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 Ashley Fils-Aime: From bullied kid to pro comic, a story of discipline, drugs, and faith.
Ash opens up about how laughter became a shield, a craft, and a calling. We chat about how laughter boosts immunity, compare cruise-ship crowds with comedy club audiences, and talk candidly about drugs, faith, and the changing face of the comedy industry.
- How stress harms wellbeing and why laughter matters
- Bullying and self-deprecating humour as early survival tools
- First cruise gigs, brutal bombs and the first big win
- Mentors, comedy life, and the toll of drugs
- Choosing Australia, love, and starting over
- Fans who say jokes saved them and what that really means
- Crafted jokes vs crowd work and the social media trap
- Rituals, discipline, and faith for mental health
- Comedy as an escape and as social commentary
If you enjoyed the episode, please share and subscribe
To follow Ashley Fils-Aime head to his Instagram:
@ashthecomic1
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. The one and only actually feels about a cruise ship today at home and then on another one tomorrow. Mike, you are a busy man. Thank you very much for your time, man. Take out umbrella.
SPEAKER_01:Not too bad. Thanks for having me, Mark. It's a pleasure to be with you. It's a pleasure to uh do anything you ask me to do, man. You're a great guy, great friend.
SPEAKER_03:So Mike, we've got we've yeah, it's been a while since we've caught up, so I'm really looking forward to this chat. So um Mike, I'm very conscious of time for yourself, given the fact that you're on a quick turnaround on the cruises. So uh we'll start with the question that we ask all of the guests on the Laughter Clinic podcast and extended around. And now we have modern day research supporting the physical benefits of laughing and the psychological benefits of using your sense of humor as a coping mechanism. So when you hear the term laughter is the best medicine, what does that conjure up for you?
SPEAKER_01:Uh it conjures up exactly what it says. It's it is the best medicine. As because you know what it is, it's everything is your your immune system. And if you want to get scientific with it, and um, and this is like surface science, like shallow science, or what do you call pseudo science? Well, I think why people don't know is you can eat healthy all you want to, but if your body is not in a the position to receive the nutrients, it's not going to be absorbed the way it should be, right? Because we have these things in our body, it's like we have these hair follicles inside of our bodies, right? And at the end of these hair follicles, there's like a hole, and the hole has to open up, and that's how you get nutrients absorbed. When you're stressed out, that hole doesn't open up and the nutrients bypass it, right? So at the most, you'll probably get fiber. So you could you can eat all the vegetables you want to and all the things you want to eat, but if you're stressed out, your your immune system can't absorb the nutrients. So when you're laughing, you're you're you're beyond, you're not stressed out, you're you're in a great mood. You know, like when people leave a comedy club, they're in a great mood. I imagine a lot of people just leave a lot better, you know. A lot of people go out in a couple, every couple has sex when they're done seeing us, you know, because they're in a good mood. We're lovemakers. We we that's what that's why people go in, but think about how many times have you been in the comp doing a comedy show, Mark? You're a comic, you know, and there's like a whole bunch of first dates because the guy doesn't know how to talk.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, look at I look, I think I think going to a comedy club is a cracking idea for a first date. It is. And when you're on stage, you can tell which one, which of them are gonna have a second date because they're the tables where one of them is laughing their ass off and the other ones they're going really you think they think this is funny.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It's it's a great way to know that person, like what they're laughing at. And that's medicine, because medicine is supposed to build your immune system. And and anything that builds your immune system is medicine. It doesn't have to be something physical, it can be something mental that can cause an internal reaction.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, man. And there's actually a lot, there's a lot of scientific research to support that in relation to you uh boosting the immune system. So you're spot on there, mate. You're absolutely spot on. I know that you're born in Haiti, but I didn't realize it was Miami, Florida that you actually were raised and grew up there. And that's so and that's where you started stand up when you're 18, is in Miami.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man. You don't get you well, you you've done your research, man. Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, what happened is I was born in Brooklyn, but I was raised in Haiti. Because when my mom was pregnant, she right before she had the baby, she flew to Haiti. I mean, she communicated to New York, had me on America's soil, then flew right back to that. I was American citizen, then flew right back to Haiti. I mean, and then raised until and when she had enough money, she flew back to America, and then uh I was already a citizen, so they were they had by law they had to let her in because she had five. I'm the young I'm the youngest of five kids, and she did this five times.
SPEAKER_03:So was uh was developing your sense of humor is was that a survival mechanism, mate, when you were growing up?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was. Well, it wasn't it was a survival mechanism, not with the family, but with the students. You see, what happened was when you're younger, you know when kids are kids, a kid kids can be very cruel because they don't know any other way other than to be honest, and then when they find out they can get a reaction from you from the cruelty, some of them they they love that feeling and they become bullies, and some of them they could see that they're doing damage and they divert. My problem was African Americans were the ones who really went after me because I looked like them, but I didn't sound like them. So it was a series, a series of bullying, a series of like yeah, they just really bullied me and they could, and you know, it was really bad. And a lot of people one person who beat me up became famous, and someone someone else jumped me and became famous as well. I felt like you know, growing up, like, man, if you beat me up, there's a possibility you might make it in life. Because like these cats are adults now. One of them, like he he uh they would they would do something called jumping, like they will wait for you to get off the bus. This happened to me like four times. I got off the bus and I'm walking home, and then they'll wait for you right before you get into your your yard, and they all come and they just start pounding on you. Like it was you could see it coming because like the the this the students will go in different, they will go like different directions. I remember one time I almost made it home. I opened the gate, and before I can get into my yard, they start jumping me. And my stupid ass dog is sitting there barking from the gate, roof, roof, roof, my bitch, come outside. The gate's open, come outside, roof, roof, roof, like what a what a coward. Like it, I like he because he knew he knew he wasn't allowed to leave the gate, but he would do it every night when we're falling asleep. I'm like, bitch, yeah, I know you do this out when we're sleeping. I need you to come help me. And he's like barking through the gate, and these kids are just jumping me and they they left and they ran away. One time my neighbors, my dad didn't let my neighbors, my neighbors, two the two brothers, they jumped the gate and started beating me up, and my dad was so upset he took him to court. But my dad yeah, he took them to court. So when we we went to when we but my dog actually got involved in because they were in my yard and they ran away. But when my dad fucked up because when when I went when I went to court, the lawyer goes, okay, I want to talk to you, young young man. I go, Yeah, I go, What's up, man? He goes, So they punched you and kicked you in the face. I go, no, they didn't do that. He goes, they punched you and kicked you in the face, right? I'm like, no, I didn't do that. He didn't do that. He goes, Okay. Then he went and talked to my dad, and my dad just shook his head. And then as I walked away, I heard the lawyer go, at least you taught me, at least you taught him to tell the truth. Well, hell yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And so what what what year we what decon we talking like?
SPEAKER_01:I was like, you know, man, I got I got beat up since I was uh the 80s? No, yeah, I was like the early 80s, like 80 80s was like, yeah. I got beat up a lot in the 80s. I want to say like between 1980, 1989, 199, 1991, because I remember 1994, I went to high school and that kind of stopped. Because I I that's when I learned how to become a clown. Like I started noticing that when I would make people laugh by making fun of myself first, then people would uh laugh and they would leave me alone. And it came to a point where I'm I I and indirectly I did this. Every year I made an appointment to be the class clown because I didn't want to get beat up by anybody else, and I want to and I want to be protected by people. So the the the comedy came from two things. It was a defense mechanism, and then when I got home, my older brothers and sisters would only give me attention when I made them laugh. So much so to the point where like every Friday night they would get around me and I would just do and I would do skits and I would impersonate all of them. Every Friday night I would do this, and they were like, Oh, I just get ready to do his skits, or whatever it is, and I would just impersonate my dad, I would personate my dad beat me up, or I personate my dad beating them up, and I would personate their reactions, and it was really if you think about it, it's pretty traumatizing. But it's uh it just that's how I learned how to do impressions. I impersonate my mom in front of them, like and I was impersonating my mom watching my dad beat me up, like how she wouldn't do anything, but I did it in a funny way, even she would laugh.
SPEAKER_03:So I'm dying to know was if you're doing all these impressions, you're putting on a regular show on a Friday night for the family. Was it them who said to you at the age of 18, you need to go and actually do this in public and and have a crack at doing stand-up?
SPEAKER_01:No, it's quite the opposite. They didn't they discouraged it when they when I was young stand-up. Yeah, that was really bad. Like, because I think by the time like my I became 17, 18, my parents, you know, the youngest of five kids, they ran everybody just ran out of steam. Because I became pretty like hard to hard to deal with, you know. I was like wild. I just be I went from that to being wild to just you know, they they couldn't keep up with me. So my mom moved out the house, and it was just me and my brother. And when when my I told my brother I'm gonna become a comedian, he told my mom, my mom and my dad go, you can't live in our houses because like the my my parents started getting, I don't know if they're wealthy, but they started getting like a lot of uh different apart properties. And so they kicked me out of the house. But for that. Yeah, when I told them that's what I was gonna do, I didn't want to go to school. I didn't want to because I got expelled when I was uh when I was uh 17, when I was 18, and they told me that I could not be in that house if I wanted to do comedy. But here's what happened. I feel like I've always been protected by God. Because what happened was when when when they kidnapped the house, originally I had just gotten off a cruise ship as a passenger. And and on the on the on the cruise ship, they were doing a karaoke night, and that was my turn to sing, and I remember it was my a Michael Jackson song called You're Not Alone, and I was making my own parody of it, and I had everybody laughing, except for this one lady in the back who kept staring at me, and I'm like, why is she not laughing? And this cruise didn't go anywhere, just went out for three hours and came back, right? And I said, Okay, when we docked, the she approached me, and I remember this it's my first time being on a cruise ship, my first time being by a bar because I was on, you know, and she's like, sit down, have a seat, and she's like, Have you ever thought about doing have you ever thought about doing stand-up comedy? I go, Yeah, I've always thought about that, but I wouldn't know where to begin. And she goes, Well, I'm the cruise director, but she was off that night, she was getting she was disembarking. I didn't now it makes sense to me. She was like getting off. She was call this guy and we're gonna make you a comedian. And I thought, Oh, great. So then his name was author. Every day I got for I told everybody I'm gonna be a comedian, I'm being a comedian, I'm gonna be a comedian. And that's when my brother was like, No, you're not. I'm like, Yes, I am. No, you're not, yes, I am. And I said, I'm I'm I have a job as on a cruise ship as a comedian. This is I was 18. And I called author for three months straight. Every day, author never picked up, and then one day author picked up, and that's the first time I remember hearing a person with a different accent, and they were from London. It's like hello, Ashley. I'm like, author, he goes, Yeah, they told me all about you. Are you ready to come on board? I'm like, yes, yeah. He goes, Okay, you have to do an AIDS, you have to do uh this and that. So I'm like, AIDS. How serious is this shit? But I was going on as as like the fun squad. I didn't I didn't know I was going on. I thought I thought I was going on as a comedian. I I know I was going on as a fucking, you know, uh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:The um the uh what do they call them now?
SPEAKER_01:The um the fun squad now, cruise staff or something like that. Yeah, cruise staff. I thought I was gonna be I'm so I'm gonna tell you why I'm gonna be comedian. I'm I'm a comedian, I'm a comedian, right? And and this is after I got kicked out. This is everything happened all at the same time. I got kicked out of school and uh and then I went to cruise. I went I went on a cruise ship out for as a passenger, and then I got the three months, like I want to say three months in that time. My brother was like telling me to I'll get a job or whatever, or go to college and then or sign up for this and that. And then when I told him I was gonna become a comedian, I told him that after Arthur gave me a call, he told my parents. My parents told me to take out the house, and but by then I was already in the ship. I packed all my shit and I joined the I joined the cruise ship. I'm like, oh, this is great. I'm gonna be a comedian. Little did I know that at 18 years of age.
SPEAKER_03:Oh man, talk about being trained in the deep end.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's just but you when you're that young, you're like, oh, this is fun. I I'll never forget my first home on on the cruise ship. Like, okay, here's your cabin, at a nice cabin. And they go, Okay, uh, they're having they're having breakfast up there. I go, all right, no problem. And I went and I remember just this place full of all these options to food. I was like, oh my gosh, you know, the uh uh I I've seen buffets, but I've never seen a buffet like this. And I go, how much is that? Because no, it's for free, it's for everybody, it's free for all the stuff. I go so I remember eating, and I eat a lot now, but back then I ate so much. I was eating and eating eating and the ship didn't sell yet. I didn't feel the ship's and I started eating, I ate all this food, and then we started sailing, and I remember going in my room and projectile vomiting.
SPEAKER_03:Oh no, because I didn't I didn't know what you beat too early, mate.
SPEAKER_01:Uh way too early. And I went to went to the Bahamas, went to the I went to the Bahamas every day. Went to the Bahamas, and that was like a thing. And I was getting I was getting paid 800 cash a week. At the time I didn't drink, I didn't have any things to spend money on, so I just ate a lot of food, you know? And then finally they'll like here here at this time you this, at this time we do bingo. At this time, they were training me. And I go, what did I do with the comedy? And then the lady that was a cruise director, a different one, she happened to be a comedian herself, and she wrote for SNL. And she's like, We've never done this before with anybody, we never just brought anybody on to be a comedian, but we like you, and so we're gonna write you a script. How about you write a script? So I wrote a script and it was terrible. I was saying stupid shit.
SPEAKER_03:How long? How long did they want you to do?
SPEAKER_01:Five minutes.
SPEAKER_03:Five minutes. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I remember I remember I said, five minutes. She goes, she says, You once you do five minutes. I go, five minutes, that's too short. She goes, listen, listen, kid. She was from New York too. Lynna Kornowski, that's her name. I've been trying to find it for a long time, but I think she's probably passed away because she's pretty old anyway. She goes, Listen, kid, three minutes is a long time on stage. All right, but talking for three minutes now, no one's laughing, it's a long time. And I just took her word for it. Three minutes is a long time on stage. She goes, Comedy is about a message. What's your message? I'm like, what the fuck? Message? I just want to tell dick jokes, but okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You had to be clean. Yeah, I'm only 18. Like, so she wrote me a script. I mean, I wrote my own script and it was full of fact. Full of fact. Nothing about I was saying stupid shit like, I grew up on a rough, I mean, I got it from a book. I grew up on a rough part of Wall Street, the rough part of New York, Wall Street, pause, no laugh. And then she was, I was like, I had four older sisters. I mean, I had to wear hand-me-downs, but the problem was I had four older sisters, and then I ended with the cheesiest, I had the cheesiest clothing in the world. She's ew. Just talking about, I already talked about just telling you, talking about right now makes me cringe. I did this Michael Jackson impersonation, and I had the DJ play smooth criminal, right? And I said I told the crowd, hey, I'll be right back. I think Annie's, I think something's wrong with Annie. The fuck? So I ran backstage and I take a whole bunch of powder, I put it all over my body. First of all, it's their fault for letting me do this. Yeah, go out there and do it. Smoke will come out, and I just do this crazy Michael Jackson impersonation, and then I'll pause, I'll pause the music, I'm breathing, no one's clapping.
unknown:Right?
SPEAKER_01:And they're all staring at me. I remember one this one guy he's a cop goes, I should arrest you. I'm like passenger. It's like, you know how you wait for someone to tell you good job? He's like, Matt, I should have arrested you.
SPEAKER_03:So did you go so did you go straight from doing that to doing open mics like on land in comedy clubs and stuff?
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's what happened. Uh, one day I had a show, I thought it was at 8 o'clock, but it shows at 7:15. So I'm upstairs playing drums with the with the band, and I'm singing Stevie Wonders. I just called this. Like having a grand old time thinking, man, I'm gonna have a show tonight, it's gonna be great. And then I walk downstairs and I hear the other comedian doing his his his song, his uh his show. Like as I'm walking, I'm like, what the fuck? And you know what song triggers me? Oh my darling, knock three times on the ceiling if you want me. Because that was that was the closing bit. That was just that was the closing bit. And I'm what the fuck's he doing? Twice on the pipe, and then he gets off stage, he goes, He was in, I'll never forget his English action. He goes, mate, you're fired. I go, What the fuck? He goes, The show was an hour ago, we couldn't find you, so I had to go and do your show for you. You're fired, baby. I was like, Oh my gosh, but to be fair, he was just like this 50-year-old guy dating this like 19-year-old girl, and this 19-year-old girl, he was I guess he was intimidated by me or some shit like that, you know. So he just like fired me. He could he wanted a reason to fire me. The lady Linda Koronowski was signing off, so she couldn't save me. She's like, I can't do anything for you. So I thought my career was over. Then my friend Peter Beckford from college, he came back in town from college and I told him what happened. And my my family kind of felt bad for me, so I came back to the house and they let me stay in the house. And I remember Peter came out then like a week later, he's like, Man, he came back to my house and he had like a stack of newspapers, and he had like circled all the comedy clubs there, and he was drove me around to all these comedy shows. He's like, We're gonna make you a star, maybe we'll make you a star. Don't worry about it. And then every coup every club went to either close or they wouldn't let me on. And then I saw the improv, and the improv had an open mic, but the improv only had famous people. I go, let's just try this one. And that was the last piece we tried. And they go, hey man, we have an open mic. You want to come on Monday? I go, Yeah, cool. So then, long story short, I wrote, I went to Peter's house, and I wrote my first bit that I wanted to say by myself because I didn't have to be clean. And my first proper show was a competition against 15 other comedians, and I beat everybody on my first try. And that's when I knew so something there. And but then when I told that's when they said you're still gonna do this comedy thing, they go, Yeah, well, you can't you can't do that in this house. But I but at the time, I had a car and I lived in my car, a car that they were trying to repossess it because I kept hiding it. They couldn't find it for like a good four months. Idiots. I put my mom's old address, all right? And so like my mom, and my mom was pretty cool, like because my mom had a house around the corner, right? So they would go there late at night, waking her up trying to find the car. And instead of her telling what the car is, she would just call me and say, You need to make a payment on that car. I'm like, because that what I what it was at nighttime I worked at the comedy club. In the daytime, I worked at the comedy club, but at nighttime I slept in my car in a garage.
SPEAKER_03:That's nuts, man. So what's what's where's that come from from your parents in relation to them giving you that ultimatum in relation to doing comedy? Is that because, like, did all your older brothers have, you know, careers, academics, you know, big bone, like like is were you, you know, expected to follow in their footsteps type of thing? Is that where that came from, do you reckon?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, you know, of course, because it's it's a strict, it's a strict Caribbean upbringing, it's a Haitian bringing. But you know, the thing is, when my dad was around, I had no freedom to do anything. I had no freedom at all. I would I would have to get permission to go outside to get the mail. That was it was that strict. And I wasn't allowed to have any friends. My dad was so strict with me. So by the time he ran out of steam and just gave up, I went wild. I had all this freedom, you know. Like by the time I turned like 17 to 18, he just he doesn't have it in him anymore to focus on me. Nobody did. So I went wild, but they didn't the most they could do is kick me out. So to me, them them kicking me out. It was you're more and they were doing you a favor. Yeah, they were doing me a huge favor. I know I have more freedom. Now I know I had there's no consequences to my actions other than my own consequences that I suffered. When I'm bored, I I suffered some consequences, but they weren't there to tell me what to do. So I know every people say it sounds cruel, but to me, it was probably uh it was such a great freedom. I had to I could do whatever I wanted to do, and it was and I had you know, I don't know. I I guess when you when you when you're a kid, you you don't have any fear because you don't know what what life is about, really. Would I do this shit now? No. If I was if I was this age, would I start comedy now? Absolutely not. But when you're that young, you just have no fear, it just happened to work out.
SPEAKER_03:So how old were you when like 18 cruise ship, 18 years old on the cruise ship? So when you went onto the land and you you won that competition, how old were you then?
SPEAKER_01:I was still 18. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_03:That had all happened in the space of that year.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. I was only on the ship for three months, and I just turned 18. I was ship for three months, and then I started doing the comedy on the cruise on on on every night, every Monday I would do the open mic, and I would win it. I would win it, and I would it was like a thing, and I became a staple there. And then what happened was I ended up getting a job downstairs at a place called Alien Cafe, right? Virtual Cafe. It was like an alien place, and I had to get in because it was close to the improv. First, before I got the job at the improv, I was just trying to get close to the improv. And uh, you know, I can't even forgot this part. And I had to work as alien costume in the hot sun, handing out flies for people to have free virtual burgers on us. It's a really crazy thing. But I told the people that worked there that I want to do comedy, they go, We want to do comedy, and you know, the old hey, how about you do the people who have no idea how to put a comedy show on? They go, We're having a our our we're having our annual our annual dinner. You should do comedy with us. I didn't even have five minutes, but I mean ahead of them, I'm just doing comedy. Yeah, and then so they it and they made me wear a costume. I had two horns. You mean that you know those those that fucking Jamaica looking guy who yes, yes, yes. I had one of those on, right? And yeah, it gets it gets worse. There's a buffet, right? People are people are having a buffet. You know what a stage is? My feet are right under the chicken, like right over the buffet area. And I'm talking to people as they're like in the line getting a buffet, and I'm like, man, this is bullshit. And I cursed, get him off, like, oh fuck, sorry. And then they fired me from that job. I ran upstairs and I told them what happened in the improv. And the manager thought it was so funny. He goes, Why don't you just work here? I'd like to work here. He goes, Yeah. And they so he got me a job at telemarketing daytime and then run running food at night, and then I'll get spots here and there. And then one day I was performing there, and Pablo Francisco happened to come in town early, and then he was like saying, Who's that kid? Because he he was wondering why I was always around. And he told me that they were just, you know, they were talking shit about me, and like that, they just they had me around because like I was a joke to them, but they just did delight me, and you know, they just keep me around. Like the managers, the manager was that the managers were that way, you know. There was one time there was a manager, they Jewish manager, his name is Stan, Stan something, forgot his name. I remember some white comic had said a black comic threatened her. So I'm backstage, I'm in the kitchen getting ready, and I was putting some calamari together for the for the next passenger. And he came and he just whispered in my ear, he goes, If you ever threaten any of my uh employees again, I'll fucking have you arrested or some shit like that. I go, what? And then he like drugged me by my shirt all the way from the kitchen, all the way to the front. And mind you, in the front bar, there's a whole line of people. No, this is the improv, very classy place. And it's all and all everybody's staring at me. Mind you, I got like shit on me. I'm like, what the fuck? And then she looks at me, she goes, Oh no, it's not him, right? And then he goes, Oh, okay, cool. And then he sent me back to the kitchen. He never apologized. They used to call me nigger and shit. Look, the thing is that when you're that young, I didn't get, I didn't care. I felt like this was party paying your dues. I'm like, as long as they let me perform, they could do what they could treat however they want to treat me. And Pablo picked up on that and he didn't like that because they were talking shit about me to him. He was like, Man, and Pablo goes, Hey man, I want you to uh give me a call. And he goes, I'm like, Oh shit, this is Pablo Francisco. So I gave him a call. He's like, Come come to my hotel and talk of all I this the Hollywood gay shit. I heard I keep hearing about. I don't want to give him my ass or nothing like that, but I'll go meet him. We started talking. He's like, Man, he and he's and he's the one I told him. He's like, Man, they're talking they're talking shit about you. Like they're calling you the n-word, this and that, and they keep around. He goes, Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna spank him. What do you mean we're gonna spank him? He was gonna spank him. I want you to tell them Robert Hartman, which is like the the owner of the all the improvs, wants to wants to wants to um wants to sign you. He doesn't want to sign you, but I'll back it up for you. I go, what? Just trust me, just do it. But every so often he goes to the bathroom. And at the time I didn't know what he was doing, and I know what it is now. And then he came back, I'm like, okay, cool. So I had a big joint in my car, and I didn't and I didn't want him to know I smoked weed, but he's in the bathroom doing whatever he's doing. So we're both hiding our narcotics from each other and shit.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um so and the next day I went to the improves. I'm like, hey, Robert Hartman's assignment, and everybody's like, what? And things started shifting around. And then he came in, he said, give give him a guest spot. And then I would, you know, I did a guest spot, and then he goes, Man, this kid's funny. And then about, I want to say about maybe four and a half months later, he flew me to LA and I moved in with him. I started living with him, and I never turned around. So between 18 and 19, I just shifted from the cruise ship, being homeless in the car, and then next thing you know, moving all the way to Los Angeles, living in this big ass house. And that's where all the problems and education and the fun times and the crazy times and the suicidal times, all this, everything began, and that's when my life just shifted.
SPEAKER_03:That's crazy, man. So was that and I like I I know with a lot of comics I talk, I ask about how, you know, was there a moment, you know, like was there a turning point early on in your career where you go that kind of reaffirms your decision to wanting to be a comedian? And clearly, this has got to be it for you, surely.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, of course. Of course. It was it was it was life-changing. I don't want to say rags to riches because it wasn't my riches, it was it was rags to seeing riches, to being around riches, but it wasn't my it was it wasn't my riches, but I got a hell of education because Papa was the man, you know. He was every every new improv that would open up, he'll be the one that they sent to open it up. So I was touring with him, and we were going every week different improv. You know, I and my five minutes turned into seven and seven turned to 15, and I started featuring for him, you know, because and because it was first guest spots, and then guest spots turned into feature spots, and then me and him started doing like writing skits together, and it became this thing where I became his guy and I started getting all his popularity. But uh, I was like 19, and then I didn't leave him till I was like 32, 33. So I don't know how long I don't know how long that is, maybe 11 or something years.
SPEAKER_03:Is that is that when you came head into Australia? So what what was the you know the driver for you to pull the pin on what was obviously going alright over there and and turning Melbourne, Australia into home?
SPEAKER_01:We were both heavy into drugs, and I and I was into it only because he was into it and had to keep up with this with this guy, you know, because it wasn't like it was my like it was my choice, but it wasn't something that I I did it because I did it because it was always around. What people don't understand is when you do drugs, you make terrible decisions, you know? And then and then with drugs you come down, and the hard, the longer you do the drugs for it, the harder the come down is, and then the the more powerful the drug is, the more powerful the come down is. And the come down is probably the most scariest part because that's when you're you're actually that's when the suicidal thoughts begin. So to divert that, you sleep, and then you wake up and then you do drugs again, so you don't have to think about that. So you just avoid that shit, you know? Yeah, it was coke, coke turn to meth, coke turned to ecstasy, exit turn to meth, and thank god he was afraid of needles because he's like, hey, he's like, don't ever bring heroin in this house. If I ever see you doing heroin, I'm like, motherfucker, like, why are you telling me this shit for? You you you you're the one who fucking this is you're controlling this fucking narcotic fiasco that we've been on for over a decade now. So I think God never did heroin because then probably doing that shit too, you know? But I think I think when when then meth came in the picture, the come down was so outrageous. Like it just it's just the worst thing you can do is to your body, I think, as far as like thoughts. You have all these thoughts in your head, you think everyone's after you, you think everyone's talking about you, you hear footsteps. I mean, then he has a big house, and then sometimes you'll leave the house, and I'm sitting there in the house by myself in this big house, I turn all the lights off. I think every car is coming to get me. I think every I think every car that has a car coming to get me, I'm by the window looking at it's like full-on it's it's horrific. It was horrific. And then you then you start all over again because you want to escape that. So this was a vicious cycle that happened for about 11 years. And then we would tour together all the time, and then I tried to leave the tour several times, and then there were things that he was doing to facilitate for me to come back to him, without saying too much. So I knew for me to leave, I had to either do something to like I don't know. Oh, and there was a slight opportunity where Eddie Murphy's one of Eddie Murphy's writers saw me and he filmed me, and he sent he sent Eddie the tape. And he goes, Eddie wants to meet you. And it was right before then, then we we came to Australia. So in the back of my mind, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna fucking meet Eddie and I'm gonna fucking leave. You know? And I came to Australia and uh see on tours overseas, there's no drugs involved because that's a big you know, you can't you can't take that type of chance, right? So you uh yeah, you're you're you're level headed. So I I I I got my thoughts together. Then I came to the Melbourne in 2009 in the forum, and then you know Amani, right? She was in the front row of the show, and I met her. I tried to get her to come back to my hotel, but she didn't, you know, typical guy shit. And she's like, I don't do that. I'm like, yes, you do. Come on, it's me. And she's like, No, I don't do that. And I came back and I married her, man. She's good. So that's why she got me, but um no so I uh that's a hell of a uh it's a hell of a reason to move countries man oh yeah it was it was and i had i had to keep her a secret from him because he was in the thing where he would just ruin everything it just became a very controlling relationship like man i told him listen i'm gonna go back to austral for about a week i'll be back in a week or two weeks he's like oh yeah you should go experience that so i packed all my stuff i got dan at the comic sounds to book me for a week to to verify everything yeah i headlined and i just never and i never came back and i just started a whole new life and then i i got deported but i can't i mean i i got told to leave but i came back anyway again second time around you know what's crazy was when i was told to leave i i instead of going back to l a going back to him it it would have been it would have been an easy thing it would have been very easy to go okay man you know what i'm back and he would have took me in but i said no i'm gonna do the right thing so i went to my mom's house and i i stayed there and they took me in and he happened to be in miami at the same time and i just avoided him you know after a year i just avoided talking to gun news and i got a job at the improv i did i did all the i did all the things that i did when i was first doing comedy i got a job at the improv i worked telemarketing and because i was right next to the book there's three improvs but i i worked at the head office and so i i got i was booked i was getting booked all three because i was right next to the the booker so i was i just i just hustled to save my hustle but i but this time i had i had experience on my side so for about a year as i waited for the austral to uh let me come back in and i came back and man it's just been great ever since i mean every yeah i mean i've been banking since 2014 and every year it has just been more and more success and more and more success everything has problems with and but there's problems with that there's problems within the success but man it's just been great every year it just gets better and better and better I thank god for that and now you're an Aussie and now I'm Australian mate I gotta tell you I talked to Varner is together about about getting his citizenship and oh man he's so proud and I'm sure you're the same you know we're together right sorry me and him were together we we had the same ceremony oh did you realize no I did not know that yeah see he's he's so selfish he he didn't tell you that did he but we were we're we're together so me me me me me me tell him I said that you know I started doing I started telling him happy anniversary every I did it over the first two years I go you know what I'm not gonna be the first one that's happy I'm gonna see what he said and this year just happened he didn't say shit like fuck that I'm not I'm not trying to be a nice guy like you know because I thought it was a cool thing you know but uh because it was during COVID and we couldn't have anybody there yeah it just turns out we could I so I go fuck you're here you're here and it was crazy so we had we sat we we had the same ceremony we had the same ceremony we both didn't know the song that we're singing and I remember a humbling moment where this couple came up to us oh my god can we get a picture I'm like oh of course and I look up and they're like with Yvonne I'm like yeah shit I'll I'll y'all take it there you go same thing with Craig Coombs did Craig Coomb say that shit we were and uh it was me the Nelson twins and Craig Coombs who just happened to be at the airport waiting for a plight and then this two couple comes up it was oh my god is you can get a picture so me and the Nussans like of course you can she's talking to Craig they wanted to get a photo of Craig yeah Craig I'm like what the fuck is going on he didn't write one joke I don't I don't care he didn't write one joke and he's got no I I he always uh I love I love that man he he he's uh I don't know if you've seen but he was actually the first guest that I had on the podcast Craig really yeah yeah his episode is the is the first guest because I just thought it was incredibly poignant you know when we talk about laughter being the best medicine and here's a guy that was given 18 months to live back in 2012 and you know I spoke to him in August of twenty twenty five it's a pretty incredible story. Yeah man I still have that's true.
SPEAKER_03:Laughter is the best medicine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah yeah yeah so so when you uh when you're travelling around and and you know because you've toured extensively around Australia internationally as well and I know that you're very attuned you know talking to audience members after the gigs and all this sort of stuff has there been has there been a a time that sticks out in your mind where someone's come up to you after a gig and just and just really told you about you know how much the show's meant like they've been going through something full on and they really needed a laugh at that point like most comics have had that moment where someone's really laid it on you yeah I've had it I had it I've had it before but two times stick out one time when this was I was like 19 at the improv I did a show and some lady came up to me and she goes thank you so much you you made a manic depressant laugh at the time I didn't even know what a manic depressant was I was like oh okay I guess she has a disease or some shit but I I told my friends that and they go that means that she's uh she's manic and she's always depressed and like oh I made someone depressed laugh Craig Coombs is another one he actually tattooed one of my jokes on his arm because I used to have a joke about um I used to have a joke about Osama bin Laden I go why do you stupid people always have followers I go I don't understand why why how can you fight for peace just if you just stop fighting then you then you damn peace it makes no fucking sense you can't and he loved it so much that he actually put a tattoo on his arm and he actually called me one day and he's like man you saved my life I go what happened he goes well I had to have a bowel movement but I couldn't do it and you know and say if I didn't do it's just true it's it's I go bowel movement because he had to because he he had to get rid of it he had to get something he he couldn't go he couldn't go and he was like man and then he goes I thought about your I thought about you said and I said just stop fighting just let go because he's like in his mind's like I'm I'm gonna let go I'm like as in I'm gonna die I'm gonna let go of the war and when I when when I said when I thought about the quote fight stop fighting just your peace I stopped fighting and then all of a sudden I go ooh I gotta go I go thanks man so I helped you take a shit I appreciate that hey you know what what whatever I can do I've so I make people feel good I've helped people release their bowels um yeah well there's a lot of there's a lot of rewards to be at a comedian I suppose that's that's one of the uh underrated ones maybe it is it's underrated it's it's it's it's up it's there it's up there in my top you know compliments that I've gotten like you know you people say I I make you know you make me pee well you know what I mean somebody's shit when I was showing with Pablo there was a lady who ran up to him shaking she goes she goes you helped me I stop my I stopped you helped me stop myself from committing suicide and she was shaking when she told him and I was like man that's that's crazy we had just finished doing the Jimmy Fallon show and we're just walking in the streets and I'm like damn it's I that's why I recognize man there is some kind of power in this and recently I just did a show and it's the third one I remember recently I just did a show a couple of weeks about a week ago and I could tell this lady wanted to unload on me but because we're in passing I just give her a thank you and a handshake she shook my hand and she goes thank you so much and then as she she starts to say I really needed to laugh she starts her voice started shaking it's like I really need like she's I really like like physically I'm like oh yes this is one of those situations but because I was walking and she was going to the bathroom I just said no no I don't I look you know the thing is you have to look in their eyes when when they're complimenting you they have to be they have to you have to make them known that you're seeing them and it has to be you have to be sincere. This came like oh thanks walk away everybody that tells you thank you you look in their eyes tell them thank you you just don't take it for granted you know be grateful for every time and someone goes do you are you tired of hearing that I go I could never be tired of hearing somebody who appreciates my work so much that they're telling me that they appreciate my work how can you ever get tired of that you know it's not exactly it's not a it's not an ego thing it's an appreciation thing because that's you know that's part of the what you know you're you're doing it for that reason you're doing it to you know there's you know how it is for us the reaction we get when we make people laugh is the feeling that we've had since we were kids and how what a what a blessing it is to be able to do that as a living and to be able to you know it kind of poisons like yeah you get you get compensated for it you make money off of it but I never did comedy for money I never I never worried about the money I just wanted to be I just focus on just being funny and making them laugh I always feel like and if if it has anything to do with my comedy whether it's traveling whether it's financial whether it's anything anything at all I'm so hyper focused. I think it's I think I have my wife thinks I have ADHD but everybody's wife thinks her husband ADHD so I don't know if it's it's a real thing or not but I'm hyper focused on getting the job done properly. Like you know I'm focused I'm I'm I'm thinking about I I like to know my schedule way ahead of time I'm thinking about that day I know if I eat something today how it's gonna affect me the next day everything is so meticulous it's so some people might say it's over the top you guys know like you guys make fun of me for having all these rituals before my show but that's that's that's my that's like a a discipline and a a and an OCD that I'm okay with because input and output that's what it's about if you're if you're not having any input your output's gonna suck so my input is so strong that my output every time is you know a nine out of 10. Oh your energy is amazing on stage mate your energy is absolutely incredible and it's infectious you know and I and I and I love that that's the type of comedy that I'm drawn to you know that high energy storytelling you know I I love it I absolutely love it and I think that I think look I think it's cool that you've got those you know idiosyncrasies and those rituals that you have before you you know before you want to go on stage and do that sort of stuff because it it kind of cements the fact that okay I've I've done this this and this now I'm ready to go yeah exactly it you it you take it on you take you certain these boxes but yeah it's just it matters every everything matters like if you look I've been away for what I think nine days I got one day off and I go I jump right back in it again and I did 16 straight shows 16 those six shows straight and you know the thing about carnival is now they make you have to separate your jokes you have to you have to do different half an hours so you're doing different half an hour you're doing all you're doing PG there's all this stuff and then I come here I'm here for one day and I go back right I'm going and then tomorrow I have two shows and then right back at it again.
SPEAKER_03:But mentally I'm like yeah this is what we do this that this is something that you just do just you just you just do it but after I got the ship I'm I'm here for four days I think there's a time where I just no I'm not doing no comedy I'm not doing anything comedy wise I'll just do some admin stuff up doing a project that I'm working on or I'll watch TV but I'm not gonna go out and do shows because you got to have that time to you got to balance it out man you got to totally balance it out you know I suppose that's one of the one of the things I was gonna chat with you about is you know because it it it can be mentally taxing doing show you know doing as many shows as what you know we do. Well you're you're doing a lot more than I am these days you know like you're out there really really smashing it out so you know when when the rigors of touring and doing as many shows as what you do and get on top like what do you do these days to look after your mental health to try and stay a bit balanced?
SPEAKER_01:To be honest with you man it's the music that I listen to. It's gonna sound crazy. Yeah I listen to gospel music I listen to any song that says that mentions Jesus or God because I just feel like I grew up that's how I grew up I grew up in the church and it just it just gives me a certain balance and I feel like it's a meditation that I have and I do that all the time. Man I used to love listening to rap music but then the music nowadays is so it's I've done a study about it. You know sometimes you hear a song it makes you feel bad. Sometimes you hear a song makes you feel good. But now what they're doing with these rap songs is they're putting like like demonic seances in them and you play a song and all of a sudden you feel this really out of balance and you feel very evil you feel like when you're done with it so I just I stopped listening to to rap music. Unless it's like positive rap which is hard to find then I stop listening to it. But that's what I do man and and I and I I just I turn away from the world and I go into my Bible or I go into like a that that's that's how I find a certain balance you know I'm not the best Christian in the world but man there's a time where I have to step away from outside the world and just you know just cut everything cut everything circular away from me.
SPEAKER_03:Well it's just it's your solace clearly you know what I mean it's it's where it's where you get your grounding and you know we know from a ton of research in in the mental health space that having having a faith is a very recognized protective factor for your mental health with it you know what and whatever that faith may look like you know but having that having that sense of you're part of something that is bigger than yourself is incredibly important.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah it's it's super important. That's where I get my my superpowers from you know people are atheists and that's good and I don't have anything I don't judge that but I sometimes I just wish they stopped judging me for having the faith it's so weird. It's like why would you have why would you judge somebody for have for believing something that doesn't affect you in one way or the other that's when that's when the problems arise do you do you think that comedy has a role in in doing you know commentary on societal issues of course that that's the that's the main role once you get once you get to a certain level that that's like and you do it whether you want to or not it just depends on how deep you want to go in because it's obvious because all comedy I think it's all observational humor. When people say well what kind of comedy you do and someone goes observational I'm like that's what comedy is it's all observational that's just that's not that's not been a category that's what it is. So some people like to talk about relationships some go into politics and some go into whatever they're going through because we're we're human we're having a human experience and we're all going through something so it's it's you can you can use that it's a power you can use that to not change the world but you can use that to bring things to awareness and you could use that as a a means to get off your get off your chest and when people are laugh I feel like I find that when people are laughing at something that that I find problematic the problem is doesn't really have any more power you know that's what you do.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah it's interesting isn't it because you've you know I've always kind of thought that there's two there's there's two schools of thought in relation to getting on stage and and and telling jokes and stories that has allows the audience to forget about all of their troubles, all of their bills, all of their cost of living headaches, hustles and dramas to just forget about all of that shit going on in their life and just look at look at the world in a in through a comics comedian's eyes and lens and forget about all the rubbish. So there's there's one thing to be said for that but then there's also equally as important the comedians that get on stage and do talk about the current issues do talk about the political climate and the cost of living pressures and do it in a way that is funny and and brilliant and and allows people to laugh at the the headaches, hasses and dramas that they're going through in their life and I I really think both are equally as important yeah to be a joker and to be also you you could be a a George Carlin or carrot top oh carrot top right yes gotcha yeah you're a carrot top or you're a George Carlin.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah and uh I was talking to Peter Helly a long time ago and he was like you could be all that just be a buffet you could be like a to see it as a smoker sport. Sometimes you want to be deep sometimes you want to be on the surface I'll I do know one thing for certain on the on cruise ships you're not it's it's better for you to just be carrot top the whole way through. Yeah because they're not coming to see you they're coming to see a comedian when you're on land they're coming to see you so you have more leeway to talk to have to speak of more things that are in depth and that's what I learned about cruise ships it's it's you're a glorified clown but you're allowed to be clever about it. And you're not but you know you do you because those people are on vacation they don't want to get too deep in thought you know if you make them feel good that that's that's what they're there for they're they're already drunk they're already they're not drinking they're they're there for a good time they're not they're not there to think they don't want to think as a matter of fact they're there to not you your your job is to make them escape you're to escape but on land depending on the room you know depending on the vibe we all want to sometimes I'll see a comedian I'm like man I want that freedom I want that freedom because they're speaking so freely but in the environments that I'm in I can't have that freedom because this is an establishment where the the patrons are paying the bills.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah that's true yeah so you can't you can't you can't be selfish and like oh let them make it about me you can make it about you to an extent but you gotta have different you gotta have different different different uh arsenals different stuff in your arsenal man yeah hey so do you reckon there's do you reckon there's been a bit of a shift in the way the the comedy material has gone a little bit dark in the last few years so maybe post COVID you know and and I was thinking about this the other day is this is the material that comedians are putting out getting a little bit dark is that a reflection on what the audience wants and the comedians uh changing their material to give the audience what they want or do you think it's the comedians going dark and then the audience are just lapping it up because that's what the comedians are doing like who's influencing who or is it just a big societal mix?
SPEAKER_01:That's a good question. I I would say you would have to look at the success rate of that because you have a lot of comedians who are doing dark and it's just not working it's turning the audience off. You know how many comedians are successful at being dark currently and then if if that if that's the majority then then then there's a there's a conscious shift in what the in what the in the matrix but you have guys like Anthony Jezzlinek who's dark and I'm thinking who else is dark.
SPEAKER_03:Is is Jimmy Carly dark he's not dark he's just dark but in a way where he's he's an insult comic dark and clever and then you've got you know like Bill Burr's very aggressive aggressive uh driven you know Bill.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah you got that but at the same time you know you look at the the skill level that these guys have got and it is next level yes okay in that context and yeah I I would say it's always the industry and when I say the industry I don't mean the comedians I mean the people who run the platforms that comedians go on whether it's television or Netflix they've gotten lazy agencies like they've gotten so lazy they don't want to invest in a comic to for them to build help build an audience because of the because of social social media they'll they'll grab somebody who has a big social media presence bring them in and just feed off of their audience and that person is never in a comic yet but they're getting very big audiences so now they think that they're comedian they're thrown into this world and I've seen it work for a few comics you know uh that actually put in the work I've seen it work but a majority of them are not comedians so that is and so what they're doing is they're doing what they call that this is crowd work phenomenon that's going around that is really fucking up shows especially for younger audiences I've done some few colleges and even some places and people are laughing at crowd work more than actual jokes themselves because social a lot of that and it's interesting seeing open mic is you know they got five minutes on stage and they're doing crowd work for three minutes of it and and it's just like whatever happened to the you know honing your craft getting your five minutes smacking them around 10 building that to 10 build that to 20 nah it's not about that it's not they're just trying to get famous and here's the thing I can't really I can't judge them for that because when I first started doing comedy I was trying to get famous too I didn't care about the money but I wanted the fame so because I could so I can do more comedy I didn't have an avenue to do that. The only avenue was to be funny. However if I was a comedian in this day and age I'll have the same attitude so that's what that's what they're doing. They're like they're filming these sets and they're seeing what what's working they see like Matt Reif they see these people do crowd work they see him blowing up I'll just do crowd work and they think crowd work is the way to do it.
SPEAKER_03:And even some professional comics who are getting pressed I got friends who think crowd work is the way to go and you can't crowd work your way out of a out of a show every time you know you gotta crowd you should only do crowd work if you have your if you have your bullets lined up you know I'm saying well you've got to have a backup you've got to have an arsenal an arsenal of material to back yourself up you know yeah and just like the I see the appeal in doing the because you know mostly when I do crowd work it's when I'm mcing a show you know to like create a vibe in the room and make it you know because as you know when you come out onto stages as an act you're coming out to an audience when you're coming out to as an MC you're coming out to 300 strangers in a room it's your job to turn them into an audience and that's when crowd work is really beneficial you know and and and look I've got to tell you I you know I I enjoy seeing it I enjoy watching people do crowd work because one of the things that I see the appeal in the fact that uh people are gonna go away from that show going that was a one off tonight right I get that but and I'm gonna say something that no nobody agrees with but I feel like crowd work is a is a is a is a hard cheat.
SPEAKER_01:It's a cheat but it's hard and it's easy. Let me explain what I'm saying. Like the audience you ever do something that's like off the cuff and it's very minimal in comparison to what your joke is and the audience laughs really hard at that shit and then you go back you and you revert back to your material and the audience isn't laughing as much as they were laughing at this at the off the cuff thing you said because people love being part of the creation yeah so what they're laughing at is they're they're they're they're excited about part of the creation and to them they're like oh he didn't he didn't rehearse it this is real this is live and they're laughing even more because for that reason so crowd work doesn't even have to be that funny it just has to make sense if you're joking about your friends it's what you're joking with your friends and you're coming with stuff on the spot right we all do that you do it on stage it's it's on stairways it's amplified because now like oh the comedian is is coming up with stuff in other words my translation my translation is oh the comedian is doing exactly what he does what we do every day in our everyday lives but he's doing it on stage and I think the chance that you're taking about doing it on stage enhances you it enhances even more but if you were to strip down all this all that facade all you're doing is joking around with your friend you all you're doing is joking around you're not being clever you're just being funny you you're being your natural self and then that natural state gets mistaken and conscrew for genius in my opinion and no one agrees with me but that's fine you know I don't no one has to agree with me but I still stand by that and the good thing about having disagreement is a strong sense of individuality.
SPEAKER_03:So I have no problem people with people disagreeing with me because I'm an individual and that's my sense of individuality because I could do crowd work all day but the thing is that I'm not trying to do crowd work it just happens but you ever see comics force that shit it's the cringiest thing to watch I got close friends of mine who just sit there what do you do what do you do what do you do is translation for I'm too lazy to write a own fucking joke or I just want to you know do a joke about something like you it's like what do you do what do you do what do you do where you're from and they keep asking the more questions they ask the more nothing they have until some of them go oh I got I got nothing for that yeah we got nothing just move on man we want to see what you created not what you pretend like you're not you're not fooling me as a comedian when you do crowd work you just you're just lazy fucking lazy and I get comedians want to put out their crowd work on their Instagram because they don't diverge material I get that I get that as well but I got friends of mine who like they just they they throw off that they just you know it's just I don't know man oh look I think it's I think it's a balancing act Ash I really do you know like I think it's a good skill to I think any professional comedian you know worth their chops has got to have be skilled in it be skilled in it because it's it's part of what we do you know but I agree that I don't you know leaning on it is as a crutch is you know get out there and make them laugh give them some jokes you know like smash it out you know give get out there five or ten minutes and just you know just really rattle the I I I I I've got this term that I was talking to Mick Meredith about a couple of weeks ago about light 'em up you know I love seeing an audience lit up yeah you know fire them up and it's and it's you know you're more likely gonna light them up when you're just giving you giving them a barrage of well crafted funny shit yeah yeah right 100% that that's that that's how it is man hey listen Ash we're going to uh time's coming time's running away from me here so I want to let's finish it up with the feel good five now these are questions that you they don't have to be you know one word answers the answers can be as short or as long as you like mate but this is your feel good five so the first one is what makes you happy getting up in the morning early in the morning after after a good show that makes me really happy riser early right well not no I'm not early riser but just getting up in the morning and just knowing to have I can do anything I want choice wise yeah nice I love I love getting up when I get up it's just like ah what am I gonna do today yeah that's one of the freedoms about being a comedian isn't it that getting up in the morning knowing that you've had a cracking show the night before and you can your day is whatever you want it to be yeah but I think what is freedom that's that makes me happy freedom makes me happy cool second one is what are you grateful for mate today I'm grateful for having a career I'm grateful for being able to provide I'm grateful for having a career that that's uh it takes care of everything else I'm grateful for life a loving partner uh a home a roof over my head just just the the basics I'm I'm so grateful for that and I'm able to maintain that yeah nice yeah it's sometimes it's good to remind ourselves how good we got it isn't it yeah um third one what are you looking forward to mate what's coming up I'm looking forward to performing some more I'm I'm looking forward to a project that I'm working on that I can't speak about yet but I'm looking forward to that materializing in 2026 or 2020 may 2027 yeah cool yeah yeah nice watch the space yeah watch the space speaking of which if uh people want to follow you ash what's what's the best platform for them to follow you on is it Instagram Facebook what's your or is it your website uh yes uh you gotta you can follow me on Instagram at Ash the comic one that's A S H T H E C O M I C one and the reason that is because there's another person called Ash the comic motherfucker only has like four followers not even a comedian just took my name well mate I'll make I'll make sure that I put the correct one in the show notes for you I I got a blue chip next to my name so yeah nice one number four on the uh feel good five what's your me time mate what do you want what do you do when you want to switch off from the world I cook man I get I get in the kitchen and I just cook that's that that's my um that's my me time okay cool and I I'll I'll watch a good uh I love watching cartoons man I love watching like a king of the hill or a family guy or anything like just that takes me out of my space cook eating cooking and eating that's like that's when that that's my meditation that's like you don't don't don't bother me oh man you're a man of my own heart I'd love the idea of spending that time in the kitchen cooking and then eating it sitting there watching an episode of Family Guys just a bit oh it's I know that I know people to judge me for going how can you watch that and I'm like because it's fucking funny man I love it it's just ridiculous it's just ridiculous it's so ridiculous it's funny or going on a date I love Seth McFarlane genius yes yes okay might lead us might lead us into the answer for the last one actually which is what's made you laugh recently mate what's made me laugh recently the last show that I watched comedy shows uh was I think Bev was on every comic was Bev was it Bev Bev Killer did the final night and she's a very funny she was just just very weird she's just very weird she's so innocently funny like innocent she's just a a ball of innocence very loud so that's the last thing I that's the last thing I remember laughing at.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah cool nice one man well look thank you so much for your time Ash I know you're in between cruises and you know I I really appreciate your time I appreciate our friendship you know I think you're a fantastic comic and a and a great guy and mate I I I wish you safe travels as you as you go forward and and uh happy days my man yeah I just want to say uh big uh congratulations to you man because I know you've been working on this thing for god knows how long I think it's a powerful thing man I'm I'm fucking proud of you bro that's a that's really cool thing you've done I I watch I I watched and I'm I I mean I I wasn't every day but every time I would see you always you're always working on it you're working on you working on it so I'm looking in the background here and I see the laughter clinic I'm like man I remember when this guy was just like on the ship talking about whales coming in the in the ocean and then like and under the same breath trying to get this done as well and Look at you now, bro. You should be proud of yourself, man.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, well, I still do talk about those whales every now and then, man. I've got to tell you, because you know, the blue whale's got a 850-pound penis. I'm sorry, but I don't care who you are, that's pretty funny. You know, and and and my dying question is I just want to know who weighed it. How do I know that that is a thing? Because that's a shit job, whoever, whoever figured that out. Ashley Fees May, you're a legend, my friend. Thank you so much for your time. And yeah, safe travels, brother.
SPEAKER_00:Cheers, man. Cheers, man. Thank you for listening. The information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended, nor should it ever replace advice received from a physician or mental health professional. Want more info? Visit thelaughterclinic.com.au. If you enjoyed the episode, please share and subscribe. Thanks again for listening to the Laughter Clinic Podcast with your host, Mark McConville!