you know, riding on their own. So I would load up three bikes in the back of the Ute, and we would drive somewhere where there were really good paths, and we'd park the Ute, get the bikes out, you know, put their helmets on. I'd have to have a backpack full of snacks as if we were going away for two weeks because really all they wanted to do was eat. And then we'd go for a ride and then stop somewhere and eat and then go back to the car, then drive home, you know. So it was never just a hop on your you're right, hop on your bikes and go around the corner, which once they got old, they used to love that when I'd drop them off in town and they'd be at a friend's house and they could do that, you know, ride their bike into town and go to the lolly shop or get fish and chips or whatever. And it's part of the, you know, part of me I remember at the time felt bad about that, you know, like oh they're they're so isolated, but we also had the house where a lot of the kids would come because I loved it. I loved having a house full of kids, you know, and we had a swimming pool, and then as they got older, we had a paddock that they could slide old bomby cars around and ride motorbikes and all of that sort of stuff. So we really tried to make it as good as possible for them, we with what we had, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think about it, this isn't this is a question without notice because it has just come up in like with what you've been talking about. Because you and I both travel around Australia a fair bit, and we've you know the fly-in-fly out workforce is very big in Australia, you know, with the mining companies and all that sort of stuff, and and you know, I I know a fair few people that are in marriages and partnerships where they one is fly in, fly out, and that sort of stuff. And and you were almost doing something similar, but in a m in a much longer protracted time period, because as opposed to a fly-in-fly, it might be 14 days or m uh four or six weeks at work and then home for 10, 12 days. When Alex was going away, he could be away for a couple few months, couldn't he?
SPEAKER_02:A lot of the time it was like that, Mark. A lot of the time he was he would be away for say four weeks and then he might be home for two weeks, or and it was always different. It might be six weeks, it might be two months, or it might only be two weeks and then he'd be home. So, yeah, it was it was all over the place. But definitely exactly like a flying flyer, and that whole you know, I've spoken to other to other, you know, particularly women in this situation who have flying fly out partners, and you sort of live your life in chunks, you know, it's like okay, he's a he's away for that time, so this is how we live. And then when he's home, we live a we live a different way. And so it's you have to work very hard to make it not disruptive, and especially once you have kids, you know, their life can't be disrupted because of you know, this person coming in and out, because it changes the dynamic of the flow of of the of the family. I always made sure if anything was going on, you know, at home with the kids or or with me, and it really was, you know, let's let's say that day that that the kids got in trouble at school, I wouldn't ordinarily tell Alex that. You know what I mean? Because I realized that people used to say all the time to me, oh it must be really hard when he's away, but it it's actually harder for them, I think, to be honest. He was away, he's a really long way away. He was always in Europe and had quite a bit of guilt about that, you know, and not certainly not because I resented him for doing his job. I was incredibly proud of him, you know, like I loved it, and we got to travel the world because of his job. But I never wanted him to feel stressed about things that were completely out of his control, because all that would do is build up this anxiety for him of being away and feeling helpless and and then feeling even more disconnected from the family. So I really, I really chose of course there were times where I did tell him stuff, but I would never just vent to him like you would, like if he got home from work that day and he'd been a mechanic down at down in town and he got home. I of course I would have told him because he's here. But because he's over there and it's a different time zone and he's tired, and you know, he all all of them would always worry about stuff about their families. So so only let him worry about the stuff that he had to worry about, basically.
SPEAKER_01:Plus, he's operating in a high stress environment.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, you don't want him making it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you don't want him making mistakes and feeling like it's because you've been on the phone going, oh, they fucking kids, you know. There was no there was no point to it. And our kids, I always use the analogy of a team with our family. Like I would say to the boys, okay, we're we're part of a team, there's four of us in this team. Dad's away, he's he's working really hard and making money so we can live on this beautiful farm that we all love. I'm here keeping you alive, and you have to help me keep you alive by doing these jobs and by not being dickheads, essentially. And as soon as someone drops the ball, then the team's gonna lose and it's not gonna work out. And that and and boys get that, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's it was really lovely, you know. And then and yeah, then comedy became this kind of like a little hobby for me, like a little dirty secret, because I didn't tell anyone I was doing it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's that that's a beautiful lead into my next question because I was going to ask you that I find it interesting that you say that you didn't tell anybody that you're doing it, right? So, A, I want to know why did you keep that to yourself? And B, when you did decide to start telling people, like what was the reaction from you know, like your friends and your family, your immediate family, like you know?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I didn't tell anyone because I thought I'd be shit. And so, and because I never I really never wanted to be a comedian, honestly. I it that's like I I absolutely did that course to help with my writing, and then just got the buzz out of being on stage, and I think I it was this lovely little distraction from the everyday mundane life of of being a stay-at-home mum. And you know, I so I kind of I kind of embraced it, but no, I didn't tell people. I used to it when I was doing the course, I used to get a babysitter over to stay with the boys because they they would have only been four or five years old. And I used to tell the babysitter I was going to do piano lessons of all things, piano lessons. I still can't play piano. And they yeah, I don't know. I I didn't want anybody to come to that, to come to that class or come to that show in case it was terrible. And then I just when I was sort of feeling my way and just doing the little open mics, I guess everybody found out when I won the raw heat because of course they put it in the local paper here. So everyone was like, What? What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01:And I was their first that was their first knowledge of it was reading about you in the paper.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, most people. I mean, there were a few close friends who knew what I was doing. Yeah, and then of course they used to show the raw comedy. I don't know if they still do, they used to show the raw comedy final on television. Yeah. So you know, everybody tuned in and and watched that, which was which was really lovely. And I think most people were kind of like a lot of people were like, oh yeah, you were always kind of funny, you were a big storyteller. As you can tell, I you know, I'm not very I'm not very frugal with my words. I do love a chat.
SPEAKER_01:And you've got that likability on stage that you know, in the whole time that we've worked together, I've never had an instance where I've seen you not be able to connect with that audience. Wherever we've been, you've just got that, and I think that's that X factor that Mandy was talking about right at the start, because having that likability where the audience feels at ease with the person they've got on stage in front of them, that that is a big X factor.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thanks, Mark. Yeah, I I that's the thing that lots of people say to me all the time, you know, that that they feel they really feel like they can relate to me. And I think that's the thing, that's that's having a connection, that's you know, giving people something that they can go, oh yeah, she's she's just like me, or she's like my mum, or she's like my sister, or my wife, or you know, my auntie, whatever grandma these days. Um, so and I think I like I like watching comedy where I can relate to the people and where I like them. There's some incredible comedians around, and there, you know, you and I would watch comedy very differently to other people. When we watch comedy, I really watch it now in a almost in a technical way. And you know, all of our comedy, all of my comedy is there's a little bit of truth in it, and of course I exaggerate it to a point where that's what I wish happened. You know, that's what I wish I said, that's what I wish I had wish happened, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's it's interesting what you're saying about how we watch it, because I've been with some friends of mine, we've been watching like a comedy Netflix special or something, and they're non-comedians, right? And they're and they're just laughing their heads off. And I'm there and I'm like, this is great. And they're like, but you're not laughing at it. And I'm like, and I'm like, yeah, but it's I know that it's just brilliant. Like, I'm not saying that I I don't laugh at you know comedy specials when I watch them, because sometimes I do, obviously, but I know exactly what you're talking about is you're analysing it, going, This is brilliant. The way that they did that, or the way that they act interacted with that audience there, or whatever, you know, the analysing of it. And that's just because we love it, you know. We we love doing it and we love seeing other people smash it. Yeah, there's nothing better than seeing one of your mates up there just lighting up a room. I love it. I love it.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I love it too. I love it too. And look, when I'm watching when I'm watching comedy in a live environment, I laugh a lot more.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_02:Um, but yeah, love it. I hate I hate watching people do badly. I know some comedians love it, but I hate it the whole time when they're on stage and they're doing badly, or they're not prepared, or or they're just fucking around on stage, the whole time in my mind I'm like, get off.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Horrible pain for yeah, yeah, it is a pain for everybody. So when you when you went to do Melbourne, that right at the start where you went down for the gala and as part of the raw heat, you know, the raw comedy competition, was it was it then that you thought to yourself, I might be able to actually continue doing this and make a living out of this, or was it did something happen later on, like after that? Was there a moment, was there a time where you thought this is this is something I should actually pursue as as a career?
SPEAKER_02:No, there wasn't an actual defining moment where I thought this is something I could make a living out of. I think it just it just slowly transgressed on what transgressed is the wrong word, progressed into uh into me doing longer spots. You know, I was very lucky with where I lived with Mandy because she was a fantastic mentor. And so it I just came back and thought, oh, you know, I'll keep I'll keep on doing. I didn't win raw, obviously, but I it sort of it gave me it gave me a bit of a boost. There was a there was a moment where I think it probably could have really changed the course of my career. The people from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival invited me down to Melbourne after that. And they they basically said to me, uh, it's a it's a Christmas party for people in the industry, you know, so agents, bookers, photographers, you know, room runners, whatever. And we're just getting a few people, you know, a few up and coming people to do a show, and it's going to be hosted by a professional. Will you come down and just do what you did in Ruin? I'm like, yeah, sure. So I came down and I remember I did the gig and then afterwards we were all sort of just standing around and and a a fairly well known comedian at the time, she came up to me and she said, Oh, Ellen, you know, you were really great. And she goes, How are you gonna deal with this if you get it? Because you've got, you know, you've got young kids at home. And I said, If I get what? What are you talking about? And it was actually an audition for like Comedy Zone or Comedy or like Roadshow or something. It was a sort of a it was a big deal, I remember whatever it was. But I didn't even know that it was an audition.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_02:And and I said to her, Oh well, uh, you know, if I get it, I I'll deal with it. But there was certainly when I looked back to that, and when I looked back to her asking me that, I realized that there was there weren't very many mums so much in comedy back then.
SPEAKER_01:So not many mums. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02:You know, there weren't there weren't many there weren't Fiona O'Lochelin was huge back then, but she was probably one of the only ones, Denise Scott, who who were who were mums who were touring, who were out there. You know, now thankfully we've made it an industry where women can continue working and and also be mums, and people like hearing comedy about that. But I don't think there were really many. Mandy, obviously, she had a ton of kids, but she wasn't in, she was living regionally as well. And I realized very quickly, I think about that a lot and think there was still a real stigma against mothers working in our industry back then. The fact that I was asked that, you know, like how are you gonna deal with your kids? Well, I mean, that's my business, right? How I was gonna deal with them, if whatever it was. So I just came back and yeah, kept sort of doing open mics, kept, you know, kept sort of writing a bit more. And then I do remember, and this was probably the time Mandy asked me to do my first support act. So that's a 20-minute spot. Yeah, and it was for Charlie Pickering. He was coming up to do a headline show, and I was doing the support, and and I think I was getting like a hundred dollars, and I was like, Oh my god, a hundred dollars.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and I remember after that I was like, a hundred bucks, you know, like that's that your first paid gig, that one, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember mine was I got paid fifty dollars to do ten minutes, and I thought, I've made it.
SPEAKER_02:I know, and because you go, you go fifty dollars for ten minutes. This is such good, but what you don't realise is the the hours between months and years leading up to being able to get paid for a gig.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I guess from there I started doing lots more support, support at work.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And then I can't even really remember my first headline spot, to be honest. Isn't that terrible? It all just it all just happened because for many years I was like, oh, this is gonna stop soon. You know, like this is just a bit of fun. This is just a bit of fun.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. It it seems inconceivable to other people. Like I remember mates of mine at the time going, like, what do you mean you're not getting paid when I was putting in so much work? When you know, I was lucky starting in Brisbane. I started at a time where was I was lucky that we had a really great supportive comedy community. We had fantastic interstate acts that would come through every week, and I remember probably doing maybe two or three open mic gigs a week for probably I don't know, maybe a year, year and a half before I I got that I got that paid gig, and then things started to to go. I think there's something to be said for doing the hard yards for free, you know, getting your little ten minute spot, and then maybe doing those ten minute spots for another year until the the bookers go smashing out of the ten, let's give them a 20 minute, and then doing that for a while.
SPEAKER_03:I I agree.
SPEAKER_01:Like that that natural progression to go from the all the way through, I think it was probably maybe when I think about it as like the apprenticeship kind of thing, it was maybe around four years, three or four, maybe four years when I started to headline.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I would agree. I I think it m may be even longer for me to to actually to actually move into headlining because I started doing lots of MCing and hosting. And yeah, then just build up enough to when they go, have you got 40 minutes of material? And you're like, Yeah, I have. You know, people when they're not ready, you can see them on stage and go, you're padding this out, you're stretching it out. This is not it's not 40 minutes of gold, you know. Um and people don't realize how hard that is to get. But it's hard. I I feel like I have a very I have quite a small life, and because of all my stuff is uh is based around real life stuff, you know, trying to find different topics to write about is hard for me. You know, because my I I have and I'm I'm very happy with my small life, you know. In my small town, I'm married, I've got my kids, I've got my dog, play golf, and that's pretty much it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, comedy, comedy comes. I used to, and I always I still say to young comics now, don't give up your day job because you'll get you'll get comedy from that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Is that something that you like, you know, one of the questions I was going to ask you is, you know, what what is it that you know now about being a comedian that you wish you had a known when you started out? And is that something that you think, you know, to not put all your eggs in that basket and to to make sure that you've got something else?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think I think you have to have a I think you have to have a really broad world view to be interesting on stage. You know, like a young a young guy or girl who's 19 and who decides to give up work and they're just at home going, okay, I'm writing comedy, I'm writing. What are they writing about? Like what are you actually writing about? Because what is your life? You know, you're going to end up writing about things online who and and there's only a small proportion of people who are going to relate to that. You know, you you have to be able to, and that's one thing I credit myself with. I can go on stage and connect with 18-year-olds up to 80-year-olds because I kind of I I kind of try and keep into what people are into, and having having young people in my life is a is a good thing. But I would say to be, I would definitely say to people, don't give up your day job. One thing I one thing I wish I knew back then was I don't think success is, you know, success in our industry isn't quantified by TV shows or whether you're with an agent or how many festival shows you have done. You and I have trod a very similar path, I think, in comedy, in that we haven't gone down that festival show, you know, road. Which a lot of people you would get it too. When you speak to people, they go, Oh, do you do the Melbourne Comedy Festival? Have you been into the Melbourne Comedy Festival? And what they don't understand is that anyone can go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival. My husband could register and go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival if he wanted to. It's not curated, you know, anyone can do it. And I guess I used to be like that. I used to think success was having festival shows, being on TV. You know, I used to think they must be all the funniest people. Well, the funny the funniest people I know in comedy, some of the funniest people I know, have never done a festival show. So that's that's probably one thing. It's actually not about you know, success can be successful can be measured in different ways depending on what what your career is. I I think that I'm very successful in that I have made a living out of this for probably fifth, let's say 15 years now. I haven't had to go back to other than during COVID, I haven't had to go back to kind of office type work and you know, very, very happily carved out a career for myself in a in a different way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Away from festivals.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. And you know, what you're talking about, that success in in defining it, at the end of the day, I explain it to people like we're small business owners, we're sole traders basically. And no matter what industry you are in, whether you're a mechanic or a builder or a painter or whatever it is that you do, to me, I always look at it when I talk about small business owners, is to me, success is when the work finds you. You're always you're obviously doing something right. When you don't have to ha hustle and be on the phone and trying to chase up gigs and and doing all this sort of stuff, if you're at the point where people are ringing you, people are emailing you that that the work is coming to you, that to me is success. Like I have, yes, I have excuse me, I've you know, I pay for some Facebook advertising for my website and and uh and and to promote the podcast. But other than that, you know, I haven't I've been so fortunate that I haven't really had to chase physically chase work for, like you said, probably 15 years or so, you know. And to me, to me, that's success, especially in our industry, because it is so the entertainment industry is so cutthroat in relation to well, if you don't want to do the gig for that much money, mate, someone there's a hundred people behind you that will. Right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_01:And so to get to the point where people contact us and say, you know, Alan, I want to come, I want you to come and do this show for me. I'm gonna pay you this much money, that that to me is success in our business.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, so is there something that surprised you about being a comedian that you know that you you you didn't take into account when you s when you started out, now that you've been doing it for as long as you have?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I guess I didn't take into account, and we touched on it, of of how hard it is, how hard it is to actually write really good comedy. But it's hard to come up with really great banging jokes, you know. That that surprised me. It surprised me how, and it still surprises me to this day, how almost unappreciated we are. You know, we're often asked to do we're often asked to do things for free, which is fine. I'm I'm always doing charity things, but you know, you often get asked you're not valued as a comedian, you're almost like the lowest tier of the arts. And yet when you think about it, it's one of the you know, I rate it as one of the most difficult art forms, you know, because Yeah, would you would you agree that we're absolutely you know, people are always like, Oh, the comedian can do it for free.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:They're just in the corner talking.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's right. And it's just like, well you think about like for the average person, the thought of we're gonna put you on stage in front of a thousand people and you your job is to make them laugh for an hour, to keep them entertained for an hour. And it's just you by yourself, you and your words. And yeah, that you know, when you think about it, that is that is a skill, it is an art form that is just like no other. And what you're saying about the material, yeah, what what really amazes me, and this is I'm I've explained this to a lot of people over the years, is you come off stage doing one of those cruise chip gigs where you've done like 45 minutes or an hour, and you might have someone coming up to you going, How do you remember all that? You know? How do you actually remember all that? And this is what I my standard response to that is remembering it is the easy part in actual fact. Because it is at the end of the day, it's a script that I have written, that you have written for you. It is things that we have done in our lives, it is an experience that we have encountered and lived through. The hard part is telling that story or or saying that script for the thousandth time in a way that I still think it's funny. Yes, that's the hard part. Because if I don't still think it's funny, you're not gonna buy it.
SPEAKER_02:That's right. And making the audience think that it's the first time you've said it.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. That's exactly that's the illusion.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so so all of that kind of surprised me. The the the writing, the how undervalued we really are, how people think it must be so easy in some ways. And the admin, Mark, the admin surprised me. You know, I it's 95% of our job.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, the the booking, the the travel stuff, you know. I mean, I guess it's different if you have an agent, but you still you still got to do all that stuff. Because like you said, we're we're sole traders.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_02:And I've never had I've never worked with an agent. I'm a bit of a control freak. I like doing it all myself, and it's a lot.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, it is, it is a lot. And you look at the you know, mutual comics that we know that do have agents that look after everything for them. And to me, I see those guys and I go, well, that's what kind of gives them the freedom to write and only write.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, so so they can own they're they're free to just use that creative part of their brain all the time. They don't have to switch between that analytical side and and the creative side. Yeah, yes, and maybe that's why they're pumping out a new hour every year, Mark, and we're not.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Okay, I'll ask you squ uh uh I ask all my comedian friends this, but I've noticed a pattern that we all seem to be saying to save answers. So do you think there's a common misconception that people have about comics, comedians?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I do. And I and I know that the others have all said, you know, that we're fun. You know, people think that we're all fun all the time. And I know people used to say that, and they still say it, you know, oh, you must be a hoot. And they used to say to Mandy and I when we traveled, oh your car rides must be fun. And I'd go, Oh well, if you think fun is us not talking and listening to really dark crime podcasts, it's funny. Yeah, they're a hoot. Um but another misconception is that we're all that we're all a bit fucked up, you know, like that we're all there's something wrong with all of us. And I hear this all the time. Like people, people go, Oh, you know, you know, when we do the Q ⁇ A's on the ship, so for those who who don't really know what I'm talking about, when we do a a comedy cruise, we get all five, there's five comedians on the ship for three days, we all do different shows, and then we have this thing called a QA, question and answer. And the the room is full of the people, the the audience, and they can ask us questions. And often some of the comedians go, oh well, comedians are the most, you know, they often say mentally ill. They they go, oh, you know, we've all got mental health problems, we're all kind of hopeless, you know, all of this sort of stuff. And I'm like, oh, actually, that's not true. That's a misconception that we're all like that. Because I think I think we need to give our especially, you know, self-produced comedians like you and I, and and most of the people that we work with, we have to be really switched on. We have to be really together in our lives. And I don't think we're so that that misconception of oh, you know, that they're all a bit hopeless and all kind of losers, I really don't like that because I don't think you can do our job and be like that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. And and along the same veins that we do this because we can't, we're not capable of doing anything else.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right? When you and I both know some comics that are, you know, tradies and accountants and lawyers and all other things that they've they've been able to achieve in their life, and it's just that they've they've ended up doing stand-up.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Most of us have I and I think the best comedians have other skills and jobs, and that goes back to that when you start out if you're young, don't stop doing what you're doing. Keep keep that up your sleeve because it actually all of those skills can transfer into comedy.
SPEAKER_01:So did you did you set yourself goals when you first started out?
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_01:Because I know I know when I I know when I first started out, I I would you're gonna laugh at this because I used to take I used to take uh Fidelity, the guy that runs, you know, for those that don't know the main comedy club in Brisbane, I used to take him out to lunch at the beginning of every year, and I'd say, by the end of this year, I want to be doing this, this, and this, you know. That's great. And then he'd be like, Oh, well, you know, you're gonna do blah blah blah. You know. Did you do something similar where you wanted to go, oh, you know, I wouldn't mind doing that.
SPEAKER_02:Not really, not in those early days, because uh honestly, like I said, for a long time it was just a bit of a hobby. I was like, oh, this this'll be fun for a while. And it and for many years I was like, oh, it'll it'll dry up, you know, people are gonna stop booking me. And sometimes I still think that. Like, I'm like, oh, this is not this is not gonna last forever. People are gonna get sick of Ellen Briggs, you know. It hasn't happened yet, thankfully, because I'm you know, I am still enjoying it. I do have a goal, I would like to do a festival show uh before I retire, and I would like to do that. I want that festival show to be about about my mum and about some stuff, which is it's perfect festival show stuff. You've heard some of the stuff that I do about my mum on stage.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And stuff about her that we didn't know, and it made it made a real lot of sense as to why my mum was the way she was. She was probably the most mentally underworld person I've ever met. And this was why. All of this stuff that had happened in her past, all this trauma. So it's not stuff that you can do in a comedy club, you know, I don't think. It's it definitely lends itself to a to a show. And then there's probably a book in it too. So maybe I'll finish the book, but it'll be a different book. So I definitely want to do that show. I think there's there's very funny, there's very funny stories around aging parents. And you know, the show, I've already got the show name, it's the secret keeper or the secret keepers, because that generation of women, you know, my mum was born in the 40s. That generation of women had lived with so much shame and guilt about things that happened to them, not through their fault.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And so they kept these secrets. And my mum was determined to keep these secrets right up until she died. But you know, we dug around, three nosy daughters. We dug around and found out. So there's some funny things around that, you know, there's some very funny things.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, that's uh yeah, they're they're two, they're two pretty, like you said, they're pretty substantial, unrealised goals. But I'm sure that, like you said, these aren't goals, this isn't something that you would have had as a goal ten years ago. This is obvious obviously something only recent where you've thought to yourself, you know what, you know, how long am I going to be doing this for? What do I want to do before I pull the pin?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think I think to myself that I I I really like doing it that much that I I don't know if I can imagine a time where I don't do it. Like I as you know, I've as you know, I'm really focused on the mental health and the laughter clinic stuff and all that, which is probably a you know the vast majority of the work that I do now, but I still do stand up just a little bit more selective with it. But it's it's hard to imagine not doing it once you've been doing it for so long and it's in you, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:It just becomes a part of your your DNA, doesn't it? It becomes a part of you. Yeah, I guess I guess the goals that I set when I started when we started the the Women Like Us show and that partnership, we had big goals with that. You know, we had we had goals to do a certain amount of shows per year. So in in that, we did 352 shows in 10 years of women like us. And we toured all over the country, as you know. We wrote a book and we had a podcast, which we occasionally still put out an episode. I don't know if anyone listens to it anymore, but you know, really pretty funny.
SPEAKER_01:The women like us podcast, Mandy Nolan, Ellen Briggs, get on board, people.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, we had some great merch, you know. We we really did some, we had some good, we had some goals with that, and we smashed them. We did we did more than what we expected with that with that show. So that was very satisfying professionally. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Isn't that incredible that would you ever have dreamed when you were Mandy's student in that very first comedy course, that there must have been so many times over the years where you and Mandy were doing this two-head, two double headline feature show where it is just you two in beautiful theatres around the country. You must have just been pinching yourself.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. No, I never, you know, she she was very intimidating when I first met her. You know, she, as we all know, she's one of the most phenomenal stand-ups in this country. And I never thought I would be her peer. I always felt like I would be her student. And I remember she wrote me this lovely note, probably probably four or five years into our into our partnership of women like us, and she said, you know, I've just watched you grow as a performer and as a woman and as a mother and as a performer now. You're not my peer, you're not even my peer anymore. I think you've surpassed me, you know, like I I watch you and your craft. And because we're both very different performers, she said, you know, there's you you astound me how how beautiful it is to watch you and to to know that I've been a part of that. Because I tried to quit a heap of times. I was like, I'm not doing this anymore. This is bullshit. And she would always just go, No, you're not quitting. We've still got shows booked.
SPEAKER_01:What was what was the what was the what was giving you the thought where you wanted to pull the pin on it over the years? What was that?
SPEAKER_02:Um the one the one big one was just really terrible show. You know, like you go on stage and you just go, I'm not cut out, I'm not cut out for this. And I'm I'm a pretty like I'm a I'm a I'm a very tough person in some ways, but I'm also super, I'm a super sensitive person. I know that. And it's brutal. It's brutal when you have a terrible show and people tell you you're stunk, you know, it's really hard to live with that. And I just remember going, what am I doing? Why why am I why am I putting myself through this? And in fact, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_01:Why am I putting myself through this? Yeah, going back is the phrase.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. Going back to your other question, one thing I didn't expect, it's probably the anxiety that comes with this job.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:You know, the the the huge spikes in adrenaline, you know, but we all know, we know them. Before you go on stage, you have this huge rush of adrenaline that feels like nerves and you feel like you need to run, I can't do this, you know, whatever. I don't really get that anymore. But I used to, I used to get this. What am I doing here? I should just leave now. This is terrible. I'm gonna suck, you know, all this self-doubt, this horrible, horrible negative talk. And then you do the gig and it's and it's great, and you have a high, or it's bad, and it's and it's not, you know, like so. You that was unexpected. That was unexpected. These these huge spikes in adrenaline and these huge spikes in confidence, and then these huge lows in confidence.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, the highs and the lows are indescribable. You know, when when you're on stage in front of a thousand people and you've got them eating out of the palm of your hand, that is that is something that you know not everybody gets to experience that. And even and even I remember years ago chatting to a I can't remember who was the comedian that told me this. But even when you've got think about the time on stage where you're doing your your gig in the theater or whatever, and you've got that thousand people there and you've got them laughing and all that. But when you get a thousand people silent, you could hear a pin drop in that room because they are so engaged that they are just all hanging off your every word, and and you're there, and I can't remember who it was that coined this phrase, but they said that it's an alive silence.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's bit they're where you know that this is powerful right now because in the back of your mind, you're going, they're about to erupt.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. They're probably my favorite times on stage. I have lots, I have lots of those moments where you know my my comedy all takes the big right turns all the time, you know. And I think because I do come off as such a sweet, nice person, and then I have these, you know, killer sort of punch lines to prove that I'm not. And and yeah, those those sciences, especially when you're talking about about deeper things, especially when you're talking about like the stuff about my aging parents, or even you know, now that both my parents are gone, as soon as you start talking about death, people become very quiet. They're not going to heckle you during those moments, yeah, but they're going, please put us out of this tension misery.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and that's and and then you dump that punchline and it breaks the tension. So when you were when when you were traveling around, like you said, you spent so much time on the road with Mandy doing your shows, and you guys traveled to so many different remote parts of Australia over over the the journey, the 10-year period. What does it mean to you going out to these little towns? Because I know what it means to me, but I know that you've been to a lot of places in this country where I haven't. And you must see the power of putting on a show for people in regional areas.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. It you know, we we partnershipped with a with a an organization called Healthwise, which provide rural, you know, health services. So nurses that, you know, drive around to these places. They don't they just don't have services out there. And they partnered with uh with us because they knew that if there was an event, they could get people in. So they would get they would get people in. So there might be a town where we'd go, which has a population of 200 people, and we would get 250 people at that show because everyone would come to the show, and from outlying areas, they would come to the show as well. They would organize a room off the hall or out in the garden to look after kids. All the ladies would make, you know, crock pots full of food, and everyone would be there. And it wasn't it wasn't even about us, Mark. So though this Healthwise company, they would have they would have a couple of GPs there, they would have a you know, a breast care nurse to check women for you know for llamas, they would have mental health workers. There, so they could talk to them about that. They would have, you know, leaflets about, they would do blood pressure checks, all of that sort of stuff in the afternoon, and then we would have the show at night. And it the show wasn't they loved the show, you know. We would always have such a great time out there, but it was actually we were just the facilitators of bringing them together. And often in those places, you would hear people say, This has been the most incredible night. That person there is my neighbor, they live, you know, 40 kilometers away because we're talking about very remote areas.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I haven't seen them for eight months because we've been busy, you know, they're often in drought in these places. We've been busy trying to keep our cattle alive. And so we haven't even had time to see our neighbors in eight months. You know, one place we went to, and this really stood out for me. We went to a place, and there was a woman there who everybody told us. Now she she was a woman in a wheelchair, and everybody told us that it was three or four days before the show, she had been in the house on her own. She lived on a property, and she'd been in the house on her own, and these two guys had been on this rampage, they'd been on ice and they'd they'd stolen cars, burnt cars, stolen another one, bashed people on the way. They came to her property for some reason, I think probably to steal her car. And they basically gagged her, robbed her, you know, roughed her up quite a bit, stole a whole heap of stuff, stole her car, but then they set fire to the perimeter of her property as they were leaving. They essentially tried to yeah, and she was at our show three or four days later. And I was sort of, I was really astounded. And she was like, Well fuck, it was no better time to have a laugh now. I need it now more than ever. You know, like this. How's the power of that? And she also said, she also said this is the perfect time because everybody wants to talk to me, and this is this rips the band-aid off so I can talk to everybody at once and then get back to my normal life. Yeah, you know, rather than having it pro, oh, I haven't seen you since it happened, and this might be two months later, and she has to go through it all. And so, so her way of dealing with that incredibly traumatic experience was I'm gonna talk about it now, I'm gonna get it out of the way, we're gonna go to this night, we're gonna have a good laugh, and then life goes on. Let's get back into it. Isn't that phenomenal strength?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, it's phenomenal strength, and it really talks to the the term of the Australian Stoicism. You know, we we often when you hear about the Australian Stoicism, uh it's it's often associated with male stoicism, you know, but the the female stoicism of these women that are living remotely in these outback communities, and the strength that they have is just unimaginable. And for her to come, yeah, like it's just like I'm sure that you've I'm sure that you've had numerous encounters over the years of people coming up to you after gigs in those little towns and and talking about you know what it's meant to them for you to be there. I'm sure that's just one of many stories.
SPEAKER_02:You would have had it lots of yeah, and another one that has stood out to me, which I have told you before, is about in a really drought-stricken area, and I met this lady, and you know, the the same old, oh, this was wonderful to have my husband here laughing. You know, we haven't laughed like this. And that's the thing, they've got it would be very hard to find something to laugh about when you're trying to keep property. Now, this this particular couple, it was that generational property, you know, it had been in the generation for three or four generations, been in the family, sorry. He now had it. The drought was so bad, though it was like six or seven years into the drought, and he was at a real a real risk of losing the property, which that shame associated with that would be so heavy. Plus, coupled with that, he's got hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, worth of cattle that he has to try and keep alive so that there is actually something to sell. And he was going out every day, every day feeding and watering these cattle, and his wife told me that he she heard him on the phone say, you know, the thing is, if I if I do myself in her and the kids will be better off because I've got a pretty good insurance policy. And she heard him say that. So every single day when he left that farmhouse, she was terrified because that had crossed his mind that his family would be better off without him financially. Um that that was Yeah, so so to bring those people together for a night where she could probably reach out and say to people, Hey, I've heard him say this, you know, it was all we there were so many of those stories, and those people, I love it. I I would rather work out in the bush and out regionally than in a city a hundred times a day.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Love it. Oh yeah, and it it is, you know, having having done gigs like that with yourself, it is one of the favorite it is it is probably my favorite part about yeah being a comedian is having is having that that impact where you know you're not in an inner city club where everyone's just come out for a night out, you're actually out in a rural area and you you're still doing your show, but you're actually making a difference to in people's lives. It's it's it is my favourite part about doing it. It really is.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you are you you're absolutely making a difference. And that's not to say that you're not making a difference in a city, because you don't know what everyone's being.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. You never know who's going through what.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's more than just going to a show, it's it's actually them connecting with the community again. And you're the you're just the the conduit for that, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is. It's bringing bringing people together is such a cool thing, and and having that connectedness and a at a what what better vehicle to bring people together than to have it be a comedy show.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, you're you're right, because in this in the inner city, it's a totally different type of benefit that you're, you know, when we do these shows in regional Australia, we're bringing people together, like you said, this this lady seeing her neighbours that they haven't seen in uh in eight months because they've been you know dealing with all of that. But the we're we're living in a time when, you know, I know now in Australia there's so many people that are really feeling the the stress of cost of living pressures and all of this sort of stuff and and bringing them out into a even if it is in an inner city comedy club, it's still pretty powerful. It really is.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, because they're still, even if they don't talk to anybody else in the room, they're still connecting with those people when they all collectively laugh together.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So talking about collectively laughing together, let's chat golf, shall we?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yes, can we?
SPEAKER_01:So I find it so fascinating that you've recently taken up golf. Well, when I say recently, how long ago is it now that you've taken up golf?
SPEAKER_02:Two years?
SPEAKER_01:Has it only been two years? No, I thought it'd be long before.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I probably started I probably started thinking about it three years ago.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:But you know, playing in competitions and stuff two years. Yeah. Like how I've I got my handicapped two years ago.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, and I could like the Allen Briggs of ten years ago. What would it would you have ever thought about being a handicapped golfer playing in competitions?
SPEAKER_02:Hated even the thought of it. Hated everything about it. Everything about it. I used to make a joke on stage about you know, because people used to say, God, don't you hate it when your husband goes to goes to golf all day? And I'd go, oh, it's those last two words. All day. It's fabulous. He's gone all day. The reason I started is because of him, actually. You know, he he's obsessed with golf. He's much more obsessed than I am, certainly. And when he came home from that job that he was doing overseas, our kids, one had already moved out, and one was pretty much one foot out the door. And I realized very quickly, you know, in a relationship, you're not once those kids move out, it's very, very different. It's just you two left, and you're not the people you were when before you had those kids. You're not the people you were when you met, you're not the people you were when your kids were even 10 years old. Yeah, and now our kids are early 20s. We're very different people to who we were back then. And I realized very, very quickly that we have nothing in common.
SPEAKER_03:Nothing in common.
SPEAKER_02:And so I thought, well, if I want to stay married, which I do, because I do really like him, even though we have nothing in common, I'm gonna have to go to the dark side. I'm gonna have to meet him because he's not gonna come and crochet with me.
SPEAKER_01:Have you ever asked, have you ever given him that option?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and he's not interested.
SPEAKER_01:No, really.
SPEAKER_02:He does, he's very supportive though. Like when I show him stuff that I make, because obviously I I love my I love crocheting and I love knitting, and when I make something, he's really supportive. And he and he goes, he goes, it's kind of amazing. I guess it's that engineering mind. He goes, it's kind of amazing that you just sit there with one strand of wool and you construct it in a way that it becomes something. He goes, that's that's phenomenal, you know. So he's he's supportive, but I also see sometimes that he's no, yeah, that's lovely.
SPEAKER_01:What if you what if you got him crocheting little golf head club, yeah, a driver cover?
SPEAKER_02:I know he has well, he has asked me for those, actually.
SPEAKER_01:Has he really?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, but I haven't I haven't made them. They're not very practical, Mark. If they get wet, we're gonna be in trouble.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, that's true. That's true.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, so and it look, I at the same time that I went, okay, I need to do that for him, for to to have a connection with him. My very good girlfriend Julianne, who was a phenomenal golfer as a young woman, then she took sort of 20 years off. She came back to golf as well. So she was really like, if you come, if you play golf with me, I I couldn't be happier because I'm doing something that I really love and with a really good mate of mine. And so I had these two very encouraging people, Alex and Julianne. Couldn't have had a nicer kind of way to come into golf. You know, these two good golfers who were happy to play with me when I'm not a good golfer, you know. So and it's big, it's become one of the big I can't even believe it, it's become one of the big loves of my life. Play three times a week when I'm home.
SPEAKER_01:It's yeah, I I'm I love the I love the mental health aspects of it. You know, I know I'm a big fan of sport in general, for bringing people together. Like I look at sport and go, you know, yes, you've got the physical activity of it and all of that sort of stuff, but as a as a vehicle for bringing people together and and having that sense of belonging and connectedness, it's it's it's really underrated, I think sport is in that respect. But golf brings not only people together, but it it really teaches you so much about life, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, you you know, you're spending four hours with people that you probably wouldn't spend four hours with in any other environment. I mean, I I I and you've got to keep you cool, you know. It's very it's a that's the hardest thing, keeping you cool for four hours and keeping your head together. But I take my clubs with me now when I travel, and I kind of think, what did I used to do when I was on the road? I used to be just I'd get up in the morning, I'd go for breakfast, I might wander around some shops of the town that I was in, and then I'd go back to my room and watch TV, watch, you know, and now I'm like, right, where's the closest golf course? I'm gonna go and play. And I had that beautiful experience recently of in South Australia turning up, and I got to play with this 86-year-old man who had recently lost his his wife from dementia, and he nursed her right up until the end. And he was the most beautiful, gentle, lovely, interesting man. And I played with him. We only played nine holes, but then we sat in the clubhouse for another hour and a half, you know, just chatting. And he he got up at the end and said, Can I give you a hug? You know, this has just been the most lovely morning, and that would never have happened.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, well, that's it, you know, like you can for a for a long time for many years, I played with the same three guys every week, you know, and then I changed golf clubs and and so now I I actually like playing with different people. I you know, I I I actually don't play with the same people every week. I try and mix it up, you know. And that's one aspect of it. But the the uh the mindfulness of it all, you know that thing about keeping you cool and not ruminating something bad that it it's a really it's a great exercise in trying to live in the moment. It's hard to not be thinking about something that happened five minutes ago and to try and you know just be living in this moment, but it's yeah, and and plus you're outdoors and you're you know you're enjoying nature, it's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02:And you know, I'm 56, Mark, and I have never ever enjoyed a sport in my life. Never, even as a kid. Yeah, I was forced to play it at school and by my parents, and I have never enjoyed it. And this had to to come to to come to love something so much, I get it now. I get why people so into their sport, you know, because I used to just go, wow, what I don't I don't even know what that how that feels, and now I know how it feels. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So you you you acknowledge the mental health benefits of it, surely.
SPEAKER_02:100%.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Like the well, first of all, you've got people who might be who might be very isolated otherwise, you know. Golf, there's often a lot of older people playing because you play in the day, obviously, so they have to be retired, or people like us who are lucky enough to work at night, and so we can play in the day. They're often isolated, you know, like this man I played with. He that's his social network now. He he goes and plays every single day, and if he doesn't turn up, people check on him.
SPEAKER_01:That's great, isn't it? Isn't that fantastic?
SPEAKER_02:Yep, yep. And it's so nice to meet people and learn new things about people, and it's really nice again to share parts of yourself with new people, you know, the people that you know, they've heard all your stories, they know who you are. So you're you're talking about things, and you know, when I'm talking about my my kids with these people I don't know, or my husband, or my marriage, or my job, I feel this sense of pride. I'm like, oh yeah, this is who I am. You know, because you don't talk like that to people that you know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And absolutely that that four hours of trying to stay focused and trying to stay calm, and you because as soon as you start getting tense, your body changes position, then it gets worse. And we've all seen it, we've all seen the clips of people, normally men, losing their mind and throwing their clubs around or you know, chucking them in a pond and all that sort of stuff. I've never felt like that. But inside, you know, all that all that negative talk, what are you doing out here, you loser? You know, you're about as coordinated as as an octopus, you know. And then you just have to go, stop it. Look around at where I am.
SPEAKER_01:You gotta let it go.
SPEAKER_02:Look at how fortunate I am.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm not a big fan of playing with dummy spitters. I do not like it.
SPEAKER_02:No, me neither.
SPEAKER_01:I do not like it. Like I get that you're a you know, you're a great golfer and you're annoyed with yourself for having a bad shot, but I'm like, you know, when whenever I am playing with someone and they have a dummy spit, I just go up to them and go, Does someone need a cuddle? Yeah, that's like I mean, seriously, because I'm out here to have a good time and and you losing your biscuit is not helping.
SPEAKER_02:No, and it doesn't it doesn't make you it's very unenjoyable when someone gets very cranky.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's right. That's right, you know. Yeah. Well what we were saying, what you were saying before about, you know, those conversations, you know, with all the people about, you know, your marriage and your raising the kids and all that sort of stuff, like that's that's something that I think comedians have our ability to connect with people from all walks of life is a great mental health tool, really, you know, because we do find ourselves in a position where people might confide in us because we're we're going out to remote places, like you were saying about that that lady that overheard her husband say that, you know, like because we've connected with them on stage and made them laugh and had them have a good time, it can often open up a a conversation around mental health or or whatever afterwards that I think is really beneficial. That's that's one of the kind of maybe not acknowledged mental health aspects of of doing comedy is the connection that you end up you not all the time, but you you do end up having with people after shows.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they've I think they feel because we give so much of ourselves on stage, you know, we really we we tell a whole room of strangers some pretty intimate and you know, often things that might embarrass other people. We go, oh, embarrassing, that's comedy gold. Let's tell that on stage.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_02:Um we tell these stories about our lives and our partners and our kids and whatever, all our failings. I often say, you know, comedy, we polish our flaws in F L A W S and we put them out there and make them shiny, and we and we they they become, you know, the act. I think because we're we're so vulnerable and we're so open with ourselves, people feel like they can trust us. And they definitely open up afterwards, you know. Especially we used to find that when we were doing merch after women like us, people would come up. Mandy would often she had a really powerful but very funny bit about domestic violence that she would do in our show. And people would come up and just start telling their stories of domestic violence to us because she had opened that that door to have a conversation about it, you know. Yeah, very, very powerful.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, you're only tackling a subject like that with you know decades worth of experience that you know, like that's a that's a topic that is you really got to be skillful in your approach to doing a bit about because there's certain subjects that you just you know, there's a lot of subjects that I find, you know. People say to me, Oh, you should be able to talk about anything on stage, you know, and and I get that, like there is that mindset that a a great comedian will be able to approach something horrific and and put it in a way that and that's a that's a perfect example with Mandy there with that domestic violence because that is a subject that you would most people would think there's no way you're doing jokes about that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. And it was such a was such a great bit. Yeah. So and that I would say it over and over again that people would want to give her a hug. They were thanking her for talking about it in that way and and putting it out there to to a room full of people. Yeah. So so yes, definitely. I think we I think we are much more likely to have people come up and talk to us about things because we've shown our vulnerabilities. We've opened up to them, and they feel like they can do the same with us.
SPEAKER_01:I find incredibly beautiful about your journey is the fact that you started with this comedy course with Mandy, and then have had this amazing career which is still yet to play out for many years to come. And now you've been in a position where you've been teaching stand-up. You know, like I know that we do the comedy workshops on the cruise, but you've actually held a comedy workshop. And so I can't I I've got a few questions. One is what has it been like for you going uh full circle and and now finding yourself teaching this? The second one is has it surprised you that so many people are interested in doing this, you know, and and do you is it something that you think anyone can do being a comedian?
SPEAKER_02:The the second question there, does it surprise me that so many are interested? No, it doesn't, because I think there's a fascination in anybody who has ever seen stand-up comedy. There's a fascination. They either they either say to themselves, I could never do that. That looks that's so hard. People would say it to you all the time, Mark, oh you've got the hardest job in the world. And I'm like, I don't know. Going down in a coal mine, I reckon, would be pretty hard.
SPEAKER_01:Being a nurse. Being a nurse, I reckon, is one of the hardest jobs in the world.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Any any kind of medical, any, anything like that, we know. Police officer, team.
SPEAKER_01:So there's tons of jobs out there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So we know that, but I think that comes that stems from their what they feel about it. So they go, I could never do that. It terri it terrifies people standing up on stage. You're so you are so vulnerable, you're so on your own, you've got no backup. It's you and a light and a microphone, and that's it. And so I think there is a fascination about it. So I'm I'm not surprised there's so much interest. And I think comedy, I think comedy has had a huge, a huge resurgence the the world over, with obviously with social media, we're exposed to comedians from all over the world, you know, all the time in reels. And and I think, you know, so that's wonderful. People are people are appreciating lots of forms of different comedy. How does it feel for me being a teacher? It was honestly one of the most emotional experiences. My first course, I had these eight people, and one in particular came in so closed off, you know, the body language, the folded arms, very quiet. He really, I really didn't think he'd last the distance. I thought he would, he would drop off and not come back. And even on the night, so it was the same format as I spoke before, we'd do a six-week course, and actually it was a four-week course, and then we do the show. And on the night of the show, he was so nervous, and I saw him heading towards the door of the venue, and I said, Oh, hey, where are you going? And he goes, I'm just going out to my car for five minutes. And I went, Listen, don't go. You know, like you've got this far, you've done the hard work, we've rehearsed, you've got your script. It's gonna be really funny. This is a beautiful environment to do it. Ticket off your bucket list. If you leave now, if you get in your car and leave now, you're always gonna go, what a shame I didn't do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because you knew that if you got to the car, he's yeah, he's he's leaving.
SPEAKER_02:He's gone.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So I went, I went, I promise you, I know, and this is what I said to all of them, I promise you that you are gonna get up there and be funny because we've done the work. You know, I sat with them, I had one-on-ones with them where we where we scripted their jokes, you know, we wrote their jokes out, all from their ideas. And then we had a rehearsal night where I brought in a microphone and a speaker and put them under a light, you know, so they knew what that felt like. And then they got up, and it was the most I felt so proud. I felt like they were my kids, you know, and then the messages I got from them afterwards just saying how, you know, how safe they felt with me, how loved and encouraged they felt during that time. I haven't heard from any of them since, but you know, I felt like there was this really beautiful connection that they really had to, they really had to trust me. And there were various reasons they were doing it. Some of them might have an interest in doing comedy down the track, but a lot of them it's just a bucket list thing. A lot of them have some funny ideas, they want to give it a crack, you know, that a a couple of them want to get better at doing stand-up, doing public speaking and just learning how to throw in funny bits if they're doing you know, public speaking already. Yeah. Really satisfying. I really yeah, I really loved it. I loved it.
SPEAKER_01:It's a fantastic exercise, like, you know, when we talk about life skills, you know, like different life skills, creative thinking and critical thinking, and all, you know, uh being self-aware and uh aware of your emotions and all this sort of stuff. As a as a life skill. The ability to be able to speak publicly to start with, make people laugh and and connect and and have that connection, it's it's it is a skill, you know, whether or not you want to be a comedian or not, just as a life skill, it is an incredibly powerful thing, I reckon.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, I do too. I do too. And look at heck to see them to see them get from that initial point to the stage that night was a really I mean it's it was a it was just the most wonderful thing to watch them, you know, and then get up there and shine. And the first time they get a laugh, you can see, you know exactly how they feel. That first laugh comes and you can almost see their bodies grow a little bit bigger, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And they and they they relax. Yeah, yeah. It was really, was really great. And you know, I sat I sort of sat side of stage a little bit to the front, and I was like, I've got your I just had on my phone a list of their key topics, you know, so so we would call them the bits, you know. So I might have driving, I might have you know, chemist, trees, whatever. So if if any because they were all worried about forgetting their stuff, and I'm like, I promise you you won't, but if you do, I'm gonna be sitting there and I've got your keywords up there, and I'll just say the word, and then you go straight into it. So not one of them needed me to do that. Yeah, but you know, just giving them those supports and those tools to get up there on stage, yeah, it was it was really amazing. I loved it.
SPEAKER_01:How rewarding, how incredibly rewarding.
SPEAKER_02:It really was, yeah. I loved it.
SPEAKER_01:That's uh that's that's a that's a fill your cup, that's good for your mental health, aside from doing the gigs. Like, I mean, what a what a beautiful thing to fill your cup, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And also I was it, you know, after Mandy doing that, because Mandy handed that over to me after 20 years, and thousands of people she has taught, and you know, people like myself, people like Hannah Gadsby, you know, like she's she's taught us, and we've gone on to have these incredible careers. And so the sh I couldn't feel her shoes, I couldn't feel her shoes, but I I also wanted to not you know be have it be a complete flop. So there was a lot of pressure on me as well. And the fact that I did it and it was a huge success, yeah, was really rewarding for me. And it was it's probably it's gonna be one of the highlights, you know.
SPEAKER_01:What you've given to those people will be something that they will they will wreak the benefits of that. For the rest of their lives.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I I've decided. Yeah, and and I really wanted them to just feel that sense of achievement. I think if you can get past the fear of public speaking, if that's something, then you're going to feel like you can conquer a whole lot of other things, right?
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So talking about conquering other things. So if people want to uh follow Ellen Briggs in what you're conquering next is uh Instagram, your website, where's the best? Like uh I'm gonna put in links in the show notes for those both of those, but is are they the best places to find out what you're conquering next?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, Instagram, Instagram and Facebook. I'm a bit slack with keeping the website up today, but yeah, Instagram and Facebook. Ellen Briggs.
SPEAKER_01:Nice one. And so just before we lead into finishing up with the feel good five questions, obviously we you know, we talk about where comedy meets mental health here on on the laughter clinic. So how has mental health been something that has affected your life in some way, or someone that you know where you've thought to yourself, you know, I really need to be more aware of what's happening with the mental health of those around me?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, several times. Myself personally, touch wood, I have had very good mental health for most of my life. In the last probably five years, I have developed some anxiety, which I think it unfortunately is part of menopause. And I've had to learn different ways because I've never I I was never an anxious person, I never had any of those feelings, and you know, having that kind of nighttime anxiety waking up was very new to me and and was frightening, and so I had I've sort of had to manage that. I mentioned earlier my mother was incredibly mentally unwell, she suffered more trauma in her life than you know you would believe. It's like you could have an eight-part TV series on her with the things that happened to her over and over, and obviously undiagnosed, but when I when I look back at her now, and I'm certainly not a psychologist or a doctor or anything, but she definitely had crippling depression and anxiety and and quite possibly some form of personality disorder, you know, very very un a very unwell person. And yeah, I have I have lots of friends who have who have mental health issues, and I'm just always really mindful and always asking them in their down times and make asking them obviously what can I do, and just making myself very available to to sit with them in their in their dark times as well as their good times. You know, I think that's for for people like me who I'm very lucky that so far I've had very good mental health. I think it's very important that we are able to be there for our our friends and our family when things aren't all great. You know, sometimes scary and it's confronting, but you know, they're they're our people. We gotta we've gotta be there for them through through all of it. And just uh I just ask the questions, what do you want me to do? You know, yeah give yeah, let let me know what I can do, and I just make sure I'm available for them. Yeah, which I hope is the right thing.
SPEAKER_01:And and circling back to you know when you went for that extended period in your life where you were fundamentally living like a fly and fly out sort of existence with Alex travelling as as much as what he did, and you were bringing up the boys. Do you have any advice for people that might be kind of going through that sort of stuff to to think that might help them deal with that, you know, partner that is in and out of their life that comes and goes?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, look, for for me, the absolute saviour was my community around me, and it and it never became more evident as to how much they how much that meant to me is when we went and lived overseas for 12 months, because we would see Alex more when we lived over there. So we lived in Belgium, but then he would go off to a race for five days to say Germany or Italy or France or wherever, and I was in Belgium on my own with these two two-year-olds, the boys turned three while we were there, so little, not exactly great conversationalists. And I became incredibly lonely while I was there, and really Alex, and then during that time, Alex became so much of a focus for me because it was that constant counting down the days until he was home because he was pretty much the only adult that I had in my life. Whereas, and so we we only did that for one year because whilst it was it was better for him, he saw us more, and we saw him more, obviously. It wasn't great for me because I never got a break. I I could never really do anything that I wanted to do because I didn't have that community around me to help with the kids. So I would say to to anybody, you you have to have a you have to have a strong community. I had three or four young teenage girls who always loved babysitting our kids. One of them ended up becoming, she called herself our adopted daughter. She ended up sort of almost living with us for a while, and you know that having those having those girls set up so that if I wanted to go and do something, I had that freedom to do it. And also, also my friends, you know, like when I needed something, I knew that I had this really strong group of friends, both male and female, around who were my community. It's all about people. And if and if times were really tough, they would be there for me. You know, they would make sure they would come over and go, hey, I'll have the kids for the weekend, or do you want me to just come and stay with you? You know, like so there's another person in the house. Any any of those sorts of things, you know. There were times, you know, the kids were in hospital one time, and I just had friends who I would come home and my house was clean, dinner was cooked, you know, that sort of stuff. Yeah, so practical, practical things and speak out. But everyone who cares about you wants to help. And honestly, when we do things for other people, it makes us feel so good. And so people want to help, but sometimes they don't know how to. So don't ever feel like you a burden or you're asking too much of people because I guarantee you, as soon as you put it out there, as soon as you open the door, you'll have a flood of help. And come on.
SPEAKER_01:Well that works that works the other way as well in relation to you if if you know someone that's in that position with the fly-in-fly out relationship, you know, like reach reaching out to them and and trying to help them navigate that situation because I you know, if even in recent times, I've I've seen people that I know that have just really it's it's a tough existence. It must be a really tough existence.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And we're we're meant, you know, we're we're pack animals. We're meant to have people around us. And as the world has gone on, you know, if you think back 50, 60, 70 years ago, look, even think back to when I was a kid, so 50 years ago, the front doors in the house were open in every house on the street, and we were running from house to house, and we had our bikes out in our front yard, and we were all playing with each other, and everyone was keeping an eye on each other. And mums and dads knew that okay, we they're going down to that house, and they'll, you know, we're we've become so so much more closed off now. We're more connected than ever with technology, but less connected actually. I really believe that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, look, uh absolutely, and there's so much research around the world to support that, and that's why I think it just reinforces the fact that what we do, bringing people together for a laugh, is is is super important, you know. Absolutely. Okay, talking about super important, let's get into the feel good five, Ellen Breed. So, question number one what makes you happy?
SPEAKER_02:My family makes me happy. My kids are the absolute best thing I've ever done in my life, you know. Like they I I couldn't be more proud of them. They're the people I love the most in my life. Yeah, they they make me really happy. And the fact that they moved away from here, that didn't make me happy. But when I live in Melbourne now, when I see their lives that they've carved out for themselves, that makes me incredibly happy. Lots of things make me happy. I mean, that's obviously my one thing. They make me happy. My husband makes me happy sometimes.
SPEAKER_01:Um I was waiting for you to say hitting my seven-on 125.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, I'm getting to that. You know, when I can when I can hit that sweetly, I tell you what, that is a very nice feeling. Being on coming home, traveling, all the all the stuff. I'm very grateful for my life, all the stuff I get to do away from here, but coming home to my property is really my my sanctuary. That makes me very happy too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_02:All my I'm a real home, I'm a homebody, so being home makes me happy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're your boys are two pretty impressive young men. They really are, you know. They really are, right?
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I sometimes think I'm I sometimes think I'm biased, but when I see what they're they're achieving, they're you know, for for listeners, one of them is a florist. He works for a giant corporate florist company down in Melbourne and does some really incredible artistic work. And the other one is a spray painter, but he works for a production company. So he's spray painting amazing things like those giant tennis balls for the Australian Open. And he's also now he's just been signed up in a music label. He, you know, he does he does DJing and he creates his own music, and they live together, they have a beautiful home, they're really house proud. It's like walking into the 70s, you know, like they're really they're just you know, beautiful girlfriend, they're just lovely, they're they're nice and they're really decent human beings.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. No, well that's a that's a that's a direct credit to you and Alex, it really is.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, well, the next question on the Feel Good Five is what are you grateful for? And you're you just pretty much rattled off a few there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I did. I am. I'm great, I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I'm an incredibly healthy person. I had an auntie who always said that my maiden name was Pracy, and she said, Oh, us Pracies, we're we're like cows. We're we just you know, we plod along and we don't get sick and we live forever. And I'm like, nah, and she and a lot of my family have lived a long time. I'm grateful for that. Yeah, grateful for my family. Grateful, I'm very grateful for my marriage and that we that we got through that period of being separated because I know that that, you know, separated from the job, that doesn't always happen, doesn't always end well like that. I mean, you know, we still we renew the contract every year, so we still got a way to go. And grateful that I've been able to make a career out of comedy. Like what a what a gift and a joy.
SPEAKER_01:It is, it is like Mick said, it's a privilege to be able to do it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely it is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know. So uh what are you looking forward to? What's coming up?
SPEAKER_02:What's coming up? I'm going to see Oasis with my boys in like a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's exciting.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we got we got tickets for that, and that was funny because I said to them, you know, are you sure you because I'm going with them and like a whole heap of their mates and one of my girlfriends, and I said, Are you sure you want to go with like your mum and my friend? And one of my kids goes, There'll be heaps of mums there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm looking forward to that. And I've also just uh this morning before we started talking, I made a I've put a slow cooked beef curry in the slow cooker. And it smells divine. I'm looking forward to dinner.
SPEAKER_01:Oh nice, that's uh nice, very envious. What's your uh what's your me time when you want to switch off from the world? What's your go-to?
SPEAKER_02:I I go and sit outside on my veranda and I either do a bit of crocheting or knitting, or I still love using a pen and doing actual crosswords. I love it. Makes me think of my dad. He always did those, and I would sit next to him, you know, from when I was a little girl and try and help him. And it so I often I think of my dad, which is really nice, and I do those. And I also just love I love walking with the dog. I really love walking my dog, seeing him enjoy the world. Yeah, I I love all that stuff. It's very basic, but it's really nice, makes me happy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, it's you know, it goes to the heart of who you are because it's in it's connection, you know. You everything that you you know, even though you're doing a crossword that's like a solo exercise, it's you've still you've got that connection with your father, you know, like that association.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And going out and you know, yeah. Stadley, if he's if Stanley's listening, he'll be pretty happy to hear that taking him for a walk is one of your favorite things to do. And the last one is what's made you laugh recently? Anything anything happened that you've found funny recently?
SPEAKER_02:Well, that that lady with the boiled egg thing, I'll send that to you. That really made me laugh a lot. And yesterday, yeah, yesterday I locked Alex out the back and you what? Told him I locked him outside and was talking to him through the screen door, and I thought it was really funny. He didn't think it was as funny as me, but it was pretty funny. Because he was really dirty. He'd been on the tractor, and I was like, You're not coming inside. And so I gave him a drink through the door and then locked the door, and he was like, Have you actually locked me out? And I was like, Yeah, and I thought it was really funny. That made me laugh.
SPEAKER_01:The pool's right there, jump at the pool.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Brilliant, brilliant. Well, Ellen Briggs, I'm so grateful that we got a chance to have this chat today, and and I'm sure we'll have you on again later on down the track. But it's it's always a treat hanging out with you. I'm so grateful for our friendship and and the times that we've got to spend together over the years. And you know, I'm I'm such an admirer of you as a person and you as a comedian, and and I'm just a big fan, and I love you heaps.
SPEAKER_02:Back at you, mate. And I I um yeah, I love all of this that you're doing, as you know, and I can't wait to join you in more. There's big things for us with with the Laughter Clinic and going out and collaborating and doing stuff. And I just I I think you're amazing, Mark McConville. I love you to bits. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01:It's very kind of you, and and like I said, bringing you uh into yourself and and our friend Linda into the Laughter Clinic and and seeing the impact that you have and the way that you're able to connect with these little communities out there. It's it's honestly it's something special. It really is. I'm so I'm so grateful for uh for your involvement. So it's to being onwards and upwards and and helping people where we can.
SPEAKER_02:That's it. Let's do it. See ya, mate. Bye-day, love you. Love you too, bye.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening. The information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes. It's not intended, nor should it ever replace advice received from a physician or mental health professional. Want more info? Visit the licenseclinic.com.au. If you enjoyed the episode, please share and subscribe. Thanks again for listening to Elijah Clinic Podcast with your host, Ed McCon.