Meet the Aussie duo rewiring comedy

Perth Now

2 days ago

In early 2020, appearing on the YouTube interview show Hot Ones, legendary comedian Will Ferrell mused on the future of comedy.
Comedy clubs were back then and are now a shadow of their former selves and mere days ago CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert after 33 years on air, 10 of those with Colbert as host.
But laughs aren't dead, they're just online now.
Social media is proving the new frontier for comedians looking to cut their teeth, allowing budding comics to record sketches, develop characters and grow a platform without the aid of more traditional pathways.
Half the world away from that Ferrell interview, comedy duo Swag on the Beat started life in a Melbourne supermarket after an innocent one-take video poking fun at Covid supermarket etiquette gathered almost 30,000 views. Melbourne duo Swag On The Beat made up of Isaac Gibbons and Jack Say. David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia
Today, the duo – made up of Jack Say, 28, and Isaac Gibbons, 29 – have amassed more than 3.3 million followers across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Having recently completed a live show tour around Australia, New Zealand and England, Say and Gibbons agreed with Ferrell's assessment that there was no substitute for honing a comedian's craft quite like performing in front of a crowd. However, they argued the nature of social media management meant nowadays comics needed to be a 'jack of all trades'.
'It was an amazing cutting of the teeth moment for us,' Say told NewsWire.
'We learned so much about live audiences, but it feels like now – you hear musicians talk about it as well – not only do you have to 'make the music', but you have to be the advertiser and you have to do all the social media stuff that comes along with it.
'It feels like you almost have to be a jack of all trades and to service each platform with what it requires in order to have a grip in the industry.' The boys just reached one million followers on Instagram alone. David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia
Continuing the aspiration of multi-platform mastery, the duo have cracked into the podcast space.
It's a dangerous time to make the move. Internet commentators have complained the market is now so over-saturated that the sale of podcasting equipment ought to be restricted or banned.
The boys, however, are finding the change of pace a welcome return to the ad lib comedy style of their younger years.
'Speaking for myself, I wasn't a huge podcast guy, so I guess I was always astounded by the amount of podcasts out there that have strong listenership,' Gibbons said.
'Obviously, it's a growing platform and there's people that listen to all kinds of content. And I think rather than talking other people down or focusing on how types of podcasts that don't deserve listeners, get listeners, maybe it's worth acknowledging that there's all kinds of listeners for different types of content and trying to tap into that, appreciate that everyone listens to different stuff and try to make something that can appeal to a lot of people.'
Making content that is appealing to a wide spate of people is no easy task in the modern world and it's something that Say and Gibbons have made pains to improve on in recent years.
'We were talking about this earlier today actually. Something we've crystallised since the start of Swag and we're getting closer and closer to is being able to provide content that anyone can listen to,' Say said. Comedy legend Barry Humphries is among the boys' role models. Openart AI Credit: Supplied
'If you're 15 or 75, we would like to create stuff that anyone can enjoy, anyone can palate.
'While being fresh and interesting is kind of the goal for us, we don't want to exclude any group or person or people from our stuff.
'It's that classic line from when they wrote the Mr. Bean TV show. 'If a joke couldn't be understood by people in Egypt, then it didn't get in'. He's on the extreme level where he didn't even speak, but we're sort of taking a leaf out of that book, which is: Does this allow everyone who can hear and watch our stuff the chance to enjoy it?
'There's only so much you can do as two guys, but we feel like we're getting better at dividing our time and energy up into multiple parts of the industry, which feels like an essential thing.'
It's difficult to put your finger on Australian comedy in the same way you can identify dry British humour or brazen American comedies, and the nature of social media skits as an emerging form of content means prospective filmers may lack the comic role models of other mediums.
However the boys cast the net wide and believe the vagueness offers an opportunity to cherry pick and aspire to the best.
'We're big fans of Chris Lilly, everything done by Chris Lilly,' Gibbons said. Australian icon in Chris Lilley as Jonah Takalua. Supplied Credit: Supplied
'I love the character comedy and the way he can very convincingly play all different types of characters. Sacha Baron Cohen as well.
'I think the Godfather of Australian comedy, Barry Humphries, is of course iconic. Flight of the Concords is a duo who has a hilarious dynamic and incorporates music which we try to do as well.'
'(American and British humour) both are incredible, but I suppose beyond personal preference of the comedy styles, as Australia does in many other ways, we sort of take little bits of longstanding cultures that we like and try and incorporate them into our own things,' Say added.
'Maybe there's a bit of that going on that is forming the Australian comedy style.'
The duo has partnered with KitKat to release a line of Commuter Camouflage Hoodies and are celebrating reaching one million followers on Instagram by throwing a party at the Railway Hotel in Brunswick on Saturday, August 30, announcing a secret project they've 'been working on for months'.