AliceFraser posts
Posts: 784
Files: 1484
New Teacast: Lydia Rickards
Sorry for dropping a week in the midst of all this Edinburghing, excellent people. If you missed me, catch up on The Bugle this week, where I guested on the first Live Bugle in Scotland.This week's episode is with the charming and excellent Lydia Rickards - we talk about ageing, fun, whether powerful women should date 'down'.This week's teacast is HERE
Edfringe 15 & 16
The people who do not like it at all.Gosh this fringe is getting away from me! One week to go. I've been buzzing around like a little bee and you'd think you'd have time to do a little blog a day. It's turned out to be one every two days, and I didn't put my podcast up this week. Maybe I'm getting old or lazy or some combination of the two. Sorry all. Back on the wagon asap.I sold out on Saturday night. Friday night was also lovely. In fact other than a few calmer older crowds and one proper badly timed heckler on a revi...
Edinblog day 13 & 14
Bullets and lightbulbs. So Monday was a day off Empire, though I did a few spots. I walked up the Crag with Laura Davis and had a physio jab me a bit and it was all very relaxing and lovely. Tuesday I had a quiet crowd and a reviewer in, who gave me a 5 star review, and then woke up to a second 5 in the morning. I'm never sure how much to plug and boast about things like that - in part because I don't know how much people care or pay attention, and in part because with the world the way it is at the moment, I don't want to be droppi...
Edinblog Day 10 and 11
Oof I have had two very full shows in a row. This is really lovely and very strange. Last night (Saturday, the turf of drunken douchebags coming into shows they have no idea about) was actually a lovely crowd, with an early mild heckle that I came down on with polite venom. Today was a different beast. The afternoon was lovely - I went on Stephen K Amos' talk show with the excellent Tiff Stevenson, Mark Steele and Tom Stade. Then I went to MC the Comedy Club 4 Kids, which is always a fun exercise in realising that most of the the jokes I ha...
Edinblog day 8 & 9: face masks and sellouts.
Yesterday was a day of ups and downs. I hung out with Scott and Bolli (above, beautifying over a cuppa), and went to draw at the National Gallery of Scotland with Phill Jupitus. It's a lovely way to start the day at the festival - relaxed and quiet before the hectic starts. It was a good day. Also, I sold out my show, AND it was a lovely audience. Then I went to do Smut Slam where they introduced me as a variety act and made me sing a song even though I hadn't brought my banjo. I truly didn't anticipate filling that big room - I don...
Edinblog day 6&7
So I've lost my boots.I took them off last night after my show and swapped for flats so I could run over and do the improvised professoring at the Night at The Museum show and then I went back to the Gilded Balloon Artist bar to chat with Tiff Stevenson and at some point I no longer had boots.Didn't realise until I started dressing for my show tonight, so had to wear my less good boots. Much comfort but heaps less glamorous and fancy boots. The show was wonderful fun though with a lovely laughy, giggly audience and my old Uni pal Scott ...
AMA - That Google Diversity Screed
I always say on the podcast, let me know if there's anything you'd like me to cover, so here's one of those."Some public arguments perfectly encapsulate the fault line between two different mindsets. I think this is one of them.Interested to hear what you think about it:https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/08/exclusive-heres-the-full-10-page-anti-diversity-screed-circulating-internally-at-google/"I think he probably shouldn't have been fired? Except perhaps for using work to disperse a pretty hack political screed, outside hi...
Edinblog day 4&5
It's been a hectic few days. The shows have been going well - more and more people coming to the show each night, which I hope carries on. I'm in a huge room - and it's not going to sell out, but it's nice to reflect that every night so far has had at least 15 more people than would have sold out my room last year. Which is good.Day 4 was a day of many promo spots, from bigger crowds to very edinburgh style small audiences. Day 5 was a bit lonely - not that I had less work but that I didn't really feel like company but also ...
New Teacast: Sameena Zehra
This week's episode comes to you from the bowels of the Edinburgh Fringe festival. I had a chat with the excellent Sameena Zehra about culture, belief and family relationships.The link is Here or subscribe on itunes or your listening channel of choice.
Edinblog day 3: inspimentalist
Today was a good day. I hung out with Laura Davis and that is always a good thing. The weather was truly Edinburgh - the kind of day where you feel like a succulent in a tropical terrarium, constantly being misted by an enthusiastic horticulturist. The only variety in the drizzling was occasional periods of heavier rain. The show was lovely. I was really worried about the potential douchiness of 10pm on a Friday night. But they were really nice, other than a loved up couple in the front who were quite busy smooching. As far as heckles go, I'...
Edinblog: Day 2
Today was a ridiculously pretty day. I even did laundry and hung it outside, which is pretty baller for Edinburgh which is like Melbournex100 for temperamental skies. I wonder if I should tweet out the short spots I'm doing for whatever help it would give the promoters. But I have lots booked in, so I'm worried it would simultaneously be pretty useless and a bit annoying. Doesn't stop me tweeting about Empire though. I guess there's just that extra level of desperation and hope.I went to Sameena Zehra's birthday party in the...
Edinblog: Day 1
I arrived the day before my show to settle in. The train in from London was crowded with performers but I wasn't near anyone I knew (thank goodness). I like talking to people when I feel like talking to people, and that is rarely while in long transit when I have a book to read. Coming in to Waverley station is starting to feel familiar. This is my third year coming out and the arrhythmic mix of mediaeval, modern, construction work and lush Scottish landscape settles into ‘normal’ quite quickly. Which is to say I guess, it’s still stu...
Pre-Edinburgh Breakdown
It’s three days before the 2017 Edinburgh fringe, where I’m taking my show, Empire. I open on Tuesday. This is terrifying but okay. Nobody's going to die. (We're all going to die).This is very much the calm before the storm. You can fiddle with your show, but you don’t really know how it’s going to go. You can’t hold it back. It’s like that feeling before you throw up where your mouth is flooding with saliva and you know you’re not going to be able to hold it back – you just have to find a tree or a bin.My point is, I fe...
What's funny about a man in a dress?
This is a loaded topic at the moment, and a many-armed one. Gone are the days in which The Footy Show (an Australian institution) could guiltlessly wring comedy out of the hilarious sight of a big manly man in a floral dress. Performers who do characters are under increased scrutiny for exploiting identity, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and generally hurting feelings all across the board. A good example is Chris Lilley who has been under fire not only for racial drag, but also for his portrayal of spoiled school-girl Ja'mie.The arguments...
New Teacast: Iszi Lawrence
I've come back from Brighton and am putting up this podcast. It was a delight to talk to Iszi and we ranged over a number of exciting and controversial topics on what was a very hot London day. (It can happen!)Fatphobia! Women being weaker than men! Gender issues! A big guy coming at you with a chain! International Womens Day shenanigans!Listen HereYou can find Iszi on twitter at @iszi_lawrence
New Teacast: Race Off with Craig Quartermaine and Brendon Burns
Link is hereI'm not going to lie - editing this week was a real pain in the whatsit.I normally use two mics, but this week had two excellent guests, so the ole zoom Hn4 ended up picking up a lot more of the rattling table and background ambience than I would have liked.I have wangled it into listenable shape, and think it's very worth a listen. It's a really interesting chat - including tea that costs 15 GBP, Craig bringing some Indigenous naming history facts to the ignorant (me) and Brendon Burns being alternately hilarious, charm...
New Teacast: Charlie Duncan Saffrey
This week's podcast was an interesting and quite challenging one for me.Link is here: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tea-with-alice/id789603540?mt=2I met Charlie when he invited me to do his show "Stand-up Philosophy", which was a lovely gig.As an interview, I don't know if I did as well as I'd have liked - there was a little stretch were Charlie was interviewing me, and on points that I don't normally speak publicly about in detail. I wanted to answer honestly, and I haven't edited out my answers, in part because I wan...
SBS Article
So SBS comedy has been shut down, but I'm still writing for its mum, the SBS website. This article includes my feelings about the prospect of fish watching me while I poo.
New Teacast: Henry Fraser
Getting the twin back on the pod. This was a very interesting chat, though I was incredibly jetlagged.Link is here: http://apple.co/2oyL7VyHe drank lapsang souchong and I had some jasmine green tea (I know I'm predictably green-tea based life-form). We talked about Grenfell, the economy of attention, deep long held carrot resentment, sharks, terrorism, trans suicide rates, road rage for cyclists and the lack of hope that seems to be a bit pervasive nowadays.Hen's off the social media for now, but if you have any messages for him, send t...
Something about offensive blokey jokes.
This might be a really obvious thought, but I've just had a moment of realising one reason (of many) why it feels so uncomfortable to call a friend or acquaintance or work colleague on an off colour comment or tasteless joke.I'm choosing to avoid for this discussion words like "problematic", because I think they tend to muddy up the water a bit. Problematic is so broad and non-specific that it serves to tell you that something is unacceptable (to the person deploying the term) but doesn't tell you why.I'm also talking ab...
New Teacast: Kirsty Webeck
Gosh I love talking to Kirsty - this was in the beautiful Victoria State Library over iced green tea on a very cold day.We talked about the sadness of losing low-status, the tyranny of evolving languages, the misuse of the word Violence, my own ignorance and the joke that I'm sure is going to get me into trouble.Podcast is here: http://apple.co/2oyL7VyIn other news, I head off to the UK this week, so my next podcast will be in London. Thanks everyone who has bought merch, it'll help me in Edinburgh, and all the people who have signed up...
I saw a man fall hard, from high up.
On Monday, I walked out of recording a podcast at the ABC towards the state library in Melbourne to do some work. I was listening to my book with half attention, thinking about what story I wanted to tell at The Moth storytelling night that night. I began to cross the road where I usually do to avoid the skin-care-harassers on Swanston st, who try to lure you into their shop with free samples. As I turned towards the opposite side of the road, a man fell hard on to the tram stop roof and then to the black pavement. The noise was one of those th...
Merch!
Well this is a wonderful thing. I've been thinking about doing merch for a while, but was reluctant to take the plunge - it seems like there's an inverse relationship between cost and ethical production of goods. Obviously, this is a constant dilemma of capitalism, and not a surprise, but it is surprising how alluring the option of cheaper (more mysteriously sourced) products can be when you're trying to give your people a good deal. The unseen workers disappear when you have a spreadsheet in front of you, and you think about the ca...
New Teacast: Alice Fraser Solo
This week, I sit alone in a room with a cuppa, talking to the void.Here you go: http://apple.co/2oyL7VyWe discuss modular identities, why "whatabouting" depletes empathy, the night I hung out by a fridge with Alan Cumming and whether we're more than the sum of our parts.This was a strange experiment. Let me know if you enjoyed it or not!Chiz!A
Sydney Empire Final Show
Hey Sydney patreons!The Sydney Comedy Festival has decided to bring be back home for one last show.I will be doing one night of Empire THIS FRIDAY at The Comedy Store. It is a lovely room for comedy, and it's also a VERY BIG room, with A LOT OF SEATS IN IT and I'd love to have as many of you in those seats as possible. The more excellent people come along, the better the show will be.Tickets are available HERE---If you're a supporter and want your free plus one, have seen the show already but want to see it again, are an impoverishe...
New Teacast: Mitch Alexander
Philosopher and Metal "singer" Mitch Alexander rejoins the podcast to talk about the danger of the idea of dangerous ideas, virtue ethics and sex robots.I always enjoy a wrestle/chat with Mitch. Here it is: http://apple.co/2hw3h6U
Vale SBS Comedy
Since March 2014 I've been writing articles of various quality and popularity for SBS comedy, as it grew, establishing a weekly Friday routine: http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/person/alice-rebekah-fraserI've written more than a hundred articles, on planes and buses, at home and overseas. From mad midnight inspirations that I had to solidify in the brutal light of day, to editorial suggestions, to "we need to run that by legal" edgy content that even I wasn't sure would work.SBS Comedy is one of the few places around that pays c...
New Teacast: David Maney
David is brushing up his resume - we talk about labels, Invisible Disabilities, New Age Medicine, Queer Comedy and Being a Tea.I was glad that David spoke with me about his MS, and feel a little bit guilty about going down definitional rabbit holes, and making fun of his truly excellent rainbow scarf.Listen Here: http://apple.co/2hw3h6U
Death and impact
Some thoughts...Few things match the feeling of immortality you get when you have a crowd that is with you on stage. When people have decided they trust you enough to go beyond listening and into absorption. The crowd becomes an entity and you can feel yourself moving its mood with your lips and tongue; in that moment you are shaping the thoughts in the minds of people in front of you. That's not an abstract claim. It is as concrete as the action of thought. The control you have is an illusion of course; though a powerful one. Communication...
The Indigo Hole
One of the most enjoyable things about writing for SBS Comedy is learning new things.Having a deadline for jokes is basically the only way I am productive - I need someone else to be relying on me to get that drive to create out of the realm of amorphous and inspired into actual utility.I mistrust inspiration as a source for creativity, because it's unreliable. It alternates between being a fountain of new work, and the grating feeling of trying to gather a cup of water by scraping condensation off a small window.While it's my primary s...
