The Chaser Report - 50 Shades of Jay | Sammy J

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

We're joined by musical comedy royalty Sammy J in this Afternoon Edition of The Chaser Report. Sammy's podcast 'Sammy J: Snack Pack" is nominated for a podcast award, so Lachlan and Gabbi try to learn what Sammy's plan is to eliminate the competition. Sammy delves into his experiences as a musical comedian, how he got started, and his comedy inspirations. Plus Lachlan tries to get adopted by another comedy father figure, will he succeed? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to another afternoon edition of The Chaser Report for Thursday, the 25th of November. I'm Lachlan Hodson. And I'm Gabby Bolt. And today, Gabby and I are going to have a wonderful chat with a comedian that we've looked up to for quite some time, the phenomenal Sammy Jay. We talk all about his podcast, Sammy Jay's snack pack, as well as a bit of emphasis. us on the upcoming podcast awards, which he's also nominated for. And we also delve into his musical history and his inspiration.

And just what makes his brain go, let's make another amazing comedy song. It's a really, really fun chat, and there is minimal fanning out from Gabby and I. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed having a chat with him. And so here he is, Sammy Jay. Right after this. The Chaser Report, now with Extra Whispers. All right, we're joined here for another after. afternoon edition of The Chaser Report with none other than the phenomenal Sammy Jay.

Sammy, how are you? I am very well. Thank you, Loughlin and Gabby, although phenomenal is a very, very strong word. Well, you know, we love you very much and it's great to have you here. Sammy, we're trying to plan out the Australian podcast awards, okay? It's probably the biggest event of the year for people like us who do podcasting. You do Melbourne Radio from 5.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. every single day. We do a daily podcast. I feel like we do very similar things,

but on different platforms. Yes, something gets paid. Why is your colleague laughing incessantly at every word you say? Like, well, I feel like there's an undermining happening right now. Yeah. I'll have to get HR to look into it. We don't have HR. I'm assuming you guys have HR at ABC Radio. I've been told or threatened with that fact for many years now, but I haven't I met them in person. So you're nominated for a podcast award in Best Radio Podcasts. Have you got like a speech prepared? But when you win, never will.

Well, look, I appreciate the confidence you have in the product. However, it is an ABC radio podcast up against the might, the titans of commercial radio. So I can only assume that I will be left trailing in the dust of another person winning. Out of your competition, is there a fake? I, um, Lawrence Mooney has, you know, he's a, he's a legend and I'm sure does wonderful work, but perhaps like you doing daily content means, and particularly with my breakfast radio hours, I'm just a terrible consumer at the moment. Like if you name, I spend my life talking about like pop culture and things on the radio about things I've never seen, heard or

or read or tasted. So it's a, it's a really, it's a bit of an existential crisis of a way to live a life. but I can't say I'm that across the competition at all. We're going off there. Who do you want to talk shit about, Sammy? Come on. What's your plan? How are we eliminating the competition? I'm so glad you have stopped recording and given me this chance

to freely speak in my mind about every fucker in the Australian radio and comedy industry who I want to bring down. We don't have enough time to list the enemies I have made all the threats that I've received. So just assume, if it's someone in the public eye who you know, assume there is an active grudge being held between the two of us. That is a healthy way to live. It certainly keeps the mind racing.

It also keeps the butt clenching and the heart pounding. Now that's some poetry. It's a full body workout. Yeah. I'll try that and I'll lose a couple of kilos, let you know how it goes. Actually, Sammy Gavis just pointed out, you are quite the poet. And obviously, you're a musical comedian. You're known for doing stuff with Randy, somehow operating a piano and a puppet at the same time.

I'm very talented. We're both musical comedians as well. And so one of the criticisms that you often face when you're a musical comic, or particularly from the new generation, is, oh, you're just like Sammy J, but on a ukulei, or you're just like Tim Minchin, but a woman. Classic. We're sort of wondering, you know, for you as a... as a renowned musical comedian who developed his own audience and his own voice,

starting up, what was that like? Who were you getting compared to, or who are you being told that you stole from? Well, it is a beautiful question. I feel like I'm amongst friends knowing your work as well, and so we could be honest with each other. Big fan of the Ratatoumi musical, Sammy? Oh, you know that I am. Shut up. We've spoken about it on the radio.

Yeah, we did. It was so amazing. And I've seen you tinkle your ivory is Lockland Hudson, so don't you think you're getting away without a compliment as well. The point is, you two, the point is, my first thing into, like my first real love of musical comedy was forwarded by listening to Tom Lira. It's a musical song on piano in the 1960s in America about politics. And when I say that now, it's like what like a stupidly obvious full circle thing. Like now I sing songs on piano about Australian politics.

But it was a much longer journey for me because then I got into Frontline and I loved satire and then Frontline at Elliot Rhodes who was a piss take of Tom Lira who was singing purpose. shitty comedy songs on piano. But I would learn those songs as well as hating the character but loving it. So I was like a sort of combination of totally appreciating the fact that it was a pisteak but also really digging the songs and the rhymes as well. And I've sort of lived with that shame ever since because I've sort of play both roles. And so when I started singing songs, there was no one else really doing it on keyboard. One of my earliest gigs, Tim Minchin was on the bill, but he was doing a stand-up routine.

It was a raw comedy gig. And he hadn't done piano stuff like on the comedy scene in Melbourne at that point. And I think he's told me since it. He's like, he saw me doing it. You're like, hang on, I can do that better. I'm going to have a crack. So I still take 10% of his royalties. Lovely.

So, yeah, so in terms of being derivative or anything, like I, there's no one on the scene who I was at all modeling myself on. I probably would have benefited from doing that. But I just was pretty stubbornly trying to be my own thing. And that, you know, in comedy, that's the only thing you can do. But it can come at a cost. Like some of my early stuff was. I think there was always a genuine streak of originality there, but there was also a genuine streak of really shit material along the way.

And, you know, you stay around long enough. You carve out what appears to be a more confident routine. Yeah. I think it's really interesting too because, I mean, Lachlan and I are both from a similar sort of age group. And our introduction to comedy in general had, it was very grounded in musical comedy. Like, I saw your stuff on Good Newsweek on Channel 10,

and I saw it on sideshow with various other acts like Tripod and Tim and all of that. And I just feel like there was such an embrace for that style. Like, I don't know what I would have done had I not been introduced to the magic of it. Because I think it's like, I think it's very clever what you're able to do with sort of just keeping an audience as potty in your hand for whatever you do. And also, like, you're so talented as well on the piano. I was just going to ask you, is there a musical history there? Like before comedy, did you find yourself falling into musical comedy? Or were you like, nah, I'm going to do musical comedy, that's what I do.

Or like, did you do music and stuff? I would love to hear about sort of your other projects and things. Gerby, I've got like seven things to say off the back of that one sentence. So I don't know how much time, but they're like, so, okay, I did to go bit by bit. One, I was never on side show. I was booked, but I never got on because the material I submitted was not up to scratch. And then Tim Minchin was like four episodes and Josh Thomas was on it. And he was like, but good news will.

which was on 10 years ago exactly was a huge thing for me and Randy and I doing things and like it's genuine you know I'm just going to be sincere because why not but like it is so awesome to hear that you might be watching that and then that you know you took some stuff from that so I did I saw you every time but every generation has like in their heads the previous generation was like maybe you know setting the tone or laying the sort of foundations and so for me that was same like Landau and Woodley and growing up watching them and everything so I still feel illegitimate in every in every sense but you know Genuinely, but it's so nice to think that, I guess, I would pull the wool over your eyes enough to think that it was, it's firing.

Because at the time, you know, you're just a nervous wreck every time you're doing stuff, particularly in the early years. So, but as far as musically speaking, no, my love has always been comedy. Like I've wanted, even since I was school, I wanted to take the piss, surprise people, you know, be the butt of the joke or try and make the joke. And music was absolutely my tool to do that. And even in the early days of like, because, you know, when I started the comedy scene, it was, it was Tim Minchinetti perfect. They were the other two musical pianists. And that's not, you know, like I was, I've never will be or never have been as good

as songwriter or musician or or vocalist as them at all. But equally, it was never my desire to be either. Like I would all like to be better than we are. But it was for me always about the jokes. The comedy told the story. Yeah, and the comedy. Yeah. And so I've, so often most of my early songs, you know, were 45 seconds long.

Like, I'd do a joke and I'd stop because I didn't want to be doing. repeated choruses because it's always for me about surprising the audience and that's this comes back to your earlier comment about musical comedy and and the reputation or sometimes the bad reputation it gets I think for me comedy is about surprising an audience and if you're doing like a repeated chorus that has the same jokes yeah it's no longer a surprise and so every song I write to varying degrees of success is still trying to stay a step ahead of the crowd and even if it's repeating things that you know I still want to have somewhere I'm heading with it they're not expecting and you do it brilliantly you do you do you do

it brilliantly and I don't want to hear you say that your songwriting isn't a pie ever again because it's brilliant. No, I didn't say it was crap, did I? You just, I just wanted you to know that I think you're just as good as everybody else. No, no, thank you. No, no, but like I'm just know, I'm being objective. Like I think, you know, like I've done some really good stuff and I also done some poor stuff. But I think I wrote a song called Pink Clouds a few years ago, which is probably the, it's my favorite song I've ever written. But to me, it's sort of after I wrote that, I was like, I'll be happy if I never write another comedy song because it actually was achieving everything I wanted to do,

which is it does keep surprising and it's also musically nice. Yeah, it's beautiful. That's a wonderful little song at that, that simple thing that we all relate to of finding a corpse. I wish I would find someone dead and make it onto the news. That little line where you're like, this dead guy's mind, just sort of like Gabby, we had this sort of golden age of musical comedy on TV

where I get to watch the chasing, at 8.30 and then a little show called Wednesday Night Fever. Oh. Oh, that's a rare one for the audience. But Wednesday Night Fever. And it was this brilliant introduction for me as an 11-year-old child into blending this love of comedy with being a bit of a political nerd and a bit of an outsider and having those interests. And so you've talked about how you always wanted to focus on comedy.

When did the politics start coming into it? Did you enjoy Wednesday Night Fever? Sammy, I still watch that stuff. He actually does. I've caught him in the office doing it. Oh, that is amazing. Because it was a short-lived series, of course. You know, like I've been on more series that have not continued than that have.

And so that was a very brief little period. Not without its challenges, but it was, as you said, it was a nerds delight because it was entirely focused on it. So my, it was a strange thing where I, you know, politics was my thing at school. Like, I was a real nerd. I got into it. My dad was a politics teacher. So it was naturally my interest. But when I started, all my early material, I never went.

anywhere near it, I was like, you know, writing sex joke songs and other, you know, of higher and lower brow material. The fingering song, for instance. Yeah, a fingering song, for example, you know, clever rhymes. And I'll stand by that. But it was not a political song. It probably is today. So it was really around the Good News World, actually, well, 10 years ago when Randy and I

were doing weekly sketches. I think that when we totally, because it was a topical show, we were leaning right into that. We wrote a song about Kevin Rudd haunting Julia in the lodge and all this. sort of things. And then off the back of that was probably why I was considered for Wednesday night fever because they were looking for a host for that show when they came to me. And then because it was my natural place to play, I sort of

fell in, it was very natural for me to then start turning my attention and whatever skills I had to that world. And then the big, I sort of haven't ever felt like I've had a big break as such, but probably the biggest break career-wise was 2016 election. And Randy and I had just been told that we weren't getting a second series of Ricketts Lane, which broke our heart.

That was our sitcom. And didn't just break your heart. Sammy, just break your heart. It breaks, oh, thank you, like, you're too kind. I still feel like you're about to, you're about to introduce, like, my accountant and reveal I've got a massive tax bill or something. I feel like you've been too nice. There's a sting in the tail here. But, but.

You've got all the old tweets, right? Yeah. No, never tweeted. Never tweeted. So suck on that. Damn it. I've got no history. But at the end of that disappointment, the proper, like, lowest point of my career, like two

weeks later, I was he said, oh, hey, they're having an election, would do you, we need some online content. They were just desperate for some digital like stuff. And Chaser were already doing the, um, was it the long desk show? Oh, sorry, we're not allowed to talk about that in the office, Sam. Okay, well. The long desk is like, it's going to create. You know, everyone was doing stuff.

But I, they said, would you do some, a daily, like, cheap sort of show? And I very quickly on the back of a napkin sort of thing, thought, what, what can I do here? What's cheap and what's? And I thought, what about a play school parody? because I could do songs, I could do artwork. And playground politics was that thing. And genuinely, I feel like the last five years of my life has been dictated by that little three-week project that I did

because it really took off pretty majorly. And what a ride. Like, it is, that is just one of the most perfect blendings of worlds that should never coincide. I was going to ask you, actually, have you ever received any legal threats from the play school team? No, I sat next to like the director at once, at an ABC event and she like made some quip to that effect but it was I think it said in jest

and as they all know I think you're like play school has never once been the butt of the joke you know like no of course not knowing who the target is important so it's that's just the form but it is we it is yeah that's a real showbiz tale in that I was sort of down and out feeling glum but I you know it's that thing of being ready you can't make your own you make your own luck by being ready for opportunities that opportunity came along and I was I was definitely ready to jump into it. Well, I think when Justine Clark starts doing musical comedy duos with a felt puppet, then we can be aware there's an issue here. The Chaser Report, less news, less often.

We were going to ask as well, for our audience who, for some reason, haven't heard of it, Sammy Jay does a weekly political satire short series. They're about four or five minutes long. They come out every Thursday. You just finished the last episode of it for the year. the finale, which was about electric vehicles, do your kids, because it's on it at a very specific time slot, do your kids watch that show, Sammy? My kids do. I've got two girls, and they're six and nine, and on a Thursday night, we will, unless other things come up, like, hey, it's Daddy's TV spot time.

So we switch it on at 65, and then they'll say, oh, what is it tonight? I'll say, I playground politics, they go great, or if they say, like, it's the coach, and like, because they find the coach boring. but they're pretty well school to the point where like on the weekend they decided they wanted to film a little like press conference and one of them was going to be gladys and one was Dan and they were just like dressing up and being so and I realized as they were just riffing out at improvising but I'm like oh my gosh they've really been steeped and school in Australian politics from a very early age because it was all flowing out very naturally it must be really sort of sweet as a father to go I can't wait for my kids to get bullied at school just like I did I get to see years of torment ahead for them. I'm only grateful that I don't use my real name in public. I do. Like, it's Sam Jonathan McMillan.

It's just boring. So at least they're not saddled with the J as the surname, so they might be able to disown me a little more easily. Well, Sam, Jonathan McMillan, there is actually one place where your real name's shown up a few times. As, you know, Chase and members where we're big fans of stunts. We go out, we make a fool of ourselves, and we do things in public. You've been doing a couple of cheeky stunts lately with the paper with self-written reviews, haven't you?

Little research Hodson on the case with his little Watson on the side kick, Gabby there, doing your little... I would love to say that I've done the same amount of work as Watson on this, but Lockhees all over it. I'm just here for the vibes. It's great. Sher Lachlan-Hodson's done about 10 years of this research, so it's all paying off finally. Yeah, well, yeah, I've been writing letters to the Green Guide since I was 12 years old. I used to write about Disney films

and, like, argue with the reviewers, genuinely. And then I started writing letters, I'm criticising myself as a radio presenter when I started the job last year because it was pretty much shaking the piss out of the classic ABC listener who would write that sort of letter, and I thought I'd just get in ahead of the pack. Do you find that it drives down any kind of complaint, though?

Oh, it did. It was a three-act joke, back to the idea of, you know, trying to surprise people. And it was actually just me trying to do a joke with. The first one I wrote and said, who's the Sammy J is ridiculous. And I used my real name, Sam McWill, and so they printed it. But the next one, I said, hey, I'm coming around to Sammy J. He's really turning it down. And then the third one, the third one actually wasn't me.

The third one, they printed this like six months ago with someone really ripping into me. Then I went online and said, hey, I got another letter published and used this pseudonym. And so I owned a real letter. Everyone thought that it was actually me. And what's happened since? Green guy, I've never again published a letter critical of me because they think it's from me. Brilliant.

That is brilliant. Actually, I've got a show coming up. It's my first ever show. And I reckon I'll just employ you to roast me. And over three years, I'll just keep paying you to keep my reputation out of the hands of actual people. I will take that mantle.

Hey, what's the show? You mean a live show? Yeah, live show. Sorry, this is not about, I wasn't meant to plug my own stuff on this show. Is it for festivals? It's called, I hope my keyboard doesn't break, and it's my first musical comedy solo show. Amazing. And where will you be doing it?

I'm doing it in Sydney in December from the 16 to the 18th of December, and then I'm doing it at Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Festival. Oh, Melbourne Comedy Festival. Yeah, we'll have to meet up. See you down here in Melbourne. Yeah, I'll see you then. Look at you. Hotson, what about you? Ah, you know, I'm just married to the job, just hanging out here, you know.

We'll get there when we get there. Look at you, you radio professional, plugging other people when you're the guest. I'm literally mid-plug going, this is not what I was supposed to do. No, I love it. It's great. It has been an absolute pleasure having you on Sammy Jay. And also, everybody listening should obviously root for Sammy Jay in the Best Radio Podcast Award. Best Radio Podcast Awards.

Woo, woo, woo, woo. I hope you win. That is the award. Well, thank you for hoping that I win. If I win, then it'll be a nice thing. And if I don't, the sun will still rise. and we will all continue going about our business. Arguably, the sun rises when our hearts are broken.

So we can all look forward to what can either be a very happy or a very sad night. Note that we aren't, we don't want to win. We don't actually care about winning. That's why I hope you win. And of course, my contribution of the podcast will not factor in. I assume the judges have already made their decision. And so this is really. Wait, we're using this interview to, yeah, this is the one we're sending for consideration.

Yeah, so, you know, thanks. I like to think we have had a robust, honest, cheeky chat that went in a variety of different unexpected directions. Just like your comedy. Quickly before you go, Sammy, I'm trying to find myself a date at these podcast awards. Tony Martin, he hit me with the maybe. Hamish and Andy haven't responded to my calls. Can I trust on my comedy dad to come with me to these awards?

I feel the best father I can be to you, Lachlan, is to send you out into the world on your own to feel the shame and the burn of standing around, holding a warm champagne, desperately seeking anyone you have a vague connection to to while away the awkward 90 minutes of chatting to before you go home to your bed, play with yourself and fall asleep in a disappointed stupor having lost to someone you hate. Love you too, Dad. Love you too, son. It's been wonderful to have you, Sammy Jay. I hope you have an amazing rest of the year with all of your comedy and all of your radio. I hope you're getting some sleep and I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

Bless you both. Love that a chat. We should do it again. Can't wait. Yum, yum, yum. Yum, yum. The Chaser Report, news you can't trust. Well, there you go. Thank you so much to Sammy Jay for having that chat with us.

Yeah, and thank you, Lachlan, for stopping breathing in a paper bag. enough to say the outro. Have you recovered? No, no, I definitely think I'm still a bit starstruck, but I think I'll manage and, you know what, I'm bummed that he's not coming to the awards with me. I mean, Lachlan, it was always a possibility that he might have, you know, things like his family or his job or the fact that he's in Melbourne to focus on a part. I know, I know you, I know you asked very nicely, but I think it's okay. But I thought, I thought we had something special. Sammy J's podcast is called Sammy J's snack pack. It's a recap of his shenanigans throughout the week on breakfast radio.

It's good stuff. Give it a listen. Our gear is from road microphones and we are part of the ACAST creator network. Catch you later. See ya. Toodles.