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"Silliness always wins" - Monty Franklin
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We live in an age where the lines between entertainment and political activism are so blurred as to be almost non-existent. Barbie is less a movie about a doll than a lecture about the patriarchy. The ‘Welcome to Country’ at most footy games will soon be longer than the game itself. And many stand-up comedians are less interested in telling jokes than they are about making political statements.
Monty Franklin is not one of those comedians. Instead he’s become one of Australia’s most successful US-based comedians by poking fun at the things that make Aussies great. In the words of John Cleese, who co-wrote with Monty the upcoming film, ‘The Great Emu War’, ‘silliness always wins’.
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Get tickets to see Monty’s show in Australia here.
Follow Monty on Instagram here.
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Transcript
Introduction to Australiana Podcast
00:00:14
Speaker
G'day and welcome to Australiana from The Spectator Australia, a series of conversations on Australian politics and life. I'm Will Kingston. We live in an age where the lines between entertainment and political activism are so blurred as to be almost non-existent. Barbie is less a movie about a doll than a lecture about the patriarchy. The welcome to country at most footy games will soon be longer than the game itself.
00:00:41
Speaker
and many stand-up comedians are less interested in telling jokes than they are about making political statements. Monty Franklin is not one of those comedians. Instead, he's become one of Australia's most successful US-based comedians by poking fun at the things that make Aussies great. In the words of John Cleese, who co-wrote with Monty the upcoming film The Great Emu War, silliness always wins. Monty Franklin, welcome to Australiana.
00:01:09
Speaker
Hey, thanks for having
Monty Franklin's Comedy Style and Beginnings
00:01:10
Speaker
me. Australia. I want to start. Well, I want to start where you started start of your standup career. So you were what, how old about that? Well, it's funny because you have said in the past that great comedians focus on their life story. And I was going to ask you what's your life story Monty, but I was worried how far back we'd go and how long we'd be going.
00:01:36
Speaker
Well, the first 20 years, everyone's life story is the same. You're just an idiot. And then you're trying to get yourself out for your early 20s. And then by your late 20s, you haven't figured anything out, so you rush to do something. And then you spend your 30s trying to implement that. And then your 40s is when you do most of your work. So I'm about to hit into that when I'm actually going to do something that means something.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think the story of comedians that talk about themselves, for me, is what makes great storytellers and great comedians. But there's been plenty of comedians in the past that haven't necessarily talked about themselves. I don't think Steve Martin really talked about himself. He was just a silly, funny guy.
00:02:20
Speaker
So there's definitely variations. But I'd say the most these days, like your Chappelle and Bill Burr and Kevin Hart, they talk about themselves and their families and stuff like that. And that's what I find the most interesting for comedy anyway.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah, it is interesting. So you started when you were what, 20 years old in Australia? About a week before my 21st birthday, I did a gig on the Gold Coast at the Gold Coast Art Centre. I drank six beers and was nervous and went in and performed three minutes, I think. And I think I got one laugh and that was enough.
00:02:55
Speaker
It's like golf, isn't it? Just one good shot and that'll keep you coming back. Well, because you actually improve and then it's just enjoyable. Whereas golf, you can be a professional and have a terrific day and just it's an awful sport, golf. Well, you've said that I've heard you say in the past that Australia is a particularly good training ground for young comedians.
00:03:20
Speaker
Why is that the case? I think so because the Australians are funny, which helps because then you are playing with the best of the best and you have to rise above and be even better to be seen above anyone else. So you go and start in Australia and you usually work in bars and pubs and the TABs are on in the background and there's a lot of things that you have to endure.
00:03:49
Speaker
in order to break through. And then when you come to a place like America, for instance, where people respect entertainment a little bit more, that's not to dumb down Australia saying we don't respect entertainment, but
00:04:04
Speaker
In Americans for some, because I think there's a lot of entertainment here, they get it. They go in and they say, oh, all right, entertainment, we're listening to this person. Let's see
Cultural Influence on Comedy
00:04:14
Speaker
what they have to say. Whereas Australians will be like, oh, you think you're funny, do you? We'll see about that.
00:04:20
Speaker
But as soon as you prove that you've got some fun things to say, Australians will generally love you forever and go, ah, he's, he's, all right, he's funny. So I think in that respect, it's a hard slog in the beginning. But once you sort of go through those those hard years in somewhere like Australia and England's the same. And then when you come to a place like America, you've kind of already had it all thrown at you. So nothing can sort of
00:04:48
Speaker
really sway you that much. What's that tall poppy thing with Australian audiences? I just wonder as well, is there that tall poppy aspect with Australian comedians, that cynicism? You've said yourself, you have a cynical streak. Does that help as a comedian? I guess.
00:05:08
Speaker
good as a comedian to point out what everyone else is thinking and then have a twist and make it interesting and funny. So to say that I'm cynical, I don't really know if that's true. I just I think I analyze things and then try and present them to people in a humorous way, really.
00:05:25
Speaker
Quote that i was looking at was and i think you were saying this half jokingly you have a healthy disdain for happy people did i say that must be having a look if someone's too happy and comes into a room like isn't the world amazing you like shut up.
00:05:43
Speaker
I'd rather hear about, like, I don't want to hear about how you paid your taxes on time and did everything right. I want to hear about the time that you stuffed up and you ended up bloody sleeping under a bridge because something silly happened. I'd rather hear about your stories rather than you successfully achieving all of your goals. I'd rather hear about some fun stuff. So since those days at the, uh, what was it? The Gold Coast rec center, was it?
00:06:10
Speaker
the Gold Coast Art Center. It used to have a comedy in the basement. It was really, really good club. It ran for, I don't know, maybe like 10 or 15 years, but it shut down, I think, over COVID and didn't return. But it was
00:06:23
Speaker
It was about 200 seats on a Friday night at the Gold Coast Arts Center. It was a great, great club, great room to work. And that was the first time that I did stand up comedy competition. I went in, did three minutes and I got to the second round of this thing and maybe even like the semi-finals or something. And I remember thinking at the time that I didn't want to pursue it anymore, but I went to England and, you know, tried to find myself like so many Australians and I found
00:06:51
Speaker
But maybe I was a bit of a dickhead. So I came home and then I had to figure something out. Like I said, you've got to do something. And I didn't want to do a normal job. I didn't want to be an accountant or something stupid. So I said, well, let's give this a go and see how it feels. So that was.
00:07:11
Speaker
about 20 years ago. Had I known that it would be 10 to 12 years of no money, I might have considered not. But it's a pretty amazing career and I've got to travel. I've been to 42 states in America now. I've done comedy in
00:07:33
Speaker
I think not that many countries, maybe like five countries all up or something like I've done Australia, Canada, I've done all of the US and then I used to work on cruise ships. So I went around a lot of the South Pacific. So I've got to see a lot and experience a lot and I've got to meet my heroes and my idols and everything. So it's been a wild journey and it's very fun, but it's a tough one. It's definitely tough, but it is one of my most favorite things in the world when I get to do my incoming passenger
00:08:03
Speaker
card on the on the plane and you have to put your profession and your nationality and to put Australian comedian. I feel very proud
Creative Process and Storytelling in Comedy
00:08:11
Speaker
every time I do it. I just really like it. I like the two things that define me. I think it's good.
00:08:17
Speaker
Has comedy changed in that time since you started your career? I guess so, but we've all changed. So to say that comedy has just changed and the whole world hasn't changed as a whole is a bit ridiculous. So think about 20 years ago, you weren't making jokes about iPhones and stuff, were you? So the comedy evolves as the world evolves. Also, the things that people are willing to laugh at from 20 years ago are vastly different than they will
00:08:44
Speaker
today. I mean, you look at one of the greatest stand-up performances of all time, which is Eddie Murphy's Raw, and it still stands up because it's Eddie Murphy and it's just flat-out hilarious. But some of the subject matter, you're like, yeah, if I went out and did that today, people would be like, oh, no, we don't laugh at that anymore. And I go, yeah, you do. You just laugh at it in private. Stop it.
00:09:06
Speaker
So yes there has been definite evolutions but i think everything as a whole the way we consume entertainment i mean there streaming now there's you looking at your phone you're on instagram looking at fifteen second clip so comedy has. Tighten as well if you look at some of the older comedic movies. Now there's so much data time because we're so used to having.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah, make me laugh now, now, and now, and the next thing now, and no, no break, and now, and now. So you look back at some of these ones where there was long pauses of no one talking and stuff, but that was how entertainment was consumed back there at a much slower pace, which is nice, but also it's just different. It's not like it's, you know, you're like, oh, I wish it was like that. It's just, it's different. That's all it is. You find you almost have to get to a punchline quicker now because the attention span of the audience is much less. The attention span,
00:09:58
Speaker
Particularly on social media is less. Yes, you have to get to a punchline in five seconds or it's the next video But I do still think if you're a good storyteller and you know how to bring people on a journey That's when they want to they will stick with you. I consider myself a good storyteller I was hanging around with Jim Jeffries recently and he was telling stories and I noticed how great of a storyteller he was and I
00:10:22
Speaker
You know when you hear someone who's not a great storyteller like, I don't know, your dad or something starts a story and they go, ah, you know what happened last Wednesday? Or was it Tuesday? Was it a Tuesday? And they get hung up on the stupid part of the story that doesn't actually pertain to the outcome. So once you see someone who just takes you on a journey and takes you through these stories, that you can still sort of, you don't have to go, oh, punchline, punchline, punchline. But you do have to be entertaining for sure.
00:10:50
Speaker
I want to dig down on the craft of comedy which again is in some respects the craft of storytelling a bit more
Mentorship and Influence of Joe Rogan
00:10:58
Speaker
so i've got a few practical questions around this for starters what does your creative process look like.
00:11:05
Speaker
Basically living and then writing notes in my phone in the notes section and not writing them in too much detail but just jotting them down and saying that's interesting and then trying them out on stage as soon as I can and usually working them out roughly on stage and then maybe adding more structure to them afterwards after I listen to them a little bit more.
00:11:29
Speaker
So there's a lot of people that will sit down and just write and write and I was Joe Rogan is adamant about telling me to do that. But I have found it hasn't really worked for me. And every time I try and write too much, it comes out a little bit scripted, like I'm doing the news report on the joke that Monty thought of today rather than just sort of talking and being myself. So everyone's got a different approach. And so for me,
00:11:56
Speaker
It's more about getting those ideas down in the phone quickly, then revisiting them later and saying, what was that that made me write that down? And what was the element that I want to connect with people and then try and explore that on stage? We'll get back to that. No one's really paying attention. We'll get back to that. But I want to detour to Joe Rogan since you brought him up. How was your experience with Joe?
00:12:22
Speaker
Joe has been a friend and a mentor for about, I've known him for about six years. He's taken me on tour and I've got to do some amazing shows. We did the Chicago Bulls stadium.
00:12:35
Speaker
which is 20,000 people and it was just me and him and Andrew Santino in the Bulls locker room. That was our green room. It was, Jordan's locker was there. It was ridiculous. It was so much fun. And he's also been a, just a great mentor and person to look up to. He was the first person who called me when I got engaged and like, he's just been a good friend. He called me the other day and we talked about comedy just for 45 minutes about
00:13:02
Speaker
all sorts of things. And it's nice to have people in those positions reaching out to me and encouraging me because, you know, you always question yourself, am I doing the right thing? Am I any good? So when you get those sort of just in nice injections of I'm doing the right thing, I'm on the right track, it's always,
Cultural Bridging in Humor
00:13:21
Speaker
always great. What do you think makes him successful?
00:13:24
Speaker
I think he follows his instincts and does what he wants to do, rather not saying he just does whatever he wants to do. He focuses on the things that he knows that he can do, like he loves
00:13:39
Speaker
martial arts and so he knows every facet of it so why wouldn't he be a great commentator for the UFC? Of course he is. He loves comedy, he knows every facet of it so of course he's a stadium-filling great comedian and then he loves to learn and listen to anything and everything so that makes him a great podcaster and a great person for us as an audience to listen to these things through because he's
00:14:08
Speaker
He's very good at letting everyone speak their minds and not sort of just saying, oh no, we'll only have this kind of voice on or we'll only have this person. So I think he's needed in society to balance everything out and give everyone a chance to explore for themselves.
00:14:26
Speaker
Back to the craft of comedy, how do you go about, what are the practical ways that you go about trying to really quickly establish a connection or a rapport with the audience? In America, I use a thing called the Australian accent.
00:14:41
Speaker
And it's interesting, it does capture people's attention straight away. So if I go out on stage at a brand new sort of show I've never been to or anything in the middle of the country, people often straight away go, oh,
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's Australia. We love Australians because we have such a great name here. I'm sure you know being here for the month that you've been in New York. You wonder why people are so enamored by Australians and just smile as soon as you say I'm from Australia. It's because the people that came before us
00:15:14
Speaker
have done such a great job about working
Insights on US Entertainment Industry
00:15:18
Speaker
hard, being good people, being fun people, being interesting people, and being good at their jobs. So those are the ones that have left a mark right back from in entertainment in America, probably before, but the earliest I can think of is Errol Flynn, who came over. He was Tasmanian.
00:15:34
Speaker
And then along the way, Geoffrey Rush, and Hugh Jackman, and Paul Hogan, and then Nicole Kidman, and Naomi Watson, and now we've got, you know, the Hemsworths and Margo, and it's just they're very talented people, so they give us such a great name, and everyone who comes in contact with Australia assumes they're going to be fun, and they usually are.
00:15:58
Speaker
It's always it's always good. And I always feel very proud about that when I go anywhere in this country or go in the middle of Dayton, Ohio. And, you know, I walked in there. This was this was a few years ago, I walked into the supermarket and I was speaking and some lady went, oh, my God, are you from Australia? And then she grabbed the thing and made a announcement over the speaker. There is an Australian in the supermarket.
00:16:22
Speaker
I walked around just saying hi to people and they just thought it was funny. And I thought that was great. I find it interesting. Like you mentioned a lot of actors there and I get the act, the success of Australian actors and actresses. In some respects, the success of Australian comedians is more surprising because I think we would assume that the sense of humor that we have is pretty closely aligned with the British, but it's quite different with the US. How do you go about bridging that cultural gap?
00:16:49
Speaker
It's interesting, when I first moved here, I noticed pretty quick that Americans have an idea of Australians in their head, right? So they have an idea of Paul Hogan and Hugh Jackman and this specific type of Australian which
00:17:04
Speaker
exists in abundance where we're from. But there's also a lot of different people. There's a lot of different comedy, a lot of different point of views and everything. But the one that they most closely relate to is that. And I think I fit that bill pretty well. And so to play into their already expectations of what they think an Australian is,
00:17:25
Speaker
and then talk about it but also not get to a point where Australians would find anything I'm saying cringe-worthy because there's a very fine line between talking about the stuff that we know culturally and then as we would say take the piss which is fun taking the piss is fun but if you go too far we're instantly like all right you're being a dickhead and you know so there's a fine line to tote and I've spent sort of the last 10 years
00:17:51
Speaker
realizing what American audiences want to hear from us as Australians and then also what Australians are proud and happy to portray to the outside world about us and ourselves really. So there is a fine line. I like to toy around with it and
00:18:09
Speaker
And Jim Jeffries is very good at it, but there hasn't been a lot of Australian comedians that have broken into the US, really. I mean, the biggest one is Jim Jeffries. He is our biggest Australian export of comedy in the US. The last one really was Barry Humphries with Dame Edna. I mean, you could argue that Paul Hogan was a standup and he was, but I think he came across more in the acting side of movies and stuff like that.
00:18:35
Speaker
So to say that the actors, Australian actors, it always seems to be Australian actors, yes, and actresses, but comedians, I find there hasn't really been many who've cracked into the American market real well. Like for me, one of the greatest comedians on the planet is Carl Barron, but he's very uniquely Australian. I'm not, I know he's come here and done shows and maybe he doesn't want to explore the American thing or something like that.
00:19:05
Speaker
But I know Dave Hughes did and he's also one of the greatest Australian comedians we've had. But I think for someone like Dave Hughes that put that in perspective, he makes so much money in Australia and England and stuff like that to come to America and do what I said I had to do, which I didn't earn anything for the first five years.
00:19:29
Speaker
And to do that is a big step down for someone like Yeezy, you know. So I came at the right time in my career and my life where I didn't have a family I needed to take care of. I wasn't foregoing a massive paycheck back in Australia. So I could sleep on couches and do the thing. And it took a while, took a while to sort of gain momentum. And because Americans, the industry here, they don't care about what you've done somewhere else. They really don't.
00:19:57
Speaker
You could you could have TV shows in Australia, radio shows and this and that. And they just, you know, they're like, what have you done here? Well, nothing. So it's very interesting. Yeah, is that there is that stereotype about the U.S. that it is very insular?
00:20:14
Speaker
would that be why you'd say they have that attitude? Well, honestly, they deserve to be a little insular. They have all of the entertainment options and stuff all here. I think Americans make the best content full stop in standup, in movies, in TV, in podcasting, whatever you want to see. I mean, the
Media's Portrayal of Division in America
00:20:39
Speaker
only thing that's rivaled is perhaps
00:20:41
Speaker
the British music scene, which had a small band called The Beatles and perhaps the Rolling Stones. But apart from that, it seems like America generate most of what I would consider the best entertainment in the world. So yeah, they've got every right to sort of be like, well, you haven't cracked the big
00:21:00
Speaker
the big market, which is America. So you have to prove yourself a little bit beforehand. Yeah, that's fair. And you said you've been across what, 42 States now in America. You've seen most of the country, you've got a pretty unique insight into it. There's a lot of doom and gloom in the world media about the US, a lot of talk around it being a really divided polarized country now. Yeah. You see that in person as much as you may hear it in the media and on the news.
00:21:30
Speaker
No, I see it in the media here and on Facebook and stuff and it almost seems like there is an active attempt to make everyone believe that. When the truth of the matter is, and I think myself and other comedians that tour around this country every single week and see someone from, oh, sorry.
00:21:51
Speaker
the cat is getting stuck into something. I see a new demographic each week from Denver to Chicago to Ohio to wherever and I see these people and I shake hands with them after the shows and I see a 99% of people smiling and enjoying their lives and just want to be good people and
00:22:16
Speaker
have a pleasant existence. They're not there thinking, why aren't they thinking like me? Why isn't this? Yes, they've got political views and stuff, but they're not carrying it around with them in a backpack everywhere they go. It's not as polarizing as the media would portray it to be.
00:22:37
Speaker
It's definitely very prevalent in places like Los Angeles and New York, where these kinds of conversations are probably happening more often. Whereas in North Dakota or wherever, they don't care. They just want to have a good time and watch the baseball and enjoy their lives. So summing up that, no, America is not at war with themselves.
00:23:05
Speaker
There's a lot going on, but there's always a lot going on. Everyone always says, oh my God, we've never been this divided. Of course they have. There always has been divide. There's always been issues. There's always been problems to overcome and everything. And honestly, it's nice that I do get to physically meet a lot of people in this country and know that, yeah, like I said, most of them
00:23:30
Speaker
are just good people that want to enjoy their lives and let you enjoy your life too. That's quite
Appeal of Political vs Personal Comedy
00:23:36
Speaker
refreshing to hear. It gets me thinking about comedy and how you can try and I guess play to people's best instincts or their worst instincts. How do you think about that distinction between how you kind of go about making people laugh and whether you appeal to their better nature or to maybe their prejudices? We'll put it this way. Can you think of a very high profile political comedian?
00:24:00
Speaker
that you really like listening to? No. The biggest one I would say who talks about politics and even he doesn't do it that much is Trevor Noah and he's a great comedian. He stand-ups unreal and he fills up stadiums and sure he has a polarizing sort of view and talks about politics a little bit but the best stuff that he talks about is about himself and his family and everything like that. The comedians that I sort of admire
00:24:25
Speaker
and that are the ones that are selling out show after show at Madison Square Garden like Sebastian Maniscalco and these types of people that just talk about their lives and their families and and their wives and their husbands and their kids and the dog and the cat and the you know you go out there thinking that you have to be
00:24:45
Speaker
this voice, like you're going to lead people in some kind of rebellion, you're going to get nowhere. Because I tell you what, people in their nine to five lives have to deal with politics in everything that they do. Everything in the office always has a political undertone, always has this and that. So if they want to come out on a Friday night and hear about more of that,
00:25:10
Speaker
No, they want to just be silly, and they just want to have a laugh. One of the greatest thrills of my life that I'm lucky enough to call John Cleese a friend, and he just says, silliness always wins. So if
Development of 'Great Emu War' Film
00:25:26
Speaker
you can just be silly and fun, you're going to make people happy. You don't have to go, hey, did you know this is what's happening in that day? And they're like, just shut up. No one cares. Just being funny and silly.
00:25:40
Speaker
One of my questions on my list is, what have you learned from John Cleese? So you've managed to preempt that one pretty nicely. I want to get back to John Cleese and how you met him and your working relationship with him. Before we do that though, I just want to round out this conversation on America. I think as I said, you've got a really unique insight into this country. Do you change your routine at all if you say North Dakota, if you're North Dakota compared to if you're at home in LA?
00:26:09
Speaker
Perhaps, perhaps slightly. But again, I'm not really doing that much polarizing stuff. I just might have to slow down a little bit in certain parts of the country because of the accent. And they really can't understand me. Whereas LA and New York, they're pretty used to foreign accents and stuff like that. So I don't try and change up too much of my material, but I'm aware of it. So yeah, there's probably a slight shift.
00:26:37
Speaker
Well, there is this surreal image that I have in my mind and it is Monte Franklin, Rob Schneider and John Cleese living together in a house writing about emus. Hilarious. How did that come about?
00:26:53
Speaker
I started, I was in, first of all, I was in San Antonio learning about the Alamo, America's war that kind of changed the history of America. And I thought, I wonder if there's instrumental wars in Australia's history. So I just, I Googled some stuff and up came the Great Emu War, which for those that don't know, the Australian
00:27:12
Speaker
government went to war with the emus in 1932 and they lost so the emus were too fast they ran circles around the army they couldn't they couldn't shoot them the emus are mainly feathers
00:27:25
Speaker
The guns got jammed. It was four soldiers basically against 20,000 birds, but it was kind of a bit of a faux pas in our history that no one really knows about. So I started doing this joke about it on stage and then Rob said, you should write a movie about that. It's a bigger story, people.
00:27:42
Speaker
And they did. They were always asking more questions about that particular joke. And so I started writing. And I should add as well, this joke went viral across different social media platforms. Was it over a billion views on TikTok? Is that right? It was TikTok and it did that thing where people were
00:28:02
Speaker
mimicking it with my voiceover and stuff and I'm not sure what it's called but it was very funny. There's one girl who's got one she's just in her lounge room repeating it's my voice but it's her repeating this thing and she's had like half a billion views or something so yeah got out of hand which is fun but um
00:28:22
Speaker
That, yes, that started off as a joke on stage. And then we we wrote this movie myself and Rob Schneider started writing it. And then Camilla Cleese is John Cleese's daughter. She does stand up here in America. And I've known her for years just to stand up.
00:28:39
Speaker
And writing this, I said to her, it would be a dream to have your dad play my father in this movie, because I'm playing the main role in this movie. And she said, I'll show it to him. And he loved it immediately. And then he suggested he should come in and help to sort of touch up some of the writing. And we were like, oh, God, of course, John Cleese.
00:29:01
Speaker
So, yeah, myself and John Cleese and Rob Schneider and Jim Jeffries was there for a little bit. All sort of got together in Arizona in this house. And we wrote the script to this movie together. And just basically we just laughed and enjoyed thinking about ridiculous things and being silly, like John said. And then out came this just incredible heartfelt
00:29:28
Speaker
It's a story, it is a comedy, yes, but it's much deeper than that. This is something I really think Australia is going to be very proud of because it is a story in our history, but we've got elements of what makes Australians so unique and fantastic. We've got that in spades in this movie, so I'm just really excited about it. What are those things? Mateship. It's interesting that
00:29:57
Speaker
You think about mateship as a throwaway thing, perhaps in Australia, that we actually really care about each other.
00:30:06
Speaker
Even when you don't, you ever seen two people at the bar yelling at each other and the next thing they're having a drink together? There's something that exists in Australian culture that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. And I think it's a good thing to explore. And what we did have in the movie, and I'm probably giving away too much information, but why not?
00:30:27
Speaker
is you think, oh, you need to have a love story and stuff like that. But I suggested, why don't we just have a friendship, an Australian mateship and explore that a little bit. So we did, and it was really interesting to just show
00:30:42
Speaker
people caring about other people. You ever watched Ted Lasser? Do you ever wonder why so many people gravitate to that and think it's amazing? It's because of that, what I'm talking about, which is Mateship, which they've all got in that movie. British are very good at it too with the Mateship. So just good people being kind and connecting with each other without any further
00:31:03
Speaker
sort of, you know, it doesn't need to be a love story or a, you know, it's just about humanity helping each other out a little bit. So we explored that deeply, which we didn't expect it to go that way thinking about the Silly Emu war, but it's nice to have this really connecting storyline on the backdrop of something so silly and ridiculous, which plays right into exactly what John Cleese was telling me. Always keep it silly and ridiculous.
00:31:32
Speaker
But the underlining story is grounded in such truth and heartfelt, genuine, that the overall result is you walk out of this movie feeling deeply moved, having laughed the whole time, but really giving yourself a perspective on the world in a different way, which is very fun for me to think that we can do that for people.
00:32:02
Speaker
You said we went off to fight the emus, what was it in the 1930s, right? 1932, correct. 1932. The Australian values that you've tried to bring to life in the movie
00:32:13
Speaker
that were there in 1932, do you think they are still in the country as strongly today as they were then? I think they're vastly different. I mean, you think about the country almost a hundred years ago, and first of all, there was horrific stuff going on that we all know, and there's horrific stuff going on today. But to focus on the joyful parts of what life would have been like in 1932,
00:32:39
Speaker
is very interesting and exciting and again our culture and our world has changed vastly but I don't think your sort of innate compassion for fellow man and humanity is still present and I see it when I walk into the
00:32:57
Speaker
bakery in downtown Launceston in Tasmania or wherever and there's genuine concern for me living in LA from a random lady working at the bakery and wants me to make sure I take care of myself now. So yes, I think and I don't even want to say I hope because I really do think that it exists
00:33:19
Speaker
And it's been interesting putting out some of these silly videos that I've put out on my Instagram, which it's just fun. It's silly. And it's kind of showing again, that sort of piece take of Australians and the response that I've got from everyone enjoying them.
00:33:34
Speaker
leads me to believe that, again, going back to the polarizing political things of the world today, people don't want to hear about it. They just want to be silly and be entertained. So, yes, I think it still exists. I think the difference from 1932 to today is, I mean,
Advice to Young Comedians
00:33:53
Speaker
obviously there's innumerable differences, but I think that sort of, that desire to connect on a human level,
00:34:03
Speaker
back then still exists today. It's just in different forms these days and it might be over social media or stuff, but the connection that you want is still there. It's a really nice point. And as an aside, a link to Monty's Instagram is in the show notes for everyone to enjoy. The final question, Monty, because you've now been grinding away on comedy for well over a decade.
00:34:25
Speaker
Decade now. You're about to have your first movie coming out. You're coming back to Australia as a now very successful American based comedian, obviously an Aussie, but an American based comedian. And you've just added some extra shows to the tour because the original shows have all sold out. What advice would you give to a young Aussie comedian starting out in the industry today?
00:34:46
Speaker
Move to America. No. I mean, it sounds like such a cliche thing to say, but the quicker you can do this, the better to find your unique voice, what makes you interesting and different. Because the first three to five years of doing stand up, you will just mimic other people. It's just the way that it is. You think, oh, that's my favorite comedian. So I'm going to talk and move like that person.
00:35:13
Speaker
But the second that you figure out your unique take on, because there's not that much subject matter, you think about how many things you can talk about. There's only so many things. So you have to have a unique perspective on every one of these subject matters.
00:35:29
Speaker
So why am I going to listen to you over that other person? And what's interesting about your perception of the way you see these things? So the quicker that you can be comfortable with yourself and find your voice, the more fun you will have and the more success you will have. It took me a while to be honest. I think it honestly, it took me like really 12 to almost 15 years to find my voice properly.
00:35:57
Speaker
Now it doesn't always take people that long but i'm just being honest that i really haven't i felt more comfortable with myself on stage in the last few years than i have for the previous twelve before that.
00:36:12
Speaker
comedians like my friend Ronnie Chang, who's very successful here in America, he found his voice very early. So three, five years in, he was already giving his unique perspective on all of these subject matters without feeling like you were listening to someone doing an impression of someone else.
00:36:33
Speaker
As a result, he is a massively successful New York based Australian Singaporean comedian who is amazing to watch. And so my advice for young comedians is first of all, go out and watch and absorb as much comedy as you can and do it live too. You can watch Netflix and all that sort of stuff and that's great. But going out and watching it live and seeing how different people approach different
00:37:00
Speaker
subject matter and then wondering what and how you talk amongst your friends, amongst your family at the dinner table and stuff that makes you interesting and try and hone in on that. Yeah, I love it. Well, if you are a young Aussie comedian, perhaps the best way to go about doing that is to go see Monty in person. Monty, you're in Oz from I think July 28th. We've added
00:37:23
Speaker
all the different venues and dates in the show nights for everyone to go grab a ticket. Keep an eye out for the Great Emu Wall. When's it due out, Monty? Hopefully by the end of next year. But I have said that for the last few years in a row. Making a movie is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my career. Yeah, well, hopefully you don't have another pandemic to deal with before that happens. Oh, that was a nice little speed bump, wasn't it?
00:37:53
Speaker
Monty's in Australia from July 28th. Go out and see him. Monty has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much for coming on, Australiana. Thanks for having me. We all appreciate it. Thank you very much for listening to this episode of Australiana. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review. And if you really enjoyed the show, head to spectator.com.au forward slash join. Sign up for a digital subscription today and you'll get your first month absolutely free.