As the Edinburgh Fringe continues to approach, I guested on a podcast I have listened to off and on ever since I caught wind of it at the Edinburgh fringe festival some years ago: On the Mic (UK) hosted by Martin Walker.
Doing podcasts can be tricky, it feels a lot like having a conversation in the corner at a party doing your best to be yourself, the whole time hoping people around you are eavesdropping and can’t wait to tell other people what you said.
Martin made it very easy for me to recount bits of my comedy origin story. I am often reluctant to bring up my career origins in Japan. I imagine it can sound a lot like someone complaining about living on the moon. I mean, yeah, okay….but, DUDE YOU LIVED ON THE FUCKING MOON!
I double-checked my claims of the exploitative nature of Japanese comedy stables and entertainment companies and am confident I gave an accurate, albeit superficial, description of the salary conditions of comedians working in the Japanese entertainment industry. I forgot to mention the Austrailian comedian who told me he was paid the quivalent of 3 pounds and 50p a day for a year or more in the comedy stable that took him in. They did not cover his living or travel costs during that time and he often travelled cross-country on overnight buses. He has since moved behind the camera and makes all kinds of money. There are also the very popular foreign TV personalities that tried to negotiate better deals for themselves and were instantly blackballed from TV and replaced overnight. I know it sounds too extreme to be true, but it played a large role in me deciding against pursuing a career in the Japanese comedy scene. The documentary The Contestant about comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu’s experience being kept naked and starving in a room for a 15 months while he earned food and clothing by filling out magazine sweepstakes is an excellent example. He was paid the today equivalent of $65,000 for his time on the show and receives no royalties from the record-breaking viewership show.
If you want to hear my interview with Martin you can find it on Spotify and below.