127. Independently Producing Theatre with Austin Harrison

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Tape Deck Media.
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Hi there, I am Kelly's and Nichas and I am
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the host of a brand new podcast called Holler and Wine.
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I'm a stand up comedian, I'm a documentary filmmaker, and
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I genuinely love.
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Talking to people.
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And despite the fact that I do not care for
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the sound of my own voice, I've got a podcast now,
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so please come join us. We're gonna have really good conversations.
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We're going to talk about cocktails, and I am going
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to give my guests a Tarot card reading because why not.
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So join us on Holler and Wine. Hope to see
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you soon. Let's a podcast. It's ear you soon.
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That sounds weird.
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Good morning, Rudlers, Happy Monday morning to you the twenty
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third of June twenty twenty five. Welcome to episode one
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of The rod of Me this podcast. I'm, as always,
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your host, Taylor Roddell. Today's guest is somebody I've sort
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of been aware of periphery peripher railly excuse me for
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a long time. Austin Harrison. Austin is a I suppose
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predominantly the word you describe Austin with as a theater producer,
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but he's also an actor and improviser. I think he's
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dabbled in stand up as well, and him and I
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sort of cross paths a little bit peripherally with the
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stand up connection, but then also we both do a
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bit of work for g Quiz Quiz Nights. Austin and
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I thought it would be fun to have a bit
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of a chat about how to make it and I
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guess running an independent theater company or I don't know
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if you'd call candor comedy theater, but we definitely do
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showbiz type stuff, so yeah, we it's a real sort
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of nuts and bolts conversation about the things that Austin
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runs and his kind of hassle there. We were going
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to talk a little bit more in depth about this
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kind of stuff, but Austin's I believe he's from Ellington
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and they had either a storm or a flood or
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something some sort of natural disaster thing. Austin's all good,
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but he lost power. So we were going to do
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a follow up interview and then sort of stitch them together,
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but that didn't end up happening, So I'm just going
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to post this one to kind of wet your appetite
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with the whistle a little bit. And then when we
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can find a time to record sort of part two,
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we'll get really into the integrity of making it as
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an independent theater producer in New Zealand. Before get us
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on the show, a couple of quick plugs to get in.
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So this weekend twenty eighth of June twenty twenty five,
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it's the first week end of the school holidays and
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that means we are going to be running our first
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three Bears show at eleven in the morning for the
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first show and one pm for the second show. At
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the time of this recording, we are how many rehearsals
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down and we want to th four five, five out
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of about eight rehearsals in the play is actually really funny.
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We're all getting together, we've got our lines down, sort
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of figuring out the set and the costume, and I
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think it's going to be a really funny show. Probably. Honestly,
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by this point the tickets will be very scarce, So
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if you have not already booked in, go and do that.
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Head along to the Canterbory Children's Theater website. They will
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have your tickets there. But honestly, it's been listed in
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the Kids Fest and it's a very well known story.
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So apparently tickets have been flying at the door already.
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Well that's enough out of me, let's get on with
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the podcast. Please rite ORMANIAX. Welcome to the show. Austin Harrison. Hello, Austin,
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Welcome to the podcast.
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Hey Taylor, thanks for having me.
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Delighted We sort of we've been in each other's or
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bits of little bit, but this is our first time
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kind of chatting place to face. We had a little
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bit of a we sort of teamed up looking for
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some new quiz venues here in christ Church. But yeah,
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so this is the first time must kind of shooting
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the ship in a sort of theater comedy standpoint. So yeah,
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delighted to have you with us. And I will have
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given the proper intro for the listeners. But yeah, Austin,
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you just told me you've been full time sort of
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What would you describe yourself as a theater or a
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freelance what's your kind of what's your game there?
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Yeah, I generally say freelance theater maker, but that's lots
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of things wrapped in that, Like I teach improv and
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I do corporate stuff, but the bulk of my work
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is performing and producing theater in comedy.
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Hell yeah. The two things that I'm sort of most
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familiar with about what you do at the moment are
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you were doing a I guess you'd call it an
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improvised Coronation Street homage.
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Not improvised. Oh no, it's a fully scripted Coronation Street
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parody show. We debuted it literally last week at Bett's
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Theater here in Wellington and it was Yeah, it's super fun.
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We've created the show specifically with the intention of taking
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it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is now all
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booked and happening. So we're going and doing twenty one
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shows at the Edinburgh Fringe in August. Yeah, so we're
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kind of on the road of Like last week was
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our first kind of hit atit, and we tried a
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bunch of stuff. We changed the show every night, and
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then we've got a season in christ Church down your
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way in June.
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Where are you playing when you're here?
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We're at Little Andromeda on the fourteenth and fifteenth of
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June at seven pm.
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There you go. I'm going to try and make sure
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this podcast comes out before that, and I will also
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so fourteenth and fifteenth, Yes, I can definitely make the fifteenth,
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so I'll try to be there for that. The sort
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of the selling point of it is that it's just
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two actors playing six characters. Have I got that right?
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I think we actually have nine characters in the show.
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There's like six main roles and then there's little bit
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parts that come in and out as well. But yeah,
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you can imagine it's like coats being thrown on and off,
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wigs flying on and off stage. We have this like
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really fun thing that's become part of the show, which
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is that we actually give the costume pieces two members
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of the audience, and when that character enters, we go
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to the audience and the audience chucks the costume pieces
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on stage for some So there's literally like stuff flying everywhere.
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We're jumping in and out of different roles. It's really
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high energy. Chao, it's the sweetiest show I've ever done.
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I feel like that's a great pool quote for your
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poster there, the sweet showne. I also loved that you
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had to change the branding slightly based on the colloquial
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term for the show. Like over here people refer to
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it as Chorro, but in the UK they refer to
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it as Corey what was that? Did you? Did you
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know that in advance or was that a surprise to you?
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No? I worked it out while doing research, basically because
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you know they've been making that show. There's over eleven
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and a half thousand episodes or horrow, they've been doing
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it since nineteen sixty. So I went right back to
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the sixties, watched some really early stuff and then I
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was like googling, being like, what are the most iconic
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storylines from Korro? What are the most iconic episodes? And
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so that I could go through and watch kind of
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the highlights and yeah, and all of the articles that
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came up were like the five most dramatic moments and Cory,
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and I was like, the fuck is that that's? You?
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Go into Wikipedia trying to change it, like no, no, no,
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you guys got it wrong.
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Yeah. So thankfully, through that like research process, realized that
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the Brits call it Corey, not Carollo. They've registered it
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as Corey for the UK shows, but it will it
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will always really be Coorro and if we ever published
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the script, it will be Caro.
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How different our cultures are? Do you think there are
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other regional nicknames for Coronation Street? Like maybe the Australians
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have a different one, and I would be surprised if
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Americans were watching that.
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You know. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the Aussies also
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call it coro, and I would be fascinated to know, Like,
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apparently it's got It had a really big following in
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like Germany and Austria, and I'm fair I don't actually
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know what they call it colloquially, but I'm sure it
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will be something completely different. Again.
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I had had these two young German lads that were
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in at my quiz last night and they were I
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assume they were backpackers, and it was funny because some
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of the questions they would be like can we just
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write the German name because it'd be like what is
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this movie called? And the movie was inside out? And
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then I asked them, I was like, is that what
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the translation of it is in German? They were like, oh, no,
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it's way different in German. Apparently that film is called
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something like Everything Stood on its Head in German. You
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know translation.
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Wow.
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Yeah. I love the I love the etymology of translating
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stuff too, because you have to make stuff fit into
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the sort of culture as well as you can't just
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one to one all the time.
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Yeah, it must be such an interesting part of filmmaking
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when they go to distribute a film internationally and they're like,
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what I mean you think about the outcry of like
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calling the Philosopher's Stone the Sorcerer's Stone in the US,
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and it's like, there's way more intense differences in translation.
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Yes, I remember, there's quite a good, quite a good.
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I think it was a Tumblr post by someone that
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worked on local the Animal Crossing video games. Are you
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familiar with those? Yeah, And they were talking about how
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the sort of general mood that they wanted to go
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for was cozy, and you know, whatever the language they
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were changing it into, they wanted to make sure that
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the sort of language being used and the translations was cozy.
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So it's very interesting to think about how, you know,
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things that sound fine to us sound really like cold
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to another, you know, another language or something like that. So, yeah,
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very interesting stuff. I was going to say as well, like,
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so my parents are big Coronation Street watchers, but I
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really don't know what the show is about. Is it
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just here all these people that live on the street
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and I'm guessing London or something, and here's what happens
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to them, like, yeah, could you just give us a
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little bit of a what is Caro about?
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Yeah? Pretty much. So it's it's said in Manchester, which
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I wish it was London. London would be so much
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easier in terms of accents, but we're stuck with Mancoonians.
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So it's set in Manchester. And certainly the beginnings of
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the show are very much like slice of life, like
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when you watch the sixties Coronation Street, it's literally just
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neighbors sitting in their living rooms whinging about each other,
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and honestly it's hilarious. Like there's a bunch of nineteen
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sixties coro available for free on Vimeo and stuff, and
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I'm ten out of ten recommend people watch it. It's witty,
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it's smart, it's funny, it's really good stuff, brilliant. But obviously,
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when you produce a show for sixty years, you're always
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trying to build it up, and so you end up
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with these ridiculous storylines where you know, there's like every
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second season there's a serial killer who kills a bunch
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of people on the street. You have ridiculous storylines like
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there's a guy who literally like locks his kids and
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wife in the car and drives them into a canal
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in one famous episode from two thousand and four. And
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so there's like it's got really crazy over here. It's
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become this like big dramatic soap thing, but its beginnings
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are very much just that like kind of downtrodden working
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class Brits going about their life trying to you know,
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find the intrigue in the mundane. So we've had a
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fun journey with the show of kind of trying to
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do both of like using some of the really obscure,
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intense storyline stuff in there mainly for comedic purpose, but
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then having the baseline of the show just be that
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almost dreary kind of roots of the show. Yeah, So
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it's it's but it's really fun, like and what a
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joy to have, you know, sixty years of content to
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draw on when creating a show, which you're so used
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to like and as you must get this all the
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time where you're just like trying to mine your life
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for content because my shit, I've got to make a show.
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What the hell am I going to talk about? So
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the beauty of doing a parody show is that you've
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got so much that you can use and you find
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yourself cutting way more than you use. Yeah.
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Absolutely, I was going to say the what I find
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really interesting is the idea of like, so I'm a
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big fan of this sitcom called peep Show. Have you
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ever heard of that one?
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I love peep Show?
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Okay, Well, so there's a guy on TikTok at the
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moment who's doing modern versions of peep Show. And so
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it's like Mark is, he's using his air fryer and
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he thinks, oh, if just stop oil have managed to
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make these happen, maybe I'll have to readdress, reassess my
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hatred for them. And you know, Jesus started a podcast
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and they've been canceled, and like it's just I love
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seeing TV shows having to keep up with modern technology
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and you know, modern trends and that kind of thing.
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But with something like Coronation Street, like you don't have
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to imagine what they will be like because you're just
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seeing it. Like, you know, I bet they've got they've
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had like a oh somebody was sending their private parts
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on Snapchat kind of episodes.
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And and oh yeah, is the iconic I mean not
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not Coronation Street, but the iconic Shortland Street scene yes,
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is that your penis?
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It's like, I wonder how you would explain that. Actually,
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Americans probably might know that one because it sort of
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went a little bit international, didn't it.
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With the with the clip of it went like mega
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viral anyway, So even I reckon there were plenty of
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people we're who've never seen Shortland Street in their life.
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Yes. Absolutely. With the branding of the show, have you
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had to take any careful steps not to get like
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a sort of cease and desist or like are you
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allowed to use the theme song in the show? Like
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how has that been?
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Yeah, that's a really interesting point. It's tricky because, like
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in New Zealand, we actually don't have parody laws, so
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there is no actual guidelines on how to manage parody.
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It's pretty much just like generally when we do stuff,
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you write to the people who made the show and
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you're like, hey, we're going to do this, let us
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know if you have any issues with it. Generally they
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don't even see your email and they don't care and
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you just do what you want. I am fascinated because
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the UK does have parody laws which protect you. You're
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allowed to make comedy out of social commons. Content, and
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so one thing that we've been fairly aware of is
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like trying not to explicitly use anything that's been on
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the show in the last seven years because and to
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be fair, I think that's been sort of fine because
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the most iconic stuff happened more than seven years ago anywhere.
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So that's been one thing that we've been a little
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bit careful of in terms of using music shows, Like
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we can have a whole conversation about music licensing rights
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and stuff, but like that is ruled by APRA AMCOSS
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in Australia and New Zealand, which is an organization who
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that's their whole job, and honestly, they might be the
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most useless organization on the planet. I have. I am
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yet to having produced like three hundred and fifty shows.
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I'm yet to successfully pay for music rights for a
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song I used in a show because they take months
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and months to get back to you. Sometimes they just
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don't get back to you at all, and then when
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they do, when you sign a contract to use a thing,
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they don't invoice you. Like that the most dysfunctional, useless organization.
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So I ate genuinely most of the time when I'm
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making a theater show and we want to use music,
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I will try and use New Zealand artists and I'll
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just contact them directly because it's actually you have a
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better shot of just like tweeting at Phoenix Foundation then
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you do going through the New Zealand Music License organization.
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Wow, that sounds like such a headache. Yeah. I never
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knew it was that complicated. So the other thing I
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think we could talk about as well is your improvised
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Yarns with Dad or is it your dad? Is it?
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How did it give me the correct name for that?
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I may have flubbed there.
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Yeah, Yeah, the show name is I'm Proud of You
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taglines Improvised Yarns with your Dad, And that's pretty much
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what it is.
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Like.
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It's a It's a ninety eight percent improvised solo show
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where I come out wearing like sandals and socks and
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a krusty polo and a cap and yeah, I basically
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chat to the audience. I get like real life memories
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from their childhoods and then spin the embellished dad yarn
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version of them. I get milestones from the audience, stuff
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that people have char achieving in their lives and like
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celebrate them and do kind of dad toasts and stuff,
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and then I finished the show with an improvised bedtime
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story that kind of tries to wrap together all the
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threads that have come up through the show. Yeah. So
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I've just done a two month tour of that, and
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literally this week I've got the last two shows here
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in Wellington before I kind of put that thing to
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bed for a while, I think. But yeah, I spent
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literally two months pretty much full time being Strangers Dad.
329
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How did you How did you come up with the
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idea to run that as a show?
331
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Yeah, it was not even my idea. I was in
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twenty twenty one, I did a like I was in
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like a drink driving show that toured and dools in
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the South and it was a pretty intense. We were
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on the road full time for four months. It was
336
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a pretty intense tour with like six of us in
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a car, and lots of stuff went down on that tour,
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and I became tour dad, you know, I was the
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one doling out hugs and telling everyone it was going
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to be okay, oh wow. And so we were sitting
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around one night and I think Kate Lowe, who was
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one of the cast members was like, this is a show.
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You're such a dad by nature. You should make a
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show where you just are the audience is dad, and
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like tell them you're proud of them and that you
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love them, and I think people will cry. So that
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was the seed, the seed of the idea.
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Have you had any audience, any audiences shed a tear
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since you've been doing the run?
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I have? Yeah. I had a particularly beautiful moment in
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show I did in Hastings where one of the audience
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members came up to the show and had clearly been
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had been quite emotional, and I end the show telling
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all of my kids that I'm proud of them basically,
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and she came up and she said, my dad, when
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he passed away, the last thing he ever said to
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me was that I wish I'd told you I was
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proud of you more so when you did that at
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the end, it just like hit yeah, And that's certainly
360
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been Like the show was a comedy show. It's funny,
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it's meant to be funny, but it's really satisfying when
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you can get those moments as well where you're actually
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bringing people together. And there's been lots of moments where
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people have shared something from their childhood and someone else
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has recognized it, and then they've gone and had a
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conversation and ended up chatting in the bar and hugging afterwards.
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And I think those connections are kind of not to
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not to be really wanky, but that's why I do it.
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Like laughter is great, but I'm more about connecting people,
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and I think comedy is a great tool to do that.
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Yeah, we've we've started up a show here in christ
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Church that's called Good Advice, Bad Advice, and it's with
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my Have you seen the posters for that I have.
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You've got a friend who's like a therapist or a
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psychologist or he.
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Is genuinely my therapist, And so yeah, we do this
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00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:25.640
show where Logan Robinson's name, and he is the essentially
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he's the angel on their shoulder and I'm the devil
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on their shoulder. And we've had people suggest, you know,
380
00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:34.480
they ask something they're struggling with, Logan gives a very measured,
381
00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:39.519
well thought out, compassionate response, and then I basically tell
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them to do the exact opposite of what Logan has
383
00:21:42.599 --> 00:21:45.839
told them, or you know, some other unhinged kind of
384
00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:49.279
solution let's call it. And then the audience gets to
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00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:51.920
vote on who gave the good advice and who gave
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00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:55.720
the bad advice. I was talking to Pep, who's the
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00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:59.279
owner of Good Times, and Pep was quite impressed with
388
00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.240
how the people that came out to it were very
389
00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:05.440
earnest in the way that they were. They genuinely did
390
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:08.319
share things that it seemed like they wanted, you know,
391
00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:13.240
like advice on and I imagine you probably get an
392
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:16.559
element of that in your dad's show, where you're like, Okay,
393
00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.880
it's it's meant to be funny, but if you kind
394
00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.720
of if you kind of go with it and allow
395
00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:26.400
yourself to yeah, just be earnest and be open. Yeah,
396
00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:28.880
I could definitely see why you would have people having
397
00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:34.599
very real moments of perhaps closure or something from their life.
398
00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:36.359
And yeah, I think it's a cool idea.
399
00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:40.680
Yeah, heck yeah, I think Like I had a really
400
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:44.839
funny conversation with some audience members in Hamilton actually about this,
401
00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:47.839
and they were all standing around and it was like
402
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.799
literally none of them had relationships with their dads. It
403
00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:54.680
was like half a dozen people who'd seen the show,
404
00:22:56.440 --> 00:23:00.200
and I was like, yeah, I do wonder how what
405
00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:03.400
the percentage of people who came to my show. Are
406
00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:08.960
people with legit daddy issues who you know, and appealed
407
00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:11.160
to them to want to deal with that publicly for
408
00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:16.720
some reason is such a like interesting idea. But I
409
00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:21.079
kind of like really think in that context, like that show,
410
00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:23.920
I was like, even if it's not funny and I
411
00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.960
die on my ass and the improv doesn't work, at
412
00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:29.000
the very least, I'm going to look each of those
413
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people in the eye and tell them that they are
414
00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:33.359
loved and that someone is proud of them. And I think,
415
00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:38.920
particularly as Kiwi's, we're so set at that genuinely, we're
416
00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:41.119
so rubbish, Like we don't even tell our mates we
417
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:44.720
love them. We you know, we don't tell our siblings
418
00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:46.440
that we're proud of them when they do cool stuff.
419
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:50.720
We're so shit at it. And I think touring that
420
00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:53.000
show around the country for a couple of months, I
421
00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:57.119
realized that, Yeah, there's just a genuine demand and need
422
00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:00.640
for that, and we all can do a bit better
423
00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:03.039
in doing that in our own lives, not just on
424
00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:03.960
stage for money.
425
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:09.720
Yeah, I love that. So then let's talk a little
426
00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:14.119
bit about the kind of daily hustle of being a
427
00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:17.160
kind of full time battler I use the term battler
428
00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:19.599
because that does it feels like a battle most of
429
00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:24.039
the time for me. Have you so, you know, I
430
00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:25.960
don't know if we're technically in a recession at the
431
00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:28.759
moment in the country, but a lot of people are
432
00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:32.200
not doing well financially. It's just cool at that. Have
433
00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:36.920
you noticed that affecting your kind of not your bottom
434
00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:39.599
line as such, but have you noticed attendance up and
435
00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:41.599
down that sort of thing. You Have you noticed being
436
00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:43.720
affected by the fact that a lot of people are
437
00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:45.880
not spending money at the moment, probably because they don't.
438
00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:49.160
Have it, but yeah, yeah, big time. And especially like
439
00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:53.359
I'm based in Wellington and so most of my stuff
440
00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:56.680
that I that I do is here and attendances for
441
00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:00.160
everything have been way down for the last eighteen months.
442
00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:05.319
And that's like, you know, multiple factors, but like generally
443
00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:09.200
the vibes in Wellington are trash, and then there's a recession,
444
00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:12.000
and then on top of that, all of the public
445
00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:16.119
sector layoffs that happened basically happen here. There was a
446
00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:20.039
crazy stat I saw that twelve percent of Wellington's population
447
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:25.119
were laid off last year at some point. Yeah, so
448
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.720
that is does not create a good environment if you
449
00:25:28.839 --> 00:25:33.519
are supplying essentially luxury services, right, like people don't have
450
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:35.720
to go to shows, they don't have to go to comedy,
451
00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:38.279
they don't have to go out to the pub for
452
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:42.200
a quiz. And to be honest, the biggest thing for
453
00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:46.960
me is, like the real, like crust winning work that
454
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:52.359
I do is corporate entertainment. Yeah, and I can't Like
455
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:57.960
in twenty nineteen that December I made enough money from
456
00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:02.640
corporate entertainment to essentially pay my rent in twenty twenty,
457
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:06.319
which was allowed me to launch into freelance despite the
458
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:11.720
pandemic and do it anyway. And literally last year I
459
00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:17.200
had three corporate gigs the whole year I had time. Yeah,
460
00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:21.160
So like, yes, attendance is generally are down, but I
461
00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:23.960
think you can make that work. You can downscale stuff,
462
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:26.920
you can work on lunch box budgets. You know, you
463
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:29.519
can make that work because there's always going to be
464
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:35.200
an audience there. But it's actually that higher end of stuff,
465
00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:39.720
the work that actually pays your bills, that has really
466
00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:42.640
dried up over the last eighteen months. So that's been
467
00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:43.880
the biggest challenge for.
468
00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:49.400
Me with because this is something we've always been curious
469
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.480
about that I don't know if there's a I don't
470
00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:53.680
know if there's not a ton of corporate work for
471
00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:56.839
at least for theater stuff or stand up in crosschech
472
00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:59.599
or if we're just not in the right circles. But
473
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:03.359
what sort of thing do you do for a corporate
474
00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:04.480
entertainment show?
475
00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:09.039
Yeah, so, like my first love and my primary art
476
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:12.599
form is improv and so in christ Church you do
477
00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:16.960
have the sort of unfortunate thing where like the basically
478
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:21.079
the court jesters do all they do all of that
479
00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:25.480
work in christ Church more it makes sense, Yeah, but
480
00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:29.440
I think they do get plenty of it. Yes, But
481
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:32.000
so I'm part of a company in Wellington called the
482
00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:35.079
Improvisers which does the same thing, and they've been around
483
00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:39.440
since the nineties doing corporate stuff. And it can look
484
00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:42.279
like it can be really varied. There's like the classic
485
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.400
is corporate murder mysteries. So you will come in as
486
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.000
a cast of characters you like, mingle and get to
487
00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:52.519
know people in character, and then someone dies and it's
488
00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:56.960
the audience's job to basically question you in unrevel who
489
00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:02.000
did it. So that's like the classic corporate format. I
490
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:03.519
kind of hate those shows.
491
00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:07.759
It's paying the bills show very much.
492
00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:11.279
So there's like a really infamous ones within the industry
493
00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:14.480
here in Wellington at this like big old house in
494
00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:17.400
the Hut Valley and you go out there and the
495
00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:20.720
guy who runs the gigs usually drives the team out
496
00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:22.599
and as you drive through the gates of this big
497
00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:25.759
old house, he will go, welcome to the land. That
498
00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:26.920
time forgot.
499
00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:30.880
I love it, And you've heard that. That's seventeen thousand times.
500
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:31.480
I've heard it.
501
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:34.359
So many times and he does it every single time.
502
00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:36.640
And yeah, and they've been doing.
503
00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:37.559
We get an allan.
504
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:42.000
Yeah, so and that gig, like I don't think it's
505
00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:44.440
changed since nineteen ninety eight, Like they do it the
506
00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:47.640
same stuff, the same gags, and it still works. But
507
00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.400
floy it's it's hard yackery. But then like other stuff
508
00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:54.759
that you do is sometimes you get paid just to
509
00:28:54.839 --> 00:28:58.359
like go in and do forty five minutes of improv
510
00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:00.960
with a we crew of you add at a conference
511
00:29:01.079 --> 00:29:03.319
or an event or whatever. They can be really fun.
512
00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:08.039
And then of course there's Christmas, and Christmas corporate is
513
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:11.799
like its whole I spend have spent many many days
514
00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:16.319
of my life dressed as an elf, prancing around whether
515
00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:18.440
they're on the good list or the bad list or not.
516
00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:24.039
And so that's that's a whole other tranch of corporate
517
00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:29.039
workers doing sort of various Christmas related themed functions and stuff.
518
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:34.119
And like casino nights have been like a, Yeah, there's
519
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:36.799
a company that runs quite a lot of casino nights
520
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:39.720
and they hire comedians to be the blackjack dealers and
521
00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:41.799
stuff just because it makes the event more fun.
522
00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:45.880
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I do. I do run into this
523
00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:48.279
a bit where and this could be more of a
524
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:51.759
my fault than their fault thing, but the idea of
525
00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.319
hiring hiring a comedian to be a blackjack dealer is
526
00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:57.440
so funny to me because I would be like a
527
00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:01.359
dog shit black blackjack dealer, and like I probably wouldn't
528
00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:04.160
be that funny doing blackjack stuff, you know what I mean,
529
00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:07.319
Because like my act has nothing to do with casino
530
00:30:07.480 --> 00:30:11.079
or whatever. But I've run into things where people have
531
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.680
they've ordered a quiz nite and then they've heard that
532
00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:16.880
I've been a stand up and then thought like, oh, yeah,
533
00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:18.799
this is gonna be like a it's going to be
534
00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:22.039
NonStop laughs and it's like, yeah, no, it's not like
535
00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:25.960
it's I'll try but like there's only you know, there's
536
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.359
some questions are genuinely just like what is the capital
537
00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:31.319
of Peru? You know, whatever it is, and you're like
538
00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:38.200
I can't really, you know. And so yeah, there's there
539
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:41.480
is a funny expectation with people that aren't in comedy
540
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:44.960
or in the arts, who I think the mental picture
541
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.160
of a comedian is just this wacky guy who's on
542
00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:50.960
all the time and like, oh, this is you know,
543
00:30:51.079 --> 00:30:53.279
nudging people on there like this will be a right leve,
544
00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:55.839
We'll get a comedian and then yeah, it's just like
545
00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:59.319
it's I don't think it ever goes how they how
546
00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:01.119
they picturing it's going to.
547
00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:04.960
Yeah, especially like it's not what people expect when they
548
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:08.079
turn up for a quiz. So you know, like the
549
00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:10.960
worst corporate gigs are the ones where they're like, so
550
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:14.119
you guys are going to be a surprise and we're like,
551
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:18.960
fucking no, because this is just Linda from Accounts is
552
00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:22.759
sitting there. She's had five savs and she just wants
553
00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:25.920
to drink the night away and with her pals. And
554
00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:27.519
now I'm going to come in and be this like
555
00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:31.920
obnoxious young guy being like give me a three word
556
00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:38.640
title for a story book? And and Linda has no interest.
557
00:31:38.839 --> 00:31:42.519
It's so those are always the worst. And I imagine
558
00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:44.319
that must be the same if you've got people like
559
00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:46.759
turning up for a quiz and then the hosts are
560
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:51.279
like and yeah, comedy, and they're like, no, just ask
561
00:31:51.319 --> 00:31:52.079
me the questions.
562
00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:55.759
Yeah, that's the thing you get. You get two. I've
563
00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:58.319
noticed you get two schools of thought with quiz hosts.
564
00:31:58.359 --> 00:32:03.480
Like I'm a great quiz host for people that are
565
00:32:03.960 --> 00:32:06.599
not necessarily taking it seriously. But like, I think a
566
00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:08.799
lot of people don't want the quiz host to be funny.
567
00:32:08.839 --> 00:32:10.319
They don't really want to hear a lot from the
568
00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:13.519
quiz host. They just want to do the questions, be
569
00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:16.480
kind of charming and nice. But I've heard stories of
570
00:32:16.599 --> 00:32:19.200
quiz hosts too, like in between the rounds will be
571
00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:22.240
just randomly telling like a five minute long story And
572
00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:25.960
I'm just like, what, I that would drive me up
573
00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:27.599
the wall if I was going to a quiz night
574
00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:31.119
and it's like this, The quiz must just treats it
575
00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:33.880
as their personal kind of like solo show, you know
576
00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:34.279
what I mean.
577
00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:39.279
Yeah, I totally agree. I'm like, I think that the
578
00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:42.000
art of a good pub quiz, particularly like a public
579
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:45.079
pub quiz, yes, is just whipping through it right, like
580
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:47.519
you want to be out of there within two hours,
581
00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:50.039
Fly on through, keep the momentum up.
582
00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:53.559
Yeah, But then also you kind of do need to
583
00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:57.160
be quick on your feet sometimes where humor comes up
584
00:32:57.240 --> 00:32:59.240
or something doesn't go quite to plan, you sort of
585
00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:02.119
need to be a little bit sort of spry in
586
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:06.240
that sense. But crowbarring in jokes I feel doesn't go
587
00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:06.759
down well.
588
00:33:06.759 --> 00:33:10.079
Ever, No, I tend to save it for like I
589
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:12.880
like when I'm hosting quizzes up here, which I don't
590
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:14.519
do nearly as much of it as you do, but
591
00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:17.920
I kind of fill in for folks who have regular ones.
592
00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:22.079
And I always like to rather than getting people to
593
00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:24.680
bring the sheets to me, I like to go around
594
00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:27.000
and collect them and then I can have a little
595
00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:29.759
moment at each table and kind of riff with each
596
00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:32.200
table then and find the people that want that and
597
00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:36.319
are up for it interesting little do that between rounds
598
00:33:36.440 --> 00:33:39.559
rather than like inflicting the whole pub on my little cub.
599
00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:45.119
One of my favorite things, and we've we've started to
600
00:33:45.240 --> 00:33:48.640
notice this again, is because in christ Church, the only
601
00:33:48.839 --> 00:33:52.920
of comedy gigs had been like you're only going to
602
00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:55.039
go like if you end up at it, you meant
603
00:33:55.079 --> 00:33:56.839
to be there. Kind of gigs like we they've got
604
00:33:56.839 --> 00:33:59.079
a separate room or you know, the comedy club and stuff.
605
00:33:59.079 --> 00:34:02.200
But we've had a few public gigs turning up and
606
00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:05.839
I'd forgotten how funny. But it's sort of funny in
607
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:08.559
a tragic where it can be to spring a comedy
608
00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:10.239
night on people that didn't know it was going to
609
00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:14.519
be happening. And yeah, you know, you have a family
610
00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:17.599
of four that are just trying to have NaN's birthday.
611
00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:19.559
You know, they're just trying to go out for a
612
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:23.400
nice meal or something with Nan, and then suddenly someone
613
00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:26.440
on the stage going are you fuckers ready to laugh?
614
00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:30.400
Or you know, and like that. Just I laugh and
615
00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:32.400
laugh every time I see it because it's just like
616
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:35.400
it's it's tragedy and comedy, I guess, happening at the
617
00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:36.599
same time in a way.
618
00:34:36.519 --> 00:34:39.639
That really I have such a vivid memory of doing it.
619
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:43.840
Like I started doing stand up down in christ Church
620
00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:44.719
in twenty eighteen.
621
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:46.360
Wow, and.
622
00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:50.199
Then I actually like I did like six months of
623
00:34:50.280 --> 00:34:52.239
kind of doing some regular gigs and stuff, and then
624
00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:56.639
I bailed and didn't do it for ages. But I
625
00:34:56.679 --> 00:34:59.480
have a distinct gig memory of doing a gig at
626
00:34:59.480 --> 00:35:03.360
the Pedal Put on Lincoln Road and on a Monday
627
00:35:03.480 --> 00:35:08.239
night and turning up and a local comic who when
628
00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:11.039
I revealed, you'll probably know who it was. But he
629
00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:13.320
has a very funny bit, but a very intense but
630
00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:16.880
about how he used to be an avid user of
631
00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:20.840
myth and what a fucking more drug method. It's like
632
00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:24.199
a whole bit. And just like there's like two horrified
633
00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:26.880
German tourists who just came out looking for a bear,
634
00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:34.079
just being like, what is going on in this country? Oh?
635
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.719
That is beautiful. I'm sad to say we've got about
636
00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:39.559
five minutes left in the zoom. I feel like we
637
00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:41.320
could do this for like another couple of hours, but
638
00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:43.840
let's get some plugs in for you. So what is
639
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:44.880
your theater company?
640
00:35:45.079 --> 00:35:48.920
Called Lots of Things? But you can follow me at
641
00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:54.440
Austin Harrison Theater. Is my handle on Instagram and Facebook,
642
00:35:54.440 --> 00:35:56.599
and I am on TikTok, but I don't post much
643
00:35:57.599 --> 00:36:01.280
mainly the alerk. Yeah, so that's where you can follow me.
644
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:03.480
You can also go I've got a website Austin Harrison
645
00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:05.360
Theater dot com and you can sign up for my
646
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:09.199
newsletter there as well, And yeah I did. I do
647
00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:12.679
like one hundred and thirty events a year, Wow, ranging
648
00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:17.440
across comedy through to like full dramatic theater shows and
649
00:36:17.480 --> 00:36:21.360
everything in between. So yeah, jump on board, check out
650
00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:21.840
my stuff.
651
00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:25.119
Absolutely do that. Okay, that was a lot quicker than
652
00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:28.400
a five minute plug. I've got a little list here
653
00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:30.760
of some good questions that we like to end with sometimes,
654
00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:32.400
so we'll just check some of those at you and
655
00:36:32.519 --> 00:36:37.559
see what you say. So did your primary school have houses?
656
00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:38.480
Yes? It did.
657
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:39.760
What house were you in?
658
00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:45.480
So? I was in Avril house. Yeah. Mine were all
659
00:36:45.559 --> 00:36:49.039
named after bishops. I think it was religious.
660
00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:52.800
Cool. Yes, yeah? And what did it have a color
661
00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:53.639
associated with it?
662
00:36:53.960 --> 00:36:54.760
Yes? Yellow?
663
00:36:55.079 --> 00:36:59.119
Interesting, I was picturing blue when you said that. Was
664
00:36:59.199 --> 00:37:03.400
there any particul killer characteristics that tended to go along
665
00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:05.159
with people that got shuffled, because you know how we
666
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:07.760
always I'm sure there wasn't, but it always when you'd
667
00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:09.760
tell someone, oh, yeah I was an everall, they'd be like, yeah,
668
00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:12.000
I thought that about Yeah, you know, like, was there
669
00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:13.039
any characteristics?
670
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:16.159
Yeah? I don't think, not so much a primary school,
671
00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:19.079
but at my high school there definitely was, Like I
672
00:37:19.079 --> 00:37:22.559
think we had Rutherford was the red house at my
673
00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:26.760
high school and they that was like famously the sporty
674
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:31.199
kids were there always really well at athletics day. But
675
00:37:31.239 --> 00:37:33.639
then Nata, which was the house I was in, was
676
00:37:33.639 --> 00:37:35.880
green and they were kind of the Arzi kids. We
677
00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:40.559
usually did quite well at lip sync. So yeah, there
678
00:37:40.599 --> 00:37:43.000
definitely was some of those things, and that for me,
679
00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:46.159
I was a Nata. It was the artzy one that definitely.
680
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:49.880
Yes, yeah, you sounds like they nailed you with that one.
681
00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:52.280
Do you have a favorite midnight snack?
682
00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:57.760
Favorite midnight snack? Oh, that's that's so good. I think
683
00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:01.679
there's like two answers to that. One is pasta and
684
00:38:01.719 --> 00:38:04.400
the other is just a cheeseburger.
685
00:38:04.519 --> 00:38:09.960
On the way home, there's this fantastic TikTok I think.
686
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:11.679
I don't know if think as a firefighter or if
687
00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:13.960
he's a contractor or something, but he stood next to
688
00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:18.679
a ute and he's eating a cold cheeseburger and his
689
00:38:18.840 --> 00:38:20.719
friend who's filming him, is like, what are you eating
690
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:22.480
and he just goes, it's a cold cheeseburger. And they're like,
691
00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:23.800
what time is it? And it's like eight in the
692
00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:27.079
morning or something like that. But like, I have to
693
00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:29.000
watch that, and I'm like, well, no, that sounds like
694
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:30.599
a great time to eat a cold cheeseburger to me.
695
00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:31.079
Yeah.
696
00:38:31.119 --> 00:38:35.320
I had a friend who, religiously when he got like
697
00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:38.679
late night meccas would always order an extra cheeseburg, put
698
00:38:38.719 --> 00:38:40.559
it straight in the fridge and have it for breakfast.
699
00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:45.679
Yes, I love it. So next question, how do you
700
00:38:45.719 --> 00:38:47.760
feel about personal printing on the work printer?
701
00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:52.480
Oh, I'm absolutely for it, all for it, especially if
702
00:38:52.519 --> 00:38:55.960
you work for like a big organization. Fuck those people.
703
00:38:55.719 --> 00:38:58.039
Printed, They're not going to miss it. You don't have
704
00:38:58.079 --> 00:38:59.840
an upper limit that you wouldn't go beyond.
705
00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:03.719
I mean I probably wouldn't print three hundred posters. Yeah,
706
00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:10.360
full right, Anything like ten pages or less I'll go nuts.
707
00:39:10.840 --> 00:39:13.320
Awesome. All right, Well, thanks so much for joining me, Austin.
708
00:39:13.559 --> 00:39:15.119
I'd love to have you back on. We could talk
709
00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:19.000
the hustle at some other point in the future.
710
00:39:19.159 --> 00:39:23.039
Yeah. Yeah, maybe let's do one and like get stuck
711
00:39:23.079 --> 00:39:25.599
into the business side of things at short stage, because
712
00:39:25.639 --> 00:39:29.679
I think that's people don't realize how much of our
713
00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:33.480
lives go into the adminton business of arts. They just
714
00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:35.280
think we spend our whole lives on stage.
715
00:39:35.480 --> 00:39:38.039
Yes, absolutely, that sounds great, So thank you for joining me.
716
00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:43.679
Thank you for listening to Ruddle Me This. Don't forget
717
00:39:43.719 --> 00:39:46.000
to hit subscribe and leave me a review on your
718
00:39:46.039 --> 00:39:49.000
favorite podcast platform. You can find me on social media
719
00:39:49.159 --> 00:39:52.320
at Taylor Rottal Comedy on all the major platforms. You
720
00:39:52.360 --> 00:39:55.559
can also join patreon dot com slash Taylor Rodle Comedy
721
00:39:55.599 --> 00:39:58.159
for free, which gets you access to all sorts of
722
00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.639
extras and behind the scenes as well as allows you
723
00:40:01.679 --> 00:40:04.119
to communicate directly with me and let me know what
724
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you think of the show. Tune in again next Monday
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for another episode of Ruddle Me This, and until then,
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ruddler Out. This has been a tape Deck Media production.
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Thank you for listening. Hey, Roudlers. I joined a group
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of podcasters that we are calling the Trailer Alliance, a
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00:40:28.039 --> 00:40:31.599
group of podcasters that share each other's trailers at the
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00:40:31.679 --> 00:40:34.480
end of the episodes and generally support each other. So
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the end of each episode for the next few weeks,
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I'm going to be playing a trailer of one of
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the members of the Trailer Alliance. And here's one of them. Now,
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I hope you like it.
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Welcome to the Evil Twins Podcast. I'm Paige and I'm Arden.
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And this is the trailer. We are two sisters, not twins.
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We are not twins who have decided to start a
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podcast about the hip Paramount plus show Evil. So why
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do we start this?
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We started watching Evil during the pandemic when we were
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desperate for anything to pay attention to other than the
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four walls of our apartment.
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It's just a fun sister activity. Yeah, and you guys
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have to pay the price exactly.
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00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:16.400
And you know everyone else in our lives been paying
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the price for most of our most of time, so
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it's time to spread the suffering to people who aren't
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related to us.
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This is the honkiest tonkiest operation about the honkiest donkiest
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show it's ever been created. All Right, Well, thanks for listening, guys,
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and we're looking forward to watching with you.