Mental As Anyone

Interview with Brisbane Improviser and Mindfulness Coach Jeremy West. Jeremy performs improvisation with Big Fork Theatre and ImproMafia. Check out some of Big Fork Theatre’s Improv shows on You Tube. Jeremy is also a Mindfulness Coach and teaches people skills around living in the present moment. Recording in the midst of Melbourne’s Stage 4 lockdown (on 22 August), we discuss

Interview with Melbourne Comedian Alex Ward, who has been performing comedy for 7 years. You can find some of Alex’s great work on You Tube, including clips from Comedy Up Late and Tonightly with Tom Ballard. Alex has a podcast with Luka Muller called “Going Hypo” where they explore fun hypothetical situations. We discuss: The connection between physical and mental health, vi

Interview with the delightful Gillian Cosgriff, who has been performing comedy for 10 years. Gill has recently been performing in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, although the show is currently on lockdown hiatus. Gill has a background in cabaret, comedy, and music theatre. We discuss: writing songs on planes, the vacuum analogy of lockdown,

Interview with Melbourne Producer and ex-Comedian Sam Petersen. Sam recently released a documentary called Lady O’Loughlin about Comedian Fiona O’Loughlin, and he also has a weekly podcast called Confessions of the Idiots. Sam particularly enjoys having conversations about mental health and getting people to talk more about how they are feeling. Big thanks to Sam for allowing u

Interview with Lauren Bok, who has been performing comedy for 9 years. Lauren comes from a theatre background and loves adding puns, mime, burlesque and other fun/versatile skills to her shows. Lauren also runs a comedy workshop program called Gaggle, which is for women and non-binary people because she is very committed to finding more diverse voices for the stage. The next worksh

Interview with Sri Lankan-born Melbourne-based Comedian Dilruk Jayasinha, who has performed anecdotal and self-reflective comedy all around Australia and the world since 2010. Dil has been on the tv shows such as Utopia and Have Yoi Been Paying Attention?, he won a Logie in 2018 for Most Popular New Talent, he has an awesome podcast with fellow Comedian Ben Lomas called Fit Bet, an

Interview with Melbourne-based Comedian and Comedy Writer Greg Fideler, who is originally from the United States and moved to Australia in 2017. Greg has some great credits including writing for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, being a Contributing Writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, and writing jokes for the Weekend Updates segment of Saturday Night Live, Nickelodeon and

Interview with Melbourne-based Actor and Filmmaker Ben Steel, who has worked in the entertainment industry his whole life, and most recently completed a 3.5 year journey of creating a brilliant documentary called The Show Must Go On. The documentary was released late last year and is a must-see about mental health and wellbeing in the entertainment industry. Catch it on ABC iView u

Interview with Melbourne Comedian Katrina Fleming, who has a background in musical theatre and cabaret. Katrina's comedic style includes story-telling journeys and situational comedy, and she also performs improv musicals with the Conspiracy Improv Group. Katrina and Caili Christian's 2020 MICF show Queenagers, which delves into the topic of what it’s like to be middle-aged women

Interview with Melbourne Comedian Jess Pearman, who has been performing comedy for 3.5 years. Jess was due to perform a coupe of shows at MICF, but as you have probably heard, the festival has been cancelled due to the pandemic situation with Corona Virus.* We discuss: The double-edged sword of comedy combined with mental health, substance abuse in comedy, maintaining mental health