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Transforming the Game with Kristina Katsanevas is the podcast for game-changers, risk-takers, and industry shakers. Don’t hate the player—hate the game? Not here. These leaders are rewriting the rules. From high-net-worth entrepreneurs, founders of Australia’s most iconic brands, and those disciplined enough to keep stacking those habits to success. We dive into the minds of pioneers innovating in media, business, fashion, sport and transformation.
Want to know how to break the mold and redefine success in your career, business, and life?
Tune in and start transforming the game.
Speaker 2 (01:31)
Dave Hughesy-Hughes is one of Australia's most loved comedians, radio hosts and TV personalities. From the project to sold out comedy tours, he's built a career on honesty, humor and saying what everyone's thinking, even if they're not saying it. Welcome Huesey.
Speaker 1 (01:47)
Kristina that's a lovely introduction.
Speaker 2 (01:50)
You're welcome. I had a few written out. I thought we'd go with the nicer one.
Speaker 1 (01:53)
No, they're pretty good. I'm ⁓ pretty relaxed about not nice introductions. I did a season of Taskmaster on the TV show this year and one introduction from Tom Gleason, the host, you know, we're on TV and he goes, welcome the old and stinky Dave Hughes. That's lovely thing to say. Thanks,
Speaker 2 (02:15)
Thanks, thanks, we'll appreciate that. Whatever gets the rating. No, that wasn't in my notes. But you have, Hughsey, you've been in the limelight, you're an Aussie icon, you're known as the average Aussie, this deadpan humor, but you crave attention. Yes. So what is little Hughsey, what brought that about? Were you always this attention seeking little kid? What was childhood like?
Speaker 1 (02:41)
I was always a kid who wanted to be the hero, who wanted to be number one, who wanted to have all the adulation of the public. Sporting conquests were my original aim. So wanted to be an AFL star and I wanted to be a cricket star, I wanted to be a tennis star, I wanted to be a golf star, I wanted to be a soccer star. So yeah, I just wanted to be a star initially. But I was very shy as well. So I wasn't someone who, you know,
push themselves forward when I was a little kid. yeah, I think it's fair to say I was an over thinker.
Speaker 2 (03:16)
And yeah. Overthinker. So that's interesting. Do know who you sounded like then? It Robbie Williams.
Speaker 1 (03:21)
yeah right, I've met Robbie and I've actually met a few John but I've connected with him ⁓ whenever I have. He's a funny guy so yeah I've had some fun with Robbie.
Speaker 2 (03:31)
So you wanted to and obviously you're I have watched you comment commentate on sport Yeah, on online and everything you wanted so you you don't do that playing AFL
Speaker 1 (03:43)
I
but not to the level I obviously wanted to be, you know, top of the pops, play for the Carlton Football Club and win AFL Premierships and be best on ground in the Grand Finals and win the best in fairs for the whole league and generally just be fated as the best player ever. So that didn't happen. yeah, and was a tough, was a bitter pill to swallow when that's what you're dreaming about since you're four years old, maybe three actually. So at the age of 24 I retired, so without reaching really many great heights.
Speaker 2 (04:12)
Why didn't it
Speaker 1 (04:14)
Well, look, I do believe I had the skill to do it, other people didn't believe that. I also, I didn't get as tall as I wanted to. I'm, you know, 5'10", maybe 5'11". So, but yeah, I was a really good mark on the ball. So, but that's not probably tall enough to make that your living on the footy field. And I wasn't fast enough. I was brave, I'm going to say that. mean, self-praise is no recommendation. I know that, I believe I was brave, but I just wasn't, I also wasn't that strong.
Speaker 2 (04:34)
Yeah.
Okay, but you tried to relive that glory recently. Yeah. AFL.
Speaker 1 (04:48)
Yeah, in the
Legends game which was just in the break before the AFL finals. So yeah, and I ended up breaking five ribs and puncturing a lung. But again, I got the attention I craved because it became a big media event and we're like 10 weeks on from that now and people still ask me about it. So that was good.
Speaker 2 (05:08)
Do you get asked about the actual gang or do you get asked about are you dying?
Speaker 1 (05:12)
Yeah, pretty much are you dying? Are you okay? Will you survive? Yeah, and I think I will survive. So I have had a bit of an issue with the lung, the punctured lung has been filling up. It fill up with fluid once. So I actually have to have a scan next week to see whether the fluid's back. So that would be annoying if it is. So maybe I'm paranoid about it and I feel like I'm having trouble breathing. I'm not quite sure if I am or not.
Speaker 2 (05:15)
Yes, it was.
Call out at any time.
Speaker 1 (05:38)
I'm
flying around the country, performing on stage for sometimes 90 minutes at a time. So can function. don't think a marathon is in my future anytime soon. Hopefully one day.
Speaker 2 (05:56)
Add it to your bucket list. In the AFL game you sort of targeted.
Speaker 1 (06:00)
I was, yes. It was a joke from the coach of the opposition who is a friend of mine, Shane Crawford, who was a former Brownlow medalist and, know, premiership hero himself in the AFL. But he thought in his pre-match address to his players that he just put one name on the whiteboard and that name was my name. And he said his only sort of motivational speech is, don't care. He actually, this is pretty close to what he actually said. It's broadcast on Channel 7. You can see it on, you know, whatever their bloody streaming service is. But he said, I don't care what happens out there tonight. ⁓
Basically, he I don't care whether we win or lose, and then he just pointed to the board and he said, just make sure that guy never wants to play this game again. And that was only one name on the board, which was my name. yeah, and some of the players really followed that instruction.
Speaker 2 (06:43)
They really did. it a bit of talk pop here in Australia because like you would have been the favorite and everyone 30,000 fans there are like rooting for Huzy.
Speaker 1 (06:51)
Oh look, most of the guys in the opposition, I think they were just thinking it was fun and I get it, know, men got attention from me as well but the problem is that I broke my ribs and punctured my lung really early in the game and I stayed on the field which was silly in hindsight so maybe why I'm having trouble breathing right now but so I kept out there even though I should have just gone straight to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (07:12)
Yeah, you kept out there and you finished with...
Speaker 1 (07:15)
I a goal. A goal? Yeah, the goal was an exciting moment in my life, I'm not going to lie. And I'm telling everyone about it and probably will for the next 10 years. I've actually got my management working on next year's stand-up show and they've got a footy card with me kicking that goal. So yeah, so I am certainly milking it. ⁓
Speaker 2 (07:35)
I would too, I would too. we go back and you've been in and we talk about attention and even if you don't mind me saying coming in you are posting on Instagram and you're looking at the time stamp. where does Dave finish and Tuesday begin when it comes to personal brand and the comic and who you are?
Speaker 1 (07:58)
It's, they're pretty close. I mean, I am always looking for the next joke, basically. And I will, you know, to my, I will be lying on my death bed and, you know, knowing that I've probably got moments to live and I'll be trying to find a charger to charge my phone. Cause I want to say something on Instagram that's funny. So about, you know, about your final breath. This is what's funny about your final breath. So I'll be going like that and then I'll be checking the likes as I move into the next world. So.
Yeah, I'm always trying to think of jokes and yeah, actually the social media ads in a way it's annoyed a lot of older comedians because you know, you go to festivals and you look at a line of an audience is a lot, know, and some other comedians got a line of like, she's down, you know, 200 meters. Who is that? And you see the name on the board. You don't know who they are, but they're famous on TikTok. And that annoys older comedians like me who's like, shit. Which I was famous on TikTok.
Speaker 2 (08:54)
One from TikTok. But how has that changed the comedy world? Like, well, it's online from...
Speaker 1 (09:02)
I think the world in general is changing. We've all got to be like most jobs are moving because of obviously technological advances. and comedy is sort of similar. In a way the old media, which is the terms being used now, well, the legacy media is being usurped. So, it's not as big a break to get a TV show or to get a radio show these days as it used to be because now so many people are using, they're just going straight to the source on like,
whether it's podcasts like this or whether it's, you know, just YouTube or just, you know, Instagram or TikTok, they're seeing their comedy there without having to worry about sitting through ads on a, you know, free to wear TV stations. So yeah, so it is changing. you know, I think, yeah, a few years ago I thought I've got to move with this. Cause my numbers on social media were just going down, down, down. Cause I wasn't putting any attention on it. You weren't putting it off. And I'm like,
I'm going to put some attention here and I have and it's actually worked. mean, you know, almost dying on a charity football field is sort of things help. Those news events do help. But yeah, but generally you've got to just keep consistent with the social media, as you know. if you're consistent, you can find an audience, but you can't stop. You've got to keep going.
Speaker 2 (10:17)
you do have to keep going. is that always at the front of your mind? So you're you'll feel like you're dying your wife credit to her for saving your life and going you're going to hospital because you were a stubborn male and just decided to go to the after party. Yeah. And she took you to hospital. Now most people, normal people, average people would go, I need help you need to and that's where their mind is with the doctors I need to heal you easy when
I need to get Channel 7, 9, 10 and online right now to get the presence.
Speaker 1 (10:49)
They rang me, you've to remember, so I wouldn't ring them, but my first thought though was, let's get this online. So when I found out I had five broken ribs and a punctured lung, so I knew just, could sense that the night before it must have gone well on like ratings wise and I ended up being right. was like, at that point it was the most watched AFL game for the year. Like, and it's crazy, was just,
a group of old footballers and couple of clowns running around, but there's like over two million people watched it, which is big for TV these days. So I knew that people had seen me the night before, wince in agony. And so once I got the confirmation that I had like five broken ribs and a punctured lung, I knew that was going to be a big news story.
Speaker 2 (11:30)
You weren't being a wimp.
Speaker 1 (11:31)
I was not being a wimp and I know the Australian media loves content and I provided quite a bit of it over the years. So I think I've got a good sense of what is a story and I knew that was and I love it when I'm in the story. So I went straight to my Instagram and that's what spiralled into all these media opportunities and then the bosses of the hospital came down for an intervention because I was in ICU and it's not a media event apparently so.
Yeah, so that was, and again, but then it ends up being comedy for me as you've seen, as you saw my stand-up show last night. I did.
Speaker 2 (12:01)
I did watch your show last night and I was belly laughing and a few tears rolling down because you're really funny.
Speaker 1 (12:08)
I
love stand-up comedy and there's a group of people in Australia who know me but don't think I'm funny. But if I can get them in a room, so some of them get dragged along to my stand-up shows and they say afterwards, they line up for a photo afterwards and then they go, I got dragged, I didn't think you funny before tonight but now I'm a fan. and I'm like, it's a backhanded compliment but I'll take it. I'm happy to convert people at whatever age they are. Hopefully they can all see the light.
Speaker 2 (12:37)
The whole room was in hysterics, like you could feel the vibe. So how do you bring, is it just natural? How do you bring the energy in? Because before a show, how do you work yourself up to?
Speaker 1 (12:47)
That's
the show you saw was the second show, I had an earlier show. you know what, in that show, I, you know, I mean, I love all the shows and I do love all my shows, but that one that you saw actually, that did feel a bit special because I just, for whatever reason, I was so relaxed on that stage and I changed, I always changed the order. I never sort of stay the same. I never stay on stage and go through a list, like a shopping list. I just mix it up and, know, I try to carry, I try to go with whatever's, you know.
wherever I'm feeling at the moment. So, but that show, I really mixed up the order and it just, it just, for me, it felt seamless. Everything just sort of slotted in. And it was like, before I knew it, I was, you know, I'd been on stage for 75 minutes and I'm thinking, Jesus, probably they want to go to the toilet. better wind it up. So, yeah. So I just really, and I've got lot less nervous over the years. I really have had the epiphany that no one cares and that it doesn't matter. And it's just so relaxing. So I really don't get nervous anymore.
Pretty much.
Speaker 2 (13:47)
How do you have you got any tips for people who because it is about personal branding and everything and being in front of people of reading the room so because stand-up comedy that is it's a tough yeah like just being present for people or being in public but stand-up comedy I've well that's not something I do so making people laugh or which is your job but how do you read the room or pivot do you have some techniques to pivot
Speaker 1 (14:14)
It's nothing conscious, so I don't have an unconscious technique. I must just, I mean, the more you get on stage, the more comfortable you get generally. So, and I take every opportunity to be on stage. So, you know, if I've got a night off, will negotiate with my wife and say, I'm gonna drop, I'm just gonna pop out for an hour and I'll go to a comedy club and just get up for free just to get that sense of being on stage. And sometimes you'll try a new line and it'll work. So, but the more you're on stage, the more comfortable you are next time you're on stage.
I mean, I say to my son mainly, and my daughters as well, but my son, I'm trying to get him into, he's a good basketball owner, do the work and then trust the work. So you do the work, save in basketball, just do all the practice, and do extra practice. Stand up comedy, go to those comedy clubs for free, and just work every night, or as many nights as you can. So you do the work and then you trust the work. Because you've done the work and then you just, when you're...
you're in front of a crowd who you've paid or whatever that you trust what you've done and then they see it because they don't know all the work you've done before the night. Sometimes they go, that all off the top of your head? And like it's not, but you try to make it feel like it is and you also try to be so relaxed. They think it's all off the top of your head. yeah. And again, I do just, I just love standup comedy. So it's never worked for me.
Speaker 2 (15:32)
You felt that in the room too, like that you were just happy and go like, like you weren't, it wasn't scripted. wasn't.
Speaker 1 (15:38)
It
was a float, a real float.
Speaker 2 (15:41)
You also, what you're saying then is the mindset of an athlete and elite athletes where you put in the practice. It's Michael Jordan. You know, how many shots do you practice? And then once you've done the training, every elite athlete, they're training and training and training for that one game, for that 10 second run for like you're saying to your son practice and practice more. Michael Jordan used to say, we'd practice before and after training because once you've got the K's in, ⁓ that's the cycling, but once you've got the K's in or you've got the shots in, you get to a point of compounding effort.
Yeah, and you can never come back like people can just like never catch you pretty. Yeah
Speaker 1 (16:15)
And also, you know, the ones who do the extra work on their own are the ones who, you know, rise above because they're not just doing what they're asked to do, they're doing more than that. yeah, you've got to take personal responsibility and then you can't blame the coach or blame some sort of training, sort of regime you're on because you took personal responsibility and did extra yourself. yeah, personal responsibility is a big thing.
Speaker 2 (16:39)
Yeah, yeah, self accountability. Do you ⁓ do you always have to feel like you're on all the time?
Speaker 1 (16:45)
No, no, and the older I get, the more I realise I don't have to be. I really recently realised something that has actually changed my life and that's the realisation that other people's opinions don't matter. And also they're all so temporary, so whatever opinion they have, I'll be one second, they might change it five seconds later. So I've really, I've cut myself free from worrying about what other people think, which is the most relaxing epiphany I've ever had.
Speaker 2 (17:14)
Amazing. Is that why you gave up radio last year?
Speaker 1 (17:17)
No, to be honest, we were sacked from radio and that was part of the epiphany really. I've done radio for many years and part of my dread every six weeks is what are the ratings going to be? So for 25 years or maybe a bit less than that, they were always good enough to keep going. And then I was in a situation in Sydney where those ratings weren't great and the bosses decided to sack us. And I thought, that would be a terrible thing for me.
It wasn't. Then I realised that hang on, no one ever cared. So I've been stressing for 25 years for no reason. And once I realised that, it's actually changed my life. As to like, no one cares. And then it's such a liberating, it's not, mean, people might say it sounds depressing, but it's not, it's actually liberating. So you can just enjoy life.
Speaker 2 (18:06)
Exactly. And you're exactly right. No one is thinking of you as much as you were thinking of you. And as much as you and lucky and I think that's really important for most people who are listening of their opinion of you is fleeting. It's gone and it could change and it just doesn't matter because I feel like ⁓ do you feel did you feel more pressure when you said you were starting to ramp up your online with online trolls to say in person hecklers when you say when you used to care?
what people thought. I'm sure you'd get hecklers and dickheads in the show. But then to Online Warriors, when you'd post something, did you feel a difference?
Speaker 1 (18:45)
Well, mean, online was so much more because people are much less likely to insult you in public. So and because if you're in a room, you know, let's say 300 people, whatever, who've come to see a comedian, you're not going to yell out, you're not very rarely would you yell at you're not funny. You wouldn't hear that very often. But even at a comedy clubs where they haven't come to see you specifically, people don't yell it out because they know that people will be judging them for being rude assholes. And so online, though, they don't
There seems to be a lot of people who don't worry about that. So yeah, I've been drowning in negativity at some points, but then again, the more negativity I got, then probably eventually you realize again, it doesn't matter. So, and then that's again liberating. And so, you the rise of the negativity on social media has actually been good for me. So, cause I've had there, as I say, the realization that again, it doesn't matter. So, and I really want my kids to be like that.
And I think they are because they see that people slag me off or whatever. And they say, no matter how successful you are, there'll be a certain amount of people who just hate on you because they've got nothing else to do. So, and the kids see that and they say it doesn't affect me. And I really think it's helped them in their own lives to relax about, because I was such a neurotic child and so concerned about everyone's opinion of me. It was just ridiculous. I had so many, I stressed so much over so many years. It's just, I really want my kids not to go through that.
to be able to live their lives but not have that stress and that bullshit which is such, it's just so unnecessary.
Speaker 2 (20:16)
What do you think it's like being the child of Dave Hughes? ⁓
Speaker 1 (20:21)
They're pretty good about it be honest. yeah, and again, I think it's because they say that I'm don't take life seriously that I'm like, they say that I'm and I'm up for being mocked. I'm up for being, you know, and they take the piss out of me all the time. And they say that I, even though I used to be annoyed about that sometimes with my son, but now I've completely given up. I couldn't care less what he says. And you know, he can be.
annoying at times. He's a smart ass and sometimes he doesn't read the room, but I'm really gone beyond even caring about that. So it's, I think they're good. go back to my son, my daughters are great as well. They're bloody so happy and they're just fantastic. There's one example from with my son, he was in a basketball grand final. He used to cry on the way home from games so much because he wasn't getting game time and taking it all too seriously. But he got to this grand final and played really well in the grand final. His team was like a few points down.
Speaker 2 (20:51)
Hey.
Speaker 1 (21:12)
and he had free throws to get the team over the line. And it was like, it a grand finals, heaps of like, relatively heaps of people, it was all on the line and it was up to him. But then I saw him and he laughed before he took the shots. And I thought, shit, I think my attitude is rubbed off here. So he laughed and he got one of the two and he missed the second one, but that could have been bad, but he got the rebound and then he got two more free throws and he ended up winning the game for the team. But I really saw that laugh.
at a serious situation and what could be seen as serious situation is I think I've helped this kid and yeah and so that's great. That's what I want. I want my kids to be able to laugh in the face of possible humiliation.
Speaker 2 (21:53)
Yeah, yeah, and just be comfortable in their own skin, especially where kids are growing up now, right? It's it's so much harder. ⁓ And just what they're doing. I mean, very random situation when I got back to ⁓ the house last night, I sitting in the car with my friend and four kids, this is just the torment of kids nowadays, four kids walked past us. This was late at night, they had ⁓ their shirts over their face. We're like, what are they doing? And they all had toilet paper and they'll toilet paper in the house.
next door and I'm like, hey, that's old school beer in my head. It's like it's not Halloween. But the fact they had their and I'm like the intent, the intent is scary. It's an asshole. I turned my car on. They shit themselves. So they weren't tough. They thought they were. Yeah, I've turned that they ran so far. But then I went and cleaned a little paper off because two teenage girls live in that house. So these kids were targeting the teenage girls. Yeah, right. And I was I was just thinking about the torment of
school and kids and if it's not online like they would have come out and although it might have seen harmless the kids like those for me I was thinking those girls will go well we just got targeted yeah you know it could be scary yeah and so we cleaned it all up so that they would never have known it happened
Speaker 1 (23:07)
That's
just it. It should be better than
Speaker 2 (23:10)
Kids can just be cruel, so it's good that you're teaching them resilience along the
Speaker 1 (23:14)
They count me dickheads. Again, my son once was, they were nick-knocking him and his mates and this guy who's like known as the crazy guy in the suburb that his mate lived in and so nick-knocking him and then but the guy ran and chased him and called him my son and I said I get a phone call, your son's been taken captive, like he's been taken hostage. I'm like what? And this, but this bloke wouldn't let my son, this was a few years ago and my son was nowhere near as big as he is now but yeah, so this guy held my son till the police turned up for like an hour which was... that's scary. Well, was scary but
You know, maybe my son deserves it.
Speaker 2 (23:47)
There's a lesson. There's a lesson. ⁓
Speaker 1 (23:50)
He never knick-knocked, he hasn't knick-knocked since.
Speaker 2 (23:52)
What about in you've been in you've been in the media world TV radio hosting panelists everything like that. So it's a very egotistical world. When you're in the TV in that world. Did you have any personalities because you're a bit of a larrikin and everything you seem like you'd just be getting along or we making a joke with everyone but is there something personalities that you just haven't gotten along with.
Speaker 1 (24:13)
Yeah, does, and it's all ego really. Sometimes it's me being jealous, sometimes it's them being jealous, but it's generally jealousy which causes frictions. If someone's getting attention you don't think they deserve it, you think you deserve more attention, so, and yeah, and that goes both ways. People have attacked me unnecessarily because of, you know, their jealousy towards me, and I've attacked people not as, I mean, I'm not, I I haven't done it that often, but I had like an ongoing feud with Kyle Sandland because basically,
Speaker 2 (24:20)
⁓ More attention? Jealousy? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:40)
He was being rude to friends of mine, but partly it was me jealous of all the attention that he gets, know, so jealous about hearing about his massive contracts and stuff. So I won the Logies one year and it was a joke, but it was a good joke. was when, was years ago when Anthony Collier had just come out. So I know Anthony's a great guy. But it was from Australian Idol and I think Kyle was working on it at the time. said,
The joke went like this, Anthony's just come out, got a round of applause from the Logies room, he's on the broadcast on Channel 9, and I said, well done mate, and it was a shock though, it was like, what next? I said, Guy Sebastian's gonna reveal he's got curly hair, know? said, Shannon Noll's gonna reveal he's a bogan, or Kyle Sandland is gonna reveal he's a massive dickhead, so, and that.
And the others were in the room and Anthony was in room and everyone was laughing but Kyle did not laugh when I said that. he was like, apparently it was the first Logies he'd ever been to. So, and he was like, the whole room was laughing at him and he didn't like it. And so he hated me from that moment on for quite a while. might see the point where he went on a TV show and said was an Andrew Denton show, he he was gonna punch me in the throat. So, and then my wife said, you should do a charity fight with him. I went,
So yeah, so that was one, but we've since mended. He's said terrible things about me since, but also said nice things about me. So again, that's another one where I go like, doesn't matter, you stay in the moment. You stay in the moment, it doesn't matter. And I'm real big on this of being stay present. If you stay present, you can't hold a grudge, because holding a grudge is living in the past. So you can't hold a grudge against anyone or anything if you stay present.
Speaker 2 (26:22)
There's some easy wisdom right there, isn't there?
Speaker 1 (26:25)
Unless they're torturing you right now. I it's in the present. So yeah, I'm all about no grudges. And again, with Kyle, we've made up no worries at all. But we've had a few tiffs over the years, but no, no, actually, I did almost get me out of here. And then I got in, there's no media blackout then. And I had no idea that Kyle had had a bloody blackout and aneurysm or something. apparently it was big, I imagine it was big in the media. But then I got asked by a reporter when I got out.
Speaker 2 (26:27)
Well, that's present. ⁓
Speaker 1 (26:55)
what do think about Carl Sandlin's Melbourne writings or something? I thought that was a question. What do you think about Carl Sandlin's? I couldn't give a shit, But I didn't know that he was... He took that as to mean that I want him dead. I didn't even know about it. So getting away from the media can be a great thing as well because there's so much bullshit. If you have a break from it, you realize that you don't need to invest in everything with your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (27:20)
Yes, and it's liberating. How was Get I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here?
Speaker 1 (27:24)
My biggest problem there was my ego as well. It's like wanting all the attention. If someone else is getting attention, I wish I had attention. If someone else has been asked to the diary room to talk about their day one, I've been asked to the diary room to talk about my day. Are people voting for me? Are they not voting for me? So that was, again, all my suffering comes from my ego. It's ridiculous. Sometimes physical injuries, know, broken ribs and this and that, shoulders. But yeah, the most suffering I've had is from my ego.
So that's why I want to just send it away permanently.
Speaker 2 (27:58)
What's 2026 then for you? you're not doing the radio, if we're not caring about the online trolling, which PS by the way, 51 % vote for you, you're the president. There's 49 % that are the haters.
Speaker 1 (28:10)
No, exactly.
I know. stand-up comedy, which is my main love. So there'll be TV coming up and there might be some radio, but nothing's set in stone right now. so, yeah. but again, the freedom of not having to turn up somewhere every day, I've really enjoyed. and I do have a young family. So I do, it's good to drive my kids to school and impart my wisdom just before I let them go for the day. They tell me to shut up. We're sick of it, dad. We've heard it.
I'm going to keep telling you, look at the sun, you're alive because of the sun, appreciate it. So I'm really getting into driving into that, of appreciate each moment basically and then realise that being alive is the only gift really and everything else is noise.
Speaker 2 (28:59)
I like that. I recently had on the show, Matt Elliott, who was an NRL coach and Susan Pierce, and they've written the book, Winning the Second Half. You just reminded me when you said that, because it's all about the different shifts that men and women go through, like say from 40 onwards on men get a bit more like a word, but spiritual, but also connected to their children or their grandchildren and things like that as they go on. Women might actually want to travel and just try more because of what's happened.
It's interesting where you're like, actually just want to drive my kids to school. What's important?
Speaker 1 (29:33)
I know, my dad is always bang on them, but say family is most important thing and I would be like, my kids are to me, I'd say shut up dad. I wouldn't say it because he, no I didn't have that relationship, I couldn't tell him to shut up and fair enough. My kids can't tell me to shut up, I don't know whether it's better or not. But yeah, so, but now I realise that that's true and realise that it's the human connections which are everything and everything else is just rubbish.
Speaker 2 (29:53)
And, but with that, because I was looking back and you actually went to uni to do IT.
Speaker 1 (30:01)
Yeah, I was like, I was the only Hughes in my, you know, greater family who basically didn't done year 12 to be honest. So, and yeah, I got a decent mark. I mean, was ducks in my school, that was, but we had the worst year honestly. It was a terrible year. I got my marks. I wasn't happy with them. And then I just ran, did the ring around and shit, I think I'm ducks. But it wasn't a year to be celebrated. And so,
So, but I was, I was books. I could be clever, but I just couldn't focus at uni. I couldn't focus. I really did want to do comedy problems from the age of 13, I reckon. So was in my head. And it was like a pipe dream, but it was there. So I remember failing exams thinking I want to do comedy anyway. So, and it worked out for me, but yeah. So that was.
Yeah, I never got the degree on the wall. My mother would be going, go back and finish a degree probably 10 years into my comedy career. But then the money started rolling in and she realized that, hang on, I think I made the right decision.
Speaker 2 (30:55)
Was it hard to transition to go into comedy? Because I can't imagine, it's a sort of industry like your parents were, go study, become a doctor, become a technical engineer, whatever you're going to become. you're like, no, actually, I want to do comedy. I feel like it's a bit of a taboo where parents would have been.
Speaker 1 (31:11)
Well, they're worried that they're going to be paying your rent for the rest of your life. And that's the actual truth. my parents were helping me out with money initially, no doubt. And they are concerned that it's going to continue forever and you're going to end up a disappointed person in life because your dreams didn't work out and now you're broke and you're 50 and you're like... But I was so keen on it. And part of this mindset actually did happen back then when I was young.
So I was partly ego worrying about everyone thinking about me and all this bullshit, but part of me was like, nothing matters, just do whatever you like, it makes you happy. So that was enough of a strong part that I was able to get on stage and do that. So I definitely had that spiritual element from a young age. It just wasn't as set in stone as it is now.
Speaker 2 (32:00)
Did you, were you the clown in your group? ⁓
Speaker 1 (32:03)
Not in younger years, in year 11 and 12 I started to come into my own. I was like, my humour, the kids got. So I was like, I've got something here. I remember I did a speech for religious education. I hadn't even written the speech. It was about a potential saint. name was Sally Trench. She's probably dead now, but she's an English woman who helped homeless people. And I just opened a book and just started reading from her life and the whole student cohort, because I had to listen to every speech, just started laughing so hard.
That I was really, I'm like, God, I've got something here, so I'm funny. And then they all gave me 10 out of 10 because they had to judge every speech, but then I still failed that subject. One of the only subjects I failed in high school was religious education in year 11, and I think it's because of that speech is why the Christian brother failed me, but it's also that speech probably got me really thinking about comedy, so I was happy to fail.
Speaker 2 (32:55)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's divine intervention. What is it I was wondering, because you've managed to stay relevant, like you've been in the industry for a while the media, it's not an easy industry to stay relevant in moving in. What's your little secret? ⁓
Speaker 1 (33:13)
Well, my secret is that life will always be funny. So you just have to reflect the funniness of life and no matter in whatever journey you're on, it's still funny. So, you know, when I first started doing stand up comedy, I would do jokes about being on the doll, you know, because I was on the doll. So I mean, my first real stand up, my first real success, I suppose, probably was going on Hey Hey Hey at Saturday, the TV show that used to be watched by like two million people back in the day. was iconic. did a comedy routine about being on the doll and it went really well.
Speaker 2 (33:37)
I used to
Speaker 1 (33:43)
I'm bragging here, but it went so well that they had a 50 year reunion of that show, they just, you the best of 50 years of hi-hi and the only stand up spot they used was that spot from me for my first time on the show. So it kicked and it stayed funny. It's still funny. I don't do it very often, but every now and again, I throw a couple of lines from that routine in, but I was on the doll. I was embarrassed to on the doll. So I joked about it and everyone laughed and then it made it okay. and you know,
I remember after I did that routine on TV and it went so well, I was still on the doll and I walked into the doll office with my former, probably a week later, thinking I'd get a standing ovation. No one cared. So, disappointing. But, so that was funny then and now, know, whatever this part of my life, I mean, now it's funny, you know, one of my mates moved into a block of flats that I own. So I made that funny. So even though that can make me sound like an elitist wanko, but he moved in, I got him, I said, you want to move into one of these flats? He had no money. And he said, I need to have a look at it.
I said, it's 150 bucks a week, mate. It's a two-bedroom flat in inner city Melbourne. He said, I need to have a look at it. Maybe you won't like it. Anyway, he rang me from the flat because I'd given him keys I had at home. And he said, you didn't tell me it was fully furnished. I said, it's not. He said, yes, it is. There's also food in the fridge. said, mate, I've given you the wrong keys. You're in the wrong flat, mate. So that was a real story. It's a real story of a landlord being mean.
You know, so it's not somebody who's on the doll anymore, but it's still ridiculous and funny. that's who I was on the doll with him back in the day. 30 years later, he's still on the doll, but you know, who's to say who's had the better life, I think.
Speaker 2 (35:21)
So back in the day when you were when you were 22 you decided to stop drinking. Yeah. You're vegan. It's gone your health personal
Speaker 1 (35:31)
just want to stay alive. I'm an Irish heritage, so 95 % Irish. Alcoholism is part of the DNA. ⁓ I come from a big line of drinkers. You can see the happy side at parties, but you see the downside when everyone gets home and it's not good. I saw how stressful it could be. I grew up with it, how stressful it is for kids and stuff.
And also whenever I drank I would just get black out drunk. almost every single time if I started drinking I'd just, you know, eventually I'd just open my eyes and think where the fuck am I? You know, I'd have dangerous times, stressful times, and embarrassing times. yeah, I just, at the age of just turned 22 actually. No, I hadn't, actually I was still 21. So I haven't had a drink since 1992, November 1992.
early November, maybe October actually, so I 92. So yeah, I said I was going to stop till Christmas Eve just to see how I would feel because I was so stressed about life and about the way I was going. So I stopped for like six weeks maybe and I got to New Year's Eve and I got to Christmas Eve and I thought normally a big, that was normally big drinking night for me and my friends just get absolutely hammered and then sort of try to get through Christmas Day with a massive hangover. And I thought that night I thought, I'll just be like I was.
Nah, I'm not gonna drink anymore. And I stopped and that was the decision I made in 1992. we're still here and here we are in 2025 and just still haven't had drink. So yeah, it was a good decision.
Speaker 2 (37:04)
I think it's an excellent decision. It's also something I hear from a lot of very highly successful people who either their family, they've got family history of people who drink and they decide I don't want to be anything like you, them. So they never touch all they like. It's kind of like sliding doors, right? You go down one path, you go down the other. You also have a very obsessive, high personality when it comes to, when you double down, jokes, funny, personal branding. Like, it's good to be aware of that. ⁓
What is, was having look, you, cause you, cause you've got such a, for me, a very Aussie, you know, it's Aussie humor. You're born and bred in Victoria, but you have done world tours. How does your comedy and your humor relate overseas?
Speaker 1 (37:46)
So look, and then some people would think it wouldn't connect, you're too Aussie, but it actually does. So mean, funny's funny. And as long as you're talking about people, you're not going to talk about Anthony Albanese really in London, because I don't know. But you might talk about the mushroom lady, because I do know. So Steve Irwin, know. But yeah, but personal level comedy just does, it really does, it travels. There's no issue.
The stuff that makes people laugh at a gig in Caloundra, makes people laugh at a comedy club in LA or a comedy club in London. ⁓ They laugh and they can laugh harder actually because they don't know me so I'm a real sort of, who the fuck's this guy? And then they start getting onto it. And they're like, shit, he's really funny. So in a way that's great because they discover you. So I really enjoy that actually and I wanna do more.
I didn't have a family, I probably would at the moment, but yeah, so, but I love my family, yeah. So, yeah, the more I go overseas, and again, with this more relaxed attitude, I remember when I first started doing stuff overseas, I was so stressed thinking, oh God, what if they don't laugh and then I'm a fraud, you know, and then the haters are gonna go, yeah, that's right, he's not an international, you know what I mean? So, and that sort of, you have that in your head, it's just shit. Any expectations that you put on yourself?
just weighs you down. But if you walk out on stage or you do anything just fresh, it works. People sense you're relaxed. funny's funny.
Speaker 2 (39:17)
And
funny is funny. What's your best show? Best show.
Speaker 1 (39:21)
My best.
I look, I've had a number of these. mean, last, honestly, the one that one I did last night where you're in the room there, that was, I enjoyed that as much as anything I've ever enjoyed. So yeah, I've had some big nights. remember, you know, he's an example of staying in the moment. Actually. I was in the Montreal comedy festival one year. I was part of a, it's in Canada and I'm part of a show called All Stars. All right. So there was not one All Stars, like 10 All Stars or eight All Stars or whatever. So.
Speaker 2 (39:50)
Ego's high.
Speaker 1 (39:51)
Yeah, he goes, hi, there's like 3000 people there and like every other comedian who'd walked on stage, you got a standing ovation because they were known in North America. So I walk on stage, no standing ovation. So that's the first thing I say, I say, you're not going to stand for me. And they all laugh pretty hard. it got, then I had a really good set and at the end of the set, they gave me a standing ovation. So 3000. So I'm like,
I got the ovation, know, but even though, because I walked on stage relaxed and just in the moment reacting to the moment that worked for me. So, and I had other comedians, well known comedians say that was so funny when you said no standing, you're not going to stand for me. So it was, I, that was, you know, hard and comedians thought that was really funny. So the next year I'm back in the same room and I'm thinking about the standing ovation I got the year before. So I'm on stage with 3000 people, but part of my brain is back a year before thinking I need to get them to stand again. And I didn't enjoy that.
that gig at all and guess what at the end of the gig no one stood in front of me, partly I reckon because I was in the past so I was trying to live up to something so I wasn't present. So just be present, be present and then good things will happen but you know what it doesn't even matter if they don't because you're present. That's the most I'm ⁓
Speaker 2 (40:56)
the
So
it is again. That is that is that's true. It doesn't matter because then you've moved on.
Speaker 1 (41:09)
We only ever live inside our own heads. We actually curate our whole existence. Our whole existence is what we decide it is. No one else has that power. Everyone has the power to be happy. You just realise that your decisions that you make are all the decisions that are made.
Speaker 2 (41:31)
to be happy.
Speaker 1 (41:38)
My perception of life is life. And I can perceive it any way ⁓ I want. we all do. We all create our own lives. And once you realise that is your responsibility and no one else's, it's empowering.
Speaker 2 (41:40)
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Absolutely, I hear you and I agree with you 100%. I was saying just this morning to my friend, we were talking about situations and she was telling me a situation of her 12 year old got caught in a rip. They weren't familiar with the ocean too much. They just moved to the coast here. ⁓ Then she got in. She's already catastrophized in her head that her daughter's about to drown. So she goes out, she's now catastrophized. She's about to drown. Her husband goes out. ⁓
So now she's looking at the other two kids on the beach and she's like, in her head is the whole story that all three of them are dead. The two are orphans. ⁓ They get out of it. They're all fine by the way. But her head instantly, and I said, you know, that's your story. You keep catastrophizing. And I said, you've put yourself in stress already. I said, whereas others don't go there. So it's about the story in your head and what you're, if you can stop that and you can control it, self-awareness even.
Speaker 1 (42:47)
We can.
Be
aware and you're right, the first part of the reading and the most important part is the awareness that you're creating those stories and yeah, you're doing it. So if you're aware of that, I think that you're on the path to living a more relaxed life.
Speaker 2 (43:04)
Do you think, you ever, have you ever felt the pressure of even being people who's like innate psychologists because people expect you to make them laugh and bring them joy and happiness? Or is that just part of the gig and you're like, this is just fun here?
Speaker 1 (43:16)
I'm
happy to, I'm honestly happy to do that and I probably do it too much to be honest. I mean I had a guy I know recently told me he was depressed and I'm like mate, because he'd lost his job. But he's, I said mate but you've got your health, you know, and you've got your own house and you're like, it's ridiculous. I know that we get stuck in cycles but I might have gone too hard because I recently, there's another friend of mine whose wife's know, battling like.
really, you know, stage four bloody cancer that's gonna be, it's gonna be real hard for them. So, and I'm thinking, look at other people who don't have health. If you've your health, I know it's a corny thing to say, but it's honestly, that's it. There's no, no, that's the win. The win, the health and everything else is noise. So you can choose to get depressed about, you know, interest rates or, and fair enough, I understand that, but about stuff. But really, if you've got your health,
Speaker 2 (44:03)
That's the wind.
Speaker 1 (44:14)
your winner. ⁓
Speaker 2 (44:16)
Well, if you don't have your health, then all you're doing is working towards getting your health. ⁓
Speaker 1 (44:19)
Absolutely. yeah, so yeah, so I really I'm pretty I'm pretty keen to be an amateur psychologist to be honest. And I hope I help people. probably annoy most people, but you know, I still believe it.
Speaker 2 (44:31)
No, think, mean, I don't think you annoy, I mean, you annoy people in the way that they expect you to annoy them. So, but okay, so you're a Carlton tragic, your personal branding is skyrocketing and you're very good in that media presence. But really for 2026 David Hughes is looking at just how to be more present and just
Speaker 1 (44:56)
See, only goal is to be present. Look after my health.
Speaker 2 (44:58)
look after your health. You
know. Maybe start there while you're in the show with me going and before he started ladies and gentlemen was like I just need to make sure I keep breathing properly because of his.
Speaker 1 (45:11)
You gotta breathe deeply.
Breathing lightly to, if you're on the injured lung, you're not using the whole lung and it can get a bit festy, know, down low. So it needs to be...
Speaker 2 (45:22)
It's not something you want to mess with. When I saw your post online, I almost head slapped myself going, dude.
Speaker 1 (45:28)
I
know, but it's good content. It's still the most flooding. Remember I woke up from a sleep after the initial injury in hospital and I had a CPAP machine on, but it looked like I was on live support. My wife showed me a photo of it and I'm like, you know what I want. So I thought that photo does look like I'm on live support. So I posted it straight away. That's one of the most viewed photos I've ever done. I think people do want to see me dead.
Speaker 2 (45:32)
You're back with content like...
It's the sadistic way of the post where that's why the AFL game was viewed so much. ⁓
Speaker 1 (46:02)
I
know, people love car crashes basically. I get it. You hear a screech and you're hoping you hear the crash. then you're like, oh, God, luckily they didn't crash, but really you wanted to see.
Speaker 2 (46:12)
That's why we all slow up at the car accident. Which there was one on the way when I was driving here actually. Cool. What is something, Huzy, Dave, Hughes, I haven't asked you that you think people should know about you.
Speaker 1 (46:26)
Um,
look, no, I don't think there's anything really. I just, I really do just, people who are casual observers of my career and possibly don't think I'm that funny, or hate me, actively hate me, I'd love them to come to a stand-up show. And then, you know, just sit there with an open mind and then see at the end of an hour, an hour and fifteen if they've got the same opinion, so.
Speaker 2 (46:50)
Yeah, the challenge is out there. Yes. don't judge before you've actually seen
Speaker 1 (46:55)
Come
and see me with an open mind and see how you go.
Speaker 2 (46:57)
Yeah,
see what you think. was relaxed. And there is nothing better than belly laughing. There's therapy in that. ⁓
Speaker 1 (47:05)
No
doubt about it. Life is ridiculous. In my opinion, no one knows it as any. I mean, some people have ideas about what life's about, but I don't think anyone really knows. I think the wisest people in the world are the ones who just look up to the sky and laugh. I'm just, what are we doing? What's going on here?
Speaker 2 (47:24)
Just enjoy it. Be present. So come to the show, enjoy it, open mind. WTF tour is on at the moment. Where's your next gig? Actually do your next few because Airdon.
Speaker 1 (47:32)
Next giga.
Yeah right, yeah I mean I've got Perth coming up, I've got Ballarat coming up, I've got Wynnum actually in Brisbane, Wynnum? yeah. Yeah yeah it's coming out in December. There's others but go to Davehughes.com.au to find out and next year's is about to be on sale so Melbourne Comic Files is already on sale but I'm going to announce a lot of shows in the next couple of weeks so yeah check out Davehughes.com.au I will come to somewhere near where you are so and if I don't just DM in I'll just turn up on my own.
Speaker 2 (48:04)
You heard it DM him if you want him near you on Instagram. Thank you so much Dave. This has been an absolute delight. We've been trying to coordinate this for a while. We've made it happen. That's what the power of saying yes is and being present. So thank you and thank you for being on Transforming the Game. Thanks Kristina. Thank you. I love it.
Speaker 1 (48:22)
times.