Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to Something to Talk About, the Stella podcast. I'm Sarah Lamarquand, your host, and every week I sit down with some of the biggest names in the country because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to Talk About. It may surprise you to hear that Tommy Little is big on self-awareness.
Chapter 2: What does Tommy Little reveal about his self-awareness journey?
Having built a career in stand-up, radio and television that has traded on his self-deprecating sense of humour, he's now trading chaos for clarity, diving into everything from poetry to horse therapy. But the comedian, now 41, isn't just exploring wellness. He's looking for something more meaningful.
This was essentially a year of trying to make myself a more viable partner and hopefully potential father one day. I've had enough relationships where I've realized that I'm the problem.
In today's episode of The Stellar Podcast, Tommy reflects on the realisation that he's been the common denominator in all of his breakups, weighs in on those rumours about his long-time radio co-host Carrie Bickmore possibly jumping ship to work with Karl Stefanovic, and reveals how he's recently taken to performing poetry to a select crowd in a toilet cubicle.
Tommy Little, welcome to The Stellar Podcast.
Sarah, thanks for having us. It's so nice to be here in our respective parts of the world. Why does nothing happen face to face these days?
I don't know. You tell me. We could fly you to the Stellar Podcast Sydney studio next time. So when you are touring your show, let's try to make something happen in person because love the virtual world, but it has its limitations, doesn't it?
I hate the virtual world. I'm so sick of seeing people on screens. And also what gets me is when you see people on screens telling people to get off their screens. And I'm like, you know, the only reason your message is getting out there is because people are seeing it on the screen. This is so true. It's very confusing.
I'm consuming about five videos a day on Instagram telling me that I should stop living my life on Instagram. I mean, I understand get your audience where they are, but yeah, definition of irony and all of that.
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Chapter 3: How has Tommy's comedy evolved towards wellness themes?
So our message to people is watch all the way to the end of this, but then as soon as this is over, you better get off your screen until the next episode.
Exactly.
And then back on.
Listen to Tommy, live your life, but after you've listened and watched and heard this. Because Tommy Little, you have reinvented yourself as a little bit of a wellness guru, which we are here to chat about. I'm so the opposite of Zen that our fabulous video producer, Bailey, had to actually correct how I was saying namaste. So apologies if I say it incorrectly.
Sarah, I don't want to interrupt too much, but in case you haven't noticed, I am not Nepalese and I am not going to correct you on the pronunciation of namaste. Don't you worry.
I'm sure our audience are probably screaming at me and it's like, sorry, guys. But, Tommy, you might be the person to convert me and any other people listening to this finally to wellness because we're looking to you, my friend, because Tommy is touring Australia at the moment with his new comedy tour show called Namaste the F Away From Me. Now, Tommy, I did slightly PG that title. Yes.
Just so you know, guests are very welcome to use whatever colourful language they wish on this podcast. Sometimes I do. I just thought maybe I wouldn't scare anyone by me dropping the full F-bomb within the first five minutes of our chat.
Well, Sarah, you're right. The show is called Namaste the Fuck Away from Me. And like my show, every year has annoyed my producers because every year there is a swear word in my title. And they're like, you know, we can't put that on billboards. You know, we can't put that on the front of the theater. And I don't care.
Well, it's not hurting business, is it? I mean, you're playing to pretty packed crowds, so I guess it's working for you.
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Chapter 4: What unusual thing does Tommy do after his shows?
You don't really need the blurbs and the disclaimers and the warning signs. You saw the title, you're here, you know exactly what you're in for. So tell us a little bit about what is inside that tin then, Tommy. Obviously, for anyone that feels they have inadvertently stumbled upon a wellness podcast hosted by someone that can't say namaste. then you are probably in the wrong place.
But please stay tuned because Tommy Little is going to convert us. So, Tommy, tell me about your brand of wellness and what's brought you to this latest characteristically colourfully titled show.
Well, this was essentially a year of trying to make myself a more viable partner and hopefully potential father one day. I've had enough relationships where I've realised that I'm the problem You know, like, you know, when you like, I'm the only common denominator here. And so I just spent a year trying to kind of better myself, but it didn't go very well.
And I actually found a cheat code, Sarah. I found that there is a temple in Nepal and it's one of the highest temples in the world. And you can just go and run under these 108 holy spouts of water and you can get your soul cleansed. So I just, I stopped therapy. I went and did that and we're pretty much good to go.
That's fantastic, like the two-second fix. Why bother all this introspection and working on yourself when you can just be running through a fountain? The definition of cleansing there, Tommy, as I'm hearing it.
Yeah, and it's a pilgrimage. It's like a three- or four-day hike each way to go to the temple. We ran out of time to do that, so we chartered a helicopter, which is not the traditional way to get to a temple. We were the only white people there, and we were the only people that arrived in a helicopter there. And so we're doing nothing for the brand image of white people around the world.
And I'm sorry for that.
Look, don't worry. I think there's quite a few tourists trampling the globe at the moment that are not doing their bit for us white people. So good on you for having the self-awareness about that. Tommy, what are some of the anecdotes and the moments that are resonating? You're in the very early stages of touring this show.
What are the moments that are sparking and resonating the most with your audience?
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Chapter 5: How does Tommy's experience with relationships influence his perspective on fatherhood?
My... family are all from the country and so my uncle died in a lap plane crash um hit power lines and um and he's sadly no longer with us and being a pilot was something that wasn't on my list and then i i just met a a beautiful man who um was a pilot and he goes he just said out of nowhere he goes i think i should teach you to fly planes and It was too good an offer to say no to.
And so then I started flying and just fell in love with it. And then after getting my plane license, I thought helicopters looked fun. And I ended up getting my helicopter license at the end of last year. And it is one of the biggest joys in my life and one of the most unrelatable things for me to talk about.
Well, do you have your own private jet? Because that's on the Leo DiCaprio Kardashian scale. That's the unrelatable part. But to have your pilot's license and then if you're going and hiring a plane, that may be vaguely more relatable. What sort of role does it play in your day-to-day life in terms of how often do you fly? Do you take friends and family out?
Would it ever be an eventual career path for you as a commercial pilot down the track? Not to imply that anything's not going really swimmingly, by the way, Tommy. Sorry. Sorry to interrupt.
No, if anything, I was flattered by you thinking I have the intelligence to be a commercial pilot. That is a step beyond me. But I do take friends out. I try and fly once a week. And it's just if anyone is listening and going, oh, God, this is so, yeah, like ritzy or wanky or something, it's not quite as it sounds. Like I'm not, as you said, I'm not flying in big private jets.
It's more, if you think back to old aviators with the funny ear flaps and like spinning the propeller to start the plane, it's closer to that end of the spectrum than it is, you know, John Travolta's jet.
And if you don't mind me asking, what did you learn about yourself in that process?
oh, gosh, this is going to be real vulnerable. Sarah, this is so vulnerable. But I think I'm not as dumb as I thought. I know, it's real vulnerable. Yeah. It's real vulnerable. But it's like, you know, there's a lot of, particularly in the theory side of things, a lot of physics stuff and stuff that certainly doesn't come naturally to me and a lot of it's self-study.
You can sign up to do, you know, kind of full-time courses. I didn't do that. I just bought the books and in my own spare time went through the study and then got myself to the point of doing the exams. And I... Yeah, I think I learned that I'm a bit more capable because I am, in my day-to-day life, I'm useless.
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Chapter 6: What insights does Tommy share about his approach to personal growth?
You may be – you're certainly not the best, certainly not, but I think you're not the dumbest in the world.
Oh, Tommy, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Sorry, I know I did have a visible reaction. And to be honest, I hope this doesn't sound patronising or trite, but it was just because my instant reaction was like, oh, my God, of course you're not dumb. You're a really smart, capable guy. But you really are. I'm not just saying that. You really are.
But I also really understand, Tommy, especially for someone with ADHD, as I also have ADHD and I have a teenage son with ADHD and I know the complications between losing things and not being able to manage time and having time blindness or whatever, however it may manifest in a person. as opposed to your actual capacity and your intelligence and the insight and the wisdom that you have.
And I also think there's just, again, this is, but I think there's just years of that have a gradually detrimental effect on your self-worth in terms of like being capable, which is also something that I don't really care about. Like, I don't really care that I lose shit all the time. And I don't care that things get, you know, bills go unpaid and stuff.
But to give you an idea of, I think, how people... particularly view me, which I also kind of like. So I love reading. Like I'm a super avid reader and people never assume that to the point where on three separate occasions in my life I've been in a bookstore, three separate strangers have come up to me and said, Bob, I did not expect to see you in here.
And what do you say in that situation?
I say I'm buying something for a friend.
Oh.
Tommy.
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Chapter 7: How does Tommy balance comedy and vulnerability in his performances?
And it was extremely powerful. And anyone listening, watching, reading this that doesn't know what I'm talking about, you know, go to Tommy's Instagram page, go to the Carrie and Tommy Instagram account. It's a really amazing moment.
But Tommy, that was a conversation that would have struck a chord with a lot of people in an environment where people might not have assumed that that conversation would happen. It's a very long, rambling, characteristically ADHD question for me. Apologies for that.
But I just wanted to dive back into what you had raised about all of the layers and the funny and the light and the shade and then the really bravery is an overused word, but the vulnerability and the courage to take on issues that aren't easy in an environment like that.
Yeah, I think I'm very lucky in getting to work with Carrie because when you have someone as talented as her and as big a star as her, the radio station leave you alone. And it means we just get to make the show that we're proud of. And that... It means whatever the mood is that day.
We don't have, you know, pillars of our show that each day we've got to talk about a gossip piece or each day we've got to do this. We literally talk about the things that we're passionate about that day and that can range from everything, from the funniest, dumbest, the most inappropriate time you've done a fart on 131060 to then really important things
societal issues that aren't changing, like you mentioned, the epidemic of violence against women. And I think it gives it all a bit of honesty. I think because we do cover a large kind of breadth of stuff, I think you can be assured that we're not just talking feeling an agenda or trying to do something other than, you know, make radio that we're proud of.
Is that something that you have increasingly become comfortable with? Because the radio show is coming up to 10 years. It was 2017 that you and Carrie launched that show. And at the time, Carrie was still full time on the project. And of course, then she started to slowly dial down her time on the project and then eventually left.
So it was quite an early adoption of somebody leaving a really super high profile,
job on primetime television and then moving into that and of course Tommy for you it's been the same thing where and now the project unfortunately not even on air anymore so we're not seeing people like you and Carrie and some of your contemporaries you know like Fifi Box before you like all these people you know Kate Langbrook that were all on TV and now existing in the radio space and
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Chapter 8: What challenges does Tommy face in the current media landscape?
There's a sound guy that's only worked one week. He's above me on the call sheet. I'm under the section other at the bottom of the board. And then in brackets, must bring snacks for the team.
And do you fulfil on that, Tommy? Is your snack game good?
My snack game is always just an HSP. It's always hot chips. It always involves chicken salt. And as the years go on, the hot chips show more and more.
Coming up, Tommy gets raw about his deep-seated longing to become a father. It's a bit of a predictable or it's an unfair question to ask people if they have a favourite. You know, if you're an actor, like what's your favourite role or, you know, all of like what's your favourite book to an author? But for you, do you have a preferred platform, a preferred medium?
Is it being on stage in a comedy show? Is it on more rapid-fire TV, whether it is coming on as a guest, you know, doing a live cross? Is it the radio? What is your preferred platform?
I think I love doing radio and stand-up hand-in-hand because stand-up is like my happy place. Like everything else calms down and it's like, It's the only time in my day I really feel relaxed is when I'm on a stage and the lights are down. I just love it. All the noise is gone and you just have to make people laugh. It's the best feeling in the world.
But then it's also isolated and I'm a very social person. And so going in and getting to create radio with one of my best friends and with a team fuels me in a completely different way. So I'm a greedy little piggy and I'm saying I like to do both.
Well, the good thing is I think then that sort of the intersection of them all colliding has been a good thing for you then because there would have been, if we were having this conversation 10 years ago, it would have been like this is me, Tommy Little, the comedian, this is what I do, and then this is what I do in TV, and then this is what I do in radio.
And from what I'm hearing that they're all – got so much in common and there's so many parallels. And that I guess is the good side of this multimedia content distribution world that we live in now.
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