February 5, 2026 • 10 mins
Denise Scott joins Jonesy & Amanda to chat about cancer, mistaken identity and her Aussie tour!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
My Heart podcasts here more gold one on one point
seven podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You're listening to the Jonesy and Demanda podcast. Well, it's
been well over a decade since one of our most
beloved comedians has hit the stage for a solo performance.
Sounds like we've got I've got her in a sack
to the sid hold on to your hats. Denise Scott
is gearing up to make her return to the stage.
What's she been up to, What's going on? What's she
(00:39):
going to be talking about? Denise Scott?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hello, Hello, lovely to be here with both of you.
You look full of beans and I know that you've
been going through hell, which is the cancer journey as
people seem to say. Yes for a minute, and I
thought you were referring to my partner John. He's always
been hell, but a delightful chap forty four years.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Anyway, Yes, you look great here, feeling great to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No, which I think is a bit disappointed. It fully
worth better. I'm still on medication which many many well,
I suppose it's women take it after breast cancer or
surviving breast cancer, which it just cuts out all estrogen,
(01:28):
and that stuff's everything. It stuff's your skin, your mental health,
your joints. But you're alive, so you know, you go
with that. But the brain fog, but then everything seems
a side effect, seems to be brain fog, and mine's phenomenal.
So good luck if you're coming to see me perform,
(01:50):
because I can't guarantee I won't just freeze and get
upsets and walk off lest apologies, I'm on letrasol.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Every night will be different, though, So what a gift.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What a gift. It'll be a wild ride.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Are you talking about all of that in your show?
I mean ten years since you've done a solo show.
What kind of stuff is interesting you?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, this is the thing. I never thought i'd do
a solo show again, because they're very stressful. And as Judith,
Lucy and I have admitted to one another, neither of
us has any imagination whatsoever. We really don't, so we
just have to write what happens in our life. And
(02:34):
of course my kids have grown up. I don't want
to be talking about my grandkids. I don't want to.
Well I do, actually I want to exploit them, of
course I do it but for now. Yes, So after
I spent it was all up about three years, I
guess dealing with cancer and I thought, oh, well, it's
(02:55):
something to write about. And there was a lot of
oh jonesy, you're looking so grim and furrow brown, and
it is it's quite a hard thing to talk about
with it, but it's there's a lot of funny stuff
that happens. What's funny about cancer? Oh well, I don't
(03:20):
want to now I feel perplexed, but well, for instance,
the fact that I did filmed Mother and Son at
the same time as having my first lot of chemo.
I was diagnosed when we were just about to move
to Sydney, because I live in Melbourne and sort of
(03:41):
filming and I've started chemo and I am off my tree,
like I've got chemo drugs fizzing around in my body.
And I've never been in a sitcom yet alone being
the main person yet alone taken on the mantle of
Ruth Cracknell. Which can I tell you, if you want
(04:03):
to upset Australia, try taking over a role that Ruth Cracknell,
who you know, rest in peace but did diet twenty
three years ago. World was outrage so now you see
I'm having a lectrosol moment. What the hell was I talking?
What's body about? Cancer? Yeah? Well, so first day of filming,
(04:27):
I'm really not dealing with the anxiety and the drugs,
and I'm it was a forty degree day in Sydney
and we're being driven to location and I'm just like
so anxious and hot and overwhelmed. And I just grabbed
this bottle of water that was in the passenger door
(04:50):
and I grab it, I open it and I gazzle it,
and that's when I realized it wasn't water. It was
handsome that had liquefied in the heat. Oh my god,
there's humor. It's terrible. And so I'm in the back
(05:12):
of this car like just full on. I didn't know
what I'd drunk. I didn't know, but I knew my
throat was burning and I couldn't breathe. And camera, camera,
the crew are all outside sort of going we haven't
shot a scene, and it looks like this shoot is
over because I'm sort of collapsing and trying to get
(05:33):
out of the door. But the child lock on. I
didn't know why.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That was alcohol in that as well.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Ninety five percent proof, and I puzzled it. So I
was pissed, like out of my mind for the whole
of the first day shoot. I'm not recommending it. There's
a way to get through it, but yes, there's lots
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Lord your stoic.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
No, I'm not not stoic.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
But the fact that you didn't say, hey, I can't
do this production you, I know, are so professional. You
would have been aware that all those people are ready
to go and you turn up and you do it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yes, and and that was part of it. And it
was like, well that you know when you get something
in your head and that's what's happening, and there's a
production company involved, in, a crew involved, and Matt o'kine,
who plays my son, who created this remake. That I
just also, I didn't know what I was doing, and
(06:33):
I didn't know what being sick really meant. I didn't
know when you get sick, oh you're sick, And so
I just thought, oh, well, I'll give it a go.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And can I say you look great?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You look really good. Yeah. Yeah, Well it's great. It
is great to be alive, and it is great to
not be doing chemo or radiation, you know, especially combined,
you know, because I did both at the same time.
(07:09):
That was thorn, but I would see that in itself.
So I'm doing six weeks of daily radiation and I
was into that ride. It was like day two hundred
and eighty five and I've been doing chemo and then
I had to do this radiation and I looked so
(07:29):
bad that I was waiting for a scan and the
nurse came out into the four hour and said saw
me and said, oh, hooray, you're here. And I'm like,
I was always going to be here, and she said,
didn't I just see you downstairs and you asked me
for directions And I'm like, no, that wasn't me. And
(07:50):
then at this very minute second, this woman came around
the corner. She would have been ninety eight, and she
was bent double, sort of shuffling along, and the nurse goes, oh,
there she sorry, I got you too mixed up. It's
just writing itself. I can't let this go.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
In fact, you haven't done a show for ten years.
Was there something about what you've been through that gave
you a new bravery to say? Stuff it?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
To a point? I must admit, while I was sick
the last thing I thought I'd be doing is another
solo show because I just didn't care. I didn't care
about that part of my life. I mean, I had
really enjoyed it. I've reflected on it and thought I've
had a good time and a good go. But then,
(08:41):
you know, I thought, well I'm still here, and I
felt like I didn't know what else to do really,
because that's all the work I've really done is tell
stories that have happened. And I thought, oh, well, here's
a story. I'll do that. And honestly, it's pretty like anxiety,
(09:09):
the inducing. But here I am. You are doing it, yes.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And having something to do is very important. I think, Oh,
I think it is too.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think it's I've got grandkids, so that's a great
thing to do, and I really love it. I love
hanging out with them, but it's it's important to me
to keep working, really an important part of my life.
And uh, you know, and we've got dogs and my god,
(09:43):
if you have ever had a dog, his teeth.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Need extracting expensive.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, I thank god I'm doing this tour my my
old dogs. Two of them get to have their teeth extraction.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
The least. I love it.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Have you got to have you got a post it
for the that's your poster right there. Yeah. Long in
the Tooth Tour, Denise.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
It's great to see you look great.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
The show is going to be great. For tickets and
tour information, head to comedy dot com dot you yes
you can. It's it's going well. When I say all
over Australia, yep, it's going to Sydney and MILLBURYE okay,
thus far, thus far, but you know, once people here,
it's to help the dogs get rid of their teeth.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
How I can already hear a dog having sixty sixty
t between two of them.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
No, each one of them had nineteen extracted, the other thirteen.
And honestly we do look after them. But I don't
know what happened. That's one hundred and twenty. Well, yeah,
I know it. Yeah, anyway, this is more interesting than
cancer or my show. I think tooth extracted from the dog.
(10:56):
There we go the third act. Denise, Thank you, thank
you very much for having me
My Heart podcasts here more gold one on one point
seven podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You're listening to the Jonesy and Demanda podcast. Well, it's
been well over a decade since one of our most
beloved comedians has hit the stage for a solo performance.
Sounds like we've got I've got her in a sack
to the sid hold on to your hats. Denise Scott
is gearing up to make her return to the stage.
What's she been up to, What's going on? What's she
(00:39):
going to be talking about? Denise Scott?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hello, Hello, lovely to be here with both of you.
You look full of beans and I know that you've
been going through hell, which is the cancer journey as
people seem to say. Yes for a minute, and I
thought you were referring to my partner John. He's always
been hell, but a delightful chap forty four years.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Anyway, Yes, you look great here, feeling great to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No, which I think is a bit disappointed. It fully
worth better. I'm still on medication which many many well,
I suppose it's women take it after breast cancer or
surviving breast cancer, which it just cuts out all estrogen,
(01:28):
and that stuff's everything. It stuff's your skin, your mental health,
your joints. But you're alive, so you know, you go
with that. But the brain fog, but then everything seems
a side effect, seems to be brain fog, and mine's phenomenal.
So good luck if you're coming to see me perform,
(01:50):
because I can't guarantee I won't just freeze and get
upsets and walk off lest apologies, I'm on letrasol.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Every night will be different, though, So what a gift.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
What a gift. It'll be a wild ride.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Are you talking about all of that in your show?
I mean ten years since you've done a solo show.
What kind of stuff is interesting you?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, this is the thing. I never thought i'd do
a solo show again, because they're very stressful. And as Judith,
Lucy and I have admitted to one another, neither of
us has any imagination whatsoever. We really don't, so we
just have to write what happens in our life. And
(02:34):
of course my kids have grown up. I don't want
to be talking about my grandkids. I don't want to.
Well I do, actually I want to exploit them, of
course I do it but for now. Yes, So after
I spent it was all up about three years, I
guess dealing with cancer and I thought, oh, well, it's
(02:55):
something to write about. And there was a lot of
oh jonesy, you're looking so grim and furrow brown, and
it is it's quite a hard thing to talk about
with it, but it's there's a lot of funny stuff
that happens. What's funny about cancer? Oh well, I don't
(03:20):
want to now I feel perplexed, but well, for instance,
the fact that I did filmed Mother and Son at
the same time as having my first lot of chemo.
I was diagnosed when we were just about to move
to Sydney, because I live in Melbourne and sort of
(03:41):
filming and I've started chemo and I am off my tree,
like I've got chemo drugs fizzing around in my body.
And I've never been in a sitcom yet alone being
the main person yet alone taken on the mantle of
Ruth Cracknell. Which can I tell you, if you want
(04:03):
to upset Australia, try taking over a role that Ruth Cracknell,
who you know, rest in peace but did diet twenty
three years ago. World was outrage so now you see
I'm having a lectrosol moment. What the hell was I talking?
What's body about? Cancer? Yeah? Well, so first day of filming,
(04:27):
I'm really not dealing with the anxiety and the drugs,
and I'm it was a forty degree day in Sydney
and we're being driven to location and I'm just like
so anxious and hot and overwhelmed. And I just grabbed
this bottle of water that was in the passenger door
(04:50):
and I grab it, I open it and I gazzle it,
and that's when I realized it wasn't water. It was
handsome that had liquefied in the heat. Oh my god,
there's humor. It's terrible. And so I'm in the back
(05:12):
of this car like just full on. I didn't know
what I'd drunk. I didn't know, but I knew my
throat was burning and I couldn't breathe. And camera, camera,
the crew are all outside sort of going we haven't
shot a scene, and it looks like this shoot is
over because I'm sort of collapsing and trying to get
(05:33):
out of the door. But the child lock on. I
didn't know why.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
That was alcohol in that as well.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Ninety five percent proof, and I puzzled it. So I
was pissed, like out of my mind for the whole
of the first day shoot. I'm not recommending it. There's
a way to get through it, but yes, there's lots
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Lord your stoic.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
No, I'm not not stoic.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
But the fact that you didn't say, hey, I can't
do this production you, I know, are so professional. You
would have been aware that all those people are ready
to go and you turn up and you do it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yes, and and that was part of it. And it
was like, well that you know when you get something
in your head and that's what's happening, and there's a
production company involved, in, a crew involved, and Matt o'kine,
who plays my son, who created this remake. That I
just also, I didn't know what I was doing, and
(06:33):
I didn't know what being sick really meant. I didn't
know when you get sick, oh you're sick, And so
I just thought, oh, well, I'll give it a go.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And can I say you look great?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You look really good. Yeah. Yeah, Well it's great. It
is great to be alive, and it is great to
not be doing chemo or radiation, you know, especially combined,
you know, because I did both at the same time.
(07:09):
That was thorn, but I would see that in itself.
So I'm doing six weeks of daily radiation and I
was into that ride. It was like day two hundred
and eighty five and I've been doing chemo and then
I had to do this radiation and I looked so
(07:29):
bad that I was waiting for a scan and the
nurse came out into the four hour and said saw
me and said, oh, hooray, you're here. And I'm like,
I was always going to be here, and she said,
didn't I just see you downstairs and you asked me
for directions And I'm like, no, that wasn't me. And
(07:50):
then at this very minute second, this woman came around
the corner. She would have been ninety eight, and she
was bent double, sort of shuffling along, and the nurse goes, oh,
there she sorry, I got you too mixed up. It's
just writing itself. I can't let this go.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
In fact, you haven't done a show for ten years.
Was there something about what you've been through that gave
you a new bravery to say? Stuff it?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
To a point? I must admit, while I was sick
the last thing I thought I'd be doing is another
solo show because I just didn't care. I didn't care
about that part of my life. I mean, I had
really enjoyed it. I've reflected on it and thought I've
had a good time and a good go. But then,
(08:41):
you know, I thought, well I'm still here, and I
felt like I didn't know what else to do really,
because that's all the work I've really done is tell
stories that have happened. And I thought, oh, well, here's
a story. I'll do that. And honestly, it's pretty like anxiety,
(09:09):
the inducing. But here I am. You are doing it, yes.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And having something to do is very important. I think, Oh,
I think it is too.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think it's I've got grandkids, so that's a great
thing to do, and I really love it. I love
hanging out with them, but it's it's important to me
to keep working, really an important part of my life.
And uh, you know, and we've got dogs and my god,
(09:43):
if you have ever had a dog, his teeth.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Need extracting expensive.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, I thank god I'm doing this tour my my
old dogs. Two of them get to have their teeth extraction.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
The least. I love it.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Have you got to have you got a post it
for the that's your poster right there. Yeah. Long in
the Tooth Tour, Denise.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
It's great to see you look great.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
The show is going to be great. For tickets and
tour information, head to comedy dot com dot you yes
you can. It's it's going well. When I say all
over Australia, yep, it's going to Sydney and MILLBURYE okay,
thus far, thus far, but you know, once people here,
it's to help the dogs get rid of their teeth.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
How I can already hear a dog having sixty sixty
t between two of them.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
No, each one of them had nineteen extracted, the other thirteen.
And honestly we do look after them. But I don't
know what happened. That's one hundred and twenty. Well, yeah,
I know it. Yeah, anyway, this is more interesting than
cancer or my show. I think tooth extracted from the dog.
(10:56):
There we go the third act. Denise, Thank you, thank
you very much for having me
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