A listener, production.
Causing offence these days, you used to have to decide if you were being offensive.
Like, you used to be, I'm going to do this joke and I know I'm going to ruffle a few feathers,
but I think it's worth it, I think it's funny, I stand by the meaning of the joke
and I'm just going to put it out in the world and whatever happens, happens.
Now, you have no idea if you're offending anyone.
In fact, the likelihood is whatever joke you're going for, you will offend somebody.
Hi, I'm Jess Rowe and this is the Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.
A podcast that skips the small talk and goes big and deep.
From love to loss and everything in between,
I want to show you a different side of people who seem to have it all together
in these raw and honest conversations about the things that matter.
Comedian Peter Hellier has been cracking us up for over 20 years.
He first came onto our TV screens as part of the Rowe team.
I have to admit, his skits, especially when he'd wear one of those mad costumes,
were my absolute favourite.
Peter isn't just a comedian.
He's also a writer, producer, actor and author of a successful kids book series.
I wanted to find out how Peter is managing the next stage of his life
after walking away from the project to focus more on his own ideas and creations,
including his brand new stand-up show, Deconstructed Origami.
Yay, I'm seeing you in real life.
You know, we could have done this over Zoom, but it's not that much fun.
It's never the same, but to actually see your face, it's like yippee.
Oh, I feel the same way.
What I want to know first of all is how is life now that you've left the project?
Yeah, it's great.
And I guess the first thing that I was grateful for was the feeling
that I had made the right choice.
You know, there's obviously stages you've walked away from jobs
and there's a lot of things that go into it and there's a lot of emotion involved.
And it was a thing where once I made the choice,
I lived with it for a little while, then you announced that you're leaving
and then you kind of think, okay, it feels all right.
You know, that felt all right.
And then I carried his final show as the week before
and that was a big emotional show and then I went the week after.
To you, the audience, thank you for embracing my silliness,
understanding my intentions and accepting my limitations.
When I look through this lens of camera four,
I do actually believe I'm looking at you and I'm seeing you.
So thanks for coming along for the ride.
I inherited this chair from my great mate Dave Hughes
and they were big shoes to fill.
So thank you for accepting me wearing a tie and a suit.
I agree that the tie was a stupid idea for a long time.
And then the next step was kind of, okay,
what happens when the show comes back on air?
Because it had two weeks off and how am I going to feel then?
I wasn't necessarily watching the show,
but I followed the show on Instagram obviously
and there was no kind of feeling like, oh, what have I done?
It felt like it felt right.
And so when you say it felt right, in what way?
How did you know?
Well, just because there wasn't any feeling of like,
shit, have I done the right thing here?
I mean, I've walked away from George before,
before the game was an AFL show that I did.
I actually kind of was the co-creator of that show.
It meant a lot to me.
And I walked away after about five or six years
because there's just too much.
My marriage wouldn't have survived
if I was doing all the things.
I was doing radio, a sketch show, a rove live,
and I just couldn't sustain it.
Even though I loved that show,
it was the most fun show I've ever worked on
because it's just watching football with your mates
and then going on TV to talk about it.
I made it for my family.
And if you make choices like that for the right reasons,
you can't regret it.
Even though years later there were times
where I'd watch that show and kind of go,
I'd be fun to be probably doing that still.
There was no regret because I had time with my family.
And you can never get that time back.
And I'm more aware of that now.
I've got a 20-year-old, an 18-year-old,
you're two at uni.
How did that happen?
I blinked, I looked away and I turned back
and they were at uni and driving cars.
You've got grown up kids.
I've got many in my house, yeah.
And are you a grown up though?
No, probably not.
My wife is, she's the grown up.
She wears the pants and she keeps us all heads on, I think.
With that said, I think we all,
we're a good team actually, I think.
I'm proud of the boys.
They are good, decent young men.
They're fun, they're kind.
They're generous, they're loyal.
And that's the key, isn't it?
I read an interview that you'd done where
you really made a point of talking to them
about respecting women.
That was such an important message for them.
Yeah, the two things that I focused on was
try to find the things that you'd love to do.
Don't worry about careers just yet,
but just kind of, if you can find a way
to do the things you love more often,
And the second thing was always respect women.
Think about mom, you've got great women around you.
You don't have any sisters.
You've got mom, you've got some great aunties,
you've got great nans.
Just think about them.
And it sounds ridiculous to say,
but now more than ever, you need to respect women,
which should always be respecting women.
But I wanted to make sure,
but just because I don't have daughters,
that I was still addressing that issue.
And I think it's probably more important
for fathers of sons to make sure
that their sons are on the right track.
Which it sounds like you've done.
One of my sons has a girlfriend of 14 months,
and I'm super proud of how he is with her.
And I tell him that.
And that's the key too, isn't it?
Having those sorts of conversations with your kids
and letting them know
when you reckon they've done the right thing.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's about affirmation
and having those conversations reasonably regularly.
So when you do have the conversation,
it doesn't seem strange
and it doesn't feel awkward.
So the more often you have them,
the easier those conversations are to have.
The other great time to talk to them
is when you're in the car
because you're not facing each other.
So it's less intimidating and they're trapped.
So you can actually have quite open conversations.
I actually was quite astounded
when my oldest was going for his license.
And the more hours he got up in Victoria,
he got to do 120 hours,
which I think is a great thing
because by the time they get their license,
you're actually pretty confident
that they know what they're doing.
But the more he got confident,
we introduced more things like,
let's have some music on in the car now.
You can choose your music.
Let's have some conversations.
And he was actually more open
than he would normally be.
Maybe he felt like he's an adult,
you know, when he's driving a car
and he felt a different vibe.
And I was really amazed how much he opened up
the more hours he actually got behind the wheel.
Well, it's that shift in dynamic, perhaps,
as you say that he's behind the wheel.
He's sort of more in charge.
And you're there able to listen.
And he probably appreciates it
that I'm putting the time in to help him,
you know, achieve this goal.
Now, back to the project,
you were saying that you follow bits on Instagram still.
Because I find any shows that I've left,
I don't watch them
because there's almost a part of me that goes,
I don't want to know.
I don't want to watch.
At times I feel it's a little childish of me to do that.
But I still do it.
I don't really watch anything that I've been on
and don't do anymore.
Yeah, to be honest,
I don't think I've sat down to watch the show,
but I'll be absolutely honest before I join the project,
I don't think I sat down to watch it
only because we don't have a TV where we have dinner.
So it's just a time thing really.
More before the game,
there was a feeling of like,
maybe I won't watch it for a little while.
There was a feeling of,
I love that show so much.
I could have done that show forever,
but it was my family had to come first.
That was a family call.
This was more a me call about having some projects
that I wanted to invest time in.
And it had been 10 years and just really felt like time.
So by the time I picked off all those things,
I was really sure of it.
And so now there's no feeling of like,
oh, I should be there.
I actually went on the show about a week or two ago.
It's about my tour, my stand-up tour.
And everyone was like, did it feel weird?
I was like, no, it doesn't feel weird.
And I love Sam Torne.
He's a great mate.
I actually kind of rang him when I heard he was,
you know, doing some tests for it.
And I said, if you have any questions
about what you think the role might require,
or what it's like, any advice I can give you,
please give me a call.
And we had a good chat.
And I was really glad he got the job.
And Sarah's obviously, you know, great.
Oh, I adore Sarah.
Having worked with her on Studio 10 for so long,
she's just the best.
She's just everything.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I think it's in good hands.
And yeah, no doubt I will watch it at some point.
I haven't made a choice to watch it or not watch it.
It's just, you know, I'm not really sitting down
at that time, not to be honest.
Now, what about Ruben Kaye?
Would you have laughed at that joke?
It's really interesting because, as you know,
on those shows, when you have a guest,
you are in full support mode.
And sometimes you can call it fake laughing or not.
And sometimes it's genuinely making you laugh.
But there's every chance I may have laughed.
Live TV is unpredictable.
And when this happened in the last few moments
of last night's show, it genuinely took us all by surprise.
And there wasn't a lot of time to react
in any sort of considered way.
It's fair to say we weren't expecting a comment like that
We wouldn't knowingly broadcast it, of course.
We acknowledge the offense that it caused.
But more than that, we're sorry.
To be honest, I will say that joke has been made a thousand times.
And I bet you, have you made Jesus jokes?
When I do stand up, I talk about it
in a way of trying to understand.
Because I was raised Catholic.
I consider myself Catholic.
But I always had questions about the Bible.
I was obsessed with the Bible.
There's great stories in the Bible.
But I saw them as stories.
Then I had kind of questions and they kind of,
they do come across as comedic, but they're genuine.
Like, I don't understand where teenage Jesus was.
Like, Jesus was born in a stable.
And then he's 32 with a beard.
There's no real reference.
There's no reference.
It's like, did he go?
He must, did he go to Taif?
Like, did he, he became a carpenter.
Maybe it's woodworking.
Yeah, but I think, you know, and it's obviously comedic.
But it's also, no, I would love to know, is there,
somebody said there's one reference to a younger Jesus in the Bible.
But it's very fleeting.
But I think if you're a young Christian,
you would love to know how Jesus navigated his teenagehood.
It's a fair enough call.
And my favourite kind of joke about religion is Jesus being a carpenter.
I think how impressive that is.
And I think it's really impressive that God sent his son down and said,
okay, you got to be the Messiah.
You got to be the Saviour.
But it's good to have something to fall back on.
So it's always good to have a trade.
A good, honest trade.
Good to have a trade.
So like I said, it is a joke that's been made a lot.
You know, I know, I think Sarah got, you know,
I didn't follow it completely, but like, you know, I heard about it.
And she was in supportive guests.
Of course she was.
And it was unfair for her to be targeted in that way.
And why can't we laugh at some things?
I mean, it's almost like we're in such a rush to be offended about everything at the moment.
Well, I grew up in a family that, you know, and my grandparents, you know,
I've spoken about my nanny in one of my stand-up specials.
She was like the Roger Federer of church.
She would go five times a week.
And she always kind of was able to have a laugh.
And we just grew up where humor was really valued.
And, you know, my mom goes to mass every week.
And it's just, it wasn't, you know, we watched Money Pipe and Life of Brian.
Which is so funny.
And we weren't offended by it.
And I think there are some religions, you're not allowed to cross a certain line.
Catholicism could, you know, I think some Christians and Catholics even will look
at those religions and go, well, they take it more seriously than we do.
We need to be as fervent as they are.
So, well, maybe that's not the way for you guys to go.
I mean, causing offense these days, it used to be that you,
you used to have to decide if you were being offensive.
Like it used to be, I'm going to do this joke and I know I'm going to ruffle a few feathers.
But I think it's worth it.
I think it's funny.
I stand by the meaning of the joke.
And I'm just going to put it out in the world and whatever happens, happens.
Now you have no idea if you're offending anyone.
In fact, the likelihood is whatever joke you're going for, you will offend somebody.
People, I don't know why you want to live your life like this.
I'm not talking about the religious stuff now, I'm just talking in general.
I don't know why you want to be the one that gets upset about people telling jokes.
You know, like, oh, just don't.
Even on Instagram, comedians talk about it all the time.
You know, you put something out and you'll get people kind of,
you might even say, I'm coming to Brisbane this weekend for a tour.
You know, come along, love to see you there.
And you'll get inevitably, and every comedian has it,
you'll get somebody to say, no, thanks.
It's like, what are you doing with your life?
What are you doing?
You're obviously following me.
So why take the time to go, no thanks?
The fact that you have typed out no thanks,
either you think that's really funny, which I would argue it's not.
It's not offensive, but it's not funny.
And but two, you've put time into that.
Sure, I know writing no thanks takes, you know, six,
but it's something in your brain, in your mind.
You've invested some energy into that.
I just don't understand why that would be.
People are very, very fast at saying what's not funny.
With that sort of shift, has that changed the way you work,
the way you do your comedy?
Even to be honest, non-comedians, even people, you know,
we've had that discussion on the project for years.
You have to sometimes be more careful about opinions.
And sometimes you might kind of go, I'm not up for this fight today.
I'm not going to put that opinion out in the world.
I'm just going to stay away from that issue.
I will be quiet on this one because of backlash.
And sometimes, you know, it's like bring it on, you know,
and sometimes it takes you by surprise.
Sometimes you're up for it.
I mean, sometimes I get off social media for a couple of days
because like, okay, that'll blow over and I'll, you know,
pop back up in a couple of days.
And I mean, I haven't experienced too much of, you know,
I know people have had a lot worse than I have.
With social media, it's become trickier.
And talking about social media, wasn't there a report,
was it last year through Twitter that you died?
So, and I talk about it in my stand-up show.
I'm touring around at the moment.
Which is called Deconstructing Origami.
Yeah, Deconstructed Origami.
So last year, I went to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
and I was on the train with my friend, Joe,
and we were going to see the wonderful Judith Lucy and Denise Scott.
They are just like, wet your pants funny.
The absolute goats of comedy in Australia.
They are the queens.
They are fantastic and they're great friends.
So I was on the way and I got two kind of weird text messages
from people that I hadn't maybe heard from for a while.
One was like a prop master on the first series of How to Stay Married.
And another one was a guy I went to school with.
It was like, hey, Peter's checking in, you know, everything okay.
And just checking that you're good.
And I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm good.
No worries, you know, go Pies.
And they were calling the supporters.
And I put my phone back in my pocket.
I didn't really engage because I was having a chat with my friend.
We get to the art center, we go inside,
and throughout the show I can just feel my phone buzzing.
And I'm not sure what you're like,
but you know when you miss quite a few calls?
And you start to think, oh, what's happened?
Something happened here, what's going on?
But I focused on the show and I enjoyed the show.
And then the last 10 minutes it was really kind of going off.
The show finished and I checked my phone
and it's mainly people, you know, in showbiz.
Like my manager was like, please tell me,
you know, you got to the art center,
call me as soon as you get this message, stuff like that.
And then Chris Bendle, the EP of the project,
text me saying, Twitter says you're dead.
The project goes straight to the source, straight to the point.
So I jumped on Twitter and there I was.
There was another one trending topic, it was Peter Hellier.
And yeah, apparently I died in a car crash.
And it's funny because we trick ourselves
into thinking that everybody's on Twitter.
It's actually a small percentage of people who are on Twitter.
It's a teeny weeny amount.
Yeah, I think it's getting smaller and smaller.
But in my head, as I kind of walked up the escalator,
the art center to the street level in Melbourne,
my beloved hometown, I was kind of thinking,
maybe not the people in the show,
but everybody else is on Twitter.
And they must think that I've been killed.
And what was a little bit disturbing, Jessica,
was nothing had changed.
The city was just carrying on like nothing had happened.
The flags were at full mast.
There was no wailing.
There was no sobbing.
The MCG lights were still as bright.
They weren't dimmed.
And rang my wife to kind of make sure she was okay.
And she was on the phone to the life insurance people, Jessica.
Um, no, she hadn't seen it.
I text my kids saying, it's okay.
There's a rumor on Twitter that I'm dead.
You know, your dad's alive.
And to this day, they have not responded to that text message.
So then we put out a photo because I was meeting my friend,
Limo, great comic, great mate at the pub.
And we took a photo of me, a proof of life photo.
And yeah, but what was interesting, actually,
to be honest, is most of the people who had messaged me
were like worked in the show business, in the industry.
And then there was a photo the next day in the paper
that's kind of explaining what had happened.
And I got more calls off that from people who were outside
of the industry kind of going, oh, I had no idea.
But are you okay?
Like, are you still okay?
Like my cousin rang me, you know, a bit upset saying,
I know, like, I've seen that you're okay,
but I just actually want to hear your voice now.
You know, make sure you are alive.
But it was kind of a bit weird.
It's kind of a bit like flying over your own funeral
And, you know, because there were people who were upset
on Twitter and were trying to find out if it was true.
But there were people who were just trolling me,
like were having a go at me.
Now, I don't know if they thought it was a hoax anyway
or believed that I, you know, I wasn't alive
and this was just a mistake or that they thought I was dead
and I was still having a whack.
So in the show that I'm doing, The Constructed Origami,
I should go through the experience
and kind of share the tweets.
And there are some strange ones, there are some mean ones
and there are some funny ones.
It was a slightly weirder experience
and I probably expected it to be, to be honest.
Well, it's bizarre and I wonder as well,
did it make you think about your life differently
or what you want to do next differently?
I didn't have any grand epiphanies, I must say,
but it did make me think of a legacy a little bit
of like, you know, what would people say?
And what do you think people would say?
I don't know, like outside of people who,
I'm only really kind of interested more in what people,
people who I know, what they would say,
people who I've engaged.
Of course you would like, you know,
people to think funnily of you,
like who have watched you on TV over the years or whatever.
But I don't know, I'd like to think that,
you know, they would think I was a pretty decent guy
and I'm not looking for any kind of, you know,
I know there's no going to build a grandstand at the MCG for me,
I'm not expecting that, but somebody who was kind
and it's kind of things that I guess
I try to pass on to my kids, you know,
and then, you know, that was funny.
And one of the great joys of doing comedy is,
this is why I sometimes don't understand some of the anger
is when people come up to you and they thank you
for giving them a laugh and sometimes I think as comedians
we underestimate that.
We kind of, you know, most of us are self-deprecating
and we dismiss the importance of comedy
and Peter Halley alone isn't important in the world of comedy,
but comedy is important, you know.
So if you took Peter Halley out of the comedy, nothing changes.
But if you took comedy away from people, then the world changes.
So I just think it's a really important thing, you know,
and when you're in the clubs and doing shows in front of,
you know, a few hundred people or a thousand people
or even, you know, 60 people, you know,
they've organised babysitters in my crowd
and they've come out and who knows what kind of week they've had.
So for them to kind of shut off and enjoy and laugh out loud,
you know, group experience, it's an amazing thing.
Well, laughter to me is the stuff of life.
It's what gets us through.
And I think as well comedy is about ideas
and that's what's exciting.
And that was the best advice I've ever been given actually.
My friend's American Rosso really took me under their wing
in the early days and they're still great mates.
And I remember I was supporting one of their kind of gigs
and they were doing really big gigs.
And Rosso said to me, comedy is about ideas.
You know, punchlines are important, jokes are important,
but comedy is about ideas.
And I've taken that advice
because I always wanted to have a reasonably eclectic career.
You know, I wanted to try different things.
But you have as well.
I mean, the thing is you produce, you write,
you're an author, you're a comedian, you're an actor.
You're a model as well.
You're sort of a...
I'm a hand model.
My face doesn't quite work, but I'm beautiful.
If you like little chippilatas, you know, showing off a ring,
then I'm your guy.
So yeah, I mean, I'm stunned and I, you know,
and when I do a show and people come along, I am so grateful
because I know the choices.
Usually I'm doing shows within festivals.
So I know the choices they have.
There's so many choices.
So I don't take for granted that they,
not just buying the ticket, but take the time to come along
because most of us aren't out every night.
You know, it might be one night a week we get to go out
and they've chosen, you know, to spend that night with me.
It's pretty special.
Now, when I was doing research about you for this interview,
what struck me is you always come across
as very upbeat, full of beans, sort of jolly in inverted commas.
We hear that part of you,
but there's a lot that you keep closed about.
And I'm wondering if that's a deliberate choice to be private
or is that just part of your makeup?
I do like my own space and my own privacy.
With that said though, I mean, I think I'd like to keep
that stuff for the stage because then it's people
who have come to my show and it's coming out of my mouth.
It can't be retwisted or reinterpreted in print
or, you know, I might say it's shared on TV
and it might come out the wrong way.
I mean, I speak about some, you know, pretty intimate things
on stage over the years and have for, you know, a long time.
So I don't see myself.
What would that be in terms of when you say intimate things?
Oh, my relationship with my wife, intimate, you know, times.
But it was a slightly nerve wracking thing of saying to my wife,
do you mind if I kind of talk about this and I explain it to her?
And my wife is so supportive.
She knows for me to be the best comedian I can be,
I need to kind of go to areas that, you know,
and she also knows what's true and what's not true and, you know.
I mean, you talk about things there that you do keep private
or things that we should keep private in our lives.
Are there some things that you think,
oh, I want to talk about them now or that are worth sharing?
Yeah, I mean, there are things.
I mean, I did a story on the project about a friend of mine,
Richard Marsland, who took his own life.
It took me a long time to deal with.
And I thought I was dealing with it in a way
because I wasn't necessarily speaking about it.
You know, I was kind of very much internalized a lot of it.
You know, Bridge eventually said to me,
I don't think you've dealt with it.
And that was years before I did the thing on TV,
but eventually I was like, we can help people.
And so I went over to Adelaide and interviewed his parents,
Alison and Peter, who were wonderful people.
And they come to my show whenever I'm in Adelaide
and we catch up and it's lovely.
But that was the hardest thing I've ever spoken about on air.
In fact, and I thought I was fine.
When I interviewed Peter and Alison, you know,
I got through it, felt good to do that.
And then when I went to introduce the segment,
I could barely get the words out.
You know, during the commercial break,
I was kind of feeling fine.
I felt like, you know, something was about to happen.
But when the words came out,
I really had to fight to get those words out.
That was certainly a decision where I went,
okay, I think it's time I spoke about this.
And I've had people, in fact,
there was somebody last Friday in Melbourne
who came up to me after a gig and said,
I have a friend who I know that helped him a lot.
And I've received many of those messages online,
but, you know, in person as well.
So that was something where, you know,
it was a choice to speak about.
But to be honest, I'm a reasonably dull person as well.
And I don't say that even to kind of,
to be fair, I don't have that many things to talk about.
We're 20 years married,
we're as happy as we've ever been.
My kids have not caused us any trouble.
I keep touching wood whenever I say that.
You know, I play a bit of golf.
I go to the footy.
I tell some jokes on stage.
I live a pretty simple life, to be honest.
But you're not dull because you're someone
who has the most phenomenal ideas
and you've been entertaining Aussies for how long?
I started in 96, April 28 on stage at the Esplanade Hotel
and did my five minutes of comedy and it went pretty well.
Did another gig and that went better.
And then I did a third gig and it was awful.
It was heartbreaking.
Imagine your worst heartbreak times out by a thousand
and that's what it is.
But I tried to do some audience gear,
but I didn't have the arsenal to, you know,
I'd be like, hey, where are you from?
And they said, you know, Surry Hills.
And I'm like, I don't, got nothing on that.
And then the audience smell fear and then they like to see,
you know, somebody really make them laugh.
They also like to see somebody die as well.
But I navigated it, got through it and kept doing it.
And how do you manage, I mean, you're extraordinary on stage,
but are there still moments where you think,
oh my God, that's not funny?
Or when you're really more anxious or is that past?
Yeah, it's pretty much past.
I'm pretty good judge of new material
and what I think kind of works.
There are still routines though that I'm like,
I can't quite get this one to work.
But what I've learned is sometimes the material's
just not ready yet, you know,
or it needs some scaffolding around it for a while
or it needs, you know, when I say scaffolding,
it needs some other material around it.
And this is maybe just more of an aside than an actual,
it's not the star of this routine.
This is actually like a, you know, a co-star,
you know, a supporting player.
That takes bravery, I reckon,
to go out in front of people with new stuff
and think, how's this going to land?
Where does the bravery come from?
I don't know because I'm pretty risk adverse to be honest.
I even say on stage,
the most dangerous thing I do these days is tell jokes,
you know, and it is a dangerous sport these days,
as we've discussed.
But it's funny because people say,
oh, it is brave doing stand-up comedy.
And I always kind of push back on it.
I said, no, it's not.
Or they say it's hard to do.
No, digging holes is harder than telling jokes on stage.
But what I love about comedians is,
no matter where we are in the world,
wherever you're doing comedy,
however you're doing your comedy,
we all pretty much started at the same spot,
which is walking to a microphone,
not knowing if we could do this.
That was the starting point for every single comedian in history.
And so it's a small club.
And I recognize the bravery that that takes to do that.
And then when you kind of get more stage time
and you get better at it,
it's less brave because you are more comfortable on stage.
sometimes when you go to a room to test that new material,
each comedian is different.
Some comedians will just eke out little bits of new material
and just build it slowly.
I'm somebody who'll go to a club and say,
okay, I'm doing 15 minutes of new material, you know.
And where does it come from?
That's what I always wonder about.
Just everything around.
I mean, I don't necessarily have the fear anymore,
but maybe 10 years ago I'd be like,
am I going to be able to come up with another hour of comedy?
And the world just keeps changing and offers up stuff.
And I started doing shows every two years.
One because I wanted the show to be as good as it can be.
And with all the other commitments I have,
Doing stand-up comedy is a full-time job in itself, really.
You know, we joke about, you know,
oh, I worked an hour a night, you know.
But there's a lot of thought and prep that goes into it.
My shows have become, for me,
like little time capsules of the world.
It's not just for the world to evolve,
it's for me to evolve and to change.
My kids will be two years old.
They'll have new experiences.
And do you use your kids' experiences?
Do you ask them permission and say, hey...
No, I don't ask them permission.
They live in a house that, you know, comedy paid for.
Some people think I'm really quite proud
because I very rarely post pictures of my kids,
but that's just more of a respect thing to them.
You know, they've got their own social media accounts.
And even for their birthdays recently,
I've kind of stopped, you know,
The Daily Mail printed some pictures of the boys
and they weren't pissed off or anything.
But they're not kids who are...
Some independent comedy celebrities
have kids who love being part of that world.
My kids have no real interest in it,
which I'm thrilled with.
You know, like they occasionally...
There's a perk there where, you know,
Liam got to meet Dave Grohl.
And that was really cool.
Sometimes we get tickets to go see some stuff,
and they appreciate that.
But they're not trying to boost their Instagram followers.
Like, they'd rather not talk about me
with their mates than to talk to me.
Although my son did go to a fancy dress party
as Strawny recently.
Oh, with the mullet?
With the mullet, yeah.
The blonde mullet wig.
That's the ultimate in sort of respect.
Surely if you go dressed as your dad's character.
It's funny because I haven't really performed
Strawny for so many years,
and yet he went along and all the kids knew who he was.
It's this weird kind of thing with that character
that particularly in the AFL states,
I get asked about him, you know,
half a dozen times a week still.
Yeah, I can't believe how well Strawny's
fitted in down at Collingwood.
I mean, the guys love me.
I'm always making jokes, lightening the mood.
You know, like yesterday we were doing circle work,
and I said, yeah, they're out in front of everyone.
It's like running around in circles doing this.
And they all laughed.
I mean, look, they're probably laughing now still.
Yeah, not laughing at the time.
That must have made you feel pretty good.
That's like a cool dad moment.
That was actually kind of like, okay, yeah, cool.
Aidan's probably out of the three kids.
The one who's more comfortable with, I think, with what I do.
My oldest is probably, you know, happy.
I remember asking him when he was like 15 or 16.
I said to him, okay, you know,
I think you're old enough now.
The comedy festival's on.
You know, I'm going to give you a couple tickets
to come see my show.
And, you know, I think you're old enough
and bring a couple of mates along.
And he's like, um, no, I'm okay.
We'll go see Aunty Donna instead.
So he still hasn't seen me perform.
You know, I literally do talk on stage
when having sex with his mother.
So, you know, I do get that you may not want
to be in the audience for that.
If you weren't a comedian, what would you be?
I've thought about this.
The only thing I can really think of,
I would have probably had a stab at acting.
You do act, though.
I'd love to do more of it now.
I've already acted in my own projects
because, you know, when I develop a project,
I get to actually, obviously, make the project.
And I get to work on it and be the leading man
and have Lisa McKinnon as my wife.
But I can carve out time to do it,
as opposed to if I get off at a role,
you know, I can't juggle.
I'll be available for like three hours.
No producer's going to hire you under those circumstances.
Now, you know, I could carve out more time.
So actually, you know, I'm interested
in doing a bit more of that.
Well, Pete, it's been such a joy to chat with you,
to see your wonderful face.
And thank you for making me and my husband
absolutely cack ourselves for so many years.
You make us laugh.
You bring us so much joy.
I think you dressed in a banana suit many, many years ago.
It's still one of my favourite moments.
I actually now have a banana suit in your honour
because I do love a bit of a dress up
and the joy of a silly dress up.
Well, we should embrace silliness.
I think the world needs to embrace more silliness
and colour and more banana suits.
And I love catching up with you.
And I love seeing you, whether it's even on Instagram
and the joy you're putting out into the world
and your husband, Pete, is a legend as well, so.
Well, I reckon you're a legend.
But Pete is like, oh my God,
he's my favourite man on television.
He's got a man crush.
Well, we have to go for our dinner.
Pete, if you're listening, let's do this.
Thank you so much.
Oh, Peter is just brimming with ideas.
You know what I would love to do?
I would love to wear a banana costume
and he could be in a banana costume
and maybe we could do a comedy show.
But hey, perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.
I do adore, though, how Peter just has the chutzpah
to make it all happen.
He is touring his new stand-up show
Deconstructed Origami Across the Country
where he deconstructs the very funny origami of his every day.
Visit comedy.com.au for dates and tickets.
And we will also pop a link in our show notes
if that's going to be easier for you.
Do not miss his show.
Now, for more big conversations like this one with Peter,
I'd love you to subscribe and follow the Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.
It means you will never ever miss an episode.
And if you think there's someone in your life
who will love this episode, go on, share it with them.
Do them a favour.
And if you enjoyed it, this chat with Pete,
I reckon you will really enjoy my talk with Hughzy.
I walked on and was just so relaxed.
Something came over me.
You don't have to prove anything.
You're a winner for just doing this.
And that thought just lit a fire.
And the laughs I got that night was so intoxicating.
It was such a vindication of my dream that I was so high,
I floated out of that little venue thinking,
I know what I want to do with my life.
And you know what?
I'm still chasing that high.
It is such a joy when you can make a group of people
laugh at the same time.
The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show was presented by me, Jess Rowe,
executive producer, Nick McClure,
audio producer, Chris Marsh,
supervising producer, Sam Kavanagh.
Until next time, remember to live big.
Life is just too crazy and glorious to waste time
on the stuff that doesn't matter.