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Season 2, Episode 1: Comedy with Libby Klysz and Guest Interviewer Sam Longley
3 Playsin 7 hours
Comedy, whether stand-up, comedic plays, improvisation, sketch, or burlesque, is an omnipresent genre: universally beloved, indispensable, and… underestimated? The second season of Georgia Malone’s Here Goes Nothing launches with comedy stalwart Libby Klysz in conversation with Big Hoo Haa! founder Sam Longley to discuss why the Trojan Horse of comedy is so important and brave, despite the lack of respect it’s constantly afforded. From court jesters to COVID, from punching up to fart jokes, from ego to gender politics, this is an episode that covers the lot! Yes, And!
Show Links:
TheatreSports Australia: https://www.facebook.com/theatresportsoz/about/?_rdr
The Big Hoo Haa!: https://thebighoohaa.com.au/
Chuck the Hoo Haa a follow: https://www.instagram.com/thebighoohaa/
The Hoo Haa on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBigHooHaa
Bindjareb Pinjarra: https://www.ilbijerri.com.au/event/bindjareb-pinjarra/
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo: https://trockadero.org/
YUCK Circus: https://yuckcircus.com/
For enquiries, suggestions, or bookings, email; tobypmalone at gmail dot com.
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Transcript
The Role and Perception of Comedy
00:00:04
Speaker
Comedy has a storied and integral role to play in the history of human culture. Aristotle knew all about its importance as he wrote the Poetics, and the ancient Greek Sator plays were a vital tonic amongst the heightened Greek tragedies.
00:00:19
Speaker
Almost half of Shakespeare's plays are comedies and after the disruption of the Commonwealth era, comedy was the lifeblood of the English Restoration period. Today, comedy is a reliable, beloved genre, perfect to allow audiences to let off steam or forget their troubles.
00:00:36
Speaker
So, why then, does comedy have such a hard time being taken seriously? Why is it seen as something lesser than prestige opera or drama? Why do comedy people have such a hard time getting funding?
00:00:49
Speaker
Why do people turn up their noses at fart jokes, dad jokes and people falling off things?
Introducing Key Figures in Comedy
00:00:55
Speaker
I'm Toby Malone, producer of Georgia Malone's Here Goes Nothing. Today, we welcome Libby Kleiss, a mainstay in the Perth comedy and improvisation scene over the last three decades.
00:01:08
Speaker
Libby gives her perspective on what's funny, why it's funny, and what that means in this wonderful, freewheeling conversation with legendary improviser Sam Longley.
00:01:19
Speaker
It's a terrific conversation and the best possible way to get this new season of Georgia Malone's Here Goes Nothing up and running. Enjoy the chat. And you're listening to Georgia Malone's Here Goes Nothing, the second season, which is pretty exciting, I reckon. It's very exciting. What a banger of a start.
00:01:39
Speaker
You might be wondering who these two voices belong to because you have no visual context for these. ah So we will describe who we are and what we look like. Not that a podcast needs the visuals, but let's be honest, everybody likes to think they're talking to someone who's handsome.
00:01:53
Speaker
That's right. That's right. I'm very glamorous. So if you can just picture the most glamorous person imaginable, whatever that means to you, that's what I look like. And I'm the exact opposite of that. So however you imagine a small, nuggety human, ah then that's me. Yeah, real troll energy. Yeah, real troll energy. yeah a And my name's Sam
The Significance of Comedy in Theatre
00:02:14
Speaker
Longley. I will be interviewing the ah the wonderful Libby Kleiss, who's sitting opposite me.
00:02:20
Speaker
um For those of you who don't know Libby Kleiss, that's because you don't work in the theatre industry in Perth, Western Australia. ah Libby is... a performer, a producer extraordinaire, a comedian, an improviser poor and a mother to a wonderful dog who may make an appearance, we can't be sure. Fingers crossed.
00:02:40
Speaker
Before we get started, I want to acknowledge that we are recording this on the lands of the Nyoongar, the Wajak Nyoongar people, Nyoongar Budja. They've been telling stories and having yarns for two tens of thousands of years and we're going to do the same.
00:02:55
Speaker
um So today's topic is comedy in theatre. Oh no, broad, isn't it? Broad. Yeah, I love it. Controversial. yeah Now, we're talking comedy in theatre, Libby. Why are we talking to you? give Give everybody just a little bit of background of why I might be talking to you when it comes to comedy in theatre. oh, God, I'm really being set up as if I'm the funniest, most comedic person that has walked the earth and that's a dangerous precedent to set because I'm definitely not.
00:03:21
Speaker
However, ah do like a good muck around. You do? And I do think that ah joy is an incredibly important part of live performance and something, a really critical aspect of something that we can share with audiences.
00:03:38
Speaker
ah So that, along with a sure, I was going to say sure-footed start. It wasn't a sure-footed start, um but a very early audacious start in comedy um when I was very young, and that was kind of my pathway into this sector, was,
00:03:54
Speaker
um i guess I guess that's why we're talking about
Libby's Journey in Comedy
00:03:57
Speaker
that. So what have you done that qualifies you to be talking comedy? Just so that that we can all be and understand the context where you're coming from, because that's easy to say, well, I like comedy, right?
00:04:07
Speaker
I feel I have an affinity with comedy. But to know what you've actually done in your career so far, which is just at the very middle, ah tell us tell us some of the the comedy highlights from your career.
00:04:21
Speaker
Sure. ah from ah from a press From a professional perspective, I started audaciously young yeah at age 16. You did. Where I whittled my way into the public theatre sports season here in Booralu, Perth. and That's where I met you, Sam. that's true. ah And so it's your fault is what I'm saying. So much of it is. It's your fault.
00:04:47
Speaker
And so I started ridiculously young um as what was a pretty good high school improviser. Turns out pretty average general public season improviser ah because I was 16. And so I ah was very lucky to jump on some some generous coattails, including your own.
00:05:06
Speaker
and learned fast and did a bunch of comedy shows from that age, most of them unscripted, working in improvisation, until we kind of hit ah the beginning of comedy institution, The Big Hoo-Ha, which is maybe where, if you are from our neck of the woods, where a lot of people maybe know us from,
00:05:29
Speaker
um It's a show that you started, Sam. It's an it's an impro comedy show and and I was there at the beginning so and it's our 23rd birthday. It is. So I've been doing comedy impro shows, not just the Big Hoo-Ha, but lots of other iterations of ones and touring them around since I was 16
The Joy of Improv and Audience Engagement
00:05:48
Speaker
and I'm 43. So a long time. And just need to interject here for those of you who don't have an Australian understanding of English or an English version of English if you're, say, Canadian or American.
00:05:58
Speaker
are In Australia and and British English, hoo-ha means a stoush or a fight or a competition. So the big hoo-ha is the big competition, the big fight. So in an improv comedy sense, it's two teams going head to head.
00:06:13
Speaker
We do understand that the big hoo-ha in other parts of the English-speaking world maybe means something different. And that adds to the comedy as far as I'm concerned. That's just a little nugget for everyone to enjoy. When we made the show, we didn't know that at the time. We do our research. There was no internet when we started. Oh, my God. Well, no common socials anyway. yeah So we didn't know and it was five or six years in and by that point it was too late to change the name.
00:06:39
Speaker
Yeah. So that was kind of the the beginning of of how I was ah starting in comedy and comedy theatre and comedy performance. And since then, you have gone on to do a lot of things. In fact, worked with a big hoo-ha for 20, how many years? Three. 23 years. Yeah.
00:06:58
Speaker
Done countless shows, both corporate, educational, for the most of them for the public on a drunken in a drunken pub sort of setting. So sometimes bawdy, always hilarious. And you bring big characters and bold storylines.
00:07:13
Speaker
Thank you very much. That's my take on you as an improviser. And you're a producer, so you produce a lot of work, not all of it comic, obviously, but you tend to, from what I've seen of the stuff you produce, you definitely lean into the comic.
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's right. not So I produce a lot of comedy. Not all of the work that I produce is comedic, but they do all have a centre point of joy in there somewhere. There's a point of uplift for the audience that's really important. I'm not i'm not super into ah delivering grim experiences.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah. Which is a crazy career path to I know, that's right. yeah That's three quarters of the arts sector. Yeah. you can do that, we'll we'll bring the joy instead. Just kind of kind of think the audiences ah don't don't want to feel terrible.
00:08:00
Speaker
That's crazy. Isn't it? Isn't it? um But the horror films do so very, very well. Yeah. Look, we're we're going to get back to this this nugget of joy and the reason for having joy and comedy in theatre. But first i want to ask that question that gets asked lot.
00:08:15
Speaker
How did you start? What was your first experience of comedy in theatre? Do you have a ah first memory of comedy in theatre? Origin ah story. Origin story. It did start at 16. At 16 you were audacious and you were already committed to theatre.
00:08:30
Speaker
Your parents, did they take you along? Did you stumble one day onto a clown workshop at age seven and go, this is familiar? Even earlier. Even earlier, age five. Right.
00:08:40
Speaker
Pre-primary Christmas concert. u hu We're all rehearsing away in a manger. We're all practising being sheep, toddling up the aisle, you know, pretty classic fare. It was the 80s, so it was very, very trad.
00:08:53
Speaker
And ah and i fronted up to my teacher and said, i think as well as the carols, we should do a play. And I don't know why, I don't know how I knew what a play was. I'd never seen one.
00:09:06
Speaker
Oh, okay. That's new. Yep. Yep. But I was like, we're going to do a play and and I'm going to tell you what it's about and dictated this this narrative about Santa got into a fight with the reindeer and had to get the other animals to help him pull the sleigh.
00:09:21
Speaker
Wow, okay. That seems like the traditional story of Santa and the Bible are coming together,
The Impact of Early Exposure to Performance
00:09:28
Speaker
the many animals. Look, I bring communities together, what can I tell you? And i also also managed to dictate that week's activity, so was also dictating curriculum at age five ah where we were going to make animal masks out of paper plates.
00:09:43
Speaker
And look, God bless this incredible woman, Mrs. Campbell, um who looked at this like little confident five-year-old and went, yeah, it's going to be great. And she went, all right.
00:09:54
Speaker
And we did it. And we did it. and ah And I was Santa, obviously. Of course. I had a beard made out of cotton wool that was kind of ah sticky taped to a coat hanger that hung over my ears.
00:10:07
Speaker
And there was no script, this may stun you. I 100% improvised my way through it and i' got a lot of laughs. And that is basically my origin story and a fair description of what I have not stopped doing before.
00:10:22
Speaker
for 40 years. Well, as a producer, you love to tell people what to do and, like, push the boundaries. Can you imagine? So at five you started. That seems pretty audacious, but as you said, you're a fairly audacious person.
00:10:35
Speaker
You hadn't seen a play, but you put on a play. Yeah. Did you continue then with theatre? Was this the something that continued through your primary school years and your high school years? Did you go, Mum, Dad, by the way, you're taking me to Phantom of the Opera? Or was it sort of void from your existence outside of your own i'm making.
00:10:54
Speaker
I think it's fair to say that I continued showing off through primary school and ah and ah real yeah doesn't it and ah and really ah gunning for laughs in classrooms. But there it wasn't, again, like it was it was the 80s. There wasn't a primary primary school drama specialist available. weird.
00:11:14
Speaker
um Yeah, isn't it? Yeah. ah So like there wasn't really that access and it wasn't until I hit high school where I could start doing drama classes and that was when I was about 14 or 15 and started doing workshops and and improv and comedy that I kind of went, oh, this is a thing.
00:11:32
Speaker
It's really fun to play with people. That's actually maybe my favourite thing to this day. i think that's why they call it a play. Yeah. because it's playful and joyous and should be enjoyed. Even the dramas, it's playful, particularly in a rehearsal room, I find.
00:11:46
Speaker
Should be fun. Should be fun. Because it's too much bloody work otherwise. So much bloody work. Hey, let's just circle back just for a moment. The... um and I know you're blaming the 80s and we should, but we should blame a lot on the 80s, but for there not being a drama program in your primary school, how important do you think it is in a modern context, that 2025, how important is it for us to, do you think, for us to have drama and theatre embedded in our education system at the primary level?
Comedy's Influence on Empathy and Creativity
00:12:15
Speaker
ah it Absolutely essential. So that they can all turn out to be. Yeah, so that can all so they can all reach the the dazzling heights of Libby Clive. That's correct.
00:12:26
Speaker
No, no, because we know there's lots of research, you know, and I'm always happy to jump on this advocacy um soapbox at any given time. may well for moment. But, you know, let's thank you for this platform. ah You know, we know that there's a bunch of research that says that if um young people don't engage with live performance by the time they're kind of halfway through primary school, they're never gonna.
00:12:45
Speaker
Like we've lost them. It's not going to happen. And so it's so incredibly important that we um introduce and make available and have access ah for live performance for our young people so that we are building in new audiences, so that we are building in new sector members um and also so that we are instilling values of community, of team building, of empathy, of point of view, of ah artistic expression, of creative problem solving and all of the things that involvement in
00:13:19
Speaker
performing arts, well, all arts, but particularly performing arts because that's my shtick, ah gives us. And that like that that to me, that's when I go, okay, what's going to make a good citizen? They're all the attributes that I'm looking for.
00:13:31
Speaker
And do you think it's changing? It's obviously from the 80s, 2025. I mean, I look at when my kids, I've got two kids now, Louis and Charlotte. Louis is now 15 and Charlotte is 17. But when they went through primary school, almost every year assembly had a song yeah they did a welcome to country which we never oh we never did that yeah prior primary school they sung a song which was uh uh one do one do the welcome song one do one do yeah ah which um wasn't around that's not been developed by what's her name um i'll remember in a second um but then they would do performances and they had dance classes and it wasn't a huge part of the curriculum it
00:14:16
Speaker
may have not even been on the curriculum, may have just been ah an extra offering. But it seemed pretty prevalent to me and more prevalent than I remember it being back in the 70s when I was in primary school.
00:14:29
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, look, we did we did do assembly items um and there was a lot of singing involved in those. There were a couple of of teachers who would let us do What i understand now is sketch comedy, which is mostly um impersonations of the teachers and seeing what we can get away with. It's classic material for a reason yeah because it slaps every time, you know? And PE teachers deserve a bit of ribbing.
00:14:53
Speaker
Yeah. And they're usually up for it, right? They're usually loving it. Exactly. They're like, yeah, do do that. ah do yeah Yeah, and also the longer that assembly goes, the less time they're standing out in either the blazing sun or the or the pouring rain on the oval. Like that's ah that's a win for everybody, you know.
00:15:08
Speaker
So primary school, not a lot of interest in, well, not a lot of ah connection with the arts and through school. um Through parents? Were they artists? I think they not, I mean, like they're creative people and they're funny people, but it's not something that either of them ever really deeply pursued.
00:15:25
Speaker
um Did they drag you along to a festival or two? Uh, kind of like, yeah, like it's my my mum's family are musicians. So like I figure there's a very, very recessive gene somewhere that found its way to me.
00:15:39
Speaker
Um, via that avenue. You play the trombone? French horn. and No, no, clarinet, like like ah like all other white girls. ah yeah the clarinet, sure. So high school.
00:15:53
Speaker
And then the bass clarinet, like all other larger-figured white girls. see,
00:16:01
Speaker
Well, look, it's it's still performative, all that music stuff, wonderful, it all that great melange of art that we love so much. I personally find a clarinet a very comical instrument. I think a saxophone is hilarious if you do it right. yeah um High school, did that did you find obviously you started at 16 and you're still in high school. You made the theatre sports team. So were you...
00:16:27
Speaker
performing at that age and were you did you find as a performer at school that you were tending more towards the comical or were you one of those deep dramatic souls no no no not a teen pregnancy to be seen in any of my devised drama let me tell you no no absolutely not um uh No, humour was a coping strategy to get through school yeah um and I leaned on that very heavily and got very good at it and so that's that's kind of what I pursued the whole time.
00:17:01
Speaker
um You're right, i did start theatre sports when I was in high school. I met some ah of... some Some colleagues that we still work with today when we were in year nine, um that's that's Jimmy James Eaton and Xavier Michaelides. We met when we were in year nine doing inter-school theatre sports when they both had hair.
00:17:19
Speaker
um Jimmy James and Xavier both have had massive careers, or really good careers, let's say, in comedy, stand-up, improv, film, television. Comedy writing, yeah. All kinds of stuff.
00:17:32
Speaker
And it is one of those interesting things. because of me is what I'm implying. Yeah, yeah. Because we started working together. you should totally take that. Absolutely. I met Tim Minch and therefore his career belongs to me. I've done shows with Minch. Yeah, yeah. You're welcome. Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:46
Speaker
I bet comedy does grow sometimes from the um ah the connection of an ensemble yes and working with people that you know and love and respect who are also funny buggers. Now, would you call yourself a funny bugger or a comedian or a comedian or how do you term that or do you think as a performer you must have that comic string to your bow?
00:18:07
Speaker
I don't know. I don't refer to myself as a comedian um because i think that in common parlance that more commonly refers to stand-up comedian, which I'm not.
00:18:18
Speaker
um or if Yeah. So, no, I don't. That's not how I how i identify. um But I do, I would consider myself to be a comedic performer and director.
00:18:29
Speaker
Yeah. I reckon funny bugger is a better expression for you. yeah but yeah It depends on the on the grant application, who's reading it. yeah For sure. We're going to get to grant applications.
00:18:43
Speaker
Speaking of lol. But um i I really want to ask, what do you do you think comedy, why is comedy important? Not do you think. I know you think that comedy is important in theatre but also outside of the theatre in in the world. Why do we need?
00:19:01
Speaker
Oh, look at my voice just dropped into that. really serious. I you did. Why do we need comedy? went full ABC there. I did for a second. ah Comedy, i think comedy is important it is important because you catch more flies with honey.
00:19:18
Speaker
i think that ah I think that coming together and having a good time is always going to be more impactful and transformational.
00:19:30
Speaker
Cue up, we are the world, it's coming. um But I do, i think that i think that i think that having when you're when you are together with the community, whether you are um watching it online together or whether you're in a room together, preferably, um that that if you're having a great time and having that shared experience, and thats that's when barriers come down, that's when people become a bit more open and they become a bit more relaxed and a bit more human. And that's ultimately why I think it's important it it's a
00:20:00
Speaker
it's also a Trojan horse for, I mean, we you know, the arts reflect society and society reflects the arts. Like I've i've been to university. um but but um But I think that comedy can often be a bit of a Trojan horse in doing that as well.
Comedy as a Tool for Social Commentary
00:20:16
Speaker
It can be ah a way to get around a more lecturing perspective. Yeah. like It's a bit of a a sly way of like, isn't this hilarious? Does it remind you of anything anyway? Moving along. you know it's um I've got to mention this one because for me it's one of the greatest examples of the use of comedy for a Trojan horse example in theatre.
00:20:39
Speaker
yeah I was lucky enough to be invited to do a show called Binjarab Pinjarra. Oh, yes. Now, Binjarab Pinjarra, and I know you know it because i know you saw it, is a story of the the massacre of the Noongar people in Pinjarra, right? not ah Not classic comedy fodder. Not classic comedy fodder at all.
00:20:56
Speaker
And it was originally created... I think back in the 80s, and the cast was two noir men, two white men, and they, all theatre makers, working together, and they did that on purpose to say...
00:21:11
Speaker
um we're working together to tell this story. And they had a lot of trouble for us to begin with in getting the permission to tell the story because it's horrific. and And the Noongar people were like, why bring this up again? It's just hurtful. It brings up all this pain. And the white fellas, white talk about this, it didn't really happen.
00:21:29
Speaker
right but which it did happen um but the theater makers are making this they they were in a theater room and they're they're figuring it all out and they and they tried so hard for two weeks of creative development to make this story and they basically got to the end they're exhausted they're emotionally drained and they did they had a shit show it was horrible they're like nobody's going to want to see this it's depressing so No audience wants a grim time. No.
00:21:54
Speaker
So they decided just to muck around for a day to just release some pressure. And what they found was they could create characters and they could muck about and then in there they could they could make comments on on the massacre and the story and people were laughing along with it and then hearing it.
00:22:12
Speaker
So it ended up becoming a tale which was told in contemporary times reflecting back on the other times and then they would...
00:22:20
Speaker
There was jokes just all the way through it. It was really, really fun show And you are saying you're seeing the whole thing roll out, roll out, but everybody's laughing and having a great time until the end scene, which is a massacre, and then people are leaving the theatre crying.
00:22:34
Speaker
And you'd speak to them in the bar and they'd go, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Mm-hmm. um And they loved it, even though they cried. They I wasn't prepared for the massacre. My heart was open, therefore I felt the tragedy more. yeah It opened itself up to the characters that the others, you know, the people they didn't know, the culture they didn't understand necessarily was, you know, that comedy is that but doorway that opens. It's like, oh, I understand.
00:22:59
Speaker
understand him. I get her. You know, we when we laugh with somebody, we're more empathetic and I think we're more understanding to them. And so, yeah, I had to share that because I toured that show for a while and I was the young white guy that lots of my comedy chops came out I had a lot of fun with that.
00:23:17
Speaker
And I cried on stage almost every night when I had to talk about my own personal experiences It was just a great show. Yeah. Trojan horse with the comedy. ah Yeah. um I love it when you come out of a show and you're at the bar and they haven't seen you yet or you're just behind stage what listening to the audience leave and you hear people say, I haven't laughed that loud in a long time.
00:23:41
Speaker
And it always hits me, I think, oh, yeah, we don't laugh. I don't think we laugh enough outside. um Just generally we don't. I think that's possibly why comedy is so successful because people love to laugh, don't they Yeah, yeah.
00:23:56
Speaker
Headline, yeah brave opinion alert, laughing is fun. And good for you. Yeah. You know, you can't really do anything else when you're laughing or sneezing for that matter.
00:24:07
Speaker
Yeah. But, you know, I think that's good. great release either way. Great release. Do you reckon... Comedy in theatre differs from other forms of comedy. I mean, obviously stand-up, you mentioned that. Well, let's go there. Let's go there right now. as You say you're not a stand-up comedian but you're a comic performer.
00:24:25
Speaker
and I know you've done lots of improv, which is a fantastic comic performance and a great comic genre. um Most people, I think, when you say comedy, they think stand-up. Yes. Comedy.
00:24:36
Speaker
So comedy in theatre and why the comedy in theatre is important. How is that different? How do we look at theatre comedy?
Evolving Forms of Theatre and Comedy
00:24:44
Speaker
um There's more government funding.
00:24:49
Speaker
For comedy in theatre? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and stand-up comedy makes a lot more money by itself, right? so yeah but but stand-up is more commercially prosperous in many ways. yeah um Oh, sorry, that was my producer seeping out there.
00:25:03
Speaker
um Yeah, look, it is different. it's It's very different and I think there's an an expectation as well and I think that of of the form, that is, from from audiences. When you walk into a stand-up venue as opposed to walking into or a show, there's an expectation of what you're going to get.
00:25:19
Speaker
um And that's different when you walk into a theatre space. And I think that it's difficult to see at the moment because we're in the middle of it and so we're not able to zoom out. Like we're only seeing trees and not forests. But I think i think that we're in this great period of change where where form is becoming less relevant yeah um and and we and audiences are beginning to understand that it doesn't have to be done a certain way, that there are lots of ways to do things and engage with things and that there is a subtle shift happening and so that there can be a bit more blending of those forms um and that that's okay, that you don't have to you don't have to be a fancy person going to a fancy building to sit down
00:26:04
Speaker
and then buy an overpriced glass of wine with other fancy people and sit down and then have some fancy words spoken to you that you understand maybe one in three of, you know, and then there's an abstract movement piece in the middle, which just seems to be a reason for people to roll around in bike pants and a flowy top.
00:26:20
Speaker
Like i think I think that those... those like perceptions of live performance are starting to break down. I hope they are and that we're finding ways for ah people who maybe haven't identified as those that go to the theatre are starting to come to the theatre and conversely those of us who are making those performances are finding better ways to invite new audiences into our spaces.
00:26:48
Speaker
And that might not even be a theatre space. That might be in the car park outside, you know. Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah. I think we're in the middle of a bit of a change point, um which is really exciting. we just It's a bit hard to define at the moment.
00:27:03
Speaker
And do you think, what's well, what's the big difference for those for those that are listening who think of comedy as stand-up? Yeah. Big difference between stand-up and comedy in theatre.
00:27:13
Speaker
Yeah. If you, i think, I mean, I don't want to hold myself up as, you know, PhD of comedy here, but, you know, stand-up is... yeah, that's you, champ. um But stand-up is is one or a couple of people standing up and telling ah set-ups and jokes.
00:27:31
Speaker
it's there's There's a lot of gags. Yeah. yeah that It's jokes. That's it. Stories and jokes is what is being told, whereas in theatre that is wrapped around a more character and narrative-based proposition. Yeah.
00:27:47
Speaker
So it might there might be jokes in there or it might be funny situations or funny scenarios that are developing as a storyline plays out involving a series of characters. what do i don't know. What do you think?
00:28:03
Speaker
Absolutely, 100%. i I do know that stand-up comedians, often you talk to a stand-up and they'll say, well, I'm not really myself on stage, I'm still playing a character. But I think that's a different character than we have in theatre where the character in the theatre is part of a narrative.
00:28:18
Speaker
I think a performance persona is a character of sorts but it's ah something that we understand to be different if we come from a theatrical perspective. And what kind of comedy forms do you think there are?
00:28:29
Speaker
We've named stand-up, we know improv. For those people that, yeah, stand-up, improv, fast, just rapid-fire as many forms of comedy that you can think of. God, how anxiety-inducing. And people will be listening to this going, well, there's three there that you haven't named. So don't worry, take the pressure off. Guaranteed someone knows you. Yeah, you idiot, just because you've got a microphone in front of you. Yeah. There's stand-up. Yeah, obviously.
00:28:54
Speaker
There's stand-up. There's sketch comedy, which I think is having a real resurgence and and an area that I find super fun to work in as well. um There is comedic plays. um There is ah music comedy, musical comedy. And I think improv comedy and music comedy, God, they so ride waves, don't they? they go Sometimes they're popular and sometimes they're very unpopular and then they come back again and it's fun to watch that.
00:29:20
Speaker
um I think... ah there's physical comedy and slapstick which can sometimes err into more circus-based um presentation and clowning um i think burlesque is it is often very funny and has a big clowning aspect to it well you know i the more entertaining aspects of it are, I think, anyway. I've watched such a little amount of Burlesque because I'm waiting for the jokes, not the boos. Yeah. And only one is guaranteed. I'm kind of only there for the jokes, yeah, um and the sequence.
00:29:53
Speaker
um So I think broadly they would be the main ones that I would describe. And absurdist theatre, absurdist comedy. Yeah. I'm thinking Monty Python, the Monty Boosh kind stuff. Yeah, for sure.
00:30:05
Speaker
But then we can keep going because then we get into like music genres. It gets more and more nuanced. Exactly. I also think that we haven't really referenced what's happening comedically um in the digital sphere as well, which is has its own sub-genres too, you know, like the the stitches and the reinventions of things that we're seeing play out on TikTok and and on other platforms as well. Like that's emerging into another whole sphere, which is amazing.
00:30:32
Speaker
ah great way for a new audience to discover those kinds of performance styles and create. So what makes you laugh? I ask this because i think comedy is really personal. There are some things that always work and we might talk about that a little later. What's a guaranteed laugh, you know, where are you yeah you guaranteed to laugh in a show? But I'm more interested in Libby Clyde's.
00:30:55
Speaker
What Because you've you've been working in the industry for a while now. You must know what really tickles you and ah it doesn't always, it's not the same necessary for somebody else you're working with. but So what what makes you laugh?
00:31:07
Speaker
um Surprises.
00:31:12
Speaker
Surprises make me laugh, which is such an inherent part of improvisation. So there's not a lot of surprise to that statement really. Well, comedy in itself should be a surprise, right? yeah Set up, set up.
00:31:23
Speaker
Audience fills in what they think is going to be said. and then you surprise them with a different but intellectually sound reason for that answer. um I think... Wow, that made... That bored me just listening that. house That wasn't funny at all. We'll fix that in post. Yeah, sure.
00:31:38
Speaker
ah We... I think... I think... um i think Escalating situations are funny yeah when things start reasonable and then slowly frog in the boiling pot, get more and more ridiculous and more and more ludicrous um until it's just out and out dumb.
00:31:58
Speaker
Like that's funny. Wow, isn't so subjective? My wife can't do that. She finds that anxiety-inducing. wow. Like Fawlty Towers. She can't watch Fawlty Towers. I just feel so sad for her. I know, right? But if she if people fall off things, thats that's comedy gold for her, just people falling over or off. so As soon as somebody climbs up on a bench, I'm going, well, they'll fall off there. That'll be an easy laugh. They fall off. She laughs. I'm like, yeah, told you. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:25
Speaker
It's really interesting, I think, yeah what people find. I know you quite like a fart joke. I'm very classy. yeah ah Look, I think everybody likes a fart joke.
00:32:36
Speaker
I mean, they won't all admit it. Yes, I agree. i agree. I think it gets poo-pooed a lot and that was 100% intentional. But I think a well-placed fart joke is excellent. yeah You know, there's...
00:32:51
Speaker
When we talk about not all comedy has to be universal. yeah i think they're you know some of some of the greatest aspects of comedy can be niche to a situation. It can really speak truth to power and things. But what I often reflect on is like I'm first generation on my dad's side. They um came to Australia after the war and um without you know a dollar or a word of English to rub between them.
00:33:13
Speaker
And ah one thing that my grandfather used to love watching when, you know, they'd go one of the neighbours had a TV and they'd watch Three Stooges and he would laugh his arse off at that because you don't need to be able to speak English to laugh at someone being smacked in the head by an iron. Like that's funny no matter where you're from, you know. Unless you're the guy getting hit with the iron.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, you know, but like I think... I guess, you know, like there is there is something to the universality of human experience and how comedy can shine a light on that and and bring people together and break tension.
00:33:49
Speaker
Do you think anyone can be comic? Like can you teach humour or are you just born with it? I think you can teach structure and form. Yeah.
00:34:06
Speaker
Which is part of it. But I think ah do think some people have a more inherent sense of timing and situation than others. I think it's maybe about observation. Right.
00:34:21
Speaker
Yeah. So the funny bones. Oh, she just has funny bones. Yeah. um how How do we know that she's just got funny bones? Because she's funny. Yeah, right.
00:34:33
Speaker
But has she just been taught taught the structure and the form or does she, that's what I'm saying, is that where is that line between, you know, she's just naturally brilliant comedian, comic performer, let's say, um because when say comedian, people always think stand-up.
00:34:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah, and when is it when is it taught and when is it inherent? How do we see it? Is there anything that you can think of where you've gone, let let's say you've gone to a show and you've seen somebody and you've gone, oh, my God, they were amazing.
00:35:02
Speaker
What was it?
Challenges and Perceptions of Comedy
00:35:05
Speaker
Is it timing? I think it's timing. Yeah. I think it's awareness. Right. I think it's um comedy. Good comedy performances in live performance especially requires astute understanding of your audience, generally speaking, but also the exact audience that is in front of you at that exact time. Which is tricky.
00:35:26
Speaker
It's hard, yeah. So that brings me to another question. um I think people often think that comedy is easy until you speak. I think that's funny. Yeah.
00:35:38
Speaker
That is funny because when you speak to people who work in the arts, more often than not, the the response I've got is, oh, comedy, that's the hardest. give Give me drama any day of the week, trying to make people laugh. I know people who are actually really funny but won't write comedy because they're like, no, it's just too hard.
00:35:57
Speaker
It's too hard. Why do you think that is? Why is it so hard? if we can agree that it's hard. but It is. I do think it's hard, yeah. ah I don't know.
00:36:08
Speaker
i don't know. i think it's, I think because, as i was saying, it is reliant on audience and so it's not going to hit the same every time. i think I think you need, if you're if you're working in a comedic fashion, you need to be comfortable with the fact that each show is going to be different, more different than perhaps a dramatic performance. Yes.
00:36:30
Speaker
I don't know. What do you think? I'm trying this out. No, no, I totally, well, what I know from experience is you can tell the same joke to five different audiences and you might get a laugh on it four out of the five times, but the time that it doesn't get a laugh, you can the The absence of the laugh.
00:36:47
Speaker
If you are performing drama, there is something you can feel the audience, but you don't there is no laugh to not hear, if that makes sense. yeah So it's very apparent when the joke doesn't work.
00:36:59
Speaker
When the drama doesn't necessarily land for a whole group of people, you can't necessarily tell. It's not as glaring, is it? It's glaringly obvious, yeah. Yeah. So i think there's I think there's a bit of that. I think in i think you need bravery.
00:37:14
Speaker
I think you definitely need bravery, yeah. I always find it interesting that people would say that, say Robin Williams, when he did he did drama, they're like, oh, that's surprising. I thought he was just a comedian.
00:37:26
Speaker
And even just the phrase, just a comedian. Oh, hello, dog. Yeah, just a comedian as if that is somehow a lower art form. Yeah.
00:37:37
Speaker
And then he does a dramatic role, gets nominated for an award because they don't see them as having the ability to... Steve Carell, Adam Sandler often get, I think, with the same brush stroke there, you know, yeah.
00:37:50
Speaker
And it's, I don't know, is this, I mean, oh, gosh, we're waiting in. We're waiting in. Go for Is this about perception of legitim of legitimacy of art form as well? Because, I mean, you know, like I'm not a stand-up but I've worked with many stand-ups and, like, ah they work hard. Like there's so much work going into crafting material and trialling it in front of audiences and, like,
00:38:13
Speaker
there's there's a lot of there's a lot of craft to that, you know, or there should be if you're doing it properly, you know. um just like Just like if you are a comedic performer or a writer, there's a lot of craft to that.
00:38:23
Speaker
But there's something about, I don't know, whether your audience is paid $80 and, ah you know, in a fancy building or whether your audience is paid $5 and they're sitting on a pint in a pub. yeah Like I don't think, and there's a snobbery.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah, and what I find interesting is, If in the theatre you make somebody in the audience cry, you have managed to do something that has elicited a a noticeable physical reaction.
00:38:49
Speaker
A laugh is exactly that, a noticeable physical reaction. So to manage to... To manage to affect an audience even and a whole audience, ideally, yeah to physically respond in such a way that they involuntarily laugh. Nobody's seeing me going, and I shall laugh now, yeah which is where the difference between applause and and laughter comes in. I find that absolutely fascinating. And the legitimacy of saying, well, we made the audience cry, and therefore it must be a brilliant piece of work, or we made the audience laugh and wasn't a brilliant piece of work.
00:39:23
Speaker
Yeah, but they did laugh. so they had So they had a good time. So that's good. I'm like, why is that the lowest metric we can think of? I don't know. Maybe because fart jokes just work. the and so It's a tough truth to accept, you know. Yeah. There's something, though, about that audience response. Like it's um about the contagion of the laughter as well, you know. Like he you can make audience members cry, but that's often quite a solo pursuit, you know, that you're desperately trying to, like, you know, wipe your nose on your sleeve and, you know,
00:39:52
Speaker
and hide it, whereas ah ah a laugh is contagious and it can take over the whole audience and then therefore unite a whole group of people as well. Like COVID. Exactly, just like COVID. Comedy is like COVID. um it's probably To be honest, given me equal amounts of grief in the last five years. but But no, it's it's contagious and it's uniting and that's something that's something pretty magic.
00:40:21
Speaker
you think comedy can change people's minds? Yep. Wow, that was that was more emphatic than I expected. How does it help? i mean, you talked earlier about there being a Trojan horse. no that's we're We're laughing, we're laughing, which means out our guard is down, perhaps our empathy is up, we're already feeling good.
00:40:41
Speaker
um How does it help change people's minds? ah Because it makes them feel better. Yeah. It makes them happy. And happy people are more likely to ah be forgiving and empathetic and understanding and stop and consider things.
00:41:01
Speaker
And I think that is all pathways into changing minds. Do you think there's anything that should be off limits when it comes to talking comedy?
00:41:12
Speaker
Like if you're trying to change people's minds and we come from, if if I can speak for you, we come from a fairly left of centre in our political views. um If there was a really good comedy that was a far-right fascist but still using comedy, would we go, well, that's a good use of, you know, mean...
00:41:29
Speaker
It's a tricky one. It is a tricky one. So thanks for lobbying it my way. Well, yeah i think I think the thing about theatre is it's supposed to it's supposed to affect people. Yeah. So, okay. Some things we shouldn't talk about, some things we should, but the the role of the jester has always been to poke the bear.
00:41:49
Speaker
100%. Yeah. And as much as I barrel on about the universality of comedy and how a good fart joke will bring the world together and stop world hunger... um I'm pretty sure that's what I was saying. That's exactly what you were saying, yeah. But there is also with that an acknowledgement.
00:42:06
Speaker
um I'm going viral. um There is an acknowledgement that are not all... We don't create all artworks for all people. There is an understanding of target audience and demographic.
00:42:19
Speaker
And so in that example that you gave, I think i I'm able to appreciate craft and form, but that doesn't mean that it has to be to my personal taste. For sure.
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I know you always talk about punching up rather than punching down. Yes. Explain that expression to people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. um It means if you are making fun of someone, you want to make fun of the people who are in power. So those who have higher status, so you are punching up, um rather than making fun of people who are already having a harder time than you. And that would be punching down because that's bullying.
00:42:57
Speaker
So do you think that... it's legitimate then to be taking potsh shots at presidents, for example. Yep. Because we're punching up, right? Yep. And some presidents aren't making great choices.
00:43:11
Speaker
That is yeah a very fair statement. Yeah, okay. just wanted Just wanted to make sure it's okay that I'm allowed to. Yeah. Okay. There is an ancient You're right, because the role of the jester is to poke the bear, right? And the and the jester ah was was never the highest ranked person.
00:43:27
Speaker
person in the court, you know. So, yeah, it's it's there to to poke poke poke the bruise in authority and go, hey, is this is this what it appears? always thought interesting. It's not to go like, look at all the poor people, those idiots, you know, like that's that's not what the role of the jester is. Unless that's what the king wants, in which case they have to do it or they... it always found the role of the jester quite perilous.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah. It's make me laugh, make me laugh, I don't like it off with his head. um Okay, depending on the king and depending on the jester, um but a good jester will find a way to do to to serve the king's command but then also go but oh here's the flip side that you haven't considered so let's talk about the that ability to ah how smart do you have to be when it comes to comedy like When we're talking plays, there are some very simple plays. There's some pantomime. He's behind you. Classic. You know dress the man up as a woman.
00:44:20
Speaker
It's going to get a laugh every time. Not highbrow, not like a really well thought out. ah okay Or dating particularly well, but yeah. Exactly. But... um the really good comedy, say you you're Stephen Colbert, who's, you know, quite intellectual.
00:44:37
Speaker
um And I say that simple joke can be the smartest thing in the world. How important do you think or what is that connection between intelligence and and comedy and the ability to write, um produce, you know, interpret comedy, let's say?
00:44:55
Speaker
I think you don't necessarily have to be book smart, but you do have to be street smart. You need to have an intelligence about humans because that's what you're manipulating, right? yeah Yeah, absolutely.
00:45:13
Speaker
I heard a ah heard a theory that was the reason that um but people find, you know, they say fact women find funny men attractive.
00:45:26
Speaker
And one of the reasons that was posited by this person was that it's it's a it's a showing of intelligence. How you get from from A to B is one thing, but to get from A to C and make it just as interesting and funnier than from getting from A to B is ah is an act of intelligence.
00:45:45
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And if you're looking at increasing your gene pool, you go out to the athlete or the intellect, right? They're two good options and comedy is the intellect while having a really good time.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yes, and i also think, yeah, I know. ah ah Yes, and i think that if you if you can laugh at yourself, if you are a clown, that also shows appreciation there there is less ego involved there as well, and so therefore less threatening.
00:46:16
Speaker
Yeah, very good point. I mean, often they speak talk of in um public speaking, one of the first things you want to do is get up there and make a joke at your own expense. Yeah. so that Address what everyone is thinking straight away. for me, being very tall, 6'10", when I get up there, usually the podium comes to just about where my jeans stop. Knees, yeah yeah. And I'll make a joke about that at the beginning of any presentation. so everybody goes, he is really tall.
00:46:40
Speaker
And then they lean into what I'm going to say yeah next, hopefully. Yeah, okay. um Next episode on Here Goes Nothing, we solve the gender divide and why.
Gender and Financial Challenges in Comedy
00:46:53
Speaker
Okay, well, let's talk about it. This is something that has always upset me um was that, oh, she's pretty funny for a woman. o du Duck, duck, duck. but The thing is I never saw it. Like I just didn't ever grow up with that.
00:47:08
Speaker
Like I didn't ever think. and this is my blind spot, this is my own thing, I just saw everybody as they're funny or they're not funny and it's got nothing to do with their gender. And then when people kept saying, but, you know, she's a woman, she's pretty funny for a woman, I was like,
00:47:22
Speaker
What are you saying? And I never saw that in my family, in anybody around me. I grew up with just as many women on stage as men on stage ah being just as funny.
00:47:33
Speaker
ah You know, it was. That's not strictly true, though. Like in the early days of the big hoo-ha. You've gotten funnier. The older you've gotten. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. No, I mean, but like 23 years ago when we started the big hoo-ha, there were fun.
00:47:46
Speaker
more men in that ensemble than there were women. Yes, you're very right. When I say as just as many women on stage as men, that is not accurate. You're right. Definitely that wasn't the case then um and possibly still isn't now. I would say the hoo-ha ensemble is still not equal gender-wise.
00:48:05
Speaker
But I guess what I'm saying is that the the people I was on stage with, regardless of gender, they're funny or they're not funny. It's got nothing to do with gender. Does that still rankle you or do you just go, sorry, you don't you don't know what you're talking about?
00:48:21
Speaker
bit of both. Yeah, a bit of both. A bit of both. I think we've come a long way, but I don't think that that we're there yet. No, not yet. Not yet. and um And that's a bit because of historical context and and just we're we're waiting to clear the dinosaurs.
00:48:36
Speaker
um Some of them, are you know, that's why they're screaming because they're about to die, um you know. ah But also, I mean, let's, you know, like if we if we really do want to go into a little like 101 gender studies, if you want to look at, for example, stand-up comedy, like that's a they're not sociable hours.
00:48:56
Speaker
That's late nights and in pubs and like there's still, there is still, that's when mums are putting babies to bed. Yeah. True that. True. Yeah. So they're not, it's that that those spaces are less accessible in in that, you know, because of the way that those domestic duties still fall.
00:49:12
Speaker
But also there are less um women yeah like that, that reflects in audiences and things as well. You know, like there's. we we just We haven't quite sorted that yet. We're getting closer. We are getting closer. It's a lot better. lot better absolutely whole It's a lot better. lot better.
00:49:29
Speaker
There's another inequity that we should talk about, which is, and we touched on it earlier, the funding and the the financial difference between comedy and, say, drama, particularly theatre, and that the funders, like you and I have both put in funding applications and find other interesting ways to say... You can't say it's comedy....because you're less likely to get fundinged It won't get up, yeah. um Stand-up comedy for the very first many many, many, many, many years as you work your way through it doesn't pay very well, if at all. Improv comedy, very much the same, doesn't pay.
00:50:07
Speaker
um
00:50:10
Speaker
Why do you do theatre if it doesn't pay or it didn't for a very long time? You've you've led into the theatre you've led into the comedy side of theatre and into that theatre world.
00:50:20
Speaker
You must do it for something more than just The money. um Yeah, we've all become very good at describing comedy in other ways for applications because it just won't get up. Yeah. Storytelling is a great catch-all phrase that love.
00:50:34
Speaker
Yeah. Light-hearted storytelling. Yeah, we even light warm, inviting. Yeah. yeah um Why do I do it, though? Because it's fun. Yeah, that's it.
00:50:45
Speaker
That's it. I mean, I think there's probably more to it than that, but also it's just a really fun way to do things. I think it's a fun way to spend time. I like mucking around with people and I like inviting people into mucking around.
00:50:58
Speaker
i think that's I think that's a
Comedy in Community Building and Cross-Genre Integration
00:51:00
Speaker
good time. Am I still sounding smart? I should go back to gender studies stuff. But, you know, like I think i think that's that's baseline, what it is. And I also, you know, I also feel very strongly about...
00:51:12
Speaker
um being welcoming and being inviting to people. And I think that, like we were saying before, comedy is a great way of doing that. It's a community builder. And is that why you do your arts practice, because of your connection to community, do you think?
00:51:28
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think that's a huge part of it. It's about, yeah, it's about, but it's ah it's extending a hand. Sure. What other areas of what other art forms do you think could use more giggles?
00:51:40
Speaker
I mean, outside of the arts, lots of places need more giggles. Oh, so many. But in the arts, what... Who needs a punch-up with some gags? is Yeah, that's kind of what I was trying to be more subtle than that. Yeah. And I was trying to write a funding application, but punch-up gags, yeah.
00:51:55
Speaker
Yeah. um i think I think, okay, hear me out. yeah This is just your opinion. of The news. The news. Could have a few more gags?
00:52:06
Speaker
Yep. Okay. Yep. I think that some, ah you know, like, and this goes, there's there's there's form for this. This is like Clark and Daw. This is um Mark Humphreys. This is, you know, all of the all editorial cartoons. They're funny and like that' that's what's,
00:52:22
Speaker
punching through there and and connecting with audience as well. So I think think the the news is a grim watch at the moment. And I think that some gags would make it more accessible and maybe encourage more people to tune in and watch because people aren't watching the news anymore.
00:52:37
Speaker
because it's awful. And it's on their phone. Yeah. But even that, not just they're disassociating from it and it's important to stay informed. So, like, how it was the hook? What's the little hook? So the news I think could use some gags. What about in the arts, in the arts sector? Mm-hmm.
00:52:54
Speaker
um Oh, in the capital A arts sector, not the Yes, the news, sure. i I don't really think of the news as entertainment and maybe that's for me.
00:53:04
Speaker
um where So I'm thinking more in our arts sector. Journos are in our union, so I guess I kind of, they're writers. They are. Absolutely they are. ah but within within the core arts, I think...
00:53:18
Speaker
Gosh, this what an invitation to piss off a lot of colleagues this question is. um i think I think, okay, um yeah flight I don't think opera is very funny.
00:53:32
Speaker
I think there are comedic roles. That silence was me trying to work out whether I should agree with you or shouldn't. If you want to jump in this hole that I've dug for myself. Well, I actually dug it for you. I took the first couple of spots. why don't jump in, Libby? Sorry.
00:53:45
Speaker
Look, I think there are comedic characters, but i don't think it's very funny. Look, and I agree with you, and I think there could be maybe more of it. Yeah. Puppetry, I think, is one. Sometimes there's not enough laughs. There can be. There can be. and and I've seen you do it very successfully. much.
00:54:01
Speaker
I remember seeing, I think it was called Trocadero, which was um ah ballet with a really strong comic. Yeah. What I loved about it also was people of varying sizes. Yeah. It was men in tutus.
00:54:15
Speaker
which I also found funny, but it was the very the fact that they didn't all look the same. Yes. And also they went out there and we look different, we're going to do it differently. And the way they got the audience. So more welcoming and more unifying. Yeah. It was they used comedy. Yeah. They were exceptional dancers.
00:54:31
Speaker
Yeah. It was their skill was amazing, but they used comedy to then show off their skills. The Yuck Circus girls do that so well. Oh, they do don't they? As well. Like they use comedy so... brit And if you haven't checked out the work of Yuck Circus, I just encourage you all to do that straight away because they're so funny and they're so diverse and that's they use comedy. Like they're incredible physical performers. They can do what mad tricks. I'm glad you said that because I was going to say circus could use a few more giggles.
00:54:59
Speaker
um But I think, well, you know, I think the thing is I think every art form can use more giggles. I think theatre could use more giggles. I think stand-up could use more giggles, ironically. But that's because I don't love a lot of stand-up. It's not my favourite kind of comedy.
00:55:15
Speaker
There is an ancient rivalry, an ancient rivalry in the comedy world that i I want you to weigh in on. Okay. This is the... the This is just a series of traps at the end of this podcast that you're laying for me now so that I never get hired again. But keep going. Improv comedy versus stand-up comedy.
00:55:34
Speaker
Stand-ups saying, well, it's not they didn't even write it, so it's not it can't be funny. It's not worthy. And improvisers saying stand-ups just do the same jokes every night.
00:55:45
Speaker
They don't invent anything new. Now, both sides are right in some regard. Where do you stand on that? It's nice. We're kind of coming to where we began with Impro Comedy at the end of this episode here.
00:55:58
Speaker
Impro Comedy is the arsehole cousin of the sector, 100%. ah hundred percent No one wants us. Comedy doesn't want us. Theatre doesn't want us.
00:56:09
Speaker
Like no one, like with we are we are the performer that is sitting at the kids' table at Christmas. Like no one wants us to sit with them. However, um you're right, the rivalry is deep and it is pure.
00:56:22
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, obviously I think improv comedy is far superior, but, you know, I've i spent a long time doing it. Yeah, that's Because good improv comedy, let's also say not all, you know, there's plenty of shit-ass improvisers, um ah is adaptive.
00:56:41
Speaker
I think that's what's... Nice. Yeah. What are you excited about right now in the arts sector in WA? No, look, globally, if you want. What's what's what's floating your boat?
00:56:53
Speaker
What's Rockin' Libby's world? ah I'm excited and mentioned it briefly before, I'm excited that we are in a place of change um because the old ways of doing things are dying. They're not well suited anymore. The context has changed.
00:57:08
Speaker
The sector hasn't quite kept up with the pace of change and they're just realising that. And so we're in this delicious little bit where we're like, shit, what else we got? How can we adapt and how can we morph?
00:57:21
Speaker
to where we want to be and where our audiences are. And I think that that's really exciting. And you know who's good at that? Improvisers. Yeah, that's right. I think comedy can definitely open those gateways.
00:57:34
Speaker
Hey, Libby, thank you so very, very much for coming and talking on Here Goes Nothing. I felt like nothing has gone. No.
00:57:44
Speaker
We're talking a comedy in theatre. Thanks for your time, Libby. Much appreciated. Thanks, Sammy. No worries. What a joy. A huge thanks to Libby Kleiss and Sam Longley for joining us this week on George Malone's Here Goes Nothing.
00:57:57
Speaker
What a fantastic conversation. was such a joy to be in the room as these two comedy pros bounced off one another and I really hope you enjoyed it. For references to a lot of what Sam and Libby talk about, check the show notes with more context and on what they're doing.
00:58:15
Speaker
And be sure to follow the big hoo-ha on all of the social medias. And if you're in Perth, make sure you get out to see a show. It's some amazing stuff there. Thank you for listening to Georgia Malone's Here Goes Nothing. This podcast is dedicated to the enduring, impactful and dynamic memory of Georgia Lindsay Malone.
00:58:36
Speaker
We produce and maintain each episode in Georgia's honour to keep the ripples moving. Georgia Malone's Here Goes Nothing is produced and engineered by Toby Malone with the support of co-producers Joe Malone and John Carter.
00:58:51
Speaker
Original theme music by Lyndon Blue. As for where this podcast is based, let's let Georgia get the last word. This podcast was made on Whadjuk Noongar Budja, a place I'm very privileged to call my home.
00:59:04
Speaker
And I acknowledge and honour all Noongar people that have been making art on this land for tens of thousands of years and will continue to do so for generations to come. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
00:59:16
Speaker
This is the GM Productions Project.