Mid Way
Hi, I’m Ben Searle and I’m a human from Melbourne, Australia. I spend most of my time doing stand-up comedy-related things. Hit the subscribe button and I’ll flick you an email every so often. Cheers.
Sydney
I wrote the first bit of this a couple of weeks ago while I was away and Melbourne was in lockdown:
I’m in Sydney and I’m enjoying it. Might have a bit to do with it just not being Melbourne right now. I used to hate it up here, but I really have no idea why, I think I’ve never really felt much of a connection to the place, and hating Sydney is just one of those things you do growing up in Melbourne. It now feels like, like I can fit in here a bit better.
I came to Sydney with my Dad and Step Mum for her brother’s 40th when I was around 15. I remember sinking bulk amounts of red wine for the first time and was at that age where I was keen to step up shop on the BBQ for the evening to avoid any social interactions as I was the youngest person there by a good 15 years. I ate a fair few sausages in bread and continued to skull red wine. After a few reds, I was way more chatty and I think revealed too much about myself; this would continue for most of my adult life. Back at the accommodation, I remember vomiting in the sofabed at around 7am the next day and folding it up before my Dad and Step Mum got up. I feel bad about that to this day; there were bits of sausage in it and someone had to clean that up. I was expecting the accommodation to call my dad in the weeks after and we were going to get charged for it, but it never happened.
We left our accommodation to head towards the bridge climb; I was about to experience a hangover on top of the habour bridge. They give you a Breath test for alcohol before you are allowed to climb the bridge. “One long deep breath please", I remember my Dad and Step Mum staring intensely at me while the machine beeped for the result; “Beep, Beep, Beep…” I was sober luckily. The worst thing after that is they give you did headset thing at vibrates onto your jawbone triggering your eardrum meaning you can hear the guide inside your head; it was hectic. I don’t have an issue with heights, but something about being hungover, 134 m above sea level on a bridge really brings it out of you.
I finished my ten days gigs in Sydney and had a lot of fun, it was nice to be out of my comfort zone, see where you stand after a few years of mostly doing comedy in mostly one place. I was pretty keen to get back home but that stage. Back in Melbourne and gigs seem to come back relatively quickly, shows were at reduced capacity for the first week or so. At our shows on a Friday we could have 20 for the first week and now it’s sitting at 30. That feels good in our venue, which is usually 60, so we do two shows of 30 on a Friday. It’s sick to see people coming and supporting the shows. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve caught up with a few different mates that work in music and it’s all still completely fucked. Comedy kind of has it easy in comparison.
Content Corner
Chongo Bongo - Mix 5
New playlist from me, a bit of everything in this one.
Mandy
“You exude a cosmic darkness”
I put off watching this for ages, but holy shit, this blew my head off. Honestly a bit fucking much at times, but other times it’s the best thing you’ve ever seen. Panos plays with the tension and pacing, the tension shifts on a dime. At times it feels like a Doom Metal video clip, at other times a visceral mean-spirited portrayal of violence.
CHEERS
Suss my pod with Prue Blake here, follow me on IG.
If you noticed any spelling/grammar/syntax mistakes, let me know. Again, I wanted to get this out and couldn’t be fucked asking and waiting for someone to proofread it.
Cheers.