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 and actor Bev Killick. Comedy, acting, hard yards, and reducing stigma around schizoaffective disorder.
Out of the studio and on the road, in this episode I'm chatting with seasoned stand-up comedian Bev Killick. Hear how making people laugh can change your life. Bev shares raw stories of rowdy comedy venues, performing for the troops, and caring for a family member with schizoaffective disorder. Bev also offers great insights in regard to practical advice for carers.
We share lived, practical guidance for supporting someone through psychosis and reduce stigma with clear, useful steps anyone can apply.
• Evidence-backed benefits of laughter and smiling as mood shifters
• Bev’s route into stand-up and the Sydney Comedy Store breakthrough
• Touring lessons, rowdy rooms and building stage craft
• Supporting troops on deployment
• Audience impact stories, including suicide prevention moments
• Stigma versus reality of psychosis and hospital care
• Practical steps for carers during crisis and recovery
• Safer comedy rooms, inclusion and higher industry standards
• Starter advice for new comics and building five solid minutes
• Acting and voiceover wins, momentum after years of groundwork
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Want more info, Visit thelaughterclinic.com.au
For more info on what Bev is up to visit:
https://www.facebook.com/BevKillickOfficial
https://www.facebook.com/AlistComedy
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 McConville. 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_04:Bev Killing, welcome to the Laughter Clinic Podcast, and thank you very much for inviting me into your beautiful home in lovely St Kilda in Melbourne.
SPEAKER_07:How expensive. Well, this is the only room that hasn't done have junk piles.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, because you've a bit of a hoarder. There's nothing wrong with that. I love a bit of hoarding myself. At least it's interesting stuff. Yeah, absolutely. And you make a bit of money out of it on the side, why not? It's all good. So um everyone, everyone that I have on the Laughter Clinic podcast, I ask it the same question to kick off. So it's centred around the saying laughter is the best medicine, which is a saying that's been around for over 3,000 years. Really? Biblical times. Right. And now we have modern day research that proves the physical benefits of laughter and the psychological benefits of using your sense of humour as a coping mechanism.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, absolutely. So when what are the chemicals again?
SPEAKER_04:Dopamine and serotonin. Yeah. Yeah. So when you hear the term laughter is the best medicine, what does that conjure up for you?
SPEAKER_07:That is exactly right. That's absolutely correct. You feel better afterwards. I mean, the to have a belly laugh or to have a laugh, to even the act of smiling makes you feel good. I re read about that many years ago. That if you'd want to cheer yourself up, you just actually force a smile on your face. And just that using those muscles and doing that actually makes you feel better. I mean, look how smiley you are, Mark.
SPEAKER_04:I'm I'm happy to be here. I'm absolutely seeing you. I haven't seen you. I think the last time we worked together was on a cruise, I reckon it would have been. Yeah, that would have been a while ago.
SPEAKER_07:But you're just such a familiar face to me.
SPEAKER_04:We've hung out a lot. Yeah, and the other thing is making people laugh. How much that it gives us. The best. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And I've just been doing it all my life in a natural way. Just being a clown, being silly, doing impersonations, being the class clown, the family clown. Right. I was always like, Beverly, do your little thingy. Do this, do that.
SPEAKER_04:So on on that, I'm just curious. How so how long have you actually do you know how long you've actually been doing stand-up for now? About 29 years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But I'll just say 25 because I don't want if if people don't think I'm much chop, I don't want them to go, oh. 29 years? She should have been better.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. So was this was being a comic something that was, you know, always something that you thought that's what I want to do?
SPEAKER_07:No.
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_07:Interestingly, no, I wanted to be an actor.
SPEAKER_04:You and me both. Yeah. That's how I started out.
SPEAKER_07:And so, you know, I all I wanted to do was go to performing art school, performing arts college, which I did.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But I I studied clown and I studied buffon and I studied circus skills, things like that, but I didn't it it was never stand-up. It was like I was I think I was the last to realise. And then my friends went, duh, you know. So I think I was probably 30, 31, 32 when I started stand up. Okay. For my very first gig. Yeah. So you can now figure out my age.
SPEAKER_04:It's fast and it's great. I think it's I think it's great coming to stand up at that age. Like I was 28 when I started. Yeah. Because you're bringing some life experience to you're bringing a voice to the stage.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, you've got you've got you've got things up your sleeve, you've you've done a bit of, you know, life work, you travelled, yeah. You know, you you don't want to party every night.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Although I did. Yeah. But do you know what I mean? I wasn't in that though those twenties where I was just, you know, really real party animal in my twenties. Like crazy.
SPEAKER_04:Well, yeah, and when you when you start out in, I know comedy, when I started out, and comedy was a similar sort of thing, is you're submerging yourself in the industry and going out every night and going and you're kind of you you're just a sponge for everything artistic and creative and performing, and and part of that is going out and after gigs and all that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, it is. Socialising is a massive part of it, and just going to watch is really important. Yeah. And just get in on the that community and that scene. And when I first started, it was really there. The community was really solid.
SPEAKER_04:So did you start did you start in Melbourne? Because I know you came from Townsville.
SPEAKER_07:I yeah, I I came from Townsville. I left Townsel in my twenties, and I worked in a theatre restaurant there, and I worked in a few other theatres as a dancer and no stand-up up there though. No, no, no. But I did some really sort of crazy sort of avant-garde stuff. So I basically did everything I could in Townsel. And then just sort of repli started replicating it here, you know, in with more scope and more ways to study more uh ways to perform. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So as we go through our careers, we there's turning points, you know, significant events. I reckon that happened, that yeah. So can you recall like a turning point for you early on in your comedy career? Yeah. That kind of reaffirmed this is the right decision to make, I'm doing.
SPEAKER_07:I always wanted to, I always wanted to play the comedy store. It was really big to me. Um so I hadn't really had that as a goal. And so I used to visit the comedy store here in Sydney.
SPEAKER_04:In Sydney, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_07:So I used to bus it up there in Greyhound Bus and lob on couches. I was, you know, I was a single mum, I was broke. One of my best childhood friends would look after Abel for me, and I'd go up to Sydney for a week.
SPEAKER_04:Was there was there not a comedy like didn't you have the like the staring garden?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, there was a comedy club and the staring garden and all that here. Down in Melbourne. But I just wanted to break in to the Sydney scene for some reason. Right. It was really important to me. Okay. Because it it to be honest, it was a little bit bitchy in Melbourne when I first started. There was just a little bit of a you know, you know, that click nudging you out. There was a real there was a click. Yeah. Brisbane and Sydney didn't have it so much. Yeah. Melbourne, I don't think, has it now, but I've I've either risen above and or I don't notice it, or I've I it doesn't affect me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But so I really wanted to go to Sydney. So I used to bus up there, stay on friends' couches, and then I put my name down at the comedy store. And I can remember the first time I walked in there, it was just like some kind of miracle had happened for me that I'd got there. Because it wasn't, it was on TV at one point, the comedy store. Yeah. Can't remember. Yeah, I think it was on was that the late 80s? Yeah, the late 80s. Yeah, and that's sort of what I knew of stand-up, really. Yeah. And theatre sports was also on tally. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So I've lobbed up there, I've put my name down for a five-minute spot. I've got up on this, it's not a very big stage comedy tool back then, Clarendon's track, the Clarendon Hotel.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, okay. I never knew it there. I've only ever known it's a good one.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, this was on um Paramount Road. Okay. It was like the most incredible place. And so if you did over time, there was Lenny Bruce's massive picture at the back of the room. And if you went over time, his eyes would light up.
SPEAKER_04:No way.
SPEAKER_07:Like this. And if you if you really went over time and go, me, me, me, me, me, me, on this, right? But anyway, Jane Sweetapple, who used to live upstairs, she was the curator, she was she was the booker, she ran the place, right? And she was tough as nails, and you didn't get a Guernsey unless she gave it to you.
SPEAKER_04:Signed off on it.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. And anyway, after that five-minute spot, and I didn't go over because I'd learned from Dave Grant, of course. She came down from her little position up there in the bio box, came backstage, and she said, I want you to come back in a month. And I want you to have more material, and I want you to MC. I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_07:I I think I had 10 minutes. That's all I had. And so I went, okay. Went back to Melbourne, worked it up, worked. I think I worked it up to a half an hour. I mean, it wasn't all gold, but I worked it up. And then she said, then you can stay upstairs. There was another room up there. And I didn't even fly, I still busted. And then I can remember getting there, and there's my name up on the but the there's this massive wall, and there's my name up in chalk. Up in chalk. But we do we do get our names up.
SPEAKER_04:You know, certain comics you get to a point where they get it up in lights, but we've had it up in chalk many and many times. Yeah, the couple of times. That's when you start, you've got to get it up in big lights.
SPEAKER_07:It was always up in chalk, but it was really big, you know, so the traffic could see it. And there I am, MC, bad killick. Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, which is the big nights. I was like, mind-blown.
SPEAKER_04:That's a paid gig.
SPEAKER_07:A paid gig.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_07:And I got to come, and I became mates with Janie after that. She used to have me up there headlining, doing all sorts of things. So I headlined for the first time in Sydney before Melbourne.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_07:So I was a headliner in Sydney. Okay. Still doing 10, 15 minute spots in Melbourne. Really? And headline doing 45, 35, 45. But the comedy store for headline was only 25 minutes.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_07:And Sydney was a bit different. And then some some places in Melbourne were 30, some were 25. You know, headlining is totally different now. We have to have 45 minutes usually.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But yeah, so comedy store. And then I came back to Melbourne and everyone was just like, how did you do that? How did you do that? It's like, hey, hard yards. You've got to be you've got to want it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:That's what it takes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:It's not all, it's not, it's not all um rosy.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, the the the young comics these days are probably doing the same thing when they trip around doing festivals. They're just staying on people's couches for a month.
SPEAKER_07:That's it. And if you want it bad enough, that's what you'll do.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, because it's um, you know, you're not gonna make any money if you're trying to pay for a company and all that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_07:We got paid beer. And you would 20 bucks if you're lucky. Yeah, right. For a spot, you know, or fifty. Yeah. I mean So this would have been the nineties? Yeah, it was like ninety ninety-eight, I reckon. Okay. Yeah. I hadn't met Tony yet. Tony being my husband, the lighting guy at the Espie. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:The Espy. See, now there's a gig that I wish I had a got to do because it had it had wound up by the time I started and started coming to Melbourne, yeah. And, you know, the famous Esplanade Hotel, for those of you who don't know, in Melbourne down here.
SPEAKER_07:Unbelievable. A lot of very well-known now celebrity comedians and actors and otherwise got their cut their teeth there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And it was also it was curated, curated as well by by Trevor Hoore. And it was so incredibly popular. And I was, you know, a really big part of it. That's where I met my now husband. Yeah, because I used to go down there to watch music, never thinking I was going to be a comedian there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So it was in the Gershon room and it was packed. And it got to the point where they had to have two sessions on a Sunday. So it was new comics on a Sunday, and then on the Tuesday was pro. So when you got to the Tuesday night level, it was like, yes. And you'd be begging for a Tuesday night spot. And Trevor would go, no, not yet.
SPEAKER_04:I'm not gonna put you up until you're ready. Isn't that amazing how we had a similar thing happen in Brisbane? Yeah. With the fact that there was only two places to do Dockside and Comedy Central. Yeah. You know? I remember Comedy Central. And it's like you had to, you had to really be good and have your shit together at Comedy Central. And how many great comedians have come out of that? Oh yeah, the lot came through at the same time, my dear. Yeah. But now there's just like if you're starting stand-up in this now, you know, well, we'll talk about starting out in the industry later on, but if it's totally different starting now to starting, I would say so.
SPEAKER_07:I don't know what's happening now. But the comedy Republic in the in the CBD is amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_07:It's purpose-built. Okay. Reese Nicholson and his husband, they put it together, built it. I think they spent their wedding money. And then yeah. It is amazing. Yeah, right. And it's got the proper green room, and it's got it's got the the bar area downstairs for, you know, sort of different and that kind of style, you know, yeah, stand-up. And then it's got a per a theatre, a theatre.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_07:And I did a show there recently, and it was glorious.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:The feeling. It was like being on the comedy store stage at Mall Park, you know, that that setup.
SPEAKER_04:Wow. I'll have to put that on my list of gigs to do next time I'm down here. Oh my god, it's so good. Yeah, cool.
SPEAKER_07:And you can, yeah, I mean you can go on a line-up show there, or I did my hour hour-long solo.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Because I wanted to get some stuff out ready for next year for comedy festival and just see if it works or not, this concept that I've got. And it and it was it worked.
SPEAKER_04:A lot of those work in progress type of shit. Yeah, so at the moment.
SPEAKER_07:Well, yeah, but I'm I mean, I I charge people, it wasn't but it was basically all my behind-the-scenes stories and crazy stuff that's happened in my life from DOT from as in my career.
SPEAKER_04:Talking about crazy stuff. Have you got a story? Right. Talking about crazy stuff, there was that long period where you were the main support act for the show Puppetry of the Penis, which took you around the world. No, around Australia. Around on Busting Out. Busting out took Busting Out took you around. Right. But Busting Out was after puppetry, wasn't it? Or was it around the same time?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. Uh it was after puppetry had been world famous. And puppetry, um, sorry, Busting Out started out as de puppetry. So it was a it was a and they got the go-ahead, they they got the okay from the puppetry guys to do it. And it ended up one of the producers of Puppetry ended up producing Busting Out. Okay. Yeah, he left Puppetry and canton produced us.
SPEAKER_04:So what was that like doing this show, like doing these, being involved in these shows? There's so much nudity. Oh, I love nudity. Nudity in here. The the first time you're on stage, do it like did it But I wasn't nude.
SPEAKER_07:No, but and and I didn't have to see them nude.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:I could keep away from them. Right. But it doesn't worry me. And that's the beautiful thing about this show, and busting out, is like the body is beautiful, and you know, the poor old penis has had a bad rap. You know? There's a bit of fear factor there. Really? So it just it um it's just fun. You know, these grown men playing with their dicks. It's hilarious.
SPEAKER_04:To screaming fans.
SPEAKER_07:To screaming fans, and it's what were those audiences like?
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_07:That's talking about you know, that's really, you know, I probably should have mentioned that. But that's when I really started to hone my craft. Right, because they were rowdy, they were gorgeous, amazing women that really needed a fun night out. Right. And I was their woman. Okay so basically the producers came to see me, or the director came to see me at the comedy club. He what he rang me and wanted to see me, and I and I said, Yeah, I've got a gig at the comedy club. And then I rang the comedy club and went, put me on tonight.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, really.
SPEAKER_07:I wasn't on, and I so I did 15 minutes, didn't get paid, you know, just so they could see me. And yeah, and I've been pretty much on and off 20 years doing the support for them. Wow. And but you know, just the travel, it was incredible. It was grueling. And I only did the o one of the only reasons why I did do it and all that travelling is because Tony was on the scene and he was very happy to play, you know, the step-parent role, and Abel just adored him.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_07:So there's no way I would have been able to do it. Yeah, right. Otherwise, yeah, yeah. But it just really ticked over. Yeah. I was always on the road.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And is this what led to the the milestone of you being asked to be the first female comic to actually be employed by forces and to go and entertain our troops overstairs?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, possibly. I just really started to become known and popular on stage. So, and that's where it's at for me. Stand-up, live stand-up is where it's at, and everything else can just come at its own, you know, pace. But I think that's the nucleus. Yeah. If you're really good at owning the stage, delivering properly, you know, and you've done that enough, people are gonna notice you. So the comedy club started noticing me. All these clubs around Melbourne and Australia started noticing. And so I was just getting gigs all the time and private gigs and whatever. So yeah, I got a call from Forces Entertainment to go and and it it was months of training and seminars, and you know, not anyone could go. You had to be, you had to sit for all these tests, you had to be physically capable. Tests? What's that? Yeah, you had to be mentally tests are they gonna put a comedian through? Well, you had to be mentally, you know, stable. Because you're in a war, you're in an air, you know, you're surrounded by guns and and you're on a you're in a compound. Yeah, you know, and there's likely to be something go down.
SPEAKER_04:So where did you go? Where did you go?
SPEAKER_07:Went to the Guadalcanal and and um Honiara. Okay. And I went with the Screaming Jets. Hello! Hello on a private And you're the only we're the only comedian with the Screaming Jets. I was the only comedian. One I know. Wow. And I was the first female comedian to perform for Forces Entertainment in Australia. That's cool. Yeah, it was so cool.
SPEAKER_04:So were you in course? Were you freaking out leading up to it? Like we were.
SPEAKER_07:Like, what am I gonna do? Because some of it had to be be completely PG. Right. How come you because I was in, we were in there were gonna be there was possibly children around. Okay. So we were performing in outposts. Not all of it was PG, but they're very uh Christian, you know. So I had you had to mind my P's and Q's. Yeah. And and then we performed in one of the prisons where some of these crazy political arrests we we performed for the for the guard prison guards. Wow. Performed in a in a hangar in a in the middle of nowhere, performed in a jungle. Wow. Like helicoptered into a jungle.
SPEAKER_04:You and the screen jets. You and the screaming jets.
SPEAKER_07:Me and the screaming jets. And Dave was so freaking scared. I was holding him in this, you know, there's no doors in the in the helicopter. It's like a black hawk, you know. And I'm holding him, and he's holding me. This is what I'm gonna do, and so we dropped into the jungle. Wow. Unbelievable. And so I can sing, so I started singing with the boys as well. Okay. Because I could only do so much comedy, but I just did all my impersonations and silly things. Yeah. But we sang to the New Zealand troops, better be home soon. Oh, right, beautiful. And these guys were just like, and then they did the Haka for us. Wow, that's cool. And so there was just so much beautiful camaraderie, and oh, it's so it was one of the happiest times of my life. Yeah. And I still I I wrote to some of those guys for years. Well, they come and see me.
SPEAKER_04:Mick Meredith, when I was chatting to Mick, I had Mick on the podcast a month or so ago, and he was saying that he still chats to a few of the guys that he met when he did it, and he actually rates doing that as probably the highlight of his entire career.
SPEAKER_07:When we do the QA on the cruises, that's my that's my highlight.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Because what a these guys, what absolute privilege, these guys had trekked for 30 days through the jungle, mosquito, living out of, you know, get out of 10 food and dehydrated food. And we've met them, right? And I just I went to the mess hall and said, Can I take some Cokes and some sandwiches, right? So I've got big plates, and met these guys, and they just saw these sandwiches and cokes and were just like, oh now they're crying, right? And there were so many mosquitoes, and it was so awful. We ended up finding this hut to sit in. And we just sat there, they didn't care about the jokes, they just sort of came naturally. We just told stories from home. Wow. It was so wonderful. Yeah, that's great. And it was oh and to say thank you, they took us, some of these guys, they knew that a couple of little tiny islands that we could get to from this place. So they took us to this island group that this old fella had bought for tobacco, and he was there on this island, and it was this resort that was abandoned. So we swam at this r abandoned resort. Wow. It was crazy.
SPEAKER_04:So did you ever have a time over there where you were like, oh, this is a bit sus, a bit a bit wary?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, there was a couple of times where the um the guys had to go, some of the guys that were looking after us had to go before us. And we're like, why, what's going on? And I I I mean making sure it's safe. Sorry, making sure it's safe. Yeah. Because there could be some machete wielding, you know, banshee coming at us. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, oh my lord. And there was there was there was guys because at Guadalcanal it was fairly casual, you know. Yeah, but they had to wear, they had to have their Tommy guns with them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But they were wearing Hawaiian shirts. It was like something out of mash. It was crazy. But we were in those army trucks, you know, when you're facing each other. Yeah. And there was th and there was there was a truck in front of us with security, securing, you know, and a truck behind us.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And they were, you know, radioing each other. The whole bit, it was clear, clear, clear, clear, just to get us into these places. And all these bombed-out buildings.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_07:It was just, yeah, nuts. But I I felt very safe. Yeah. I didn't want to do. I was invited to go to Afghanistan, but my daughter was only two and a half, three, and I just didn't want to go. Yeah. I just, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Well, it's a totally different ball game over there, isn't it? Yeah, and I just wasn't sure. Yeah. Wasn't sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you talk to, you know, any guys that have have done the Afghanistan and Iraq trips and they go, it's pretty full on.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. Whereas, you know, I also think.
SPEAKER_04:Especially pep two, you know, like I couldn't want to leave her in.
SPEAKER_07:You can't, I couldn't do it. No. But you know, little bubba bubbers need the mamas.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:They sort of need their mamas when really early on, and then around about this age, she's 20 now, so yeah. From 10, you know, 13 to now. Yeah it's mummer time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So I don't I don't tour so much these days. Yeah. Because of that.
SPEAKER_04:My next my next thing that I'd like to chat with you about. Yeah. You're talking about touring and that sort of stuff. As we uh get into this wonderful feast that you've got here for us today. Thank you so much. Yeah, who doesn't love that? Cream cheese. It's a good time in anyone's book. Cream cheese avocado and a hash brown. So many so many times over the years, I know myself and other comics have had instances where you've been touring, or you know, might even be in an inner city comedy club. Yeah. And then, you know, because we're pretty approachable comedians after gigs, you know, people come up to us and what have you. And every now and then you'll get someone that'll come up and they will just really, you know, share with you as how important that night has been to you. Yeah. You know, how much they can do.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, I can I can recall one. Um my my son is uh mental health illness has mental health illnesses, a combination of a few things. It's called schizoaffective disorder. So it's bipolar, anxiety, depression. It's got ADHD in there as well, and schizoaffective.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_07:So it's like schizophrenia, but not quite. Which isn't dangerous. I must point out.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You know, there's the words.
SPEAKER_04:The stigma, the stigma test.
SPEAKER_07:Stigma is it's very dangerous, the myths.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So yes, he had I I had gone into different areas where he'd been in hippie compounds and whatever, where he'd gone off meds, and I've done some had some crazy stories where I've had to go and get him and then bring him back home, and then get him, you know, back on medication and in into psych.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So there's been some really, really interesting stories that are actually quite funny when in in hindsight. Yeah. So I just went, you know, the best thing I could do for myself to get this anxiety out of my body and rid myself of it all and and and process it. I did a comedy show. I did a one-hour stand-up show. And and then, you know, I did a few interviews about the show, what I was going to do in this show, and this young man who had was like So this was a this was a one-hour like festival.
SPEAKER_04:One hour comedy festival, more specifically about, you know.
SPEAKER_07:My journey with him. Yeah, right. And it was called Thirty Thirty-two Degrees and Sunny. Okay. Which is basically what he figured was a really good day. Yeah. And one time I went into the facility and he'd written it everywhere around the facility. Yeah. At the nurse's station, in chalk, on the on paper outside. It was 32 degrees and sunny, 32 degrees and sunny, and I just thought it was such a fabulous thing to think. Yeah. That 32 degrees and sunny was his optimum, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And and then when it was 32 degrees and sunny, he was just like, woo-hoo! This is the ultimate, this is the day. It's 32 degrees and sunny. Yeah. Anyway, so that was the name of the show. And this young man who had been a mental health sufferer over the years, he was quite young, probably about round about the same age as Abel at the time. And he had come out the other side and was not in psych at that time. And he bought his mum to your show. He didn't come, but he got tickets to him for his mum and her best friend to come and see my show because he thought that it would be really relatable for her. And then afterwards, she stood there and she cried and she told me what he'd done, and I was just gobsmacked, you know. And I just said, Well, let's keep in touch. And which we did.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And anyway, I think he went back into psych at one stage, and so she was asking me for my opinion on what to do and here and there and whatever. And then he got he was out outside the unit for a spell, and he surprised her for her birthday. This is years later. Surprised her for her 40th birthday. Right. It was me. Like, oh really? So I came out and performed just my regular stand-up for her. Yeah. And I think Tony came as well, and we set up mics and lights and the whole bit. Yeah. And he paid for it. And I said, look, I'm happy to do it. And he said, no, no, no. I want to pay you. So that was just incredible. And we stayed in touch for a long time. Yeah. But I've stayed in touch with a few people that have either been uh comedians with kids that have suffered, or they suffer themselves, whatever. And I'm I'm really happy to lend what I know and what info info I have that's really helped me. And even nurses and psych and actual counsellors, they they pick my brain sometimes on how I've done it all, what I do, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Well, that's we're so vulnerable on stage doing sta and then what that what they're going through in their own personal life. Yeah. You know, like coming up to you after a gig and going, yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_07:That's why comedy and stand-up can be it's so powerful because you can put your life on hold for a bit, you know, and just laugh. And or there's a show that's specifically for you where you can laugh at it. And that's what busting out was about. Because women, we just have so many issues with body image and our boob size, and you know that busting out was just so great about reclaiming our breasts for ourselves. Right. And we had so many women who had had uh breast reduction, breast removal. Yeah, and we we we raised$250,000 for like breast cancer, yeah. For for not only research but also for women that needed what's it called, not be replacement. What am I after they'd had a removal? A reconstruction. Reconstruction at the same time because instead of going through two bouts of surgery, yeah, it was all done at once.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_07:So we would help pay for that because there there wasn't a government. Yeah, okay. So 250,000. That's crazy. And we put on shows for this was all through busting out. All through busting out. And we put on we we give away like a hundred tickets at a time in a big theatre for pink ladies, and they were ladies that would volunteer at for for women going through breast cancer or you know, breast-related illnesses. And it was just such a joy. There was busloads of women coming, you know?
SPEAKER_04:Do I reckon the easiest way to get out of a depression is to do something nice for someone?
SPEAKER_07:Absolutely. I'm a big believer in that. And you don't give to receive, you just give.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And then, you know, I think the way that the universe works and manifestation works and all that works is that you you you get it back tenfold, you know? But you don't do it for that reason.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You know, I just believe that uh you give a little, you get a little. And a very wise Aboriginal elder said that to me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Give a little, get a little.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So if you give a lot, you get a lot.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:It's just makes sense.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And we need to, like now, and we're in a period of time where we've got to give, you know, those You gotta. And that connection, like giving to someone else, you know, because you never know. One of the things I say to comics, young comics, especially, you never know who's in your audience. You don't. And what they're going through.
SPEAKER_07:And that and and that's so evident with, you know, with that woman in particular. But I've had so many people come up and say, Bev, oh like this is pretty hard going. But they actually wrote to me and they said they were considering opting out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And they enjoyed the show so much that they changed their mind.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. You're not the first person to say that. Really? Yeah, no. Or you know, like Stab Davidson, Kat Davidson's husband, you know, had him on a couple of weeks ago and he was saying that he's had because, you know, he's breakfast radio and he's had he just celebrated 20 years on the radio. Wow. And he's had a couple of instances over the years where over the years where people have met him in person and said, you know, they were actually planning on taking taking their own life and and they listened to him in the morning and made him laugh. And you know, Craig Coombs, who I'm seeing tomorrow, is a similar sort of thing, and and you you know, you never you never know the impact. And that's why I'm always I'm tattooed on his arm. Me too. How about that? You're there, I've got a big kiss. I'm up here somewhere, you know.
SPEAKER_07:He made he I kissed a um a napkin and then did my signature. And he's even got the right pink. Really? In the tattoo, yeah. I really, really try hard to be a good person. You know. You never know what they're going through. You never know. I had an instant yesterday just walking up the street, and there was this guy, and I think he might have been on something. He he was yelling at this young guy who was, you know, had a button-up shirt on, you know, who was just crossing the street, mate, minding his own business. This guy's walked past him and goes, What are you looking at, mate? And he was screaming at him, right? Anyway, I'm not I don't frighten easily, and I'm just I don't know, I I I think I'm six foot when I'm five. Anyway, I just stood in between him and the other guy, and I just stared him down and went like that to him, like on your bike, and he just turned and went, and he left. Went like that to him, turned around, and this guy, this young dude's just standing there going, What just happened? And I just went, Are you okay? Are you okay? And he goes, I don't know what all that was about. I said, Well, it wasn't nothing to do with you, yeah, and a lot to do with him. He's got anger issues, but we don't need to worry about him.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Are you okay?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And he said, Yeah, I will be. Glad I wasn't just over there because he smashed the bus stop. And I went, Well, just you know, try and try and get rid of it, the energy, and then just go about your day, go and sit and relax somewhere, breathe, and and and have a fantastic rest of your day, the sun, the sun's out.
SPEAKER_02:And he was just like, Oh yeah, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_07:Because you know what I found is that young men feel like they have to be brave all the time. It's like that wouldn't that was frightening. That was a frightening situation, yeah. You know, but no, that's a shock. It's like we don't have to be brave all the time. Comedy is the perfect vehicle to diffuse negative energy. And I mean, I've used that with especially with in my in my son's case, with his you know, mental health illnesses, and sometimes he would be, you know, really did think he was from Scotland and you know, some royalty and whatever. And and uh and I say, Yes, my liege, yes, my liege, you know, and just so funny. And we just car play act it out and just have fun with it, you know.
SPEAKER_04:How have you how have you been able to maintain your own mental health while you've been looked after?
SPEAKER_07:There was a few times where I didn't.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:There was a few times where I absolutely Because that's hard. Supporting a family member is I mean, luckily I have support around me.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But it just it dragged on for probably 15 years and it having 15 more years than I thought it would.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_07:Because when someone presents when they're 17 or roundabout, you know, that's a very tender age.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So they're they're not even they they haven't got their adult brain on yet. So it's very hard to reason with them anyway, at that age. So, you know, to get them to stay on medication is almost impossible. Yeah. And it's just a revolving door all the time. They're in, they're out, they're in, they're out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But we've just got there in the end. And I mean, you know, I I would have things happen where I'd be on tour and I'd have to come off tour.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But luckily, with Aliist Entertainment, who I've been with for a number of years, long time, they are so supportive.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Incredibly supportive. And I mean, they they send Abel all all the DVDs and all the you know, because laughter is the best medicine, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And Abel loves comedy. Yeah. So they would send him all this stuff. And also during the comedy festival, he would work for a few comedians and whatever, and go and see their shows, and you know, and he came to Edinburgh with us. Yeah. You know, just comedy's a massive part of his healing process. But yeah, there was a few times I crumbled, yeah, and I can remember one time walking up a street and my knee my knees buckled and it just came from nowhere. And I just dropped, you know. And I think I was just holding on so tight for so long for hope and whatever. And then I just went. Anyway, Hannah Gatsby and I were really good mates at that stage, and we'd become friends during Edinburgh because we, you know, that she'd been a sufferer of depression and whatever. Ava was over there and we just all joined forces, you know. All of us guys that were a bit nuts. And looked after each other. Anyway, she I think she called me or something, and she realised that I was not in a very good state. And I I had a gig that night. Anyway, she put a little committee together. Hannah Gadsby. Did you say committee? Committee? Yeah. For me. Okay, great. There's always a committee for me. Support committee. Support committee. I love this.
SPEAKER_04:I love this.
SPEAKER_07:Someone came over and did some housework. Because Tony, Tony and Pepper were were away somewhere. Pepper was at a camp. Tony was on tour. I don't know. So I was on my own. Someone came and cleaned. Someone came and brought some food over. Someone just uh I think Hannah just came and just hung out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But she put it in. Shared space. Shared space. Because sometimes that's all you need. Yeah, you can't talk. I was just like, I'd I'd reached a level.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And she rang the comedy club or wherever I was supposed to start and be playing and said she's not. She she did all the work for me. I didn't have to do it. And I would never not do it. I would I would like crawl on a stage, you know. So yeah, so I had a mental break, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And then I went on to I've been on uh Lexoprobe for years now. Yeah. Just takes the edge off it for me because I never want to get like that again. Sure. It was really scary. So I'm glad that there are medicate medications available to help with it.
SPEAKER_04:I just want to unpack a little bit more about the I'm fascinated by the fact that fellow comics, you included, have, and I know it's happened to me over the years, where we walk on stage at a moment in our life where everything seems to be falling apart. Yeah. Like there was a time in my life where my stepfather was in hospital dying of brain. Oh, nine brain nine brain tumours. Oh. And I'd drive from there across town, be backstage at the comedy club in tears, going, How can I do this? And and you know, my other comics would just go, just worry about the first couple of minutes, just worry about it. Doctor microphone. And you walk out there, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_07:Absolutely. And somehow or other you just gotta put it on hold. And it's the whole it's a whole of the it's cathartic. It is cathartic. Absolutely cathartic. And I mean you don't you you it's a it's and it's also selfless because it's not about you. Yeah. It's about them. Yeah. And I tell you, it that's that's healing. Yeah, absolutely. It's so healing. It's like that, it's like when you're in a room, it's such such a magical experience for those that haven't been up on stage themselves. Even if you've just told it joke. There's an energy, there's an energy between you that starts to happen. And once you lose, you know, those big nerves that you you'd get when you first start, you can just start to relax and relate. And just things come to you, and you can improvise and relate, and people can talk to you and whatever. And it can just be the best time. And that's what I think I used to get at standing ovations, you know, because I just go into this weird this zone where I just create on my feet, yeah, you know, just from feeling them. Yeah, but it's the most incredible thing, yeah. And yeah, people just say, you know, that was just one of the best nights of my life. You know, and and you've forgotten about it, and you're on stage again the next night going, here I am again, you know. Yeah, yeah. And you've done something to them, and they will, they will never forget it long after you have.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But so you are making moments.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And we're we're changing the world. Fuck it.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, look, I totally, you know, you picture the converter there. So I've got this thing, I've I've been thinking a lot lately about how much people value the art of stand-up.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, yeah. You know, absolutely, and I think it's changing. I think it's changing. But yeah, I know those those gigs where they don't want to turn the tally off, they don't want to do this, they don't want to do that, no one's sitting, people are talking, they're heckling, all that. They're few and far between now because we can just go, no, we're not doing it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Unless you can get it right, logistically, we're not doing it.
SPEAKER_04:And most people that we say that though there's a lot of there are a lot of rooms out there, as you know, that they just, you know, these little rooms popping up around the place. You go, really, you're gonna try and do stand-up here?
SPEAKER_07:No. It's like don't get into don't get into running a room just for the sake of it. You've got to know what you're doing. So don't even bother. If there's if the venue cannot respect you and your craft, your art, then don't bother. There's plenty of places that will. There's plenty of people that will back it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You know?
SPEAKER_04:How do you reckon it's how do you reckon it's it's because it's changed a lot in the time that we've been doing it, stand up, you know?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. How do you how do you see it's well, since social media came about, you can't get away with anything. I mean, the way that we were treated as women was unreal. I mean, I'm gutsy, but I still, you know, would cry at just the way that these some of these boys would make me feel.
SPEAKER_04:Or that you were- Are you talking about fellow comics or audience members?
SPEAKER_07:Fellow comics and which I have nothing to do with anymore. And I you I totally remember who was good to me and just wouldn't have it, you know. But there was sometimes I are you ready for a female comedian? That was your intro. I mean, what? You were a second-class comedian. You didn't get paid as much. Really? No. At the time. There was a there was a female rate.
SPEAKER_04:No. I didn't see I didn't know any of this.
SPEAKER_07:There wasn't even any if they didn't have any females on the bill, whatever. I didn't feel like they had to. Yeah, really. There was no have to. And because there was that whole turning point. What turn what there was this whole women aren't funny bullshit.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_07:And that went on for years. So can you imagine I'm entering the the industry when that is still going on? Yeah, wow. And now, however many years later, maybe 25, maybe 30, I'll do do gig. I did a gig recently on a ship, on a cruise, and there was all these young men sitting in the front row, and they were like this, loving it.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Because they didn't get the memo. Because they weren't born yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know what I mean? They haven't, they haven't, there was never, there's never been that in their lives.
SPEAKER_04:As far as the as far as the current generation, there's always been female comics.
SPEAKER_07:There always has been, you know. So they're they're like, oh no, didn't get that memo. What? What do you mean? That's ridiculous. Yeah because this new generation of young people are so woke and so switched on. And I think woke is a good thing, by the way. They're so switched on. There's no, you know, misgendering or, you know, any of that anymore. You know, you don't say, you don't expect that someone's a he, it's like what their pronouns are. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It's it's brilliant. I love it.
SPEAKER_04:It can, yeah. I don't know, I'm not a hundred percent. You're not a hundred percent. I'm not a hundred percent. It can get a little bit too well because to me, I look at it in a way that it encourages division. And as a society, we want to be that the thing that it's trying to I think it discovers I think it it's inclusivity. No, no, but this but no, but this is what I'm saying is the thing that it's trying to achieve, which is inclusivity, which I'm all for, unfortunately, in certain instances, it creates division.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, but that's only with the bogan numbskulls that don't want to think for themselves.
SPEAKER_04:There's always going to be that.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, yeah. But that'll go as well. I mean, the amount of guys over time it will. Yeah, yeah. It's just like getting a transition.
SPEAKER_04:Get over it, build a bridge. We're in a transition. It's here to stay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So, yeah, back off. And I mean, you you see that on social media. You know, I don't even bother saying anything anymore. But if someone says something that I find is a bit of a a trope about mental health, I just write I don't write back a big spiel anymore. I just do a hashtag mental health is no joke, yeah, or stomp out stigma. So I've worked for a few different people here and there about on on this, you know, ways to stomp out stigma and just, you know, I've had lots of interviews and that's the big thing, is it's stigma, you know.
SPEAKER_04:We've come a long way in the field of mental health and suicide prevention, but there's we've still got a long way to go.
SPEAKER_07:We totally do. We just gotta look after each other, you know, you just look after each other's emotions.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You do not know where someone is at.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And the thing with mental health is as well, is everyone that suffers from mental health isn't necessarily unstable. Like mental instability and anger-related mental instability is not necessarily a mental health issue.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:There's it's, you know, there's a spectrum. Not everyone that suffers from bipolar or schizophrenia or anxiety is dangerous.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_07:Yes, they can reach a level where they truly believe they're in an ultimate reality.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But that doesn't mean that they're going to wield a machete down a street.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:I know that there has been situations like that in the past, but that because that person has not got help, the family's been trying to help them, you know, and it's just become a situation.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_07:But if there's enough support around that sufferer, that stops that that can stop that from becoming full-blown. Unfortunately, when someone is starting to suffer psychosis or whatever, they're not going to, they're probably not too scared to tell anyone. Because it's so scary about the misconceptions out there and what a psych ward looks like and what's going to happen to them. You know, that the the the the whole men in coats are gonna come and take them away and handcuff them and you know, put them in an ice bath and a stretch.
SPEAKER_04:Because that was how it was portrayed in the movies for so long.
SPEAKER_07:That's it, it absolutely was. And some people still think that that's how it is. I kid you not.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I am not surprised.
SPEAKER_07:Because they don't know any better.
SPEAKER_04:And that's it's all about education.
SPEAKER_07:I totally shut down a short film that was going to be based in an asylum.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And it was going to be a horror in an asylum. Yeah. And I can't stand that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:That it's people with with mental health illnesses, it's it's it's instantly, it's it's a horror.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, there's already enough stigma in society. You don't want to go and contribute to it.
SPEAKER_07:And that's why a lot of young people don't say anything about how they're feeling.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And it can lead to suicide, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Because they just get so far gone without getting any help that they they can't harm themselves. Just to get away from that, it's the horror that they go through. It's awful. The things that they can think, they think that everyone's a devil, they think that they're gonna die, they think all these things, you know, they think everyone is against them, and they get paranoid, and it's just and it feels so real. You can't talk them out of it. You can't just go there, there, go and have a bath, you'll be right. Yeah. You can't talk them out of it, unfortunately. And you can't yoga, yoga your way to you can't smoke dope, you can't smudge, you can't meditate your way out of it.
SPEAKER_04:So, what what advice, like you know, someone that may be listening, we've got people all around the world tuning into this. So, someone that may be listening, that is the beginning of their journey in in relation to looking after a family member with a with a okay.
SPEAKER_07:You you do need to get psych team. Yeah, you need a support network, don't you? You do, you need a psych team, but you need to get a triage. And unfortunately, and it's ridiculous, you they have to be at a level where they are a harm to themselves or others for them to be deemed an emergency psych situation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Even though, you know, in an hour's time they might bring traffic stage.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:It's it's an acute stage, but you actually have to say, yes, they are a harm to themselves or others. Yeah. Even if they're not. You just say it. You just so don't worry about that. Yeah. It's not gonna, you know, it's it's a means to an end. You have to help them and stop them. So basically keep them contained, which can be very difficult. A few times Tony has helped contain Abel by getting out the guitar. Yeah. Other friends have sort of, you know, come around, and then we we end up playing or play, you know, playing games or distraction. Distraction, poetry, singing, whatever. Give them some food, you know, just distract, distract. Yeah. Put some cartoons on, you know, anything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And then get the site team around here, they evaluate, and then they make the call.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And sometimes if they're not that won't go willingly, they have a police officer come. Yeah. But I always get them to be quiet, non-threatening, remove their hat, and do not stand on the front patio. I don't want everyone to think that there's a dangerous thing happening at my house. It's not. And it's just all done very quietly. So absolutely make sure that that happens. And I know that in Victoria, that has changed now. There's a whole new way of treating someone with psychiatric illness. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:So And are you these changes that they've they brought in, do you are you aware?
SPEAKER_07:Like are they a are these positive changes that they are positive changes where the police are now aware that of how to treat a sufferer to not be loud, not come at them, not um, and don't come with an in or you know, with sirens on or and that's the same with ambulance and and police's mothers. Like, you know, because that just can if they're having a really bad sort of psychosis situation, it just makes it so much worse to the point where they uh, you know, become out of control. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So yeah, once once they're they just leave them alone for a couple of days, it's up to them. So there's nothing you can say that's gonna make it better for them. So you can't say, yeah, you can't, but you just have to let them deal. And the the the way that they help deal with bringing that psychosis down is there's no stimuli. There's no stimulus.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So there's no traffic, there's no, you know, electrical noise, there's nothing. It's there's no stimulus. And there's no way that they can harm themselves, there's no objects that can be harmful. They don't even have a belt, they don't have shoelaces, anything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So without that stimuli, with the proper medication for them to calm down, they do give the medication to help them calm down. Yeah. So that is where some of those, you know, things that do happen in uh in an asylum way back, that does happen. So and then slightly on. No, no, no, no, with medication. Right. They do need to be quietened. And there's lots of really good medications now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And sometimes that that is uh virus orange or whatever, because it just needs to be stopped.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You know, and sleep is one of the biggest things. So more often than not, when someone's in psychosis, they haven't eaten, they haven't washed, they've walked for miles, they've been in this state for so long they cannot sleep, which just makes it worse. And it's just it's just, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Self-perpetuating.
SPEAKER_07:It's just getting worse and worse.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So they need to sleep.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And eat and lots of water and just calm, you know. And that can take a week to two weeks for them to actually start sleeping properly.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So there's someone, you know, the nurses and doctors are there to na help navigate that. So I wouldn't suggest visiting them in the first few days because you can just be that person, you're just gonna cop it for putting them there. And, you know, I I've got to the point now where my son is really grateful that I've helped. Whereas early on, I was the the arch enemy, you know?
SPEAKER_04:Which must be incredibly hard.
SPEAKER_07:It is, but it's like it's tough love.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:It's like when someone's on drugs, as you know, yeah, you just gotta do what whatever it takes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You know? And if that's getting locked up in prison, if that get if that is, you know, if that's what that's what it takes. I'm gonna I'm not saying that a person who has mental health needs to be locked up in prison. I'm just saying that sometimes people who are, you know, have drug issues as well as mental health issues will do, yeah, will steal or whatever. Sometimes, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well that you don't know that's 100% right, you know. Sometimes incarceration, you know, it's a situation where it forces them to detox. That's it. In a in that's it. Fundamentally.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, you know. And detox as well, it's like there's a lot of there's we we found Abel this amazing place, it's in the Danderdong, Dandong in Melbourne, and it was like a$75 million project.$75 million and they actually asked inpatients about what they would need in there. So they had all that input.
SPEAKER_04:They had a rehabilitation facility, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:A facility, no, no, for mental health, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_07:And then it's it's got a youth wing, one of the first ever.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_07:They're so specific, you know. And then there's the forensics and there's all different types, you know. But it was the most incredible facility. And lots of gardens and and their their uh unit, they got their own bedroom. State of the art. Just really gorgeous colours, dim dimmable lights, you know, cool. Music rooms, you name it, right? But the amount of kids that were in there. That was what had been on ice because ice really is just such it's a drug that c can cause psychosis. But not only can it cause psychosis, it can be a long-term yeah. And it's just frightening. But it's also frightening how many parents don't have the skills.
SPEAKER_04:Well, yeah, and not and just the parents, family members, you know, no. They just don't have the skills. Yeah. And that's the thing is you can't you can't look at one person to have what we call the burden of responsibility. Yeah. You know, like if you're the support person for a family member that's going through that, you can't do it on your own. No. You know, when I when when I've Support the supporter. That's right, care for the carer sort of thing, you know, like and so when I've gone through a situation where I've had to ring up a support line because I've been worried about a family member with ice, you know, I've been told the same thing time and time again. We never hear from the people that have actually got the addiction or or have the Well, you don't. We hear from the we hear from the They're the last person that does. No, we hear from the parents and the carers and the big thing is is that you're constantly, I was constantly being told you can't let their addiction ruin your life. No. Because they, you know, and this one. We just gotta keep getting on with it. Yeah, they were saying that, you know, because what happens is time and time again, these people would see parents mortgage their homes to put their kids through rehab and all of this kind of stuff, and then what happens when the when the person with the addiction then finds themselves in a position where they're coming out of the other side and they need they're in a position to need help, you can't help them because you've let every all part of your action, all part of your life.
SPEAKER_07:Fortunately, though, in this country, we don't have to come up with a lot of money because it's there's government assistance.
SPEAKER_02:Sure, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But we I mean, there's been times where I've just haven't been able to work because I've been too anxious. But luckily I'm in a marriage where, you know, that will be compensated, you know. Yeah. Or I would just do a few gigs here and there and or a voiceover or an ad, and then I'd, you know, make a a bit of wedge, yeah, you know, that way. But it was it was very difficult.
SPEAKER_04:But that but that cut this comes back to the fact that you can't do it by yourself. You haven't been that's right. You haven't been able to navigate this entire process on your own. Yeah. It's impossible. And it's and the burden of responsibility is too much for one person. That's right.
SPEAKER_07:It is. I mean, a few times I have felt very on my own, where you know, maybe Tony's been away, or it's not possible for him to give anymore. Whereas when you when you're the the parent, and I'm gonna say this, especially the mother, you you find a lot of mums up at the at the ward and at the facilities, don't there's not a whole lot of dads.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:It can oh sorry, I'm just feeling a little emotional. It can um we can have a break if we want to. No, it's all right. Yeah, it can just fall to you, basically. And I know that uh sometimes Abel is only gonna get better and through it if I just stay the distance. I am his absolute champion, and he knows that. He knows at the end of the day, the person that he can trust the most in this world is me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And I I remember one time he was in Sydney, psych, you know, because he had to be, because that's where he he went into psychosis. And I was on a ship, and I still did the ship, but it was we were stopping one day in Sydney. Oh, okay. So I got off the ship, went and saw him, even though they weren't gonna let me in. I said, I'm going, because he was in acute.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_07:And you can't get visitors, you can't have visitors when you're in acute. And I just absolutely said, I'm coming up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And he was in a really bad way, he was deathly pale. He was just really bad, probably the worst I'd ever seen him. Really? And I just stayed with him for hours and hours and hours, made him eat, sang with him, joked around with him, made him eat and drink, eat and drink, eat and drink, and begged him to get some sleep. Anyway, the next day, a friend took a guitar up to him, which I asked, I asked a comedian, and she said he looked amazing. And she took a photo. I went, that's not the same guy as yesterday. Wow. Isn't that interesting? And that's how quick it can change. Yeah. Unbelievable. That I tell you, the more someone feels supported and loved, and and that they're not a m you know, a monster for having this stigmatized stigmatized illness, you know, that they're not a weirdo, that they're not a, you know, retard or you know, yeah, yeah. Anything like that. They're just loved and honored and respected for who they are.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:That they, it's not their fault, it is not their fault.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You know, that's an ill uh unfortunately illnesses.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. That's the that's the that phrase really sums it up for me. It's not their fault.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And acknowledging that.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:You know?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. It's like people say, oh, so so what's he how is he now? And it's like, well, he's totally fine. He's on med he's medicated, he goes to counsellors, he hikes.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome.
SPEAKER_07:He he will do hikes mountains and goes he's on festival committees, so he's on the seed camp to put festivals on. He does first aid courses. He's engaged in community. RSI, his community, yeah. He just gets on with it. His his music is amazing. He's written songs about his mental health and how it's impacted him. One's called Fruitnut.
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_07:There's just so yeah, he's doing all the right things. He's totally in a cool, the best place he's been in, yeah. In such a long time. He's got his own apartment, studio apartment. Yeah. Because even getting getting him a rental was difficult.
SPEAKER_02:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Because as soon as someone's on a pension or just has a dis a mental health disability, it's like it's all over. They just instantly think, you know, something's gonna happen. Something bad's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. And I I don't tell everyone, I just don't, because I just don't care for that opinion. Yeah. I don't care for a negative opinion. Or I think sometimes people think that I might be, you know, I might be the same or something like that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But yeah, it is, it's it's horrifying what people can think.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I'm so it's it's so n because you know, I know that over the years it's it's I've seen it take its toll on you over the years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And I went gr you know, um I went grey without realizing because I just can always dyed my hair.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But I'd have hair loss. That was one thing that, you know, it because every couple of years he would present, you know. And every couple of years I'd lose my hair. And it was always in this one spot. Yeah, right. You know, and it was just the the trauma of the situation or the anxiety.
SPEAKER_04:The anxiety, the stress, that everything it brings up again. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:That's it. Or I I couldn't, or I be sort of a little bit didn't want to go out or didn't want to be going to crowds. And even now I sort of, you know, I just sort of stick to St Kildra as much as I feel. I just I don't go outside of my comfort zone. I just don't I don't have to do something I don't.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Okay, so thank you very much for sharing all of that stuff about all of that, and you know, I'm so glad that, you know, you've been able to find a way to navigate your way through it.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. And I think he's been my champion for that.
SPEAKER_04:He's in a great place. And I'll tell you, he's so funny. I love the fact that you've been able you've recognised over this journey when you've been doing like things that might be self-destructive in a way of coping, which people do, you know. We lose ourselves in smoke too much weed or drink too much, or you know, go out too or whatever, you know. Because you need that kind of relief.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. And even like my my daughter from the whole COVID situation, she started, you know, developing some some anxiety and issues, you know. And creativity has just really helped her. Being creative and I mean, you saw her going to a Gaga concert, yeah. And she's put together this outfit and she's amazing. She's so amazingly creative, and we built a loft up there. She's got, she draws, she writes, yeah, she sings, you know, and and she's got a wicked sense of humour as well. You know, it's it's so important to have a creative outlet.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And stand-up comedy has been so valuable to me through through all this, you know, the last 20 years.
SPEAKER_04:And you seem to have come in a way, you've come a little bit full circle because I know when you started, you know, you went acting and that sort of stuff. And now in recent the last couple of years, you seem to be ticking off a few. Yeah. Like the acting gigs seem to be coming. Is this something that you kind of just focused on the stand-up for a long time and then you've gone, yeah, I want to get back into the acting?
SPEAKER_07:Because I started doing a couple of courses because I was always afraid of the camera for some reason. Like the camera wasn't, I don't know, well, just wasn't good in front of the camera. I'd get nervous or I'd get conscious and all this sort of stuff. And then I I did a course that was specific to that, and sort of, you know, felt a bit more secure. And then I did another one, and then I did another one, and I just went off and did them, you know, didn't tell anyone. This didn't last few years. No, in the last maybe 15 years, I've just done loads of courses. Yeah. And then I'm, you know, I just some affirmations and some manifestation, and then I think just from being on a few galas and a big shows in front of 3,000, 2,000, all that, I just started to reach a tipping point. Yeah. Where I just didn't have those nerves anymore.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_07:And I s and I still don't, where you know, I can walk onto the stage or perform in front of a camera, and I don't have this real self-consciousness. Oh, like I'm gonna break, you know. I'm gonna shit myself. Yeah, you know. So that was all happening, and then I just got a couple of really good, high-paid commercials. You enjoying the acting where you enjoy the acting? Oh my god, it's it's just my greatest. I mean, I love stand-up, but this is like it's everything I wanted. It's like that was my big dream as a kid.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And I mean, I was always funny, so I do you know some serious roles and people would laugh, regardless. So I'm now at a stage where women are really revered in that sphere, yeah, but no matter what age, so it's like the ageism's gone, the sexism's gone, the whole beauty myth is is on the way out, you know. So I would audition for things, and there was just like these gorgeous model-looking girls sitting next to me because that's what they were after. It was about the looks, it was ridiculous. Anyway, so I'm now at this age where I know myself, relaxed with myself and my world. I'm in a great relationship. My kids are fine, I'm stable, I've got real estate, I've got a dog, I've got a van, you know what I mean? The kids are okay. Yeah, yeah, that's um, so when I do go for an audition now, I'm just like, you know, yeah, totally nailing it.
SPEAKER_04:That's awesome.
SPEAKER_07:And I've been for a few now where they've already got me for the role, but they just want another director to see me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And I've I've now had five roles where Bev is my actual name, character name. Yeah. So I've been Bev in Bev.
SPEAKER_04:And I've got to tell you, you know, like Bev or Beverly. Yeah, and a few of the like, I reckon the camera loves you in in these roles. It's interesting. Because yes, you're fucking a natural. It's that's how you come across. Yeah, yeah. And even though, and even though it's even though it's it's an ad, right? Yeah. It's one of the one of my most favourite things when I see that commercial come on where it's the nude drawing class.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Masclass. Oh my sweet channel.
SPEAKER_04:No matter how many times I see that ad, I just that was crazy good fun making that.
SPEAKER_07:It was amazing. Yeah. But I did the No Nanny State, which was the um huge, huge. And I I walked into the audition and I wanted them to see me in it. Yeah. So I've gone and got myself an olive green button-up suit, you know, blazer, with a tie, skirt, pencil, you know, brown shoes, like a prison warden, with an umbrella and glasses, and gone, I'll tell you where you can and cannot smoke. And then the director's just gone, okay, we found her. Yeah. Let everyone else go. Yeah, or that's it. That's great. You know? So you just I know what I can do for some reason. If I can get what the sell point is, yeah, and what the what they're trying to get across, I can do it. I don't sell it.
SPEAKER_04:Did I see something recently that you've got a gig coming up, which is your cartoon, like, is it in an animation? Are you doing an animation?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. We haven't had our script read yet, but that's gonna be happening really. So this is a thing? This is actually happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. It's um Molly and Peggy. Right. And it's based on the Australian production. It's a true yes, it's a true story about this dog that befriended a magpie. Okay. And they're just such great mates, and this magpie just basically didn't want to leave and just lives lives with them. And then the council got involved. This is in Queensland. Right. The council got involved and said, no, that's a native species, blah, blah, blah. You can't keep it. So they took the bird away, and the dog was just inconsolable. So everyone sort of mounted this big petition about it, and they took the bird back. Right. So it's about this beautiful French. So, what's this called before when it comes out to you? Molly and Peggy.
SPEAKER_04:Molly and Peggy.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, right. So I play the role of a sassy cat. Right. So it's not just those two, it's also the other dog that lives in that household. Yeah. And then there's all these other dogs, there's and horses, and cats, and all sorts of animals. How exciting. Jamowan is playing an Irish wolfhound.
SPEAKER_08:That's great.
SPEAKER_07:And Lawrence Mooney's. Lawrence Mooney's in. Yeah. There's so many people in it.
SPEAKER_04:Fantastic.
SPEAKER_07:That's cool. And I was offered that, which is great. I think he he'd heard my voice in something else. And that's happened a few times. Like I play um God, I feel like I'm really on one. Sorry. On this ego trip. But I'm very excited about it all. It is, well, it is exciting. It is when you're offered.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you know. Totally, because there's a difference between, you know, if you can get to the point where the work is finding you. Yeah. That to me. That's that's a point. That's that's that's that to me is the definition of sunshine.
SPEAKER_07:And that that happened with um, I think the first first time that happened was with Sunshine, the um series.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:They wanted me in it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And then there was um.
SPEAKER_04:And then it's like people ringing you up for a gig. You know, get out your diary, are you available for these gigs, you know?
SPEAKER_07:So But that's happened to me in the the the past maybe five different series and films that I've done. Like, that's not my dog. I was offered the roll, didn't have to do anything. Yeah. What's uh Joan's Family Christmas? Yeah. Offered. You know, it's just so many of them like that now, which is just unabashed.
SPEAKER_04:Which yours, I'm so happy for you because it's you know, because it's a tough gig.
SPEAKER_07:But the voiceovers is where it's at for me right now. Yeah. And I didn't realise that it could be lucrative. Because the the voiceovers that I'd done, and I've been doing them on and off for years, were like 200, 300, maybe, you know, radio ad and whatever. But I'm doing these ones now that are like DoorDashes, you know, the States. Right. And it's like, what? You're paying me what?
SPEAKER_04:You know, but I also do it's nice to see that reward coming after, you know, like it's this whole thing about the, you know, especially in entertainment and comedy, you know, the overnight successes that I know have been doing it for 20 years.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also it's like, you can't deny me now. I yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Certain I'm not sure. I've paid my dues.
SPEAKER_07:I've paid my dues, I've done the hard yards. Yeah. And you can't let's talk about you can't humans plain how to be a comedian to me. Yeah. I know.
SPEAKER_04:Let's talk about doing your hard yards because this is something that I've been finding really interesting recently. The doing your hard yards now, if you're entering into the comedy industry, is totally different to what doing your hard yards was. Who knows?
SPEAKER_07:I don't know. But uh I think because like you were saying before, about the internet's changed everything. Yeah, sex isn't. It's not so sexist. I think there's still the gender pay issue.
SPEAKER_04:I'm I've got no idea about that.
SPEAKER_07:For presenter roles, whatever. It depends who you are, I suppose. But also it's like inclusivity is amazing now. And like the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, there is so many do's and don'ts. Absolute do's and don'ts.
SPEAKER_04:Are you talking about from the festival for the act?
SPEAKER_07:For the act, for for the like you cannot put down a person for their gender, their sexuality, their their looks. You can't and even reviewers can't talk about your looks.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, okay, right, yeah, yep.
SPEAKER_07:Or you you cannot be racist, you cannot be any of these things, you know. No, you can't talk about domestic violence. Like I I am a C a lot of the the raw heats, and y you just cannot get up on stage as a new comedian and do something racist, sexist, domestic violence, anything like that.
SPEAKER_04:And you know gender violence. I'm seeing it a lot. I'm seeing it a lot. I'm seeing it. Well in Brisbane, I remember I used to crack it.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, I just I just go, nah, get off the stage.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:I I've been very well known in Brisbane, especially, for just going, nah, stops here, off. Yeah. MC, pull them off. Yeah. Pull them off the stage. And I've turned to the rest of the comedians, and unfortunately, it's mostly male. And said, if anyone else has got anything similar to that, you can either scrub it out and do some jokes that are not this, this, this, this, and this, or go home and get your shit together because it's not happening while I'm MC. And and they go, and they write awful shit about me, I don't care. And then it comes back that I was well in my place to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And had the backing of the venues and the and the and you know, sit down with Fidelity.
SPEAKER_04:I've done it before myself where I've gone halfway through the show, I've said to the guy running the desk, I need you to get all of the acts and take them out the back into the car park because I need to talk to him. Yeah. And he's like, What are you gonna do? What are you talking about? I said, all of them.
SPEAKER_07:It's not on my watch, that's exactly what it is. Yeah, and because I mean protective of the industry, I I know that you're like that. I've seen you do that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And I've seen you have great chats with the audience on stage and just go, you're not alone. If you're going through this, there is help, blah, blah, blah. And then people are just like, oh, wow. You know? What? I'm not alone. I'm not the only person that's felt this and thought this. It's we are we are, I don't know. We we are a special breed, I think. You know, like I I just refuse to to be amongst that.
SPEAKER_04:What's your advice to someone these you know, we get asked about people wanting to think about being a comedian. What's your advice to someone these because I'm sure it's different now to what it might have been 15 years ago. If someone comes in, they'd saying to you, I love what you do, Bev, you know, I've always thought about doing stand-up. How do I start?
SPEAKER_07:Just go to as many shows as you can. Don't don't get up until you're ready. Yeah. Which, I mean, don't let it take 10 years.
SPEAKER_04:Do one of the comedy courses.
SPEAKER_07:Some kind of training, read about it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:If it comes naturally to you and you think you've got it, then don't don't do a course, whatever.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But just get us five five solid minutes together.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And you don't have to do a different lot of comedy. So because I think what puts people off from even starting is that they think that they just need, you know, it needs to be this ongoing, like having to write all this material. No, you need you need to try it and test it, test it and try it. And get and get the rhythm of it right, get the punchline correct, get the tags correct. I'm using all these. I mean, you know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:But yeah, have a solid intro. Let them know who you are, because you don't have to be anyone else. Being you is unique.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:What is unique in your world that you can offer that no one else can? What's your take? You know? What do you find funny? What what what do you think is funny?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And it punch signs can be depending on what kind of humour you have. Is it sarcastic? Is it this? Is it exaggerating?
SPEAKER_04:Exaggerating.
SPEAKER_07:Is that is that I'm exaggerating the word exaggerating. Yeah, all different kinds of humour. So have a good intro, have a good couple of routines, some throwaways, and end with something.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, so uh we're gonna wind this up. This you've been so giving of your time and so open with everything. Okay, so we like to finish with what we call the feel good five. Right. Right? Your answers can be as short or as long as you like. Totally up to you. So the feel good five, the first question is what makes you happy, Bev?
SPEAKER_07:What makes me happy? You know what makes me happy when those around me are happy.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, cool.
SPEAKER_07:That's interesting, but I also I love my little hobby. I love having my hobbies, you know. You go to do other things other than stand up or acting or whatever. Yeah, you know, and that for me is buying and selling and fixing and you know, op shopping and yeah, love it. Yeah, cool. And I love I love cooking. Love cooking.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it makes me. Nice, yeah, nice. What are you grateful for?
SPEAKER_07:I'm grateful for my relationships around me, and I'm grateful for to have good health.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:That's you know, it's a bit that's not so great in my health. But there was a few years ago I had a stroke. Yeah. And I had just on stage. On stage, yes.
SPEAKER_04:On stage. Interesting.
SPEAKER_07:But um, so I'm very grateful that I've come through that. And interestingly, after having a stroke and nearly losing my life, let's be honest, I don't sweat the small stuff. If I need to say a no, I say no. And I always I'm just one of these people that I'm so optimistic, even when it's like ridiculous for me to be optimistic. It's like if I've got a hole in in my bucket, I'll go, oh well, you know, I'll another bucket will come along.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_07:I just, yeah, it's like I could be, you know, everything could could go, but I know that I could I'd go and buy a nice new tent. Yeah, yeah. So we've lost our house, it's okay. We'll get a nice tent. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I'm very optimistic and I always think that good things are gonna happen. My husband will go into a negative spiral, my kids will go into a negative spiral, I'm like, it's all gonna be okay. I just know it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Because I just have that. And and more often than not, it all it all, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Relationships I love it when when I ask people what are they grateful for, and the first thing they say is the relationships.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Because it's everything, you know, like when I do my laughter clinic mental health presentations, I, you know, I I go out into the audience and I go, you know, tell me five things that make you happy, right? Or because I'm it's a specific mental health thing. And I go out in the audience, stand up, mate, hair going, right? And we trip around and then we come back and I say to them, what did all of the answers have in common? Yeah. Right? And generally the top three relationships, friends, family, you know, work colleagues that I'm with or whoever. And my little mate here. And because we talk about, you know, we talk about physical health, we talk about physical health and mental health, but we don't talk enough about social health. Yeah, and it is a very, very important. It is an actual thing. Yes. So I'm glad I I love the fact. And I knew uh it doesn't surprise me that that that's something that you're grateful for the relationships. You know, it doesn't that doesn't matter. I'm just gonna laugh at your jokes, yeah. Of course, right? Well, I'm very grateful for our friendship that's and likewise for however long we've gone grey together. Yes, yes. Well, one of us is going one of us is embracing it. Okay, so happiness, gratitude, what are you looking forward to? What's what what are you looking forward to that's coming?
SPEAKER_07:I am looking forward to deadlock season two, March the 20th. Yes. How exciting. Because I have a role in it, yeah. And where can people see that if they wanted to? Uh it's on um Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime, yep. Excellent. It was the most incredible experience.
SPEAKER_04:Cool. Just on just on that, so if I you know, while I'm on the where people can watch that, if if people wanted to keep a track of where you are and what you're up to, what's the best avenue to follow you on?
SPEAKER_07:Um look, I'm on A-List, I think we've got me uh on YouTube. Mm-hmm. Um so you can see a few of my stand-up bits and pieces. But I suppose my Facebook page. Yeah, just Beth Kelly, yeah. Yeah, Instagram. But in my Instagram is not really my career oriented, it's more, you know, pictures of my dog and food. Yeah, yeah. But I think that's I think it's good to just, you know, put something in the show notes, you know.
SPEAKER_04:People go follow Beverly. Facebook. Facebook, okay, cool. Right, so looking forward to Deadlock. Or season two.
SPEAKER_07:Deadlock, season two. I I can't wait for people to see what I can actually do as an actor character. Yeah, yeah. Because I was gonna say earlier, it's a really good time for women in comedy who are also actors, and I am a trained actor, fully trained in method, television, film, you know. But a lot of people just see me as a stand-up, but I'm all those things. So to be able to, you know, have deadlock work you're there. And it's so popular, and it's like top ten streaming in more than 163 three countries. Isn't that incredible? Yeah, it's so cool. So, me, my character's gonna be in another language.
SPEAKER_02:It's so real.
SPEAKER_07:It's so that the reason why it's taking so long for season two is because they have to put it in all these different languages and they have to do all the subtitles and they have to do all the you know.
SPEAKER_04:So anything else you're looking forward to other than that coming out?
SPEAKER_07:Well, we uh uh we've just bought a caravan in Dalesworth, so we're gonna go and stay out there in in two weeks. Just really enjoy it and go for some hiking. And I'm a bit of a foodie, so we're gonna have some nice food. No. Tony is really into his running and stuff these days, so he can do all that. Great. Yeah, just looking to forward to a couple of weeks in the van.
SPEAKER_04:Well, you've probably kind of answered my second last one, which is what's your meat on when you want to switch off from everything?
SPEAKER_07:The van. The van, the cooking. Or I I was decoupaging there for a while. What? Decoupaging, cutting and pasting. I'll I'll show you. It's paper art. So it used to be done in in in France.
SPEAKER_04:Is this a fancy word for scrapbooking? Yeah, no. Oh, that's a bit dusty. A drum case.
SPEAKER_07:See the oh it's it's paper art. It's all cut out. Yeah, right. Yeah. And I I've got about five different suitcases up in the loft. That's pretty cool. And it's it's just sitting there and cutting and gluing, and it's you're so good for it.
SPEAKER_04:What? You're totally switching off, eh?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, see, you just sort of bring it, bring your, you know, your level down.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah. Drop. My final question is what's made you laugh recently?
SPEAKER_07:I think what's made me laugh recently is you coming in the door and the dog going fucking ballistic like little monster. You wouldn't think so.
SPEAKER_04:And he doesn't understand how much I love dogs. And you were saying something like, Oh, you just what do you want? You just gotta get to know me, mate. No, no, no, and you were saying something. Oh, you're just doing your job.
SPEAKER_07:You're just doing your job. And this little mutt was completely just like fucking his mind. Don't you? And nipping out your hands and your boots, and you're going, Oh, you're just doing your job.
SPEAKER_04:See, and we're made snow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Oh my god. We're made snow, aren't we? Yeah, because you've given them enough food now. Yeah, now that's really made me laugh.
SPEAKER_04:Well, Bev Killing, thank you so much. Thank you, Daniel. I love your work, and uh, and I wish you all the successes in the world with your upcoming gigs.
SPEAKER_07:And my D pop sales.
SPEAKER_04:And your deep and your D pop sales, and uh, and yes, your act I'm so stoked that your acting stuff's taken off. It's so exciting. Very, I'm very happy. Yeah, very cool. Well, yeah, I love your work. Thank you very much for watching. Please, darling.
SPEAKER_00: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.