October 25, 2020 • 25 mins
This is the story of how Celeste Barber nearly became Janet Jackson’s backup dancer (which explains a lot about her Instagram).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
My favorite conversations with people are when they share something
about themselves that's real, honest and revealing. I think the
objects of our lives have so much meaning when you
stop and think about them. So I wondered, what if
some of the world's funniest people shared three of their
most treasured objects with us? What new stories might we hear?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Now if this is too echo we I do have
a dressing gown I could put over my head. We've
all worked very hard to get when we are now
on the floor the head. This isn't showbies outrageous.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm Christian O'Connell and on today's Stuff of Legends, I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
M Celeste Barber, so people call me Beyonce. Not true.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Celeste Barber roaster fame. Recreating these iconic celebrity shots on
Instagram very funny, really well done. Then had a one
woman show, Celeste Barber challenge accepted, which is huge all
over America, and she has a podcast. Celeste and her
best haven't had the invite. AMP sees her just casually shure.
By the end of this Sheesa just casually chatting with
(01:02):
big names. It is odd I got her on this,
but anyway, maybe she hasn't got my email or I
check my spam.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I am an actor, a writer, a comedian, and I
think people might know me for taking inappropriate, unflattering photos
of myself on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, Instagram maybe a big part of Celeste's life now.
Her love of comedy started in a much more low
fi way. The TV show Friends was a special part
of celeste teenage years. And those old VHS tapes do
you remember? Those are her first treasured item.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Remember seven thirty Monday night, Channel nine, that Papa would
come on and I would absolutely lose my mind to
the point where I had to put a VHS in.
But the VHS had to go in at about twenty
past a plus seven to make sure that we were
good to go, and all the ads were all rolling,
and you know, my family YouTube shut up while I
was watching, and I was just completely obsessed with the
idea of six mates living in an apartment in New York,
(01:56):
massive apartments. It's not plausible. And I think because I
had a pretty shit time at school friend wise, I
didn't have many I mean I had mates, but I
had I was bullied a bit and it was kind
of rough. I just remember having that escape and treating
it as though they were my friends. That's embarrassing to say,
but it's the truth.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So how old were you when you were really into
watching that TV show Friends?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Maybe fifteen? And I remember like being at school and
when it was a bit shipped for me at school,
kind of going well, I'm just going to channel Phoebe
because Phoebe doesn't care what people think and she just
says things and she's really impartial and it's fine. So
that day I'd be like, well, I'm going to be
Phoebe today. And then actually, on my podcast recently, I
interviewed Courtney Cox.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I was not okay.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I was not okay at all, to the point where
Toma's my best friend who's also my co host on it,
just randomly pulled out my book and started to read
the chapter that I had dedicated to her and friends,
and I was like, could you not put this very
intense moment for me because she now thinks I'm a
floor and I'm in her house. This is not okay.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
And it was Phoebe your favorite character?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh no, this is the thing people always ask me,
who's my favorite? I love Chandler. I love the fact
that on a comedy level the Chandler. It was only
later on in the whole series where he kind of
said things that ever pushed the plot line along. Mainly
he would just say a joke. He would just say
things that were funny. In no way did it really
(03:28):
serve as any narrative or and there was no kind
of character driven stuff behind it. It was just a joke.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It doesn't get enough kudos for a great comic charactory
is he'd delivered those lines so well, and there were
so great those lines as well.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, and just for joke purposes, Like just for the
purpose of a joke, he would say it, but it
was fitting so well with the rest of the dialogue
and how he delivered it too. Like my husband, who
likes to think that he's really you know, cutting edge
and everything, He's like, I really like friends. I'm like, well,
youvery someone else. But I put it on my kids
(04:02):
and I watch it now every day while we're getting
dinner ready, and my husband it's one of my favorite
sounds in the world hearing that dialogue and he just
beffores laughing. He just laughs his face off, and I'm like, say,
and it's great too. Bastard and oh.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You ruined it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
But that's great.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, that makes me very happy in ages.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well, I went back in the last two years watching
it with my daughters and they got into it, and
so I went back and watched it again. Hadn't seen
it since it originally came out. And it's still really
really really.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Funny, really funny, and they're really really good actors. Like
I watched it yesterday because I watched it for all
the time, and I'm like, yeah, every day, I watch
it every single day, And sometimes when no one's around
or you know, if I'm on tour or something, I
just put it on in the background just for some company.
Like it's a fucking illness.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I'm really fun No someth quite sweet about stairs. You
almost being the friend that you needed in your life
you were fifteen.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That's how I feel about it too. Like when I
watch it now, I go, yes, I'm so happy I
had this when I was having a bit of a
shit time at school, or even when school was fine
and great. I'm so happy I had this this like
my consistent mates that would always just hang around. So
I've kept all the vhs that I have of it. Wow,
(05:21):
and then I bought the box set, and then I
got nervous that I'd lose the box sets, so I
bought another box set.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You need a backup for the backup.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And then now it's out everywhere and everything's going to be.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Okay, But you still own the VHS cassettes of it.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I remember.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I've got the thing like Connect Celeste tapes, do not record.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Friends season two tape one of six, Friends season two
tape two of six, and like it was in quite
aggressive writings that people just.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Knew, but we all were that age. I used to
do that, you know, block capitols, are angry, do not
record over my.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Tastes exactly exactly, don't eat eat all my food. I
don't care, but don't from VHS.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Mum, So tell me more about you at fifteen? Then
what was it like at fifteen for you?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Fifteen for me? Well, around that kind of time wasn't excellent.
I've got add and that wasn't I wasn't diagnosed with
that until I was sixteen, So school was just an
absolute ball like for me really, like academically, I really
struggled the whole time because I just couldn't concentrate and
(06:28):
just could not sit and concentrate, and I just felt
like I was naughty. But I knew I wasn't a
naughty kid because I'm really still am to this day,
terrified of like authority or like institutions, like teachers or
professors or bosses. I'm just terrified, Like even when I
dropped my kids at school. Now my children are in
(06:49):
kindergarten and year three, I'm like, hello, missus Hackett. When
I see my son's kindergarten teacher, I just always feel
like I'm in trouble. So it was weird for me
when I was younger because I'm like, I'm not a
naughty kid because I'm too scared to be naughty. But
I just don't get it. So I'd just be funny.
I'd just make jokes or I just distract people and
you know, other kids in class because I couldn't sit
(07:11):
still to save myself. And like even to the point
where teachers wouldn't let me come into the classroom because
I'd send me out all the time.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Where did you have to go? Do you go in
the corridor? Do they send you just out?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah? Well I just go outside the classroom, which is
bloody red rag to a bull. For a comedian, You're like, yeah,
it's brilliant. But now I'm outside. Teacher can't see me,
all the kids can. I'm going to eat all their
food and I'm going to do my bit. I loved it.
If you get to do that fun stuff where all
the class would look at you and laugh while the
teacher has her back to you riding on the board,
(07:42):
and then they're all laughing, and the second she turns around,
you've jumped down into the bags. The teacher can't see
you bring the house down like it was so great.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The movie of your life, the origin story, it all
starts here.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I can see it getting kicked out of house.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
That's it. That's your career starting, right, there's your first performance.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, but then you know then as kids, as we
all get older through school, and you've actually got to
really start giving a shit, and you can't just always
laugh at the loud girl. They would get smarter and
progress more, and I just wouldn't. I'd be like, no, no, no, no,
oh no, I don't know how to do anything. Remember
I just watched this, But then I went I was medicated.
(08:19):
I was put on Ritlin for my add Thank God, help,
oh my God, like instantly unbelievable, Like I can't even
like I talk about it a bit now, people ask
me a lot about it. I can't wrap my head
around how grateful I am that that happened, and also
that it happened later in my life that you know,
(08:41):
you talk about it. Hear about kids getting diagnosed, you know,
put on drugs at seven years old, you know, on Rittlin,
which I think is fine if it's called for. There's
no judgment there at all for me. But I wasn't
diagnosed till I was seventeen, So I'm kind of grateful
for that because I had to just be resilient up
until that point. I just would, you know, if I'd
be silly or funny or loud, or I'd just have
(09:02):
to kind of back myself and just find different ways
and to deal with things because I couldn't sit down
and learn, so I'd be funnier, I'd go, I'd be
in the drama room more because I could express myself
there more. And I was really kind of grateful for
almost the struggles leading up to actually being diagnosed, because
I think it's really shaped who I am I just
(09:25):
get on with shit now and I just make things work,
and I'm quite a resilient person. I think a lot
of it has to do with that.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Is that great how you can actually see that for
the gift that it gave you, that it actually had
gifts in it to you, you know, lessons to be learned,
and it made you know better for it, stronger who
you are.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, I'm so grateful for it. And I'm also I
really empathized with my parents and also my tea people
having to teach me. I mean, that would not have
been easy. I remember when I was diagnosed and my
parents were talking with the doctor and I was asked
to go outside again, and I was just listening and
(10:02):
I heard my mom say, we don't want this to
change her. We know she's really loud and really full on,
but we actually quite like that about her. We don't
want her to change. And the doctor was like, no, no,
this will just help her. She'll just be able to
It's still, it just makes up a chemical in her
brain that she doesn't have and she'll be able to
actually focus. And my mum was so adamant. We just
(10:24):
don't want her this to you know, numb her down,
which is a really excellent thing to hear when you're
a teenager your parents say that, what a lovely way.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
All you heard was them accepting you, even though they're
in the doctor's office talking about you kind of behind
your back, but you're just hearing that utter love and
complete acceptance and we don't want this to change her.
That's amazing. What great mom and dad.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, really excellent parents and kind of pointing out my
flaws as though they'd be really sad if they were
to go away. That was a really nice thing to hear.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, what a great lesson to learn from mom and
dad that actually are what we think of our flaws.
It's all just part of your what your humanness, isn't it.
It's all just part of who you are.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, exactly. So I was very lucky, and then I'd
come on the drugs and not to sit still for
a minute, which was fun.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I'm Christian O'Connell and this is the stuff of Legends
today with Celeste Barber. So we've heard about celest TV
show Friends Obsession and her second item is another VHS classic.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The next one is Janet Jackson Velvet Rope Tour. Nineteen
ninety eight. So I went and saw that concert with
my mum, the second concert I ever went to, and
it changed my life. I danced a lot as a kid,
and it changed my life. So then I got the
VHS and I'd come home from school and I'd put
(11:51):
it on and i'd have all and I learned it
was a two hour concert. I learned every single dance.
I changed between which backup dancer I was. I was
never Janet because you're not Downet.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, you play that you respected, even though you are
none with authority. You respected Janet Jackson has been, you know,
like at the top of the totem pole. You were
nowhere near that. You can be whoever you want.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
But I wanted to be Janet Jackson's backup dancer. I
didn't want to be Janet Jackson because you can't be
Janet Jackson, only Janet Jackson, you know what I'm saying.
So I would learn eye single dance and then to
the point where i'd have costume changes side stage, which
was on the count. Mum and Dad were still at
work and my sister wasn't home from school yet. So
I would put this on and I danced it for
(12:37):
two and a half hours, five days a week, straight
after school. And this is when I had started taking
Ritlin as well. So Ritlan is an appetittu pressant. So
I dropped a ton of weight and was dancing as well.
So oh my hit, I was hot and.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I was I was and you could dance, you had
it all and I.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Could throw a leg.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
It was such fun. And now even when Janet Jackson's
song comes on, my husband's like, oh, like, yep, that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Move aside, do we go clear the room?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, like if we're at a club, which doesn't happen.
I'm one hundred years old into a club, you know,
if it comes on we're dancing, my husband's like yeah
and trying to dance with me. If Janet Jackson or
a Spice Girls song comes on, he knows sip away,
walk Away, Renee, and he all move people around like, oh,
she's got to do it.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I love that because actually there was those magical sort
of hour or two before mom and dad got home
from work, and I know what that's saying, and I
heard it before my mum and dad got home from work,
when you were the only one in the house, and
for me, it's before my younger sister got back from
school and you were It wasn't like people who's go.
That must have been very lonely. Went. No, I loved
being in charge of the house. I could do what
I wanted to. That must have been a magical time
(13:44):
for you.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I loved it because it felt like you went home
to your studio or you know, your own space where
like you say, you're the boss of it. You're like,
all right, now, now I've got It's like the golden hour. Yes,
I've got I'm going to now really just do what
I do. Then when mom and dad come home, we
all you know, our roles, and get onto it. But
my mum was also very sweet to go have you done, Jenne?
(14:06):
And again today I'm like yeah, because all the carpet
was pilling because I was dancing so hard, like I
did all the floorwork. I'm talking if there was split,
but split all of it, and I got better and better.
I loved it so much. A moment to have to
backuhim up all the pilling carpet and.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
What did the dancing? What did that give you? Then?
Do you think I.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Always loved it? I always danced as a kid, went
to dance classes and did concerts in the Stedfords and
I was that girl.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I just loved I love moving my body. I loved it.
I just love dancing. And it's weird because I have
I had emergency open heart surgery when I was twenty
five because I had a massive hole in my heart
that I was born with that we didn't know. Wow,
And so I couldn't. I can't. I could never walk
up a flight of stairs without being exhausted. Yet put
me in a dance class and I can. I will
(14:55):
just not stop for however long the class goes for
an hour and forty five whatever, I mean, I'd be exhausted,
but because I'd be so happy, I wouldn't realize. Then,
that's what my mum says. She's like, it's weird with
the heart surgery stuff because we didn't realize that you
were out of breath all the time because I was
dancing all the time. I just loved it, so it
was never an issue.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And do you still dance now occasionally?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
At home, don't you worry. Yeah, I've go in a
little office now and I think my husband arp is like.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
He's going to do you fire up Janet again? You
go back to velvet some Yeah, God, you still got
that muscle memory, you know, move.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I move really quickly. I did a TikTok with some friends'
kids the other day and they're like, you're really good
at this, and I was like, yeah, I know, babes,
I've been doing it forever, Like I can pick this
shit up. I really can.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So did it not meant you want to go and
actually be a professional dancer, because if you're doing that
every day, you would have, like you said, got really good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I don't know why I didn't pursue. Actually, I genuinely
don't think I was good enough, and I like to perform.
It was kind of the performance of it as well
that I like, like the emotional connection I had to it,
so like then came the acting and all that stuff.
But I feel it really did spring from dancing for sure,
Like I'd be emotionally invested whenever Janet did an emotional song.
(16:17):
I may have had tears doing my backup dancing, and
I've been like I can feel you, I'm on stage
with you, I can feel you. I really got into it.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I'm getting this image of your house right with all
these heavily guarded VHS video cassettes. You got the Friends
TV shows right, there must have been like trip Wise
at Alarms and now you've got Janet Jackson Velvet Rope
as well on VHS as well. Were not Fort Knox
to go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Near and well everything had their place and having add
you have to right order.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, yeah, and I'd.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Be like, well, you know, if my Janet DVD was
usually in most of the time, because I did it
five days a week. But then when Friends came on,
I remember if one of them wasn't in there, I'd
just be like to my sister, why had to black
by stuff? You know? And then the last calm down
from mum or Dad.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I'm furious with her and I love that your mum
took you to your second gig. What can you remember
about the Janet Jackson Live show? What was that like? Then?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Well, I reckon we would have had better seats if
we sat in the car park, but I didn't care.
It was amazing nineteen ninety eight Velvet Rope tour up
in Brisbane. Yeah, but it was the dancing that I
remembered just oh my god, unbelievable. It just looks so fun.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So ninety eight people just presume that YouTube and stuff
like that has a you know, and on demand anything.
We can watch whatever we call anything that's ever been
recorded or made just on our fingertips now. But that
wasn't the way then. You wouldn't have seen really dancing
at that level. I'm guessing.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
No, I can't remember which came first, either seeing the
live concert and then seeing them perform at live on
Hate Saturday, of course, or if it was the other
way around. No, yeah, it must have been that way,
because I remember when they were on Hay Hate Saturday,
like Jane and all the dancers. I remember one of
her dances stuffed up in the background and I called
it straightaway. I was like, oh, maybody stuff that I
(18:18):
had because I was so across it by then.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But yeah, I wouldn't have done that. Celesta done that,
don't they?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I was like, well, you know then his name was Michael,
I remember because I followed them. But you know, they're
probably really tired their jet lag. They just had their concert.
It's a big day.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
How did you know his name was Michael?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Because I've got the program.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Oh of course, yeah, And who were you when you
were doing the moves? And now who were you? Were
you Michael or.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Well, no, Tina was the first. I kind of wanted
to be Tina, but then there were Cheanette. She was incredible,
and then Nicky and Kelly were the two kind of nondescript,
kind of you know, white girls with brown hand but
it was Tina and Chanette were the main two female dancers.
And I'd always be like, I love them, but I'm
probably not going to be them, so they can let that,
(19:02):
but I'll be I'll just be Nicki or Kelly. That
was Nicky. So when they came out at the end
and did their solo dead you know, and when Janet
goes you put it together, put your hands together for
Shannette and she come out. They'd be like, please put
your hands together for Nicky. And I got here, I
am and I do one of the things, and then
I believed. Yeah. My third item is a card of
(19:27):
well several business cards that my dad would give me.
So my dad writes on the back of his business cards.
Back in the day, we used to have them, just
a lovely note. So I moved out of home when
I was seventeen down to Sydney to go to walk
to Penrith went to drama school, and my dad would
(19:48):
just put in my wallet, thinking of you love Dad,
and I have kept them over the years. I've got
a big stack of them. I've got them on my
wall in my office and everything. If he would have
to go away, which he never really did.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
My dad.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I worked close to home, but for whatever reason, if
I had something big coming up and he had to
leave early for work that morning, he'd always put a
business card out with a lovely message on the back
of it. And as I say, I've got them on
the wall in my office, I keep them in my wallet,
all the different ones in different handbags that I have,
or because I travel a lot, I put them in
my suitcase and so everywhere I go I'll open up
(20:22):
and again I'm like, oh, there's that letter from Dad.
And he then did it once on a big bit
of paper and folded it up and I just walked
up and went night, it's not the same an he went, yeah, sorry,
get a little I don't love this one.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Oh what a great dad, what a lovely thing to
do for your daughter.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And we've never really kind of spoken about it. It's
not a thing. It's just a thinking of you or
well done, or love you, hope you have a good
sleep tonight. Really really thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
And what age did he do that up until.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
He still does it. It's very sweet. I wanted to
start doing it for my kids. But it's also something
that you can't request, you know what I mean. It's
just something that it's his gem and however does it.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's interesting as well how you haven't talked about it,
and maybe you don't need to talk about it. All
it said is on the car. Do you get it?
That's it?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
My dad's quiet and my mum they're both very sentimental.
So my dad has his shard and my son's wrote
him a birthday card a few weeks ago and he's
put it up here and he'll take a phone and
just send it to me and go pride a place.
And that's what we're same with my niece and nephews,
my sister's kids. At the stuff. He just pops things around.
And also he's got an old an original Cooper es
seventy one and he has two things in it down
(21:33):
the side of the door and it's a letter from
me when we were little, when I was little, and
a letter from my sister too, on two very separate
occasions years apart, and just the two things. He just
keeps in the car with him at all times, which
is so cute.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, it's very what a great.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Way to keep the younger yous still close to him.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, and it's just, you know, it's nice to know
that that's stuff mattered, because I get it now I'm
a parent and that stuff totally matters. But you don't
think to keep all that stuff. You're like, yeah, he's
telling us another drawing, how amazing.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But he does.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
He holds onto just a few of things and also
kind of gives out those cars as well, which is
so nice.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Tell me about Dad.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Then, Dad is an only child, born and bred here
at Tweetheads forever and always. I got my add from
my dad, and we joke about it all the time.
We give each other shit about having no attention span
all the time, and Dad and I also, he's so
(22:35):
fucking funny, my dad. He's the originator of dad jokes.
But to this day, like he said, told us this
joke the other day that he's been telling us since
we were six, and he had tears in his eyes
he was laughing so hard. But he now only tells
this joke for our reaction. He waits, he says it
because he knows we're going to be like Dad, fuck stop.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
He loves it.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I got to hear the joke.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Okay, Popper walks into a bar. The barman says, oh,
we've got a name. We've got a drink named after you,
and the Grasspopper goes, oh, what an Eric.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
It's a funny joke.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, I get it, but I mean, yeah, I know,
but I've mean it's been told for about twenty five
years and now my son says it, and he thinks
it's a funny thing ever, and just he could.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Be going down the generations. He's keeping it that Eric joker. Lie.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, and you'll get excited to when we're all together.
My dad will just kind of say, you know, he'll
just kind of sidle up to someone and you're like,
fuck is William joke?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
And is?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
And then he'll but it's the delivery my and then
my sister will scream laughing, She's got the greatest laugh
in the world. And I'm like.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
What is it.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
What is it? What is it?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
And you'll tell me.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And but it's the anticipation of how shit it's going
to be and how much joy he gets out of
it that makes it the greatest moment in your life. Yeah,
it's great. So we're thinking, he's seventy next year, So me,
my sister and my dad are all going to get
a tattoo of aper.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Oh you're kidding, that is you've got to do that.
You weren't going to do that. Oh, it's the best
thing you could do if I was your dad. What
a great gift for your seventieth what So you and
your sister and your dad are all getting it done.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Get get just a grasshopper on a leg or wherever.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
But yeah, oh god, I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
What a great thing. Eric the grasshopper. He's a punchline
that lives on literally permanently, on you all.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
That's amazing, basically forever.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah, the joke's become a physical joke now.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So Leste, thank you so much for doing this. But
it's really been a joy, an absolute joy. Big thank
you to today's legend. I thought she really was one,
Celeste Barber. What I loved is that everything Celeste had
picked came back to her mum and dad. It challenges
(24:51):
that very old idea that all funny people have got
the world's worst parents. I love the sound of her
mum and dad and a friend's VHS Cassette Janet Jackson.
Obviously her dad's business cards are going to steal that idea,
and that the hearts of all of them, this wonderful,
beautiful relationship she has with her mum and dad. And
I think I will keep the joke going and tell
(25:12):
my daughters that you should tell yours if you've got kids.
Eric the Grasshopper awesome. Let's all use it. Make sure
you don't miss out on any of our upcoming legends.
Follow the show for free on iHeartRadio or whatever podcast
app you're listening to this on, and if you want
to get in touch, check out Stuff of Legends podcast
(25:32):
dot com. I'm still Christian O'Connell and until next time,
this is the Stuff of Legends. It was
My favorite conversations with people are when they share something
about themselves that's real, honest and revealing. I think the
objects of our lives have so much meaning when you
stop and think about them. So I wondered, what if
some of the world's funniest people shared three of their
most treasured objects with us? What new stories might we hear?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Now if this is too echo we I do have
a dressing gown I could put over my head. We've
all worked very hard to get when we are now
on the floor the head. This isn't showbies outrageous.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm Christian O'Connell and on today's Stuff of Legends, I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
M Celeste Barber, so people call me Beyonce. Not true.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Celeste Barber roaster fame. Recreating these iconic celebrity shots on
Instagram very funny, really well done. Then had a one
woman show, Celeste Barber challenge accepted, which is huge all
over America, and she has a podcast. Celeste and her
best haven't had the invite. AMP sees her just casually shure.
By the end of this Sheesa just casually chatting with
(01:02):
big names. It is odd I got her on this,
but anyway, maybe she hasn't got my email or I
check my spam.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I am an actor, a writer, a comedian, and I
think people might know me for taking inappropriate, unflattering photos
of myself on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, Instagram maybe a big part of Celeste's life now.
Her love of comedy started in a much more low
fi way. The TV show Friends was a special part
of celeste teenage years. And those old VHS tapes do
you remember? Those are her first treasured item.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Remember seven thirty Monday night, Channel nine, that Papa would
come on and I would absolutely lose my mind to
the point where I had to put a VHS in.
But the VHS had to go in at about twenty
past a plus seven to make sure that we were
good to go, and all the ads were all rolling,
and you know, my family YouTube shut up while I
was watching, and I was just completely obsessed with the
idea of six mates living in an apartment in New York,
(01:56):
massive apartments. It's not plausible. And I think because I
had a pretty shit time at school friend wise, I
didn't have many I mean I had mates, but I
had I was bullied a bit and it was kind
of rough. I just remember having that escape and treating
it as though they were my friends. That's embarrassing to say,
but it's the truth.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So how old were you when you were really into
watching that TV show Friends?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Maybe fifteen? And I remember like being at school and
when it was a bit shipped for me at school,
kind of going well, I'm just going to channel Phoebe
because Phoebe doesn't care what people think and she just
says things and she's really impartial and it's fine. So
that day I'd be like, well, I'm going to be
Phoebe today. And then actually, on my podcast recently, I
interviewed Courtney Cox.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I was not okay.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
I was not okay at all, to the point where
Toma's my best friend who's also my co host on it,
just randomly pulled out my book and started to read
the chapter that I had dedicated to her and friends,
and I was like, could you not put this very
intense moment for me because she now thinks I'm a
floor and I'm in her house. This is not okay.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
And it was Phoebe your favorite character?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh no, this is the thing people always ask me,
who's my favorite? I love Chandler. I love the fact
that on a comedy level the Chandler. It was only
later on in the whole series where he kind of
said things that ever pushed the plot line along. Mainly
he would just say a joke. He would just say
things that were funny. In no way did it really
(03:28):
serve as any narrative or and there was no kind
of character driven stuff behind it. It was just a joke.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It doesn't get enough kudos for a great comic charactory
is he'd delivered those lines so well, and there were
so great those lines as well.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, and just for joke purposes, Like just for the
purpose of a joke, he would say it, but it
was fitting so well with the rest of the dialogue
and how he delivered it too. Like my husband, who
likes to think that he's really you know, cutting edge
and everything, He's like, I really like friends. I'm like, well,
youvery someone else. But I put it on my kids
(04:02):
and I watch it now every day while we're getting
dinner ready, and my husband it's one of my favorite
sounds in the world hearing that dialogue and he just
beffores laughing. He just laughs his face off, and I'm like, say,
and it's great too. Bastard and oh.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You ruined it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
But that's great.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, that makes me very happy in ages.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well, I went back in the last two years watching
it with my daughters and they got into it, and
so I went back and watched it again. Hadn't seen
it since it originally came out. And it's still really
really really.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Funny, really funny, and they're really really good actors. Like
I watched it yesterday because I watched it for all
the time, and I'm like, yeah, every day, I watch
it every single day, And sometimes when no one's around
or you know, if I'm on tour or something, I
just put it on in the background just for some company.
Like it's a fucking illness.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I'm really fun No someth quite sweet about stairs. You
almost being the friend that you needed in your life
you were fifteen.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That's how I feel about it too. Like when I
watch it now, I go, yes, I'm so happy I
had this when I was having a bit of a
shit time at school, or even when school was fine
and great. I'm so happy I had this this like
my consistent mates that would always just hang around. So
I've kept all the vhs that I have of it. Wow,
(05:21):
and then I bought the box set, and then I
got nervous that I'd lose the box sets, so I
bought another box set.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You need a backup for the backup.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And then now it's out everywhere and everything's going to be.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Okay, But you still own the VHS cassettes of it.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I remember.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I've got the thing like Connect Celeste tapes, do not record.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Friends season two tape one of six, Friends season two
tape two of six, and like it was in quite
aggressive writings that people just.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Knew, but we all were that age. I used to
do that, you know, block capitols, are angry, do not
record over my.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Tastes exactly exactly, don't eat eat all my food. I
don't care, but don't from VHS.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Mum, So tell me more about you at fifteen? Then
what was it like at fifteen for you?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Fifteen for me? Well, around that kind of time wasn't excellent.
I've got add and that wasn't I wasn't diagnosed with
that until I was sixteen, So school was just an
absolute ball like for me really, like academically, I really
struggled the whole time because I just couldn't concentrate and
(06:28):
just could not sit and concentrate, and I just felt
like I was naughty. But I knew I wasn't a
naughty kid because I'm really still am to this day,
terrified of like authority or like institutions, like teachers or
professors or bosses. I'm just terrified, Like even when I
dropped my kids at school. Now my children are in
(06:49):
kindergarten and year three, I'm like, hello, missus Hackett. When
I see my son's kindergarten teacher, I just always feel
like I'm in trouble. So it was weird for me
when I was younger because I'm like, I'm not a
naughty kid because I'm too scared to be naughty. But
I just don't get it. So I'd just be funny.
I'd just make jokes or I just distract people and
you know, other kids in class because I couldn't sit
(07:11):
still to save myself. And like even to the point
where teachers wouldn't let me come into the classroom because
I'd send me out all the time.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Where did you have to go? Do you go in
the corridor? Do they send you just out?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah? Well I just go outside the classroom, which is
bloody red rag to a bull. For a comedian, You're like, yeah,
it's brilliant. But now I'm outside. Teacher can't see me,
all the kids can. I'm going to eat all their
food and I'm going to do my bit. I loved it.
If you get to do that fun stuff where all
the class would look at you and laugh while the
teacher has her back to you riding on the board,
(07:42):
and then they're all laughing, and the second she turns around,
you've jumped down into the bags. The teacher can't see
you bring the house down like it was so great.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The movie of your life, the origin story, it all
starts here.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I can see it getting kicked out of house.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
That's it. That's your career starting, right, there's your first performance.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, but then you know then as kids, as we
all get older through school, and you've actually got to
really start giving a shit, and you can't just always
laugh at the loud girl. They would get smarter and
progress more, and I just wouldn't. I'd be like, no, no, no, no,
oh no, I don't know how to do anything. Remember
I just watched this, But then I went I was medicated.
(08:19):
I was put on Ritlin for my add Thank God, help,
oh my God, like instantly unbelievable, Like I can't even
like I talk about it a bit now, people ask
me a lot about it. I can't wrap my head
around how grateful I am that that happened, and also
that it happened later in my life that you know,
(08:41):
you talk about it. Hear about kids getting diagnosed, you know,
put on drugs at seven years old, you know, on Rittlin,
which I think is fine if it's called for. There's
no judgment there at all for me. But I wasn't
diagnosed till I was seventeen, So I'm kind of grateful
for that because I had to just be resilient up
until that point. I just would, you know, if I'd
be silly or funny or loud, or I'd just have
(09:02):
to kind of back myself and just find different ways
and to deal with things because I couldn't sit down
and learn, so I'd be funnier, I'd go, I'd be
in the drama room more because I could express myself
there more. And I was really kind of grateful for
almost the struggles leading up to actually being diagnosed, because
I think it's really shaped who I am I just
(09:25):
get on with shit now and I just make things work,
and I'm quite a resilient person. I think a lot
of it has to do with that.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Is that great how you can actually see that for
the gift that it gave you, that it actually had
gifts in it to you, you know, lessons to be learned,
and it made you know better for it, stronger who
you are.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, I'm so grateful for it. And I'm also I
really empathized with my parents and also my tea people
having to teach me. I mean, that would not have
been easy. I remember when I was diagnosed and my
parents were talking with the doctor and I was asked
to go outside again, and I was just listening and
(10:02):
I heard my mom say, we don't want this to
change her. We know she's really loud and really full on,
but we actually quite like that about her. We don't
want her to change. And the doctor was like, no, no,
this will just help her. She'll just be able to
It's still, it just makes up a chemical in her
brain that she doesn't have and she'll be able to
actually focus. And my mum was so adamant. We just
(10:24):
don't want her this to you know, numb her down,
which is a really excellent thing to hear when you're
a teenager your parents say that, what a lovely way.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
All you heard was them accepting you, even though they're
in the doctor's office talking about you kind of behind
your back, but you're just hearing that utter love and
complete acceptance and we don't want this to change her.
That's amazing. What great mom and dad.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, really excellent parents and kind of pointing out my
flaws as though they'd be really sad if they were
to go away. That was a really nice thing to hear.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, what a great lesson to learn from mom and
dad that actually are what we think of our flaws.
It's all just part of your what your humanness, isn't it.
It's all just part of who you are.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, exactly. So I was very lucky, and then I'd
come on the drugs and not to sit still for
a minute, which was fun.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I'm Christian O'Connell and this is the stuff of Legends
today with Celeste Barber. So we've heard about celest TV
show Friends Obsession and her second item is another VHS classic.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The next one is Janet Jackson Velvet Rope Tour. Nineteen
ninety eight. So I went and saw that concert with
my mum, the second concert I ever went to, and
it changed my life. I danced a lot as a kid,
and it changed my life. So then I got the
VHS and I'd come home from school and I'd put
(11:51):
it on and i'd have all and I learned it
was a two hour concert. I learned every single dance.
I changed between which backup dancer I was. I was
never Janet because you're not Downet.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, you play that you respected, even though you are
none with authority. You respected Janet Jackson has been, you know,
like at the top of the totem pole. You were
nowhere near that. You can be whoever you want.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
But I wanted to be Janet Jackson's backup dancer. I
didn't want to be Janet Jackson because you can't be
Janet Jackson, only Janet Jackson, you know what I'm saying.
So I would learn eye single dance and then to
the point where i'd have costume changes side stage, which
was on the count. Mum and Dad were still at
work and my sister wasn't home from school yet. So
I would put this on and I danced it for
(12:37):
two and a half hours, five days a week, straight
after school. And this is when I had started taking
Ritlin as well. So Ritlan is an appetittu pressant. So
I dropped a ton of weight and was dancing as well.
So oh my hit, I was hot and.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I was I was and you could dance, you had
it all and I.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Could throw a leg.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
It was such fun. And now even when Janet Jackson's
song comes on, my husband's like, oh, like, yep, that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Move aside, do we go clear the room?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, like if we're at a club, which doesn't happen.
I'm one hundred years old into a club, you know,
if it comes on we're dancing, my husband's like yeah
and trying to dance with me. If Janet Jackson or
a Spice Girls song comes on, he knows sip away,
walk Away, Renee, and he all move people around like, oh,
she's got to do it.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I love that because actually there was those magical sort
of hour or two before mom and dad got home
from work, and I know what that's saying, and I
heard it before my mum and dad got home from work,
when you were the only one in the house, and
for me, it's before my younger sister got back from
school and you were It wasn't like people who's go.
That must have been very lonely. Went. No, I loved
being in charge of the house. I could do what
I wanted to. That must have been a magical time
(13:44):
for you.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I loved it because it felt like you went home
to your studio or you know, your own space where
like you say, you're the boss of it. You're like,
all right, now, now I've got It's like the golden hour. Yes,
I've got I'm going to now really just do what
I do. Then when mom and dad come home, we
all you know, our roles, and get onto it. But
my mum was also very sweet to go have you done, Jenne?
(14:06):
And again today I'm like yeah, because all the carpet
was pilling because I was dancing so hard, like I
did all the floorwork. I'm talking if there was split,
but split all of it, and I got better and better.
I loved it so much. A moment to have to
backuhim up all the pilling carpet and.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
What did the dancing? What did that give you? Then?
Do you think I.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Always loved it? I always danced as a kid, went
to dance classes and did concerts in the Stedfords and
I was that girl.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I just loved I love moving my body. I loved it.
I just love dancing. And it's weird because I have
I had emergency open heart surgery when I was twenty
five because I had a massive hole in my heart
that I was born with that we didn't know. Wow,
And so I couldn't. I can't. I could never walk
up a flight of stairs without being exhausted. Yet put
me in a dance class and I can. I will
(14:55):
just not stop for however long the class goes for
an hour and forty five whatever, I mean, I'd be exhausted,
but because I'd be so happy, I wouldn't realize. Then,
that's what my mum says. She's like, it's weird with
the heart surgery stuff because we didn't realize that you
were out of breath all the time because I was
dancing all the time. I just loved it, so it
was never an issue.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And do you still dance now occasionally?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
At home, don't you worry. Yeah, I've go in a
little office now and I think my husband arp is like.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
He's going to do you fire up Janet again? You
go back to velvet some Yeah, God, you still got
that muscle memory, you know, move.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I move really quickly. I did a TikTok with some friends'
kids the other day and they're like, you're really good
at this, and I was like, yeah, I know, babes,
I've been doing it forever, Like I can pick this
shit up. I really can.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So did it not meant you want to go and
actually be a professional dancer, because if you're doing that
every day, you would have, like you said, got really good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I don't know why I didn't pursue. Actually, I genuinely
don't think I was good enough, and I like to perform.
It was kind of the performance of it as well
that I like, like the emotional connection I had to it,
so like then came the acting and all that stuff.
But I feel it really did spring from dancing for sure,
Like I'd be emotionally invested whenever Janet did an emotional song.
(16:17):
I may have had tears doing my backup dancing, and
I've been like I can feel you, I'm on stage
with you, I can feel you. I really got into it.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I'm getting this image of your house right with all
these heavily guarded VHS video cassettes. You got the Friends
TV shows right, there must have been like trip Wise
at Alarms and now you've got Janet Jackson Velvet Rope
as well on VHS as well. Were not Fort Knox
to go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Near and well everything had their place and having add
you have to right order.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, yeah, and I'd.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Be like, well, you know, if my Janet DVD was
usually in most of the time, because I did it
five days a week. But then when Friends came on,
I remember if one of them wasn't in there, I'd
just be like to my sister, why had to black
by stuff? You know? And then the last calm down
from mum or Dad.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I'm furious with her and I love that your mum
took you to your second gig. What can you remember
about the Janet Jackson Live show? What was that like? Then?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Well, I reckon we would have had better seats if
we sat in the car park, but I didn't care.
It was amazing nineteen ninety eight Velvet Rope tour up
in Brisbane. Yeah, but it was the dancing that I
remembered just oh my god, unbelievable. It just looks so fun.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So ninety eight people just presume that YouTube and stuff
like that has a you know, and on demand anything.
We can watch whatever we call anything that's ever been
recorded or made just on our fingertips now. But that
wasn't the way then. You wouldn't have seen really dancing
at that level. I'm guessing.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
No, I can't remember which came first, either seeing the
live concert and then seeing them perform at live on
Hate Saturday, of course, or if it was the other
way around. No, yeah, it must have been that way,
because I remember when they were on Hay Hate Saturday,
like Jane and all the dancers. I remember one of
her dances stuffed up in the background and I called
it straightaway. I was like, oh, maybody stuff that I
(18:18):
had because I was so across it by then.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But yeah, I wouldn't have done that. Celesta done that,
don't they?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I was like, well, you know then his name was Michael,
I remember because I followed them. But you know, they're
probably really tired their jet lag. They just had their concert.
It's a big day.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
How did you know his name was Michael?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Because I've got the program.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Oh of course, yeah, And who were you when you
were doing the moves? And now who were you? Were
you Michael or.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Well, no, Tina was the first. I kind of wanted
to be Tina, but then there were Cheanette. She was incredible,
and then Nicky and Kelly were the two kind of nondescript,
kind of you know, white girls with brown hand but
it was Tina and Chanette were the main two female dancers.
And I'd always be like, I love them, but I'm
probably not going to be them, so they can let that,
(19:02):
but I'll be I'll just be Nicki or Kelly. That
was Nicky. So when they came out at the end
and did their solo dead you know, and when Janet
goes you put it together, put your hands together for
Shannette and she come out. They'd be like, please put
your hands together for Nicky. And I got here, I
am and I do one of the things, and then
I believed. Yeah. My third item is a card of
(19:27):
well several business cards that my dad would give me.
So my dad writes on the back of his business cards.
Back in the day, we used to have them, just
a lovely note. So I moved out of home when
I was seventeen down to Sydney to go to walk
to Penrith went to drama school, and my dad would
(19:48):
just put in my wallet, thinking of you love Dad,
and I have kept them over the years. I've got
a big stack of them. I've got them on my
wall in my office and everything. If he would have
to go away, which he never really did.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
My dad.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I worked close to home, but for whatever reason, if
I had something big coming up and he had to
leave early for work that morning, he'd always put a
business card out with a lovely message on the back
of it. And as I say, I've got them on
the wall in my office, I keep them in my wallet,
all the different ones in different handbags that I have,
or because I travel a lot, I put them in
my suitcase and so everywhere I go I'll open up
(20:22):
and again I'm like, oh, there's that letter from Dad.
And he then did it once on a big bit
of paper and folded it up and I just walked
up and went night, it's not the same an he went, yeah, sorry,
get a little I don't love this one.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Oh what a great dad, what a lovely thing to
do for your daughter.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And we've never really kind of spoken about it. It's
not a thing. It's just a thinking of you or
well done, or love you, hope you have a good
sleep tonight. Really really thoughtful.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
And what age did he do that up until.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
He still does it. It's very sweet. I wanted to
start doing it for my kids. But it's also something
that you can't request, you know what I mean. It's
just something that it's his gem and however does it.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's interesting as well how you haven't talked about it,
and maybe you don't need to talk about it. All
it said is on the car. Do you get it?
That's it?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
My dad's quiet and my mum they're both very sentimental.
So my dad has his shard and my son's wrote
him a birthday card a few weeks ago and he's
put it up here and he'll take a phone and
just send it to me and go pride a place.
And that's what we're same with my niece and nephews,
my sister's kids. At the stuff. He just pops things around.
And also he's got an old an original Cooper es
seventy one and he has two things in it down
(21:33):
the side of the door and it's a letter from
me when we were little, when I was little, and
a letter from my sister too, on two very separate
occasions years apart, and just the two things. He just
keeps in the car with him at all times, which
is so cute.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, it's very what a great.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Way to keep the younger yous still close to him.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, and it's just, you know, it's nice to know
that that's stuff mattered, because I get it now I'm
a parent and that stuff totally matters. But you don't
think to keep all that stuff. You're like, yeah, he's
telling us another drawing, how amazing.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But he does.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
He holds onto just a few of things and also
kind of gives out those cars as well, which is
so nice.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Tell me about Dad.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Then, Dad is an only child, born and bred here
at Tweetheads forever and always. I got my add from
my dad, and we joke about it all the time.
We give each other shit about having no attention span
all the time, and Dad and I also, he's so
(22:35):
fucking funny, my dad. He's the originator of dad jokes.
But to this day, like he said, told us this
joke the other day that he's been telling us since
we were six, and he had tears in his eyes
he was laughing so hard. But he now only tells
this joke for our reaction. He waits, he says it
because he knows we're going to be like Dad, fuck stop.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
He loves it.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I got to hear the joke.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Okay, Popper walks into a bar. The barman says, oh,
we've got a name. We've got a drink named after you,
and the Grasspopper goes, oh, what an Eric.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
It's a funny joke.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, I get it, but I mean, yeah, I know,
but I've mean it's been told for about twenty five
years and now my son says it, and he thinks
it's a funny thing ever, and just he could.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Be going down the generations. He's keeping it that Eric joker. Lie.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, and you'll get excited to when we're all together.
My dad will just kind of say, you know, he'll
just kind of sidle up to someone and you're like,
fuck is William joke?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
And is?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
And then he'll but it's the delivery my and then
my sister will scream laughing, She's got the greatest laugh
in the world. And I'm like.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
What is it.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
What is it? What is it?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
And you'll tell me.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And but it's the anticipation of how shit it's going
to be and how much joy he gets out of
it that makes it the greatest moment in your life. Yeah,
it's great. So we're thinking, he's seventy next year, So me,
my sister and my dad are all going to get
a tattoo of aper.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Oh you're kidding, that is you've got to do that.
You weren't going to do that. Oh, it's the best
thing you could do if I was your dad. What
a great gift for your seventieth what So you and
your sister and your dad are all getting it done.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Get get just a grasshopper on a leg or wherever.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
But yeah, oh god, I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
What a great thing. Eric the grasshopper. He's a punchline
that lives on literally permanently, on you all.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
That's amazing, basically forever.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah, the joke's become a physical joke now.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So Leste, thank you so much for doing this. But
it's really been a joy, an absolute joy. Big thank
you to today's legend. I thought she really was one,
Celeste Barber. What I loved is that everything Celeste had
picked came back to her mum and dad. It challenges
(24:51):
that very old idea that all funny people have got
the world's worst parents. I love the sound of her
mum and dad and a friend's VHS Cassette Janet Jackson.
Obviously her dad's business cards are going to steal that idea,
and that the hearts of all of them, this wonderful,
beautiful relationship she has with her mum and dad. And
I think I will keep the joke going and tell
(25:12):
my daughters that you should tell yours if you've got kids.
Eric the Grasshopper awesome. Let's all use it. Make sure
you don't miss out on any of our upcoming legends.
Follow the show for free on iHeartRadio or whatever podcast
app you're listening to this on, and if you want
to get in touch, check out Stuff of Legends podcast
(25:32):
dot com. I'm still Christian O'Connell and until next time,
this is the Stuff of Legends. It was
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