MAA #066: With Andrew Goodone

Interview with Andrew Goodone, who has been a Comic for 36 years and has done "pretty much everything" in the comedy world.  For the past 10 years he has been doing some amazing work with teenagers at risk, by engaging and collaborating with them to make short comedy films. To date, Andrew has made a whopping 151 short films. Check out some of his work by searching for the Robinvale Comedy Project on YouTube. Andrew also did a TED Talk last year, called Zen and the Art of Making Comedy, which you can view on YouTube. We discuss: starting the interview immediately to get the gold, comedy films as a form of therapy, stories from Monash Secondary College, addressing the high youth suicide rate in Robinvale, importance of being open and non-judgmental, family suicides, family mental health, Sue-Ann Post and the auto-biographical comedy style, the anti-suicide comedy project in Robinvale, the sacrifice sometimes involved when being a support person for friends, being seen as the villain when doing the right thing, the lack of funding for mental health services, self-care via comedy, Andrew's super power, and his message to try not to bottle things up, and even though it may be tough or trying at times, be supportive to those around you.