Hamish Hudson is known for his sharp wit and bent views on Australian life. As one the country’s top musical comedians, he has the ability to take audiences on a delightful journey from world class song writing to the cheekier-side of profanities. Hamish’s music is clever, simple, poignant and everything non-pc, leaving audiences wanting more and singing his ridiculously ear worming lyrics for days. He became a primary source of communication and information for residents of the Braidwood and Araluen area during the 2019-2020 bushfires using Facebook to update and communicate with the community.
THE STREET TALKED TO HAMISH BEFORE HIS RETURN TO THE STREET THEATRE FOR THE WELLSPRING EVENT ‘BUSH FIRES’.
WHY MUSICAL COMEDY?
It’s a long story, but the short version is that I’ve always had a lot of words in my head that wanted to get out. When I was younger it was through poetry and song lyrics (no one in my immediate family can hold a tune or play an instrument). I was also that cheeky smart arsed kid in pretty much every class through school. Anyway, I started teaching myself guitar in my 30’s and every song I wrote was funny/dumb/rude or a combination of all three. 16 years ago I had a friend who sung John Williamson style original songs and we had spoken about one day doing one set in a pub somewhere for friends & family. One day my partner at the time and hers entered us in the JJJ Raw Comedy competition. Our first ever live performance was actually at the Street Theatre (seriously haha) and Wil Anderson was hosting! We won it and the rest is, as they say, history…
YOU RECENTLY TOOK PART IN THE CANBERRA COMEDY FESTIVAL’S DEBATE ON WHETHER LAUGHTER IS THE KEY TO LOVE. HOW DID YOU RESPOND? DID YOUR TEAM WIN THE DEBATE?
I was on the negative team and I wrote a song about money, orgasms, persistence and love being the real key/s to the heart.. And yes we won hah
WHAT DRIVES YOUR PASSION AS A SONGWRITER?
Originality. I love making something that people like engaging with that came from me and me only. I also feel very blessed to be able to spend an evening making a room full of people that I don’t know laugh, rather than sitting at home in front of a box..
WHERE DO YOUR STORIES COME FROM?
Real life, friends, topical events and just my own versions of social commentary.. Anywhere really.
TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR COLLABORATION WITH MORUYA MUSICAL LEGEND MICK MCGRATH.
Mick and I met picking persimmons 2km’s down the road from my place on a friend’s farm. We immediately connected over our arts and talked about collaborating at some stage. When that ended up coming to fruition, I absolutely loved the awesomeness and musicality he brought to my songs as well as the ‘straight man’ dynamic he brings to our comedy performances. We sometimes perform long sets which are a (all original) mix of my comedy songs and Mick’s and my own ‘nice/non comedy’ songs. Again, very blessed to be in that position. We are good friends now and it’s been a wonderful experience.
HOW DID YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIUM PLATFORMS DURING THE 2019-2020 BUSHFIRES TO COMMUNICATE WITH REGIONAL COMMUNITIES?
It was actually unintentional. The phone tower that serves us (Mnt Wandera) was destroyed on the 31st December 2019 when Mogo burned (we burned on the 4th). After that tower went down we had very limited communication with the outside world. My neighbour Murray had satellite wifi at his house and I used it to post a simple update to let my friends and family know what was going on and to reassure them we were okay and prepped. Well that night I got smashed by people I didn’t know asking me about how their loved ones in the valley and surrounds were. So I replied to everyone. It took a few hours for all the conversations which was trying after days of hectic prepping. And from that point until the 4th (when Murray’s house burnt I just provided daily updates, updates to the SES, and to Braidwood FM etc. There are a lot of negative issues with social media these days, but at that point in time it was an incredibly useful tool that helped a lot of people. Especially considering the ‘normal’ communications outages we were experiencing.
WHAT WAS YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO CLAIRE YOUNG’S THE HEART OF THE STORM PODCAST?
Claire based one of the podcasts on the experiences of the (northern) inhabitants of our valley, and used me as one of the key links to the community. I just happened to have taken a fair bit of video footage of the journey (and I obviously don’t mind talking), so I think that helped her to provide a narrative.
WAITING TO BURN IS A POWERFUL AND MOVING VIDEO CLIP CREATED BY YOU INCLUDING A SONG YOU WROTE. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY ABOUT THE THINGS YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY DID TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER IN MOVING FORWARD AND RECOVERING FROM THE BLACK SUMMER BUSHFIRES?
Thank you. I am really proud of that song because it is not normally what comes out of me and I know it resonates with a lot of people. I actually think that the bushfires forced our community (and a lot of others) together. It made us focus on things that are important like basic survival and helping your fellow community members, rather than rubbish like mortgages and car registration. I am a lot closer with most of my neighbours post fires and am good friends with a lot that I hadn’t met up to that point. It can be a hard time to reflect on, but there have been a lot of positives moving forward.
WHAT IS INSPIRING YOU IN COMEDY AT THE MOMENT?
I am actually really working on my guitar skills. I have bumbled my way through for over 16 years as a very average guitarist, which has always provided a level of non-pretentiousness for me, but has left me wanting in my personal development and sometimes super nervous at huge gigs haha. I am also revisiting lots of ideas/premises I have had over the years and having another crack with my 2024 brain and abilities. It’s going well at the moment and I find that really inspiring.
WHAT ARE YOU READING AND WATCHING CURRENTLY?
I’m not much of a reader to be honest, it doesn’t work with my brain. I’m also not a huge television watcher, but at the moment I am guilty of entering the YouTube rabbit hole pretty much every evening. If I had to list one show that really resonates with me currently I would have to say Mr Inbetween. Like with comedy, if you can relate to the story you are much more likely to be engaged and I find the realism and genuineness very easy to connect with as the protagonist is like someone I would be friends with.
BUSHFIRES: THE COLLECTIVE POWER OF COMMUNITY WITH HAMISH HUDSON AND OTHERS IS ON AT THE STREET THEATRE ON 16 MAY AT 6.30PM
STREET TALK 