The Chaser Report - ARVO: Befriending a Scammer with Michelle Brasier

Episode Date: April 6, 2022

Gabbi and Aleksa are joined by fantastic comedian Michelle Brasier for an Arvo Chat! Michelle's previous comedy show 'Average Bear' was a huge hit, but how do you follow up your own act? Michelle talks her new show 'Reform' and the story of how she befriended someone who scammed her. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chase of Report. Welcome to The Chase Report Afternoon Edition. It's Wednesday the 6th of April, and we have a very special guest today. Also, Gabby's here. Hi. Yeah, you're a special too, but we have a very special guest. More special than Gabby. Michelle Brazier is, well, not here in the studio, but here on Zoom. it's such an honor to have you Michelle how are you I'm really good I'm feeling good where you know we're happening in the comedy festival it's all open it's all happening I'm feeling great I just had a banana everything's good potassium yeah love we love when we live

yeah all right well if you want to hear about how that banana was just stay tuned and we'll get to scoop it's good to tease it's good a good a good little nugget or a Banana if you're healthy like me. Yeah. We're going to peel back the layers. Oh yeah. After this break. Yeah.

None of the medical advice contained in the Chaser report should legally be considered medical advice. The Chaser Report. So, Michelle, you've got a new show. I do. I honestly can't believe they make you write one every year. That's absolutely mad. It's horrible. And by they, I mean me.

It's my choice. I've made this choice. Are there comedians that just, like, do the same show indefinitely? Is that? No, sort of. There are some, but it's very rare. Most people will do, you know, a new show every one or two years. You're coming off the back of like a super successful run with Average Bear,

your last show as well. So I imagine it must have been really hard to be like, oh, but this one's so good. Thank you, yes. It exactly is like that. I'm like, but I did it. I made a really good one. Just let me, I'm finished now. But that's it.

I mean, I'm doing a return. show one off during the comedy festival of average bear because there were so many people who didn't get to see it and even though we had extra shows and everything it was still hard to get a ticket which was very exciting for me and my my wallet and my ego but yeah then just coming back from coming back from that was really weird and yeah I guess it's second album syndrome except it's maybe my 10th year doing comedy so it's so many many more albums. But I have just clicked into the place where I love this new show. And I walked off stage on Saturday night and I went, that's it, boys. We got the show. Yes. And like the audience really

loved it and I loved it and we had fun. And yeah, so I'm feeling really happy now. But before that, I was in an existential crisis. Yeah, I imagine it must be incredibly hard, particularly when there's music elements to a show of like, I find it really difficult to think about writing a song that I haven't already written. Like I imagine for you, it's very similar where you're like, Oh, I haven't written a song about that thing yet. And then you go back through your back catalogue and you're like, oh, I did kind of write this song. How do I make this song different to this song and all that sort of stuff?

Do you have that sort of problem when you're writing new music or like, or is this show sort of less musical than average bear or like sort of talk us through the balance of finding that? Yeah, this is very musical show. I actually, I've leveled up. I've got a whole band this season, which is amazing. I'm playing the Fairfax at the Art Center with a gorgeous band who I absolutely adore and the whole thing it's just similar to average bear it's it's very underscored very

music driven this one's much more percussive obviously because i have a drum kit but uh you know average bear was very much folk music irish music um this is really driving because it's about a scam and i think it's the hard thing for me is trying to write songs that will be good to do at little spots or promo gigs that don't give away the entire show because it's almost like a little musical almost it's very specific to the story to give away your entire show That's okay. I can give away industry secrets to you guys, my best friends. Yes. Well, the show is about an online scam, right?

Yes. What inspired you? Are you a scam artist yourself or is there... No, I was scammed. It's a true story. I got scammed. So it's the true story of me being scammed online and then I was very interested in why a person would do that. And so I got to know my scammer and I became his friend and... And I met a lot of his friends and his fellow victims and things like that. And, yeah, just really tried to understand what got him to this point in his life.

I, yeah, I became his friend. It's really weird. See, this is just a testament to how likable you are. There are few people on this earth that could somehow win over the person that scammed them and then create a network out of that. Like, that is genuinely incredible networking. I have no idea how you did that, but I guess I'm just going to have to see your show to find out. But even if you're capable of doing that as if you wouldn't just go for vengeance, like scam the scammer.

Oh, yeah. No, I don't like, I think that's really boring and obvious. I mean, there's so many, we see so many like, oh, blah, blah outsmarts a scammer and it's like, sure, that's great. But also, like, why is that person behaving that way? Why are they scamming you? What's, what's their story? Like, imagine their story. I don't know.

I just found it really interesting. And I was like, I've never met anyone who's, who's, who's. a scammer before. I've never, I don't know anyone who's done fraud. I'm really interested in why and how and I also like the whole time I was like you're not really that good at this. Like here's some things you could have done where I would have been a bit more, you know, you could have tricked me. Yeah. Will the scammer see this live show or have they already? He hasn't seen it already. Well, I don't want to say too much. He hasn't seen the show. But there was talks of him being involved in the show originally.

Yeah, but then just for, yeah, we didn't, we chose to not do that. It's hard to get people to like him. And also probably not great. I mean, he behaved very poorly. Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is like the most cooked show and tell idea. Yeah.

Like, where you're like, I'm going to bring my scammer. And like, I like him, but you might take a little while. I mean, it's not even necessarily. earlier like I don't think he's a good person but it's um I think he's a really interesting person and I think you know just posing the question of like how do we let people get to this point yeah you know I it sort of poses this big question about empathy and how far it goes and then in this day and age of being like well it's actually not my job to educate you and it's like well maybe if we all made it our jobs yeah less people would sell me a Pilates reformer for five hundred

dollars and then never send it. Do you know what I mean? Like maybe if we just all open our arms a bit more, but I don't know, I don't know. And is that how you got the title of the show? Yeah, yeah, it was a Pilates reformer and it's about me trying to reform this man. Oh, very nice. Although I had unpopular opinion, I think he might have been trying to help you. I've had friends who have bought Pilates reform machines and received them and then never used them.

It's like, it's not the same as in the Pilates class in the gym. It's just like, it's hard to get the motivation. Oh, no, you've got one right now. I've got one. Oh, my God. There it is, Daddy-o. I love it. You got more willpower than any of my friends.

They buy the reform machine and then just regret it forever. No, I love it. I really love it. I mean, listen, I had to fight tooth and nail for it. You've earned it. It took a lot for me to get the show. When I was riding Average Bear, that's when I was being scammed by this guy and becoming his friend. And then Average Bear sold out.

We moved to Town Hall and I, we sold out Town Hall and I said to my manager, I was like, listen, because that show got me out of, you know, 10 years worth of Edinburgh debt, touring debt. The debt that you get into when you're a young artist and you don't have rich parents. And so you're just like, I guess I'll just put flights to Edinburgh on some sort of credit card and slowly chip away at it. And so average bear paid off that debt, which was so, you know, spiritually quite nice because it was my big, beautiful show that I was really proud of. But it also, doing that extra show, gave me enough money to buy that Pilates reform. Yes. Yes. That's a real story of victory right there.

This is great. I wouldn't even write a book. You know what? I'm working on. I am having some conversations. Yeah. Thank you. Oh, you should.

So that's good. I'm glad that you're keen. That's one sale. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'll buy the book. Or maybe I'll scam other people into giving me theirs. You could do that.

Yeah. Yeah. beautiful oh it's all shaping up i'm glad this one had a happy ending but i think there are still some unresolved threads from uh some of your previous shows um i remember um watching one about how you wanted to fuck aladdin and um it's been what like two years now has it eventualated like have you put the feelers out there is there has there been a response i put my wants and needs out in the world and listen i have not had sex with the two-dimensional drawing of a character. No, I haven't. It's very funny. I played a music festival on the weekend with my beautiful

friend's Auntie Donner and I did the Aladdin song. And there was one person in the audience who tagged me in their Instagram story. And they were like, Michelle singing about wanting to fuck Aladdin. Meanwhile, this guy's right here and pant to their friend who looks exactly like Aladdin. And he's just waving at me being like, hello. I assume, because you're on Netflix for Auntie Donner's special. I seem like that's Disney's, you know, caught wind of it. They could have made it happen. Yeah, if they wanted to, they would, you know. Well, yeah, I guess they don't want to.

I guess they don't want to deliver to me a drawing for me to, I don't know. That's rude. Yeah. Another reason why Disney are a soul-sucking corporation. Yeah, come on, guys. Yeah, come on, Disney. Do what's right. The Chaser Report, less news, less often.

You've also won a crisis. amount of awards for being funny um you got yeah got the 2021 city comedy festival award Melbourne international moose head awards um what's your ideal award to win like oh the dream yeah no bell key to the city um is that i don't know if that's a real award i don't know how many comedians are receiving the key to the city later i feel like that's well i want like a like a oh do you know what i the actual dream would be to win the edin Best Comedy Award. That would be the actual dream.

But also, I would just love to win, like, a membership to the zoo. Oh, yes. Any zoo? Is there a specific zoo you've got in mind? Okay, so only the zoos that are, like, ethical zoos that are mostly... So Melbourne Zoo is a conservation society, and it's very good, and they're very focused on giving the animals a lot of space. And unless they need to be in captivity, unless they can't be released, you know, they're very good.

I don't work for them. I don't know why I'm advocating for them right now. I think you maybe should. Yeah, do you know what? I tried to get a job there once. I tried to get a job. And I was like, this would be easy because they'll be like, this is great.

She's kind of famous. She works at the zoo and people would love to come. And they were like, no. I didn't get through the first round, but I didn't get through the second round. Yeah. So your previous show, average bear, was written entirely to appeal to zoo keepers, right?

Yeah, I'm just trying to get that animal audience interested. I really love animal. I was so very, very much. How did you... Fave animal... Oh, you go. I was just going to ask Fave animal at the zoo.

Oh, my favorite animal at the zoo? Golly. Okay. My favorite animal at the zoo... I really like the lemurs because I love that they... In Melbourne, you can walk through the big open enclosure and they're just around.

And I think it's very sweet to be so close to them. But I also... This is not a zoo animal and should never be a zoo animal, but I love bonobos. That's my first. favorite animal and this this show that reform my new show is all about um choosing whether because we have two equally related uh animals like our closest cousins are chimpanzees and bonobos and people

forget about bonobos where it's like yeah chimpanzees but it's about choosing whether or not you're going to be a chimpanzee or a bonobo because bonobos are altruistic they're the only great ape that doesn't kill they they don't punish like if they act badly they don't punish they meet strangers by giving them food like they are so they're all the best things about humans and then chimpanzees can be good but also they are bad um they're cheek do you guys see dunstan checks in you seen this guy he's a naughty little guy is that a real name dunstan checks in dunstan checks in the film about the chimpanzee it's from it's from before our time i think it's from maybe the 80s or early 90s i'm not sure but i've seen i've seen it recently and

oh what a what a cheeky little chimpanzee he was he goes to a hotel yeah causes a habit Oh, you get into top of so much havoc in hotels, especially of chimpanzees. With your average bear show, it's about a bear with a fear of hibernation. How do you, I mean, how do you come up with that? What's the rationale? Have you had a fear of hibernation? Is that... So average bear is, it's two stories in one.

It's about a bear who's afraid of hibernation and her friends keep calling her. They're like, babe, we're at hibernation. It's got pussy shots. It's so fun. Where are you? And she's like, I'm on my way. but she's afraid to go into hibernation because she's heard about climate change

and she's heard that maybe spring is changing and maybe spring might not come so if she goes into hibernation this might be it so maybe she's thinking about going to see winter or to just see what she can see to make the most of her time rather than to gamble by going to hibernation and it's a metaphor most of the story is just a story about my family

and it's basically it's about chemotherapy and choosing to have treatment and gamble with your limited time hoping for a spring that may or may not come or choosing not to have treatment and just going out and making the most of the few days of winter that you have left, I suppose. So it's because I have a family history of cancer. My father passed away. My brother passed away.

And we have, yeah, just bad, bad genes. And the whole idea of average bear is that I probably won't have as much time on earth as the average bear. So it's a metaphor. And it's this sort of hand-in-hand, lovely, light thing to go. along with this story of loss and grief. But it's all about, it's very much about joy. If I had to give that show one word, it's joy. It's not about death or grief.

It's about music and joy. I actually saw Average Bear last year at Comedy Republic. Thank you. And it was easily, easily one of my favorites that I've seen ever, like just favorite specials. Because, yeah, I really walked in and, you know, you obviously started this show with this bear outfit on and you're like going through how there's this bear that doesn't want to go to hibernation it's so fun and i did not expect to be taken on the emotional roller coaster ups and downs that like i to me it was crazy because it felt like you packed so much in to an

hour at a bit like i couldn't believe when i walked out that that was only an hour show like it was insane and i yeah i i i truly truly think you just you tell stories so well and so cohesively, like just so beautifully. And I just, I have no question. I just wanted to let you know that that show, if your new show is anything like average ban, I'm sure it's better. And to the audience, you'd be stupid to not go, because you're going to sell out probably. I hope so. Yeah, I mean, it looks pretty good, but who knows, it depends. People get sick in this day and age, and then they have to refund their tickets. But yeah, it is the kind of thing you'd probably want to book ahead for because it's really, really good. And I'm sorry.

super famous. Do you find with the band, though, like, have you had a lot of fun? Like, do you get them in on, like, some improv-y stuff while you're doing stand-up? Or is it mostly, like, sort of pre-rehearsed kind of? Obviously, the songs are rehearsed and everything. But, like, do you get them involved? Yeah, they're all very involved. They're all encouraged to just go with me if something happens.

They're people I've worked with for years and years and years in different ways. And they're all really smart and great and musical. And there's all these, like, building tentations. moments where the drummer can just like go for gold and like start really fun they just do things to surprise me and i do things to surprise them but it's all underscored so it's i mean there's a lot of um they have a lot of freedom they just i just'm like this needs to feel like this go i hired you because i trust you and i love you make it feel like this and they'll just do it and i'm like bring this motif back in and they'll bring it in in the most gorgeous way jordan white who's um a musician

his musician name is Braille Face. He's done such an incredible job. He's so good and such like a great singer. He's just, he's really incredible. And he's made tracks so that if any of the band gets COVID, we can replace them in the track. Everyone's stuff is, it's very, all the contingencies. And it's truly incredible.

And Dave George on drums, who's like one of Australia's best drummers and my beautiful partner, Tim, who I always work with on guitar and also playing my scammer. It's really fun, yeah. Tim's stepping it up. You've got the only COVID-proof show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Yeah, well, I mean, if Tim and I get COVID, it'll go down, I guess.

But, yeah, otherwise. Then it can be like meta, right? You get COVID. You don't show up to the show. You got the money for the tickets. You're like, it was a scam. It was a scam. So, Michelle, if people want to find you online or otherwise, where would they go?

You would go to at Michelle Brazier on Instagram. Also at Michelle Brazier on Twitter. And yeah, follow me. I'll be yelling about all the things that I'm doing. And you can find me at the Art Center if this comes out during comedy festival. I'm also touring to Brisbane and Cindy. And I'm touring both shows. So just follow me on the internet.

You'll find me screaming about those things. Bloody beautiful. Oh, you can find me at the zoo. I'll be at the zoo. Oh, I go often. Our gear is from road microphones and we're a part of the ACAS creator network. Catch you tomorrow. Hi.

Thank you.