When triple j drive time hosts Veronica and Lewis showed us what happens when the triple j mics are switched off it was part of a cheeky skit with Shaun Micallef that we all had a good chuckle at. But what’s it actually like for presenters after they press play?
Well, for breakfast host Matt Okine, it can be a stressful affair wandering over to the triple j text line after the mics are off. As he noted in a recent stand-up routine performed as part of the Melbourne Comedy Gala for Oxfam (see below), we listeners can be a little harsh.
“I love breakfast radio, I love it heaps, but I’m talking to a million people all at once,” the comedian began. “Very difficult to talk to a million people all at once, because someone is an expert about whatever you’re talking about, I can guarantee you that.”
“You can say anything. The other day I was like, ‘Do snails have teeth? Don’t think so. You’re on triple j.’ Nek minute, ‘Duh, of course snails have teeth, you dumb fucking prick.’ I don’t know this shit!”
“You think I know anything about snails? I saw one outside my door, that’s the only reason I brought it up. I don’t bring my 101 Snail Facts book to work, dude!”
“But that’s something that someone specifically has studied their whole life for,” Okine continued. “If you say something wrong that everyone known, forget it bruz. If you say it’s Tuesday when it’s actually Wednesday, game over man.”
“‘Hey, hope you’ve having a good Tuesday, you’re on triple j.’ Boom, as soon as you press play you’re like, ‘Oh no.’ And I shake, I shiver as I walk over to the text line because I just know that wall-to-wall abuse is going to happen.”
Snails have around 14,000 teeth like structures on their radula… I'm really glad I know this now :/Currently on tour around AUS & NZ: http://www.mattokine.com/tour-dates/
Posted by Matt Okine onMonday, April 4, 2016
As we reported yesterday, Okine was recently vocal about his dissatisfaction with triple j’s online haters, whom he says suffer from a sense of entitlement and whose claims the station has gone ‘mainstream’ are completely unfounded.
“The internet has given everyone a sense of entitlement,” Okine told the Herald Sun. “People suddenly think everything should be tailored to their exact needs. You hear them complain: ‘Triple J has turned to shit, it’s so mainstream.’”
“Oh really? We just played Amity Affliction, followed by a West African London-based electronic duo, and an indie singer from Brooklyn,” he added. “If that’s mainstream, I shudder to think about the shit they’re playing on commercial stations.”
Okine noted that the level of criticism levelled at the station reaches critical mass around Hottest 100 time and it’s turned him off social media. “There’s nothing good there anymore,” he said. “It’s like the housing bubble: over-inflated.”
