I’m a massive comedy nerd, and one of my all time favourite Australian comics is Wil Anderson. I first became aware of Wil when I was in primary school and would listen to Triple J before school. I didn’t get any of the jokes he and Adam Spencer would make, but I would always laugh and pretend I was way cooler than I really was.
I’ve followed his stand-up with interest for the last 5 or so years, seeing him on countless occasions and watching him rise to become one of the country’s biggest stars.
I was trolling through YouTube the other day and found this video of one of Wil’s earliest appearances at the Gala night for the Melbourne Comedy Festival. I think this was around the time he joined the breakfast show on Triple J and it’s incredible to see how far his stand-up has come. It’s so much more polished and filled with topical references.
Check it out.
I grew up in a pretty liberal and open-minded household.
My mum was a naturopath and my dad was a musician. So when I describe my childhood to people they usually expect me to tell them I lived in a shack in the woods and we grew kidney beans to eat with our tofu.
In fairness to my parents though, I had a really balanced childhood. If you look at my heritage, I come from a mixed background which really gave me a good grasps on different cultures. My mum is 5th generation born-in-Australia and my dad’s a fucking dickhead.
Anyway, one of the things that must have slipped through my childhood education are shoehorns.
Seriously. As in the things that help you put shoes on.
How have I missed shoehorns? I didn’t even have any clue that they were a ‘thing’.
The other day I was trying on a pair of shoes and the store assistant handed me one and I was like, “what the eff are you handing me this stick for?”
I just didn’t use it in the end. I’ve always lived my life by the idea that if you can’t get a shoe on your foot without outside help, it’s too small.
So I didn’t get any shoes.
Day ruined.
I love Craig Ferguson. He would be close to my favourite person on the world.
Here he teams up with some Daleks to do some awesome stuff.
I love awesome stuff.
Hey NBC, don’t cancel Community.
I can make you feel good. With my hands.
Otherwise incredible interactions like this may never be seen on telly again!
Jeff: I’m saying, you’re a football player. It’s in your blood!
Troy: That’s racist.
Jeff: Your soul.
Troy: That’s racist.
Jeff: Your eyes?
Troy: That’s gay?
Jeff: That’s homophobic.
Troy: That’s black.
Jeff: That’s racist.
Troy: Damn.
Awesome, huh?
I leave you with a picture of Pierce – the coolest guy in the world.
Donald Glover is the coolest guy in the world. Not only does he write, act and do stand-up, he also raps and produces music under the name ‘Childish Gambino’.
Dope.
There’s something strangely romantic about Vodafone sending me a monthly bill, eight months after I cancelled my contract with them.
They just can’t forget about me; they can’t move on.
I moved on almost straight away. After the way they treated me there was no way I was hanging around to see what ‘excuse’ they were going to come up with.
What’s more, it’s not like we were together for such a long period of time that they can’t handle me not around. I cancelled my account THREE days into my service because I couldn’t get internet access!
Talk about not letting go.
I’ve called it off with them half a dozen times yet they still keep sending bills. At one point, they rang (late at night too. Clearly a drunk dial) to inform me that they would be issuing me with a credit to make up for all the rubbish they’ve put me through. That sounds pretty good of them, right?
Wrong.
When I first ended our relationship three days into it, the reason I cancelled was because it was an internet deal and my modem didn’t work, so when I cancelled my account for the first time, I returned the modem as well. The credits were useless seeing as though I had handed back the modem 6 months previous.
So now the bills I get are for credits, yet I can’t use them because I don’t have the modem that they initially provide me with.
What a debacle.
Although it’s not like I’m doing that well in life on my own.
The other day I was faced with task of having to pick the pair of underwear that was least dirtiest to wear for that day.
How does that happen?
I literally had a pile of underwear that I was searching through that had all been worn at some point. Probably three weeks worth of dirty underwear. Surely I could have found a spare moment in those 18 days to do some washing.
I thought I was doing okay at life. I work a bit, go to uni, have a few good hobbies – but I can’t even source myself a clean pair of underwear. I think I just have a real issue with doing washing. One time I went to Kmart and bought seven plain, different-coloured T-shirts so I could have one for each day of the week and not have to worry about washing them. If underwear wasn’t so damn expensive I would do that for boxer shorts as well. Where do bonds get of trying to charge $20 for a pair of underwear? There’s only 20 centimeters of fabric!
I always wonder about that when I’m buying jeans. Why is a size 30 the same price as a 48? There’s way more material used to make a 48, so it would cost so much more to produce.
What’s the deal Wrangler?
My girlfriend calls my boxer shorts ‘Knickers’ and the other day I found myself calling the ‘Knickers’ as well. In an attempt to regain my masculinity, I now refer to them as ‘Cock Holders’.
Because they hold my cock. Get it?
I’m lying, I don’t have a cock.
Well, I do have a cock, it’s just shy.
I don’t like calling my penis a ‘cock’. It’s making me feel uncomfortable.
Looks like I’m back to calling them Knickers!
The Black keys dropped their seventh studio album El Camino yesterday and it’s what you’d expect; Blues-drenched rock ‘n’ roll.
The direction the band have moved in since pairing up with Danger Mouse to produce their records has seen them enlist a bigger band sound and add more layers to their standard guitar/drums framework which had been the cornerstone and trademark sound of their early releases.
When you compare El Camino (and even their last release, Brothers) to their early records like The Big Come Up and Thickfreakness – which were recorded in basements on old basic 8-tracks, the lyrical content might be the only link between the two sounds. Lead singer Dan Auerbach sticks to traditional bluesed out themes of old fashion tough-times and lady problems.*
I think Jillian Mapes, writer for Billboard.com puts it best -“They’re still channeling classic rock, but now it’s more T. Rex than Cream”.
Anyway the album cover and album artwork is dope. It features a stack of different ‘El Camino Vans’, which the record was named after. The Black Keys never fail to disappoint and this record is no different.
One of my favourite bands
3 1/2 stars.
*Not lady problems like the gross ‘that time of the month thing’.
samtaunton 