Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week.
Speaker 2: Airline.
Speaker 1: Welcome TV Reload listeners. My name is Benjamin Norris and
Speaker 1: this is your podcast to get all the inside goss
Speaker 1: on the popular TV shows you may be watching from
Speaker 1: around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major
Speaker 1: part of our home entertainment and very little is known
Speaker 1: about how our favorite shows get made. Each episode, I
Speaker 1: find guests that want to dive just that little bit
Speaker 1: deeper into the shows they're currently making, so that you
Speaker 1: can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to
Speaker 1: the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank
Speaker 1: you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast. I love
Speaker 1: hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment
Speaker 1: on your chosen podcast platform and I will make sure
Speaker 1: you feel as included in the production of this show
Speaker 1: as I possibly can. On today's episode, I have a
Speaker 1: fun chat with someone I'm a little bit obsessed with.
Speaker 1: This week it is Christy Willan. Christy is an Australian
Speaker 1: performer who has worked extensively in musical theater as an actress,
Speaker 1: dancer and singer. She has also appeared on television shows
Speaker 1: and in films throughout her career. However, I want to
Speaker 1: talk to her today about her latest sketch comedy series.
Speaker 1: We interrupt this broadcast, which starts seven point thirty Tuesday,
Speaker 1: the twenty eighth February on Channel seven, and then you'll
Speaker 1: be able to catch up on that with seven plus.
Speaker 1: This series is hilarious, a fast and furious and long
Speaker 1: overdue sketch comedy series which reboots and revitalizes a long
Speaker 1: standing and near forgotten Australian tradition taking the piss out
Speaker 1: of everything, including yourself. And this show mostly focuses on
Speaker 1: iconic TV shows currently on all the freeware networks. No
Speaker 1: one is spared. I will ask Christy about the show
Speaker 1: and how it came about, if sketches were improvised or
Speaker 1: where they completely scripted? How much Reality TV did Christy
Speaker 1: really need to watch prior to filming. Whilst we will
Speaker 1: get some exclusives on the new series, including some behind
Speaker 1: the scenes which I'm sure you guys are gonna love. However,
Speaker 1: let's bring Christy into the podcast and I really hope
Speaker 1: you check out this series and enjoyed this episode. Hi, Christy,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Speaker 2: Thanks for chatting about this new show.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm a huge fan of yours. I've been loving
Speaker 1: you in pretty much everything that you've done. I've watched
Speaker 1: you in theater, I've watched you in movies and in television.
Speaker 1: You basically need a restraining order against me.
Speaker 2: Well, let's see how today goes. Now, think about it.
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone nailed their reincarnation of the Muriel's
Speaker 1: wedding characters as effortlessly as you did. I don't know
Speaker 1: why I'm starting the podcast with this, but I want
Speaker 1: to know did Sophie Lee get to see you in
Speaker 1: that role and did she give you any feedback?
Speaker 3: She did, and I was like I had literally stolen
Speaker 3: her performance for the film in every every syllable that
Speaker 3: she did. So I was scared that she was there
Speaker 3: because she I thought she was going to be like Leaf,
Speaker 3: but she was, like she was just so generous and
Speaker 3: nice and like, yeah, it was just amazing to me
Speaker 3: because she's a fool genius she.
Speaker 1: Is, and she's actually like a really really smart woman.
Speaker 1: I've actually met her a couple of times. Very intelligent
Speaker 1: lady but also.
Speaker 2: An artist, and like, yeah, she done it. All.
Speaker 1: Well, I just want to also say I was so
Speaker 1: nervous when I heard about this sketch comedy show coming
Speaker 1: back because it's been a long time since we'k seen
Speaker 1: sketch comedy and the last few times we've seen it
Speaker 1: it was cringe you know where the latest one is
Speaker 1: Comedy Gold, Like it is so funny.
Speaker 3: That's so cool, because I agree like the thought of
Speaker 3: sketch comedy in Australia, you know, back, like when you
Speaker 3: think of Full Frontal and Fast Forward, you know, they
Speaker 3: were amazing shows, but it has been a while since
Speaker 3: we've seen one that was legitimately making people loll.
Speaker 2: So I was like, oh god, I don't know.
Speaker 3: But as soon as I got there and saw the
Speaker 3: cast of actors and read some of the scripts and like, oh,
Speaker 3: I think we're on a winner here.
Speaker 2: This cast are brilliant.
Speaker 1: But how old would you have been when you know,
Speaker 1: Comedy Company, Fast Forward, Full Frontal? How old would you
Speaker 1: have been when those shows were in their prime?
Speaker 3: Well, I was a baby of my family, so you know,
Speaker 3: like I was watching things that I shouldn't have been watching.
Speaker 2: So I'm sure I was too young to have seen.
Speaker 3: Them, but I did, and I remember there was one
Speaker 3: called Let the Blood Run Free?
Speaker 2: Do you remember that one?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? And funnily enough, I've just been talking with Julia
Speaker 1: Zimiro about that exact same show on yesterday's episode.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, yeah, that one not just sticks in my mind.
Speaker 3: It was just like sort of like way out there,
Speaker 3: you know, stuff we don't really see on Australian TV
Speaker 3: that much. So I just remember that vividly. And then
Speaker 3: in my career, I've got to work with Sean mccarloff,
Speaker 3: Gena Riley, Mark Downey, Steve Wizad, you know, and I
Speaker 3: always am asking them about those days because they wrote
Speaker 3: all those sketches themselves perform them.
Speaker 2: They were all so.
Speaker 3: Incredible and funny and I'm not obviously comparing us to them,
Speaker 3: but I'm you know, it was just cool to be
Speaker 3: a part of a new generation making sketch come in
Speaker 3: this country.
Speaker 1: If you had said this to me before I'd watched
Speaker 1: the first two episodes of this series, I would have
Speaker 1: been like, how very dare you? I Honestly, the first
Speaker 1: episode of People Listening, I was lolling and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is good, this is quite good. Second episode, I
Speaker 1: was crying. I was literally on the floor. You'd been
Speaker 1: the Kadashians, you'd been in Survivor, you'd ripped all of
Speaker 1: these amazing characters. But it wasn't just that we were
Speaker 1: seeing someone walk through the motions. It's very clever and yeah,
Speaker 1: you're so funny.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I mean again, I wasn't comparing myself to those guys,
Speaker 3: but you know, I just I it was just like
Speaker 3: a really fun job, and there were days where I
Speaker 3: couldn't get through it because it was so funny to me.
Speaker 3: We did just get It's called Horn Bay High and
Speaker 3: it's we did a full day of it, and we
Speaker 3: were all dressed as like teens, you know, funky teens,
Speaker 3: and it's like, I don't know, if you get the
Speaker 3: opportunity to go back to high school. We all went
Speaker 3: there and somehow we became immature and one of the
Speaker 3: guys became the hot guy at school. You know, it
Speaker 3: just we went back to our teen years when we
Speaker 3: did it, and that day I cried and cried with laughter.
Speaker 3: So I don't know if any of those sketches in
Speaker 3: the first two episodes, but I love those ones.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen them yet, but they do sound very
Speaker 1: funny and I think One of the things about this
Speaker 1: show which really got me is isn't it fun to
Speaker 1: just do dress ups and be silly? Like have we
Speaker 1: kind of forgotten to do this? And watching you guys
Speaker 1: do it as well is kind of cathartic in a
Speaker 1: weird way.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, those Kardashians.
Speaker 3: We've spent a long time in hair and makeup for
Speaker 3: those Kardashians, I tell you, And we wore skims like
Speaker 3: a version of skims as our costumes, and we had
Speaker 3: to have the false nails put on. And let me
Speaker 3: tell you, I have newfound respect for those Kardashians who
Speaker 3: are pulling skims up and down with nails longer than
Speaker 3: they should be. I think, you know, we're really underestimating
Speaker 3: those girls and what they're capable of.
Speaker 1: You know what I also thought was, I think, I
Speaker 1: think it's really hilarious how little needs to be changed,
Speaker 1: you know, to these real shows for them to be
Speaker 1: fucking hilarious. Like exactly, it's literally like you're you're doing
Speaker 1: the exact same things that these shows actually do. Very
Speaker 1: little dialogue's changed, but it is brilliant, like it's so
Speaker 1: well done.
Speaker 3: Because a lot of these reality shows have become parodies
Speaker 3: of themselves, you know, like I remember that first season
Speaker 3: of Maths. You know it was it was like the
Speaker 3: first season of anything Big Brother Idle. You know, we
Speaker 3: didn't know what to expect, and then as time goes on,
Speaker 3: people do know what to expect, and we need a
Speaker 3: villain and we need it whatever, so.
Speaker 2: They do become sort of a parody on themselves.
Speaker 1: You know how much of these shows did you have
Speaker 1: to go back and rewatch, because like, you're on nearly
Speaker 1: all these skits, Like I don't know how many skits
Speaker 1: you thought you were going to be in, but obviously
Speaker 1: the director and the editor fell in love with you
Speaker 1: because you're in all of them. And then I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this poor woman's had to like sit
Speaker 1: there and rewatch every show that's currently on television and
Speaker 1: every show that's ever been on television.
Speaker 3: Well, there was some that like what is that? I
Speaker 3: can't even think Game of Thrones. It's like there's a
Speaker 3: Game of Thrones on. I've never watched Game of Thrones,
Speaker 3: And before we were filming this, I still hadn't watched
Speaker 3: any of it.
Speaker 2: And I was like, so, who is this person? And
Speaker 2: who is Carl Lacy or whatever my character.
Speaker 3: Everyone was furious at me because I had no idea
Speaker 3: and so they were shouting at me what I needed
Speaker 3: to do. So I was just youtubing a few references
Speaker 3: on the day for that one, but most of them,
Speaker 3: you know, like.
Speaker 2: Love Island, I was before I had a baby. I
Speaker 2: was a regular on the Love Island train. You know.
Speaker 2: I loved it. Now I don't have the time, sadly,
Speaker 2: but I'm a bit of a and I hate watch
Speaker 2: the Kardashians.
Speaker 3: I can't help it, Like I can't stand it, and
Speaker 3: yet I can't turn it off.
Speaker 2: So look, let's be honest. I've done all the research.
Speaker 1: You've been doing research for years without even realizing that
Speaker 1: you'd be doing.
Speaker 2: Do you.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say what my favorite is because I
Speaker 1: just feel like I need to. But like, I want
Speaker 1: to know who you enjoyed the most being able to rip.
Speaker 1: But I thought it was so subtle. But the Australia
Speaker 1: Survivor character Chevn that you play is so funny and
Speaker 1: it's not even in the dialogue. It's actually the faces
Speaker 1: that you're pulling, because they're the same faces basically the
Speaker 1: people pull on that show. And it feels real.
Speaker 3: What I like, I don't even remember who Chevorn is.
Speaker 3: They all had a name. We're doing like twenty people
Speaker 3: a day. I couldn't tell you Chevonne in a lineup?
Speaker 3: What was Chavonne doing?
Speaker 1: Sorry, I have to laugh because you know how long
Speaker 1: ago did you film this?
Speaker 2: At the end of last year?
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, fur months ago? So Chevorn, I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell you that. So Chevron is this Irish contestant
Speaker 1: that's in Survivor and she's worked out a secret on
Speaker 1: how not to get chucked off the not to be
Speaker 1: booted off the cast, and her secret is that her
Speaker 1: name is Chavorn. And the rest of the cast is
Speaker 1: so dumb they can't spell Chevorn. And so it's honestly,
Speaker 1: I could not stop laughing at the spellings and the
Speaker 1: way in which they tried to spell Chevorn. It was
Speaker 1: just clever.
Speaker 2: But it's true that I remember, like, being a younger,
Speaker 2: me and my friends were going through the McDonald's drive
Speaker 2: through and we saw the girl's.
Speaker 3: Name tag said Chavorn, and we were like, oh my god, Sioban,
Speaker 3: what a weird name, And so like it rings true
Speaker 3: this ketch. I think that's probably why I could really
Speaker 3: play that role because I've lived it.
Speaker 2: Mcmack's drive through.
Speaker 1: My best friend who I lived with for quite some time,
Speaker 1: we were at the shops once and I was like,
Speaker 1: that soup looks disgusting. Who eats Kilari? And she was like, says, Celery.
Speaker 2: Were you an adult at this time?
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm shamoul, But isn't it.
Speaker 3: So horrendous when things like that happen and you know
Speaker 3: it's Celery, but something in your brain just in that moment,
Speaker 3: and then you fear that people think you're dumb forevermore.
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to own it, though, because the
Speaker 1: thing about stupid things that happened to me is I
Speaker 1: know I should cover it up, and I know it's
Speaker 1: should pretend that no one's ever seen it. But I
Speaker 1: love telling people all the stupid shit that I do. Like,
Speaker 1: I just think, come on, we've all got to have
Speaker 1: a laugh.
Speaker 3: If we can make people laugh with our stupidity, then
Speaker 3: it's been for something.
Speaker 1: I absolutely agree. Now, the scripts when they turned up,
Speaker 1: did you have to be word perfect or were you
Speaker 1: allowed to improvise or was it just circumstantial as to
Speaker 1: what sickets you were sort of taking on board.
Speaker 2: I think most of them.
Speaker 3: We stayed pretty true to form because the writing was
Speaker 3: so great, but we had lived a little bit. Like
Speaker 3: one of the guys in the cast, Ben Russell, he
Speaker 3: trained at Second City, you know where Steve Carell and
Speaker 3: Kristen Wigan, the.
Speaker 2: Amazing people trained in Chicago.
Speaker 3: He's the most amazing improviser and he's just incredible. So
Speaker 3: with people like Ben, you would just let him go
Speaker 3: and we'd all just try.
Speaker 2: And keep up.
Speaker 1: Were you able to keep a straight face? Because I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm watching you in a lot of these sketches and
Speaker 1: kind of one of my favorite things about SNL is
Speaker 1: where like mayor Rootolph or Wig would almost break because
Speaker 1: you could see the sides of their mouth starting to
Speaker 1: turn up, like the laugh is on its way. And
Speaker 1: I did notice that in one of your sketches, and
Speaker 1: it made me laugh just that little bit harder. But
Speaker 1: on set, were you able to try and keep it together?
Speaker 2: No? Absolutely not.
Speaker 3: My favorite thing is at Blooper like I will watch
Speaker 3: the extras and the office bloopers just.
Speaker 2: Like regularly because watching people laugh when they're not supposed
Speaker 2: to laugh is one of the best things ever.
Speaker 3: So I think they should just release a bloopers episode,
Speaker 3: because yeah, like, messing up lines and making each other
Speaker 3: laugh is the out of joy of the job, and
Speaker 3: I'm sure, I'm sure it's worth an episode in itself.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm so glad that we've got to quickly talk
Speaker 1: about this. I mean, honestly, I could talk to you
Speaker 1: about this show all day. I hope that people get
Speaker 1: a chance to see it. All the tags for this
Speaker 1: chat will be at the start of the podcast and
Speaker 1: at the end of the podcast. But everyone that comes on,
Speaker 1: I ask them this one thing. What is something from
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, like something that we won't see? Was
Speaker 1: there anything ridiculous all crazy that happened behind the scenes
Speaker 1: while you were making it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, here's one.
Speaker 3: So we had to for the Kardashians, we had to
Speaker 3: wear colored contacts and this I was Chloe, and.
Speaker 2: I wore some like green, I don't I don't even know.
Speaker 2: It was very close to my own eye color.
Speaker 3: But we had to put these colored contacts put in
Speaker 3: and it was quite uncomfortable. And at the end of
Speaker 3: the day one day I left and left with them
Speaker 3: in and forgot about them. And I was in the
Speaker 3: bar that night and I was like, God, my eye
Speaker 3: is hurting, and I started just rubbing and rubbing and
Speaker 3: rubbing and rubbing my eye and then went.
Speaker 2: Fuck the fucking thing that I had rubbed.
Speaker 3: I'd rubbed it like back into my brain and it
Speaker 3: was too like and I was like panicking.
Speaker 2: I had to go and get all this liquid to
Speaker 2: flash out my eye and try and fish it out.
Speaker 3: It took me forty five minutes of sticking my finger
Speaker 3: in my eye anyway, got it out me in.
Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, it took you a bit of
Speaker 1: time to some of these characters, so to speak.
Speaker 2: Chloe is still with me somewhere deep in my in
Speaker 2: my eye permanently there I can taste it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, well I'm really looking I'm going to hit you
Speaker 1: up on Socials to ask you, you know how everyone's
Speaker 1: reacting to this because it comes out on Tuesday, and
Speaker 1: I think you're going to just get be bomb parted
Speaker 1: with people.
Speaker 3: Everyone loves it, yeah, and has a laugh as you say,
Speaker 3: life's too serious, too tough.
Speaker 2: Sometimes just get dressed up and had a bit of
Speaker 2: a laugh.
Speaker 1: Mate. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thanks