Matt Okine

Now that he's taken over the triple j breakfast slot alongside Alex Dyson, Brisbane-born comedian Matt Okine has had to adjust to the early starts. “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.”

Aside from one of the nation's most prestigious radio gigs, Okine has secured a hosting spot on SBS A-League show, Thursday FC, recently earned a Best Newcomer nomination after a month-long run of shows at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and completed a successful run of his show Being Black And Chicken And S#%t at London's Soho Theatre late last year.

“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, 'You'll be miserable in a week'.”

In Okine's festival show this year, titled Happiness Not Included, he'll be spending an hour exploring his current headspace. A theme he keeps returning to is money, or lack thereof. 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. “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. That's the real theme of my shows: how much can someone change in a year, and what is going to make you change?”