The Chaser Report - Death of the Girlboss | Jenna Owen

Episode Date: December 16, 2021

We did it. We made it to the end of the year. This is the last episode we are putting effort into until 2022, and what better way to cap off the year than with our good friend Jenna Owen. Jenna, Charles, and Dom take a look at stories from the War on 2021 tour, as well as Jenna's favourite parts of the year itself. Plus the team discuss why the future of female comedy characters is looking upward, and why the world needs a female Pete Davidson. Thanks for putting up with us. We're off to the pub. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the Chaser Report. It is Friday the 17th of December 2021 and this is the final day, Charles Firth, on which we're going to do the usual morning and afternoon, an edition, whole split thing. We're taking a break after this. Yes, that's right, but that doesn't mean that we're going to stop populating your feed with absolute garbage. Not at all.

Next week, we're doing a sort of susson of all the best bits of the Chaser report. A soussaint. A soussaint. Is that a word? Yeah, it's a word, Charles, only in French. Yeah, a soussaint of, you know, all the little nice bids. A taster. Yeah, from the year.

A buffet. Yeah. A smoker's sport. It is. It's the best of the show. And then, and in the following week, we're doing all the best interviews that we've done. We take the big top five best interviews. Oh, and there's so many issues from.

Some long, meaty interviews for you to enjoy. Keaton Joshy, Saul Griffith. Yep. Will Anderson, I think, is going to be. There's some big names, Julia Zamiro, some of the same people we got when we took the week off in October, in fact. But they're great chats, they're worth us into again. But then, Charles, in January, we have new stuff

with some famous people that we know and used to work with. All new content, yes. I don't think we've necessarily decided what the name of this show is going to be, but it's like behind the stunts. Yeah, or sort of a summer stunt series. What it's going to be is getting the likes of Andrew Hansen, Chris Taylor, Craig Rookasel and the others, and just diving into some of the most fun adventures we had making the Chaser TV shows, some of the mad stunts, APEC, going to the Vatican City, walking up to the Prime Minister with a chainsaw, stuff like that. Drawing stuff on people's bottoms.

Yes, drawing not guilty on people's arces, and that's going to come with a new episode in your feed throughout the first four weeks of Jan. I cannot wait for that. And we've been recording them for the last few weeks, and they have been really enjoyable things to do. I'm so glad that we're doing it. It's going to be really fun. I'm also so glad that we're having January off because, frankly, I don't want to have to record a new topical episode every day about Omicron as it gets worse and worse.

Let's take a break from Omicron. We will pretend it doesn't exist for the next six weeks on your feed and then we'll be back in whenever it is late January or the beginning of February for new Epps. Unless we've all died of Omicron. Unless we've all died of Omicron. Have a great Christmas break unless you're in isolation, which you probably will be. Thanks for supporting the podcast this year. Today, we should talk about what we're doing today.

Yeah, today we're going to have a nice chat with Jenna Owen. She's one half of Freudian slip, and I've been touring with her for the last few weeks with the Warren 20201 team. Yes. And we're just going to chat about what it was like on tour, but also what her year was like. She's got some great stories. And so let's hang out with Jenna rather than having to just talk about the numbers increasing astronomically with Omicron. Because fuck that. I don't even know what Omicron is, Dawn.

Yeah, you've already forgotten. You're already on holidays. Yeah. In a moment, Gena Rowan joins us on the test report. As the latest Omicron outbreak continues to soar, Scott Morrison has made a series of frantic calls to Kevin Rudd to make sure he's ordered enough booster vaccines.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has announced that Western Australia will be renamed Western Australia-ish. The Premier told reporters, that the state will be introducing not just vaccine passports but also passport passports at the state border. The plan will include the introduction of a tiered visa system with Victorians deemed the least desired travellers and people named Kerry Stokes deemed the most desirable.

Santa Claus will be skipping Queensland this year during his annual world tour out of fear that the Queensland government will make him do 14 days quarantine without any warning. This comes as travellers to Queensland, who were told that they wouldn't need to quarantine as long as they were double-vaxed

and tested negative for COVID, were made to quarantine anyway. A spokesperson for Santa apologised to children in Queensland, but said that Queensland was a shithole anyway, so it was their fault they were living there in the first place. That's the latest chase and news, and that's the last headlines for the year.

I'm Rebecca Dana Muno, and I'll be back next. year. Have a wonderful Christmas and a terrible new year. Jenna, you've just been touring with Charles. Are you okay? I'm fine. I'm actually good. Charles, you were great on tour. You were lovely. Yeah, I really enjoyed this tour. I reckon this is, this was my favourite tour of all. And it's not just because it was the first time we got to travel around for two years. I think it's also because everyone, I don't know, it was just, it was like freedom. It didn't know, maybe it is because it was too years of.

Well, you got out of the house. Yeah. I mean, that's so novel every time you actually managed to go to like a drinking venue or something. Well, I have to say, Charles, like, I don't think you're old, but I don't think, like, we don't think of you as young either. That's the nicest thing anyone said to him in 10 years. Yeah.

And like, Vic and I are always just like gobsnacked. that you guys just have so much energy up to the show. You're just like, you boys, you're always going off to a little venue or? Oh, we had the most amazing venue in Newcastle. Can we? So, so we, so yeah, because you always just go home and go to sleep. And it's a professional. Yeah.

Yeah, be all sensible. Be fresh for the next day. Whereas we, so we wanted to go, we just wanted to go out for a drink in Newcastle and not to the sort of stabby bar. that, um, which is where we're staying, like, Mark and I went across to the Ridges hotel, which is sort of the fancy hotel in Newcastle. And, but their bar was closing. But they said, oh, well, there is another bar you could go to. And it's like, okay, where is it? And they said, okay, well, just walk along that street for about a hundred meters and you'll come to a barber

shop and it'll be closed, right? And on the wall, there's a little plaque. And if you, if you, if you text that number on the plaque, then they'll come and let you in and you can have a night's drinking. That's so hipster. Yeah, I know. It was like a little slice of Melbourne right in Newcastle. So we did that. What? What?

No, I'm just saying, like, I'm obviously angry and bitter because I wasn't there and it does sound fun. But isn't there a part of you that's like, it's a little bit naft? Like the whole secret bar thing is like a little bit like 2013. You know what I mean? It reminds me of like a theatre thing where it's. It's like you go into someone's house. It's like the best bar in Sydney.

You go into someone's house and an old man tells you to like fuck off. But then you've got to say the magic word. Charles is that old man now, Jenna. Yeah, yeah. Look, I totally know what you. I know that that's true. I know that. But you were thrilled.

But at the time then just because what happened is then there's a false wall. Like so in the barbers shop, you get let into the barbers. shop, there's a false wall. So you think it's just a barbershop wall. And then behind it was a sort of entire pumping whiskey bar. I mean, I know, yes, at one level it's neff, but just the cognitive dissonance of those two things was such a lovely theatrical sort of surprise. It worked. Well, it's surely a good thing in Newcastle. And I've been in Newcastle for a few nights out. To have a thing where you've got to actually read a number on a wall and text. Yes.

That filters out 80% of patrons, doesn't it? You can't see straight. I mean, that's got to be. I mean, it sounds like a very classy place in which to contract Omicron. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I was going to say, we kind of missed the wave, didn't we? Because a friend of mine just got COVID from the Argyle in Newcastle.

It's had a big outbreak there. That was a huge outbreak. That was like, yeah. Yeah. I feel like, you know, we should, you know, appreciate the tour that we just were on. It's the final tour of any comedy group ever. Yeah, it'll be another two years before we get to go out again. I have to say, the energy in Melbourne for me was too much.

I was like, this is a traumatised state, and they're kind of living every day like it's their last. And it was really reflected in every interaction that I had, that kind of energy. Well, you even said that you hadn't quite appreciate it's just what they'd been through until you came across the audience that we had. And just how much they were laughing and at what, which like, you know, not to rag on our show, but did it deserve the kinds of... Just to describe it. Manic. Because it was a fairly small venue. It was like 350 people and they're all packed in tide.

And we were sort of back, you know, behind this curtain like on the side door. And it sounded like they were almost joking in their laughter. Like it sounded like it was sort of sarcastically loud. Like that. And you get out on stage and it's like, oh, no, these people are actually, they're laughing. Unwell. But they're sort of unhinged. Yeah, I think it's called post-traumatic stress disorder.

And I think you would have it if you'd been through that. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but I was like, I don't really, you know, I get it, collective trauma. Like you read the tweets and, you know, You imagine that it's hard and my partner went through it and he's always telling me that I don't understand. But staring it in the face like that, like 300 people with the same kind of weird look in their eye, like it was disturbing. Yeah. I think at one point you expressed fear for your safety, didn't you?

Backstores. Well, I said the energy the crowd had was they were really lovely and really warm, which dare I say, that is not a Melbourne crowd. But all the years that I've performed in Melbourne, they have a real art stick up their butt, and they kind of go, we know arts, you're just one of the many arts kind of patrons that come through our town. We will judge you, we will judge you as we see fit. You know, it's kind of like you go out and you're the new king and it's like the kingdom and you've got to show them that you are disturbing of the throne. That's how I feel about performing in Melbourne. And it's like kind of the royal family is kind of watching and whatever. So are you saying, are you saying that COVID has turned Melbourne into Darwin with it?

It's like, I'm so happy that you're here. Exactly. Exactly. I felt like we were just in Newcastle or, you know, whatever, like a town that just has always appreciated us and always had a good time. Yes. It was a totally different experience. But I said to Charles backstage, I was like, this is crazy.

Like, I've never had a proud respond to my jokes like this. But also I was like, I have a distinct feeling. that they could turn us. Like it was that kind of energy too. I was like, if someone says like the kind of trigger word or like the secret password, it's like one too many things about good things about New South Wales. Yeah. And if you'd said, if you'd said we understand what you'd been through, you would have had a massacre.

Yeah, totally. Do you know, in I robot where like all the, it's like, I just love I robot so much for my childhood, so I always come back to it. But you know when all the robots kind of go red and start acting like out of control and crazy, and they aim to take over the human population. That's how I felt about that crowd. I was like, at any point, all of these robots, these laughing robots could go red, and then we've got to be, like, shipped out of there by security.

That's how I felt. So we have to talk about your hometown, Jenna, of Wollongong. Yeah. What happened? Are we still talking about your tour? Are we talking about the summary of the important events of the year in Wollongong? Oh, sorry, yeah. We will get to the important events of the year.

But just, I'm glad I could be here for the debrief of the tour I wasn't on. That's my pleasure to have rushed here for this. Yeah, no, go ahead. And thanks for coming, Dom, as well. I didn't realize you'd be here. I mean, I'm glad that you have these debriefs and try to do things better. My suggestion for the next tour would be, don't invite me to the debrief. But anyway, no, go ahead.

Bullengon. Yeah, yeah. So what happened in Wollongongong? Because, you know, like, home crowd, we sold it out in about five seconds due to Jenna's name, basically. I know. Oh, that's, yeah. You know, the. entertainment, just the idea of entertainment coming through, I think, sells tickets.

But, oh, I just had a panic attack. I was so nervous. I, like, I can't stand before me in my hometown. Like, I love it, and I'm like, I talk about it a lot. Like, I obviously was like, we'll go on, will go next, we'll go on next. I was like, kind of came into Charles's and Mark and James's dressing room and I was like, how are you guys feeling? And, you know, you got your lines all down and.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were like, mothering us. I was a freak. Yeah, yeah. I know, I was kind of, so everyone's feeling good. You didn't want them to embarrass themselves in front of Wollongong. Is that what it was? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. I think it's like, because you, you like saw me at Enmore and stuff, Charles. Like the only thing I cared about at Enmore was the fact that there was a giant rat now dressing room. But I don't, I don't get nervous for anything except for Will and Gong. But, but then the crowd itself was just, you know, I would say they were appreciative. But they didn't go wild for it. What happened? No.

Well, is that just, Wollongong? Maybe they're just more, maybe they're the new mill? I mean, it's possible there was a quality issue, Charles.

Yeah. I very much doubt that. Like for my mental health, Charles, I think we all agree acoustics. Oh yeah, that's right.

It was acoustic. Yeah, yeah. That's that happened. When, you just couldn't hear the laughter, yeah. When we did our, our last big tour

for the chaser, Wollongongong was our tryout venue. So we did two very long shows there. That were probably nearly three. But it was actually, we gave Wollongong the most edgy material. So they got to decide what lived or died. We thought they'd be a good crowd to sort of test it on. And so some of the stuff we did there, I can't even say what it was

because we'll be cancelled retrospectively. So if anyone was at that show, the sketch with me and Andrew, just let's never speak of that again. Yeah, and that was the 2008 tour, The Chaser Blackface Live. I mean, which they changed after they tried it out in Wollongong. You joke, it may have been worse than doing that. Anyway, it was fascinating. And the crowd were lovely.

If you did like a black face kind of show every year from 2000, I'd love to just map the audio of the audience over that time. That would be one of the most amazing kind of journeys through comedy and political career. Well, isn't that kind of what Hay Hay does every time they have a reunion? Basically road testing the acceptability. of that. That's true. The same sketch.

I mean, you could release your very own sketch, Charles, the sick children again and see what happens. The cancer kids. I had nothing to do with that. I don't even know what you did. Oh, did you? Did you, Dom? Yeah.

I mean, the weird thing about that episode was that there was another sketch in it, which we thought would be the one that everyone complained about and nobody mentioned it. So you never know. No, I mean, I was in the, I was in the writer's room for that. Yes, I was. And we got to the point where no one scene, we just kept pushing it and pushing it and pushing it. And our audience kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger on TV.

And we got more and more mainstream. And it was always going to come crashing down at some point. Dom, I love it. I 100% stand by that sketch. And I too have been cancelled by the Daily Mail. So don't worry about that. When did you get cancelled? Vic and I got cancelled for our sketch, which the Daily Mail,

it wasn't called this, but this is what the Daily Mail label it. Swastick ahead. I mean, I'm interested. Oh, yes. At that title, I'm certainly interested to know where the comedy is. So swastika head was, no, so basically it was about quarantine haircuts. And the title of the sketch was quarantine haircut gone wrong. And, you know, my friend Victoria, who's Jewish, obviously, I had a shaved head already at the time.

So we thought we've got to do something about quarantine and shaved heads. And then we had the idea, what if we put, we pretend to shave Vick's head, we put her in a bald cap. But it's a quarantine haircut gone wrong. because when we shave Vick's head, Vick's Jewish head, the worst thing that could happen to her is that A, she looks bad with a shaped head, and B, that she has a giant birthmark the shape of swastika on the back of her head.

Which would be terrible, if that would be the case. That would be very unfortunate. So I think our mistake was, like, in the sketch, she was like, I'm Jewish, I can't believe this is happening to me. What the hell? Like, that was her reaction. So we kind of were like, look, it's autonomous. It's an autonomous sketch.

And then Alex and I's characters, Alex Lee, and I's characters were like, this is so offensive. Like, and she's like, well, I didn't choose it. I didn't choose it. And that was kind of the whole thing. And it was really funny because Vick's freaking out. And then at the end of the sketch, she's kind of like, you know, wearing a baseball cap and like all of that stuff.

But, yeah, our mistake was maybe showing the swastika because we like, makeup artist did this amazing job of, like, doing this really red, blotchy kind of, like, birthmarked swasticker on the back of, like, a big's bald cap. And it was, like, incredible. It looked both like a birthmark and very much like a swastika. And then I think that was the image that kind of went around the internet for a bit. And then the Anti-Defamation League came after us. But do you know what?

SPS stood by that sketch. They said, we're not taking it down. And if anyone is allowed to make jokes about swastikers, surely a member of the Jewish diaspora is, I mean, I watched some of the producers the other day, the springtime for Hitler sequence. I mean, that is a hundred times that idea. Amazing, yeah.

I don't see The Daily Mail going after Mel Brooks. Well, exactly, exactly. And also, it was also the year that we did swastika head was the year Jojo Rabbit came out. Oh, yeah. You know, so actually it was sexist. Let's say that. Yes, it was women doing swastikas that the daily mail had a problem. Women can't do swastikers yet.

And that's the barrier we're trying to break down. Was the actual problem that you were wearing an ugly dress while doing it? Yeah, yeah. The Chaser Report. More news. less often. We got you on to talk about 2021. I'd be on the tour.

All right, no, I'm listening. But year in review, what's your highlight and low light of 2021, Gina? You know what I think? It's not a highlight, but something I've found very interesting is like the death of the girl boss this year. That's been kind of interesting to me.

You mean like Gladys Beridiclin? Yeah, Gladys Beridiccline in a domestic sense an internationally Elizabeth Holmes kind of trial has been quite interesting. The Galane trial is going on. Like I think this emergence, as a comedy, like as a, you know, woman in comedy and someone obsessed with characters. And also like growing up, the only characters I wanted to play was essentially just Dr. Evil, you know,

like that was the dream. You always wanted to be the villain. And I just think that like female villains are still, you know, in this kind of like the villains, but they're still sexy and they're still kind of like, like, you know, it's like Angelina Jolly is Maleficent or whatever that is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where they're still like, you know, kind of princesses but with brown hair instead of blonde, you know? But now I'm like, look at all these evil women. Like, imagine all the biopics that are coming out. Right. All the comedy characters that are coming out. It's amazing. Would you play Gladys if offered the role?

In a second. In a second. Also, I'm pretty fucking good match with Galane as well. Yes, do you look exactly? Exactly like the Lane. Let's not probably exactly. No, but having complex female villains to play, that's great. We need more female leaders, not just for equality,

but also to provide interesting character studies when they fail. Well, totally. See, my aunt has always said he's a sort of feminist. I mean, everyone's a feminist, but like my aunt is a... She's a feminist icon, Charles. Feminist icon has always maintained that the world will only really be equal. once, mediocre women can sort of take the heights of power. And so it's not about, like, I think it's a step to have the sort of Elizabeth Holmes

and the Galane Maxwell, but what we really need for feminism to triumph is just a whole lot of middling, you know, sort of nobodies who are women. A female scomo, someone who's just a bit shit at everything but becomes boss anyway. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Just who. Exactly. who really should never have risen above sort of middle management

but actually suddenly finds themselves in charge. The CEO. Yeah. But I suppose they don't really get depicted in biopics, do they? Possibly not. But, you know, I totally agree with you. I've identified two holes in regards to, I'm just thinking about selfishly personally as a white woman.

Yeah. Two holes in which white women still are aiming for a certain type of equality with white men, right? And it's one of them is exactly what you just said, the media, the really mediocre, you don't really have any talent. You're not really that ambitious, but you just get thrust into a random role that, you know, just falls on you. Yep. That is still a whole that white women can aspire to have. And the other one is kind of like a Pete Davidson-esque woman, a woman who's really hot, but also really cool, like, hot, like unconventionally kind of hot, like not like a, you know, I can't think of anyone. right now. But I'm thinking like a, you know, tattooed kind of interesting, edgy woman who is

essentially a female Pete Davidson. Because if you think about it, there's a lot of like very attractive women like, you know, your Isle Fishers and stuff who play these comedy roles and who are graded it. And then there's the women who kind of like degrade themselves, you know, like the Melissa McCarthy's and like even the Amy Schumers to an extent. But who is the female Pete Davidson? You're right. Yes. Why isn't it? Because that's even, it's almost like a female in that role is not even funny. Like, they're not, which is, like, he's just often randomly in a sketch. You're right, we, but there's a two-part question here.

The first is, why isn't there a female Pete Davidson? And the second half is why is Pete Davidson? So I'm still wondering about it, to be honest. Yeah, maybe actually, the solution to this problem is to just get rid of Pete Davidson. Yeah, but you know what? Pete Davidson's got, like, what I would call. He's part of the stoner bro kind of diaspora of, like, comedians. Yeah.

And I think that is a very untapped kind of area for women. What about the woman who was in all those terrible, but it was clearly the best thing, like, scary movie. Ferris. Oh, Anna Ferris. Anna Ferris. But she's sort of blonde and perky. Yeah, yeah, she's beautiful.

Anna Ferris is amazing. She's so funny. There's a lot of women like that. There's a lot of beautiful women who are just incredible. And then there's the, oh, I forgot as well. Like don't, and there's also older women who are amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's like all of your kind of comedic, older actresses of X Broadway kind of Elaine Stritches

and like all of that kind of, you know, league. But when we're talking about Pete Davidson of women, the woman Pete Davidson. There is nothing. So are you going to do that? Is that going to become your schick? My schick. I mean, that's what I hope for.

That's actually, you know, what Vick and I have been talking about lately. I'm like, that's a hole. That's a big hole for us to kind of exist in that. Dial down the actual humour. Yes. Get some cats. Yes. And just kind of be weird.

Like that, what's that character who does Chad where it just kind of turns up and talks like a kind of weird, confused guys on the spectrum? And then that's, that's a comedy skates every time. The M.O. is give less, but get more. I think you both deserve more. And if that means having to give less, then so be it. Yeah, exactly.

I'd love to make you a career out of giving less. Well, that sounds to me like you've got big plans for 2022 to do less. And get more. And get more. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm really watching. I've got an ear to the ground about the Galane Maxwell biopic.

I could see Charles as Jeffrey. Is it a little bit of a Yeah. Fuck you. Sorry, Charles. Had to be said. Charles, obviously you don't have his CV, but you... No, no, it's acting.

It's acting, Charles. You've got a wig on, you put on a fat suit. Charles, you kind of just look discovered for a second there. All the colour drained from your face. No, but, I mean, let's face it. Jeffrey, I've seen his handsome, Charles. So in ways, it's a compliment. Oh, yeah, that's true.

Well, except that was an insult. go away why did we head on the chaser report news you can't trust thank you for jena for a lovely chat this is our final new morning episode about as you said best of us for the next two weeks and then in January we're going to have the old school chaser team coming back and talking about some of our adventures doing stunts and making mischief and stuff like that and this afternoon our final episode of the sort of normal Chaser report is with Sammy Shah. I'll be catching up with him. We love Sammy.

And I'm already being on holiday by that point. We haven't worked it out at this stage. However, it's been a great year, Charles. Thank you for enduring. It's been a terrible year. It's been a great podcast. Oh, it's been a good podcast. Yeah.

I mean, it's reflected the shittness of the year. It's actually been, I mean, I think we have accurately charted the fucking misery of this year. Yes, that's right. We told it like it was. Yes, you tune in to us. and you heard how horrible and terrible life is. But we did it together, except we were talking and you were listening,

but it was sort of together, only socially distanced. Yeah. Okay, don't die by 2022. We need you in our feed to keep the numbers up. Our Gehry's remote microphones, we're part of the A-cast Crowder Network. And our final thoughts on a new episode in the morning

for 2021 I give to you, Charles Firth. Leave us a five-star review. Our final derivative thought, yeah, actually, Say hello over the break. Let us know if you miss us. But there will be a new episode every day of summer. Some of them may be slightly old rehashed. No, no, no.

But in January... In January, brand new stuff. It's all new content. Some of the best stuff we've ever done, to be honest. Yeah. All right. See ya. Say yeah.

Bye. Don't die. Oh, and if you do die, just keep your devices automatically downloading the podcast. It's good for the numbers.