Funny, raw, personal experiences of immigration and cultural identity in modern Australia. Featuring guests from a wide variety of migrant backgrounds, chatting about experiences navigating the culture clash.
Sonia Di Iorio, Melissa Viola, Andre Christodoulou
This week Raw Comedy finalist He Huang joins us to discuss aeroplane rice, international open mics, and Tinder as an anthropological tool. Can you eat Szechuan hotpot while wearing gothic make-up? Let's find out together! Our Patreon! He Huang: @huanghe007 Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Writer and comedian Brendan Wan joins us to talk about cooking in lockdown and how the comfort food from our childhood inspired his iView show, Gourmet Lazy. Our Patreon! Brendan: @mrbrendanwan Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Crishelle Lopez joins us to talk about being an immigration lawyer and the effects of Covid on the industry. Plus she tells us about being entered in Little Miss Phillipines as a child and more! Our Patreon! Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Dahn Rozario joins us to talk growing up around different ethnic groups and how that created tension as well as how it influenced his online sketches. Plus great food, doofs and more! Dan: @dahngelo Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Comedian, Andrew Portelli joins us for a very funny episode where we chat Italian neighbourhoods of Perth, dating advice from Nonna, Italian memes and more! Andrew: @entertheportman Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Mel and Sonia kick off season five by chatting about their surnames, parents names, some popular and funny Italian names and more. Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Ashley Vola joins us and shares what it was like representing Cameroon on Channel Seven's ‘Plate of Origin'. She tells us about the pros and cons of presenting a cuisine many Australians are unfamiliar with, plus how she got into dressmaking and more. Ashley: @volafoods Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Gamze Kirik joins us to talk writing and performing stand-up about her family and cultural background. She shares what it was like visiting Turkey, we discuss the connection with people and places when visiting your family's country of origin and more! Gamze: www.gamzekirik.com Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Comedian, Joe White tells us stories about his early life in Sudan, his incredible mother and how he uses comedy to share his experiences. We also hear about how he created the hit live comedy showcase, Best of Africa and more! Joe: www.joewhitecomedian.com/ Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
We're joined by Jay Ooi, creator and host of the podcast Shoes Off: Stories about Asian Australian culture. He shares what it's like to create the podcast with topics ranging from Australia's history of racism to bubble tea, why he started it and more! Shoes Off Podcast Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Cristina Abela is the co-founder of Latin Stories Australia and she joins Mel and Sonia to discuss the project. She also shares her experience of living in Australia as a recent immigrant versus years down the track, her connection to Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations and more! Latin Stories Australia: @latinstoriesaustralia Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Mel and Sonia are talking about talking… Italian! All things growing up around the language, how much they learnt, what they found difficult to pick up, peculiar phrases and more! Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Author and comedian Sami Shah joins us and discusses raising a child in a different country to the one he grew up in, moving from the huge city of Karachi, Pakistan to regional Western Australia, performing comedy in both countries and more! Find more great content on our Facebook Page here Sami: @samishahdotcom Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more here
Actor Karanvir Malhotra (What Are The Odds?, Selection Day, The Forgotten Army) joins us to discuss the joys and difficulties of living between two countries, finding his love for acting in Melbourne, and more! Find more great content on our Facebook Page here Karanvir: @karanvirm Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
We're joined by comedian and Logie winner, Dilruk Jayasinha (Utopia, HYBPA?, Hughesy We Have A Problem) for a very fun chat about fitting in, homesickness, cricket, Jason Donovan and more! Find more great content on our Facebook Page here Dilruk: @dilrukj Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Podcaster and comedian Alexei Toliopoulos joins us to talk wog comedy, his love of Looking For Alibrandi and his misfortunes at Greek school. Find more great content on our Facebook Page here Alexei: @thisisalexei Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
We're joined by actor and comedian Diana Nguyen who shares what went into making Phi and Me, the first Vietnamese-Australian family comedy webseries. We also discuss navigating dating and sexuality with family expectations and more! Find more great content on our Facebook Page here Diana: @realdiananguyen and diananguyen.com.au Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Mel and Sonia kick off season 3 by talking about some common Italian superstitions. We consider their origins and discuss our personal experience with these beliefs. There's spilling oil, hats on beds, crotch grabbing and of course the dreaded malocchio (the evil eye). Find more great content on our Facebook Page here Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook here
Ivan Aristeguieta tells Mel and Sonia about being part of the first wave of stand-up comedians in Venezuela and breaking into the Australian comedy scene. Plus he shares some details on the turmoil in Venezuela and we connect over meeting family in your country of heritage for the first time. Find Ivan here Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Find more great content on our Facebook page here
Sydney based comedian, Suren Jayemanne, joins us to share his love of cooking and how that has helped him connect to his cultural background. Plus we talk about our First Holy Communion, the shifting privilege of certain migrant groups and more. Suren: Facebook / @surencomedy Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX Find more great content on our Facebook page here
We're joined by comedian and radio host, Annie Louey who tells us about her experiences growing up Chinese Australian. She discusses how her heritage has influenced her stand-up, the lack of Asian representation in comedy and media, how her grandmother was the village matchmaker and more. Annie: annielouey.com Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX
Mel and Sonia are joined by Italian photographer, Nicola Bernardi. He talks about the differences in his work life between Italy and Australia, finding love just before moving across the globe, and how he's definitely not a Mamma's boy. Find us here on Facebook Nicola: @kumaniko and nicolabernardi.com Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX
Award winning spoken word poet, Thabani Tshuma joins Mel and Sonia for a discussion which focuses on issues of belonging and the complex connection to your country of origin that can form once you have left. Find us here on Facebook. Thabani: @thabani.tshuma Sonia: @soniadsees Mel: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: AndreX
In this episode Melissa and Sonia take a look at Italian music. They discuss songs they remember growing up and learn more about some of the traditional and modern music to come out of Italy. Our Spotify playlist featuring all the great tracks and artists mentioned in this episode can be found here Check out Sonia's gig info, clips and more on Facebook: www.facebook.com/soniadii.comedy/ and Instagram: @soniadsees See Mel's brilliant creations on Instagram: @woolseyemelbourne Find producer André Christodoulou here
Sonia and Mel are back with Season 2 of Who The Bloody Hell Are We? Tune in Tuesday, June 2nd for the first episode or subscribe so it automatically downloads to your device as soon as it's available.
Comedy writer David Koutsouridis joins us to discuss his Greek, Italian, and French background. He tells us about his experience at Greek school, coming out to his family, and how his cultural mix has influenced his life. Facebook.com/whothebloodyhellarewe David: @davidkoutsouridis Sonia: @soniadsees Mell: @woolseyemelbourne André: @thebeardedprestonian
In part 2 of our chat, Zen tells us about her current life in Australia; detailing her work with the Brave Foundation, misconceptions and the pressure to represent her whole culture, and clubbing in Ethiopia. facebook.com/whothebloodyhellarewe Sonia: @soniadsees Mell: @woolseyemelbourne André: @thebeardedprestonian
Zen Tebeje is a mentor for the Brave Foundation and YLab Global associate who came to Australia with her family as a teen. In part 1 of our chat, Zen tells us about her parents fleeing to Sudan from Ethiopia, her experience living in a refugee camp, and the difficulties of starting school in Australia. facebook.com/whothebloodyhellarewe Sonia: @soniadsees Mell: @woolseyemelbourne André: @thebeardedprestonian
Dispute resolution officer and writer, Tara Suamba, joins Mel and Sonia to talk about growing up in both Bali and regional WA. As well as the culture clash of having an Australian and an Indonesian parent they tell us about Balinese ceremonies, the culture of community and their piece for Queerstories “There are absolutely no gay Balinese people.” Listen to Tara's story on the Queerstories here facebook.com/whothebloodyhellarewe Sonia: @soniadsees Mell: @woolseyemelbourne André: @thebeardedprestonian
Mel and Sonia are joined by comedian and writer, Urvi Majumdar. Urvi moved from India to Australia as a child and tells us about fitting in, juggling parental expectations and dragging a trolley full of curries on the tram. Since the time of recording MICF has since been cancelled due to Covid-19. The shows plugged at the end of the episode are not taking place. facebook.com/whothebloodyhellarewe Urvi: @urvi_majumdar Sonia: @soniadsees Mell: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: facebook.com/AndreXmusic/
Your hosts, Melissa Viola and Sonia Di Iorio, take you through tidbits of their Italian heritage. They talk food, Catholicism, glory boxes, traditional skills, and everything you need to know to be a good Italian. More great content on our Facebook Page: facebook.com/whothebloodyhellarewe Sonia: facebook.com/soniadii.comedy/ and @soniadsees Mell: @woolseyemelbourne Producer André: facebook.com/AndreXmusic/ and @thebeardedprestonian
Welcome to Who The Bloody Hell Are We with your hosts comedian, Sonia Di Iorio, and performer and visual artist, Melissa Viola. Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss out on the first three episodes when the show launches on March 17.