Speaker 1: This podcast is brought to you by on Track Studio.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Yanni Up, the podcast that showcases First Nations
Speaker 1: stories and conversations to help us learn and unlearn Australia's
Speaker 1: history to work towards a better future. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: proud barber woman and founder of Black Wattel Coaching and Consulting,
Speaker 1: Caroline cow. We acknowledge the rundery people and elders where
Speaker 1: this podcast is taped, but we also acknowledge the lands
Speaker 1: that you are listening in from today. It always was
Speaker 1: and always will be unseated aboriginal and tourist Red Islander Land. Well,
Speaker 1: I I'm so excited for today's show.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for a number of reasons.
Speaker 1: I think, firstly, there's no denying it's a heavy, heavy time,
Speaker 1: and you know, people in communities are carrying a lot.
Speaker 1: And I think in between all of what's happening in
Speaker 1: our lives, we need moments of joy. We need moments
Speaker 1: of silliness and lightness and easy, breezy kind of spaces.
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited to bring this individual to your
Speaker 1: ears today because I know that they always bring the joy.
Speaker 1: And also maybe selfishly, I'm excited because I know that
Speaker 1: every time I'm in this person's company, I'm always laughing,
Speaker 1: I'm always in stitches, and i always walk away feeling good.
Speaker 1: And so I'm so excited to have my next guest
Speaker 1: on the show. Kim Me Kimberly love growth, a comedian,
Speaker 1: a community woman, somebody who is really just doing their
Speaker 1: bit to make our lives a bit more fun and
Speaker 1: a bit more joyful. So welcome to the show today, Kim.
Speaker 1: It's so lovely to see you.
Speaker 3: Thank you. I've been waiting for you to like invite
Speaker 3: me to be on here, so I'm like, Okay, I'll
Speaker 3: just keep doing what I'm doing and wait for that invite,
Speaker 3: and today is my day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh Kim.
Speaker 1: I you know, you and I have been friends for
Speaker 1: such a long time, and I think it's one of
Speaker 1: those things sometimes that I guess I'm a bit slack
Speaker 1: at making sure. But I've got a long list of people,
Speaker 1: and you know, whoever really.
Speaker 2: Wants to get on and have yar, I'm always open
Speaker 2: for it.
Speaker 1: But I'm so excited that we're here today to have
Speaker 1: a yarn because I just have so much admiration for you.
Speaker 2: You are you are just such a deadly, deadly person.
Speaker 1: But before we get into talking about all the things
Speaker 1: you're doing revolutionizing the comedy space, ultimately is a black sister,
Speaker 1: I want to start with asking you who's your mom,
Speaker 1: where are you're from, and a bit about your personal story.
Speaker 3: Sweet So, I am a proud nud and dairy woman
Speaker 3: from the Lower Murray in South Australia and Krang Lakes,
Speaker 3: and I am also Romanian. Not a lot of people
Speaker 3: know that about me, so yeah, trying to bring those
Speaker 3: two cultures together is always fun. And yeah, my personal
Speaker 3: journey is it's a very interesting one. And if you've
Speaker 3: been to like one of my comedy shows, you know
Speaker 3: that I have. I had a little bit of identity
Speaker 3: crisis when I first found out I was Aboriginal. I
Speaker 3: actually thought it was slankin because my mum she didn't
Speaker 3: tell me who my real father was. And then when
Speaker 3: I actually found out, I decided to kind of like
Speaker 3: take it upon myself to learn about my family my
Speaker 3: culture because I wasn't getting that from my mind. And yes,
Speaker 3: been I was probably like nine and a half ten
Speaker 3: years old when I found out, and so yes, it's
Speaker 3: been a long kind of like journey of learning where
Speaker 3: my place is in community, not just back home, but
Speaker 3: also in Melbourne because I grew up. I grew up
Speaker 3: in Dandenong and then kind of like moved around a lot.
Speaker 3: So like people say, like a part of the remaining
Speaker 3: culture is gypsy, so and Gypsies tend to move around
Speaker 3: a lot, trying to we don't like to stay in
Speaker 3: one place for too long. And so that's kind of
Speaker 3: what I grew up on. And so when I finally
Speaker 3: settled here in Melbourne, I was just like, Okay, this
Speaker 3: is my home. I'm not going to kind of continue
Speaker 3: on with that cycle that my mum has tried to
Speaker 3: pass down onto me. So trying to break down those
Speaker 3: cycles from my dad. I have like eight siblings from
Speaker 3: several different women. He was definitely a ladies man, and
Speaker 3: so I do like, once again, my dad is a
Speaker 3: major inspiration to my comedy because I just hear all
Speaker 3: these stories, and I would hear from all these different
Speaker 3: women how they like that they met my dad, They
Speaker 3: loved him, loved him very much. I'm like, how much
Speaker 3: like like closely, how close were you to my father?
Speaker 3: And are your children my siblings? That is always a
Speaker 3: worry that I'm just going to I remember when I
Speaker 3: first started doing comedy and I did a joke about
Speaker 3: how I have a sibling in every state in territory
Speaker 3: of Australia, and there were two but brother boys sitting
Speaker 3: at the front. And when I said, oh, I probably
Speaker 3: have a sibling in Pertha, like yeah, that's where I
Speaker 3: work from, I'm like, you're probably my brother. Calm down,
Speaker 3: have another shot, please, I need to make money.
Speaker 1: I mean, what a huge journey though, I mean, like
Speaker 1: from not fully knowing parts of your identity and who
Speaker 1: you were as a child. And I must say earlier
Speaker 1: this year, one of our sister girls Roxy, they and
Speaker 1: I were watching one of your comedy shows, Funny Titters.
Speaker 2: It was and you told that story on stage.
Speaker 1: About finding out that you were Aboriginal, and it was
Speaker 1: this like long elaborate joke with Grandma's and Papa dump
Speaker 1: seeing your painted the whole scene, and I was literally
Speaker 1: in stitches. But it kind of it sort of begs
Speaker 1: this question, Sis, And it's what you do so skillful
Speaker 1: and so beautifully, And I think it's what you know
Speaker 1: why comedy is so important, because you know, for black followers,
Speaker 1: particularly or black female comedians, you know, I think in
Speaker 1: a way, it's like you have been able to take
Speaker 1: these really taboo topics like our identity, like our bodies,
Speaker 1: our sexuality, just our broader experiences as a black woman
Speaker 1: and black women and showcase that all while like.
Speaker 2: Eliciting all of this laughter and joy.
Speaker 1: And it's like through this medium of comedy that you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's said in a really skillful way that is
Speaker 1: positive and cathartic, but it also does still challenge norms
Speaker 1: and stereotypes and ways that we think we know black fellows.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, when you were sharing that story on
Speaker 1: stage about you know, not knowing your identity and you know,
Speaker 1: learning your aboriginality and that process, you know, it's something
Speaker 1: that is a really difficult moment in our lives and
Speaker 1: somehow you've made it into this this joyful thing. And
Speaker 1: there's parts of you when you're listening to jokes you think,
Speaker 1: am I meant to laugh at this?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Is it okay for me to laugh at that? And
Speaker 1: I want to play a little clip that I have
Speaker 1: of you on stage to kind of talk to that
Speaker 1: that notion of tibu neess.
Speaker 4: But I do come from a long line of players, Yes,
Speaker 4: my dad was the biggest player of them. Oh yeah see,
Speaker 4: and seminated five women at once. So that's why it's
Speaker 4: a little bit confusing when people are like, so, how
Speaker 4: are you related to so and so? Well, the thing
Speaker 4: is that's my heart, brothers, niece, nephew, sister, girl, uncle boy.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things, yeah that it kind of
Speaker 1: like sucker punches me, like, oh my god, should I
Speaker 1: do laughing?
Speaker 3: Eva?
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, just like straight up for that,
Speaker 1: you know, are there some topics that we shouldn't be
Speaker 1: laughing at? Are there some things that are sacred and
Speaker 1: shouldn't make its way onto the comedy stage or for
Speaker 1: you and for you know, for mob is the point
Speaker 1: of it making people is uncomfortable and as sort of
Speaker 1: like yeah, as uncomfortable as possible.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3: I'll give an example. I had a comedian perform for
Speaker 3: me for like for the very first time, and I
Speaker 3: had no idea, like I had met him at an
Speaker 3: event previously. I'm like, Okay, I want to give you
Speaker 3: a shot. You know, you're new to the comedy game.
Speaker 3: I've seen you on TV a couple of times. To
Speaker 3: introduce you to kind of our community and how we roll.
Speaker 3: And so usually when I get comedians to perform at
Speaker 3: any of my shows, I don't kind of ask them
Speaker 3: what jokes they're doing. I just give them the freedom
Speaker 3: to talk. They have ten minutes to do their thing
Speaker 3: on stage. And this particular comedian did a joke about
Speaker 3: domestic violence family violence, and I had no idea that
Speaker 3: that was one of the jokes that he did, And
Speaker 3: it wasn't until probably within the two weeks after that show.
Speaker 3: I was getting a lot of feedback from the organizers.
Speaker 3: They're kind of supporters that went along to the show,
Speaker 3: people in community, and they were saying, oh, just so
Speaker 3: you're aware, this joke didn't fly with us. We didn't
Speaker 3: find it funny. It was actually really disrespectful. And so
Speaker 3: I had never been in that situation before where I
Speaker 3: was getting all this negative feedback, and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: how do I handle this where I can reassure my
Speaker 3: audience community that this won't happen again, that to please
Speaker 3: come back to a show, but also make sure that
Speaker 3: the artist was, you know, not feeling that they weren't
Speaker 3: going to get a gig for me ever again. And
Speaker 3: so I kind of like just instead of just sing
Speaker 3: singling out the one person sending a like broad email,
Speaker 3: just saying okay, these are the topics that have been
Speaker 3: mentioned to me with the feedback that we've received, Like,
Speaker 3: no one's like in trouble or anything, no one's going
Speaker 3: to get sued, but just when you're doing shows for
Speaker 3: kind of audiences that are marginalized, to just be aware
Speaker 3: of that. So I do a joke about incest and
Speaker 3: how in Australia it's legal to marry your cousin, and
Speaker 3: so that like white followers, there's any white follows listen
Speaker 3: right now. I know you love a good incest joke
Speaker 3: I have had. Whenever I do it at black stage
Speaker 3: or the white follows in the room, they like get
Speaker 3: they cheer for us, like yeah, yeah, that's us. I'm like,
Speaker 3: I wouldn't praise that, but yeah, yeah, it's I think
Speaker 3: with black follows when it comes to storytelling, we can't
Speaker 3: have a filter. We have to just come out say
Speaker 3: the truth and not be blunt with it and beat
Speaker 3: around the bush because that's what white followers do. That's
Speaker 3: not us, and that's you know why people keep coming back,
Speaker 3: That's why you know, we have a lot of white
Speaker 3: follows coming to our olders asking for guidance and kind
Speaker 3: of support on what's the right way to you know,
Speaker 3: knowledge country and to give back to our communities and
Speaker 3: kind of making I always make sure that with my
Speaker 3: communities because they ask or is there like any topics
Speaker 3: that you don't want me to talk about? Like, I'm
Speaker 3: giving you the opportunity to tell the truth in your
Speaker 3: storytelling and if people you know don't like it or
Speaker 3: don't agree with it, then we can start to have
Speaker 3: those conversations. And so that's what congetty comedy is it.
Speaker 3: We talk about you know, the hard, neitty gritty stuff
Speaker 3: that people are afraid to talk about. And then after
Speaker 3: the show, you know, maybe the next day, not after
Speaker 3: the show, will people are getting drunk, because that's a
Speaker 3: bad that's a bad idea to have a little feedback
Speaker 3: sash after a show and just kind of have that
Speaker 3: conversation and really kind of unpack what that joke was,
Speaker 3: why that joke was even done or said.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I mean it's fascinating because I mean
Speaker 1: hearing I guess, you know, in a roundabout way, there
Speaker 1: are some things that aren't you know, funny, such as
Speaker 1: domessic bants. Some would argue that incest stokes are also
Speaker 1: quite triggering as well, depending on your experience. I guess,
Speaker 1: you know, thinking about like black fellows too, and like
Speaker 1: you say about that notion of storytelling, some of the
Speaker 1: things that black fellows experience are so abhorrent, are so racist,
Speaker 1: are so unfair and cruel. But yet we always do
Speaker 1: when we're in circle together and there's no white fellows around,
Speaker 1: or we're sitting around, we are still laughing about it.
Speaker 1: We still hold onto that humor. It's like thinking about
Speaker 1: on ABC, the Black Comedy Show, for instance, that ran
Speaker 1: from like I think it was like twenty fourteen, two
Speaker 1: thousand and eighteen, and they spoke about like really taboo
Speaker 1: topics as well, Like you know, I always think of
Speaker 1: the white women trope of Tiffany and you know how
Speaker 1: that black fellow gets a white girlfriend and she then
Speaker 1: starts yearning up like she's a black feller and she.
Speaker 2: Loves her culture always, she just loves it.
Speaker 3: True. You look.
Speaker 1: Aliah Fluff, what you been saying out to me like
Speaker 1: that for you know, the Real Housewives of Narrow Mine,
Speaker 1: And you know, so we're taking these kind of really
Speaker 1: interesting concepts and taboo concepts, but making them really palatable
Speaker 1: for black people, you know, for us to have a laugh,
Speaker 1: which is really important in terms of our healing. You know,
Speaker 1: not everything can be hard and we can't be in
Speaker 1: the you know, arena fighting all the time. We need
Speaker 1: places where we can just laugh at ourselves and laugh
Speaker 1: at the state of the world. And so, yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess as a comedian though, it would be really tricky,
Speaker 1: I imagine in this day and age to strike that balltleance.
Speaker 1: You know, even if you think about like old school comedians,
Speaker 1: like people who have been canceled now like Dave Chappelle
Speaker 1: and Chris Rock and you know, their whole shtick was
Speaker 1: like putting black fault of their their communities down, you know,
Speaker 1: paint like sort of downward punching for them for jaw.
Speaker 1: And so I imagine as a comedian in this in
Speaker 1: this day and age, it's a really hard balance, like
Speaker 1: to find that balance of that leaving people feeling a
Speaker 1: bit uncomfortable and a little bit all. Should I be
Speaker 1: laughing about this? Should I be going learning about this?
Speaker 1: Should I go and like take a bath or a
Speaker 1: long hard look at myself after this? And then still
Speaker 1: also creating a space where people can laugh at some
Speaker 1: of the really awful social ills. You know, with that
Speaker 1: in minds is you know, do you have a I
Speaker 1: guess a joke or jokes or a bit of your
Speaker 1: your stand up routine that never found to make people
Speaker 1: laugh that even after all these years, once you say it,
Speaker 1: you still get people in stitches.
Speaker 2: And can you share it with us here because we
Speaker 2: all need to laugh?
Speaker 3: So it hands down it has to be. I've named
Speaker 3: it my Sri Lankanism joke, so basically that never seems
Speaker 3: to fail. Like I just love when I have Sri
Speaker 3: Lankan people come to my show and they ask, Oh,
Speaker 3: I really wanted to ask where you got that inspiration
Speaker 3: for like that Sri Lankan joke? And so I have
Speaker 3: to pause for a moment. I'm like, it was a
Speaker 3: very you know, traumatic experience because when I first came
Speaker 3: up with that joke, it was just you know, about
Speaker 3: me kind of thinking I was Sri Lankan for half
Speaker 3: of my life. And then when I would see when
Speaker 3: I'd go to the Dandio Marcus and I would see
Speaker 3: Sri Lankan people there, I'd say hello, and my Stepdad's
Speaker 3: language and they would just look at me weirdly and
Speaker 3: like I'm one of you. Welcome me, open your arms,
Speaker 3: embrace me. I should have known I was black, but
Speaker 3: a different kind of black. So I still am very
Speaker 3: careful when I do do the bit about how we're
Speaker 3: all like sitting at the table and there's a massive
Speaker 3: spread of shrilinkin food and I can't handle too much chili.
Speaker 3: My mom and stepdad Lincolm stand up and my mom
Speaker 3: has like a glass of wine, and I say goon
Speaker 3: because goon is what poor people buy when they need wine.
Speaker 3: And she announces to everyone, Okay, everyone, me and Tony
Speaker 3: getting married. Kimmy, you're actually SHERI lankan like okay, okay, cool, cool, cool,
Speaker 3: And then I kind of like talk about how that
Speaker 3: was such a shock for everyone, including my nana, and
Speaker 3: how it kind of like happened in real slow motion
Speaker 3: because there was like just you know when you get
Speaker 3: such shocking news and your body is just like, who
Speaker 3: what the hell is happening? Everything's going in slow motion.
Speaker 3: I felt like the flash and I had because there
Speaker 3: are some like hot Fee's I can eat, and curry
Speaker 3: puffs is one of them. I do love me a
Speaker 3: good curry puff when it's mild, with some tomato sauce.
Speaker 3: And so I have just eaten a curry puff, and
Speaker 3: you can just imagine and slow motion. After giving such
Speaker 3: shocking news, you don't want to choke, so you the
Speaker 3: food flis out of my mouth and hits my nana
Speaker 3: straight in the face, and she's shocked as well, and
Speaker 3: her mouth is also open, and so as the food
Speaker 3: is flying over the table lands in her mouth, she
Speaker 3: starts cheking. Ambulance is called, she has to go to
Speaker 3: hospital for a couple hours, and then the next week
Speaker 3: when we all get together, she tries to give me
Speaker 3: the ambulance bill and it's addressed to my government name.
Speaker 3: And because I owe the government a shit tourn of
Speaker 3: money because I have so many degrees, I tell her
Speaker 3: that's not me. My name is Kimmy and that is
Speaker 3: not how you spell my full name. So if someone
Speaker 3: sends me a bill with my full name Kimberly, and
Speaker 3: if it has l E, why I say that's not me.
Speaker 3: That's my cousin that looks just like me.
Speaker 1: Well, I hope no one from sendalink is listening right now,
Speaker 1: or any of the your hex's debts.
Speaker 3: It's like when I sat making millions a million dollars,
Speaker 3: that's when I will be able to pay back my
Speaker 3: hextet and give some money to pay for the trauma
Speaker 3: of my jokes. If it offends any.
Speaker 1: If you ever needed to that you, yeah, you can
Speaker 1: bankroll the legal team.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean with that in mind, cars you Cuts, Queen Cuts.
Speaker 1: When you were growing up, which comedians were you listening to?
Speaker 1: Who is who is kind of inspiring you? And was
Speaker 1: that always on the cards? Like did you always want
Speaker 1: to get into comedy or do you just like stumble
Speaker 1: in it?
Speaker 3: I kind of stumbled into it. Like I had a
Speaker 3: little taste of performance at a year five camp and
Speaker 3: they had like a talent night and me and my
Speaker 3: bunkmate were going to like do a dance routine, but
Speaker 3: then she got headlines. The teachers asked me, or do
Speaker 3: you want to kind of like bow out because you
Speaker 3: don't have a partner, And I'm like, no, No, I'll
Speaker 3: still do it. Oh, I'll improvise. That's what I'll do.
Speaker 3: I will tell a long story for five minutes. And
Speaker 3: that's exactly what I did.
Speaker 1: I had You're like, I'm going to use every minute yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3: Going to use every single last minute and tell us.
Speaker 3: At four fifty nine, I told a story about all
Speaker 3: the judges and it worked in my favor because I won.
Speaker 3: And I want to like family size like Mars Bars.
Speaker 3: When I was trying to figure out, like what I
Speaker 3: wanted to do with my life, I always knew that
Speaker 3: I wanted to make a change. I wanted to do
Speaker 3: something that would take someone out of their life for
Speaker 3: like five to ten minutes, make them kind of forget
Speaker 3: about the things that is going on in their life,
Speaker 3: and make them smile or laugh in some kind of way.
Speaker 3: But I never thought of comedy as that being my thing.
Speaker 3: And so when I first moved to Melbourne, I went
Speaker 3: to my cousin Kevin's show that it was doing at
Speaker 3: the Comedy Festival, and so afterwards he had invited a
Speaker 3: couple more cousins. I invited some friends. We went to
Speaker 3: the bar where he was staying at because the hotel
Speaker 3: had a bar, so it would kind of just knocking
Speaker 3: back drinks and to me, I was just TALKI shit
Speaker 3: and everyone was finding it hilarious. And then some of
Speaker 3: the cousins were like, Kimmy, you need to do comedy,
Speaker 3: Kevin help her out, get her on this journey, and
Speaker 3: then he mentioned Deadly Funny, and then that's pretty much
Speaker 3: how it started. I still remember that hotel. I still
Speaker 3: remember where I was sitting still to this day, remember
Speaker 3: my very first before almost with Deadly Funny. And I
Speaker 3: remember when I was about to walk on stage because
Speaker 3: it was at the Northcott Town Hall and someone arrived
Speaker 3: late and so where you have to walk on stage
Speaker 3: is the main walkway to get to your seat. So
Speaker 3: I was kind of like miming walking behind her, and
Speaker 3: I was just like that, that's my stage, that's my mic.
Speaker 3: What are you doing? Stop being late for a comedy show.
Speaker 1: Your first time on stage, we're already heckling. I love it,
Speaker 1: And then I think with you know, it sounds to
Speaker 1: me like Deadly Funny, which for our international listeners, Deadly
Speaker 1: Funny is a It's a part of the Melbourne Comedy
Speaker 1: show we have every year, and a part of it
Speaker 1: is around First Nations artist and over the years we've
Speaker 1: seen an explosion of Aboriginal tourist Right Islander comedians. You
Speaker 1: know Kevin cropping Ye, who's Kimmy's cousin, you know Andy Saunders,
Speaker 1: Steph Tisdale, even my little cousin Kylon Ambroum shout out
Speaker 1: to him, and people like Kimmy who have just yet
Speaker 1: taken to it, like yeah, a duck in water, duck
Speaker 1: out of water, whatever that's saying is yes. So it
Speaker 1: kind of sounds to me that, like, yeah, formerly your
Speaker 1: first sort of introduction to to comedy was through the
Speaker 1: deadly funny process, but realistically, you have been born a performer.
Speaker 2: And if it wasn't.
Speaker 1: For you, know that that friend of yours getting headlines
Speaker 1: on munnas as we call them, you might not have
Speaker 1: been able to have that moment to shine. You know,
Speaker 1: as you were talking about that, it kind of makes
Speaker 1: me think about a yarn and like, you know, the
Speaker 1: confidence that you have when you're a young fella at
Speaker 1: school camps or at school assemblyes to get up and
Speaker 1: perform and commit like a complete assault onto your peers,
Speaker 1: but in your mind you are like your Janet Jackson
Speaker 1: or Britney Spears like you're feeling it. It makes me
Speaker 1: think of a time when I was at a school
Speaker 1: a school assembly. I reckon I would have been I
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe like eight years old. It's so shame job,
Speaker 1: but so I asked to do a performance at a
Speaker 1: school assembly, because that's when you do.
Speaker 2: What's what you do when you're eight years old.
Speaker 1: You've got the confidence of a middle aged white man
Speaker 1: in you know, in lycra And I rehearsed and I
Speaker 1: rehearsed and I rehearsed, and I had like a portable
Speaker 1: boombox style and I got up and I sang, this
Speaker 1: is so embarrassing. Candy Buris's song I'm showing my age here,
Speaker 1: Don't think I'm not. It's like a club song, and
Speaker 1: then there's a line in the song that goes and
Speaker 1: you're feeling good and somebody starts getting hard, don't stuff
Speaker 1: Just don't think I'm not. The whole song is about
Speaker 1: a girl ating a nightclub getting cheated on by a partner.
Speaker 1: And I'm like eight years old rocking this song. My
Speaker 1: teachers are probably thinking, what is going on at home?
Speaker 2: Is his daddy is is it?
Speaker 1: Should we be calling child services because she's rocking out
Speaker 1: to this like.
Speaker 2: The most skankiest song.
Speaker 1: But it's kind of one of those things like schools
Speaker 1: and camps and assembly is kind of foster this creativity
Speaker 1: that there's parts of me in my older age in
Speaker 1: my mid thirties. It was just like I wish I
Speaker 1: had the confidence that the eight year old girl singing
Speaker 1: canny burises don't think I'm not.
Speaker 2: Oh, I thought i'd share that.
Speaker 1: Speaking of which, getting up and performing, I know it's
Speaker 1: all fun and joy and hearing what you say about
Speaker 1: you know, you wanting to give people a little bit
Speaker 1: of a respite from their lives. And I think that's
Speaker 1: why people go to comedy, That's why people go to gigs,
Speaker 1: is to escape their own reality in a joyful way
Speaker 1: in community for just a hot moment. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for your service on that.
Speaker 2: Thank you Equally, I want to.
Speaker 1: Ask you about a topic about like bombing on stage,
Speaker 1: like the I even just saying the word gives me
Speaker 1: a little bit of anxiety just to think about. You know,
Speaker 1: I think all comedians at some point in their life
Speaker 1: would have bombed on stage. But can you share with
Speaker 1: us have you bombed? Have you had a moment where
Speaker 1: you've said some jokes and they just have not landed,
Speaker 1: or it's been silent. Can you walk us through that
Speaker 1: process if you have, I'd love to know, Yeah, your
Speaker 1: experience with it.
Speaker 3: I actually can't remember a time where I have bombed out.
Speaker 1: I mean it's I mean, firstly, I think it's interesting
Speaker 1: that to hear that you've never bombed on stage, and
Speaker 1: also kind of circling back to what you said about
Speaker 1: the formula to a joke, you know, I think in
Speaker 1: another world, in another lifetime, I think I would love
Speaker 1: to try my hand in comedy. I mean, it's sometimes
Speaker 1: tricky with my line of work, I guess because I've
Speaker 1: been sort of not by my own like. I certainly
Speaker 1: don't juxtapose myself as this, but people feel that I'm
Speaker 1: like this expert and I'm the spiritual and knowledgeable and
Speaker 1: really at its crux, I'm just a silly little kid.
Speaker 1: I'm laughing all the time. I try to make people laugh.
Speaker 1: I integrate even into some of the hardest workshops we
Speaker 1: do around race and power and privilege. We're always trying
Speaker 1: to bring joy and laughter into it. There's a beautiful
Speaker 1: sort of framing around laughing in groups that we look
Speaker 1: at from a psychology standpoint.
Speaker 2: Brene Brown.
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of people know who Brene Brown,
Speaker 1: and she does a lot of work on shame and vulnerability,
Speaker 1: and she says that you can tell a lot by
Speaker 1: the development of a group by how big their laughter is.
Speaker 1: The louder the decibel, the more comfortable they are with
Speaker 1: each other, because laughing is such a sort of you're
Speaker 1: so exposed when you're laughing, you're not thinking, you're not You're.
Speaker 2: Just in it.
Speaker 1: You're like brah and it's like all visceral in your body.
Speaker 1: And so we try to interject laughter into what we do,
Speaker 1: even the hard, really hard serious stuff sometimes. And so
Speaker 1: I want to circle back to what you said about
Speaker 1: some advice. So for someone like me, if I was
Speaker 1: starting out my career as a comedian.
Speaker 2: How do I go about it?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: What do I do?
Speaker 1: How do I like refine the jokes? Do you test
Speaker 1: them out at friends? Do you get people to get
Speaker 1: like what's the actual process for an aspiring comedian to
Speaker 1: make their mark in the industry.
Speaker 3: The advice that I was given was to watch comedians
Speaker 3: that I think is funny and and of not kind
Speaker 3: of like resemble their kind of like way of telling
Speaker 3: a joke, but just seeing their stage presence, because you
Speaker 3: could write, like you could create a really really good
Speaker 3: five minute like joke or storytelling and not have be
Speaker 3: able to kind of sell that joke on stage because
Speaker 3: you just don't know how to work a mic, You
Speaker 3: don't know how to kind of express yourself on stage.
Speaker 3: So that's why I always tell anyone that comes to me,
Speaker 3: make the stage your bitch, make the mic your bitch.
Speaker 1: And so it's like it's like ten percent, it's like
Speaker 1: ten percent and what you say and then ninety percent
Speaker 1: how you say it? Right?
Speaker 2: Is that right? Like it's all the little.
Speaker 1: Like intonations and the yeah right, that's interesting.
Speaker 3: But I am more than happy to work with anyone
Speaker 3: that wants to do stand up I've had.
Speaker 2: Is it too late for someone like me?
Speaker 1: There's a market for someone who or yeah, I would
Speaker 1: have to redefine my whole brand and be like I'm
Speaker 1: the funny girl, like like, it's not too late.
Speaker 2: I can do it.
Speaker 3: It's not too late. If you look at the past
Speaker 3: two three years of Daily Funny winners, they've all been women,
Speaker 3: they've all been from Queensland.
Speaker 2: And then everyone's represent.
Speaker 3: And they've all been over the age of forty.
Speaker 2: So okay, there is.
Speaker 3: Definitely even in Victoria, we have like Shirley Hood, Annie
Speaker 3: Denise McGinnis, Annie Rio Ellis, and they've all one deadly funny,
Speaker 3: and they I just don't see them be given opportunities
Speaker 3: to perform. And so because I've been producing for the
Speaker 3: last two years, I'm like, okay, let's open that up.
Speaker 3: We need to see more black women on stage. You
Speaker 3: need to see more about older ones on stage as well,
Speaker 3: because we need to learn from them. And if they're
Speaker 3: not and if they're not being given these stage opportunities,
Speaker 3: then it's just like, you know, we're just missing out
Speaker 3: on a this service. And it's good to see like
Speaker 3: our older ones come out and you know, watch people
Speaker 3: that they can connect with on a whole nother level.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of my ambition for you know, my
Speaker 3: next couple shows is to really just change the way
Speaker 3: that people see Aboriginal comedians and you know, really kind
Speaker 3: of like break that box that a lot of you know,
Speaker 3: white followers and people who you know think that they
Speaker 3: know comedy and who have never written a joke before
Speaker 3: actually come to a show. But if you want to
Speaker 3: practice jokes, be selective on who you share your jokes
Speaker 3: with and make sure that they've actually been to a
Speaker 3: comedy show that they've found before, because if you do,
Speaker 3: you know, some material in front of your friends and
Speaker 3: family that don't really get how like comedy works or
Speaker 3: how to tell a story in like a public space.
Speaker 3: And if they say, oh, that was a really bad joke,
Speaker 3: that's not going to work, have a backup.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and also take it with the grain of salt.
Speaker 1: It's like, that might not be your that might be
Speaker 1: like something that you find particularly funny, but that's not
Speaker 1: to say that it won't make other people love.
Speaker 4: Do you know.
Speaker 1: I might be I might be completely overzealous here, But
Speaker 1: for me thinking about twenty twenty four and what I
Speaker 1: want to get out of my life and reflecting on
Speaker 1: the year that was, I've been talking about picking joy
Speaker 1: and ease and rest for the longest time, and I'm
Speaker 1: constantly learning and unlearning. But next year, one of the
Speaker 1: things that I really want to cultivate more of is
Speaker 1: this inner child, this playfulness, like just going back to
Speaker 1: the things that I used to do as being a child,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, like performing or dancing.
Speaker 2: Or you know.
Speaker 1: And maybe comedy could be something that I can can
Speaker 1: chip away at. And I'll definitely be in contact with
Speaker 1: you because I know that you will cultivate me, you'll
Speaker 1: hold me, and but I just think I want to
Speaker 1: push myself a little bit next year to do a
Speaker 1: bit of stuff just for a bit of joy and
Speaker 1: a bit of bit of being a bit silly and
Speaker 1: being a little inner child again. And like you say,
Speaker 1: you can give anything a go at any time. Really,
Speaker 1: you know, we've got to stop thinking like that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Wow, my sious.
Speaker 1: What's on the cards for you next year? What where
Speaker 1: can we connect with you? Have you got any shows
Speaker 1: in the pipeline? Are you?
Speaker 2: How is Kungari?
Speaker 1: Where can we connect with you and all your magic,
Speaker 1: all your black magic and all of your laughter next year?
Speaker 3: So everyone can check me out on Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker 3: But I am in the pipeline of doing a couple
Speaker 3: of shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, so trying
Speaker 3: to you know, black out Comedy Festival for the entire
Speaker 3: time hopefully. But I am planning three congity comedy shows
Speaker 3: which include Funny Titters. So Funny Titters is coming back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was one of my highlights I'm a last year.
Speaker 2: I loved it.
Speaker 3: I'm really excited to kind of like bring that back
Speaker 3: and make it a kind of like yearly thing and
Speaker 3: really trying to you know, bring on more black women
Speaker 3: on stage, and I'm hoping to actually do that for
Speaker 3: International Women's Day. And something that I wanted to do
Speaker 3: different with Kungetti comedy was usually I'll have like the
Speaker 3: Corey lips in Battle or people like mom along like
Speaker 3: the TV show. But I decided to change that and
Speaker 3: do karaoke for my neddoc show this year, which went off.
Speaker 3: Everyone was like drinking, having fun, getting up singing. They
Speaker 3: didn't no one cared if they were good or bad.
Speaker 3: But I will say I had this one brother boy
Speaker 3: who I can't remember what song he's saying, but he
Speaker 3: had a very beautiful voice. And then probably not even
Speaker 3: ten minutes later, he asked me, oh, is it okay
Speaker 3: if I do a cappella And I'm just like, oh, yeah, sure,
Speaker 3: go for it. You did of this like country song,
Speaker 3: and like, man, you're putting the rest of us to
Speaker 3: shame and we're all half drunk. What the hell is happening?
Speaker 3: But to create a space where everyone feels comfortable to
Speaker 3: just have fun, let loose and just you know, really
Speaker 3: be connected with community again. When you know, sometimes during
Speaker 3: Natock Week it can be quite you know, impacting on
Speaker 3: our mental health because you know, everyone just wants a
Speaker 3: piece of you, and.
Speaker 2: Ye, it's air time. You need spaces for us.
Speaker 3: Just us, Yeah, just us. It's just like, yes, you
Speaker 3: can sing, but he could sang, he's sang.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: I love the confidence of getting up singing a song
Speaker 1: and then being like, actually, let's just strip it back,
Speaker 1: let's do the rendition at the color Star. I actually
Speaker 1: don't need that back in the track. I've been waiting
Speaker 1: for my moment.
Speaker 2: I need the confidence. Oh I love it.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited that you are continuing to grow and
Speaker 1: evolve and the beautiful thing that I there's many things
Speaker 1: I admire about you, but the way that you continually
Speaker 1: bring community into this. You're sharing the skills, you're sharing
Speaker 1: the knowledge, you're sharing the contacts, and you're just creating
Speaker 1: beautiful black spaces where we can choose black joy and yeah,
Speaker 1: recoup and recalibrate for a minute together, which is what
Speaker 1: we need more than ever before. So I'm excited to
Speaker 1: you see what you create next here and everyone go
Speaker 1: over and follow Kimmy, go see what she's doing it
Speaker 1: deadly funny Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and just keep up.
Speaker 2: With all of the joys that you bring.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for your time today, Sis,
Speaker 1: I appreciate.
Speaker 2: You, thank you, thank you so much for listening you mob.
Speaker 1: If you are vibing this season of yarning up, then
Speaker 1: please head over to Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts from to show us some love, rate, and review. Alternatively,
Speaker 1: you can get in contact and give us some feedback
Speaker 1: by visiting www. Dot Carolinecow dot com dot au