Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About the Stella Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah La Marquin to your host. Every week I
Speaker 1: sit down with some of the biggest names in the
Speaker 1: country because when Australia's celebrities are ready to.
Speaker 2: Talk, they come to Something to Talk About.
Speaker 1: Today's guest, Celia Piccola, has been busy. She debuted her
Speaker 1: first live show in five years, became the host of
Speaker 1: everyone's favorite sketch series Thank God You're Here, starred in
Speaker 1: the LOGI nominated Utopia, and in between filming, writing and performing,
Speaker 1: she also had a baby. Celia likes to do things
Speaker 1: that scare her, which is perhaps why she's an actor,
Speaker 1: slash comedian, slash host, slash writer. She says it gives
Speaker 1: her anxiety, but almost in a good way because if
Speaker 1: things go bad, well at least she still gets a
Speaker 1: story out of it.
Speaker 2: On today's episode is.
Speaker 1: Something to Talk About, Celia joins me to talk about
Speaker 1: why she decided to host Thank God You're Here, about
Speaker 1: working with Luke McGregor, and her hilarious observation of what
Speaker 1: she realized as a new mother. We also talk about
Speaker 1: what she's planning to wear to the logis next month,
Speaker 1: and let's just say she won't have to shave her legs.
Speaker 1: Celia Pacola, welcome to something.
Speaker 2: To talk about.
Speaker 3: Hello, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: I mean, thank god you're here.
Speaker 3: As they say, I know, isn't it fun? So last
Speaker 3: year when that started happening, I was like, Oh, it's
Speaker 3: quite pleasant. It's actually quite a nice way to walk
Speaker 3: into a room. You just feel really wanted every week,
Speaker 3: and it's very nice.
Speaker 4: It would be nice.
Speaker 1: I think we should all walk into a room and
Speaker 1: everyone says, thank God you're here.
Speaker 2: Some of us feel that we have the opposite effect
Speaker 2: on people.
Speaker 3: I'm leaving.
Speaker 1: Congratulations are in order. You have been nominated for a
Speaker 1: LOGI this year. Thank God You're here is nominated. But
Speaker 1: you have also been nominated for a LOGI for Actress
Speaker 1: in a Comedy for your role in Utopia.
Speaker 3: This is great. Thank you very much. I'm very excited.
Speaker 3: I have not and I'm going to go. I haven't
Speaker 3: gone for the last few years. I've missed them for
Speaker 3: whatever such and such reason. But I'm very excited, very
Speaker 3: happy for Utopia. Which is kind of a blur because
Speaker 3: I had a tiny, uh baby that I have at
Speaker 3: the moment when we were filming that and a fringe
Speaker 3: that I regret, so it was a difficult time for me,
Speaker 3: but I'm very excited and I'm very happy for Rob
Speaker 3: Sitch as well as nominated for his performance in Utopia
Speaker 3: and the show the whole show as well, So I'm
Speaker 3: very toughed. It'd be great to be there, and thank
Speaker 3: God that's huge for me. You know, the fact that
Speaker 3: we that the show happened at all and that people
Speaker 3: liked it is a big deal. So I'm very proud
Speaker 3: to turn up.
Speaker 1: You of course, saw the host of Thank God You're here,
Speaker 1: and I would love to talk to you a little
Speaker 1: bit today about the different career incarnations that you have
Speaker 1: as an actor, as a comedian, as a writer.
Speaker 2: But hosting a show.
Speaker 1: How did that feel when you first started doing that,
Speaker 1: Because there's a big responsibility on your shoulders, and it's
Speaker 1: obviously such a beloved comedic format, but you also have
Speaker 1: to be a little bit of the slide attendant, the
Speaker 1: sensible person in the room, keep things on course.
Speaker 2: How is all of that sit with you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I've been approached to host things in the
Speaker 3: past and I've always said no. I understand why people
Speaker 3: would think that I might do it because my style
Speaker 3: is quite conversational and stuff, but I'm scared of it
Speaker 3: for that reason because I don't want to be in charge.
Speaker 3: I don't want to be responsible for other people having
Speaker 3: a good time or a bad time. You know. I'm like, no, no,
Speaker 3: I'd much rather go in, do my thing and then
Speaker 3: go home. But with this, what actually happened was I
Speaker 3: was the first I was taken out for a cup
Speaker 3: of coffee, and the conversation was so you know, thank
Speaker 3: god you hear. I'm like, yes, that huge part of
Speaker 3: my childhood. I was already old then less old than
Speaker 3: I am now. Yes, it's coming back. And my heart
Speaker 3: sank because I thought they were going to go would
Speaker 3: you like to go through the door? Which feels me
Speaker 3: with absolute terror, but simultaneously knowing that I would do
Speaker 3: it because it's one of those things where if I
Speaker 3: get asked to do something, being scared is not a
Speaker 3: good enough reason to not do it. So I was like, oh, no,
Speaker 3: I'm going to go through the door, and they went
Speaker 3: we were thinking, would you be interested in hosting it?
Speaker 3: And it's the first time where I went, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's way easier, Like I just went off, Yeah, of
Speaker 3: course yes I can, because for this show, the host,
Speaker 3: it's not about me, Like my job is not is
Speaker 3: not the show if I fail. It's not that. My
Speaker 3: job is really to be a flight attendant, as you say,
Speaker 3: to be traffic control and just enjoy it, which I do.
Speaker 4: I love it, like I.
Speaker 3: Just get to be there and watch and just have
Speaker 3: a fun time, which I already am. So every way
Speaker 3: I turned it in my mind, I was like, I
Speaker 3: think this is a good thing that I can. I
Speaker 3: can do, like that's bare minimum of my job is
Speaker 3: to just go you go through that door and then
Speaker 3: watch the show. And I'd been doing that from home anyway,
Speaker 3: so I was nervous. But no, it's the first hosting
Speaker 3: position that I've accepted.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always good sometimes in managing your fears if
Speaker 1: there's a scarier alternative.
Speaker 2: So if you first thought it was like a bit
Speaker 2: of relief, maybe it just puts I mean.
Speaker 3: Maybe that's the only reason that I said yes, is
Speaker 3: because I was scared of something that was more scary.
Speaker 3: But no, I really and the other fear was because
Speaker 3: it's such a beloved show, as you were saying as well,
Speaker 3: is like I don't want to be the person who
Speaker 3: breaks it. I don't want it to be the reason
Speaker 3: why it comes back and it didn't work, you know sometimes,
Speaker 3: So there was that fear as well. But yeah, as
Speaker 3: I say, every way I turned it, I was like,
Speaker 3: the other thing is with this show because of the
Speaker 3: guests who come on. I love that it's such an
Speaker 3: incredible range of up and coming new voices that the
Speaker 3: nation hasn't seen. There's also pretty established comedians who are
Speaker 3: jobbing and working and everywhere right now. And then there's
Speaker 3: the upper level, you know, comedians who I've looked up
Speaker 3: to who before me, and I've actually been doing comedy
Speaker 3: for almost twenty years now. So I feel like half
Speaker 3: of them are my best mates, half of them are
Speaker 3: new people that I'm excited to see half of them,
Speaker 3: and the third half I wasn't good at math ah
Speaker 3: my comedy heroes. So I really thought, I think I
Speaker 3: can be useful in this space. Like I feel like people,
Speaker 3: I know who these people are, I'm excited to see them,
Speaker 3: and I know how to treat them with respect, do
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? Like I feel like if
Speaker 3: I'd been asked to host a gardening show, I'd be
Speaker 3: like no, because this is not my area. I don't
Speaker 3: know what I'm doing, and I don't know what any
Speaker 3: of these plants are, but I'm thank god you're here.
Speaker 3: I know all the plants very well.
Speaker 1: And I imagine there is obviously that mutual understanding and
Speaker 1: respect for what one another does, because that's right. It
Speaker 1: is a whole different approach than if you are on
Speaker 1: a gardening show, for respect to gardeners. But obviously there's
Speaker 1: a shorthand what is the green room like?
Speaker 2: Backstage?
Speaker 3: Oh? There is one here, Okay, well, it's like a
Speaker 3: theme park, honestly, backstage, so everyone is kept siloed. It
Speaker 3: is so secretive, so none of the performers are able
Speaker 3: to see pretty much each other, or any of the
Speaker 3: ensembles or any of the props. There's animals walking around
Speaker 3: backstad like it is. It's a fun park. You wouldn't
Speaker 3: believe what is real, but it has to be real
Speaker 3: for the show to work, so everything is kept separate.
Speaker 4: There are huge sets.
Speaker 3: Maybe there's half a boat going past over there, and
Speaker 3: then down there there's a marching band, and then there's
Speaker 3: a box full of bees for some reason, and it
Speaker 3: is just a ridiculous chaos, but very organized chaos happening backstage.
Speaker 3: So there's no real green room. There's a little green
Speaker 3: room after the show, and that is the best time
Speaker 3: because that's just when everyone gets to debrief and go,
Speaker 3: oh my god, could you believe when that happened? What
Speaker 3: were you thinking when that happened? And that's so so
Speaker 3: we get to come together. The bees aren't in that.
Speaker 3: The bees get taken away doing it by that point.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so it's a there's a real nervous excitement
Speaker 3: and energy before the show. But yeah, it's not like
Speaker 3: any sort of standard green room that you'd have, say
Speaker 3: in a comedy club or you know, in any other
Speaker 3: television show that I've ever worked on.
Speaker 1: A lot of people would be surprised to hear you
Speaker 1: earlier when you were first offered the role, or when
Speaker 1: you thought, oh my goodness, they're going to ask me
Speaker 1: to actually walk through the door, that you would have
Speaker 1: even had any trepidation about that.
Speaker 2: Because you have worked in the industry for twenty years.
Speaker 1: As you just said, you've hosted your first live show
Speaker 1: in five years.
Speaker 2: I'm as surprised as you are.
Speaker 1: In twenty sixteen, you became the youngest woman to host
Speaker 1: the Gala for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Do you
Speaker 1: still obviously that nervous energy imagine fuels every performer, every comedian.
Speaker 1: But how has your anxiety, your self, doubt, general nervousness
Speaker 1: improved or abated in any way over the course of
Speaker 1: your career.
Speaker 3: I should say it's probably fifteen what I'm like twenty.
Speaker 3: I wasn't doing standard when I was twenty one, so
Speaker 3: it's probably more like fifteen years I was. I was
Speaker 3: giving myself an extra five years because, as I say
Speaker 3: about at Maths, it seems like that's going to be
Speaker 3: a theme. I have learnt about myself that there will
Speaker 3: always be nerves, and there should be. I choose jobs
Speaker 3: now that I'm a bit scared of I have to.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm always going to be a bit nervous,
Speaker 3: But I think that's more so because I also now
Speaker 3: choose jobs where I will be a bit nervous, because
Speaker 3: that means it's a challenge if I'm a bit nervous. Look,
Speaker 3: the anxiety thing is a longer story and a longer road.
Speaker 3: It's still it's about managing it. It's part of who
Speaker 3: I am and always will be, So it's about managing
Speaker 3: it and sometimes I'm better at that than others. I'm
Speaker 3: generally I'm not as terrified of everything as I was,
Speaker 3: which I think just happens with when you get runs
Speaker 3: on the board. So most of the things that I've done,
Speaker 3: I'm doing it for the first time. So doing the
Speaker 3: gala for the first time that was the most terrifying
Speaker 3: thing in the world. And then the second time I
Speaker 3: did the gala, it wasn't as scary because just logically,
Speaker 3: I'm like, I have proof that you are able to
Speaker 3: do this, so it's not as scary. So then hosting
Speaker 3: the gala, I was like, well, I have no reference
Speaker 3: of hosting the gala before, so that's scary. And then
Speaker 3: the next time I host something, you just sort of
Speaker 3: start accumulating proof of what your skills are and times
Speaker 3: that you've done something that was scary and it was fine.
Speaker 3: So I don't know. So that just continuing to work
Speaker 3: means my lodge, I can't argue with the facts, which
Speaker 3: are you can and have done something like this before,
Speaker 3: so it'll probably be fine. Does that mean that you
Speaker 3: might have a blank and wei pants on stage? You might,
Speaker 3: I really might. I might do it right now, There
Speaker 3: are no there is always the possibility. But I think
Speaker 3: just continuing to do the scary things and being proved
Speaker 3: that you can and it'll probably be okay makes it
Speaker 3: a bit easier to go this will probably be okay too.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you ever have had a blank
Speaker 1: and weed your pants on stage, but are there some
Speaker 1: moments that stand out for you that you just completely
Speaker 1: froze or thought, I can't get through this, and then
Speaker 1: a bit to what you were just talking about, Celia.
Speaker 2: Once you get through something, then there's an inner.
Speaker 1: Knowledge whatever it is in life career, that I got
Speaker 1: through that, so I probably can handle whatever gets thrown
Speaker 1: at me next time.
Speaker 3: The good thing in my line of work is if
Speaker 3: it does or if it is a complete disaster, then
Speaker 3: you get a story out of it, you know. So actually,
Speaker 3: if something terrible happens, it's terrible thing amongst communities when
Speaker 3: you have conversations and someone will tell you something awful,
Speaker 3: they've just had the worst time, and in your mind
Speaker 3: you're like, damn it, that's gonna be a good show.
Speaker 3: That is very that's gonna be a really good show.
Speaker 3: So there's that aspect of it, but really bad ones
Speaker 3: that have happened just in terms of weaving myself. I
Speaker 3: might do material about this one day because this was
Speaker 3: a fun There was a fun period of my career
Speaker 3: where thanks brain, you know when you do sometimes you
Speaker 3: just got my thanks brain where I hadn't. But whilst
Speaker 3: on stage, my brain told me that I had wet
Speaker 3: my pants. So I'd be telling jokes, and whilst telling jokes,
Speaker 3: my brain is going, Celia, they're not laughing at your
Speaker 3: jokes anymore. They're all laughing because you've wet yourself and
Speaker 3: they're thinking, why is this one standing on stage and
Speaker 3: not addressing the fact that she's wet her pants, And
Speaker 3: so my mind would go, you haven't, no, but you have,
Speaker 3: so just look down and check that you haven't wear
Speaker 3: your pants, And then I'd go, you can't do that,
Speaker 3: because then you're gonna look like a crazy person who's
Speaker 3: mid sentence just looking at your cross for no reason.
Speaker 3: So that's a thing that actually happened. So that wasn't fun.
Speaker 3: I've also blanked. That's the nightmare scenario for me is
Speaker 3: just forgetting. And that's the anxiety dreams that I'll have
Speaker 3: where you know, I think every career, I don't know,
Speaker 3: if you have this, you have you know, like you
Speaker 3: have anxiety dreams, so do you have in your version
Speaker 3: you dream that you're interviewing someone and you can't remember
Speaker 3: who they are or what the questions.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think going blank in any sort of live
Speaker 1: pressure environment is I think a nightmare for anyone, whether
Speaker 1: you're doing a speech or on television, just thinking I
Speaker 1: have no idea what was about to be in my brain.
Speaker 2: It's a terrifying concept.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's happened and not. The thing is, it's
Speaker 3: always not as bad as it seems to you. So
Speaker 3: for you it feels like two and a half hours
Speaker 3: of silence into them. It's probably pretty quick and generally
Speaker 3: I'll just lean into it. If it's that bad, you
Speaker 3: just say it, just own it. Because I'm all about
Speaker 3: getting material out of embarrassing myself anyway, so I'd just
Speaker 3: go listen, I'm going to come clean here. I've forgotten
Speaker 3: what I was going to say, and I don't know
Speaker 3: what it is, so what could we do about it?
Speaker 3: And just trying to get out of it that way.
Speaker 3: My most terrifying on stage thing was doing live at
Speaker 3: the Apollo, which is.
Speaker 4: I'd say probably still one of the biggest comedy stages in.
Speaker 3: The world, like when I was coming up that was like,
Speaker 3: that was the gig and it was a twenty minute set,
Speaker 3: I think, and it was going quite well. I'm like,
Speaker 3: I'm doing it. I'm getting away with it. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: I'm going to do it. And there was a clock
Speaker 3: on stage and I was almost finishing my routine, so
Speaker 3: I thought I'd be at like sixteen minutes or something,
Speaker 3: and I looked at the clock and it was like
Speaker 3: seven minutes. So I had just rushed. I'd gone so fast.
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh no, I've done like half of my
Speaker 3: time and I've got no jokes left. This is in
Speaker 3: my mind, by the way, on stage, so immediately I
Speaker 3: haven't watched it back because I'll be sick. I just slowed,
Speaker 3: just suddenly started talking so slow. So my mind is going,
Speaker 3: what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?
Speaker 3: I'm gonna run out of material. Do I end how
Speaker 3: I was supposed to end, which has a callback or
Speaker 3: what so? Or do I just try and think of
Speaker 3: some more jokes out of my mind and put them in.
Speaker 3: It's incredible what the brain can do simultaneously. Anyway, in
Speaker 3: the end, I finished it as I was going to finish.
Speaker 3: It was way earlier, and I just came clean to
Speaker 3: the audience. I went listen. What's happened is knowing it
Speaker 3: was going to be edited. Here's what's happened. I've got
Speaker 3: a bit excited, and I finished a bit early, so
Speaker 3: I've got time for another joke. Do you want to
Speaker 3: hear a joke about this? Or about this?
Speaker 4: I'm actually asked their way outsourced it.
Speaker 3: I don't know I was singing. I just panicked. I'm like,
Speaker 3: I can't make another decision, and did an extra bit
Speaker 3: of material. So that is an example of it was
Speaker 3: my absolute nightmare. The nightmare happened, and it's and then
Speaker 3: it's fine, and now I would care everything is in
Speaker 3: the past. That's the other thing that helps Miller is
Speaker 3: the things that I was so scared about for so long.
Speaker 3: As soon as that happened, then they're in the past
Speaker 3: and you don't think about them again. Really, apart from
Speaker 3: that one, which I'm clearly haunted by.
Speaker 1: And up next Celia's thoughts on if comedy is still
Speaker 1: a man's world and why she doesn't want to represent
Speaker 1: all women. When we talk about that, fifteen years so
Speaker 1: not twenty years and don't worry about maths because you're
Speaker 1: talking to a journal so we're very bad at maths.
Speaker 2: Here comes fight for all journalists, but for myself it's
Speaker 2: pretty bad. Celia.
Speaker 1: Over that fifteen years, can I ask how you've seen
Speaker 1: some changes in the industry, I think particularly asking you
Speaker 1: as a woman. As I mentioned you were the youngest
Speaker 1: woman to host the gala for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Speaker 2: I would imagine, like a lot of.
Speaker 1: Women in industries that are traditionally male dominated, there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of first for you, and even if they're
Speaker 1: not first, often sometimes still in a minority in the room.
Speaker 1: There has been a reckoning in a lot of different
Speaker 1: industries in the last ten to fifteen years. There's still
Speaker 1: a perception I think that comedy is a little bit blokey.
Speaker 1: What are your observations about that?
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm still working, do you know it's I look,
Speaker 3: I don't know it Definitely it's difficult as well, because
Speaker 3: i'd say it's better. But I'm at a different point
Speaker 3: that I was, so I'm not walking into rooms the
Speaker 3: same way I was when I was brand new and
Speaker 3: I didn't see other women. You know, it was maybe
Speaker 3: one other woman and need to cling to each other.
Speaker 3: But maybe that's different now at that level, but I'm
Speaker 3: not there. It definitely was a thing and is a thing.
Speaker 3: But I just think we've got such wonderful talent, not
Speaker 3: just in this country, in the world. Who are you know,
Speaker 3: getting work? Sure they can always be more, but the
Speaker 3: way that I've sort of tried to approach it is
Speaker 3: sort of support each other as much as you can
Speaker 3: and be as good as you can do. I get
Speaker 3: an extra kick if I'm successful when someone thinks that
Speaker 3: I wasn't gonna be.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's great. Like I used to early.
Speaker 3: Date, you know, going to gigs and people go, whose
Speaker 3: boyfriend are you? And then did it feel delicious to
Speaker 3: get up on stage and be really funny?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 3: So I like that. And then there's that thing of
Speaker 3: sometimes if there's any sort of you know, oh you
Speaker 3: only got this because you're with that kind of stuff,
Speaker 3: I always think. But then you it's up to you
Speaker 3: to stay there. Whatever advantages there are are outweighed by
Speaker 3: the disadvantages there were, if that makes sense. So you
Speaker 3: just have to be as good as you can be,
Speaker 3: just be just work as hard as you can be
Speaker 3: and as I say, this is the thing is and
Speaker 3: in this way, in the same way in comedy is
Speaker 3: I don't, I can't and don't want to present all women.
Speaker 3: That's what I find in the industry and in this
Speaker 3: like on stage. I did feel that back then, which is,
Speaker 3: if you're if you're if you're not funny on one gig,
Speaker 3: then all women aren't funny, you know, and it shouldn't
Speaker 3: be that way. And in the same way, I'm not
Speaker 3: ever sure how to answer this question because in my experience,
Speaker 3: I've had a six I've managed to have a successful
Speaker 3: career as a woman in comedy. So it's got to
Speaker 3: be it's it's Was it hard, Yeah, but I'm sure.
Speaker 4: It's it's it's of course it's hard.
Speaker 3: It's comedy. It's a ridiculous way to make a living
Speaker 3: with no guarantees and no direct path. So but little
Speaker 3: things like, for example, thank god you're here. Fourteen years ago,
Speaker 3: it was a male host, uh, and it was generally
Speaker 3: three men and a woman going through the door, and
Speaker 3: this last season and this season it's a female host,
Speaker 3: and it's.
Speaker 4: Always a greater, more diverse cast.
Speaker 3: So yes, in that way, I can that's some that
Speaker 3: I can tangibly point to and go that has improved,
Speaker 3: and I think that's great.
Speaker 2: I agree completely with what you said. It is so true. Ceally, like, if.
Speaker 1: A woman says a joke that isn't funny or fails
Speaker 1: in a high profile enterprise, it's like, oh, we can't
Speaker 1: get women there. Women aren't funny. People don't like to
Speaker 1: see women in those roles. It's not fair and I
Speaker 1: shouldn't have to ask you about it. But I think
Speaker 1: in terms of a time capsule, the representation on Thank
Speaker 1: God You're here, as you said, that's a really good example.
Speaker 1: It's not just a bad fringes or fringes haircuts we
Speaker 1: regret that come.
Speaker 3: Back from TV.
Speaker 2: That's a positive case.
Speaker 3: Stuffy.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we talked about Utopia earlier and I wanted to
Speaker 1: also ask about some of your acting work.
Speaker 2: Ceily.
Speaker 1: You start alongside Sarah Snook in The Beautiful Lie of
Speaker 1: Course rose Haven, which he wrote, and start in alongside
Speaker 1: Luke McGregor.
Speaker 2: You've been in Offspring, that's right.
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about the pro ress of
Speaker 1: acting embodying another character as opposed to playing a version
Speaker 1: of yourself, I imagine, but also ultimately yourself in your comedy work.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, I'm not a good enough actor that they are characters. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: they are all pretty much versions of myself. I don't
Speaker 3: have a lot of range. This is not me shooting
Speaker 3: on myself. I'm quite good at be myself, but they
Speaker 3: all are. They are all pretty much versions of myself. Well,
Speaker 3: we will just say this. What I love about acting,
Speaker 3: it's sort of what I love about acting and stand
Speaker 3: up side by side is that I love that stand up.
Speaker 3: I can say whatever I want. I'm full creative control
Speaker 3: and it's free and it's me and I'm in charge.
Speaker 3: I can do what everyone But what I love about
Speaker 3: acting is someone else tells me what to do. Oh
Speaker 3: it's great. I turn up, they go put this on
Speaker 3: and say this, and it's wonderful. Particularly Utopia, I feel
Speaker 3: so smart. I feel like I've got a real job.
Speaker 3: I get to go in and pretend to be a smart,
Speaker 3: professional woman. It is fantastic. It's such an escape for me.
Speaker 3: It's wonderful.
Speaker 4: So my preparation for that show is pretty much.
Speaker 3: To learn my lines and say them. The scripts are
Speaker 3: so good, and my character's intention is always the same.
Speaker 3: It's is just I'm just trying to get something done,
Speaker 3: and these idiots I'll make in my life.
Speaker 4: Hell, that is what I have to do.
Speaker 3: So it's just the writing is so good that I
Speaker 3: and that's that's my character's intention. So that's really fun.
Speaker 3: Beautiful Lie is the only drama I've ever done, and
Speaker 3: I loved it, and since then I have been begging
Speaker 3: the universe to put me in another one and it
Speaker 3: has not happened. And Sarah Snook was very generous and
Speaker 3: patient with me because I am not classically trained, and yeah,
Speaker 3: I just really I really liked it, and that one
Speaker 3: my character was my husband slept with the nanny. And
Speaker 3: I remember when I auditioned, I told my agent, I'm
Speaker 3: like call them and tell them that I have been
Speaker 3: cheated on my real life and I can do this.
Speaker 3: I've got it in me to pretend this part give
Speaker 3: me the I really really wanted it, but I don't
Speaker 3: know just pretending. I wish I had a real actor,
Speaker 3: actors behind the in the act of studio answer for you,
Speaker 3: but I don't. I just really take each role as
Speaker 3: they as they come and try and be as real
Speaker 3: and as natural as I can be. And often with comedy,
Speaker 3: just less is more is always is always the way
Speaker 3: people think because it's comedy, it's this should be this
Speaker 3: big ridiculous thing, but it's it's really not. You're still
Speaker 3: a real person. It's not just because it's funny to
Speaker 3: someone watching doesn't mean it's funny to you. You just
Speaker 3: play it, play it real and coming up.
Speaker 1: Celia tells all about her working relationship with her work
Speaker 1: husband Luke McGregor, and how matherhood has impacted her comedy.
Speaker 2: I mentioned Luke.
Speaker 1: McGregor there, amongst some of your collaborators and co stars,
Speaker 1: you seem to have the perfect work wife were husband relationship.
Speaker 2: People are quite fascinated by that.
Speaker 3: I know I miss him so much. He's moved to Newcastle,
Speaker 3: which makes me very sad, but I see him as
Speaker 3: much as I possibly can. We kind of fluked it,
Speaker 3: so we met on Utopia and we went, oh, we
Speaker 3: quite get along, how about we try and pitch a
Speaker 3: show together. But we weren't really close friends when we
Speaker 3: started the process. Luckily that became an incredibly strong friendship,
Speaker 3: but there was no guarantees of that. But yeah, he's
Speaker 3: genuinely my best friend in real life. I loved working
Speaker 3: with him. We just both always came back to We
Speaker 3: had a few fights in the early days and figured
Speaker 3: it out. Because we're both so nervous and anxious and
Speaker 3: paranoid and conflict averse. Often we'd have pre fights like
Speaker 3: we'd go in and I'd go, I'm in a mood,
Speaker 3: and I feel like we're going to fight about this,
Speaker 3: so it just sort of get ahead of it. One time,
Speaker 3: the biggest fight we had, I stormed out of my
Speaker 3: own house, which.
Speaker 2: Was dumb because I got nowhere to go.
Speaker 3: I had to come back in, so that was bad.
Speaker 3: But we always come back to what's the best for
Speaker 3: the show. Any disagreement we had, we both just well.
Speaker 3: The other good thing is well we both respected each
Speaker 3: other's work going in, so it wasn't there was no
Speaker 3: power thing. We were both on an equal footing. We
Speaker 3: were both doing stand up around the same level. I
Speaker 3: thought he was funny, he thought I was funny, and
Speaker 3: we came together and went, what's the best show that
Speaker 3: the two of us can make together? And whenever we
Speaker 3: had any disagreement, it would be what will make the
Speaker 3: show better? And then we had us Michael Lucas, who's
Speaker 3: gone on to write so many things. He wrote The
Speaker 3: news Reader and offspring and so many things. He was
Speaker 3: our script editor, script produced, script editor, and so he
Speaker 3: was our line call tiebreaker if ever we needed to
Speaker 3: take it somewhere else. But no, I really lucked out
Speaker 3: with Luca. Was really sad finishing the show. But we
Speaker 3: did five seasons and we thought we want to wanted
Speaker 3: to end it on our terms, and I'm really proud
Speaker 3: of the final season. And uh yeah, it's a lot
Speaker 3: of beautiful memories. But we were so young when we started.
Speaker 3: I mean we weren't. We would have been like thirty.
Speaker 3: But looking back at it now, I'm like, oh, those babies,
Speaker 3: there's little babies in Tazzy.
Speaker 1: And also, of course we spoke earlier about motherhood. You
Speaker 1: had your first baby, not with Luke, just very No,
Speaker 1: It's just I just wanted to I was very an
Speaker 1: on screen spousal relationship, not in real life.
Speaker 3: No, No, it's actually on screen platonic as well. So
Speaker 3: that's that's just another fun fact that we loved. So
Speaker 3: when we pitched it, we initially started trying to write
Speaker 3: a show where we were a couple because that seems
Speaker 3: funny on paper, and it just didn't work. We were like,
Speaker 3: this is this, this is does not, This doesn't work.
Speaker 3: So we wrote it as us as friends, and the
Speaker 3: ABC were like, but they'll get together in the end, right,
Speaker 3: And we were like, sure, sure they will, thinking no
Speaker 3: that I'm going to And then after the first season
Speaker 3: the sort of networks everyone saw that the audience.
Speaker 4: Were really okay, really enjoyed.
Speaker 3: Having a platonic relationship on screen, that it didn't have
Speaker 3: to It didn't we didn't need that, so they let
Speaker 3: us keep going with them never ever getting together. But no,
Speaker 3: my baby is not Luke McGregor's child. But when she
Speaker 3: was born, I was like, oh, she might be red,
Speaker 3: she might be a redhead. And then I'm like, this
Speaker 3: is going.
Speaker 4: To be this is going to look really bad if
Speaker 4: she is a red head speculation.
Speaker 3: But my partner's Irish, so but she's she's an alburn baby.
Speaker 3: But yes, I have a small I have a small
Speaker 3: person who lives in my house.
Speaker 2: Now, how is that?
Speaker 1: Because there's nothing like having a small person living in
Speaker 1: your house to completely upend everything. Often, if there's a
Speaker 1: father that is on the podcast or a new dad,
Speaker 1: I will often say to them, how do you juggle everything?
Speaker 1: Because traditionally women get our set all the time. And
Speaker 1: we don't ask men that enough, and I think often
Speaker 1: men want to be asked that because everyone is balancing
Speaker 1: things and everyone's juggling things. So just making a disclaimer
Speaker 1: there that this is a question that I would ask
Speaker 1: a dad as well. But obviously, given the nature of
Speaker 1: your work, silly because you are traveling, they are long days,
Speaker 1: often unusual hours because if you're performing live on stage,
Speaker 1: you're obviously it's not like a nine to five. I
Speaker 1: don't know how many Australians actually work nine to five
Speaker 1: anymore anyway, But to ask the dreaded cliche question, but
Speaker 1: it's a cliche because a lot of us do struggle
Speaker 1: with it. How are you finding the juggle?
Speaker 3: It's a movable feast because it's changed so much as
Speaker 3: she changes, so it's completely different. Now, long story show, Well,
Speaker 3: this is what my show was about. But my stand
Speaker 3: up show pretty much covers the last five years, which
Speaker 3: is meeting my partner, getting pregnant and those two things
Speaker 3: happened very close to and then us moving in together
Speaker 3: and having the baby and the sort of newborn stage.
Speaker 4: That's that's sort of the capsule of what that is.
Speaker 3: If anyone like more information. When that show will come out.
Speaker 4: But basically, overall, I.
Speaker 3: Found the first six months pretty pretty awful and difficult,
Speaker 3: even though I was working a bit then, and that
Speaker 3: is world away from where I am now, which is
Speaker 3: pretty it's pretty manageable, which she's in childcare three days
Speaker 3: a week. I've got my mind back, I'm working, you know.
Speaker 4: So it's still the juggle is real, but it's.
Speaker 3: It's still close enough to what it was and how
Speaker 3: impossible everything seemed such a short time ago that I'm
Speaker 3: so grateful right now, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: So it's it's just and that'll change again, Like we're
Speaker 3: currently at the point where like, oh, she's about to
Speaker 3: she's gonna she's about to drop her nap, so it's changing.
Speaker 3: It It just it's I can't get over how much,
Speaker 3: just like in the first stages, you're pretty much living
Speaker 3: hour to hour, if not minute to minute, and then
Speaker 3: she's this many days, and then it's it's in weeks
Speaker 3: and it's this. As soon as something stops being relevant information,
Speaker 3: you just drop it from your life and it moves
Speaker 3: on to the next stage. And that's what's important and
Speaker 3: that's how you fit things around it. But how do
Speaker 3: I manage. I don't know, you just do. It's one
Speaker 3: of those things when I, as a person who have
Speaker 3: one kid, look at people with two kids and go,
Speaker 3: how are you doing that? And then they're looking at
Speaker 3: people with through because you just do. You just make
Speaker 3: it work. My partner is also freelance, so this is
Speaker 3: the other thing. So well, it's everything's got it's pros
Speaker 3: and cons. So that is good in that we're both
Speaker 3: we're both flexible, but it's also can suck in that
Speaker 3: we both have lives that can spin on one email
Speaker 3: that goes, oh, I just found out I now need
Speaker 3: to go into state tomorrow for three days. So it's
Speaker 3: it's we've got some babysit of support, a bit of
Speaker 3: family support. It's just I don't know. Everything is compared
Speaker 3: to what it was, way easier right right now, that
Speaker 3: start bit and that's not everyone's experience. I don't know. Again,
Speaker 3: it's one of those things. It's what it's like for you.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, as I say in
Speaker 3: my one hour show, it's still like this. That show
Speaker 3: could have been five hours. There's so much to it
Speaker 3: that I understand why people would go I'm going to
Speaker 3: do a podcast about this, and because there's just so
Speaker 3: much that is outrageous that we just act like it's normal.
Speaker 3: I just did another interview, will use it, but they went,
Speaker 3: what's the weirdest thing about having a baby? And I'm like, everything,
Speaker 3: everything is weird. Everything is weird. The fact that I
Speaker 3: grew a person, the fact that people are just walking
Speaker 3: around like this is like not talking about it is
Speaker 3: insane to me that you grew a tiny person and
Speaker 3: now they're there and they have wants and needs and
Speaker 3: opinions and they.
Speaker 4: Wear shoes what.
Speaker 3: So parts of it are spectacular and wonderful, and parts
Speaker 3: of it were really difficult, but it's all it's all weird.
Speaker 3: But I'm very grateful. But that's the other thing is
Speaker 3: going into it. And this is in my show. When
Speaker 3: I was pregnant, It's like being on a roller coaster
Speaker 3: carriage going up the biggest incline that bit, and you
Speaker 3: just have no idea what's what's gonna come And you
Speaker 3: just watch more pregnant women, like women who are more
Speaker 3: pregnant than you, further along and just every now and
Speaker 3: then they just disappear over the edge and you have
Speaker 3: no idea what's happened to them, what was about to
Speaker 3: happen to you? So when I was pregnant, I genuinely
Speaker 3: was like, maybe I won't come back to stand Up,
Speaker 3: maybe I won't work again. Like I didn't know. I
Speaker 3: gener really didn't know how it was gonna affect me
Speaker 3: what I'd feel like doing after I had a kid.
Speaker 3: So I'm very happy that Stand Up came back. I
Speaker 3: really enjoyed doing that show and doing Thank God, I'm
Speaker 3: happy to be still working. And so I'm I'm feeling
Speaker 3: pretty good with the balance at the moment. After thank
Speaker 3: God doing your finishes. The slate is clean. So ask
Speaker 3: me to get in six months and I don't know
Speaker 3: what I'll be doing, but right now it's and I
Speaker 3: think I'm a better parent at home when I am working,
Speaker 3: doing work that I'm enjoying for a bit of the
Speaker 3: time as well, because then there's the guilt, you know,
Speaker 3: there's all of that gilt you damned if you do,
Speaker 3: damned if you don't. Really absolutely pretty much everything as
Speaker 3: a woman, isn't it?
Speaker 1: It?
Speaker 2: Pretty much is?
Speaker 1: That is part of that crazy roller coaster, the highs
Speaker 1: and the loves of a really beautiful answer, Celia, Thanks
Speaker 1: so much for that that.
Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of that.
Speaker 1: Really resonated with me, and I'm sure with a lot
Speaker 1: of other people listening. I'm conscious of time, so I
Speaker 1: will let you go. But all the best of the logis,
Speaker 1: by the way, are you going? Can you tell us
Speaker 1: what you're wearing before we go? Because you do rock
Speaker 1: some pretty good power suits.
Speaker 3: Wow, I think it will be a suit. Corinda is
Speaker 3: my stylist on Thank God You're Here and is spectacular,
Speaker 3: so she is responsible for my suits because you know,
Speaker 3: because when I was hosting, like, well it has to
Speaker 3: be it can't be stand up version of Celia and
Speaker 3: I have to stand up and the audio is very close,
Speaker 3: so it's not going to be skirts. And then the suit.
Speaker 3: We agreed on suits, but then what she's done with that,
Speaker 3: Like the first episode was a pink and gold velvet thing,
Speaker 3: which I said on the show, that's like it was
Speaker 3: like the dress code.
Speaker 4: Was sexy couch. I went out as a sexy couch.
Speaker 3: In episode one, and they've only gotten more outrageous the
Speaker 3: other night for an episode I won't you try and
Speaker 3: guess which episode this will be on. When we were
Speaker 3: filming Thank God, I worked it on stage and someone
Speaker 3: in the audience it just escaped them out. They couldn't help.
Speaker 4: Themselves went, look at what you're wearing.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I know, so Carinda is in charge.
Speaker 3: We haven't chosen anything yet, but I think it will
Speaker 3: be something suit related because also suit's very forgiving. Oh
Speaker 3: my gosh, I'm never wearing spanks again now I don't
Speaker 3: even have to shave my legs.
Speaker 4: It's the dream.
Speaker 3: So I think it will be some kind of suit,
Speaker 3: but it needs to be extra, so I don't know
Speaker 3: how she's going to manage to make it more extra
Speaker 3: than the outrageous things that I wear on Thank good.
Speaker 1: All right, well, I look forward to seeing that what
Speaker 1: the extra suit is going to look like, and very
Speaker 1: very practical too, because a long afternoon and a long
Speaker 1: day and a long night at the Slogi's so.
Speaker 2: You want to be comfortable?
Speaker 3: Are you going? Have you been?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: No, they've pulled back on it.
Speaker 1: So but when I did last go, I was not
Speaker 1: wearing a suit and was not comfortable. So all for you,
Speaker 1: and I think everyone will be supporting that decision. Celia Pacola,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 2: Lovely to speak to you.
Speaker 3: Pleasure you two, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: And you can see Celia Pacola Oh Thank God You're Here,
Speaker 1: which will debut on ten and ten Play on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: August fourteenth at seven point thirty. And if you've enjoyed
Speaker 1: this episode, make sure you're following us because we'll be
Speaker 1: back with another exclicive guest on Something to talk About
Speaker 1: next week