Latest news with #LittleTurd
Daily Mail
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Aussie comedian left stunned as NBA superstar delivers $60,000 act of generosity to a stranger
Australian comedian Brett Blake has shared an unforgettable story about his recent brush with basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. Appearing on Triple M Breakfast with Marto, Margaux & Dan, Blake opened up about filming a commercial in the United States alongside the NBA Hall of Famer. The pair had teamed up for a PointsBet campaign, and for Blake, the experience was unforgettable. 'They took us over to America and I did an ad with Shaquille O'Neal which is like, I will remember that day on my deathbed,' Blake said. 'It was one of the coolest things I've done in my life.' While on set, Blake witnessed something he'll never forget - a moment of generosity that revealed a lesser-known side of the basketball giant. 'A lady rocked up to the set, and her car broke down on the way, so Shaq bought her a brand new sixty thousand dollar Chrysler, just handed her the keys…' Blake said. As a comedian known for his honesty, Blake couldn't resist adding a dose of self-deprecating humour. 'The worst part was technically I was homeless at the time,' he admitted. 'I was living in a camper trailer by Rosebud Beach. I was like Shaq, buy me a house. Come on brother.' Blake, who hails from Forrestfield in Western Australia, has become one of the most recognisable faces in Aussie comedy. Known for his raw storytelling, distinctive mullet, and high-energy sets, he's never afraid to laugh at himself. He often draws on his turbulent youth in his material. At 17, Blake was charged with inciting a riot and assaulting a police officer - a turning point he explores in his 2025 show Little Turd, which earned him a nomination for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award for Most Outstanding Show. Beyond stand-up, Blake is a familiar presence on Aussie screens, having appeared on The Project, Common Sense, and The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala. He also co-hosts two comedy podcasts: Flat Stick with Nick Capper and Work Hates with Bron Lewis. His specials Bogan Genius and Go Hard or Go Home have cemented his place as a fan favourite, both at home and increasingly abroad. But it was his chance encounter with Shaquille O'Neal that gave Blake an entirely new perspective on fame, wealth, and generosity. Shaq, born in Newark, New Jersey in 1972, is not just one of the most dominant players in NBA history - he's also known for his big heart and even bigger personality. After a 19-year career that saw him win four NBA championships, three Finals MVPs and a regular season MVP, O'Neal retired as one of the sport's greatest ever. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. But post-retirement, Shaq's star has only grown. He's built a career in music, acting, TV commentary, and business - and is now considered a global icon both on and off the court. What makes him stand out, Blake says, is not just his fame, but his character.
ABC News
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Brett Blake was charged with inciting a riot as a teen. But he got a second chance
Brett Blake knows he sucked as a kid. The WA-born, Victoria-based comedian even named his 2025 festival show Little Turd after his adolescent behaviour (although he did have to change it to Little Scallywag for his Edinburgh Fringe Festival run – delicate sensibilities over there). Blake grew up in Forrestfield, a working-class suburb in the inland Western Australia town of Kalamunda. The comedian admits that when he was growing up it was a bit of a "rough area" with "a lot of fights". But if there's one describer Blake would give the suburb it would be "boring". "You had to find ways to entertain yourself or find your own excitement," he says. Teen Blake's pursuit of excitement as a youth led to him not just being charged with inciting a riot, but also to his Melbourne International Comedy Festival Most Outstanding Comedy-nominated show. The Kalamunda riot One weekend, when Blake was 17, he and his friends attended a party in the more affluent suburbs of Kalamunda. Loading Instagram content There had been another party in the area two weeks before, which had gotten out of hand. "A lot of those kids were blaming Forrestfield kids for coming up and we weren't there. The next weekend, there was a party, which we thought were invited to," Blake explains. But as the group descended onto the house party, they quickly realised they weren't welcome. Thanks to word of mouth (or, rather, word of text message), the party had grown too large, too uncontrollable. Next thing Blake knew, dozens of police officers in riot gear had arrived. "To be honest with you, I got ADHD, so when the cops came with the riot gear, the helicopters, it was pretty exciting," Blake says. "At this point, we didn't even know that it was for us. We saw like 20 police officers and thought, 'Oh, there must be someone around here that's done something wrong.'" As the police clashed with the partygoers, tensions escalated and Blake made a split-second decision that he would quickly come to deeply regret. "A police officer hit a friend with a riot shield so I threw a brick at them, which is so dumb, I know. I'm 17 and making bad decisions," Blake says. Before the night was out, teen Blake was in handcuffs. He would soon be charged with disorderly conduct, inciting a riot and assaulting a police officer. Front page news "I was just so excited to tackle something that was very challenging because to make a riot and assaulting a police officer funny is quite hard," Blake says. ( Supplied: Chris Hillary ) In the weeks following his arrest, Blake was informed he was staring down a possible 10-year prison sentence for his actions. But the immediate fallout hit his family the hardest. "[My parents] were devastated. We had news crews out the front of our house that were all over the front of the West Australian newspaper by the next day saying: 'Bad kids, bad family,'" Blake says. "That wasn't fair. I made a mistake. My parents didn't but they got dragged across it as well." Due to being under the age of 18, Blake couldn't be personally identified in the media, but that didn't keep the targets off his back. "I've got news clippings saying they wanted to publicly flog me. A One Nation MP said, 'Bring back the birch' — they were just out for blood." Second chances A mainstay in the comedy scene for more than a decade, Blake was looking for a personal challenge when he started writing Little Turd — but he also wanted to challenge people's preconceived notions of youth offenders. The proclaimed rise in youth crime remains a hot political topic, despite latest data showing that youth In late 2024, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli led the Liberal Party to power in the state on the slogan: "Adult Crime, Adult Time". Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that Queensland's youth crime rate has almost halved across the past 14 years. Around the same time, the Photo shows a woman next to a sign Youth crime rates have plummeted in Queensland despite claims from both major parties that the state is in the grip of a crisis. "Everyone wants a solution. They say throw them in jail but that's not the answer. We need to go further — what's going wrong at home? Is it something else going wrong at school?" Blake says. "People always counter with, 'What about that one kid who walks into a house with a machete? He needs to go to jail.' "It's like, yes, but let's stop him before a kid finds that [to be] normal behaviour. We needed to go back further so we never get to the point where holding a machete in a lounge room is normal behaviour." Blake is keeping tight-lipped on the outcome of his early-2000s court case ("That's the big bit at the end of the show"), but the moment had a significant impact on his life. "It was a reality check. I thought more about my actions after I got a second chance," he says. "But I tell a story in my show about another kid that went to my school and was at that party. He didn't get a second chance, and his entire life was, loosely, ruined." For Mum, Love Brett After a 20-plus-night run at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Blake was honoured with a nomination for the festival's top award: Most Outstanding Show. It's a momentous milestone for any comedian, but Blake says it actually wasn't the highlight of his run. "My favourite part is when I see a mum in the audience with a young boy. They'll bring in their 15-year-old, 14-year-old who is a bit of a tearaway," he says. Ultimately, Blake says, he wrote the show for his own mum — for sticking by him when he was in his little-turd era. Loading Instagram content "When I was younger, I could never really communicate how much this one moment meant. I got to write this show so she could hear my version of what happened and how much she meant to me," he says. The comedian says Little Turd is not an opportunity to preach, but rather is a lived-in perspective from a former youth offender. "[After people see the show] I hope when people see these news articles on A Current Affair or on Facebook, they just remember there's a mum and a dad behind that, and approach it with a little bit of heart and compassion." Brett Blake will perform Little Turd at the Brisbane Comedy Festival from May 1 to May 4 before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in July.
