It’s 2010 and you are so excited to start your community radio journey at Student Youth Network (SYN) in Melbourne. How does a funhouse like this even exist? Is there even anyone in charge around here? You actually want to do community television at RMITV more than anything, but you’re scared of going after the thing you want most, so you’ve decided to build up your confidence first by doing radio. This is not a bad thing, but one day you will learn it’s the things that scare you the most which you must do first. It will save you a lot of time and give you courage to achieve anything you dream of faster than you ever thought possible.

Let’s be honest, you’re a pretty anxious, highly strung kid. You’re also pretty naïve and self absorbed. So I need you to listen really closely to what I’m about to say. What I’m about to tell you will make the next 5-10 years so much easier and happier. Both for you and the people around you. There are some big, really important things you should pay attention to right now as you’re starting your journey at SYN, RMITV and Channel 31.

1. Prioritise relationships. Everyone you see around you will run the industry one day.

You are surrounded by future executives, future head writers, future broadcasters. Because you’re not really a late night person and because you’re so focused on yourself, you will often pass up opportunities to get to know these people better and to help them. Instead, you should focus just as much on making friends as you do on becoming a great writer/producer. You will learn more by sharing your journey openly with others and allowing people to see your vulnerabilities.

2. It’s not all about you – while you’re busy making yourself great, help make others great

Being great yourself is only half the equation to being successful in radio or TV. The other half is helping others be great. You will never forget those who were kind to you in the beginning. It’s never too early in your career to spend some of your time helping to lift others up too. You will learn more by teaching others what you know, even when you know next to nothing. Ask yourself, “How can I give back what I am receiving?” Then do that.

3. Try everything

You have a really clear vision for wanting to work in television, but you will learn more about yourself and meet more interesting people if you try everything. Be more open to looking stupid and failing at things. Try everything. Especially if it’s paid.

4. You might not end up with a career in radio or TV, but this is 100% the place you need to be right now

It’s okay if all of this comes to nothing. It won’t come to that, but let’s say it does. Would you be okay with that? It’s okay. You’re still worthy of love even if you don’t get to write jokes for a living, even if your next opinion article doesn’t get published in The Age. Keep going after what you want with the tenacity you go after most things you want. But it’s important to be present where you are right now. Again, it goes back to getting to know the people around you better. To ground you. Be here now.

5. Ask for more help

You get a certain amount of pride when you figure things out on your own, but you’re slowing your growth and it comes across as insecure. No one wants to be friends with someone who is closed off and insecure. Allowing people to help you will make others feel good and make your life easier at the same time. When you ask people for help, ask without any expectation that they should help you. Be grateful when they agree to help, but try not to care if they don’t want to. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Ask someone else and be grateful when you get a yes!

6. Make a show about personal finance.

Radio or TV, doesn’t matter. It will help you understand how the world works and you’re incredibly naïve about that. So start now. You really know nothing about money, in fact you’re a little afraid of it. It’s no wonder you have none. It’s the things that scare you the most which you must do first. As you learn about money and personal finance you can share that knowledge with others. There are a massive number of young people like you who are entering the workforce knowing next to nothing about money. You can help these people as you help yourself. Everyone will be richer for it. And it’s okay to want to make money. You can still do what you love and have a heart and want to make money. In fact, you definitely should. 2 minute noodles are great, but they’re not as great as compound interest.

—

What would you tell your younger self about your community radio/TV days?

The 2020 Melbourne International Comedy Festival has been cancelled and many of us are upset and unsure about how we’re going to make a living for the foreseeable future.

Over the past decade that I’ve been a TV comedy writer, I’ve done a bunch of other things to help make ends meet.

So here are 14 things that people with our skill set can do right now that people are willing to pay money for.

1. Enter the Comedy Writers Association of Australia coronavirus comedy writing competition

Enter your best one-liners about coronavirus by 2pm this Wednesday 18^th March.

How much can I make?
The 5 funniest one-liners will get $40 each.

Next steps
CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW!

2. Host Trivia Nights

I hosted trivia for SoundStorm for 7 years and it was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had doing something loosely related to comedy. The skills required to be a trivia host come naturally to a comedian. And there isn’t the pressure of having to be funny.

How much can I make?
On average, between $100 to $200 a gig (2-4hrs work).

Next steps
– Start by Googling trivia companies in your city.
– Send the owner of the company an email.

3. Write an article for a newspaper or magazine

Newspaper & magazine editors still dream of receiving well-written articles they can put straight to print. If you have opinions (and every comedian does) write them down in 500-800 words and send them to some editors.
You can write funny articles like this, or serious articles like this.
Funny articles with a point tend to be a rarer commodity on an editor’s desk, because not everyone knows how to write funny things like you do. So they can be a good way to stand out.

How much can I make?
$10 to $500 for columns or blog posts. Up to $1000 for features.

Next steps
– Go to a big library, where it’s free to read magazines and newspapers.
– Think about what you like and what you’re good at. Then see if there’s a magazine for that. I once wanted to be a golfer, so when I was starting my writing career I wrote for golf magazines.
– Flick through some Australian magazines and newspapers. Decide which ones you think you could write something for.
– Note down the editor’s or submissions email, which can usually be found a few pages in on the contents page.
– Send your article to the magazine you most want to get published in. Follow up with a phone call in a week if you haven’t heard back.
– If they pass, send your article to multiple publications.

4. Write comedy for companies who have a sense of humour or that you think are cool

A few years ago I was walking along the street when I saw a truck drive past. On the side of the truck was a joke about pasta. So I got in touch with the company (a food ingredients company) and asked if they wanted some more jokes about food for their trucks. They did. They bought two jokes about food for $1000.

How much can I make?
$5 to ∞

Next steps
– Keep an eye out for companies that use humour in their advertising or marketing.
– Think about things you love and if the companies that make those things could use some humour in their marketing.
– Get the company’s email off their website or Facebook ‘about’ page.
– Write them an email saying that you love what they do and that you’d love to help.

5. Read The Barefoot Investor

‘The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need’ is the best book I’ve ever read on money. The author speaks our language (he’s from Victoria) and his book has been the best selling Australian book of the last decade.
The tips in the book can make you money right now, but they’ll make you even more in the future.

Coronavirus isn’t the first time the livelihoods of people who do what we do have been threatened and it won’t be the last. It’s absolutely worth becoming good with money so that the next time something like this happens, you have enough money saved up to see you through any unexpected loss of work.

How much can I make?
As much as you want.

Next steps
– Go to a library and borrow ‘The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need’.
– Read it!

6. Make a voluntary contribution to your super

If you are a low or middle-income earner and make personal (after-tax) super contributions to your super fund, the government also makes a contribution (called a co-contribution) up to a maximum amount of $500.
How good is the Australian Government? Just kidding.

How much can I make?
From $20 to $500 per financial year, depending on eligibility and how much you voluntarily contribute.

Next steps
– Check out this link to see how much the Government will contribute to your super fund.

7. Cold Call

Most people are too lazy or too scared to pick up the phone and pitch themselves cold. It is scary! But I’ve found you tend to overcome your fears when you realise that even in 2020, it’s still the most effective way to quickly get work. There are countless businesses all around Australia who would love to work with someone friendly, funny and reliable who has the confidence to pick up the phone and ask for the gig.

Next steps
– See tip No. 4.
– Pick a company to call. Find the name of the person you want to speak to.
– Decide on what outcome you want from the call.
– Write a short list of the things you want to say.
– Pick up the phone and make the call.
– If they don’t have anything for you, ask them if they know of anyone who does.

8. Write jokes for online crowdsourcing platforms like Pitch app, Comedywire and Write Label

These platforms buy jokes and ads from writers all over the world. It’s nice to be a part of a global online community of comedy writers, plus if you put in the time, you can actually make a bit on the side by writing for one or all of these platforms.

How much can I make?
US$10 to $100 per joke or ad.

Next steps
– Visit the sites and see what you think. There may be others.
Pitch app
Comedywire
Write Label

9. Write Greeting Cards

I was in a gift shop one day looking at funny birthday cards, when it hit me that, “Oh yeah, someone needs to write that.” In my experience you’re more likely to sell lines to UK and US greeting card companies, but it’s always good to reach out to some local makers of funny cards first and see if you can do some writing for them.

How much can I make?
$30 to $80 per card.

Next steps
– Visit some gift shops, newsagents or markets. Check out their greeting cards.
– Any that you find funny, note down the name of the company that makes them. This info can be found on the back of the card.
– Google funny greeting cards.
– Reach out to the companies and ask if they’re open to submissions. Most will have something on their website about whether they are.

10. Online surveys & market research

Companies that conduct this research are always looking for smart, articulate people to provide feedback on everything from new products to advertising campaigns.

How much can I make?
$10 to $100 in cash or gift cards.

Next steps
– Google ‘paid online surveys Australia’ & ‘paid market research Australia’.
– Try reaching out to the companies that facilitate this research directly.

11. Collaborate with a cartoonist

Some people are great at drawing, some are great at coming up with great visual jokes (ie. you). Combine the two and you can create funny drawings that newspapers and magazines may want to publish.

How much can I make?
$50 to $200

Next steps
– Read some New Yorker cartoons for inspiration.
– Find an Australian cartoonist whose work you like, but whose work is going under the radar. Work with someone your age or thereabouts, so you can work your way up together.
– Introduce yourself and suggest collaborating to create some humorous cartoons.
– Send the cartoons to publications you think they’d be suitable for.

12. Set new boundaries around what you will and won’t do for free

Comedians or any other sort of artist are often the first people to be asked to work for free. No matter how experienced we are, we all need to work for free sometimes. Maybe we’re learning a new skill or writing something nobody will pay us for, but will lead to paid work.

When you take an unpaid gig, make sure you’re very clear on why you’re taking it. Every time you say yes to something, you’re saying no to another opportunity that hasn’t come along yet.

Setting new boundaries around the type of unpaid work you take on can be incredibly liberating. Saying no to any old unpaid work and saying yes to meaningful unpaid work will lead to more regular and satisfying paid work in the long run. Start doing this now and the next time you experience temporary loss of income, you’ll have made and saved so much money from all the paid gigs you’ve allowed into your life that you’ll be able to ride out the rough patch.

How much can I make?
As much as you have the courage to allow yourself to make.

Next steps
– List all of your unpaid gigs.
– List all of your paid gigs.
– For each unpaid gig ask yourself, “Why am I doing this gig?”
– If you can’t come up with an answer that is going to help you reach your goals, stop doing the gig.

13. Get some counselling

When you’re in a good place mentally, everything in your life seems to come to you, rather than you having to chase it. Money included. It’s weird how confronting, processing and eventually coming to terms with the relationship you have with your parents can lead to more gigs, but it happened to me and could absolutely happen to you!

How much can I make?
Almost as much as a psychologist.

Next steps
– Ask yourself if there is an inner or outer problem in your life that you are unable to solve on your own.
– See if you’re eligible for the government’s Mental Health Care Plan.
– Even if you’re not, invest in yourself – get a referral from your GP and see someone who’s job it is to help people like you be the best versions of themselves.

14. Hire a comedian or comedy writer

You never forgot those who give you a gig when you need it most. What goes around comes around.

How much can I make?
Smiles, hugs and future jobs.

Next steps
– Think about any projects you have ongoing right now that would benefit from some extra comedic minds.
– Hire comedic minds.

For more support, join the Comedy Writers Association of Australia here.

I don’t think I’ve learned more or tried more new things (non-drug related) than I have in the last 12 months. At some point while I was making TV shows and throwing myself into strange, new hobbies like yoga, it occurred to me that I had an opportunity to take the favourite parts of the person I was and set fire to the rest on the way to becoming the person I’ve always wanted to be. I think I finally understand what Stevie Nicks meant when she sang about the “seasons of my life”. First came the storm, in the form of the end of a long term relationship, then came the most productive 12 months of my life, both personally and professionally. I’m incredibly grateful. For both the storm and the new growth that came afterwards.

I’m writing this on a Jetstar flight from Auckland to Melbourne. I’m flying home for the weekend to attend the Antenna Awards – Australia’s Community TV Awards. A show I created, Silent Comedy, is nominated for 2 awards: Best Comedy and Outstanding Creative Achievement. Fun fact: 5/6 of the shows nominated in the Best Comedy category were ones I wrote on. I feel very lucky to have had such a great place to learn TV Comedy writing as RMITV/Channel 31. I owe my career completely to those places, as well as a couple of influential people along the way, like Tim Ferguson, who got me started on the right track and always encouraged me to think big. I’ve never been to a proper awards ceremony before, let alone one where I’m nominated for something, so I decided to make the trip. Plus, it will be nice to see the family again and eat some free food.

I’ve made 3 TV shows in the last 12 months. Silent Comedy, Mainland Tonight and Season 2 of Emmylou Loves.

Mainland Tonight cast and crew

Turns out being a showrunner and having a work/life balance are two things that go together like North Korea and every other country. So I ditched the 100 hour work weeks and decided to try living a more balanced life. A friend from high school introduced me to yoga and it’s kind of changed my life. I practice about 6 days a week, but not with any outcome in mind – I just do it because it’s fun. Why do people we went to high school with continue to have such a profound impact on our lives?

Another major step in this search for a better balance was moving to Auckland three months ago.

My bags on my first day in Auckland, outside the LearnCoach office

Despite there being far more comedy writing jobs in Melbourne than Auckland, for some reason, despite never having lived there before, most of my work has been coming out of Auckland for the last 4 years. All I’ve wanted to do was write comedy (since I gave up on becoming a professional golfer almost 10 years ago), so when my friend Dave Cameron offered me a full time job writing funny things for his education company LearnCoach, I thought I’d jump at the chance and make the move. I’m really good friends with his wife and brother too, so knowing I’d have that base to build from was also really important in the decision. I also thought it was about time I got paid properly for what I do. For years, my dad has been appalled by my willingness to refer to 2 minute noodles as ‘dinner’. Which is ironic, because further questioning rapidly reveals he used to live off them too when he was starting off as a graphic designer.

Anyway…I’ve been writing funny things every day for LearnCoach for the last 4 years, because it was fun. And because I had a completely blank canvas to work with. I could just be myself to a captive high school audience that started off as a couple of thousand and has turned into hundreds of thousands. Turns out the stuff I find funny tends to be what students find funny too. 4 years after I started, LearnCoach is now the fastest growing and most used education company in New Zealand and the humour is one of the first things that students, teachers, parents and investors say they love about LearnCoach. I feel very fortunate that my comic voice became the company’s and not the other way around, as normally happens when you’re a writer for hire. Turns out there is an upside to essentially working for free for 4 years! High school students have incredibly good bullshit detectors and I think they can sense that LearnCoach isn’t a company that’s trying to be funny because it’s cool. We’re just funny, because it’s who we are.

It’s extremely gratifying that since I started doing this, a couple of other education companies have also made humour a key part of their brand. It feels great to have played a small part in starting to change the traditionally very stuffy and serious world of high school education. It’s LearnCoach’s mission to create a digital school system for the world, so it would be fun to do this for students the world over some day.

To give you an idea of the sort of things I write at LearnCoach, here’s something I did this week.

While this may be the first time in my life I’ve ever been paid properly for what I do, let it be noted that the first 6 weeks I spent in Auckland I slept on a fold out couch in the office. Once a 2 minute noodle-loving comedy writer, always a 2 minute noodle-loving comedy writer.

So while I spend 4 days a week at LearnCoach, I spend the other one writing for New Zealand’s longest running TV comedy show 7 Days. I’ve also been looking for other gigs that might be fun to do. I had a great meeting with Lewis Road Creamery the other day, the makers of the best chocolate milk I’ve ever tasted. That meeting has been a couple of years in the making. I would absolutely love to do some writing for them. I feel like my voice would fit seamlessly into theirs, plus I could help them out with polishing off any chocolate milk that’s about to go out of date. It’s a service I’m happy to provide free of charge. The diabetes, not the writing, to be clear.

To continue the scattergun approach of this blog post, last night in Auckland I attended the taping of the final episode of the year of 7 Days. It’s the 5^th year I’ve written for the show and I feel like it’s probably been my best yet. Writing 30+ episodes a year of a topical comedy TV show is the best job I’ve ever had and the most rewarding. Five years in, it’s just as challenging as the day I started.

Some personal highlights from the show this year:
– The 10^th anniversary show at the Aotea Centre, where I got to hear what 1700 people laughing at something I’d written sounded like.
– Getting a NZ sheep fucking joke on the show. An especially proud moment, being the only Australian writer.
– Attending the live taping every week since I arrived in Auckland and getting to know the cast and crew a little better.

I even got to be a part of the cast and crew photo! I’m the one who doesn’t know where to stand for a cast and crew photo.

I’ve always been a strong believer that writers should be obscured and not heard.

On top of all this work-related stuff, I’ve been on some brilliant hikes here in NZ (Bethells Beach was ridiculous) and met some incredible people already. I also made a bunch of new friends in Melbourne before I left. I’ve always wanted to meet people like this and have friends like this and it’s completely overwhelming that these people are now in my life.

I don’t fully understand how or why so many good things have happened to me lately. I have a feeling they’ve always been happening, but I’ve just gotten better at noticing them. Thank goodness for fold-out couches, 2 minute noodles and Jetstar legroom keeping me humble.

I’ve been surprised by how different making your own TV show is to helping someone else make theirs. Whenever I’ve produced TV shows in the past, I’ve always been the second in charge, helping someone else realise their vision.

Earlier this year I found out I’d successfully applied for a grant from the Community Broadcasting Foundation and was going to get a chance to make my own show.

The show is called Silent Comedy. It’s a 1 hour special for Channel 31 featuring 8 of Australia’s best established & up and coming silent comedians – comedians who don’t use any spoken word in their act.

As someone who grew up watching Mr. Bean, I’ve always had a huge love of physical, silent comedy. Over the years I’ve worked on a number of comedy shows where the producer would say ‘no slapstick’ when briefing the writers, and it always made me sad.

If I may Eat Pray Love this for a moment, it feels like I’ve discovered a super power of late – if you don’t like something about the way things are being done, you can go out and create the world you want to live in.

One of my main missions at the moment is to start creating paid jobs for comedy writers in Australia, especially in the area of one-liners. Until a couple of months ago when I was lucky enough to get to help create a new comedy show for Channel 9, all of my comedy writing work, the majority of which is writing topical one-liners, has come from overseas. I think the Australian industry is missing a step that used to exist when we had more late night and sketch shows on TV. How can we expect writers to come up with a funny 30min sitcom if they can’t write a decent one-liner?

My other mission is to keep making multicamera comedy shows in front of studio audiences. That live audience element just makes everything feel so much more alive. For the cast and the crew.

On Silent Comedy, we sold out all 80 studio audience seats a week before the shoot. The demand is there!

RMIT University Studios, where we shot the show, is a phenomenal facility. It was a privilege to play in it. They told us Silent Comedy was the biggest production ever mounted in the studio. The new ground we were breaking meant there were bumps along the way, but we had an incredible team of about 50 people who brought it all together.

Photo: James McPherson

I’ve discovered that I really enjoy the challenge of trying to hire good people.

If you ever want an organised production, I’d highly recommend hiring Mary Verikios and Joseph Betros. They were my production coordinator and production manager respectively. I loved working with them.

The other person that requires singling out is director Nicholas Bufalo. A week before rehearsal I had to find a new director. The seas parted and Nick appeared. He has that rare combination of being able to bulldoze through any problem, while also being a really nice person. I guess that’s why he’s had the career he has had.

The cast of Silent Comedy were wonderful to work with. Without exception, all of them are total professionals and you should hire them to be in your shows.

The cast is: Hayden Burke, Rob Caruana, Patrick Collins, Jack Dan, Rod Lara, Dana McMillan & Charlotte Salusinszky, Joana Simmons and Andi Snelling.

Ross Purdy also features heavily as a certain piece of fruit.

I learned a tremendous amount on Silent Comedy. I feel very lucky to have had a chance to make my own show for Channel 31 before I hopefully get to do it in the big leagues.

The premiere date is still being confirmed, but it’s likely to be the second half of November.

We’re currently in the edit and I’m pretty excited to share it with audiences.

In other news, the New Zealand comedy game show I write for, 7 Days, had its 300^th episode last night. I’ve worked on 122 of those. Every week when I watch the show back, it still makes me laugh more than any other show on TV anywhere. I have a feeling that the rest of my career will be spent trying to find a job that has given me as much joy as writing for 7 Days has.

And finally, on Monday I’ll be back in the same studio we shot Silent Comedy in to shoot a brand new live half talk show called Emmylou Loves. We’re making 5 episodes. It premieres on Monday 29^th October, 8.30pm on Channel 31, Facebook Live and YouTube Live.

Back in 2014/2015 I worked on an Australian sitcom called Fix Her Up. I wrote an episode and was the script editor on the series. Much of the writing I did on the show was completed while in Los Angeles, so it’s only fitting that 4 years later, the show is now finally available in the U.S.

Thanks entirely to the tireless work of creator and showrunner Arden Pryor, Fix Her Up is now streaming on Amazon Prime in the U.S. and Canada.

The show was entirely self-funded and originally premiered on Channel 31. It just goes to show how important community television is to the Australian TV industry.
Here is the trailer:

Last week, I jumped on the cheapest Jetstar flight I could find and spent a week in Auckland being a proper TV comedy writer. For the past 3 years I’ve written for the New Zealand comedy panel show 7 Days by simply emailing in my jokes every week. I’d never met most of my colleagues in person. Recently, the producers said they would be happy to have me come over and do a week of writing on the show. “Just pick a week, any week.”

Of course, I picked the week the All Blacks were playing France at Eden Park. First week of being a proper TV writer and first All Blacks game sounded like a good one-two to me.

TV3, the company that makes 7 Days, owns this this old, old house in Eden Terrace, which houses the writers rooms. They were exactly how you want writers rooms to be – at the top of a creaky staircase, with paint peeling off the walls and two toilets, one of which is “not as good as the other”.

For about five hours I sat in a room with head writer Ben Hurley and arguably New Zealand’s top stand up comedian, Brendhan Lovegrove and we simply came up with jokes for the show. Ben wrote down the good ones on his laptop. All the years of doing exactly the same thing working on Channel 31 shows in Melbourne meant I felt very comfortable in what could have been a terrifying situation.

Across the hallway from us, another team of three writers also came up with jokes for the show. One thing that stood out across the entire production of the show is the amount of prep work that goes in, especially as far as the writing and cast prep is concerned. I think Australian comedy game/panel shows could learn a lot from the way 7 Days is run. It’s never an accident when a show stays on air for 10 seasons.

The next day, the person who hired me three years ago, Rob Brown, took me out to lunch. At the time he was the associate producer, now he’s the producer and showrunner. Also lunching with us was the current associate producer Thom Watts, who amongst other things is an accomplished musician whose band has supported the likes of ACDC. Rob and Thom couldn’t have been nicer in answering all my questions about how the show works and were tremendously generous with their time. Writers are not used to being treated like this.

The taping of the show later that evening was an experience I’ll never forget. I’ve always found attending the tapings of TV comedy shows to be very emotional, since writing for them is all I’ve ever wanted to do (since I stopped trying to become a golfer). So to be in the audience of a show I actually write for was completely overwhelming. I met the cast, the crew, all of who were delightful. It was surreal to meet the people whose comic voices you’ve had inside your head for 3 years.

Whatever happens from here, I’ll always remember my first time on the set of a show I work on. Looking forward to paying it back one day when I get to produce a show like this of my own.

Left to right: Heath Franklin, Justine Smith, Paul Ego, Me, Jeremy Corbett, Dai Henwood, Ben Hurley, Nick Rado

You may think this is just another end of the year, self-congratulatory post, but you would be correct. I’m fairly certain this has been my most successful year to date as a comedy writer and producer and if you think I think it makes for an interesting read, you would be correct again.

The backbone of my year has consisted of writing jokes for New Zealand’s two highest rating TV comedy shows, comedy game show 7 Days and late night talk show Jono and Ben. I only wrote for the last three episodes of the year on the latter, but I’ve been a big fan of the show since I first came across it, so I was very excited to contribute.

This year we made 36 episodes of 7 Days and it was the third year I’ve written for the show. Even though the stress occasionally aggravates my psoriasis and my relationship, I love being in the weekly grind of writing for a topical comedy show.

For the second year in a row on 7 Days, I won the Top Overall Spec Writer award for getting the most number of jokes on air out of the show’s 34 writers. (The producers count the number of jokes we get on and we are paid accordingly). Sometimes it’s hard living in Melbourne and writing for a New Zealand show, because I would love to meet some of the other phenomenal writers on these shows. I’m especially grateful to people like Josh Samuels and Sam Smith, who helped get me the job on 7 Days in the first place, as well as Ed Caruthers, who was so generous with his advice when I was a baby writer on the show.

I’ve always felt a little ashamed of loving the one-liner form and trying to figure out how to write the funniest ones I can. In the comedy community of Australia, I feel there is a social stigma that one-liners are somehow not as worthy as a half hour sitcom or a 5minute episode of a webseries. In film school, nobody ever told me that one-liners could pay my rent. But for the last three years, that’s exactly what’s happened. No one is more surprised than I am. In a search for role models – people who have primarily built their careers by writing in the one-liner form – I’ve had to look overseas. A few months ago, I reached out to Bob Hope’s former head writer, Gene Perret, whose comedy writing books were a major source of inspiration when I first started to learn how to write comedy. This is an extract from his response:

It sounds as though you’re doing things right.  Working for two high-rated comedy shows is a good beginning for any career.  It’s also encouraging to hear that you enjoy the work so much. That can be a big part of it, although there will come those times when you’ll have to make an effort to be funny when things may not go so pleasantly. It’s all part of being a professional writer.

Be proud of being a one-line writer. People love to laugh and they relish the people who make them laugh. Enjoy it.

It meant a lot that he took the time to reply and further helped liberate me from the counterproductive feelings of inferiority I sometimes get when I hear about comedy writers who are working in longer forms of the genre.

One thing I ticked off the bucket list this year was producing a festival show, two in fact – one at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and another at Melbourne Fringe. They were both sketch comedy shows. Having achieved what I set out to achieve, after Fringe I decided to part ways with the sketch group. A month after the fact, I found out that a funding proposal I had helped compose in order to secure some funding to make some sketches for the group’s YouTube channel had been successful. So the first time I’m successful as a producer at securing a decent sized grant from a funding body and I don’t even get to make the thing!!! Never-the-less, I’m excited to see what they make.

Some other fun comedy-related things I did this year included writing jokes for some stand up comedians’ acts for the first time, writing one-liners for a professional MC who runs one of the most successful sports night fundraising companies in the world, and starting a national one-liner comedy writing competition for high school students in New Zealand.

Viewing-wise, the shows I enjoyed watching the most this year were Mad As Hell, This Is Us, Better Call Saul and the ABC Fresh Blood entry The Angus Project. I also thought Tonightly with Tom Ballard showed promise, so I’ll be watching that will a keen eye when it returns on Jan 8.

In 2018, I’d love to keep writing jokes for NZ TV shows, as well as some closer to home. Producing-wise, I’ll have room for one or two more projects this year. Whatever those projects end up becoming, you can rest assured a live audience will feature in one if not both of them. There’s nothing like a live audience to bring out the best in everyone when you’re making a comedy.

Here’s a picture of me from earlier this month, with a scale replica of Steve Smith’s batting average.

I love writing and producing comedy for an audience whose laughs I will actually get to hear. Earlier this year I produced my first live sketch show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival (MICF). Now, my sketch comedy group Dr. Duck have put together a brand new 50min sketch show, which will premiere at Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Click HERE to see the official poster.

Dr. Duck founder and my producing partner in crime, Andrew Keen, helped me put together a crack team of writers this time around. The writers met up once a week for 11 weeks, with everyone in the room making terrific contributions.

Every cast member from our MICF show had either secured paid work or already booked other projects before we could get to them. We have a brand new cast for Fringe, (Andrew aside) but having sat through some rehearsals, I think the people who come and see our show have a lot to look forward to.

Once actors as talented as the ones we’re working with become involved, it’s amazing how quickly I’m able to forget the back-breaking, often soul crushing work of writing comedy. I like to indulge in the thought that 50mins of funny material turned up with little effort. It’s the only way I’m able to fool myself into wanting to go through it all again for the next show we do.

The laughs of a live audience also help with this.

Tickets can be found here: https://www.melbournefringe.com.au/event/dr-duck

Credits
Directed by Andrew Keen.
Presented by Short Game Productions.
Starring Andrew Keen, Susie Kazda, Liam Howarth, Chloe Towan, Rian Howlett and Lara McArthur-Dowty.
Written by Andrew Keen, Dean Watson, Lily O’Farrell, Ross Purdy, Justin P Bechtold.
Additional Material by Sal Hicks, Dan Beacom.

There is very little financial support for up and coming comedy writers, let alone comedy writers who are still in high school. Trying to get paid for your work is the hardest thing to achieve for any comedy writer, especially when you’re starting out.

In school, class clowns get a bad wrap. I know this from personal experience. But the encouragement of a few people that it was okay to embrace this side of myself made the world of difference.

For a couple of months now, I’ve been running a comedy writing competition for New Zealand high school students, in conjunction with LearnCOACH. It’s called the NCEA Comedy Writing Competition.
We pay $50 every week to the student who can write the funniest one-liner about high school in under 140 characters.
Students submit their entries here.

I want to show New Zealand high school students that not only can you be funny while you’re still in school, you can get paid to do it.

Even the smallest payment for your work makes a huge difference to your confidence when you’re starting out.

Here are some of the winners with their prizes:

The response has been pretty remarkable and this article covers it fairly well.

When you’ve only been making your living as a comedy writer for a couple of years, your first reaction to being asked to appear on a panel to talk about comedy is, “I am definitely not qualified.”
And since I was asked, nobody has sent me any mail disputing that.
However, I’m grateful I overcame those initial feelings of self-doubt, because I ended up having a lot of fun talking to RMIT’s latest crop of screenwriting students, alongside the other two comedy people on the panel, David M. Green and Stephen Hall.

You know I’m not making this up, because that’s the official poster.

When I was an RMIT screenwriting student (2011-2012), I remember organising one of these panels – we had Sammy J, Kitty Flanagan and Adam Zwar along.
As for our panel, it was great to have an opportunity to meet Stephen Hall. You may know him from Shaun Micallef’s “Mad As Hell” on the ABC, or as Basil Fawlty in the stage production of “Fawlty Towers“.
David M. Green is also a writer for “Mad As Hell” (not to mention, a great friend).

It was very exciting to be on a panel with two of the country’s best comedy writers. Thanks to Kirsty for asking me along and to John Reeves, heart and soul of the RMIT screenwriting program.