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, and currently you can catch Dil’s comedy special on Amazon Prime called Bundle of Joy. Dil's 2020 show Victorious Lion will hopefully resume later in the year (check www.comedy.com.au for updates). Dil very kindly spent some time on this interview a couple of weeks prior to the lockdown.

We discuss: the benefits of seeing a mental health professional, the importance of giving therapy a fair crack and having a good fit with your therapist, Shae’s own techniques for managing work as a Psychologist, setting boundaries between work and personal life, the benefits of cutting down on multi-tasking, the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, unconditional love for his niece, the Trello app for organising your life, Dil’s thoughts on quitting alcohol and the pain-avoidance technique of staying sober, picking somewhere to start and gradually increasing his pace to help him (literally) run a marathon, being in touch with your values to assist with achieving goals, gratitude and bigger picture thinking, using jealousy constructively, the Elton John analogy of responding rather than reacting, Dil’s super power, the problem when the “default is fault”, the book Useful Beliefs by Chris Helder, and Dil’s message to realise that you may have things better than you have told yourself.

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 Spike TV. Greg also worked on US show The Soup for 11 years – which is a clip show hosted by Joel McHale. Greg now lives in Melbourne and was due to perform at MICF in 2020 (until Corona).

We discuss: the challenge of successfully writing and performing comedy in 2 different countries, exposure to culture to help understand it, the importance of having a plan for your mental health to assist with managing it, everything changing in Greg’s life after he moved to Australia in 2017, the challenge of trying to do so many big things at once, the seemingly small but challenging factors of daily life for anyone from outside of Australia, the difficulty of finding work, the importance of routine and creating/maintaining social connections, the benefits of therapy, the importance of managing expectations, Angel cards revealing patience, integrity and purification, the catch-22 that it’s easier to be grateful and positive when things are going well, views on anti-depressant medication, issues with alcohol, having a pancreatitis attack, the importance of maintaining perspective, Greg’s super power and the Dodge Charger story, and Greg’s message to take care of yourself and have a plan.