Ep 358 - The End Of The Line Sitting Under A Tree With Aidan Jones podcast

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Ep 358 - The End of The Line

about a year ago 35:55

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Content provided by Aidan Jones. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Aidan Jones or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

I did a gig last night, then another one, then had a really nice chat with a friend who works behind the bar. Read a bit of poetry, some short stories when I got home, then today I went and got a sandwich.

… continue reading

388 episodes

#Australian #Comedian #Stories #Storytelling #Aidan Jones #Australiancomedian #Australiancomedypodcast #Melbournecomedypodcast #Comedy

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Ep 358 - The End of The Line

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

published about a year ago

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MP3•Episode home

Content provided by Aidan Jones. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Aidan Jones or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

I did a gig last night, then another one, then had a really nice chat with a friend who works behind the bar. Read a bit of poetry, some short stories when I got home, then today I went and got a sandwich.

… continue reading

388 episodes

#Australian #Comedian #Stories #Storytelling #Aidan Jones #Australiancomedian #Australiancomedypodcast #Melbournecomedypodcast #Comedy

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Ep 387 - Last Week 31:35

1 day ago31:35

31:35

It's the last week of the Melbourne Comedy Festival and I'm feeling reflective. The show has been a dream, and with seven still to go I've smashed my goals for attendance and profit. I've got an idea for the next show, which I'll keep nurturing, but for the next three months, all my focus is on the rest of the tour in Australia, and getting ready to leave Melbourne and move to London. Terrifying!…

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Ep 386 - Tullamarine 48:08

10 days ago48:08

48:08

I've got a joke that I've been doing in the show the last few nights about how the airport in Warsaw is called the 'Frederic Chopin International Airport', like that's how much of a big deal this guy is - they don't name airports after anyone! Who's Tullamarine, you know? After the second show I'd done that joke, someone messaged me and told me that actually Tullamarine was an indigenous freedom fighter in the area, and that's why they named it after him. Pretty brutal that I don't even know the guy's name, and that he's so unknown that a joke about Melbourne's airport not being named after someone can literally use his name as a working punchline. So I've decided to add, as a tag, that someone contacted me and told me that, and now I feel really bad, but I'm still doing the joke. So yeah, that's why the pod is named what it is. Heaps of other cool shit happened this week, but if you want to know about any of that, you'll just have to pop your little headphones in and have a listen, won't you!…

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Ep 385 - Return To The Flower Festival 39:40

18 days ago39:40

39:40

Going to the Melbourne Flower Festival last year was what originally inspired me to host my Melbourne Comedy Festival show in a beautiful, bespoke space this year. I went back on Sunday and it was just as beautiful as I remembered, but I didn't enjoy it as much because I was busy worrying about ticket sales and money and comparing myself to my peers. I'm having an objectively great festival. It's only been one weekend, but I've already sold more tickets across the run than I did in the whole of Perth Fringe World. I sold 251 in the first five shows alone. That's great! Those are great numbers. And I'm still not happy. Last year when I didn't do a show at any festivals, and instead just worked a normal job and paid my bills - that was one of the happiest years of my life. It'd be easy to romanticise it and conclude that actually comedy is the thing that's making me upset here, but I know that isn't the full story. I know that the only reason I was able to let go of the grinding and striving for a year and be happy was that for that whole year I was dreaming of this time I'm living in right now. Every day I drove the bus down the Great Ocean Road, when I was done talking about the stuff out the window, I would put the music on and drift off into fantasies of this run. The first show. The last show. The night I finally film it. The ending. New jokes... those fantasies got me through the year, and made it a very happy one, and now I'm here in that imagined future, and I'm struggling to enjoy it because I'm always wanting more! The irony is not lost on me... but I am having a nice time, I promise.…

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Ep 384 - Here We Are 36:23

24 days ago36:23

36:23

This week has been intense, gratifying, exhausting, terrifying, humbling, exciting, overwhelming, and over in the blink of an eye. The gallery is ready for opening night tomorrow, which is sold out by the way! And so is the night after. I can't believe how many different people have stepped up out of nowhere in the last week to offer their help in whatever way they can to make this project happen. I had a moment yesterday while I was eating dinner by myself when I realised that all of this work - this beautiful, tiring, exhilarating work - is because of me! This whole thing exists because of an idea that I had and then started telling people about and working on, and now it's a venue in the Melbourne Comedy Festival. I'm so excited for the next month, and I'm so happy in this moment right now.…

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Ep 383 - Meditative Podcasting 45:42

4 weeks ago45:42

45:42

I've had the best month in Adelaide doing my show to great audiences, winning an award in the first week and getting five star reviews! Then on Monday, my last day in town, I accidentally crushed the door of my Mum's partner's car in the carwash. It was really scary actually, and it's going to cost me $2000. I find myself here yet again, in a moment where I could have maybe slowed down a little, but felt like I had everything under control, and then realised too late that I didn't. It was a mistake, whatever, we move on, but it'd be good to learn from it too, eh? For the next week I'm back in Melbourne and working on the setup of the gallery. There's lot's to do, and I feel really stressed about it, but I'm going to find time every day to stop and take stock of everything that's around me. Have fun. Slow down. Be in the moment. Have fun.…

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Ep 382 - Just Imagine You're A Cow Floating Through Space 43:38

5 weeks ago43:38

43:38

I had the best day yesterday at WOMAD with a wonderful bunch of friends. Khruangbin were incredible, I was soaring through the trees for the entire 90 minutes that they played. And I'm still having the best time at the Adelaide Fringe in what has turned from a two-week, eight-show run, into a month-long season of 17 performances. I feel like I'm getting better at choosing not to engage with things and people that don't make me feel good. There's so much of that out there, especially if you spend even a bit of time on the internet. Comment sections are full of angry, hurt people taking their feelings out on the world. It's their choice to do that, and we really can't do anything to stop them, but we all have the power to choose how we react to that stuff, and I choose to disengage. Today I tried to wash my Mum's partner's car at the car wash and after downloading their stupid app, giving them my details, confirming my phone number, and then paying for a $12 wash with my card, they told me that the machine was broken and I couldn't use the thing I'd just paid for. It's in infuriating situations like that when the use of those reserves of energy is warranted - I sent them an email, and you better believe I will be calling them tomorrow, and reporting them to consumer affairs if I don't get my money back and some vouchers on top of it. 'Happy Wash' indeed. And this is my point man!! If I was letting myself get angry at every lunatic I saw on the internet, maybe I wouldn't have enough left of myself to pursue these motherfuckers when I actually need to. And yes I DO need to, by the way. Oh I will have my twelve dollars. And then I'll go back to enjoying good times with wonderful friends, which is where the energy comes from in the first place.…

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Ep 381 - Five Stars 36:47

7 weeks ago36:47

36:47

This week I got five stars in The List and The Advertiser, and I won a weekly award at the Adelaide Fringe for best comedy! This kind of week is really as much as I could have dreamed of when I started working on the show a couple years ago, but still on Sunday I felt tired and sad. I took a walk this morning down to the Torrens near my Mum's place in Thebarton, there's a beautiful trail there with signs telling the story of the Bunyip as written by a children's author. On the signs there are prompts encouraging you to ask questions about the bush around you, the animals, the plants, and the river - why are they the way they are? What can you see? Can you see these particular things? Etc. The thing that made me realise on Sunday that I was feeling tired was that I had started going to my phone more frequently, looking for the next dopamine hit from ticket sales, Instagram interactions, messages, or whatever. It took me most of the day before I realised the increased frequency of my desperate search for the next hit was a symptom of my tiredness - I hadn't had much sleep the two previous nights, and my body needed a rest. Going for a walk in the bush (I mean it's Thebarton, so not really, but you know) this morning was a great reminder to be grateful for the success that I'm enjoying right now, but also to remember that that success doesn't actually mean all that much anyway! Like, yes take a look around and enjoy the five star reviews and the award and the ticket sales and the money and all that, but also, there's plenty of beautiful trees and birds out there just waiting for you any time you want. I could have gone for a walk two years ago and never even written this show, and the bush would have been there waiting for me all the same. But I didn't, i wrote a show about Chopin.…

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Ep 380 - I See The Moon 42:55

8 weeks ago42:55

42:55

The other day my Mum reminded me of an old nursery rhyme she used to sing to me when I was a baby called 'I See The Moon' and it's been stuck in my head the last few days. It's got a really beautiful melody and I'm looking forward to playing around with it on the piano. I've been reflecting on the one-year cycle that a lot of the live comedy touring industry operates on in Australia. I tried for a few years there to write a new hour of stand-up every year as a way to build a career in this industry. The reason I started doing that is because that was what I saw other people doing, and I assumed that that was the only way to do it. What I realise now is that when comics who have a profile - from doing TV work, radio, or social media stuff - tour a new hour every year, they are playing to audiences who already know them and just want to come out and support the person they know from other media. I don't have a profile like any of those people, so when I write an hour of stand-up in a year, even if it's as good or thereabouts as what anyone else is coming out with, when faced with the choice between me, and someone they know from TV/radio/Instagram, audiences are going with the other people every time. The only way for me to compete and draw an audience without a profile is to create a show that is different and unique enough to sell on its own merits. I've been thinking around ideas for the next show I might write as the one I've been working on for the last two years slowly finds its feet. I'm definitely going to stay with the piano, and I'd like to incorporate a certain story that has been told a lot recently in my family. And now, after my Mum reminded me of that nursery rhyme tune the other day, I'm thinking I might try and incorporate that as well.…

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Ep 379 - Countless Summer Mornings 41:20

9 weeks ago41:20

41:20

I'm all over the shop on the podcast today... I got a tattoo on my butt on Thursday night... I'm $12k in debt... I saw the new Captain America movie on Sunday night and I absolutely hated it... my money from Perth hasn't come through yet... tickets for Adelaide are still selling well... I'm leaving Australia in 5 months. I can't seem to relax and just settle. I've been watching this Australian show 'Mr Inbetween' on the recommendation of a friend and it is absolutely fantastic! Not only is it funny and dark, it is also recognisably Australian, set in Australia with Australian people as it's characters. Also the guy who created has worked for like twenty years to get this thing made, and he stars in it and is absolutely incredible. What a triumph of artistic vision! This stands in such stark contrast to the utter contempt in which 'Captain America' holds its audience. I sat through two hours of explosions and violent thudding and was bored the entire time - a truly pathetic offering. I'm reading 'Odyssey' by Stephen Fry, and there's a poem at the start called 'Ithaca' by C. P. Cavafy that has really resonated with me this week. It begins, "When you start on your way to Ithaca // pray that the journey be long", and goes on to describe a life full of "countless summer mornings"; full of adventure and discovery. He says "Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind ... Yet do not hurry the journey at all". I take inspiration from the story of Scott Ryan who created 'Mr Inbetween' - he has Ithaca fixed in his mind. I also take inspiration from everyone who worked on 'Captain America', these poor souls lost at sea. I try to remember not to hurry my journey: "... better that it lasts for many years and you arrive an old man on the island, rich from all that you have gained on the way, not counting on Ithaca for riches. For Ithaca gave you the splendid voyage: without her you would never have embarked. She has nothing more to give you now."…

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Ep 378 - I Don't Know How To Read The Ocean 36:57

9 weeks ago36:57

36:57

I recorded this podcast last night in the back of a hire car parked in the carpark at Point Addis near Anglesea. I love coming down the coast and getting out into the ocean in the morning, how lucky are we in Australia that this is something we can just go and do whenever we want! I'm stressing about getting an offer from a venue for the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Whatever happens, I'm going and I'll get the show somewhere, but right now not knowing where that will be, and knowing that it's out of my control, is very frustrating. Having said that though, tickets are moving for Adelaide, and Melbourne has started to tick over as well. With all the time/money/emotional investment I've put into this show, I guess it is inevitable that I will continue to stress about the future and worry that things won't work out, even as the very same things I worried about three months ago are falling into place before me. Getting out in the ocean for a couple of hours this morning was a great way of taking my mind off all of that.…

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Ep 377 - Birthday Week 35:42

11 weeks ago35:42

35:42

It's my birthday on Wednesday! I haven't planned a party or anything, I figure I'm moving away in July so I'll have a going-away party then, but now I'm still kind of in the midst of doing all this stuff with the show and it just doesn't feel like the right time for a party. And it's my birthday, so I should get to choose when the party is, right? RIGHT?!! On the day I'm going to go to South Melbourne Markets for breakfast, then go with my mate to the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the NGV, then in the evening I'm having dinner with another friend. That sounds perfect to be honest.…

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Ep 376 - Advance Australia Fair 47:05

12 weeks ago47:05

47:05

Australia Day this week, always high emotion on both sides. When I was doing my bus tours, I would always explain the situation in Australia with regards to indigenous people by saying that it's a very emotional issue for everyone. Some people think we should talk about it more, and that we need to move towards greater recognition for indigenous people. Some people think we talk about it too much and we should stop spending time and money on it. Personally I think the ideal future for our country is one where every person who is born here or chooses to come here and make it their home, should feel equally as though they have a stake in our society. I don't think that will ever be possible until we address this thing that sits at the heart of our country. The shameful harm that was done to the people who lived here for tens of thousands of years before the British established a colony here in 1788. There are countless stories that serve as examples of this shameful secret, and the more of them we tell, the more we, as a society, can familiarise ourselves with what happened, and maybe work up the collective courage to confront it together. One of those stories was told to me by my grandpa in an email recently, and so I plan to tell it in a video, with a piano version of Advance Australia Fair that I just worked out as the backing track. I'm excited to make the video tomorrow, I think it's going to be great.…

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Ep 375 - Beach Day 39:35

13 weeks ago39:35

39:35

I went to the beach today with a bunch of friends. What a wonderful sentence to be able to say! It was 42 degrees, but down by the water it was much cooler, the waves were big and scary and I got thrown around a bunch, it was awesome. I have been worrying about ticket sales a bit, but what makes me feel better is the amount of nice stuff that other comedians have been saying to me after my spots this week. I've had so many people who I love and respect tell me that what I'm doing on stage is really unique and exciting. I've also found a bunch of places in the show where I can change things and add stuff to make it funnier and better, and that's incredibly exciting too! I only have 8 tickets for tomorrow's show, and two of them are a reviewer, so obviously not idea, but Iearned something in Edinburgh this year, and it's time now to put it into practice. Whoever is at the show tomorrow, I am going to welcome them in to the room, put them at ease, and get them around me as I sit at the piano. Then I'm going to give them the best fucking show they've ever seen, and they're going to love it. The beach has completely fried my brain man.…

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Ep 374 - Little Cunts 45:05

13 weeks ago45:05

45:05

Yesterday at my removals job we worked for a customer who was sending some of their furniture to an auction house to be sold - that is to say, this person was extremely well-off. They had two children there with them, both around 5 years old, and these kids were, as it transpired, two of the most entitled, horrible little bastards I've ever met. They were both rude to us and clearly thought themselves better than anyone who would come to do work for their family. I landed in Perth today and just checked in to the room above a pub where I'll be staying for the next 19 nights. It's gross in here, there's shared bathrooms, the kitchen has no utensils and smells like musty, old grease, and the laundry is in the basement and was, I am informed by one of the local characters, without power last night. Truly exhilarating stuff! I think I've reached a point in my life and my career where I am no longer happy to accept this kind of grotty living situation. When I was younger, even as recently as 5 years ago, I probably would have been okay with this, but I've grown up, and I'm not now. Thing is, I'm also not in a financial position where I can afford to stay somewhere that might be, how can I put it, "more to my taste". So here I am. I'll buy some candles and incense and flowers and make the room nice, and I'll do my shows and keep working, but also I'm going to be grateful for this time. If I've learned anything in the last few years, it is that there is dignity in the struggle and not getting what you want. There is pride to be taken in doing a job, and working for someone else, and we should always respect those who happen, in any given moment, to be doing their work for us. Staying in this awful room is a good reminder that no matter where I go or what I do in my life, any success I have is a blessing, not a right. Remember to be grateful, if only so as not to become one of those awful, little cunts.…

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Ep 373 - New Years Skinny Dip 40:27

14 weeks ago40:27

40:27

Lately I've noticed I get anxious when I find myself with nothing to do. I guess that's why I am so enamoured of the Edinburgh Fringe - a month where every moment of every day is relentlessly full of people and places and things and stuff and you NEVER get a break. You NEVER have to stop!! You can just keep going for ever - heaven. The way I've always coped with the anxiety is by just filling my time up with stuff, and I don't necessarily think that's a bad way of coping, but it becomes a problem when I make commitments and then put undue amounts of pressure on myself to fulfil those commitments. That's funny isn't it! I do feel anxiety when I'm still, so to avoid that anxiety, I fill my days up with activities and commitments, sometimes to the point that there are too many things for me to do, which gives me anxiety. It really never ends. I think what I'd like to remember is that while I do like to always be doing lots of things - seeing friends, doing stand up, working on projects etc. - if I ever find myself rushing through my days because I've given myself too many of these therapeutic *things* to do, it's okay to leave some of those commitments unfulfilled. I am allowed to prioritise my commitments however I see fit, and then if there isn't time for something, I can just apologise and say that I'm not going to make it. I'm about to go to Perth for three weeks, and I'm going to have heaps of time to myself, so I'll see how all this goes I guess.…

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 372 - 2024 39:14

16 weeks ago39:14

39:14

At this time last year my goals were to put my head down at work and make as much money as I could, while spending all my creative energy working on the new show. It was the first year since I started doing solo stand-up shows that I'd planned to not do a show at the Australian festivals, and my only hope for the end of the year was that I'd be in a position where I would be confident with my new show and ready to tour it myself. That is exactly where I'm at right now! In the last year I worked hard on my show, took it to Edinburgh and had a very successful first season there, worked with a designer to create a visual branding language for the show and have started to use that brand to promote it. I also went to New York for the first time, which is something that I've wanted to do for the best part of ten years! I also worked as a tour guide and discovered that I don't want to pursue that as a career, which is something that I thought I might be interested in at the start of the year. In the next twelve months I will be crossing two more things off of my list of long-term goals: 'Record A Great Special' and 'Live In Another City'. On Saturday night I went to a party and a friend did a tarot reading for me, and the thing that I chose to focus on was my planned move to London. I'm nervous about it, specifically leaving my close friends and family in Australia, and everything that I'm going to miss in their lives, but I'm also confident that this is what I need to do for myself and my career. Happy New Year everyone, we did it.…

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Ep 371 - Happy Holidays 44:59

16 weeks ago44:59

44:59

Last night I saw a movie called 'The Substance', it was great! Go look it up if you don't know what it's about because their copy will explain the premise much better than I can here, but the premise of the film is an ageing Hollywood star takes an experimental drug to create a younger, "more perfect" version of herself. It's all about female beauty standards in society and the way we treat people - especially women - as disposable once their youth and beauty have faded. I got the impression from the outset that whoever had made this film was very angry about the subject, and wanted us to feel the pain and discomfort that they feel when they think about it. I figured it was probably a woman and I was correct - bully for me! I really enjoyed the way the shocking visuals and sound in the movie made me feel uncomfortable, which is odd to say, because at the time I was.. well, uncomfortable. But immediately I'm like, okay if I feel uncomfortable now, imagine how uncomfortable it must be to actually BE a woman and be subject to these kinds of pressures and standards! Provoking the audience into such considerations is the sign of great art. In a way, this is what I'm trying to do in my show - I want people to recognise the feeling that I find in the music, and then relate it to their own lives so they can actually feel it themselves, and in doing so, connect with the experience of the person who wrote the music I'm playing. The feeling I'm working with isn't anger or anything close to it, but rather hope, which comes with it's own fears and anxieties. Despite the differences, it was inspiring to see a film - a piece of art - where each element is so clearly chosen with an overall effect in mind, and everything is working in concert to achieve a clear goal. It wasn't at all subtle, but what's the big whoop about subtlety anyway?…

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Ep 370 - Dad I Want To Hear Your Story 39:38

17 weeks ago39:38

39:38

Yesterday I got an ad for this garbage book called 'Dad I Want To Hear Your Story'. It's not even a book that you read, it's a book that you give to your Dad that he writes his life story in. There are all these questions about your first kiss or your school years or whatever the fuck stupid bullshit these people put in there to try and seduce people into thinking that you can skip the years of work it takes to build up a good relationship with your loved ones and all you need to do is BUY THIS BOOK!! THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK MADE MY DAD LOVE ME AGAIN!! The ad creeped me out for that reason, but also even more so because the Instagram page that was hosting it was full of the same guy saying the same words to a camera, but with all different intonations, different music, and wearing different hats and sunglasses on his face. It feels as if whoever is selling this thing is doing A/B market testing on their own face, trying to find the optimal combination of sounds and images required to sell these cynical, loveless items. As I wade into the world of advertising and marketing ahead of the festival season (the show opens a month from the 17th!!!) I am more and more aware of this kind of stuff. I'm even using some of it to sell my tickets, but I am also very conscious of trying to keep it at arm's length, because throughout the world of marketing there exists this idea that you can sell anything with the right ad campaign. There are people all over online message boards and social media apps talking about how they can increase your Lead Generation and Sales Performance and ROI without ever talking about what products anyone might actually be selling, and that kind of mindset is liable to destroy a person if it gets a hold of you. And boy has it gotten a hold of these book-selling losers on Instagram.…

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Ep 369 - Eugen Cicero 48:19

19 weeks ago48:19

48:19

The modern world of classical piano seems to be split into two groups: First there are the people who play the classics, they go through the music from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and play the same pieces over and over again in search of the "composer's intention", while attempting to also bring some aspect of their own personality to it. Each year there are dozens of recordings of the most famous pieces of the classical repertoire, and the people in this world have opinions on all of them. Then there are the people who go in the complete opposite direction - they are sick of playing the same pieces and so they rebel in the extreme by creating music with completely outlandish instruments and sounds. It's conceptual, it's cerebral, and it might actually be nonsense? We're talking music with teapots, we're talking music determined by the roll of the dice, stuff that seems like it's more about the idea of the thing, rather than the actual thing itself. Both groups of people have interesting ideas and I wouldn't go so far as to say that they're creating cynical work at all! I'm not trying to denigrate either of them, except to say that I think they both, to some extent, have their heads completely stuck up their own asses. I say all of that to say - with absolute joy!! - that this week I discovered a new pianist named Eugen Cicero who seems to embody a third, completely exciting and inspired path. He plays the classical repertoire - music that was created to sound beautiful - but rather than sticking dogmatically to the text, he brings it to life with his own improvisations and modern musical ideas. I love it, and now you can too as some of his music is hidden at the end of my ramblings on this week's podcast. Enjoy!…

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Ep 368 - One Week Closer 38:54

20 weeks ago38:54

38:54

Huge shock in the Australian Comedy world this week with one of the biggest management companies declaring bankruptcy, leaving dozens of artists without representation heading into the 2025 festival season. Also a bunch of comedians have lost tens, or in some cases HUNDREDS, of thousands of dollars. In reflecting on what is catastrophic news for so many of my friends, I'm reminded of my own experiences with management. I think it's tempting as an artist to see management as someone who will take care of the business side of everything and allow us to do the work we want. That's the idea we are sold, and that's what we all hope for, because we aren't the kind of people who are confident in the world of business. But no one really has any more of a clue than we do about how to market our work, and if any of us actually wants to make a career out of doing this, the only way to make that happen is to figure out for ourselves what it is that we do and why people might pay money to see it. That's not to say that managers are useless, just that whatever it is that they can do, we can do it as well, and we probably don't need to be giving anyone 30% of our income to do it for us. Moreover, it is so important that we think about these questions ourselves, because if we want to keep pursuing our art and growing as artists, we need to eventually take the leap and become professional. On Sunday I went to watch a wonderful amateur choir and orchestra perform Beethoven, closing with the 9th Symphony, 'Ode To Joy'. I was reminded that Beethoven's incredibly difficult orchestral parts were one of the things that led to the development of professional orchestras, because people needed to be paid to practice so they could have the time to actually play his insane music! I feel like that's where I am as a comedian - I have reached a ceiling of how good I can get with the resources that I have, and I need to find an audience and start making money from this if I want to reach that next level.…

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Ep 367 - Autograph Book 43:22

20 weeks ago43:22

43:22

I've started keeping an autograph book as a bit of fun between now and when I leave for the UK. Had a lot of fun riffing about that and looking up some stupid shit online to do with autograph books. Also detailed how and why I lost the best part of $1000 this week on the Gold Coast. We're learning!!

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Ep 366 - Gold Coast 31:13

21 weeks ago31:13

31:13

I'm flying to the Gold Coast in the morning, can't wait to do the show on Saturday night. I've been running ads on Facebook/Insta and Google all week and I have no way of knowing whether they're working, but hey we'll find out on Saturday! I need to go to sleep.

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 365 - Creating A Feeling 42:54

22 weeks ago42:54

42:54

Went down to Rose Chong in Fitzroy this morning to get fitted with a 19th century costume ahead of the photo shoot on Friday. I can't wait to get these photos and have a bunch of cool shit to post on social media to promote the tour! I have a show on the Gold Coast next weekend which is effectively the last chance to tune up before Perth Fringe in January. Cannot fucking wait to get out there and start this run.…

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 364 - The Beatles 43:23

23 weeks ago43:23

43:23

I called it The Beatles because that's what I spent the last while talking about. I've been watching that Beatles documentary from a few years ago and god I love it. I also started watching a Harvard Lecture from Leonard Bernstein about the origins of music and language and that was really good too. I'm all over the place mentally - I've been in bed, sick, for the last few days. A literal nightmare.…

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Ep 363 - Synonyms 37:33

25 weeks ago37:33

37:33

I spent this weekend in Adelaide and as much as I felt the trip would be an unwelcome interruption to my life, it was actually fantastic. I think I have a tendency to see anything that isn't work as annoying because I feel like there are so many things I need to do and I need all the available time to do them. But that's exactly why I should be forcing myself to do something like going back to Adelaide to spend time with friends and family. Work can always wait.…

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Ep 362 - Baby Birds Fly Free 38:21

26 weeks ago38:21

38:21

This week I spent a couple afternoons working on four variations of a Russian folk tune called Korobeiniki, better known as the music for the game 'Tetris'. I wrote variations in four styles, baroque, classical, romantic and latin dance, then recorded them. It was heaps of fun, but also very frustrating trying to record each one with no mistakes. Also the baby birds left. Life just keeps on going happening!…

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Ep 361 - Three Little Birds 34:23

27 weeks ago34:23

34:23

The three baby birds outside in the nest our kitchen window are growing so quickly! Last week they were barely big enough to cover the bottom of the nest, now they are almost spilling over the top. Yesterday I heard them tweeting for the first time. Google says they usually leave the nest 14 days after hatching, so we have one more week left with them before they leave us.…

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Ep 360 - Grief is the Price We Pay for Love 46:15

27 weeks ago46:15

46:15

It's my friend's funeral tomorrow, I'm flying to Adelaide in the morning for it and I'm really looking forward to seeing a bunch of old friends again and remembering what a wonderful, funny person we all knew. Then I'm hoping we can see fit to get a shisha on Hindley St.

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 359 - It's Gonna Be Good 42:12

29 weeks ago42:12

42:12

Still feeling a bit of grief this week, but also looking forward to the next few months of working on the show and keeping ye olde head down! I watched the movie 'Pretty Woman' and really loved it, and during the pod I found a very prescient parallel between the main character and a story from my life which I had a great chuckle about. Good stuff, I reckon.…

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 358 - The End of The Line 35:55

29 weeks ago35:55

35:55

I did a gig last night, then another one, then had a really nice chat with a friend who works behind the bar. Read a bit of poetry, some short stories when I got home, then today I went and got a sandwich.

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Ep 357 - Spring Cleaning 49:34

30 weeks ago49:34

49:34

This podcast is three days late, which is annoying to me and I'm somehow letting that ruin my mood right now hahahaha... I landed back in Melbourne yesterday afternoon and don't have much work for the next week so I'm going to use this time to quite literally get my house in order. I've got one year left in Melbourne and I want to enjoy it, and that starts with a good environment at home.…

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 356 - Lost in New York Pt. 2 46:40

31 weeks ago46:40

46:40

I'm still having the time of my life in New York. I didn't even talk about my own comedy or creative ideas once in this podcast, I was just too busy recounting all of the wonderful experiences I've been having. God, this is the best!

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 355 - Lost in New York 48:55

32 weeks ago48:55

48:55

I'm here.

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 354 - Farewell to the Fringe 45:46

33 weeks ago45:46

45:46

The Edinburgh Fringe is over for another year. It really is the most beautiful thing in the world, and to celebrate the last night I went up Arthur's Seat with some friends to watch the sunrise. It's a huge Fringe tradition but for one reason or another I've never gotten around to it. When the sun came up over the horizon, the several hundred people who had made the climb after performing every day for a whole month cheered together. Then we all had to climb down.…

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Ep 353 - Late 33:17

34 weeks ago33:17

33:17

The podcast is quite late! The fringe continues to be an all-encompassing beast, and my piano show continues to be delightful and well-received. Went to Furiozo last night and it was, once again, incredible. Five days left. Come on.

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 352 - Autistic Show and Tell 30:28

35 weeks ago30:28

30:28

I'm so tired man. I didn't realise until I turned the mic on, but yeah. Uhff.

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Ep 351 - I’m Letting Myself Get Carried Away 31:13

36 weeks ago31:13

31:13

My show has been full the last three days and it's really exciting! Each one has been great, and it feels like people are talking about it. I've seen a few things as well, but the one part of the Fringe experience I feel like I've neglected so far is the hang! So I reckon tonight and the next few days, that's the focus. Let's hang, baby!…

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Ep 350 - Message Flyerer 45:36

37 weeks ago45:36

45:36

Today is the first day of the Edinburgh Fringe! I'm a couple days late to record the podcast this week because I landed in London on Monday afternoon, got the overnight train up to Edinburgh, and then have been racing around getting everything ready for the first shows ever since. My first show is in under 5 hours, I'm excited, scared, happy, grateful, nervous... but I'm here! We are DOING IT!!!! Come on.…

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 349 - Who Cares 49:32

38 weeks ago49:32

49:32

By the time the next podcast is out, I'll be in Edinburgh! Or maybe not, maybe I'll decide to record in the airport or something, but the point is, I'm heading to the Fringe very soon! And I'm so excited about comedy, and about playing the piano, and about life generally! What a blessing to be able to do this, and how funny that despite all of it, I still spend an inordinate amount of time yelling at my phone. Funny.…

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Ep 348 - Don't Get Too Comfortable 46:36

40 weeks ago46:36

46:36

Last night I went out for dinner with my beautiful boys and after a fantastic bit of Indonesian food we thought we'd go get some baklava. We went to a place called International Cakes and the food sucked so bad. Also when we got in there, the first thing the guy behind the counter said to us was, "Don't get too comfortable.", which we laughed about for ages afterwards, so I've made it the title of this week's pod.…

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Ep 347 - I'm Moving To London 42:20

40 weeks ago42:20

42:20

In the last few weeks something has shifted for me about the way I think about Melbourne and my future here. I don't think there's any way for me to have the career I want as a comedian in this country, so I'm doing the only sensible thing, next year I'm going to apply the visa that I was supposed to apply for last year, and I'm moving to London. I'm excited, scared, hopeful, sad. Also I'm off to Edinburgh in three weeks!…

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Ep 346 - JMax Urban Exploring 48:55

41 weeks ago48:55

48:55

Four weeks until I am off to the Edinburgh Fringe and freed from this PRISON!! Nah only joking. I mean I am working a lot and it is tiring, but also it's fine and I'm having a nice time. Lots of ideas, lots of thoughts, I mean at this stage I'm not really a comedian with a podcast, I'm a bus driver with a podcast. Honestly, isn't that so much more interesting!…

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Ep 345 - Maybe I'm Tired 39:59

43 weeks ago39:59

39:59

Five weeks until I'm off to Edinburgh for the Fringe! It's not long at all, and as much as it feels like I'm just repeating myself every week about how I'm working and I'm making progress and blah blah, it struck me last week while talking to a friend that it is actually true. In October I said that the next year or so would be mostly hard work and head-down kinda shit for me as I prepare to put this show on, and as seemingly uneventful as that seems while it's happening, it is exactly what I've been doing. And for the large majority of that time, I've been exceedingly happy! Pretty cool.…

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 344 - The Campfire 39:54

44 weeks ago39:54

39:54

I just recorded this while sitting next to a campfire I built at a little spot near Beechworth. I'm going to get up tomorrow morning and drive just up the road to this lookout nearby and watch the sunrise. It's been such an incredible few days in the Alpine region of Victoria. I feel perfectly happy and at peace.…

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Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 343 - Do You Like It? 42:01

45 weeks ago42:01

42:01

Last week I did the podcast after a long day of work and I regret to admit that the quality of the pod reflected my energy levels at the time. This week I've waited until waking up the day after a long work day, and boy did I have way more fun! Lots of laughing here.

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