A live show for people who are 'Mad Like Me'

Jamie Wise and Charlie Scott are the hosts of Mad Like Me, a "comedy-ish" podcast about mental health. The D*List's Olivia spoke to them about their upcoming live shows around Aotearoa. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below. 

Free tickets to the show are available via the Eventfinda website.

Dates and locations:

• 31 January in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland
• 3 February in Whangārei
• 9 February in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington
• 11 February in Ōtautahi/Christchurch
• 16 February Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland
• 17 February in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton

Interview transcript

Olivia Shivas: Kia ora, I am Olivia, the editor at The D*List, and I have Jamie and Charlie here with me today, and we're going to have a chat about their podcast and upcoming show called Mad Like Me. So do you want to introduce yourself first?

Jamie Wise: Yeah, kia ora, I'm Jamie, I am co-host of Mad Like Me.

Charlie Scott: And I'm Charlie, and I'm the other co-host ♪ Of Mad Like Me ♪ (both laugh)

JW: And if you've listened to our podcast, that is our theme tune, and we sing it all the time, so. (both laugh)

CS: Whether you like it or not.

OS: Tell me a bit about yourself, about where did you grow up, you know, how did this podcast come to be? How did you meet? What's your like meet cute story, as friends?

CS: Well, well, I'm Charlie, I grew up in Pukehina on a farm. Basically have spent a lot of my life just bopping around, like going up and down from Auckland, Wellington, Auckland, UK, um, and now back in old Tamaki. And I'm currently studying psychology and doing all that from home because I've kind of like adjusted my whole lifestyle to do everything as remotely as possible. You know, COVID. And okay, I'll pass over to you quick.

JW: Well, I am originally from Kirikiriroa. I grew up there, then decided to leave New Zealand and go to the UK for 10 years with just my guitar, my backpack and 300 quid, literally in my pocket. Don't know how I did it at all. Then came back because of COVID as well. And yeah, I met the beautiful Charlie at a flat party that I just moved into. She knew everybody. I didn't know anybody and she turned up and she was looking so cute and I was like total flat mum. And I was like, excuse me, would you like to wear some sunscreen? (laughing) So basically we became best friends straight away. And we were both going through a lot of stuff. And I think we really bonded when we were taking a walk in Cornwall Park, stopped under a tree to drink our coffees and both just cried together for three hours.

CS: Yep, laughed, cried, commiserated.

JW: Yeah.

CS: Celebrated, like it was a really interesting connection.

JW: Yeah, it was. But we always think about our crying under a tree in Cornwall Park is like our moment of being friends, deciding to do stuff together. And yeah, that's kind of how we started talking about the podcast and like both were really passionate about telling stories and telling our stories and just kind of went, well, if we can cry and laugh together, surely we can chat to other people together as well.

OS: So tell me more about the podcast.

JW: So the podcast is called Mad Like Me. It's all about platforming the stories of everyday humans through the lens of mental health. So for us, we wanted to stay away from the whole, I'm a celebrity, I had depression, now I climb six mountains a week. Because even while those stories are important, they're not always the most relatable. So we wanted to tell every person's story from their experience and hopefully then people who are listening are like, oh, they're a little mad like me.

CS: I feel like it was really nice to be able to have guests come on and not be in the most perfect place and be able to talk about their journeys, their ups and downs. And I do remember really specifically in our second episode, Stuart, he was saying, "Oh, you know, I'm actually, it's been a really hard week." And I think it was then that I really realised that we're really doing what we went out to do.

OS: And who is this podcast for?

JW: I think we're for people who are ready to laugh at the bits that are hard and a bit funny. We definitely lean into that sort of trauma humour kind of podcast style, I think. You know, we say we're the comedy-ish podcast of mental health. So, you know, we do it. There's a lot of laughter. It's not just, you know, talking about trauma. It's talking about survival and hope, but also where we really, really are. I think it's a podcast for anybody who thinks I could be on a podcast and I would tell my story and this is what it would sound like.

OS: Cool. And like all good podcasts, the transition goes into live shows. But you have one coming up. Tell me more about that.

JW: We saw a grant on Instagram through Nōku te Ao that was all about helping end discrimination for those who experience mental distress. I think that is a big part of what we want to do as well. By telling stories, we want to normalise people's experiences. So we were like, "What could we do with this?" And I was like, "Shall we go on tour?" (laughter) And so we did. We applied, we got it, and now we are doing six shows across five locations. And yeah, we released Season 1, which is great, and now Season 2 will be our live shows.

OS: That's so great. And what will the live show cover? Will it be different or similar to the actual podcast?

CS: It'll be basically the same format, just shifted around slightly. But each location will have a guest who is from that area, because we want to have local voices for local audiences. We have an 'Aunties in Agony' section where we get questions from, Well, in season one, it's a question sent in. When we're on the road...

JW: We're the live audience, hopefully!

CS: Hopefully!

JW: We'll have a couple of people. And yeah, I think we're going to pretty much keep it the same. I think because we have a very structured podcast, like every episode has the same sort of three things, it's quite easy to move that to a live show. What really adds the flavour and the difference is that it's a different kind of person's story every episode. So yeah, it will be same same, but different, I think is the vibe.

OS: And I know you've told me earlier about how you want the show to be as accessible as possible for a wider audience. So what are some of the elements that you have thought of?

JW: Absolutely. So we were really inspired by Becki Moss, who did a Queer Accessibility and Queer Spaces panel in February earlier this year. And we just loved how it was so inclusive. It was accessible. She'd really thought about everything. And we thought, what can we do? We'd only just started planning the podcast at that time, the live show. At that time, we thought, well, what can we do? So we're really proud to be saying that our first live show on the 31st of January is at Big Fan, which is an accessible venue. We are also getting NZSL interpreters along as well. We've got some really specific questioning in our ticketing so that we can make our... So we can be as agile as possible for people who want to attend. Whatever we can do, we will do. And we're also working with All is for All, who are going to help us do like an audit venue for the 31st of Jan as well. But yeah we really wanted to make sure that the podcast and shows are available for everybody, like everybody deserves the opportunity to hear these stories. And Becki Moss is going to be a guest for the live show as well, which we're really excited about.

OS: And the ticket cost? Tell us about that.

JW: Its’ free!

OS: Oh, I love that price! 

JW: It's even more than free because we will be giving away swag bags, so you will get some cool little gift bags if you come along. So yeah, literally it just costs you your time. That's it. Your time and your aroha.

CS: So true

JW: Yeah, I like that. 

CS: I like that.

JW: Put it on the notepad! 

OS: I love how you're being very proactive in terms of the forms to people to put what access needs they have. I mean, for a lot of people, and this is a topic that comes up a lot with invisible disabilities, and people who experience mental health, like it's not an obvious disability or something that may affect you. How have you navigated those types of conversations or situations?

CS: Invisible disabilities are, like you say, can be quite hard also to get it out of people. a I know this from experience, 'cause I've been, well, I've been, I'm severely immunocompromised, and going to events during the height of COVID and stuff was a nightmare. And actually what Jamie did during that time was put on a show of her, like, Make Your Noise. And she made her final show of the year entirely COVID-friendly, basically. It was free, with a negative RAT test.

JW: Yeah, we literally had people doing the tests outside of the show. But I think Charlie being so severely immunocompromised, and having to, it really made me think about it a lot more. We're both also neurospicy girlies. (laughing) So, sensory stuff is really big for both of us. We understand that, you know, I hadn't often thought about what would make a space more comfortable for myself, and a lot of times, so it's been really cool kind of doing this, and going, "Oh, wait, hang on a sec. "Do I need this? "What do I need? "What do I like? "You know, what works for me?" And yeah, we just wanna make sure that we're including everybody, it's so important to us. But yeah, so we navigate through our own experiences, but we also try and widen what is bigger than our brains. (laughing)

OS: I love hearing how it's come together and congrats on the upcoming live shows. I can't wait to attend and we'll definitely share the information and link with the list audience.

JW: Amazing.

OS: But thanks for your time and all the best for the prep leading up to it.

JW: Thank you so much.

CS: Thank you. Thanks for having us.