Good Morning Brisbane

Comedian Matt Okine has always had one foot firmly in the world of music. Exhibit A: head to YouTube and witness his rapping alter-ego, Disco-Matt MC, with his own hip hop crew, The Boilermakers. So now he's taken over the triple j breakfast slot alongside Alex Dyson, the musical world has opened up to the Brisbane-born comedian. 

“I wouldn't say I've met any of my musical heroes,” says Okine of his first few weeks in the job, “but I've certainly met people I look up to. What I've liked about it mainly is how much music I'm getting to see. I'd forgotten how broad my liking of music was. I kind of fell into a bit of a hip hop hole for a while, and now I'm like, 'That's right, I like all music... except country and western.'”

As we speak, Okine is heading to the airport after his radio gig to fly to Brissie for his first St Jerome's Laneway Festival. He might be crossing genres for the evening but he's definitely still dwelling in that hip hop hole, as he talks about flagrantly abusing his newfound power to line up some Boilermakers guest MCs.

“Bro, I'm gonna blackmail heaps of dudes into collabing with me,” Okine laughs. “Forget the ABC editorial policy – I'm gonna be bribing dudes with airtime just so I can get them to feature on my sweet bedroom bangers.” Finally, the real reason Tony Abbott's going after the ABC, The Music suggests? “Exactly! All because of one man's hip hop delusions.”

The number one question Okine says he's been asked over the past few weeks is about adjusting to the early starts. “I don't believe in being a morning person. Bro, I'm barely a person. Previously in my life it's been a very slow build-up to the point of the day where I need to be funny and energetic, and now it's the complete opposite. As soon as I wake up it's 'Go! Right now!' and from that point on it's a slow, steady decline into braindead-ness. But I am getting into a routine. In reality I was doing so much comedy internationally that was probably destroying my body more than getting up at a set time in the morning. You know what? It's been an amazing thing just being able to watch the sun rise every day. Doing comedy, I never thought I'd see that again.”

Aside from one of the nation's most prestigious radio gigs, Okine has been literally kicking goals, securing a hosting spot on SBS A-League show Thursday FC while maintaining momentum in his stellar stand-up career. He recently earned a Best Newcomer nomination after a month-long run of shows at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 

The comedian followed up that honour with a successful run of his show Being Black & Chicken and S#%t – partly about his experiences in his father's native Ghana – at London's Soho Theatre late last year.

“London was probably my favourite overseas experience. I was in London during the summer, so we had two weeks of the best weather, so I've got this totally warped idea London is this beautiful, shining place where people are happy, and I'm just walking through the streets of Soho going 'Man, I love this place,' and all my friends who live there are going 'Dude, this is not real.' I'm like 'Man, I could live here forever' and they're like 'Don't do it, you'll be miserable in a week.'”

Okine's fresh festival show this year is titled Happiness Not Included, and as with all his shows, he'll be spending an hour exploring his current headspace. A theme he keeps returning to is money, or lack thereof. Last year's festival show, Broken Diamond House, delved into the link between money and happiness. But surely, after taking a job with Aunty, Okine's money worries are over? 

“Let's just say I'm not on Tony Jones' wage,” he laughs. “When the next leaked [salary] list comes out, look to the bottom of it! But even if this year's show is not a show about being broke, it's about living the way I do. I may be doing well in terms of my comedy life but everything else is as sad and pathetic as it ever was. I'm still buying home-brand shampoo and driving a shitbox. Nothing changes. That's the real theme of my shows: how much can someone change in a year, and what is going to make you change?”