The Chaser Report - ARVO: Brodi Snook on being waylaid

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

Aleksa and Gabbi are joined by comedian and writer Brodi Snook for an Arvo Chat! Brodi talks doing the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and the response to the opening night of her show 'Waylaid'. What does waylaid mean? Find out here. 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 The Chaser Report for another special afternoon edition. It is Monday the 4th of April and I'm joined by Alexa and amazing comedian Brody Snook. Hi. Hello, thanks for having me. Thank you so much for being on the show. You're in Melbourne now, right? I certainly am.

And you've been doing the whole run. You're doing the whole month in Melbourne? Doing the whole month run. I'm looking forward to it. I opened last night, and yeah, we're off and racing. How did it go? It went. Most importantly, it went.

It was very opening nighty, if you get my drift, I believe. A lot of comics are in the same boat with a few teething problems and things like that. So it's like the start of any glorious festival. There's a few hiccups and things like that, which only makes. it all the more fun to be honest so yeah we'll find out all about it after this break the chaser report less news less often okay so your new show is called waylaid what does that mean i actually have a a joke in the opening of the show um about what it means because uh my agents wanted me to change the title of the show thinking that people were going to be going what does this word mean

Um, so yeah, waylaid, it means to be ambushed or unexpectedly accosted. Um, and I think, uh, you know, a lot of us, if not all of us, have been waylaid in some way, shape or form in the last two years. Um, so it's about my own experience with that and, uh, you know, and, and how it can possibly be a good thing. Hmm. Is it just COVID waylaying or are there multiple ways that you've been waylaid? Uh, well, I suppose in my life, of course there are. I think, you know, it's the ripple effect of the pandemic, you know, basically what went from the start of 2020, what was meant to be, you know, what it ended up looking like. And, yeah, lots of hilarity along the way, of course. So you were, you were in England at the time that COVID started. That sounds rough. Tell me about that. What was? Yeah, how'd you? Yeah. So I moved over to the UK at the age of 18 on a one-way ticket. to live an exceptional life, which I did do.

I spent 11 years there and loved it. And, yeah, fled home in a panic at the start of 2020. And, you know, I thought that maybe I would be hanging out in my hometown in regional WA for a couple of weeks till it all blew over and into my third year of being back in Australia. So, yeah, waylaid is definitely the word. do you find are there any noticeable differences between the comedy scene in England than the comedy scene in Australia to you like is there anything that's like sort of strikes you as different or is it just sort of more of the same but it's more competitive over there um do you mean audience wise or within the same oh whatever you like

like I mean audience would be a great way to answer but I'm happy to hear about the scene too I love gossip so you know audience wise I feel like well specifically in London you know it's such a melting pot of every, you know, sort of amazing art form that you could possibly want any night of the week or certainly pre-pandemic. And I feel like the comedy scene is, it's excellent, it's very concentrated. So, you know, it is a real sort of grapple to get on good shows

and start getting paid work and all that sort of stuff because, you know, even, you know, parts of the open mic scene, the quality is excellent, you know. So it is, look, it's a really good place to earn your stripes because once you start getting that paid work and those club spots and things like that, you kind of know that you've earned it. Audience-wise, it's sort of, you know, like I said, you know, they're very spoiled for choice in a place like the UK where there's just, you know, amazing shows on every night of the week. So you do have to prove yourself to those audiences because they, you know, they're so used to having, you know,

massive names drop into small clubs and that sort of thing. So, you know, once you get up there, there is a bit of a sense of, oh, I really need to get you guys on side because, you know, your palate is... Very refined. It is exactly. If they're that spoiled for comedy, how do they let you know if they're not on your side? Just sort of, you know, your classic cold steely death stairs. Oh, fun.

I think that they're pretty universal, to be honest. the folded arms, the body language, you know, that sort of thing. It seems a little more severe when it's English for some reason. It's a cold death stare but with an accent. Yeah, exactly. It's funny. Straight down the nose. I think that like the pandemic has kind of helped in that way

because when everybody had to be masked in indoor venues, it was kind of nice because if somebody wasn't enjoying the show, you could kind of just pretend that they were smiling. Exactly. How do I know? You might just be cold, you know, your arms across because you've got a breeze. I'm always up for lying to myself, so that works for me. Are they wearing masks at your current shows in Melbourne?

They were and they weren't last night, so a bit of both. I'm still a little confused on the old rules as well because I've been stuck in W.A. Then I've been in Sydney the last couple of weeks for work, and now I'm in Melbourne, sort of going, can we have one blanket rule? What are we doing, everyone? It is very confusing.

Although, W.A. I mean, was that where you first came back to when you first came back from the pandemic? Yeah, so I came back on one of the last repatriation flights from London to Perth in April 2020. Wow. And then did my two weeks of hotel quarantine in Perth and slowly, slowly went insane. Yes. And I actually got to the point where I was tallying the days in red lipstick on the mirror in the bathroom, just like. Very root holes, drag.

Yeah. Yeah. slash prisony. Yeah. Oh, they did that too. Yeah, and then I got out of that and then went home to my small regional hometown in WA and started unpacking my things in my childhood bedrooms. Oh, which I definitely touch on heavily in the show.

So if anyone's ever had to do that, that's an experience that I cover. What's the comedy scene like back at the parents' house? to they laugh, or they... Just disapproving stairs, really, a little bit like London. More of the same. Yeah, exactly. You should get them to put them up. But these ones come with lectures, financial lectures.

Oh, God. The Chaser Report. More news. Less often. You've obviously, like, I mean, obviously pre-pandemic, but you've toured heaps. Like, you've been around in a lot of different scenes, a lot of different places. Do you have, like, a crazy sort of comedy tour story? Like, I feel like...

all that time overseas something wild must have happened yeah lots of lots of little wild things happen um you know i what can i say without incriminating myself as what i can just say everybody's name should just be redacted and then exactly lots of joe blogs as have i spent time with um yeah no it's been awesome i think probably my my favorite place to tour was switzerland um I loved that. Yeah, I loved that. It was because I'd never been to Switzerland before. And I think a lot of Aussie comics, you know, we don't, unless we live abroad, we don't really get the chance to actually tour in non-English-speaking countries. So that was awesome. And I toured Norway as well, which was also fantastic.

And I just love being in different places. I love being in new places. You know, the whole reason I moved to the UK as soon as I turned 18. basically. So being close to Europe was, was absolutely awesome. And to get those opportunities was fab. I miss it. I can't wait to hopefully have more. What are, what are some of the challenges of performing in front of a non-English speaking? Well, I mean, I assume they all understand, but yeah. Yeah. How do you, what's, is there a noticeable difference for you? Yeah, sort of, you know, you learn pretty fast after opening night what references fly over people's heads and what's worth keeping in the set. So just sort of small things.

things, you know, maybe little colloquialisms or kind of, you know, product references were probably a big thing. Not that I was doing a lot of product comedy, but, you know, there was one or two, you know, things that you would reference in the set and then kind of, you know, talk to the promoter afterwards and go, okay, what can I sub that out for? Because that died. Just little things like that, but nothing too detrimental. Fortunately, like a lot of the audience was built of, you know, expats.

so there'd be Americans, you know, that sort of stuff. They tend to come out to the English-speaking comedy. So it was a real plethora of an audience, which was great. Were there any, like, specific, when you have to sub in, like, let's say, a specific Swiss thing to replace an Australian thing, are there any? Oh, why can't I say this sentence properly? Do you mean, like, what was, is there a funny? Is there an example of, like, you know, the Swiss version of Nikki Webster?

Like, you had to find. I mean, look, there probably was, but clearly. hasn't stayed with me on those shows. It was very much a let me write that on my hand for 36 hours and then leave the country. Oh, God. Not only are you a touring live stand-up comedian, you've also been in a lot of writers' rooms. And I find that quite interesting because, I mean, I've done a couple of writers' rooms and I find it a very different space to be writing comedy, like having to write sometimes for other people or sort of writing for screen versus writing for stage quite a challenge. Like, I find it really hard to switch into those two different sort of

mindsets but how did you find like the writing scene as well as the comedic like the performance scene like do you prefer one or the other uh look i think well there's an old cliche they say you're either a writer or a performer and um i if if that's true i would very much identify myself as as being a writer um i love i'm just a big old nerd like i love a project i love being given a brief i love being give you know just being sent an email going cool so here's the monologue here's you know the sketch idea spend six hours writing you know around this and get back to us and i just i go tunnel vision i love that sort of stuff so i think like there's also a bit of a detachment where you can lend yourself to those projects in such a way that you

can't do the same thing with your own solo material you know you're you're crafting a show about your experiences about your you know maybe your traumas or you know those sorts of of things, you know, your little idiosyncrancies that you're, you know, are within you, whereas when someone goes, hey, we're doing a sketch about, you know, X, Y, Z, you get to just kind of go, okay, X, Y, Z project and I'll write everything funny I can possibly think of. So, I mean, I love both because there's nothing quite like writing a solo show, both in good and bad ways. But I do. I love, I love writing for telly. And I wrote a little bit for radio as well, like radio sketches.

Wow. They're always a little harder because, you know, I started writing television sketches and writing for screen and then all of a sudden I've gone, oh, you can't see this. Yeah. I need to really lend myself to, you know, the audio description or, you know, those sort of things here. So, you know, that was definitely a little more challenging. I really enjoyed it.

But, yeah, screen is a lot easier because you go, oh, yeah, you guys will figure this out in the production. Yeah. You can establish a visual gag pretty quickly. Exactly. For anyone listening now, if you can't tell, Brody's actually been making amazing jokes. She's been like juggling and she's doing backflips this entire time. It just didn't translate it.

Yeah, it's an audible. Look, did I just say I wasn't a performer? I was lying. I've got to say, yeah, you're still juggling six knives. It's incredible. Why? Well, Brody, you're touring not only Melbourne for the whole month, but you're also doing Sydney Comedy Festival

from the 28th of April to the 1st of May and Perth Comedy Festival from the 11th to the 15th of May. Sure I am. Are you excited for the Perth shows? I'm keen to hear the hometown show. Yeah, oh look, I always love performing in Perth, not least because, like, my god, parents and all my old teachers come. Aye.

But I, look, I do. I actually performed the show in a bit of a preview, the kind of warm-up sense for Perth Fringe in February. Oh, wow. And it's a really good place to build a show. You know, the audiences are pretty generous, you know, and look, I do, I suppose I have that kind of hometown advantage as well a little bit. So even though my technical hometown is four hours south of Perth.

But, yeah, so it's good. And I'm looking forward to taking it back in May in its polished form as well after having hit the road on the East Coast. And then I actually get on a plane. and go back to the UK for the first time of two years. Oh, how exciting. Yeah, I can't wait. Oh, my gosh.

Well, best of luck with all of the touring and also getting on a plane and going overseas. Yeah, exactly. Overseas, imagine it. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for coming on the show, Brody. Thanks for having me, gang. But I'm in a serious relationship now,

and by serious, I mean, it's not fun anymore. some of you see yourselves in that one it's a very grown-up relationship we guard it on the weekends and there's a roster for whose turn it is to go on top I make the roster I'm not on it going on top during sex is sneaky exercise It is cardio while trying not to fart on someone's scrotum. A joke which always gets a beautifully knowing laugh from the straight women in the road. I think we should start a support group. If you want to keep up with Brodie's stuff, you can find her at brodie's snook.co.uk.uk.

Our gear is from road microphones and what network are we a part of Alexa? A-cast. He had one job. The A-cast creator network. Oh, yeah. Catch you tomorrow. Bye. Bye.