Hosting Podcasts Had Unexpected Effects For These Comics...

Guy Montgomery, Cameron James and Emily Tresidder are all comedians who also have podcasts. Sure, this isn’t exactly the most surprising revelation, but what is quite remarkable is how much, and how differently, being in the recording room has influenced their work on stage.

As a result of podcasting, Guy Montgomery has learnt the art of introspection. “I do think that doing the podcast and the source material of it being driving ourselves insane – and you know, just clutching on to anything to talk about – that has trained me to be more comfortable talking about personal elements of myself that I may have previously neglected to think about.” 

His podcast, The Worst Idea Of All Time, sees himself and fellow comic Tim Batt watch the same film weekly for an entire year. Montgomery has a new outlook on crafting comedy from the podcast, saying, “Because we are mining for 30 minutes of interesting and engaging material every week from what is a very limited source material with diminishing returns, I think that definitely gives you a sense of confidence. It improves your skills with stuff like improv, you know, finding a nugget out of nothing and stuff like that. When we’re at our lowest ebb of the podcast, often we’ll deviate from the film and talk about our emotional state and draw parallels from that.”

Montgomery has chosen to try and better himself through his new show, I Was Part Of The Problem Before We Were Talking About It. A portion of this comes in recognising privilege in comparison to the rest of the world, which Montgomery believes is a vital part of becoming a more empathetic person. 

“Whether they want to or not, everyone is becoming more politically inclined,” he says. “The luxury of choosing not to engage stems from privilege, and the status quo is working ok for you and you don’t need to bother learning about why. It’s certainly something I’ve been thinking more about recently, and it has sort of burrowed itself into the show. The onus isn’t on people who are struggling to include people like me, it’s on me to contribute and help the conversation.”

"We're just trying to be joyful in really cynical times."

For Cameron James, who eschews the serious subjects in his podcasts, the occupational aspect has started to take its toll. “I used to love bad films a lot more before I started talking about them twice a week,” he says of his B-grade-based audio projects (Mike Check and Total Reboot, both with co-host Alexei Toliopoulos). “Now I have to watch them all the time and it’s become what I imagine it’s like for normal people to watch bad movies. It’s a complete chore.” 

James also recognises that the silliness of his work has been a welcome relief from the onslaught of political turmoil and its corresponding comedy. “Maybe it is some sort of rebellion thing – laughing in the face of the apocalypse. It seems comics of my generation are leaning away from that sincerity and that political stuff, and more towards just their fleeting feelings and passing commentary on the world. There’s a joy to it and a cynicism as well, and I think that describes my generation. We’re just trying to be joyful in really cynical times.”

James, between podcasting – he and Toliopoulos also host investigative comedy podcast Finding Drago – and performing his new show, Strawberry Blonde, also writes for SBS’s The Feed, so a respite from current affairs is as much for him as it is for his audience. “So much of my day is political satire, so I have to always be somewhat engaged in it, but for me the jokes come from more than just a message. I think for me it’s always going to be a gut reaction. I don’t know what the process is, I don’t know if I could articulate it, but whether it’s stand-up or writing for TV or working on a podcast with Alexei or Becky (Lucas – A Bit Of This & A Bit Of That), that gut reaction is really all I have. If something makes me laugh within a millisecond of me thinking about it, then I’m saying it and there’s really no more analysis to it.”

On the flip side of that is Emily Tresidder, who has used her time recording Vic & Em’s Comedy Gems to inform her own feelings and, in turn, her comedy. “It’s interesting because sometimes you’ll talk things out on the podcast, and suddenly you go, ‘Wow, I didn’t even know that I felt that way about this.’ And when you have guests on, the conversation can turn a completely different way, and you end up having this really deep conversation you weren’t intending on having.”

Tresidder also notes a recent episode of her podcast in which she and co-host Vicky Hanlon speak candidly about their shared experiences being female in the male-dominated industry. “I don’t really like talking about my personal plight,” she admits. “I like to keep things light and fun in the podcast because I have this inherent feeling that you’re not really supposed to discuss those uncomfortable things because we’re meant to be creating comedy content. This episode is one of my favourites that we’ve ever created, because it’s just her and I chatting and we get into a conversation about being women in comedy and how we’ve created a certain dynamic. It’s like Vicky is more on the production side and is the more intelligent one, and I’m the more happy-go-lucky guy to her straight guy shtick. We talk about the fabrication of that,and how we are being ourselves but we’re also playing that up for the podcast. Sometimes listeners will just think I’m an idiot because of that, so there’s a whole conversation within the podcast about that.”

Tresidder adds, “Being open enough to talk about the plight of being a woman in comedy in this episode was a really big thing for me, because I don’t like to show my cards and be open and have people misinterpret that as having a whinge.”

This openness has also bled into Tresidder's new show, Just Doing It. “This show has developed into the most self-reflective show I’ve ever written. It explores personal relationships of mine, and going beyond things like, ‘Oh, listen to how bad this Tinder date was.’ My previous shows were kind of superficial in that respect and this is definitely the most personal of an insight I’ve made in my comedy.

“There were some tricky moments where I was doing jokes about things that were still a bit raw for me, but before I did those again I would go and see my psych and make sure I was in a position where my mental health wasn’t going to be disrupted. Even if it was the funniest joke in the world – which some of mine do come close, by the way – I wouldn’t do it if it was going to make me suffer.”