Generally speaking, it’s totally ok to get a little bit starstruck and ahead of yourself whenever you get to meet your idols. That, in and of itself, is a perfectly fine, totally valid emotional response.
But with that said, if and when it does happen, it’s important to keep a handle on your surroundings.
Particularly if your surroundings happen to be the studio of a nationally broadcast breakfast radio show, with a live mic and a quick-witted co-host who’s acutely aware of your growing hubris.
Enter, our good mate Matt Okine, host of Triple J Breakfast, and reasonably accomplished (by Australian standards, at least) stand-up comic.
When faced with the freaking amazing opportunity of having legendary comic Chris Rock live in the studio with them, poor Matt fell into a classic trap deftly set up by co-host Alex Dyson, who laid his bait by casually mentioning to Rock that Matt, himself, is a stand-up.
Rock asked “Are you good?” and Matt, blindly stepping onto that pit of spikes barely covered by a scattering of leaves, boldly shot back “Yeah I’m really good.” Cue: a little playful chiding from Chris Rock about his confidence, and Alex Dyson who just so happened to have a short clip of Okine’s stand-up conveniently cued up for Rock to listen to/critique.
The faces that Matt Okine pulls as he desperately wishes he was somewhere else… Hooo boy. Have we all ever been there.
Not to take anything away from his skills. That vacuum cleaner gag is a great bit. It’s just that, in the Old West, it’s always the one who constantly proclaims to be the fastest hand in the land who gets shot down the first.
<3 u, Matt.
