Andy Matthews and Matt Stewart – Logistical Nightmare

Andy Matthews and Matt Stewart are two stand-up comedians with quite a few accomplishments up their sleeves – Matthews featured in Mad As Hell and Chaser’s Media Circus while Stewart was the 2014 RAW Comedy winner. Both wrote and directed sketches for the Oxfam Comedy Gala this year so Milk Bar Mag decided to chat to Matthews about their new show, Logistical Nightmare, which they wrote and performed at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and the other happenings in their lives.

Matthews divulges he began his working career as an engineer but his real passion was in stand-up comedy. His next step was a return to university to complete his teaching degree, ‘so I could be part of the law review, you know the sketch comedy review’, Matthews admits, ‘of course I didn’t tell my parents that was the real reason I was going back to uni. Then I met some friends who were doing stand-up comedy and they forced me to sign up for my first open mic gig.’

At twenty-five years, Andy gathered up the courage to follow his dreams and finally took the plunge but it took him a long time to get to the right place of feeling really happy with his work. Performing Logistical Nightmare with Matt was that turning point and the pair reveal why they both chose the name – because they thought it was funny.

Ironically, the show turned out to be quite difficult to organise. ‘As soon as we booked it in with that name, I got a TV writing job up in Sydney and Matt had a baby and it was just very, very difficult to even get together to work on the show, so it turned out to be exactly what it said on the tin,’ says Andy.

Logistical Nightmare incorporates themes and ideas that emanate from both of their lives: Matt tells great jokes about family, growing up and having kids and Andy tells a lot of jokes about having a dog and eating food. Andy says they share a lot of similarities: ‘people think that we look the same, like we’re related; if anything, his dad looks more like my dad than my real dad…people have been commenting on our good rapport onstage, which is very nice’.

Andy and Matt’s rapport extends beyond the stage – they even own a studio together called Stupid Old Studios, which is a collaborative space for comedians to use. Andy says, ‘[they] can use the studio, rent an office, use the podcasting gear but we also do video production, make our own sketches, TV series and web videos. It’s a real hub that sort of came out of me and Matt working together at Channel 31…so we made the studio and it’s gone from strength to strength.’

Asked to describe himself in three words, Andy would use the words, ‘science bullshit man’, because he loves science. ‘I love the language of science and you know, there’s the thinking processes that go into it and I also love mucking around with those processes and misinterpreting them,’ says Andy.

A random fact about Andy is that he’s a pancake master: ‘I’m probably the best person in the world at making pancakes. And I know that’s a big call but I’m going to put it out there, I am the pancake king. I want everyone to know that I would challenge absolutely anyone for a pancake making competition and I will destroy them.’

Andy’s future goals are to keep making comedy: ‘I don’t have any lofty ideas the whole time I’ve been doing comedy; it felt like a really organic growth thing. There’s always the next step so I guess keep taking the next step man.’

Stupid Old Studios  
14 Russell Street, Brunswick
stupidoldstudios.com