WEBVTT - Why are we all so afraid to get real on social media? 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.600 Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kuric and welcome to next question today, 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:10.400 the comedian who is gleefully shattering Instagram's illusion of the 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:15.720 perfect self and the perfect life. So much of what 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:21.160 we say is BS like, there's something in that, there's 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.360 a real funny idea behind the fact that this is 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:28.600 all b S. I talked with thee Less Barber, an 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:32.360 Australian actress and comedian who has become famous for her 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:37.199 Instagram feed, a stream of not particularly flattering photos and 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.600 videos of herself. That feed, which is seen by six 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:44.040 point eight million people, got her a TV special, a 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.479 world tour, a book deal, and yes, a podcast, but 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:53.080 Instagram is still her go to destination for comedy. Because 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.640 I am Australian, I leave in Australia. I don't have 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.360 to be on the road all the time. I feel 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.960 as though I can put out a sketch or a 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:06.039 post and it's seen as a show, a stand up show. 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:11.200 So my next question for Celeste and this highly curated 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.039 hashtag no filter world, what does it take to be 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:20.160 real when we're all just faking it? A social media 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.559 only has the power you give it. You can turn 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.640 it off, you can physically and literally turn it off 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.520 and walk away from it, or you can use it. 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:31.280 Use it if you want to use it to talk 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.959 to someone. If you don't want to see something, you 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.240 can turn it off or use it as powerfully as 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.679 you want to. Celeste Barbara realized a long time ago 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.680 that our culture feeds on a certain level of artifice. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:51.680 I remember before social media, when we'd get you know, magazines. 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.360 I'm a big fan of magazines always. I love fashion 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:59.200 InStyle was always my bible. And you know, you'd see 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.400 a photo of a model in their cape Moss for example, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.320 or whatever, Cindy Crawford a gorgeous model in there. But 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:07.720 you well, for me, I knew that that was for 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.200 them to do. That was that was Cindy Crawford on 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:13.919 a motorbike on a rooftop in a bikini on a Wednesday, 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.440 because that's all that that's Cindy Crawford's thing to do. 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.200 And we kind of knew that there was photoshop and 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.320 that it was just very heightened reality. It was. It 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.040 was art, if you will, and I've always respected kind 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.799 of that art form. But then when social media came 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:34.880 around and it was being sold that similar image, for example, 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:39.320 was being sold as an attainable life or as something 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.760 that just actually does happen on a Wednesday for everyone, right, 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.920 and something that was truly authentic, yeah, and living my 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.320 best life or living my best self. And I was like, oh, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.920 this isn't real. But the thing, the scary thing is 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:54.880 it was getting to a point where like, oh, people 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.360 don't know that though, people are thinking that this is real. 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.280 And it was like a bit of a snake in 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.200 the grass for me because it kind of steeps in 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.000 when you're at your at your weakest. I guess you know, 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.560 you have three in the morning and your breastfeeding and 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.160 you haven't slept for what feels like fifteen years, and 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.160 you're flicking through your phone and you see these images 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:21.239 and you're like, oh, that hurts. In two thousand fifteen, 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.160 Celesque posted a photo on her Instagram. On one side 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:27.560 was a picture of a model in a ballet studio 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:32.200 wearing sleek athletic wear, her hair elegantly pulled back, doing 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.760 an incredibly flexible yoga pose. On the other side a 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:39.360 picture of Celeste on the floor of her home. You 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.520 can even see a baby in the background. She's wearing 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.920 gray sweats and is also trying to do the same 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:49.480 yoga pose but getting nowhere close. She tagged the photo 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.560 hashtag challenge accepted, and then I posted it with the 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.800 caption underneath it, I'm starting something because I just I 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.200 just knew, I knew it was funny, and it hadn't 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.120 been tapped into I might take the pisce out of 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.600 people all the time. It was a visual joke Celeste 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.560 had with her sister and on Instagram. It was an 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.800 immediate hit. Celest did another, and then another, and by 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.680 now she's created hundreds of these photos and video parodies. 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.719 The best way I describe it is I take inappropriate, 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.280 half naked, unflattering photos of myself and put them next 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:29.440 to models and celebrities. But first comes the models. I 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:31.680 see a photo that they have posted, and then I 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:33.960 do my version of it. But it's a parody, so 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.120 something's added to it. It's not I'm not mimicking them, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.040 I'm I'm adding to it. I'm doing a satire. Give 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.200 me some example, Celest, of some of the funny posts 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.880 you've done. Well. The first one that comes to mind, 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.720 which I think is probably the easiest to describe, is 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:52.720 Cindy Crawford doing her Pepsi commercial where she's so beautifully 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.040 opens a can of pepsi. Oh, she's so beautiful and 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.720 has a drink of it, and I think it was 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.919 a Super Bowl ad. Yeah, but then she's done a 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.640 reboot right exactly for I think Vogue seventy three questions 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:07.960 she did it. Can you show me how Cindy Crawford 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:13.039 drinks pepsi? Well, I'll sure try. So what I did 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.400 was I had like a massive bottle of pepsi and 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.640 I opened it and so the pepsi then spread all 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.240 over me because that's what happens. And usually do this 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:24.840 in a split screen. Yeah, I use it in a 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:26.760 split screen or with a fear with a video. I 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.320 go forward and back um, and then yes, so the 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.240 pepsi goes all over me. Then I try and sip 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:33.360 up and I'm burping because it's fizzy and it's all through. 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:35.039 But then at the end I just try and be 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:38.440 really sexy and like Cyndy and yet that I actually 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:40.719 interviewed Cindy on my podcast and she was such a 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.000 good sport. She loved it. Yeah, she loved it, And 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:44.360 I was like, can you let PEPSI know? And we 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.480 can do something together. I'm still waiting for that call. 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.719 And then you take sort of fashion spreads and it 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:56.279 might be somebody in this ridiculous situation posing in a 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.680 beating suit, like on a some kind of contraption on 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:01.320 the be each, and then you do it on a 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.800 little rickety wagon. Bring I bring on my wagon like 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.440 that was one of um IRENA's shake. I think the 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.799 beautiful model where she's just she's got a gorgeous chair 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.000 down by the beach and she's in like these amazing 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.560 like little swimmers and she's just putting the chair out 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.080 and sitting down and flicking her hair around and being gorgeous. 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.120 And then cut to me and I'm trying to put 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.800 up a beach umbrella and it's trapping me underneath it 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.800 and I'm kicking it, and there's a wagon that's in 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:27.520 the sands in my face, and then at the end, 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.360 I just got to stand next to it, defeated. It's funny, 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:32.920 but it's also I think, you know, you're you're tapping 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.280 into how many women feel when they do look at 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:43.120 these images that are unattainable and unrealistic. And it's been 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.400 shown that social media really does contribute to anxiety and depression, 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:53.640 not only for adults, but particularly for for kids. And um, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:57.640 is that something that that you yourself, we're thinking about 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.600 and worried about in the back of your head as 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:05.920 you kind of poked a hole in all this manufacturing 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.400 of an image. Well, that was a very long winded question. 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.239 It was good though. I like to thank you arms 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.080 and everything it was. It was lovely. Um, I to 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.240 be completely honest with you, I did this because I 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.040 thought it was funny. My I primarily just want to 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.240 make people laugh, always have and the fact that I 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:26.400 am cutting through all and I've always just cut through crap. 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:28.960 People are never unsure of where they stand with me 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:32.760 because I don't fluff around and go people. I'm always 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.720 very honest and I've just kind of always been like that. 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:40.360 So to tie that in with wanting to make people laugh, 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:42.800 I think that's why it hit a nerve, because it 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.920 was kind of truth talking and calling it out and 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.160 really funny. I think that's how it kind of cut through. 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.760 It also seemed to dovetail Celeste with the body positivity movement. 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:59.360 You know that that women can be beautiful and be 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.920 great and all sheeps and sizes, so you almost actually 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.120 cut that trend as well. Yeah, and that that was 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.120 unintentional as well. I never started this to be a 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.240 body positive thing. I'm very happy to be caught up 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.880 in that movement or whatever, like, very very happy to 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.640 be but it was never an intention of mine. Because 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.560 when we talk about beauty, it seems so much of 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:25.400 how we see beauty is literally how we see it 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.480 and what it looks like. How I look makes up 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.640 a very very small percentage of who I am. I 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.640 believe that for a lot of us, and I so like, 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.760 you know, some of the things I post I won't 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.840 look at again because I'm like, oh, that's that's a lot. 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.880 But most of the time I see it for the 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.040 funny joke that it is. I feel like people are 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.040 laughing with me. There are people who are laughing at 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.200 me and hate it and then again go nuts, whatever 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.640 blows your hair back. But for me it was just 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.120 not even a celebration of how I looked, But it's 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:04.520 a celebration of something else, your spirit, other, my sense 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:09.200 of humor, my understanding of what's funny, my understanding of 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.200 knowing that that is unattainable lifestyle that we need to 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:16.240 stop trying to strive for and how funny is it 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.560 if I try and do it? That's that's the main 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.680 main point to it. I mean I do get if 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.640 I lose weight or whatever, I do get comments going 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.440 You're looking too good now for this to work, And 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.520 I'm like, no, no, comedy, beauty, not oil and water, 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.679 smush that all in together and it makes up who 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:36.800 we are and saying with you know, smart and beautiful. 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.880 Where it just just showing the other the other side 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.440 of social media as well, trying to use it for 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.880 good and so you said that you are using it 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:51.640 in a positive way. But also two I think get 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:57.000 more opportunities. Have other people reached out to you, celest 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.040 and said, we think you're really funny. We'd like to 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.480 talk to you about a absolutely yeah. Well tom Ford 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.559 is a fine example. Yes, exactly when we made out 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.920 and now we're a boyfriend and girlfriend forever and always 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.360 tell the story of tom Ford and what happened. Well, 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:16.960 he emailed, well, his people emailed me three years ago 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:22.640 maybe and it was the subject line was tom Ford 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.960 for tom Ford and Seleste or something like that, and 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.800 in the email it said tom Ford adores you. He 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.880 thinks that you are amazing and would love to collaborate 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.319 one day best And you know the sound and email 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:41.320 makes when it comes into your inboxes. That sound had 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.840 barely finished by the time I wrote, yes, what does 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:46.160 you need? When does he want it? On my way? 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:50.479 Like I just and see seed, my publicist, my publicist, publicist, 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.000 my mom, my dad, my nana, everyone that bullied me 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.280 at school, Like I just see seed. Everyone in on 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.560 it and sent it back and went, yes, what do 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:02.040 you need? And we collaborate before a show where it 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.800 was a campaign that he has for Boys and Girls 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:10.320 Lipstick where two incredibly offensively attractive models are sitting at 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.800 an airport and then they just make out and there's 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.520 lipstick all over them. And tom Ford said to me, 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:17.040 I thought we could do one of it where you 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.520 and I make out. And I was like, yeah, that 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.800 works for me. That's fine, that's that's that's fine for me. 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:24.600 So we did it with them. I just did a 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.600 parody of being a model and walking down to tom 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:31.720 Ford catwalk, So we need to just walk here do 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:33.920 it again so I can tell you what you need 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.360 to change. It's just liquid sunshine. That man, he really is. 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.520 He had all the models come down and me come 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:42.480 down as well, and they got in my way and 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:43.920 I was like, get them out of the way, and 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.480 you know, and then when we were doing a fitting 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:54.240 three sucking, I'm cramping. It's on, it's on. Just we 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:58.800 had some tape. Do we have some duct take? We 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.200 cut it together in a way that hey, win, okay, 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.200 thank you so last and he walked out and I 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.480 then just started to try and steal things. It's almost 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:09.680 like a tom Forde smaller sport. I think you're going 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:11.920 to take your things, and then we cut it that. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:13.880 He came back in and he was like, Selest, as 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.080 someone trying to steal things. And I've got like eighteen 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.319 pairs of sunglasses on and handbags with like one shoe 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.120 in it. Well, it's so exciting to have all of 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.080 this happened to you. And when we come back, I 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.160 want to find out about your childhood how you got 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.040 into this crazy line of work, but we'll talk about 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:42.160 that right after this. You grew up in New South 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:46.760 Wales far North coast. Good, Yes, we did our research, Selest, 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.160 So what was your childhood like? Was that a very 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:54.040 sort of quaint, remote, rugged, beautiful place to grow up? 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.719 What was it like all of those things, but not rugged. No. 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.680 I grew up. I grew up right on the border 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.800 of New South Wales and Queensland, so right on the 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:08.400 beach Rainbow Bay, Kira or um Dieba, Like that's where 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.160 all some of the best surfers in the world come from. 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.200 Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmour, Michael Klupo, Rabbit buff 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.640 follow me. They're all world champion surfers and they've come 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.800 from there. Um And I never surfed in my life. 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.880 I was a dancer when I was little, so um. 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:27.840 But it was just a really beautiful area. I grew 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.120 up in it, specifically in a place called Terranora, beautiful 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.960 house that my dad built and my mom designed. So. 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.160 I have an older sister, Olivia, who was three and 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.439 a half years older than me. That people always ask 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.480 who's older, and I'm like, she is older, she's three 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.440 and out she loves it. Um. Yeah, And I danced 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.040 a lot as a kid and just was always quite atmatic. 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.280 And it sounds like your parents. I read a sweet 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:56.040 story about how they didn't want to medicate you even 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:59.680 though because I've got a d and that they and 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.560 Eldan you a certain confidence and loving who you are 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.760 for who you are, and not wanting to alter kind 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:12.920 of your your thing, your chemistry, your persona, your spirit. Yeah. 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.600 And um, I also don't really think they had much 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.760 of a choice because I was I'm a lot and 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.640 I like being a lot. Is your sister a lot? Yeah? 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:24.760 Both of you. Yeah, we are a lot, But so 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.320 is my mom, and then when she's not, so is 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.200 my dad. So we're all it's a lot, big personality. Yeah, 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.880 I mean my dad's a lot more kind of quiet 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.200 and subtle with his humor. And my mom is so 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.080 funny when she knows she has an audience and she 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.440 knows people are listening. She's a bit sassy like that. 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.400 But um, yeah, I remember hearing them talk to the doctor. 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.480 So I was diagnosed with a d D. And they 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:52.000 were talking to the doctor about me being medicated. And 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.680 I was sixteen when I was diagnosed. That's quite late 0:14:56.240 --> 0:15:00.000 to be medicated for a d D. It usually happens young. 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.840 Go well, I think, so, you know, younger in your life, 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.600 earlier in your life. I'm quite grateful that it didn't 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.400 for me because I struggled a bit. I struggled. I 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.200 was bullied a little bit at school, and I, like 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:13.880 I say, I was a lot. I couldn't sit still 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:15.480 for five minutes. And it got to a point where 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:17.120 teachers when I'd go to walk into class and go, 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.520 let's just not worry about it today, and I go sure, 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:21.920 and I'd just sit outside. Really yeah, because it was 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:27.360 I was distracting and disruptive. Yeah, absolutely, So I heard 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.440 my parents saying, well, you know, when we did the 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:35.040 test and I was very much had um and I 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:36.400 had to sit in the waiting room. I heard my 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:40.720 mom saying, we just don't want her to change. We 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.720 don't want drugs to change her. We just wanted to 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.560 be a bit easier for her at school. And the 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.960 doctor's like, you know, this won't change her in any way. 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:53.200 And I remember my mom saying, we know she's full on, 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.200 but we like that about her. I'm getting emotional thinking 0:15:57.240 --> 0:15:59.040 about it, and I'll never forget that as a sixteen 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:03.440 year old girl hearing at it was so lovely. And then, honestly, 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:07.360 I took the first tablet of Writtlan different like a sorry, 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.680 same person, just I could. I sat and read a 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.160 paragraph in this book about a d D and mom 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:15.880 and dad just watched me and they cried because I've 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.560 never sat and read anything in my life. When this 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.920 was around the same time that your your mom said, 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.560 we like the way she is, but yeah, they put 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.160 you on medication anywhere. Well, yes, but they put me 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.680 on medication. And sorry, they put me on medication because 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.120 the doctor said it all it will It's not going 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.200 to change her. It's just going to make her focus, 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.600 and it's going to make up that chemical in her 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.320 brain that she doesn't have that will help her to 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:45.240 sit and listen in class and know how to read 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.280 a story or write a story. It's just going to 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:52.160 help her. And exactly what happened, I didn't change at all. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.400 I could just focus, and that's when I started writing jokes, 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.240 and that's when I could kind of sit and really 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:00.320 get into what it is I wanted to do. So 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:02.360 tell me what it is you wanted to do and 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.040 how you did it. Um. I went to drama school, 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.240 so I've always written jokes and just always been funny 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:13.639 and loud, and I always thought it's not really because 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.800 I think comedy comes quite easily to me. I find 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.119 it quite easy. So for some silly reason, I think, well, 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.600 that's not acting. It needs to be hard and torturous 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.199 and really you know the challenge every night or every 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.760 day on set. So I went to drama school for 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.240 three years, graduated and started doing it like a few 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.360 little comedy shows, not stand up but acting, because I'm 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.680 a trained actor first and foremost an actor. And then um, 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.320 I got a role on a television show in Australia 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.080 called All Saints, which was kind of like The Gray's 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:50.840 Anatomy without the doctor, without the McDreamy. Um unfortunately. Yeah. 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.480 And then I was on that for five years and 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.359 kind of played a bit of a lighter character to 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.760 everyone else, but it was a drama. It was a 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.160 d on the show absolutely. And then it was my 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:06.840 beautiful friend Mark Priestley, who has since passed away. He's 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.400 so sad. I read about that. He was a very 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:14.199 very close friend of your tattoo to his took his 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.919 own life. Yeah, he killed himself. Yeah, it was that 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.119 was a lot to deal with that. He was he 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.720 an actor, yes, one, I thought, I tell his name. 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.480 I'm sure he was quite well known in Australia. He was. Yeah, 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.439 this is before all Ozzie started coming over and taking 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:34.600 over Hollywood. Um, he was incredible, and he was the one. 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:36.960 He used to just come around to my house. I'd 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.960 like three am with a video camera and go, let's 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.280 just shoot stuff. And I'm like, yes, let's do that. 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.600 And we just ship stupid sketches and we think they 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:48.440 were the funniest things in the world. And I always 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.640 thought he was so funny and so wonderful, and then 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.720 and so did everyone. He was very well known in 0:18:56.000 --> 0:19:00.800 the industry and loved and sought after. And then the 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.800 fact that he said to me, I'll never forget this conversation. 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.480 We're sitting on set in between takes of you know, 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.320 someone's dying on their hospital bed and this show really dramatic, 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.240 but in between you know, lighting setups or something, Mark, 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:15.720 and I was saying there just like writing, like a 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:18.600 little sketch, and he went, maybe you should say and 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:20.199 then you just stopped, looked at me, went no, you 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.640 know what you're doing and I was like, no, no write. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.240 He goes, no, you know what you're doing, and then 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:29.000 he went, you know that, right, You're you're amazing at comedy. 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.159 No one can do what you do. And He's like, 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.200 because I was always like, ohm, whatever, it's just boring, 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.600 and he goes, no, that's boring. You not understanding what 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.439 you can do is boring now, so just get on 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.359 with it, and that chang bang that day on at 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:47.560 least lent into it, lent into my strengths, lent into 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.840 what I loved and kind of knew I was good at. 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.080 So where did your career take you after that? Unemployment? 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:59.240 For a little while, I was then a writer on 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.719 a show, a really bad show that we don't need 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.560 to talk about, and then um, I had babies, and 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:10.560 then it was when I had my second son, first time, 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.920 first son. But my friend called me and said she's 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:18.080 doing some stand up and I was like, good on you, 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.040 because I'd always been told I should do stand up. 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.840 And I was like, yes, you are, tell me where 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.199 you're doing it. I'll send flowers. I'm so excited. And 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.440 I was like, I know what's happening, I know what's coming. 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:30.879 And she said, I want you to open for me, 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:33.239 and I was she got me at a good time 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.679 because I was sleep deprived. I had a newborn, and 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:39.639 I went. She goes, it's like five minutes, it's in 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:44.920 a small space. It's in the Sydney Fringe Festival five 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.720 minutes and I went okay, no, yeah, no, I wan't 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.600 shut yeah, yes, hang up, and she just hung up 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.119 because the last thing I said was yes. And so 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:58.600 then I went dad, And so I had five minutes 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:00.399 and I got up and I did it. And it 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:02.080 was one of you know, I hear those stories like 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.359 Shirley Temple or whatever. You're terrified, but then you open 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.920 the curtain and you see the microphone and the spotlight 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.360 and you think, I'm never leaving. I will die up here. 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.200 This is amazing. And I was supposed to be five minutes. 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:19.800 And after fifteen minutes she was kind of side stage 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:22.800 going get off. And then that was it. That was 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.960 me done, and and and obviously you wouldn't feel this 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:30.680 way if the reception wasn't incredible to your humor, and 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:34.000 you did you and then did you sort of transition 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:38.520 to stand up? Well? No. Then Instagram started coming more 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:40.479 and more, like I did more, and I was posting 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.280 twice a day every day on Instagram because I knew 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:44.719 it was good. I knew I wanted it out there. 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:47.000 I wanted people. I sent to some of my friends 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.639 who had like ten thousand followers, who were well known actors. 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:51.240 I was like, can you repost this for me? I 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.680 really want to. I think it's something good and it's fine. 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:57.000 All my friends thought it was hilarious, and so I had, 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.000