With special guest:
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Matt Okine
… in conversation with Bill Kable
Matt Okine’s book Being Black ‘n Chicken, & Chips is based on his award-winning stand-up show and is at once heart-breaking and hilarious.
Matt provides a bird’s eye view of life as a 12 year old when things start unravelling, just as that boy/child is working out some important stuff. He is working on the relationship with his father that has never really developed; there is a potential heart stopping girlfriend on the fringes; and there is a girl next door who is more of a friend than his male companions. Finally and most importantly he has to negotiate the changing relationship with his mother.
Matt is more a friend than a protector for his mother but when she receives a cancer diagnosis the depth of that relationship is developed. That illness affects other relationships too. His parents start seeing eye to eye after being estranged for so long. His mother’s new partner does not really know how to respond and her own mother seems to dig in with her demanding interactions with her only daughter.
It really takes a stand-up comedian to see the strange part of all these interactions that contain some universal themes.
It is a delight to speak with Matt who shares a close relationship himself with the main character Mike although Matt is quick to point out where they differ. As to what happens next in Mike’s life we will have to see because Matt doesn’t know himself yet.
But in Matt’s life we get a hint of what his new stand-up show will be covering. Matt and his partner Belinda have recently become parents of Sofia Atswei Okine and in Matt’s words he sees more and more of her grandmother in her every day. I think we can expect to hear more about the effect of Sofia in places like restaurants in Matt’s new show but in the meantime it is great to hear from one of Australia’s leading actors and comedians.
Matt Okine
Matt Okine is a stand-up comedian, actor, rapper and radio presenter of Ghanaian descent. Matt is currently appearing in series 2 of The Other Guy a Stan original series. Matt was a co-host of the breakfast show on 2JJJ from 2014 to 2016. He has won the ARIA music award for best comedy release. Matt is the author of Short Cuts to Glory: Learning to Cook - The Easy Beginners’ Guide for Australian Cooks and his most recent work Being Black ‘n Chicken, & Chips a novel. Matt has recently become a father.
Song selection by our guest: Paranoid Android by Radiohead