Nikki Osborne (Bush Barbie): The Aussie Comedian who broke the internet!

It’s all very serious today, so it was refreshing to have a funny conversation. Nikki Osborne didn’t just get the Prime Minister on her podcast. She DMed him, turned up at the Lodge in Canberra wearing a pith helmet, and got him talking about things you’d never hear in a press conference. In this episode of Straight Talk, I sit down with the comedian behind Bush Barbie to find out how she pulled it off and why her alter ego has tapped into something a lot of Australians are quietly desperate for. It’s a conversation about comedy, character, political correctness, and what it really takes to build a career from nothing over more than twenty years. Subscribe to the Mentored newsletter here: https://the-mentored-platform-pty-ltd.myklpages.com/l/WWJGc5 Join my exclusive Mentored+ community: https://mentored.com.au/become-a-member/ See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Nikki Osborne, welcome to Straight Talk.

• 0:01Speaker 01

  Why, thank you, Mr. Boros.

• 0:04Speaker 00

  You're sitting in the hot seat now.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  I am. It's strangely relaxing by comparison.

• 0:10Speaker 00

  It's meant to be. And hopefully we get you really, really relaxed. Not say you're sort of melting into the chair, but I want to get you in the elbow state.

• 0:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, okay. Well, where are my whiskies?

• 0:21Speaker 00

  We can sort that out. Don't worry about that. Okay, the reaction of the Albanese joke was crazy. What's been your reaction now, your personal reaction?

• 0:31Speaker 01

  Right. It's been a bit of pleasure, pain, pleasure, pain. I have a saying, which is growth hurts. Because any time in my career when there's been exponential growth, it's always been a controversial moment where you get, all of a sudden you're thrust in front of a whole bunch of people that don't know you, don't know what you're about, don't know your moral code, what you stand for, and they all just come at you on face value. So I just went through a lot of that, not just from the Australian press and public, but it went international. So I had-

• 1:08Speaker 00

  Oh, really?

• 1:09Speaker 01

  Good Morning USA were trying to get hold of me, CNN, and then BBC were trying to get me, New York Post were trying to get me. And I was just sitting there in my hotel room because I was doing National Trifid and Nova at the time going, what have I done? Yeah, but at the same time, I knew exactly what I was doing. Because that's why I organised the interview. And it has kind of thrust my character, which sounds ridiculous. Bush Barbie did an interview with the Prime Minister, but it has created that moment that I was looking for.

• 1:45Speaker 00

  As someone like, you know, like I'm obviously got a YouTube channel and I've got a podcast, which we're doing today, that's what you do.

• 1:52Speaker 00

  Something very similar. And I know how hard it is to get, well, my team at least knows how hard it is to get talent, like really good talent onto your show and really good talent onto a show like yours is about what you're going to get the talent to do, like and ought to respond to. And one, I want to know, how did you get the Prime Minister or the leader of our country onto your show? How did that work? I mean, because I just had a senator here, whose name I won't mention, but who said to me,

• 2:27Speaker 00

  he said, I can't believe that he agreed to do it in the first place. Now, that's all right to say. Maybe he's just saying it in hindsight, but how did you do it?

• 2:34Speaker 01

  Hey, never underestimate the power of big eyes and a smile, Mark.

• 2:37Speaker 00

  Totally. Or bushy.

• 2:39Speaker 01

  Or bushy, either or. You've got Nikki today, so you're safe. Funny thing, I had always planned to try and get him. And to be fair, I started 18 months ago.

• 2:53Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 2:53Speaker 01

  When I was doing breakfast radio in Brisbane. And he came on and I interviewed him then. And we actually had really good banter, which I was quite surprised about because I wasn't a Labour voter and Albo was coming. I'm like, oh, I'm going to get him. And then we just had fun and I went, oh, no, I like him.

• 3:12Speaker 00

  He's likable. He's very likable.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  He's so likable.

• 3:14Speaker 00

  He sat there and I told him after my show with him, you know, I'm actually a really likable guy. I had never met him before.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  Yes, I know. That's what's so hard in this environment. But then I had him on the show again. And then he'd said to his staff and to Nova, he said, I really like her. She's good fun. Then, I think it was April this year, I was having a scroll on my phone. And you know how you get suggestions of people to follow? And the premier popped up and I went, oh, follow him, swipe across, Anthony Albanese, followed back. And I went, oh, the Prime Minister follows me. Okay. Which was quite the shock. And then I'm like, bugger it. I'm going to DM the PM and invite him on my show.

• 4:03Speaker 00

  DM the PM.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  No, DM the PM. And I did. And he got back to me straight away and went, sure, sounds like a lot of fun.

• 4:09Speaker 00

  So you didn't have to go through a whole series of hoops? I don't imagine you would have to go through about 50 different hoops to get there and everyone had to approve it and sort of say, what's the deal?

• 4:17Speaker 01

  You'd think that, wouldn't you? That's what I thought. No.

• 4:20Speaker 00

  Is it about your audience?

• 4:22Speaker 01

  Well-

• 4:23Speaker 00

  In terms of voting, voting power?

• 4:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, it's interesting because we've been trying to do a deep dive into the psyche behind it. Because I would have more of a right-leaning audience, given my character, you know, pulls no punches, calls a spade a spade, all of that. So we're like, okay, maybe they're trying to tap that audience and appeal to my audience.

• 4:46Speaker 01

  Because that'd be an extra, you know, one and a half million votes.

• 4:50Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 4:50Speaker 01

  So if we can win over her audience, that's another audience we've got.

• 4:54Speaker 00

  Or break into that audience at least. At least have an opportunity to talk to them.

• 4:58Speaker 01

  And he's watched the show. He knows my podcast. So he knew what he was coming into.

• 5:05Speaker 00

  Did you reach out to him, DM, I should say him as Bush Barbie?

• 5:09Speaker 01

  No, it was just on my Instagram, just Nikki.

• 5:11Speaker 00

  Just you, Nikki.

• 5:12Speaker 01

  But I said, I would very much like you to come on my show, Bush Deep. Already, that's funny.

• 5:19Speaker 01

  And I said, but I don't want to talk policy. I want to talk personality. And I want to come to your house and I want to see your tyre collection. I want to hang out with your dog. I want to see your kitchen. And I want to go through all the things that are like personal to you. I want to hear your personal stories. Because I don't want to be a platform for politics. I don't want to be involved. I just want people to know who you are. And so that was, he went, yeah.

• 5:49Speaker 00

  And when you go, say you go to his house, I don't know where that, where it's sold. I saw it. Everyone in Australia saw it.

• 5:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:55Speaker 00

  But was that in, you know, down in Canberra or is it here at Sydney?

• 5:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, the lodge in Canberra.

• 6:00Speaker 00

  Oh, the lodge in Canberra.

• 6:01Speaker 01

  So again, that was bizarre, going down in my car key frock with my legs and my cleavage hanging out, my pith helmet on, walking into the lodge.

• 6:09Speaker 00

  He walked in with the helmet?

• 6:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:11Speaker 00

  Or just in case?

• 6:12Speaker 01

  They didn't, yeah, I wore the helmet and went through all the security. But they didn't ask for my ID or anything because they're just, oh, you're Bush Barbie. And I just walked in. It was so bizarre. And then we set up the lounge room. We completely rearranged the entire lounge room. We were still waiting for him to come back from Parliament. And then he came in and sat down and I said, where's Toto? And he said, oh, Toto's in Sydney at the moment. That's his dog. I said, I wanted to hang out with Toto. And he said, well, actually, we've got a stuffed Toto. So we brought out the stuffed Toto, which he sat next to him. I'm serious.

• 6:48Speaker 00

  Like, you're actually a past dog, a past dog of his.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  Not a taxidermy dog.

• 6:51Speaker 00

  No, it's not a taxidermyized dog.

• 6:54Speaker 01

  But an exact replica of his current dog. And he sat that next to him because he didn't have the real Toto. And then I said, oh, normally I have a Scotch when I do these. And he's like, well, have a Scotch. He said, bring the girl a Scotch. He said, actually, I'll have a Scotch too. And then, so they brought out the Scotch. He's no, not that, the top shelf stuff. So, yeah, we brought out the whiskies and had a drink, had a cheers and had a chat.

• 7:22Speaker 00

  So when you're, I don't know how you operate, but do you get your production team to build out the content and questions and stuff for you? Or do you just sort of roll with it?

• 7:32Speaker 01

  I do that with my husband because not only are they questions, they are punchlines simultaneously.

• 7:40Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 7:40Speaker 01

  So one of my heroes is Ali G, Sacha Baron Cohen's character.

• 7:49Speaker 01

  I just think that character was brilliant and that is kind of a formula that I use for what I do as well. So almost most of the interviews are like stand-up slash interviews. But if something happens and I should roll with it, I will roll with it and improvise.

• 8:10Speaker 00

  So the, like the most talk about part of your interview, was that, let's call it scripted?

• 8:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:19Speaker 01

  Shag Mary Day.

• 8:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  That's in every-

• 8:21Speaker 00

  No, to him though, like-

• 8:22Speaker 01

  Oh, to him.

• 8:23Speaker 00

  Did you just decide that I'm going to throw that in or was that actually something I'm going to have that in? I'm definitely going to ask.

• 8:28Speaker 01

  I've asked everyone on my show.

• 8:30Speaker 00

  So that's just, but you decided to ask the Prime Minister that?

• 8:33Speaker 01

  Except they took Pauline Hanson out of the shag question because she was in it for other people. And like, oh, I don't think I should mention Pauline. That'd be a bit controversial.

• 8:44Speaker 00

  Well, the whole thing was, but-

• 8:45Speaker 01

  I didn't know at the time. I didn't realise that that would be a much controversy. No. I thought it was harmless. We're talking about splitting bags and all sorts of things. He said, people need to stop blowing shit up, all of that. He said he could just take over New Zealand if he wanted. No one cared.

• 9:03Speaker 00

  That sounds like a Trump conversation. I could just take over, but he was going to take over some Iceland or something like that, Greenland. He said, I'll just take it over.

• 9:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, he was kind of like that. He said, you know, I could just take over New Zealand tomorrow if I wanted. That's in there and no one cares because he wants to shag Kylie.

• 9:21Speaker 00

  Well, it's a, it's a pretty honest-

• 9:23Speaker 01

  People care more about Kylie than New Zealand.

• 9:25Speaker 00

  Well, I think they should. I care more about Kylie than New Zealand. When I saw him presented in front of you.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:33Speaker 00

  He looked very cool, like he had a black t-shirt on.

• 9:36Speaker 01

  He dressed trendy, yeah.

• 9:37Speaker 00

  Very trendy.

• 9:37Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 9:38Speaker 00

  Black, like, I mean, I feel like I'm sort of on theme. I'm going good. I've got all black clothes on.

• 9:43Speaker 01

  He was as trendy as you are right now.

• 9:45Speaker 00

  Do you think he was nervous around you?

• 9:48Speaker 01

  No, that's the thing.

• 9:49Speaker 00

  Because you're bussing out of your-

• 9:51Speaker 01

  Out of my top.

• 9:52Speaker 00

  Your shirt and everything like that.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think that put him at ease, to be fair.

• 9:56Speaker 00

  Can I ask you, as a comedian, so what do you think about?

• 10:01Speaker 00

  Comedy today.

• 10:03Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 10:03Speaker 00

  Being taken out of context.

• 10:05Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 10:07Speaker 00

  Cause it was comedy, okay? And it was taken out of context. Although maybe it was, the context was as inappropriate for a leader of a country to even do the interview or talk about those sort of things. But nonetheless, it has been broadly taken out of context and everyone wants to run with it. What do you think about that relative to, say, a comedian's, um, bag of tricks? Things that you work with.

• 10:31Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, it is tricky because when, you know, when the press grab it and they repackage it and repurpose it to whatever agenda they're trying to push, um, so.

• 10:41Speaker 00

  For clicks.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  For the clicks. So few people actually read the article. Or, you know, they just go for the click straight away and they're outraged instantly. Um, so as a, yeah, as a comedian, now it's been tricky for me. Because I've always been a bit of a lone wolf. Whereas now I, you know, I'm affiliated with Nova. It was a Nova podcast. I am working with a company that has responsibilities. And so I'm accountable for them as well now, because normally in the past, like if it was just me, if it was just my podcast and I didn't have that corporate concern.

• 11:21Speaker 00

  Well, the commercials.

• 11:22Speaker 01

  The commercial, yeah.

• 11:23Speaker 00

  There's a commercial part to all this.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  There is.

• 11:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  I would have just saddled up that media shitstorm and ridden it like Seabiscuit. I would have gone hard. Yeah, I would have gone harder. Um, but, you know, I have to be responsible. So that's been the challenge as a comedian where you're trying to really break. Um, but at the same time, you can't bring down an entire network.

• 11:55Speaker 00

  So, cause like if you're a stand up like Jim Jeffries, like Jim pretty much can say what he likes and he doesn't give a stuff what everybody thinks. Although actually probably not quite right, cause he's a Netflix, um, talent now.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  Yes, and, and another big company as well, I actually probably can't say, but, cause he came on my podcast. Well, he went on with Bushy.

• 12:15Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 12:15Speaker 01

  We had to take some things out.

• 12:17Speaker 00

  He's sort of pretty independent, generally speaking. He does say what he wants, what he thinks.

• 12:22Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:22Speaker 00

  I mean, and he can get away with it, cause I'm a comedian, I can say what I want. Do you think that you can get away with that?

• 12:28Speaker 01

  I have until, well, actually I still am, just, just, um.

• 12:35Speaker 00

  But do you get away with it as, as your alter ego or as Nikki Osborne?

• 12:38Speaker 01

  Oh, see, this is where I've been a bit sneaky, sneaky. This is where, um, Bushy has been a very good vehicle.

• 12:46Speaker 00

  A foil.

• 12:47Speaker 01

  It's hard to cancel a fictitious character. Cause I've been through the fire of controversy as myself, as a comedian. My first ever show was called On The Spectrum. It was a show about autism. Holy heck, that, that brought some storm. Um, and something I've discovered is that doing something with this alter ego is I'm far more bulletproof.

• 13:14Speaker 00

  Was that, was that by design though? Did you do it on purpose or just sort of evolved that way? That you worked it out as a result of doing it? Did you say, okay, Nikki Osborne can get criticised too much. I can lose commercials, like what I'm, advertisers.

• 13:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:27Speaker 00

  Revenues and or, you know, the environment of Nova and those sorts of people that they can say, well, you're like, you know, causing us a problem. Did you work out that Bushy was a good way to avoid that or to manage that? Or did it just evolve that way?

• 13:42Speaker 01

  It was, I realised through trial and error online that very, very rarely would that character get criticised for anything.

• 13:54Speaker 00

  Really?

• 13:55Speaker 01

  And she would say the most outrageous stuff, but because of the intonation in her voice, everything has a question mark at the end and it's bright eyed and smile and innocent. She gets away with everything. Whereas me, you know, when I'm a bit quaffed up, people just go, she's a bit of a bitch. So I realised that I'm safer to play in that area.

• 14:22Speaker 00

  Do you think it's because people think that Bushy is a bit stupid, like, uh?

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 14:26Speaker 00

  Uh, like dumb?

• 14:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:28Speaker 00

  You know, in that sense, we'll just forgive whatever she says.

• 14:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, she doesn't know any better.

• 14:32Speaker 00

  But why do you think Australians love her so much?

• 14:34Speaker 01

  She says what everyone's thinking in the most, um, unaggressive way possible. She'll, um.

• 14:41Speaker 00

  So she's honest.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  She's honest.

• 14:44Speaker 00

  Simple?

• 14:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 14:46Speaker 00

  And, well, uncomplicated.

• 14:47Speaker 01

  Uncomplicated.

• 14:48Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 14:49Speaker 01

  Um, very palatable and speaks in a language that the punters love.

• 14:58Speaker 00

  Did you get inspired by her? Cause I know you played Delveen at one stage in your career.

• 15:04Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:05Speaker 00

  Um, one, I love Delveen. She's a great mate of mine. Um, and hello, Deli, no doubt you're watching this.

• 15:11Speaker 01

  Delveen, I love you and I played you and I love you.

• 15:14Speaker 00

  Deli sort of played that role in some of her roles a little bit that way.

• 15:19Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Cause she was, she's a brilliant woman.

• 15:22Speaker 00

  Honesty, simplicity, sort of a, an Aussie, which definitely an Aussie icon, but an iconic Aussie woman, let's call it. And back in, at least back in the eighties and nineties. Um, you sort of, I, I feel like you brought, brought a bit of Delveen, her character. I don't mean Delveen herself.

• 15:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 15:40Speaker 00

  She's not like that herself, but you've brought that character that she used to put into the Paul Hogan show and other things that she did. Do you feel as though you brought a bit of that into your character?

• 15:51Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 15:52Speaker 00

  Not purposely?

• 15:52Speaker 01

  I've been farming that era, um, for tone, uh, for, for this character. So more so.

• 16:02Speaker 00

  What do you mean by tone? What's that mean?

• 16:04Speaker 01

  It's, it's the tone of the era where there was no political correctness. Um, there was like a kind of a swagger and a candour to the way we talk about things. And unbothered, you know, the country still has it in spades.

• 16:21Speaker 00

  Um, you mean people in the regions, country, country areas? Yeah.

• 16:24Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 16:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:25Speaker 01

  It was, it was an era where we just didn't give a shit.

• 16:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:30Speaker 01

  We didn't care. We just wanted to have a laugh. Um, and that nostalgia I've bottled up in Bushy. I've, you know, Paul Hogan is a massive influence on everything I do. Um, his character, Croc Dundee. Um, and there is a gaping hole at the moment for that. And it's not just, it's not just I'm doing something that's nostalgic for the sake of, you know, reminding everyone.

• 17:00Speaker 00

  I think it's needed. I think it's needed.

• 17:02Speaker 01

  They, it is needed.

• 17:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:04Speaker 01

  It's, it's a rebellion.

• 17:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:06Speaker 01

  Of going, I'm a bit tired, like there is a place for being progressive. But if you're getting hit over the head with it every day and you're not allowed to have a laugh anymore, people have just had a gut full. So, yeah, I've kind of packaged up that in this like khaki, nostalgic, rebellious, but very likeable and endearing bundle.

• 17:31Speaker 00

  But did, is she what Australia used to be there? Cause I, I sort of feel like I know women like that from that period.

• 17:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:39Speaker 00

  Which are, are we talking eighties and nineties?

• 17:41Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:42Speaker 00

  So, yeah.

• 17:43Speaker 01

  When you can chuck the kids in the boot of the car and go on holiday and it was fine.

• 17:47Speaker 00

  Station wagon.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:48Speaker 00

  You drove the Gold Coast.

• 17:49Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 17:50Speaker 00

  Hung out.

• 17:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  Yeah. And there wasn't massive, big, tall building. You stayed in a motel.

• 17:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:55Speaker 00

  Like it was two levels and there was a pool at the front.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:58Speaker 00

  And then the cars were streaming up the, um, Bruce Highway out the front. And that was the best holiday of your life.

• 18:05Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 18:05Speaker 00

  You went with your neighbours.

• 18:06Speaker 01

  And if they had a slip and slide, holy heck.

• 18:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, you killed it. But this is very Paul Hogan, Strop, Delveen, that, that, that period. And it's interesting, you played her and you actually sort of, I don't know, it feels like you were actually tuning into that process. And you just said, there's something really important to me because prior to you coming into that, we, we, you know, we, we often get politicians in. And I was talking to a politician about the division in the country.

• 18:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:32Speaker 00

  And, um, you know, we're being asked to take sides all the time. Everything's really serious. Really serious. And I don't know if Australians are really ready for that. Do you think we are?

• 18:42Speaker 01

  No, and.

• 18:44Speaker 00

  Is it just you and me sitting here thinking that? Or do you think, like, pretty much every, I mean, you do the research. People really want to relate to what your, your character, Bushy?

• 18:55Speaker 01

  Yes. Online, people are behaving in a serious way that they're not like in their real lives. And I'm trying to cut through all of that angst and fight. Um, by reminding everyone, oi, we're mates. Like during COVID, I put up this speech, Bushy did a speech about everyone being stuck in an upset bubble and we've got to get out of it and all of this and being kind is of greater value than being right and all of this. Big, and people are like, yeah, that's right. That's what we're like. Cause I just get so swept up. And the left, I like it. The right, I like it.

• 19:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, totally. And the middle like it too.

• 19:36Speaker 01

  Why do we have left and right?

• 19:38Speaker 00

  Yeah. Why do we have to call it right? And why do we have to call it left?

• 19:40Speaker 01

  And why do we have to identify as one? I discovered when I was in there with the prime minister, I'm not left or right. I'm with a dude that I probably do.

• 19:51Speaker 00

  Well, he's a dude, he's a dude.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  He's a dude.

• 19:53Speaker 00

  No, he would take those as a compliment.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  He was in a trendy polo shirt and cool kicks. He was a dude. Um, I was like, brah, no. I realised I like this guy and I'm not a Labour voter, but I like this guy.

• 20:08Speaker 00

  But that, that's for Australian, Nikki, like it's, you had, what do you think of politicians when they actually? Cause I actually think Albanese is like that, like this person that you're talking about is an Aussie.

• 20:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:21Speaker 00

  And, uh, he, deep, deep down, he loves his footy, probably loves his family, his kids and he's probably, I don't know if he's got grandkids or whatever. Just hanging out, probably loves to kick a football, likes to go down to Marubur or Heffron Park and watch the boys, you know, throw the ball around for training and stuff like that. Probably loves to have a beer at the pub. But then he goes into his alter ego, which is the PM.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  I have to be the prime minister.

• 20:44Speaker 00

  I'm the PM.

• 20:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:46Speaker 00

  Do you think you got? Anthony Albanese, the alter ego, him trying to not be the prime minister and be Anthony Albanese, the Aussie, or do you think you got the other way around? Do you think you-

• 21:00Speaker 01

  Well, he was pretending he's actually like a snakey Polly.

• 21:03Speaker 00

  Which one do you think you got?

• 21:05Speaker 01

  I think I got the real one.

• 21:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, cause I'm actually fascinated about, I'm actually fascinated how you got him and the whole process. And I'm fascinated about how it got out of control, but that's great for you.

• 21:17Speaker 00

  But I'm more interested in sort of getting underneath all that and what your observations were about our leader of the country.

• 21:22Speaker 01

  About him, yeah.

• 21:23Speaker 00

  I mean, as a person, I mean, all right, I think, I personally think it was dumb that he'd agreed to do it and dumb that he fell into the question. He should have had some way out of that question.

• 21:31Speaker 01

  Well, he tried to get out of it.

• 21:33Speaker 00

  And or his mind should have done something or whatever.

• 21:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:35Speaker 00

  The people around him, but it doesn't matter. I don't, I'm not that interested in that because that's already been out there. I'm more interested in what you thought about him. Do you think he's deep down a good guy?

• 21:47Speaker 01

  I do.

• 21:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's, it's, in other words, the good guy bit's not a put on.

• 21:52Speaker 01

  No.

• 21:52Speaker 00

  The prime minister part may be the put on.

• 21:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:55Speaker 00

  I'm the leader, I'm the, I'm the guy.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  Cause he, cause we hung out long after the camera stopped rolling. And he just seemed like someone who's doing this incredibly serious, heavy job.

• 22:08Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:09Speaker 01

  Who just wanted to hang out and have a laugh.

• 22:11Speaker 00

  With a normal person.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  With a normal person.

• 22:13Speaker 00

  Did you go back to Nikki after the, after the show?

• 22:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 22:17Speaker 01

  And we're just chewing the fat, yeah.

• 22:20Speaker 00

  It's funny, you know, that's my observation about him too, when I had him here.

• 22:24Speaker 01

  And it's hard though, because so many people are coming at him at the moment. And it's hard coming from, you know, more of the right side of politics as well. Because I cop so much shit for even sitting in a room with him.

• 22:37Speaker 00

  Oh, really?

• 22:38Speaker 01

  From my following.

• 22:39Speaker 00

  Why?

• 22:40Speaker 01

  Well, because, because of the political, well, since the budget, everyone's just so-

• 22:48Speaker 00

  Did Hughesy ring up? Hughesy ring up?

• 22:51Speaker 01

  He messaged me afterwards.

• 22:52Speaker 00

  No.

• 22:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, Hughesy and I made-

• 22:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, he messaged me when he said.

• 22:56Speaker 01

  We actually find it hilarious.

• 22:57Speaker 00

  He told me, he told me your mates actually, yeah, he said that, yeah.

• 22:59Speaker 01

  It's very funny that two comedians are on the political forefront at the moment. We're, it's very amusing, but um, yeah, no, he messaged me afterwards when it all kind of blew up. And he goes, can't work out if you've done him a favour or buggered him.

• 23:16Speaker 01

  And I said, the jury's out, isn't it? And he's like, what were you trying to do? And like, I'm not gonna say.

• 23:24Speaker 00

  You probably weren't trying to do anything, you just going with the flow.

• 23:26Speaker 01

  I just wanted to get to the core of the person.

• 23:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, and make it very funny, make it go viral.

• 23:34Speaker 00

  So how much of your interviews, like on that occasion at least?

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Mm-mm.

• 23:40Speaker 00

  How much of it is completely purposeful? In other words, you're coming across as a ditzy blonde, bushy, the ditzy blonde, you know, you know.

• 23:48Speaker 01

  But incredibly good looking.

• 23:49Speaker 00

  All that stuff.

• 23:50Speaker 01

  Great rig.

• 23:50Speaker 00

  Yeah. How much of that is the real Nikki and how much of that is completely fabricated?

• 23:59Speaker 01

  Or-

• 24:00Speaker 00

  Or made up? Is there any, any parts of it you?

• 24:04Speaker 01

  It's my dad.

• 24:06Speaker 00

  Oh, really?

• 24:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, but she's basically my dad. So I just, all of a sudden, that just comes in and it's like, yeah, it's like hanging out with my dad. Even a posture, the elbows, all of it.

• 24:19Speaker 00

  And does he watch it?

• 24:20Speaker 01

  He's so proud.

• 24:21Speaker 00

  Oh, really?

• 24:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:22Speaker 00

  Does he know that you're channeling him?

• 24:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I use his jokes all the time. He's like, that's another one, Nick, you're gonna have to start paying for stuff, yeah.

• 24:29Speaker 00

  You've declared already you're from Queensland, but um, it sort of seems to resonate better in Queensland, I would have thought, than anywhere else. This, I think she's a Queensland character, I really do.

• 24:39Speaker 01

  Well, she is, she's from Burbank Gary.

• 24:41Speaker 00

  Yeah, but I know where Burbank Gary is, yes.

• 24:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 24:43Speaker 00

  Have you spoken to the prime minister since?

• 24:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, only via OnlyFans.

• 24:48Speaker 00

  How'd it go? You've opened up an OnlyFans, oh, this is good, you've opened up an OnlyFans page.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  No, no, it's funny because um, no, I haven't spoken to him since because I haven't known how to phrase it. Because I don't wanna go.

• 25:06Speaker 00

  You okay?

• 25:06Speaker 01

  You all right?

• 25:09Speaker 01

  Sorry?

• 25:09Speaker 00

  Hey dude, you feeling good?

• 25:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:11Speaker 01

  Was it as good for you as it was for me?

• 25:14Speaker 00

  I love you say that. You wanna say to the camera now, we'll send it to it.

• 25:17Speaker 01

  It was funny, even when I was texting him while I was editing, because he's quite quick. And I, I said, oh, the selfie we took on the day, I, I need it in the edit. We took it on his phone, took a few shots. Um, can you send me one, send me the hot one? Um, and so he gave me options. I'm like, yeah, that's the whole one, yeah. Um, so yeah, he's really casual like that, but no, we haven't spoken since. We will, I just, I don't know what to say. What do you say?

• 25:48Speaker 00

  I mean, I'd be dying to know how he felt about it, like, do you feel like you made a mistake? Do you feel like you stuffed it up? What did your wife say?

• 25:57Speaker 01

  Are you glad no one's talking about the budget now?

• 25:59Speaker 00

  Yeah, by the way, you, you, you changed the whole conversation.

• 26:02Speaker 01

  Is that right?

• 26:04Speaker 00

  Maybe, I guess Hughesy should be upset with you because Hughesy's been talking about the budget.

• 26:09Speaker 01

  I know.

• 26:10Speaker 00

  And you managed to just divert everyone's attention.

• 26:12Speaker 01

  Everyone's just talking about Shag and Kylie.

• 26:14Speaker 00

  Yeah, like, where did you come up with that whole, that whole routine? Shag, date, whatever.

• 26:19Speaker 01

  Shag, marry, date. Um, from, from the get go, it's been, everyone's been asked that.

• 26:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, but where'd you come up with that routine? But what, what, where did you, how did you think of that? Like, that's, that's mad, like, it's good and it's good that you do it all the time, yes, everyone knows, they can't be, they can't say I didn't expect it.

• 26:36Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, exactly.

• 26:38Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:39Speaker 01

  He, he knew it was coming.

• 26:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 26:41Speaker 01

  Um.

• 26:41Speaker 00

  Well, his team should have known.

• 26:43Speaker 01

  Well, there's rapid fire questions where I ask kind of really big questions, plus that, and one really confusing one on the end. Just to get through, like, do you believe in God? Do you believe in astrology? Boom, boom, boom, shag, marry, date, who would it be? Um, just so if the interview's boring, at least it's spicy at the end.

• 27:05Speaker 01

  When did I come up with that? I don't know, I have writing sessions with my husband and we just work out what we think will be funny.

• 27:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, because I, I, I, I'm not funny at all, so like.

• 27:16Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 27:18Speaker 00

  I might look funny from time to time, but I'm not, I'm more serious sort of person in real life. And um, I don't, I don't think I'm funny, but I'll probably do stupid things. But how does it, how does a comedian work, like you and your husband? How do you work? I mean, what do you do? Cause I've spoken to Matty Johns, for example, Matty Johns from the footy show, where he used to be Reg Reagan and all sorts of stuff. He would sit down, pen and paper, and he would um, labour through jokes and uh, you know, building his character and all sorts of stuff. And he would actually write everything down for hours and hours and hours. He's very studious, Matty.

• 27:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:50Speaker 00

  Um, how do you guys work? I mean, how's it work? How, how do you build this stuff?

• 27:54Speaker 01

  And we'll spend, some interviews will spend hours trying to find the angle going, like, for example, Larry Enda. Um, Mr. Nice Guy, they're like, okay, how do we find the cut?

• 28:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 28:10Speaker 01

  Let's try and, let's wrap all of this around trying to trip him up the whole time.

• 28:17Speaker 00

  Did you get him?

• 28:20Speaker 01

  No, he's brilliant.

• 28:21Speaker 00

  He's too good.

• 28:22Speaker 01

  He's too good.

• 28:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, he's been around doing this for a long time, like.

• 28:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, and we were dancing and he's like, I know what you're doing with this one. I was like, come on. Yeah, I kept setting him up. We always have framework that we think will juxtapose, like juxtapose their personality. So to get surprises out of people, um.

• 28:41Speaker 00

  So did you profile him then? Did you sort of say, this is what the public thinks Larry is?

• 28:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:46Speaker 00

  And, but what we're gonna do is we're gonna give him something that'll really surprise him and shock him, or delight them, surprise and delight.

• 28:52Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 28:53Speaker 00

  Not shock, not bad, but surprise and delight.

• 28:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, and use people's perception, um, and have them on edge going, will he go there? Will, will he trip up? Yeah.

• 29:04Speaker 00

  Have the audience thinking, will he trip up? You've got to bring your audience along with you.

• 29:07Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 29:08Speaker 00

  So, but so what's the process look like? I mean, how do you do that? Like, well, you sit down with Jeremy and you're like in a room with a desk, you've got a whiteboard?

• 29:16Speaker 01

  Um, I, I'm old school, I have a pen and paper, he's got the laptop and the spreadsheet. So we'd worked out the framework of it. Um, and then, yeah, we start.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  Refing with jokes. We start going.

• 29:33Speaker 00

  So is he funny, Jeremy?

• 29:34Speaker 01

  Jeremy's, yeah, he's funny. He's British.

• 29:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 29:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, so he grew up.

• 29:38Speaker 00

  The Poms are funny. They're good at crime shows and good at comedy.

• 29:41Speaker 01

  Yeah. And he is, um, he's actually great with the, the big ideas. Annoyingly, he came up with Bush Barbie, which is very annoying.

• 29:54Speaker 00

  Because it's so good, the name. That's annoying, isn't it? Yeah, she's good to give him the credit for it.

• 29:58Speaker 01

  I know. I'd shot as Nikki Irwin. The first time I'd ever shot, I was Nikki Irwin. And then I showed him the footage. He just went, no, you should be Bush Barbie. I'm like, god damn it, that's good. And then I went out and re-shot it. But, um.

• 30:13Speaker 00

  And is there, is there a double meaning around the name Bush Barbie? Like, is it?

• 30:18Speaker 01

  As much as you'd like to think, like Bush D, as far as, yeah.

• 30:22Speaker 00

  I just didn't want to get it wrong, that's all. I just wanted to check with you.

• 30:25Speaker 01

  No, everyone's asking about the Bush, you know, and it is fun to say, oh, you know, the PM really loves the Bush. Loves a bit of Bush, you know, it's fun. Um, but yeah, the process, uh, it's hours of going, what if I ask about this? Is that funny?

• 30:41Speaker 00

  Per guest, per guest.

• 30:42Speaker 01

  Per guest.

• 30:43Speaker 00

  Hours?

• 30:43Speaker 01

  Yes. I'm killing myself with this show.

• 30:47Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 30:48Speaker 01

  But it's working.

• 30:48Speaker 00

  How many shows a week? How many, how many did you put out?

• 30:51Speaker 01

  Um.

• 30:52Speaker 00

  For Bush?

• 30:53Speaker 01

  We, yeah, it changes because we have to do thirty two episodes, but we shoot it like a TV show and we script it.

• 31:01Speaker 00

  I see. There, there is a, you've got a contract or something like that, where, where you've got to, um, provide so much, thirty two, lots of shows for, that's for Nova?

• 31:10Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 31:10Speaker 00

  Yeah, you've got to give them thirty two shows a year, a year?

• 31:12Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 31:13Speaker 00

  Is it, but is it, is it a weekly cadence? Like, they want one a week?

• 31:17Speaker 01

  Yes, we, well, yes. We try to stick to that.

• 31:20Speaker 00

  You try to stick to that, yeah.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  I'm such a perfectionist. Sometimes I'll get bogged down the edit and it won't make it in time.

• 31:26Speaker 00

  So you do the edit?

• 31:27Speaker 01

  I work with the editor on the edit.

• 31:29Speaker 00

  Like, literally sit side by side with an editor?

• 31:32Speaker 01

  I sit on a Zoom with the editor.

• 31:34Speaker 00

  And say, that's in, that's out, check that, fix that.

• 31:37Speaker 01

  Yep. And slide that, cause that'll be funnier. Put that there, put glasses on him, put him in a wrap, do that. We need this music sting, we need that.

• 31:44Speaker 00

  Oh, so you're, you're doing like the full production yourself? I mean, apart from being the talent of the show.

• 31:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:49Speaker 00

  You're, you're, or being the character, dash talent, um, you're also, you're also sort of, uh, putting a fair bit of focus on the actual production of this.

• 31:58Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 31:59Speaker 00

  The outcome?

• 32:00Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 32:00Speaker 00

  Wow, that's pretty cool.

• 32:01Speaker 01

  Is it?

• 32:02Speaker 00

  I just turn up.

• 32:03Speaker 01

  I'm exhausted.

• 32:04Speaker 00

  I just turn up and I've got all these guys to do all this stuff. I couldn't do it. I don't know how to do it for a start.

• 32:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's.

• 32:10Speaker 00

  You must be pretty clever then, like, uh, this is your game, I guess.

• 32:13Speaker 01

  Think so. I've trained enough in multiple disciplines. I'd like to think I'm quite clever by now, or skilled at least.

• 32:19Speaker 00

  But you're only a baby.

• 32:21Speaker 01

  Thank you. Yes, I am.

• 32:23Speaker 00

  You're blushed.

• 32:24Speaker 01

  I look good for sixty.

• 32:25Speaker 00

  Sixty, my god.

• 32:28Speaker 00

  What are you taking?

• 32:31Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 32:32Speaker 00

  What, what, what, what have you trained for? So just, do you mind if we just look at that for a second?

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 32:38Speaker 00

  How does someone become accomplished like this? And, and like, a lot of people be watching you, they're saying, oh, wow, I'd like to be successful like Nikki, whether it's an alter ego or Nikki herself, you know, she does well, she's obviously making money, she's got a good relationship with the husband, husband and her work together, that's success, okay? How does someone do that? What did you have to go through to get there?

• 33:00Speaker 01

  Oh, mate.

• 33:00Speaker 00

  Where did you start?

• 33:02Speaker 01

  I started by putting on shows when I was four for my parents, like, guests at barbecues.

• 33:09Speaker 00

  So you've always been a little performer.

• 33:11Speaker 01

  I've always been a performer. I was obsessed with Michael Jackson. So I'd study all these videos, learn all these dances and then do all the talent contests. Then when I got to school, I started drama club and I was president, secretary, they everything.

• 33:23Speaker 00

  At the school?

• 33:24Speaker 01

  At the school. So I would just create plays, also because it got me out of maths. And then, so I did that all through school. And then all I wanted to do was go to drama school. So I applied for drama school, um, at the end of high school.

• 33:41Speaker 00

  What's drama school? You mean like Nider equivalent or something like that?

• 33:43Speaker 01

  So, but I was too, too immature to move to Sydney at the time. So I applied for multiple in Queensland. I ended up in QT, which was the prestigious one. So conservatorium style, fifteen people get in. Um, eight AM till six PM plus shows, five days a week.

• 34:05Speaker 00

  Oh, really?

• 34:05Speaker 01

  Yes. It was so.

• 34:07Speaker 00

  Eight to six.

• 34:08Speaker 01

  Eight AM. Yeah, we'd have to be there physical training, cause you can't have fat actors. And then we'd go till six, that would be our last thing. And then we'd have our shows and we'd have to put on our shows as well. So that was a three year course. Only four of us graduated.

• 34:24Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 34:24Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 34:25Speaker 00

  Out of the twelve?

• 34:25Speaker 01

  Yep. Guyton Grantley, um, Michael Dorman.

• 34:30Speaker 00

  And?

• 34:30Speaker 01

  Some of these may resonate, myself and Winston Cooper. Um.

• 34:35Speaker 00

  Don't know.

• 34:35Speaker 01

  No.

• 34:37Speaker 00

  You couldn't have made that name up for them, really?

• 34:38Speaker 01

  I know.

• 34:39Speaker 00

  Like, I didn't say, oh, no, yeah, yeah, good.

• 34:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. So, yep, drama school, then showcased in Sydney as everyone does. You get your agent, Mark Morris, he picked me up.

• 34:49Speaker 00

  So you, you came down to, uh, you know, with your pack and just showed everybody?

• 34:53Speaker 01

  And did our thing.

• 34:54Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 34:55Speaker 01

  And then just started all the auditions as an actor. And I, I was an actor for a long time. And then I started pivoting into sketch comedy and then I.

• 35:07Speaker 00

  What sketch comedy?

• 35:08Speaker 01

  Sketch comedy, like sketch comedy shows. I worked with Mick Malloy.

• 35:11Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah?

• 35:12Speaker 01

  Um.

• 35:13Speaker 00

  Hilarious.

• 35:14Speaker 01

  Yes, I was.

• 35:16Speaker 00

  He is?

• 35:18Speaker 01

  I'm kidding. Yes, he's very funny. Um.

• 35:21Speaker 00

  He's funny to listen to. I just don't even have to know what he's saying. I just, he sounds funny to me, just his voice.

• 35:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:27Speaker 00

  The noise that comes out of his mouth, it just sounds funny, he looks funny.

• 35:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's like Barney from The Simpsons, about to start saying something prophetic. Yeah.

• 35:35Speaker 00

  He's, I, I like him, I like him. I've heard from him for a while.

• 35:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, Mick, what are you doing?

• 35:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:40Speaker 01

  Um, yeah, sketch comedy. And then I ended up working on sketch comedy shows on telly. And then I started writing sketch comedy shows. And then I went back to school. I went to a ward school, which is advertising, um, to do copywriting, because I'm like, I need a backup plan, cause I'm getting old. Um, and then I also studied directing at afters. And then Bush Barbie was born.

• 36:11Speaker 00

  At the end of all that?

• 36:12Speaker 01

  Yeah. So twenty years later, I went, oh, hang on.

• 36:15Speaker 00

  But did you do stand up?

• 36:16Speaker 01

  Oh, no, I did stand up. Yeah. Cause I could see that all of the comedians, stand up comedians, were getting all the TV gigs. And I went.

• 36:26Speaker 00

  You mean like Netflix type gigs? Or you're talking about?

• 36:28Speaker 01

  Or even panel shows, or hosting TV shows. Because I'm like, right, oh, god, now we're gonna have to go and do stand up. That's gonna be hard.

• 36:37Speaker 00

  That decision to do stand up.

• 36:39Speaker 01

  I knew I had to get the kids in school.

• 36:41Speaker 00

  Your kids?

• 36:42Speaker 01

  Yes. I'm like, right, I'll get them in school and then I will do stand up. And that was probably what really started to define me in the industry, was doing stand up. Yeah.

• 36:56Speaker 00

  What's it like to do stand up? I mean, and, and when someone, if you're up in front of an audience and they don't laugh?

• 37:02Speaker 01

  Well, they always laugh.

• 37:04Speaker 00

  That, do you have?

• 37:05Speaker 01

  I don't know what that's like.

• 37:06Speaker 00

  Did you ever have?

• 37:07Speaker 01

  No, I have bombed.

• 37:08Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:09Speaker 01

  Um, it initially, I think it's, it's awful. But you end up building this muscle in you where you start to enjoy the challenge of it. Like, you'll do gigs sometimes where it starts, just, the audience is not in the mood. It's like, there's a vibe of church, everyone's quiet, it's like, oh, god. And it's like, you start to enjoy the pain of it. It's a weird thing, but a comedian will understand. Um, and then you, you break them down and you win them over. And it's actually the most exhilarating experience.

• 37:51Speaker 01

  Starting a gig that's terrible and coming out on top.

• 37:55Speaker 00

  Have you ever been really frustrated when someone's like talking and, or, or, or making cracks at you because you're really not funny? You ever, ever had that sort of situation?

• 38:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, I've had hecklers, but usually they're good value and I can work with them. But I've had the odd one.

• 38:08Speaker 00

  Planted? You planted them, do you?

• 38:09Speaker 01

  No, I don't plant them. No, I love working with the crowd. A lot of comics hate it, but often I'm like, you know what? This is probably gonna be funnier than the next bit, so let's chat. Um, but I have had people try and punch me.

• 38:21Speaker 00

  No.

• 38:22Speaker 01

  Yes. I did a cruise ship once.

• 38:24Speaker 00

  Cause you've upset them.

• 38:26Speaker 01

  This woman, she was just a pain in the ass. And she had yelled through the entire set of the comedian before me. And I came out, I'm like, right. I started doing my set. And as soon as she started mouthing off, I was just on tour. And it was just, started with, I like to profile people. So it just starts by saying exactly what I think they are, what they do for a living, where they're from, how many ex-boyfriends they have, blah, blah, blah. So I just do a full profile dressing down. And she didn't like that very much. So she started snapping back. And then I shut her down again, cause I have the mic. She was so drunk. Anyway, the jacket comes off.

• 39:07Speaker 00

  Her, her jacket?

• 39:08Speaker 01

  Her jacket. And she starts running up to come and punch me.

• 39:11Speaker 00

  Was she a big unit?

• 39:12Speaker 01

  She was, no, I could, I could have.

• 39:16Speaker 00

  You reckon you could take it?

• 39:17Speaker 01

  I could have taken it. Louise, that was the name.

• 39:21Speaker 00

  She'd be watching, there's no doubt.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, probably. She's like, I reckon I was her career defining moment.

• 39:27Speaker 00

  It's on cruises, that'd be amazing, like.

• 39:30Speaker 01

  Well, she was stuck below deck after that. She wasn't allowed above.

• 39:33Speaker 00

  Oh, they they barred her.

• 39:34Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:35Speaker 00

  Because like, it was like a semi arrest.

• 39:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:39Speaker 00

  She's under arrest.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, she can't go off any more decks. So it was so funny. I'm walking around this cruise ship at the buffet and everyone's just coming up to me going, Louise. It was fun.

• 39:49Speaker 00

  So do you um ever look back on your career and think, how the hell did I get into this role, this person, this personality? I mean, like, bushy, but being this sort of um, like, it's a bit of a bubble, you know, for you right now. Like, it's, you're really well liked, or Bushy well liked, Nikki's obviously well liked, but Bushy well liked, well known, um, has hit a couple of big, uh, big numbers, big names, big talents, uh, from a national point of view. Um, do you ever think to yourself, my god, how was this, how am I this person? How did I get here? Do you ever think to yourself?

• 40:25Speaker 01

  I don't question it. I go, well done, Nick. Uh, cause I, this, it's been a long journey. None of it's been a surprise to me.

• 40:35Speaker 00

  Or easy? None of it's been easy?

• 40:36Speaker 01

  None of it's been easy. This is being a hard slog. I, I was broke for a very, very long time. So it's only been the last.

• 40:45Speaker 00

  Jeremy's nodding over there, is he, is he?

• 40:47Speaker 01

  Oh, he's been through it. The amount of auditions I was doing every week, the amount of times I was top two for some new big blockbuster, you know, it was heartbreaking. And then

• 41:00Speaker 01

  for a while there, I wasn't um diverse enough. I was.

• 41:04Speaker 00

  What's that mean?

• 41:06Speaker 01

  They went, we went through a big phase where I was not fitting the casting brief.

• 41:14Speaker 00

  You mean from a woke point of view?

• 41:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:16Speaker 00

  Okay, like P C?

• 41:18Speaker 01

  Yes, it was around the kind of Barry Humphries getting cancelled era.

• 41:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 41:22Speaker 01

  Um, it was very hard for me because, well, I can't help it. I'm white as.

• 41:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, you, you.

• 41:30Speaker 01

  I really can't help it. I'm still a nice person.

• 41:32Speaker 00

  It's funny, I bought Barry's apartment in, in Macquarie Street.

• 41:36Speaker 01

  Did you really?

• 41:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, he got kicked out of his apartment because he, um, the legend goes on, I don't know if it's true or not, but I'm, obviously he's passed away, but I, I don't want to sort of slander him in any way, but he had two apartments, one above the other, in the famous building in Macquarie Street. And uh, but no one stayed, everybody lived in the country or whatever. They just had it as a city apartment. They'd come in every now and then. When everyone was away at Christmas time, he decided to cut a hole in the ceiling, which is a concrete, concrete ceiling, cut a hole in the ceiling to the apartment above, which he owned, and then put a stairway in there.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:11Speaker 00

  A, a set of stairs. And then when everyone came back from um their Christmas holidays or whatever it was, he invited everybody into his apartment for a cocktail party and he was there playing the piano and someone was serving champagne. And they all walked in there, all the other people, the residents of the building, they walked in there and said, what the fuck? And there's big hole in the ceiling. Anyway, they booted him out of the apartment building for doing it because he didn't get any approvals, no consents, he just did it. Anyway, I ran into him.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  A bit rock and roll.

• 42:37Speaker 00

  And I ran into him in, uh, I saw him in the lounge in L A airport and I thought, I've got to go and tell him about this and uh, because I wrote a book about it. I didn't write a book, they, some, the, the building wrote a book about him or someone wrote a book about him, about this.

• 42:49Speaker 01

  It's their way to Barry.

• 42:50Speaker 00

  And uh, and I introduced, and he was the quietest, meakest, mildest,

• 42:58Speaker 00

  unassuming person, nothing like your personality. You, you've got a big personality.

• 43:03Speaker 01

  Oh, do I?

• 43:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:04Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 43:05Speaker 00

  It's big.

• 43:06Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 43:06Speaker 00

  It's big energy.

• 43:08Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 43:08Speaker 00

  Barry was like, you know, this is like 10 years ago, maybe 15 years ago, perhaps, and he was sort of nearly embarrassed in the conversation, if you know what I mean. Not about what he did or what I wanted to talk about, just, you know, he gave me that feeling like um, meek and mild.

• 43:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, right.

• 43:30Speaker 00

  How much of your actual personality is what I'm seeing now?

• 43:36Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 43:37Speaker 00

  Is real in terms of your characters, whether it's Nikki Osborne, the stand up, or whether it's Bushy? I mean, is your personality important to those things?

• 43:49Speaker 00

  We're going to put up with that stuff.

• 43:50Speaker 01

  Um, I would say my personality, I have a quick wit, but I'm not extroverted around my friends or like.

• 43:59Speaker 00

  Cause I see you as extroverted, but you're not.

• 44:01Speaker 01

  Not really. No, I, I'm.

• 44:04Speaker 00

  You're not going to be crazy?

• 44:06Speaker 01

  No, I'm not crazy. I'm actually incredible.

• 44:08Speaker 00

  No, I don't mean intellectually, I don't mean intellectually crazy. I mean, I mean, like, wild.

• 44:13Speaker 01

  No. I, if I go to a party, I'll turn it on if they want me to turn it on. But.

• 44:20Speaker 00

  You're a performer then.

• 44:21Speaker 01

  Ask my husband, like, I can be exceptionally dull.

• 44:24Speaker 00

  Two fingers, yes. One finger, one finger dull, two fingers, she's crazy. Well, she's dull. Wow.

• 44:31Speaker 01

  I can be dull as dishwater. No, it's funny because um, our neighbour down in Melbourne, I remember when I said that, I told him that I was doing this show at the Comedy Festival and he was just in shock. He went, but you're the most serious person I've met.

• 44:48Speaker 00

  Is, is your performance an outlet for the seriousness that surrounds us? You and all of us?

• 44:56Speaker 01

  Um.

• 44:57Speaker 00

  Is it there to balance?

• 45:00Speaker 00

  Cause you do it so naturally.

• 45:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, my family's very funny.

• 45:05Speaker 00

  Your dad is.

• 45:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, my dad's so funny. My niece, she's going to be trouble. She's funny. Um, I, I don't know. It's, it's just a space I like to inhabit. I always say to Jeremy, I'm funny when I'm getting paid.

• 45:19Speaker 00

  You, you, you, so, yeah, okay. So if, if it's part of a gig.

• 45:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:23Speaker 00

  And therefore a performance, performance being something that's paid for.

• 45:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:26Speaker 00

  There's an expectation of you.

• 45:27Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 45:27Speaker 00

  You can turn it on.

• 45:28Speaker 01

  Yes. Yeah. Or if I'm in an environment, um.

• 45:32Speaker 00

  Where you feel comfortable.

• 45:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, where I feel comfortable or I feel like it's expected, then I'll turn it on.

• 45:37Speaker 00

  Okay, it's expected. Like, so coming into this interview, for example, you know, there's an expectation of the audience, my audience, your audience, because your audience are watching, my audience are watching. Um, you know, I'm Nikki Osborne, I've got to, I've got to be Nikki Osborne. So you can move into character.

• 45:51Speaker 01

  Kind of. This is an extension of myself. Yeah.

• 45:55Speaker 00

  It's sort of really mysterious. It's sort of, don't mind me saying, like semi weird, like uh, a little bit weird, you know what I mean? Like uh, cause I'm always the same person, whether I'm, you know, if I was.

• 46:05Speaker 01

  It's just levels, it's volume levels. I'm not saying I'm different.

• 46:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 46:10Speaker 01

  Um.

• 46:10Speaker 00

  But it's amazing you can do that. Like, you can just switch.

• 46:13Speaker 01

  Turn it up. Well, it's performance.

• 46:15Speaker 00

  It's not a switch, it's just a volume.

• 46:16Speaker 01

  A volume button.

• 46:17Speaker 00

  It's a volume.

• 46:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a knob.

• 46:18Speaker 00

  You just.

• 46:19Speaker 01

  But Bushy's a switch.

• 46:20Speaker 00

  He just, just, yeah, that's a switch.

• 46:22Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. I put the hat on, all of a sudden, yeah. I get in character, I go, fucking yeah, fucking yeah. So I was fucking yeah.

• 46:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 46:29Speaker 01

  I took that elbow.

• 46:31Speaker 00

  Did you?

• 46:31Speaker 01

  Hat on, I went, fucking yeah. You ready?

• 46:34Speaker 00

  What do you say?

• 46:35Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 46:36Speaker 00

  When, when I was growing up, fucking A was a thing people used to say, fucking A?

• 46:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:39Speaker 00

  Then you just said fucking A. That just reminded me when I was a kid, like, but that was the thing we all said between ourselves when we were like 14, 15, 16, growing up out of the west of Sydney here. That's what we all said. Everybody said it. That, that's amazing. But I said it because, and I said it because everyone else saying, but I said it because I was just trying to be like a part of the group. But you're just saying that. I was just trying to be what they expected of me.

• 47:00Speaker 01

  Yes. Just meeting the expectation that I should be slightly more animated. I mean, I work in entertainment, so if I'm around entertainment colleagues, I have to be more dialed up. Otherwise I'll go, she's boring.

• 47:12Speaker 00

  Yeah, because I'm just trying to work at how you do it. I mean, I'm an interviewer, so I just interview people. I'm hearing their story. I mean, I'm not trying to entertain anybody. I, I'm just hearing, I'm allowing you to entertain everybody, including me. Um, then that's easy. That's pretty easy. But like, what you do is you actually entertain everybody. You know that you're an entertainer, but you can turn it on.

• 47:31Speaker 01

  Yes. It's hard work. It's exhausting.

• 47:34Speaker 00

  But I was going to say, does it make you tired?

• 47:36Speaker 01

  Yes. Comedy.

• 47:37Speaker 00

  No, I mean physically tired.

• 47:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 47:39Speaker 00

  And mentally tired too, I guess.

• 47:40Speaker 01

  Yes. Because it's, it's exhausting because not only are you listening to them, you, you're, you're trying to work out where the punchline is going to be or where you're going to come back with something really funny and then where that's going to be, like, there's, there's a lot going on.

• 47:53Speaker 00

  And that's why I was asking, you know, what it, what it took to get to where you are. And, and I mean, I'm really glad you said that you feel comfortable here because we're actually getting the real person.

• 48:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:03Speaker 00

  Cause I, I, I was thinking to myself when I came in for sure, I mean.

• 48:09Speaker 00

  I'm gonna get a character. When I had Jim here, and the same with Husey. I only asked Husey two questions.

• 48:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:19Speaker 00

  In forty five minutes.

• 48:20Speaker 01

  And he just does his whole bit. And Jim does it too.

• 48:23Speaker 00

  And Jim did the same.

• 48:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, when I had Jim on, I didn't have to say anything. I knew it was coming too, because I've worked with Jim before. So I was like, because we've got the same manager as well. I said, I'm just gonna give him a few prompts and just let him do his.

• 48:35Speaker 00

  I, I, I literally had to do another, it was, it was great.

• 48:38Speaker 01

  It's a day off.

• 48:38Speaker 00

  I didn't even have to think.

• 48:39Speaker 01

  No.

• 48:40Speaker 00

  It's perfect. And, and, and but Jim went through solving the Aboriginal problem for me, like, um.

• 48:45Speaker 01

  Oh, the way they're doing it over in America.

• 48:47Speaker 00

  Yeah, the way they're doing it in Nevada. Yeah, no tax.

• 48:49Speaker 01

  Yes, oh, we could have just.

• 48:51Speaker 00

  Hang on, we might have got played.

• 48:53Speaker 01

  I think we've had the same podcast.

• 48:55Speaker 00

  He might have rehearsed it once and just, just rolled it out five or six.

• 48:57Speaker 01

  I think he rehearsed with you and then delivered.

• 48:59Speaker 00

  Cause I thought to myself, this, this guy, bloody hell, he's smart.

• 49:02Speaker 01

  That's what I thought. I'm like, how did he just think of that so quickly?

• 49:06Speaker 00

  Same as me.

• 49:07Speaker 01

  It's rehearsed. It's a bit.

• 49:09Speaker 00

  Jim, we worked you out, dude.

• 49:13Speaker 01

  And I reckon he has people planted as well for his stand up, for his riffing.

• 49:17Speaker 00

  That is for sure.

• 49:20Speaker 00

  That's it. I'm not coming to show. Next, I don't know. Has he finished, has he finished his Australian tour?

• 49:25Speaker 01

  No, he's still, he's nearly finished.

• 49:27Speaker 00

  I was coming to Perth, but I'm not coming now, mate. I've heard it all. And, but Husey the same though.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  Oh, yes. And if you call Husey, just.

• 49:35Speaker 00

  On a rant?

• 49:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's like a mother in law.

• 49:37Speaker 00

  Oh my God, like, uh, I mean, by the way, he was fantastic. And I know he's come from a good place.

• 49:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 49:42Speaker 00

  I also know that, um, you know, Husey, Husey's got a lot of assets.

• 49:46Speaker 01

  Yes, he does.

• 49:47Speaker 00

  He's quite wealthy.

• 49:48Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 49:48Speaker 00

  And, uh.

• 49:49Speaker 01

  He's protecting them.

• 49:50Speaker 00

  A hundred percent for his family.

• 49:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, because the goalpost changed. So he's crazy. And he's AFL nut. He doesn't like the goalpost movie.

• 49:56Speaker 00

  Totally does. Well, yeah, but you're right. The goalpost's changed. In other words, he made his point, and I mean, I'll summarize it, but his point was I made decisions based on a law as it was represented to me. And I made serious business, family decisions which impact my family. And I did quite well out of it. Now you're changing the deal.

• 50:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:17Speaker 00

  And I'm pissed off.

• 50:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:19Speaker 00

  That's it. In simple terms.

• 50:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:21Speaker 00

  But he prosecutes it much better than that. And he's got all the animation that goes with it.

• 50:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:26Speaker 00

  But he was amazing. And, uh, but what I'm getting from you is something totally different. I'm getting a different type of person.

• 50:32Speaker 01

  Well, I'm not doing a bit. I thought, I thought, I came in today, I went, oh, I'll just be myself. Fuck it.

• 50:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, that's good though. So what happens, so can I ask you about, um, I do wanna go back to Bushy because this is important. How does Bushy grow up or evolve? I mean, she obviously can't stay the same age forever.

• 50:50Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 50:50Speaker 00

  And she can't do the same thing. Where does she go to from here?

• 50:52Speaker 01

  Oh, she needs an origin story, doesn't she?

• 50:55Speaker 00

  What is an origin story?

• 50:56Speaker 01

  Well, where does she come from? Where, what's her background? Who's her family? And where is her mother?

• 51:03Speaker 00

  So we're gonna go back in time.

• 51:05Speaker 01

  Well, we're going to look at the past and rapidly move to the future. And it will become narrative.

• 51:14Speaker 00

  What is a narrative comedy?

• 51:16Speaker 01

  It is where there is a storyline and a script and other players.

• 51:21Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 51:21Speaker 01

  And a mission and a plot.

• 51:23Speaker 00

  So there'll be other characters in her show.

• 51:26Speaker 01

  It will be a show, show. And she will be a character in a show. But it will also bring in some of the real world as well, because she'll still interact with real people. But yes.

• 51:38Speaker 00

  Well, she obviously has a mother and a father, but did she have a funny father?

• 51:42Speaker 01

  Well.

• 51:42Speaker 00

  A comedic father?

• 51:44Speaker 01

  Yes, she's, she does have a funny dad. And she never knew who her mum was. And she's just discovered that she lives in America. Um.

• 51:54Speaker 00

  And she'd like to meet her?

• 51:55Speaker 01

  She wants to find her mum. Yes. So she's going across America to find her mum and meeting up with.

• 52:02Speaker 00

  Americans?

• 52:02Speaker 01

  Other potential mothers that might be her mother and maybe some other siblings.

• 52:07Speaker 00

  And, and I presume this is gonna be brought to us. And I mean, this is all gonna be, um, revealed to us.

• 52:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's, it's in the works.

• 52:15Speaker 00

  Oh, wow.

• 52:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:16Speaker 00

  And when is this likely, likely to launch?

• 52:19Speaker 01

  Oh, well.

• 52:20Speaker 00

  And there's a lot of work in it, but.

• 52:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, there is. Um, well, it's being written and it's in pre at the moment.

• 52:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, okay, that's cool. And, and will this be filmed?

• 52:32Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 52:32Speaker 00

  Like, it'll be released as a film? Or will it be live? Not live, but, um, episodic?

• 52:37Speaker 01

  Episodic.

• 52:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, episodic.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  Yeah. That's the way for, do a film, you burn it once. You know what I mean?

• 52:41Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, true.

• 52:42Speaker 01

  Episodic, you get time to.

• 52:43Speaker 00

  Which is why we're being on Netflix's episodes now. So can you sell something like this to someone like Paramount? Blah, blah, blah.

• 52:50Speaker 01

  I believe so. But then you can also use your own channels as well.

• 52:56Speaker 00

  Yeah. So, but you wouldn't consider something of that? I mean, because there's great Australian content, let's call it. Um, and they've all got Australian content requirements.

• 53:04Speaker 01

  They do.

• 53:05Speaker 00

  And you're Aussie. I mean, you're, what I mean is, she's Aussie.

• 53:09Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 53:10Speaker 00

  Like epitomizes Aussie.

• 53:12Speaker 01

  It does.

• 53:13Speaker 00

  You know, I, cause, I, cause some of this.

• 53:14Speaker 01

  They should be throwing buckets of money out.

• 53:16Speaker 00

  Well, I was about to say, the amount of Aussie content I see, I think it's not good enough. Like, it's, for me, it's not very good. Yeah, this, this sort of stuff would kill it. And we need comedy, you know, um.

• 53:26Speaker 01

  But I'm not the clique.

• 53:28Speaker 00

  Why not?

• 53:28Speaker 01

  That, I'm a lone wolf, remember?

• 53:29Speaker 00

  What's the, what's the, what's the clique?

• 53:30Speaker 01

  Oh, everyone's getting, doing jobs for the mates. Like, it's very rare in such a tight industry that productions are being funded just on merit. Someone's gotta know someone who knows someone who knows someone something.

• 53:45Speaker 00

  Is Jeremy like the manager or the co-producer?

• 53:48Speaker 01

  Co-producer.

• 53:48Speaker 00

  Co-producer. So do you have like a management team sitting at the top of you?

• 53:52Speaker 01

  I do.

• 53:52Speaker 00

  Like talent managers?

• 53:53Speaker 01

  There's a lot of meetings being had at the moment. It's been very busy since Shaggate. So the phone's been ringing. There's a lot of opportunity.

• 54:02Speaker 00

  That would have been pretty good for you.

• 54:03Speaker 01

  It was great. And I went to Canada recently. They all knew me. It was nuts.

• 54:08Speaker 00

  With the Prime Minister come and talk to you?

• 54:10Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, he came over with me.

• 54:12Speaker 00

  You know, I.

• 54:12Speaker 01

  He was like, you know what? I need some bow time too. Let's go and commandeer some moose and shoot some bears. Let's do it. Let's go.

• 54:19Speaker 00

  So he kills animals?

• 54:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, that too. Murderer. Leading our country.

• 54:23Speaker 00

  Have you spoken to Carl?

• 54:25Speaker 01

  No, I haven't. It's interesting because we're all in similar kind of position. It's that he's, he's gone on the other side of the council. I'm not, thank God. I'm.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  You're sort of sitting on the fence at the moment, like.

• 54:38Speaker 01

  Well, this is why Nova said maybe you should go away, just for a little bit. Go on holiday.

• 54:42Speaker 00

  Take a break.

• 54:42Speaker 01

  Just, just for a little bit, just while it, so you don't tip it over the edge.

• 54:47Speaker 00

  But you, but you actually, no, but I think actually you won't get cancelled because, um, you're in character.

• 54:52Speaker 01

  And I've done nothing wrong.

• 54:53Speaker 00

  Uh, correct. And, uh, the only person might get in trouble is him, but he hasn't. He's got through it. It's no big deal.

• 54:58Speaker 01

  Minister.

• 54:59Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, but, but I think these people are gonna, who gives a shit? Like.

• 55:02Speaker 01

  I think there's a lot of dudes in pubs going, yeah, fair dues. I'd shag Kylie too.

• 55:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, totally. But what, what, like, and to some extent, but look at Trump. Trump gets away with being, let's call it truthful, not always likeable, but truthful, therefore becomes likeable because he tells the truth. He tells it as it is and.

• 55:22Speaker 01

  You can't ever, you never second guess Trump because he tells you everything on a tweet.

• 55:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:27Speaker 01

  I am going to the bathroom. Like, he's that honest.

• 55:30Speaker 00

  Yeah. And I think that's sort of appealing, but given that we've been putting up with politicians or, or just our environments where no one really tells the truth anymore.

• 55:37Speaker 01

  Smoking mirrors everywhere.

• 55:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, totally. So and I think that Trump's got in by default in that regard.

• 55:41Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 55:42Speaker 00

  It's a default vote. I mean.

• 55:43Speaker 01

  Bizarre, isn't it?

• 55:44Speaker 00

  Pauline's a bit that way too.

• 55:45Speaker 01

  If you say, oh, and I killed a guy, everyone be like, oh, it's nice. He was honest.

• 55:48Speaker 00

  Well, you see what he said about some of the women in the past.

• 55:50Speaker 01

  I know.

• 55:51Speaker 00

  And, and nothing happened. I mean, Pauline, Pauline's a bit the same. Like, people.

• 55:55Speaker 01

  She pulled out of my podcast.

• 55:57Speaker 00

  Did she?

• 55:57Speaker 01

  After Shaggate.

• 55:58Speaker 00

  Really?

• 55:59Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 55:59Speaker 00

  Oh, that's a shame.

• 56:01Speaker 01

  I know. She was lined up and then she said yes, then she said no. As Bushy would say, she went, yeah, nah.

• 56:08Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:10Speaker 00

  If you were to pick in your life, not just in your life, but people during your life that you have looked up to as comedians.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 56:19Speaker 00

  Who's someone that you would pick? It doesn't have to be Australian.

• 56:22Speaker 01

  Okay, all right. Catherine Ryan for stand up, Paul Hogan for what I'm doing with Bushy. Um, Sacha Baron Cohen because of Ali G. I just think it's brilliant. Um, and Barry Humphries because he's, he's a legend. And Dame Edna was so brilliant.

• 56:42Speaker 00

  Ah, unbelievable.

• 56:43Speaker 01

  So brilliant. And I have studied a lot of that as well. Very brave. Because again, she doesn't just ask questions. It is a, she delivers a roast as she's.

• 56:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:54Speaker 01

  Says a question.

• 56:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, subtly.

• 56:57Speaker 01

  Yes. And every line, not one's wasted.

• 57:01Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:01Speaker 01

  Uses every line.

• 57:02Speaker 00

  He, he's totally, he was, or still, I guess he is, to the extent he lives on television, lives on reels. He's just totally brilliant.

• 57:10Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 57:10Speaker 00

  To me, I felt like I was in, um, royalty, standing there in front of Barry Humphries.

• 57:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, you were. Yes. He's the greatest. He's the goat.

• 57:19Speaker 00

  I, I loved his, uh, Les, what's his name? That was my favorite part of him, Les Patterson.

• 57:26Speaker 01

  That's kind of where I feel Bushy is sitting at the moment.

• 57:29Speaker 00

  Bush is a bit on the gross side, a little bit on the gross, crass gross.

• 57:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. So she's going through a pivot at the moment.

• 57:35Speaker 00

  Is she going through a, a change?

• 57:37Speaker 01

  Slightly.

• 57:38Speaker 00

  But is she pivoting from there?

• 57:40Speaker 01

  Yes. So just as Barry went from Sir Les, which was more your shock value into a more refined comedy.

• 57:49Speaker 00

  Of Dame Edna?

• 57:50Speaker 01

  Yes. That is more where, I mean, Bushy's not getting posh, but I'm tidying her up a little.

• 57:56Speaker 00

  So she's sort of metamorphizing.

• 57:57Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 57:58Speaker 00

  Into.

• 57:59Speaker 01

  I've got everyone's attention through being rude and outrageous and double entendres and all of that. And yeah, she's developing. I owe her that.

• 58:07Speaker 00

  Double entendre, so like a double meaning.

• 58:09Speaker 01

  Double meaning.

• 58:10Speaker 00

  Yeah, double meaning.

• 58:10Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 58:11Speaker 00

  And that was him.

• 58:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 58:13Speaker 00

  Barry used to do that. So Bush is doing that.

• 58:15Speaker 01

  Well, she's been doing that forever. That's how it started.

• 58:17Speaker 00

  So when, in, in the, um, transition from, you know, from Bogan, sort of gross, whatever you wanna call it, but funny.

• 58:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:26Speaker 00

  In the transition, what does she do? Does she drop her language or she becomes a little bit more refined? Or she, did, did she actually tell everybody that I've recognized I need to change?

• 58:35Speaker 01

  Maybe a few less fucks. Few less fucks.

• 58:39Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah. Or advertisers prefer that.

• 58:42Speaker 01

  They don't know. It's, it's funny because she's an advertiser's dream.

• 58:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:49Speaker 01

  Um, because they come to Bushy to be a little bit uncouth, a little bit rough.

• 58:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:57Speaker 01

  To get the reach.

• 58:57Speaker 00

  Without doing it themselves.

• 58:59Speaker 01

  Yes. And to get the reach. And it, it works. Like, it's, it's so rare that you can do an ad online and it goes viral. That is her superpower.

• 59:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:10Speaker 01

  Um, and that has always been through being a little bit crass. Um, but this is an argument that I've been having with Jeremy a lot. He's like, less fucks, Nicky, less fucks. I'm like, yeah, but it's so funny. Like when I was there with the Prime Minister and, and Bushy just goes, oh, that's a bit fucked. You can't call them a fuckhead. It's so funny.

• 59:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 59:30Speaker 01

  But it's low hanging fruit. So I'm, yeah, we're, we're trying to, we're trying to pull it back a little bit.

• 59:39Speaker 00

  Well, maybe just evolve her. She's grown up.

• 59:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, a little bit. But I don't wanna, I don't wanna like bugger it though. It's, it's gonna be interesting.

• 59:50Speaker 00

  I can't wait. I'm serious.

• 59:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:52Speaker 00

  I, I'm really looking forward to this.

• 59:53Speaker 01

  It's gonna be so much fun.

• 59:55Speaker 00

  This has been fun. Nikki Osborne, thanks very much.

• 59:57Speaker 01

  Well, thanks for having me.

• 59:58Speaker 00

  You're welcome.