The Chaser Report - More Than Just Headlines | Rebecca De Unamuno

Episode Date: November 23, 2021

Chaser headline reader and improv world champion Rebecca De Unamuno joins the podcast for this Afternoon Edition. Bec gets into the nitty gritty of being a world-class improv comedian, tells some hilarious anecdotes from on and off stage, and spills all the embarrassing details on what Charles and Dom were like at uni. Plus Gabbi and Bec make plans for their own duo-show! 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. We have a full house here, four microphones and four people. We have Gabby Bolt. Hello. Alex Avulovic. Hi. I'm Dom Knight and the wonderful Rebecca Dana Muno.

Well, I'm Rebecca Dana Muno. I feel like that's how I have to introduce my cell for the time. I am. This is a bit exciting. She's, yes, getting to talk for more than two minutes. which she does every single day, every single podcast. And more when I'm in social situations. We've been doing a whole bunch of interviews with wonderful comedy people

and it's time for Beck to get behind the mic. And particularly I'm keen to hear what you and Gabby have to say to each other about comedy and music coming together because that's what both of you do. So Alexa and I will just sit back and let the sparks fly. But also the other thing on the agenda is, we made Gabby watch all of uni recently. Oh, I just literally. shuddered. Can I say, I loved your work in that, by the way.

Thank you. It was incredible. My terrible haircut and clothes. What do you mean? It was a funny. So, uni was a documentary that was made about Charles Firth, Andrew Hanson and some other people. Back in the late 90s, they were two of the three main focuses. Yes, but Beck was in the room for almost all of those incredibly convincing scenes. I wasn't. I knew everyone, but I wasn't. I stayed away from the whole thing. Yeah. You were smart, Dom. I'm in like one scene talking with Chaz, which was, you know, deliberate. Yeah. And Beck was there for the, so should we start there or we start?

Yeah. Why, I have questions. You have questions. Hey, shoot. I mean, Charles isn't here, so it's kind of great because there is, the scene that sticks out when I immediately think of it. Like, and I, I want to reiterate for anybody listening, I don't have notes in front of me about this. I literally just remember this. Just flashbacks.

There is a scene where you're doing the comedy review. Yes, the arts review. Yeah, the arts review. And Charles, in his very direct of fashion, walks into the girls' chase. Drew backstage and he's like now look the audience it's it takes a little time to warm up you know I don't really know what's going wrong and I think it's either you or one of your friends is like yeah okay like that's what it is not acknowledging the fact that it's actually just that people didn't want to laugh at women in the 90s well nothing much has changed in the year 2021

and Charles is just like I don't know what's really going on I think it's just taking them a little bit longer and then you just have this look on your face that's like yeah okay Yeah, it was our intermission pep talk, which is really usually reserved for football or for, you know, sporting event. You don't have the coach, or, you know, you have the coach come in, but you don't have the director of the show come in halfway through and give you notes about how he thinks the audience are reacting to your work. More energy. More energy. More energy. Energy. As someone who saw that show, and I, you know, I want to be kind in hindsight. What was it, 23 years ago or something?

Oh, my God. No, more, 25 years ago. It was 96. 25 years ago. I love that Charles never for a moment doubted that it might be the material. That's exactly right. It was our delivery. It was said material. You weren't getting the vision. That's right.

Now, it was a really interesting, because Gabby, after I heard you speak about it on the podcast, I went, oh, I've got to watch it. And it's been years since I've seen. I think I probably watched it about 15 years ago, maybe. And I watched it again, and it is, oh, my goodness. And things that back then I didn't even think about that were being filmed of our day-to-day uni life, I became quite nostalgic and quite sort of emotional at some things

because in hindsight, you look at it and go, oh, you know, there's Craig as the stressed stage manager and it's good that he got in front of the camera because he was terrible. I've never seen a stage manager lose his cool so readily. He did look very upset for the majority of that episode. He was very stressed. You know, in the early days of the Chaston Newsby,

Craig's job was to organise distribution, which was like, as in work out the news agents and have the whole spreadsheet and all that kind of stuff. How'd that go? Not a core skill of Craig's. But going in front of the camera and being spontaneously funny, it turned out to be really good that. Amazing. I'm so glad he did that.

I made the transition. But I can only imagine the changes he would have had to put up with as the stage manager. Yes. I'm sure he would have been throwing things probably after Charles gave us that pep tour. He probably changed all the cues for Act 2. Who knows? Who knows?

But yeah, very interesting stuff. And just to look at all the people in the room. And I thought about it too, and I mentioned this to you, Gabby, that I thought it would be really lovely for someone to do a documentary on where everyone from that review in particular are now. Simon Tadier, still around. Well, maybe we should make him a call. I keep saying you should call him. And just say, you know, because people have gone on to do, you know, Adam Spencer was in the room as a writer and Sarah Kendall and Tom Glellan. Yeah, it was a massive fluke year.

You got a lot of people around. So many successful people went to do. Yeah, and they focused on Charles. I know, what a miss. Oh, I think, but I do recall, this is my little bit of gossip. I do recall Simon saying to me at one point, oh, Rebecca, he said, we had a debate about you. And I said, oh, who won? Not knowing what the topic was, but it was about including certain stuff of me.

And I was so thankful that that didn't happen because uni is where you're meant to just try and fail, you know, and you embrace the failure and you learn from it. And you go, wow, like I got up and played theatre sports for the first time and was terrible. But I quickly learned how to play, you know, that kind of thing. And to have that captured, I have to say, they're brave, brave people for allowing it to go ahead. Not brave, completely lacking in self-awareness. And that's the hilarious thing about uni is to have all that cockiness and insecurity that people in the, you know, early 20s or late teens have, hello interns. But just the total lack of any, saying things which would, like, any, like, any,

I'm sure all of you would realize would come over as terrible. And Charles was just like, go into it. Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. My dad actually knows some of these. Oh, yeah. He was really, like, wearing his whole personality on his sleeve, to be honest. I was amazed. And that's exactly how he was.

It's still how he is. You'd have to see it. I mean, I remember when I first met Charles. I remember it as clear as day. It was in the Wentworth building, which we used to call the cultural desert. Nice. And he went where we were there because there was nothing happened. Everything happened in Manning.

It was where engineers went to get hot chips. That's right. That's all it was. And swap flannies. And we did a theatre sports show in the evening over there. Oh, God. And it was, Adam Spencer was hosting. Rob Carlton was in a team and everything.

And Charles was introduced to me by somebody. I can't remember who it was. And then I just started riffing, you know, with Charles. And he ended up on the ground, on the floor of Wentworth, laughing and rolling around, going, Who is this woman? And I just was like, oh, I think we might be friends for a very long time after this. That's actually what happened when I got hired as well. Yeah, he just rolled on the ground 42-year-old.

I'm guessing. I have no idea how old Charles is. He just had a birthday, didn't he? I literally wished you had a birthday. It wasn't 42. 49? Am I close? 46.

46. That's our average age. That wasn't even worth it for the joke, really was it? What is the significance of swapping flannels? Oh no, I just made that up. I really did. I've got to say, when I do the headlines, they are scripted. It is on the page and I read what's written in life and in my performance.

I make it all up. Thank you for your patience. Your call is important. Can't take being on hold anymore? Fizz is 100% online so you can make the switch. In minutes. Mobile plans start at $15 a month. Certain conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. The Chaser Report. News you can't trust. You know what's really funny about the union documentary as well is that the one, I think I said this when we did the whole segment on the podcast. But like the thing that I even escaped at feeling nostalgic for a time that I was barely alive for. And the thing is, I just think you couldn't do it now. Like you couldn't film a documentary that, um, candidly, because everyone now would see it as an opportunity to launch a career.

Like reality TV is no longer just observing reality. It's like people can launch themselves off it. And so people would be filming the whole time or being somebody else. Whereas you guys, it just seemed like you were like in a room and cameras were there and you didn't care. I hate to say this, but I'm pretty confident Charles thought he was launching a career. Oh, well, Charles did, but that's Charles. My favorite moment in the whole docket is on where he goes, this is going to go national. Oh, yeah.

I have a clip of that somewhere. like just traveling around the country. He thought he was going to be the new, I don't know, there wasn't, that didn't happen back then, did it? I remember in a sharehouse I was living in, Charles came over one night and we drank a bottle of cask wine. Nice. As you do, a goon bag.

And we roach like what we wanted to achieve in our lives. And number one on Charles's list was start a media empire. Well, and I just, and I said to him, I still resent you to this day because I think my number. one was become a national, a national name or perform and act somewhere amazing, but I always remember Charles was that. But I don't think you could film a documentary like uni now anymore because nobody is on campus like they were back then. No, the life is not the same. The life is not the same. I mean, the fact that the bars were open all day and all night and you could always go

in and out and chat with people and that's how you met people. I mean, the activities that everybody was doing back then, I don't think the student services are the same because everyone does it all from remotely and from home. Yeah, and it's also, like, we have computers in our pockets. Like, our brains are constantly fed gratification. That's what we had. And I'm left-handed and I had to always turn them upside down and back to front. My hand would hit the spiral.

Oh, my God. Yeah, like, and I just, it made me a little sad for, like, it's like that whole, like, I was born in the wrong generation thing. But it just makes me go, like, I would have. I'm like that for the 1940s. I keep saying I was born, like, Gene, generation. Gene Kelly and I were destined to be together.

I'm sure of it. It could still happen. We could hire a tap dancer here. Can we get a seance going? Because I don't think he's available. Yay. Oh, oaky spooky chaser episode. Let's do it.

The amazing thing you're looking back, though, Beck, as you say, so many people went into comedy and are still doing it today. It's kind of bizarre, isn't it? Back on all the decades, you just sort of kept pushing this stuff. When was the point where you knew improv was your thing? Because just as a footnote, we've discussed this on the podcast before, but Becky's a world champion of theatre sports. Fuck, yeah.

That just, I mean, very early on, I remember you with the legend of theatre sports even on campus. Yes, and. How did it all happen? Yes, and. Well done. One of the rules. It was interesting because I always wanted to be an actor. And so the reason I went to Sydney uni was because of Suds, the Drama Society.

And that was the first club or society that I joined in O Week, and that was my mission. and I auditioned for the major production of Suds when I was a first year. And I, oh, my goodness, I got in and it was like, oh, my goodness, this is eye-opening. This is extraordinary, these amazing talents. And then I was one of only a few people from my school that went to Sydney uni for a start. But I was probably the only art student. And so I didn't know anyone. I just turned up and was like, oh, my God.

And Suds was a way for me to meet like-minded people and get creative. And then I heard this thing about this thing at lunchtime up in Manning Bar and at 1 o'clock on a Thursday. And I thought, I'll go check it out. And I watched, and I stood there just watching it. And I was like, oh, no, theatre spots. I remember because I used to watch the show on the ABC that they filmed at Belvoir Street, which was hosted by Paul Chubb and, you know, and, you know, Sean McAuliffe played, Andrew Denton, like they were all in teams back then.

Wow. And I thought, I'll just watch, I remember this. And so I watched it. And I was like, oh, there's no way I could do that. I was just like, oh my God, they were amazing. And it was a nice way to kill an hour with other people, but you could be on your own. Yeah. And then I started going week after week.

And eventually I started thinking of things to say in response to what somebody, some line that somebody would say on stage. And I'd come up with a reaction straight off. Yeah. And I went, oh, maybe it's not so sort of distant as I thought. And then a friend of mine, Dan Lloyd, he said to me, he was going back to do honours, I think, that year. and he said, I said, oh, you can play theatre sports again. He was one of the stars, and he said, we should play. And I said, but I don't know.

He was in the play I had done. I said, I don't know how to play. It goes, doesn't matter. And he literally dragged me on stage. I had no idea of the rules of what I'd never done it before. And Adam Spencer would say, you're now doing a, you know, play in the style of. And I'd turn to Dan and go, what's that? And he goes, we're doing it in the style of like a genre, like, you know,

golly locks up the tree bears, like a Western five, four, three, two. I'm footnoting you during the... So you have to improvise not only the scene, but how to improvise that sort of scene. Exactly. And I was like, oh, and I was literally thrust on stage. And the first time I had done it, not so great. But then maybe the second or third. Were you hooked though the first time?

I was. That's why I went back a second time. I wouldn't have done it had I not found something in it that was a bit exciting. Because I've been watching from afar, I knew. And then it was almost... And to this day when I improvise, because that's how I do my stand-up, It's how I do all my comedy. I'm still shocked when an audience laughs or reacts a certain way

because I'm going, what was funny about that? I'm so immersed in the character and everything. I don't realize it. And I just remember getting this response one lunchtime from the audience. And it was the equivalent of a stadium gig. I remember just going, oh, my God. Because when things went well at Manning Bar, you knew about it. Oh, and it was so packed.

I mean, it's hard to imagine nowadays, but it was hard to get a spot in the room back in those days. bins like on the bins and everything and it was and you know people were it was but when things went poorly you also knew about it so it was a baptism of fire I was like oh there was heckling oh there was oh much heckling it reminded me that the only other time I felt that same moment was being in at late and live in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh fringe and seeing the audience um throw their pint glasses at Russell Brand to get him off stage I went that's a bit manning yeah I just I do this is a little bit, you know, and I'm quite lovely and sentimental at the same time. It's so funny because I feel like I don't really relate much to the upbringing

because I don't think I've really gotten into comedy at a time where audiences are allowed. But I do feel like I played music gigs for like six years of my life. And they were always fun. I always really enjoyed them. But I never really felt like I left them going, fuck, this is like just the best feeling ever. And my first comedy gig with an audience, I walked offstage just feeling like I'd just taken heroin.

I literally was like, I want to kick a car, that was so fun. Yeah, it's an extraordinary feeling. And you can understand, like, in stand-up in particular, you know, and everyone goes, oh my God, the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It must just be a month of, you know, the most amazing stuff. And you go, yeah, but it's also a month of people by most measures are quite insecure, are very needy, you know, a desk, yeah. Oh, my God, you didn't have to read me.

Desperate to be loved, you know what I mean? I mean? And so you can see over the course of that one month of doing shows every night, you know, six nights a week. And then other gigs that you pick up along the way. You can just feel the warmth and everybody's wrapping themselves in a blanket going, I need to get that fixed tomorrow. You know, I need it. And we need it from each other, that thing as well. It's a very different, it's a very different drug to be on. Yeah, it's kind of, it feels a lot like a family, but like not like a weird MLM scheme. You're part of the family thing.

like a genuine ever since I got into comedy I just feel like or maybe I just got insanely lucky but I feel like a lot of the people I've interacted with in the comedy scene have just it's like this pass down of information that you do that's that's really great and I'm glad that you said that that seems rare to me I've got to say I've got to say I having sort of done improv as much as I did and toured and went over over the world with improv and then I decided to get back into stand-up and it's a very solitary pursuit which yeah improv normally isn't and I went oh You know, and just in the last couple of years, particularly I was in, I'll give you an anecdote, I was in a tour van driving to Aubrey Wondonga.

And all of the young people were in the van with me. And I just turned at one point and I said, you know what? I just realized, I could have birthed all of you. Because I am that age where I could be all of their mum. Like that's who I am. And then I just turned at one point and I said, you know, and like Danny Glover and lethal weapon, I think I'm too old for this fucking shit. Because it does get, it's a really interesting

Because in improv always you're supported Because you need trust with those people you perform with You need to trust them You need to look into their eyes And kind of know where they're going Stand up, not a lot of eye contact Amongst acts Not a lot of, because it's like, you know, interaction

And I'm not poo-pooing my mates in comedy at all They know the ones I love And I know the ones I love But it's interesting because I just think I think things are changing for those coming up in the world of stand-up in particular because back when I was doing it you had to travel to the manly boat shed

you had to do Oatley Hotel and if you didn't do well in those gigs it was unlikely we're going to get put on at the comedy store whereas comedy has changed now with technology so you can put something out online and now people go oh my God and suddenly the live gigs flow whereas we had to do all the live gigs

and you had to really die, really, like, oh, my God, there's some gigs you die. So that's fascinating. So because of YouTube and all that, you can actually start to find your niche. Because when every performer has a particular audience, and if you've got a particular niche or a weird or, surreal comedy, for instance, is a great example of that. Like, I'm not big on surreal comedy, but a lot of people absolutely love the sort of Noel Fielding style thing.

And then you can find those people online, it's beautiful because you have the filtration, Whereas I can just imagine someone like that going to play an RSL club and getting literal, like bottles thrown at their head. It's absolutely true. I've seen it time and time again because, and then at the, say, the Melbourne Comedy Festival, it's their fans that they've already established from their online presence that are coming to see their show.

And they're going to love everything they do. Whereas I've had to learn to adjust my material to, you know, regional towns, to, you know, pubs where there's three audience members and that you're just interrupting their Shnittian chips. You know, like there's a whole. And that, for me, has given me the versatility that I think I'm really happy that I, that I had. And so I think that there's, when I say generational gap, I still get along with young comedians like I do, that was my age. But there's a, it's almost like a nod and a wink of like, we've been in the trenches amongst those that of my age, you know, that have been around for a while.

Like, we, we were meant back in my day, we used to have to actually make people laugh. You know, that kind of stuff. Thank you for your patience. Your call is important. Can't take being on hold anymore. FIS is 100% online, so you can make the switch in minutes. Mobile plans start at $15 a month. Certain conditions apply.

Details at fizz.ca. The Chaser Report. News a few days after it happens. I think it's also really interesting because, like, I mean, I think there is still a long ways to go for, like, women reception in comedy as well. But I feel like the shit that you and other female comics of your generation must have had to fucking put up with. When I won the world champs, the improv world champs at the Just Blast Festival, right? Yeah.

I kept getting late and I got player of the tournament and I was the first woman to ever win that, right? Fuck yeah, you were. Hell yeah. Got the trophy to prove it. You know, like Carl Reiner and I have the same trophy. Oh, my God. Oh, I'm just whatever. It's a standard trophy that everybody gets at Just for Laf.

So it's a trophy. I bet it's the trophy right. And when I got that, it was really interesting that I was constantly being referred to when I came back home as the best female improviser. What the fuck? And it bugged me because it was like, no, I beat the men. Like, there was no gender in this. It was, I just happened to be a woman that won it. But that doesn't mean that I was in the category, the female category.

I kicked the men's ass just as much as like kick the women's ass, you know. And then I found that incredibly frustrating. And when I first started improvising, somebody who've been around for quite a while said to me, you improvise like a man. Oh my God. Like there's a gendered way to do it. What is a man offering to improvisation that a woman can't?

What, do they get their dick out and flicking around everywhere? What's the point of the penis? Hang on, that's a legitimate art form. Well, that's another story. Anyway, we've got so many stories. But I'm going to keep to the point. Yeah. But it's true.

And I said, well, Well, if that means that I am brave enough to come out and start a scene, if that means that I am brave enough to play any character, I played an entire scene as a golf ball once on the stage at Belvoir Street Theatre. Have you got a voice? Oh, my God. I think I was a bit like that. I love this.

Because I was little, but when I was hit, it was, you know, it changed a bit. So I've played everything. I love playing men on stage because it changes your whole physicality. You lead with your crotch. You take up more space, you sit with your legs open. You talk a bit like this and you say, hello, how you going? I know.

And I said, well, if that's what you mean by playing like a man, that I'm being strong on stage, I'm starting scenes, I'm, you know, a presence of people are, well, then so be it. And PS, fuck you. And PS, fuck you. I'm so annoying. I feel like, I mean, I feel like it's changed a lot. Obviously, I will never know how you suffered.

But even online, like, I share some of my songs and stuff, and I'm still developing as a comedian. I have no fucking idea what my niche is yet. I haven't really even done my show yet. But like the comments I get, at first it didn't bug me. It's then the sheer volume of getting things like, you're the female Bo Burnham,

the female Tim Minchin, the female flight of the concords. And I'm like, a male musical comedian isn't getting, you're the male Victoria Wood. Or like the male Jude Pearl. They're not getting that. Because the men in comedy

will always hold other men to the same. standards that I feel that they've set. Yeah. That sums up comedy for me. Fuck. Whereas women hold themselves up to the same standard that they've set themselves. Yeah. I reckon that's the big difference.

Can I ask about improv though, Beck? Because when you read bios of American comedy legends, people from SNL and all these sorts of things, you always hear that it's improv. It's Second City or it's upright Citizens Brigade or whatever the thing is. Improv is this god's kind of industry in the US or certainly used to be. And, I mean, Steve Carell's character in the office is always like, yeah, doing improv, we'll do a scene and so, but that doesn't exist here to the same degree. Now, admittedly, some of the people who we work with, the giant dwarf, there's training and stuff for people who want to be improv, to do improv these days, but it's not, it's not anything like the scene in the US. And I wonder what you think about that, as someone who's been part of this scene here, because, I mean, in the States, at your level of ability, holy hell, you would have been on SNL, right?

Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. When we did the worlds over in Canada, for me, it was the first time I'd improvised overseas. And the cues for our shows were around the block. They sold out every night and they were in a massive. We played in the round and it was for TV as well. So we had all these cameras and, you know, and the matches were three hours long. And then they would edit it down to a TV version of an hour. And those people stood there around the block to watch us. And I had on my past, my performers, passed and it had a special thing on it and it said what I was part of that I was part of the World Improv Cup and people would look at that on my lanyard and be like oh my god you're part of the improv you know like it was we were lauded and I'd never experienced that before here and I remember as I was teaching the contestants on Australia's next top model to improvise that I turned to a friend of mine not realising I was still marked by the way

all my years of attempting to elevate improvisation to an art form and I've reduced it to this that's what I said but that was kind of a comment and then when you're miced you're like it's a character it's a bit yes and yes and I was playing a bitchy improviser acting is reacting to reactions

but no it was it was just because I did dedicate my entire early part of it trying to get people to appreciate it. And sadly, it was only when Whose Line Is It Anyway started happening here. Like people started playing it on TV. Yeah. That every time we do a show, they go, if you've seen Whose Line Is It Anyway? If you've seen, then that's what we do. And I'm like, why are we equating ourselves with a show that at that point was British-based and US-based

and wasn't based here? But because it was a reference point that people could go, oh, must be legit. Improv must be legit now because it's on TV. But it's always been on TV Years before I was doing it on Canadian TV So I've become, I've got really frustrated there for a while Because I sort of, I feel like I sort of dug the trenches And walked through them and now others are climbing over the top of me

To have the opportunities that we didn't have And I think what a shame Because we're almost 30 years late here When it comes to improv It is weird because to me as an audience member there is a special magic to improv and it's because you know it's a unique journey that you're on but the mood in the room you don't get it with stand-up I mean people might love a stand-up but it doesn't have the magic of and and to me the what people will laugh at if it was

if they didn't know it was improv they'd feel differently about it but you just you want the performer to succeed and to win and it's like watching someone's brain unspool before you it's just an amazing thing we at theatre spots ink we had a very slogan that we used and it was by Carl Reiner I just adore that man and it said a brilliant mind in panic is a wonderful thing to see

and that is that's what sums it up because you never know this could fail within the blink of an eye this scene could go I remember playing the Crants and Cup grand final at the Ammore Theatre one year and we were the team to beat

we'd won all our heats we'd won our semi we were winning in the first half we played one scene and it stunk and we all three of us turned to the trophy and waved goodbye to it. And so we were, because we would, everything was set up for us to win. And just that one moment of something not connecting and not working and it was over.

And it's a tightrope, isn't it? It's what it is. It's the trapeze act. And as I say, like when I teach improv, I always say, you know, you're standing on it on the edge of a cliff and those that want to play it safe will let their toes sort of hang over the edge and that's as far as I'll go. Those, there might be some that might go onto their heels and you go, ooh, that's a bit more daring but it's those that just take a running leap off the cliff and see what happens

that's the most exciting part figure it out when you're mid-air like don't don't stand on the edge but yeah but i did um i did actually have a meeting once with a hollywood agent i will have to um i have to tell this story so i went um i went for this meeting i flew to l a i was on my way to perform at the edinburgh fringe um to do an improvised broadway musical oh my god and um i decided to the states on my own and just travel through the states and then go to London and then on to Edinburgh. Anyway, works out, I got this, it's such a

random story. A quite well-known actor here in Australia saw me in a show and got in touch and thought I was great and somehow he got me this meeting with a comedy agent, huge comedy agent in LA. So I get there and I'm like preparing to go to this

place and I was so nervous. My show really had been sent on and all that kind of stuff and I sat there and then the assistant came and greeted me who was clearly the one who'd seen my stuff, right? So, greets me and everything and I go in and I sit on this big, there's this, the room is completely empty, but there's this L-shaped couch. And it's huge, it fills up like both walls of like, and I'm just like, then I just stood

there going, where do I sit? It's the corner to presumptuous. Is the middle being a bit fresh? Like, where do I sit on this couch? So I was, if there was a camera watching me, I would have just been going, balking at all my choices of which cushion to sit on. That's part of the test. It is part of the test.

And then I sat down and I waited and I waited and I waited. And in walks this comedy manager holding a bowl of dry cereal. Mood. And just comes in eating these dry cereal right and sits opposite me and says, want some? I'm like, oh, no, thank you. Thinking, it took me 20 minutes to figure out where to sit. You want me to eat dry cereal?

Like, what is this? This is like, and then I kept looking for the hidden cameras. because I was convinced I had been in an elaborate setup for candid camera or something like that because this friend had organised this thing and now suddenly I've got this where do I sit on this couch I've got this guy eating dry cereal he then gets up and leaves me again so I'm sitting there on my own nothing has happened right half an hour into this meeting then he sits down and he says to me

okay so you and all your characters that you play are on a boat the boat is sinking which character do you say and why was his opening question. Are you fucking serious? And I said, well, sorry. Is this the same guy with a cereal? Yeah, same serial guy, right? Because he comes back in and then sits down

and then he proceeds with this question. I mean, we all know the answer. It's obviously the golf ball. Well, yeah, well, clearly. If only he could see my golf ball work. I've got a trajectory. Well, I said to him, well, I think I'd probably save myself. I said, because let's face it, without me, they're nothing.

Amazing answer. A thought so. Stone cold, shoved a bit of cereal in his mouth. this is this is my nightmare and he's like you know i could get you on s and i could get you on s and i'm like going well you may be in my head i'm like you probably should watch my show real first before promising this it was the most bizarre experience and then to make it even more bizarre i was picked up by a friend of mine afterwards to just go and hang out and he's in um reno nine one one and like he was the voice of roco in roco's modern life and stuff like carlos

And he picks me up and I'm like, that was the most demoralizing experience of my life. And he goes, hey, welcome to L.A. It was just like, weird place. Anyway, bizarre. That was my, and then I kept waiting for Lorne Michaels to call me, but clearly it never happened. He hadn't watched a uni. Well, if I only had eaten the cereal, I kept thinking maybe that was the key. Was he trying to drug you?

I have no idea. It was the most bizarre, bizarre day. of my life. What time a day was it for the cereal? Was it like an afternoon cereal? No, we're talking like 11, 11 a.m.? That's a weird time for dry cereal. I mean, I eat night cereal because I'm a little gremlin.

But I have milk with it. I'm not a fucking criminal. Thank you for your patience. Your call is important. Can't take being on hold anymore. Fizz is 100% online, so you can make the switch in minutes. about plans start at $15 a month.

Certain conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. The Chaser Report. Now with extra whispers. I know, so I've got so many battle stories. I've got so many almost stories where I could have been,

you know, and I just feel, yeah, we respected improv here half as much as they do over in North America. Different story. You're a fucking champion. I'm going to cry then. We should do a double act. We should.

You could teach me improv. And it's so good to see so many young women coming up into, in through the comedy ranks. And I say this all the time, and I say it about improvisers too. But whenever I would see a really strong woman improvising, I'd always go, let's play together. You know, like let's just, because I feel like it's a responsibility of people now my age who've been given opportunities and have learnt so much, you've got to encourage the next generation. Well, nobody brings the house down like Beck doing a musical number. It's completely improvised in the genre, so you should, give it a go.

You heard it here first. We should. Yeah, I'm all about the maker. I love playing on the go, too, so like. There you go, see. I think it's time to take this one offline. I know. Well, I know.

I remember I mentioned spontaneous braway. That was one of my performing, like, thrills doing that season. You know, working with Genevieve Morris, you know, Jeff Payne, Julius and Miro, you know, all doing this show where we. improvise Broadway musicals and pitch Broadway musical ideas is just, it's heaven. Heaven. So I'm all about it. Absolutely.

All right. I will keep that in mind. I love doing shit like that. I love playing piano on the, like I've done one improv piano gig, and it's so, it's so aggressive in the moment because then somebody's like a tango, and you're like, what? But then you just kind of do it. It's so freeing. That's the thing.

You commit, and that's what you have to do in improv. Are we committing? Are you both committing to do? What, right now? I mean, I haven't got my keyboard. I'm getting committed. I'm not on the podcast. I'm saying you're committing to doing a gig.

Oh, yeah. Sure. All right. Fucking, yeah. We'll publicise it through the podcast and we'll all fucking turn up. Well, nobody's given me one since we started back after. Well, listen, I need to write, I need to write like one more song for my show. I could just avoid it all together and get you to come and do my show with me.

You don't need to repeat. You just need to be improv. Yes, you've got to prepare. As I say with improv, you've got to. Prepare to be unprepared. Perfect. That's how I walk into this office every single day. Beg, thanks for coming in.

Pleasure. Lovely to chat. I could have, can we do a part two? Absolutely. I suspect we will. Fuck yeah. I could keep going for hours. I love the shit.

Can you tell I live alone? No. What a note to leave it on. Our Geese and Road microphones were part of the Acasts Crater Network. We will have, you do. You have us. Move in here.

We live here. We'll get you next time, Beck. Bye.