Ep 337 - Very Grateful

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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

39:33

"The basic premise of the event is that hunters hunt rattlesnakes from the surrounding environment all across West Texas, and bring them into the roundup for the weekend. And during the roundup, these snakes are kept in a pit and then, one by one, beheaded and skinned in front of in front of audiences." - Elizabeth MeLampy Elizabeth MeLampy is a lawyer dedicated to animal rights and protection, and her passion for this work shines through in her latest book, Forget the Camel, the Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say About Being Human . To research the book, Elizabeth traveled across the country, immersing herself in a wide range of animal festivals — from the Iditarod dog sled race to the rattlesnake roundup in Sweetwater, Texas. Elizabeth examines these festivals as revealing microcosms of our broader relationship with animals. Whether it's rattlesnake hunts, frog-jumping contests, ostrich races, or groundhog celebrations, these events reflect the ways humans use animals to express cultural identity, community pride, and historical traditions. Yet beneath the pageantry and excitement lies a deeper question: Is our fascination with these spectacles worth the toll it takes on the animals involved? With compassion and insight, Elizabeth invites readers to consider whether there’s a more ethical and empathetic way to honor our stories — one that respects both animals and the traditions they inspire. Please listen, share and read, Forget the Camel. It will be released on April 8th, 2025. https://apollopublishers.com/index.php/forget-the-camel/…

about a year ago 39:10

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Spent a lot of time in my head today just ruminating on shit while I drove the bus. Some of that time was relatively well spent thinking about jokes that I ended up doing on stage at an open mic tonight. Some of that time was less productive. It was all just time though, right? Yeah man, time is crazy hey. Woah!

385 episodes

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

Ep 337 - Very Grateful

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

385 episodes

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

All episodes

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

1
Ep 384 - Here We Are 36:23

4 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 383 - Meditative Podcasting 45:42

10 days 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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

17 days 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 381 - Five Stars 36:47

25 days 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 380 - I See The Moon 42:55

5 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 379 - Countless Summer Mornings 41:20

6 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."…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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

6 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 377 - Birthday Week 35:42

8 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 376 - Advance Australia Fair 47:05

9 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 375 - Beach Day 39:35

10 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 374 - Little Cunts 45:05

11 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 373 - New Years Skinny Dip 40:27

12 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 372 - 2024 39:14

13 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.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 371 - Happy Holidays 44:59

14 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?…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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

14 weeks ago39:38