Sitting Under A Tree

This week I sat down with comedian Richard Wright to talk about being a virgin. I've known Richard since my days in the London comedy scene as a lovely guy who ran rooms and did lots of shows, and for the last three years have shared a lounge room with him in our flat during the Edinburgh Fringe. His solo show last year, 'Richard Wright - Virgin' was an incredibly honest look at what most people would be very ashamed of, and Rich was just as open in our interview. I enjoyed the shit out of this.

The first week of Edinburgh has been tough, I can't tell if it's actually worse than last year, or if I've been putting more pressure on myself. Either way, I'm worried I'll have to get a job when I get back to Australia, which is an absolute nightmare to contemplate, so I'm trying to not contemplate that and focus on positives. This podcast made me feel a lot better, to be honest. Time to go out and do another five shows today. The dream, really.

Anna Beros is a comedian originally from Melbourne who moved to Berlin three years ago and is one of many exciting new acts coming out of the best comedy scene in Europe. She's also studied comedy in Italian film, and a bunch of other languages, so while I started off thinking we were going to talk about working in coffee, we quickly ended up talking about Berlin's comedy scene, and comedy in Europe generally. If you're in Berlin, go and check out Anna's weekly show Döner Comedy, and head to https://comedyinenglish.de/ for all the shows in the city every week. There are so so many!

Today on what is, once again, a new version of exactly the same podcast, I spoke to Berlin-based Australian Dave Adams. Dave is a professional composer and musician who writes music for Chinese commercials - and I don't mean jingles, I mean actual music - from his office in Berlin. We had a chat about that. A great chat, actually, while smoking cigarettes in his lounge room. Oh, if it was all that simple.

Today on the pod I found some rough looking table in the front area of some commission flats in Berlin to record in. Five minutes before the end of the pod a security guard came and told me to get out, and he scared the shit out of me. My moment of cowardice can be heard at the end of this week's pod, and in the 40 minutes previous I talk about Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, and everything that happened there.

Well that was fucken weird. Twenty minutes of pod in a bar in Edinburgh, the bartender doesn't want customers, and I feel weird even being here. Not an enjoyable experience at all if I'm honest hahaha.

This week I went on a two-hour mission to a cafe in Bangkok and had a horribly stunted conversation with a barista who barely spoke English, but it was fantastic. I'm starting to understand a little more about why I decided to do this stupid podcast in the first place, and in understanding that, I'm able to make it work better. Paris has been great, the coffee culture here is in a very interesting moment in its history right now, and this week I spoke to Channa Galhenage, owner of Loustic Cafe, who was kind enough to take the time to sit down with me and explain a bit of it. Next week is London, any recommendations are of course so very, very welcome. It's a bit of an overwhelming prospect, to be honest.

Yesterday I spent the day on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand driving motorbikes around the jungle. Most of this week I've been in Bangkok trying to get my bearings in this insane city. This tour has been incredible, and exhausting, and in two days it'll be done. I need a coffee right now.

This week I went to Yangon in Myanmar and had a bar conversation with a private security contractor about the horrific conflicts in the North of that country. I had coffee in seemingly the country's only speciality coffee shop, and marveled at the symbolic beginning of globalisation and coffee culture in this isolated city. Then I came to Singapore, where the city is awasg with speciality coffee and Western culture to such an extent that the local coffee traditions are quickly being pushed out. I visited a cafe that used to be a front for illegal gambling but has had to abandon its former premises of almost 100 years because gentrification. Gentrification that I, and this podcast, are absolutely a part of. Makes ya think, I guess. Not laugh, really. But think, sure.

Huge week in Kuala Lumpur, headlining at the Crackhouse Comedy Club and scouring the city for nice spots. Some barista sent me on a mission out to this roastery in the suburbs, and I walked for 45 minutes in the sweaty heat to get there. It's still sweaty and hot, but I'm in a hotel in Phuket now, not a hostel in KL, so things are looking up.

Oh my god my voice is so dead, what an incredible week in Madrid!! I realised as soon as I got here that my book of cafes doesn't have ANYTHING for Madrid hahahaha... great. So I had to do some searching myself, and also some thinking about what it means for a city's culture to have this wave of Antipodean/English style coffee shops turn up and change the vibe. I'm still pretty wrecked from the week, hanging on by a thread.

And I'm off! Four months of travel began with some old lady farting next to my face in the airport in Singapore, damn that shit was funny. Also the Melatonin pills my doctor gave me didn't work great for sleep, but they were AMAZING for killing the jetlag. My god, I honestly feel incredible. This week I talk about Carolina in Brunswick East (Melbourne, Australia) and that amazing feeling of finding a place all your own, and the little moment of pride when you get to show it to someone new. Also busy vs quiet cafes, the eternal trade-off.

In a huge week for fashion I've both dyed my shoes, and finally had the three watches I ordered off Instagram turn up at my door after weeks of excited waiting. They suck so bad, it's actually hilarious and I love it. Next week I'll be recording from an airport on the way to Madrid for the Champions League Final!! This week's cafe is Everyday Coffee in Collingwood. (Melbourne, Australia)

A big announcement this week, well two actually, and only one of them involves me going to Madrid to watch Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League Final. Fuck I am excited about that, but I'm also excited about the new direction I'm taking this podcast. Thanks to everyone who's been listening over the last 18 months, hopefully it's only going to get better from here!

On Saturday I went up to Exmouth in the North West of Australia and did a gig at the Froth Brewery there, it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen, and definitely one of the best places I've traveled to for comedy. Before the gig, the comic who set the show up took us out to go snorkeling on the reef and we swam with a turtle. I touched its shell, then all three of us swam behind it and stuck our middle fingers up at it, fuck off you stupid turtle. Didn't you know The Boys are here?!

This week I spent heaps of money on shit because I'm rich now. That's right, you heard, Pappa got MONEY!! Pappa also got some fillins in his teef... okay I'll stop. I'm really in a very good mood though, maybe it's the walk up a hill I did this morning, or maybe it's because life is good baby shut up and DANCE!!

My life is a movie, bullriding and boobies... that's right, a movie. Spurs won on Thursday morning, Melbourne Comedy Festival is done, and I had an amazing meal at San Telmo last night to celebrate. I almost cried before my ribs came out thinking about how great chefs are. Very emotional. No crying on the pod though, I'm not a pussy.

Saturday night I broke my month of sobriety, then bombed in front of a full house for an hour, came home at 10:30pm all sad and lonely, and bought a bunch of watches off Instagram. Three, to be precise. It didn't make me feel any better, but by the same token, it didn't make me feel any worse! And now I have three watches sailing across the seas to my door - they were supposed to be free, but as it happens, the postage was really quite expensive.

Last week was tough, this festival is tough, but around Thursday I made peace with the fact that this year is going to be different to last year, and I've just started having fun with the shows. Last night I had to wear a beard and eyepatch for my mate's gameshow, and boy did I hate it. I ended up having fun eventually, maybe I need to let myself be silly more often.

I'm in a bad mood, I think I've been letting the stress of Comedy Festival get me down. I've been worrying about ticket sales, and whether people like me. That's pretty much all I talked about this week, that and the sorry state of my Spotify Discover Weekly Playlist, which was honestly pathetic.