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Welcome back to a new episode of the All Things Croatia podcast.
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I'm your host, Stanko Zovak.
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Born and raised in Los Angeles, I'm now living in Zagreb and studying the Croatian language.
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Before we start, just do me a favor and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're
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listening, as well as the Facebook and Instagram page.
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In this series, I'll be talking with people both in the homeland and around the globe who
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have connections to Croatia.
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We'll hear from startups, returning to Aspora, musicians and athletes, and the biggest Croatian
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celebrities and will return my calls.
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But enough about me.
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I'm the Modalia, and let's get started.
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Alright, what's up everybody?
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Welcome back to the podcast.
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Today our special guest is Marina Orsag, and Marina is a Croatian comedian who got her
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start in 2004, and since then has put on thousands of shows, and among many other projects opened
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up the first Croatian stand-up comedy club, Studio Smeja.
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In this episode, we're going to hear about that and some other projects while we learn
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about the state of the Croatian comedy scene today.
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Marina, thanks for coming on the podcast.
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Thank you for enlightening me.
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Now, I have to be honest, and I know we were just talking about this, but when I first
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reached out to you, I thought I was just reaching out.
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I had heard about Studio Smeja, and I said I'll reach out to the owner, and it wasn't
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until later when I was in a class actually giving a presentation and talking about the
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podcast, and my professor asked, who are you interviewing next?
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I said, oh, a Croatian comedian, and before I even said your name, she said, oh, like,
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hold on, I know the best Croatian comedian, and goes and writes your name up on the board.
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And I said, wait, that's who I'm interviewing.
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She said, oh, she's an amazing comedian and amazing singer, and I said, singer, what do
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you mean?
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And then I did some research, and I saw you're one of the most famous Croatian comedians,
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and you're also on a, you're also a singer.
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You're on the show, Zviez de Tjavajo?
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Yeah, well, uh...
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It was just like a singing with the stars.
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Yeah, singing.
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It's just the two of us, actually, the license from the UK.
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So yeah, the actually professional singers are singing with another public person.
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So we have eight couples.
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There are a lot of actors as well, and they invited me.
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And two years ago, I was also in Your Face Sounds Familiar, where we had to sing in 16
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concerts, but we had to imitate the existing artists.
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And this show that I'm in now, we have to sing other songs, other people's songs, but
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we sing with our own voice.
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We do not have to imitate anybody.
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So yeah, it's a lot of fun.
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I'm not a singer, but okay, since we started with this, I'm gonna just tell you why those
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shows are, I mean, they are necessary for me to continue to do my primary work, which
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is stand-up, because that is used for PR, of course.
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But for me, the singing shows are kind of...
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I mean, I've been in a lot of different game shows and shows that have nothing to do with
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stand-up.
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But those singing ones are actually kind of special to me, because when I was much younger,
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I sang in choirs a lot, when I was 12 and then up to my...
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When I was 17.
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And I did a lot of solo things in the choir and stuff like that, and I really enjoy singing.
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But when I was 17, I went on an audition with this manager guy for a singer in a band.
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And I did the audition and he told me that I have an amazing voice, and if I would be
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okay to have my voice on the recording, but on stage to have somebody who looks much more
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attractive and better.
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And when you're 17, that kind of kicks your confidence into the abyss.
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And so I went home and I never sang again.
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And when I started doing stand-up, which actually is the thing I believe I was primarily meant
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to do.
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So it's the first thing I will say that I am.
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But I started using some singing things in my jokes.
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And then when they invited me to the Your Face Sounds Familiar, where you're singing
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under the masks, singing with stars already existed.
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And it was always my big desire, but the first step and much easier step for kind of healing
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my trauma from teenage years was the show Under the Masks.
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So I went to do that first.
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And there I kind of got positive feedback from the audience.
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Because it's really strange.
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You know, I performed, I had more than 3,000 shows in stand-up in my feet.
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And if you send me now to perform in front of 10,000 people and doing stand-up, I don't
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care.
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I would have stage right, because that's a normal thing and that's a necessary thing.
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I would say for an artist, but it wouldn't be that huge stage right like it was before
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for singing.
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I would shake.
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I would like it's regardless the fact that I am a public person who is performing all
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the time.
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So under the mask, it was much easier to start with the healing of the trauma.
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And after those 16 episodes and after great feedback and everything, it was much easier
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for me to accept when they finally invited me to singing with stars.
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And yeah, I'm really enjoying it.
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I'm really happy and I'm really enjoying it.
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But I don't believe that this is my way.
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The only way that I see...
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I mean, I actually...
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You can find it on YouTube.
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It's called Nie jedna druga or no one else.
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I made it author, cantautor.
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I don't know how you say that in English at the moment.
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I can't remember that, but I wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music for a song, for a love
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song and I sang it.
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So it's on YouTube and you can see it.
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I did that and like the song says no other one, I believe that's gonna be the only song
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I ever do.
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But my desire is not to start any kind of singing career after this.
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My desire is to sing, but after my shows with the guitar in bars and if I do any kind of
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like professional singing, then I would like to cooperate with the existing artists and
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bands as a duet or some kind of cooperation.
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I don't think I will ever go to start a singing career.
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So yeah, I'm a standup comedian.
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I'm not a singer.
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Well, I mean, it seems like a lot of fun on the show and I mean, you're definitely, you
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were a great singer.
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I listened to, I don't know if it was the most recent performance or close to it, but
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it shook you all night long.
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Yeah, that was the recent.
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That was the most recent and ACDC is my favorite band of all time.
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So when I heard that, I thought, oh, wow, like this is gonna be a great interview on the
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podcast.
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Yeah, thank you.
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I chose that song because they give you just, yeah, they just give you the genre.
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You have to play the, in a certain episode and then you can choose songs and if the mentor
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thinks that that song is good enough for the duet and for the show and for your voice,
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then it can be done.
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So yeah, I chose ACDC and also Chris Isaac, the game.
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So I'm really happy with the last episode.
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Yeah, that's a good song too.
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Yeah, you got, you're definitely picking some good songs.
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Thank you so much.
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But like you said, you're a standup comedian first of all.
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And before we get into that, I wanted to ask if you can just talk a little bit about your
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background, you know, growing up and where you went to school, that sort of thing.
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Oh, okay, no problem.
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I grew up in a neighborhood in Zagreb called Shalata.
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And for me, the funny part when I say that part of that neighborhood to anybody that
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grew up there, everybody's like, ooh, fancy Shalata, which is actually kind of a more
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expensive neighborhood.
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But we grew up in, in a basement.
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This is going to sound like really like, oh my God, but it's, it's truth.
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Come on, I'm not, I'm not being pathetic about it.
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It's just truth.
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Truth.
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We grew up in a basement apartment of 25 square square meters, which had no toilet.
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We had no shower and the toilet was outside in a hallway next to all the other basements
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of the apartments above.
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Wow.
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Yes, that was funny.
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So when my mom met her, I mean, she didn't meet him.
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You want to hear my family story?
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It's actually beginning of my standup.
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But it is weird.
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Oh yeah, yeah.
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We'll let that lead into how you started standup.
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Yeah.
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Well, probably that's one of the reasons why I'm like this because I grew up like that.
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Okay, so, but you have to follow me and I hope everybody who is listening is following.
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So I have this person in my life.
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Her name is Valeria and I call her my sister because I don't know how else to call her
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because of our history and the history is next.
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In 65 or more years ago, in one house lived Valeria's grandmother from a mom of her father.
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And the house next door lived my grandmother, my father's mother.
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Okay.
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So my father was born, her father was born and they grew up together as friends in the,
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like neighbors and best friends and they played along, played all the time together, blah,
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blah.
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So when they turned 16 and 17, Valeria's father met somewhere outside her mother and
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they started dating and my father was kind of a third wheel so they didn't go out as
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much, but they were missing going out.
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So at one point Valeria's mom and dad met on a party, my mom, and thought that it would
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be so good to introduce her to my father.
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So they introduced them and then at one point they started double dating.
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They double dated every weekend, going out, playing board games, going to a party or whatever.
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And when they turned 20 something, my parents got married, her parents got married.
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Then at one point I was born and then a year later Valeria was born and we still socialized
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every weekend, going to skis, pools, whatever, it doesn't matter, parks, blah, but we socialized
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every weekend.
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Four years later my sister was born and then a year later Valeria's brother was born.
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So now you have two families, two, four member families.
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Okay, so you have me and my sister with my mom and dad, you have Valeria and her brother
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with her mom and dad and we were socializing every weekend.
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Then when I turned six my dad left my mom and my mom stayed along with the two of us,
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but we still socialized, two families still socialized.
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So two years after that Valeria's mom left her dad and Valeria's dad was left with two
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of them and we still socialized.
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So a couple of years after, I mean two years after that my mom and Valeria's dad realized
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that actually they should be together.
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So I hope you followed me through.
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I think you don't have to listen to this one more time.
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So they got married and now they're together more than 30 years and that's how my family
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actually came together.
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Wow, that's a crazy story.
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It's like multi-generational friendships leading into marriage and then...
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I don't know what...
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I don't know.
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We need probably psychiatrists, but I have stand-up so...
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Yeah, that's a good one.
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Anyway, so when they got married Valeria's dad and my mom, we moved from Shalata to Chornomedic
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next to Zagrebaczka Piowa, which is a beer factory.
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So actually all my clothes all the time smelled like chamele, which is...
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I don't know how to say it in English, but the thing that you made beer out of.
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So yeah, that's also a fun part and I grew there and I went to economic high school,
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which I don't think I ever should have gone, but okay.
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All of that led me to here so fine.
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Yeah, it works out somehow.
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So after high school, my mom said that I have to do whatever necessary to get a paycheck
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and she decided that she's gonna get me jobs at first, which were after economic school
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I was a cleaning lady first.
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No, actually, my first job was as a bartender in this nasty bar my mom found with really
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alcoholic people.
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It was really weird.
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I lasted for five days, but not because I didn't want to work.
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It was because they started being gross.
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And then I started to work in a hospital as a cleaning lady.
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And then after that I worked in a boutique as a sales girl in insurance company and I
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turned 21 and then I went as a babysitter to New Jersey, actually.
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Wow.
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Yes, so when I was in New Jersey and we very very often we went to Manhattan and to New
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York, then I got introduced actually with stand up.
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That's the first time I always knew I wanted to do something to entertain people and I
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did singing in the choir.
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I tried the acting.
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I tried the dancing.
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I tried a lot of things, but nothing really was like, this is my calling.
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I really want to do this.
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And then when I first saw stand up in the United States, I was like, this, I want this.
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How is that?
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Like, why is this not?
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So at that time it did that it does not exist in Croatia at all.
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So yeah, after that I came back and I started working in an American company, which was actually
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really weird, we had to go around the city carrying boxes in suits, carrying boxes with
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stuffed animals and funny things and selling them to people on street.
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But actually that I'm grateful for that because it taught me to communicate with people and
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it taught me that whenever you're selling something, you're not selling the product,
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you're selling yourself kind of.
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Yeah, so I'm actually grateful for that, but it was a wild, wild period of my life to actually
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go around the streets and sell things from the box I'm holding in my hands to people.
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And at that time when I came back to Zagreb and did that, still nothing existed.
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And then I started to work as a receptionist in Deloitte.
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And I became an office coordinator and office manager really fast and I did that for three
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years and then all of a sudden my best friend told me that two actors started to do acting
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stand-up workshop.
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And she told me that if I don't go, she will never talk to me and I went to the stand-up
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comedy workshop and it was amazing, but from that workshop kind of five first stand-up
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comedians of Croatia started, but since they were actors, they did not have experience.
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And so all of a sudden at one point we didn't agree on a lot of things.
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So we ended up, the first five of us ended up kind of solo producing everything.
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So that's how it started and now you can ask me actually, whatever you want regarding
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the scene.
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Well five famous comedians all came from that first one workshop.
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No, no, five comedians, five first comedians in Croatia came out of that workshop, but
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I don't think one of them, three of them actually are not doing stand-up now anymore.
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I see.
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Yeah, but I can start talking to you like that all started and we were called Svepet and
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the five of us performed every week at this bar and tried to produce shows around Croatia
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explaining bars and theaters.
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I mean, we couldn't reach the theaters at that point because stand-up was, nobody knew
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anything about stand-up.
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So we had to actually, besides performing, we had to explain and teach the audience and
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the bar owners and actually everybody what stand-up is and why it should exist in Croatia
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as well.
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But when we first started, it was five of us and at one point, to be honest, I felt like
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the scene needs to grow and after a year of us, let's say like that, I said that we should
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start doing workshops and open mic nights because open mic did not exist at that point
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and that was only after a year we started.
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So they disagreed with me a lot that I will be creating and building competition to us
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and that's really stupid and I tried to explain them, no, but the better competition is, the
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better you are.
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So we kind of needed and kind of like, you know, and since our mentor, the actress Slavica
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Knezhevich, when she was mentoring us, she actually forced us and I'm really grateful
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for that.
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She actually forced us to write new material every week, which later we brought it to rule,
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I brought it to rule when it started open mic and workshops and comedy club that all
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the residents of comedy club have to write new material, new 15 minutes each month.
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Wow.
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Sounds like a lot.
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That sounds like a lot, but I will explain it.
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I learned that brain is a muscle like any other.
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The more you practice it, the better it gets.
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So at one point comedians didn't even have to write jokes, they only had to write little
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two or three words that they knew what joke was a thing or what the joke was about or
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they just had to, I mean, because we had a small audience in the beginning.
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We still have small audience.
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I mean, Croatia is not a big country.
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You know, so when you go to split twice with a show, next time you come, you're gonna have
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to, you know, you're gonna have to give them something new.
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So that actually made Croatia's creation scene incredibly like, I believe that all the comedians
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that came out of studios, Miha are really good in quality.
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And also I kind of forced to perform like, because you know, only the game in your feet
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are gonna build you up in a good performer.
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So I kind of forced them to perform, perform, perform, perform.
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Whether do we have, it's like charity performance or do we get 50 Kuna or 5000 Kuna, it doesn't
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matter, just perform, perform, perform.
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So yeah, I believe that writing new material and forcing yourself to write it every month
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and to perform that much, I believe that really helped comedians to grow into what they are
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right now.
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Yeah, I'm sure.
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And I'm sure it must have been difficult to really, I mean, you started basically the
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comedy scene in Croatia.
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So I mean, do you remember sort of what your first jokes were about?
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I mean, how did you, was it hard?
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You mentioned something about having to almost explain to the audience, you know, how to
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react.
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Well, we explain to the audience, sometimes even we repeat, that's kind of like professional
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deformacy now for us, because when we get on the stage, sometimes we still get the audience
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that never ever was on stand up.
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For example, we still do that.
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I mean, we still have that kind of audience.
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So our professional deformation is when we go on stage, first we ask, we say good night,
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good evening blah blah, can you please clap who is first time listening to stand up comedy
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at all.
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And then if a lot of them applaud or clap, we just say that, okay, first of all, stand
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up is what you need to know that stand up is not telling old jokes that you listened on
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your family table during lunches.
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It's something that each comedian has to write their own jokes.
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Because to the fact that they have to be funny, of course, that's like the most important,
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but also the very important thing is that you react to them loudly.
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So if you find something good, please laugh out loud, don't laugh inside yourself.
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And if you find the joke that it's really, really good, then you can clap as well, blah
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blah blah.
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If you want to tell us something or throw some heckles at us, please do, but remember that
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we will give back as well.
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So be aware of that as well.
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And also, since we are speaking like you all speak each day, we're going to say some curses
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as well.
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We do not have Tourette's Syndrome, but we will speak a normal national language like
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you all do at home.
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So that we use that intro actually from the beginning of building of the scene and we
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sometimes still use it today.
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And it kind of explains the audience actually, everything in those a minute or two that you
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explain.
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Yeah, that's very interesting that you actually have to explain how it's going to work.
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I guess me coming from Los Angeles, it's a pretty big comedy scene over there.
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To me, it seems also familiar and obvious.
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But I guess, yeah, when you've never had that scene, I guess you wouldn't really know
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what to expect.
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Yeah, so because, I mean, we are a theater audience in Croatia.
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So before the comedy scene started, theater was all we had.
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So they are not used to those kind of interactions, probably, as much as it is in stand-ups.
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So yeah, we had to explain in the beginning, every time we got on the stage, we had to
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say all those things before we started the show.
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But you know, it's, I mean, when you look at it, I created history.
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So when you are creating history, I don't think you care if you need to do this, this
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or this.
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And so it's like, whatever we needed to do to make this happen and to put it on feet,
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we did.
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And yeah, so after that, actually, after I started doing Open Mic and workshops, kind
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of the group that started in the beginning, the five of us did not last long.
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And that's actually kind of a good thing because we were connected by other people.
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We were not a homogen group that said, oh, let's perform together.
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We were made into group by somebody else, you know, so it was a kind of logical step
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forward.
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And four of them, they each went on some other sides.
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And I believe three of them do not do stand-up anymore at all.
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And one of them, I have no idea.
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And I don't kind of care.
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So I started doing Open Mic and the comedians that started coming out of the Open Mic were
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amazing.
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And at that point, it was, I believe, and we performed in several clubs in Zagreb and
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we were going outside and building the scene like in like little ants, let's say, like
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that, like all the little bars and places, but as much of that as possible.
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And then at one point, we realized in Zagreb, specifically in Zagreb, where we performed
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the most, we realized after, it was, I believe, 2009 when they first invited us in that theater
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studio.
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They invited us in theater studio to perform on, actually it was 2008 when they invited
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us to perform on Thursdays.
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And we started performing on Thursdays and we had, okay, we had Vlad Ko, we had Goran,
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we had five comedians that can hold that Thursday and that was cool.
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So with a couple of months and Open Mic, we started doing also Wednesday.
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So we had Monday, we had Wednesday and we had Thursday.
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And we realized that we are kind of bored by explaining that why we need the stage light,
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why do we need the microphone, why do we need, you know, it was really, because we performed
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on boxes for beers, you know, those plastic boxes, they would put one plastic box upside
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down next to the bar and like, okay, there you go.
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So we had, like, we passed, like our stage lights were grandma's lamps and I cannot even,
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and we performed a lot of places that nobody should perform stand up ever.
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But you know, we had to see where stand up can be pushed in and where it cannot be pushed
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in.
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So we did like, I cannot even explain to you what, what kind of things we passed.
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And you know what we even did?
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And that's something I'm proud of.
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We did what we love to call what we call the Johnny Cash Tour, because we did all the jails
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in Croatia.
378
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,240
Oh, yeah, I wanted to ask you about that.
379
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So what was that?
380
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Okay, we can, we, oh, okay, but we can go back to that because I just wanted to, I just
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wanted to say that we, okay, so we were done with explaining why do we all need that.
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And we kind of felt, okay, we need something where we can control things.
383
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:42,640
The Kino Club was at that point, multimedia studio and was run by some other girls.
384
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And then in next couple of months, a period came where we started working really intensively
385
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and closely with the Slovenian stand up comedy scene.
386
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,360
And we started working intensively and closely with Serbian comedy scene.
387
00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:02,520
And we also had some pub quizzes and we realized, okay, so actually we kind of have a weekly
388
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:10,040
program if we ever wanted to, and then those girls that were running that studio theater
389
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left and decided not to have it anymore.
390
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:19,960
So we talked to the owners if they would be really nice and give us kind of okay monthly
391
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:26,120
rent that I have a partner, Andriy Tezhak-Teshki, who started Punch Festival in Slovenia, and
392
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he's willing to invest and we can open the first comedy club in Croatia.
393
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:36,440
So actually, yeah, with all those open micers, and so we had a kind of residence, I think
394
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it was nine of us that could hold a scene with all the other guests.
395
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:47,480
And that's actually why kind of when how Studios Mieha started.
396
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,080
And so that location is where Studios Mieha is now?
397
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,720
No, Studios Mieha is nowhere now at this moment.
398
00:28:54,720 --> 00:29:02,640
So because we started in Kino Studio and then we were there for, I believe, five years.
399
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:09,120
And then after five years, we realized that because we got a lot of thefts as well in
400
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:10,840
the club.
401
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:16,280
And the owners wanted to raise the rent and to us it was not affordable.
402
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:22,460
So we moved to Gajeva on the corner of Gajeva and Hebrangova.
403
00:29:22,460 --> 00:29:28,080
We moved in the center of the town in 2016 because we got kind of really great offer
404
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,680
from the owner there.
405
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:35,520
And at the same time, we also went to the city and asked if there is some space from
406
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,280
the city for us because it's time.
407
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:43,520
I mean, okay, it was only six years since the comedy scene started and later 10.
408
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:49,520
But it was kind of like it's about time that city gives us a cultural space, but we were
409
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,400
never able to get it.
410
00:29:51,400 --> 00:30:00,960
So we moved to, actually I moved, but yeah, the comedy club moved to a corner of Gajeva
411
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,800
and Hebrangova and it was kind of a better comedy place because it has all the brick
412
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:12,680
walls and it's in basement and it's kind of, it really, really was cool.
413
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:16,840
And we had that up till, up to pandemic.
414
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:25,320
And then pandemic happened and when you have 60,000 Kuna called, I have to pay the rent,
415
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:31,360
I have to pay the salaries and I have to pay, like it's 60,000 Kuna as a month and we cannot
416
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,880
work at all at that point.
417
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:40,640
So we kind of tried to hold it until June and then we realized, I mean, I realized that
418
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:48,880
it's not gonna be possible, but to be extremely honest in this podcast, for me, it has, we
419
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:52,520
jumped kind of from the opening to the end with nothing in the middle, but we'll come
420
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back to the middle.
421
00:30:54,080 --> 00:31:02,120
But to me after, because I realized that I was a brand, let's say it like that, before
422
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:07,920
I even opened Studios Mecha and Club and I focused all my energy since I was 26 on creating
423
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:13,000
scene comedians and creating the comedy club and running it.
424
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:19,000
And I realized I didn't focus that much on myself and my own career at all.
425
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:24,760
And at point, and I always wanted that to be kind of, because I went to Amsterdam and
426
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:32,600
I saw a comedy club there and there was 40 people on the pictures on the wall, like separately,
427
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:34,280
individually, 40 pictures.
428
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,960
And I was like, who are all these people, owners, and I'm like, what?
429
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:42,080
Yeah, those are all the comedians that came from the open mic and then they all opened
430
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:48,120
up and they kind of, they switch, one of them is running the club each month.
431
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,240
So when you, so, and they're all working together, blah, blah, blah.
432
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,320
So that was kind of my inspiration idea from the beginning.
433
00:31:54,320 --> 00:32:00,720
But after 10 years of running the comedy club and the scene, I realized that unfortunately
434
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:09,680
that was not the case here and something, I realized that something that it's not so,
435
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:14,880
not so important to me, it's important as my baby, but not important, not necessary
436
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:16,800
for me and my career.
437
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,920
I'm killing myself for it.
438
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:23,920
And the people who that is necessary for are not.
439
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:31,960
So to me, it was kind of a more a burden for the year or more before it closed.
440
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:36,520
So I was kind of relieved when a pandemic happened because I didn't want to close the
441
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:41,080
club and be responsible for it because it was the only comedy club in Croatia, you know,
442
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,720
and closing it, it would be like huge responsibility.
443
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:49,880
So when the pandemic happened, I kind of went, oh, it's not my fault.
444
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:58,160
But I definitely, it is my baby and I definitely will bring it back one day for sure.
445
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:05,720
But as soon as the city and the cultural, cultural ministry and all those necessary institutions
446
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:11,080
realize that that is something necessary and they don't have to give us money or anything.
447
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:16,520
We just need a little tiny space where we can make people laugh every day because the
448
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:24,600
best part of Studio Smeja for me was, I don't think I can explain to anybody if they didn't
449
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:32,120
have it, what kind of a feeling it gives you to have a space where loud, out loud laughter
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00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,760
comes out of every evening.
451
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,040
It's really something special.
452
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,360
So yeah, I will return it one day, but I just kind of needed a break.
453
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,080
Yeah, that makes sense.
454
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:49,560
And I mean, I guess sort of jumping to the future then on my side too.
455
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:54,320
In the meantime, while there's no Studio Smeja, I mean, how does the Croatian comedy scene
456
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:55,320
survive?
457
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,520
I mean, is there a lot of open mics going on or?
458
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:06,880
Well, I don't believe that there is a lot of open mics going on and I hope there are,
459
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:12,160
but I don't think that those are kind of, I don't, because we are not doing the open
460
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:20,840
mic anymore and I don't know if after those open mics that are on right now is any perspective
461
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:26,360
for the future, but since, okay, so we are going back to the beginning.
462
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:32,360
Since when we started the comedy club, we had nine residents and then Ivan ล aric, who
463
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,000
was one of the first residents, he went solo.
464
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:44,200
And that was the idea of me that like every time somebody grows out of the club residency,
465
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:48,560
you know, they start solo, but still they come back to perform when they want, blah,
466
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:49,800
blah, blah, blah.
467
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:58,040
But at one point, because I was at, I cannot lie, there was a period when I was really
468
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:02,520
first frustrated and everything was on me and I worked like crazy.
469
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:07,480
I performed in the evenings, I woke up in the morning and anything you can imagine
470
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:13,000
to be done regarding comedy club, I did it by myself.
471
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:20,520
I would even sometime be on the cash register for the tickets, serve people from the bar
472
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:27,800
and then get on the stage and like, so yeah, so there were points where I kind of flipped
473
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:34,960
and we sometimes got in fights or something, not for no reason, of course, but still my
474
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:40,600
reactions were more heightened probably, I mean, I'm not a psycho, but you know, when
475
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:44,320
you, when you're, it's enough, then it's enough.
476
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:53,440
So at that point, four comedians, at one point after even four comedians made their
477
00:35:53,440 --> 00:36:01,320
own group, now it's a lineup and I believe that Vladko should have do also what even
478
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:05,920
did and left like solo and built his own career, but it doesn't matter, that's my opinion.
479
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:10,940
So they made a group and they started also performing on their own.
480
00:36:10,940 --> 00:36:17,160
So after, and then we started, I started the Studios Meja Split and we started the open
481
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:24,600
mics and the scene in Split and after that, the comedians that I built in Split took over
482
00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:30,560
the scene and they're also performing now solo, not just in Split Bar, but also everywhere
483
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:31,560
else.
484
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:39,800
Now they're called Split Scena and also after studio closed, you also have couple of comedians
485
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:45,120
that opened because I said I'm not gonna like do any production anymore and I'm done, I'm
486
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:51,160
just gonna focus on me. So also some of comedians built their own group, which is now this comedy.
487
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:57,840
So standup comedy scene in Zagreb is without a club functioning, I mean not in Zagreb,
488
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:03,880
in Croatia in general is functioning pretty okay.
489
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:10,640
The only thing I'm not sure of is for some new comedians is there at the moment some
490
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:17,080
major perspectives or not, but regarding the scene to keep the audience floating and to
491
00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:22,280
keep everything going and to keep comedy where it is right now, I believe that it's
492
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:23,280
okay.
493
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:30,680
But for new comedians, yeah, I believe that some new things are gonna change and I am
494
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:39,000
writing actually regarding to all the workshops I did so far, I'm writing standup comedy tutorial,
495
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,920
I would say like that.
496
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:45,640
So I'm gonna issue that and people can actually have that wherever they are in Croatia and
497
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:50,520
maybe they can start their own scene there or open mics or whatever, who knows.
498
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:57,560
Because I don't think that's my obligation anymore and Split and Zagreb were kind of
499
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:04,760
enough for me, I mean we perform everywhere, but it's not that hard to start open mics
500
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:11,120
and scene, they just need a little push and I believe the tutorial can be one kind of
501
00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:16,920
push so I believe that the scene is gonna grow much bigger and what my biggest intentions
502
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:24,320
now after closing the club bar is to focus on my career, but also focusing on my career
503
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:32,240
means to bring standup also on much higher level because it's more than time for us to
504
00:38:32,240 --> 00:38:40,440
have a television show because comedy scenes in Slovenia and Serbia started later than
505
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:51,040
creation scene and they'll have shows on TV and guests, they are guests as comedians in
506
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,600
some other shows and as copywriters and stuff like that.
507
00:38:54,600 --> 00:39:04,320
So yes, we are performing as guests in some TV shows, but I believe that it's time that
508
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:12,400
standup got some space on our TV channels so that's also kind of gonna bring standup
509
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:16,800
comedy scene to much bigger perspective in Croatia, I believe so.
510
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:23,320
I see, so it seems Croatia is sort of lacking the infrastructure to allow the comedy scene
511
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,360
to expand.
512
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:33,640
But yeah, it's not getting the understanding of the necessary institutions, it's not getting
513
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:42,840
the understanding of necessary TV companies and productions and yeah, just that one little
514
00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:47,800
because now theaters are on our side completely because they realize that we are the most
515
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:53,160
cheapest production ever, just give us a mic and a light and there is no, we don't need
516
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:59,640
anything else and we fill the spaces so there everybody is open to us now and thank you
517
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:01,560
for that.
518
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:05,680
There is one special story I would really want to tell you regarding Lisinski Hall,
519
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:15,760
but yeah, there's just one that little tiny push to bring the whole thing to a bigger
520
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:16,760
perspective.
521
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:18,440
Yeah, that makes sense.
522
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:20,120
And now go ahead please with the story.
523
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:27,520
Yeah, since first we had to, I'm gonna go back to the festivals later, the first festivals
524
00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:35,080
and everything that we did that made scene bigger and where it is right now, but one
525
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:42,960
really dear story to me is when we first decided that it's time to try Lisinski, I don't know
526
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:49,520
if you know what the concert hall Lisinski is and where it is, but it's one of the biggest,
527
00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:56,520
it has 1800 seats and it's one of the biggest, like if you perform in Lisinski not to get
528
00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:02,040
money but to get prestige, let's say it like that.
529
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:07,840
And since we got into some theaters and stuff like that, at one point I was like, should
530
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:09,760
we there try it?
531
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,080
Like, should we?
532
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:18,960
And we booked the hall, I decided to do best of regional stand up and to have six comedians
533
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:26,000
perform from each ex-Yuoslavia country.
534
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:30,160
And let's try if we can maybe do that.
535
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:38,520
And then we booked the concert hall and the PR was supposed to start on the 1st of March.
536
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,760
It was 2016, I believe.
537
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:46,040
It was supposed to start at 1st of March.
538
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:53,400
And we had everything planned, like jumbo posters, TV, the radio, like that was the
539
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:58,120
biggest PR we were managed to do in history of stand up comedy scene.
540
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:03,880
And I was so excited about it and on the 1st of March it was planned to start.
541
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:08,680
But when we agreed on everything, me and my assistant were in the studio at that time
542
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:14,920
and I said, you know what, let's put up the Facebook event on our page just so that people
543
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:21,040
can have their, it's going to be in their ear when we start with the PR because it's
544
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:23,520
1800 seats and we have to fill it, you know?
545
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:30,600
So just let us put up the event just in case so that people can start speaking about it.
546
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:38,880
And we put up the event on Facebook and we went on a page where they sell tickets and
547
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:42,560
it was first three rows gone.
548
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:47,560
And then I refreshed it, it was first six rows gone.
549
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:53,600
And we were like, okay, we'll wait until tomorrow, maybe something is wrong.
550
00:42:53,600 --> 00:43:01,240
On the 26th of February, so that's the day after we put on the event, it was like 800
551
00:43:01,240 --> 00:43:07,760
tickets sold and we called the concert hall and told them there is something wrong with
552
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:15,080
your page for tickets because every time we refreshed it was like 100 tickets more and
553
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:19,800
now it's 800 almost and it's like, what the fuck, you know?
554
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,640
And they are, no, no, no, those are all your tickets.
555
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:24,880
Like those are all tickets sold.
556
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:25,880
Yes.
557
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:27,040
What?
558
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:36,040
And by the 28th of February, the concert hall was sold out.
559
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:42,680
So what we actually had to do with PR on all the jump up screens, we had to write sold
560
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:49,280
out because everything was paid and everything was agreed on, but we couldn't like, you know,
561
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:50,280
fool people.
562
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:59,160
So our entire PR went out as, okay, so we are doing this, but it's like, yeah, so that's
563
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:02,120
kind of that was such an amazing shock for us.
564
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:14,880
And such a confirmation that people are in desire of quality, intellectual comedy, and
565
00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:21,720
not what we have serving on the, on everywhere around us.
566
00:44:21,720 --> 00:44:27,360
And I believe that this story, if I tell them on TV, I hope that this story is going to
567
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:34,240
persuade them that, yeah, we are needed as much as alive, we are needed on TV as well.
568
00:44:34,240 --> 00:44:35,240
Oh yeah.
569
00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:39,280
I mean, that sucks to have to still spend that money on marketing, but I'm sure that's
570
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:43,960
such a great feeling that you realize you didn't even need it, that it sold out so quickly
571
00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:46,440
and people were interested.
572
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,400
That was like incredible, really.
573
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:54,920
So yeah, and we didn't spend a lot of money on marketing because we kind of got sponsorship
574
00:44:54,920 --> 00:45:00,080
from the TV, from the radio and TV and the guys.
575
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:05,520
I mean, we were really grateful because a lot of people who are coming into studio and
576
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:14,120
following comedy scene at that point for 10 years, we are grateful for a lot of individuals
577
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:22,440
who actually really loved us so much that we are like making them laugh and making their
578
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:32,040
life happier at some days, that they really helped us a lot during the, I mean, helped
579
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:34,960
me a lot during the building of the scene.
580
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:38,560
So we got a jumbo posters also for free.
581
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,240
We just had to pay spaces so it wasn't that much money.
582
00:45:41,240 --> 00:45:47,880
And I'm really grateful, like for example, we have director Westplanad Hotel when he
583
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:49,400
came to the opening of the club.
584
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:54,120
No, before the club was even open, he was just noticing me building it up and he came
585
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:58,560
to me and he said, I cannot believe that this whole thing is on the shoulders of this little
586
00:45:58,560 --> 00:46:01,800
tiny person as you.
587
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:06,760
It's because I'm Miriam 59.
588
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:11,480
And he gave me his business card and he said that all our guests that come to perform in
589
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:17,400
Zagreb will have a place to stay in Esplanade as long as we exist.
590
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:27,480
And I cannot believe that his promise, regardless of the fact that he's not there anymore, is
591
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:33,600
still here and they're helping us every time we need something.
592
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:37,960
And they're shocking comedians all over the world coming to us because if you stay in
593
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:43,680
Esplanade, like one comedian from UK said, you ruined every stay in every hotel that
594
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:47,720
I will ever be in because it's that much awesome.
595
00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:54,600
So yeah, those kind of people who actually don't get anything out of it kind of, but
596
00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:59,800
still want to help and still support supporting the communities kind of really, I really
597
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:00,800
appreciate it for that.
598
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:01,800
Yeah.
599
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:03,520
I mean, that's definitely cool to hear.
600
00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:11,400
I wanted to ask something, you know, in general about the Croatian comedy scene.
601
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:15,440
You mentioned something a while ago about like telling long jokes at the dinner table
602
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:19,000
and something I've noticed here in Croatia is that, you know, especially the older people
603
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,160
love like those long old jokes to tell those.
604
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:28,080
And I was wondering what for you is the difference between, you know, Croatian humor and maybe
605
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:32,240
American or British, you know, if you could compare it to sort of a different country
606
00:47:32,240 --> 00:47:35,760
or, you know, a different stand up region.
607
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:36,760
Yeah.
608
00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:41,080
Well, I don't technically, I don't believe there is a lot of difference.
609
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:46,960
Because we have a lot of foreign comedians performing here and we performed a lot outside,
610
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:49,520
even in English.
611
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:56,960
So I believe that audience is kind of not the same everywhere, but you just need to adjust
612
00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:05,080
to some things that you will, for example, when I went to Amsterdam and before I performed,
613
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:10,160
they told me, okay, say whatever you asked them, like, what should I say?
614
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:12,440
What kind of jokes do I do?
615
00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:15,960
And they told me, like, you know what, whatever you do, you normally just do it.
616
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:17,080
People are people everywhere.
617
00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:23,120
But please in Amsterdam, do not talk about getting stoned or about Red District because
618
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:28,800
I believe every comedian ever who's here talked all about that and the audience is fed up
619
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:29,800
with that.
620
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:32,880
So you kind of adjust in that kind of way.
621
00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:44,360
But let's say that Balkan people are more, it's more like national, not national, humor,
622
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:48,000
like I believe that nations are different.
623
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:54,120
So if a joke is good, people are going to laugh everywhere.
624
00:48:54,120 --> 00:49:02,720
And it's just, I don't think, I honestly don't believe that there is a huge difference.
625
00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:06,320
Huge differences in comedy scenes everywhere.
626
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:08,320
Yeah, that makes sense.
627
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:09,840
I was just wondering.
628
00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:11,080
You know, I really don't.
629
00:49:11,080 --> 00:49:18,160
There is a difference maybe in the audience, rural and urban.
630
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:22,720
There is maybe a little difference in some kind of approach in jokes you're going to
631
00:49:22,720 --> 00:49:24,200
have.
632
00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:32,680
But still, no, you know, it's kind of, I believe that people are people everywhere.
633
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:40,040
And if you approach them like that, like, for example, I will only adjust, I will not
634
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:44,040
say local jokes somewhere that it's not local.
635
00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:52,840
Like for example, if I speak about situations in tram, tram exists in Zagreb and in Ossik.
636
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:59,680
So I will probably not so much because people cannot relate to those jokes as much as people
637
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:03,880
who use tram every day can relate.
638
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:11,600
You know, so maybe just that if the jokes are not relatable for that part of country
639
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:17,960
or world or whatever it where you perform, then I will just not use it.
640
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:23,720
But regarding the jokes, if they're good, I believe that audience is the same everywhere.
641
00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:29,200
And if you respect them and you approach to them in a certain way, I mean, you know,
642
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:35,440
I will something I will always actually when before I come on the stage, I will go behind
643
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:44,960
the speaker or the curtain and just kind of check out my audience because I believe that
644
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:48,240
they're more divided by nationality or where they live.
645
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:56,760
They're more divided by men, women, age difference and stuff like that, you know, because if
646
00:50:56,760 --> 00:51:00,200
I have a lot of young audience, OK, I can talk about weed.
647
00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:05,040
But if I have audience 60 plus, I'm not going to talk about weed.
648
00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:08,920
But maybe they were stoners when they were young, so you never know.
649
00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:09,920
True, yeah.
650
00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:14,680
But yeah, like you said, I mean, just as long as people can relate, I mean, that's and that's
651
00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:17,560
a difference between everywhere in the world.
652
00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:18,560
You can't relate to a joke.
653
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:19,840
Of course, it's not going to be funny.
654
00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:24,320
But yeah, that makes sense as that being really the only main difference between the Croatian
655
00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:27,040
scene and really any other scene.
656
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:29,680
Yeah, because there is good bad people everywhere.
657
00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:32,440
There is intelligent and unintelligent people everywhere.
658
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:38,720
There is, you know, it's it's really I don't believe it's different.
659
00:51:38,720 --> 00:51:43,400
Yeah, I wanted to go back to you mentioned the Johnny Cash tour.
660
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:47,000
Can you talk a little about how that started and what that was?
661
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:57,120
Well, this guy came to us from this, I don't know what that, a NGO, OK, this guy from
662
00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:05,400
NGO came to us and he asked if we want to perform in one jail first so he can see how
663
00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:07,120
that will go.
664
00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:14,400
And I immediately said yes, which maybe it was not supposed to be that enthusiastic.
665
00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:20,680
But because later he's like, you know, but they're not all everybody inside for all like
666
00:52:20,680 --> 00:52:21,680
that.
667
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:26,840
So I'll tell you why I should not be enthusiastic later.
668
00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:29,120
But still I'm anyways.
669
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:35,840
So we started performing we start we performed in the remittinets and it was kind of OK.
670
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:38,160
Let's say like that.
671
00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:42,640
It's they're a little less emotional than people outside because they're closed in.
672
00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:45,880
So you cannot expect I don't know what kind of emotion from that.
673
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:47,720
But we got laughs and stuff like that.
674
00:52:47,720 --> 00:52:57,240
And then he asked me first if I would like to do the workshops and and first if we would
675
00:52:57,240 --> 00:53:06,280
do stand up in a correctional facility for teenagers, for male teenagers.
676
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:08,000
And we did that as well.
677
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:10,320
And then he asked me if I wanted to do workshop with them.
678
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:11,960
And I'm like, yeah, sure.
679
00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:16,480
But I soon realized that for me would better be if I did the workshop first and then the
680
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:22,040
show because when you do the show, you say a lot of things just to get close to them.
681
00:53:22,040 --> 00:53:23,320
And then you do workshops later.
682
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:26,400
And then yeah, it's not a good position.
683
00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:31,040
So after I finished the workshop, he suggested, OK, this past good.
684
00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:36,080
If we want to visit all the jails in Croatia and we're like, sure, why not?
685
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:37,400
Of course.
686
00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:43,920
And the best performance was for sure in the Pozega jail because it's a mixed jail.
687
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:47,440
They have male in one jail, female in the other jail.
688
00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:52,280
But when they do common things, then they have they put them together.
689
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:59,760
But it's like for the first 10 rows of the theater hall is in jail.
690
00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:01,240
That's theater hall in jail.
691
00:54:01,240 --> 00:54:06,720
For the first 10 rows, they have women, then they have two rows of guards, and then they
692
00:54:06,720 --> 00:54:09,640
have men.
693
00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:11,200
And that was the mixed audience.
694
00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:19,240
So the atmosphere was the best I have to admit because women are more louder in reactions
695
00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:20,680
than men are.
696
00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:24,760
So that was the best atmosphere for sure.
697
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:31,800
But in Lepoglava, when we performed, that's like the not the worst jail, but for the like
698
00:54:31,800 --> 00:54:36,600
for the baddest, let's say like that.
699
00:54:36,600 --> 00:54:42,600
I got so I had so much fun on stage and it was really cool and everybody was it was really
700
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:43,600
good.
701
00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:45,520
I cannot say it was they really accepted us.
702
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:46,520
It was really good.
703
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:51,680
And it to the atmosphere was so cool that at the end, I said, thank you so much.
704
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:52,680
You were an amazing audience.
705
00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:56,200
And you know what the best joke is that I can go home now and you can.
706
00:54:56,200 --> 00:54:57,360
Oh, my God.
707
00:54:57,360 --> 00:55:00,840
And I was like, did I just fucking say that?
708
00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:02,600
But they started laughing and clapping.
709
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:07,480
So OK, because humor, you know that humor is the best weapon ever.
710
00:55:07,480 --> 00:55:10,000
And it passed OK.
711
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:11,000
And I was like, haha.
712
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:17,320
And then at one point we were performing in studio and it was, I believe, six years later
713
00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:19,560
or even more.
714
00:55:19,560 --> 00:55:23,760
And I performed in studio and in the break, we're outside.
715
00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:28,840
People are smoking cigarettes, having drinks on the on the backyard.
716
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:33,720
And I'm standing there with other comedians and this guy comes over baldhead and like,
717
00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:36,120
hey, Marina, I know you.
718
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:37,120
And I'm like, yeah, hi.
719
00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:39,000
Yeah, you were amazing tonight.
720
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:40,000
And I'm like, thank you.
721
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:41,000
Thank you.
722
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:42,000
But you know what?
723
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:43,000
I saw you also.
724
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:46,000
And I can't really wear in jail.
725
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:47,000
And I started laughing.
726
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:50,320
And he's like, yeah, and we see we can come out.
727
00:55:50,320 --> 00:55:51,720
It was so funny.
728
00:55:51,720 --> 00:55:52,920
He remembered that joke.
729
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:53,920
Yeah.
730
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:58,360
And it was so it was so funny because, oh, my God, yeah, you can come out.
731
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:01,360
Jesus, haha, will you hurt me now?
732
00:56:01,360 --> 00:56:08,480
Yeah, but yeah, I believe that with humor, like you can a lot of things can pass.
733
00:56:08,480 --> 00:56:18,760
That's why I started using humor as a weapon in 2010 when I outed myself and when I when
734
00:56:18,760 --> 00:56:21,600
I started Kyber the Serbian Creation Show.
735
00:56:21,600 --> 00:56:26,160
Well, yeah, I definitely I think humor is one of the best ways to, you know, heal and
736
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:28,520
to bring people together.
737
00:56:28,520 --> 00:56:36,000
Yes, and to actually kind of change change minds and consciousness about things, you
738
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:43,600
know, because I actually have examples like proof, immediate proof, you know, not like,
739
00:56:43,600 --> 00:56:45,320
oh, maybe this happened.
740
00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:55,280
Like we have immediate proof that humor can actually like change people's the way they
741
00:56:55,280 --> 00:57:01,720
think, the way they feel about things the way I mean, not in a bad way, of course, if
742
00:57:01,720 --> 00:57:07,560
you have, I mean, that's the reason why because humor is such an amazing power, actually,
743
00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:09,960
with every great power comes a great responsibility, right?
744
00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:21,960
So I think that comedians above all should have a huge social and social responsibility
745
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:27,480
towards the audience and towards what they say on stage.
746
00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:28,480
That's interesting.
747
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:29,680
Yeah, I wanted to ask a little bit.
748
00:57:29,680 --> 00:57:37,080
You mentioned the Croatian Serbian communal, you know, stand up.
749
00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:38,080
What is that like?
750
00:57:38,080 --> 00:57:42,320
Is I mean, is there you have to be sensitive about certain topics?
751
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:44,680
How do you go about that is I guess what I'm asking.
752
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:45,680
Yeah.
753
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:52,880
So we started that we had our 100th show two weeks ago.
754
00:57:52,880 --> 00:58:01,680
Actually it was on, yeah, on 21st of April, we had our 100th show in Zagreb.
755
00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:07,240
And I want to thank all the people who came even though you're not listening to this,
756
00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:09,280
right still.
757
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:17,520
And we started that show because we start in 2010, I believe we started cooperating
758
00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:21,640
intensively with Serbian comedy scene and they started coming here and we started coming
759
00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:23,160
there and blah, blah.
760
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:32,360
And since it was war, as you remember, and since after war, our politicians are using
761
00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:38,320
relations between Croatian Serbia every time they need it for anything like whatever happens
762
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:43,600
bad from their side, they're always, oh, but remember Serbians are here and they're
763
00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:44,880
bad and they're terrible.
764
00:58:44,880 --> 00:58:48,000
And that's the same from their side as well.
765
00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:56,160
And our politicians are not letting us go back in peace to peace or whatever.
766
00:58:56,160 --> 00:59:02,040
So we realized with performing everywhere in Serbia and Croatia, we realized that there
767
00:59:02,040 --> 00:59:11,440
is still a lot of tension between two of our nations and that that's ridiculous because
768
00:59:11,440 --> 00:59:17,800
our own opinion as comedians are that people are not responsible for what happened, that
769
00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:26,040
somebody was playing a lot of games when all of that came around and Serbian and Croatian
770
00:59:26,040 --> 00:59:30,120
people are so alike that it's incredible.
771
00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:33,160
Like our languages are the same, come on people.
772
00:59:33,160 --> 00:59:37,640
So I mean, I better understand people from Belgrade than people from Istria, which is
773
00:59:37,640 --> 00:59:44,120
Croatia sometimes when they talk fast, you know, so it's like ridiculous what they're
774
00:59:44,120 --> 00:59:46,320
doing with all this separation and everything.
775
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:52,840
So we realized that there's still a lot of tension and then we started to joke about
776
00:59:52,840 --> 00:59:54,680
it off the stage.
777
00:59:54,680 --> 01:00:00,640
And we saw that it's making people around us laugh a lot.
778
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:03,720
And that laughter is kind of different.
779
01:00:03,720 --> 01:00:06,560
I'll explain it to you with a story about Ossik later.
780
01:00:06,560 --> 01:00:12,200
But so we started doing that offstage and then we started doing it a little bit on stage
781
01:00:12,200 --> 01:00:13,400
on the festivals.
782
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:19,960
Like when we are performing anyway and people love us in Belgrade, then there we start something
783
01:00:19,960 --> 01:00:22,440
and colleagues from Serbia start something.
784
01:00:22,440 --> 01:00:28,400
And then in Zagreb we start something like just to see how it's going to react with the
785
01:00:28,400 --> 01:00:30,960
audience.
786
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:33,400
And it always went really well.
787
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:39,240
And we realized that actually people are also sick of what the politicians are doing and
788
01:00:39,240 --> 01:00:48,000
they kind of need this kind of laughter because it's kind of healing as well.
789
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:57,600
And since I'm the only comedian from Studio Smeja who was in Pioneers when Tito was here.
790
01:00:57,600 --> 01:01:02,640
And I mean not when Tito was here, but when Yugoslavia was still here.
791
01:01:02,640 --> 01:01:08,560
And Alexander is the only pioneer also in the Serbian comedy scene.
792
01:01:08,560 --> 01:01:17,560
We started talking about it and we wrote each 45 minutes regarding life in Yugoslavia.
793
01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:26,560
The separation, war and the relations between our countries after the war and the politics
794
01:01:26,560 --> 01:01:29,000
scenes and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
795
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:30,000
stuff like that.
796
01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:35,640
So we started performing that and the premiere was incredible.
797
01:01:35,640 --> 01:01:41,600
The amount of energy and laughter in people was really incredible.
798
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:49,880
And we started performing everywhere in Serbia and in Croatia and then one specific moment
799
01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:53,640
that I wanted to tell you about regarding that show is when we went to Nis, we filled
800
01:01:53,640 --> 01:01:59,920
out 660 seats in the home of the military, which was ridiculous.
801
01:01:59,920 --> 01:02:04,080
So because like that's their concert hall, but it's called Home of the Military.
802
01:02:04,080 --> 01:02:10,320
So we had Kaibre, the most unmilitary show in the world performing there.
803
01:02:10,320 --> 01:02:16,720
And it was filled up and I was kind of like, oh my God, I hope they're gonna like, we promised
804
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:19,640
each other that we're gonna say everything we say.
805
01:02:19,640 --> 01:02:23,800
We're gonna say it on the stage in Croatia and on the stage in Serbia.
806
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:28,360
Like we will not make difference if we want the show to work.
807
01:02:28,360 --> 01:02:31,840
So except the non-relatable things.
808
01:02:31,840 --> 01:02:40,920
But the critical things we will say everywhere and the atmosphere was amazing.
809
01:02:40,920 --> 01:02:42,560
The show went amazing.
810
01:02:42,560 --> 01:02:45,080
Everything was great, but still you never know.
811
01:02:45,080 --> 01:02:48,600
Maybe there is a person in there that I got in, you know, you never know.
812
01:02:48,600 --> 01:02:51,960
So I was standing outside after the show ended.
813
01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:53,320
I was all alone in front.
814
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:55,360
It was 11 something in the evening.
815
01:02:55,360 --> 01:02:58,720
I was waiting for Alexander to finish up the deals and stuff.
816
01:02:58,720 --> 01:02:59,720
It doesn't matter.
817
01:02:59,720 --> 01:03:01,040
I was alone outside.
818
01:03:01,040 --> 01:03:08,680
And across the street was Kiosk and three really big bold guys were going standing on
819
01:03:08,680 --> 01:03:10,160
that Kiosk.
820
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:14,920
And then they turned and they saw me across the street and they bumped each other like,
821
01:03:14,920 --> 01:03:17,800
oh look, and they started walking towards me.
822
01:03:17,800 --> 01:03:20,720
And at that point I was like, oh my God, this is my end.
823
01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:23,960
Like I'm gonna, this is my end here in Nis.
824
01:03:23,960 --> 01:03:26,840
Like really Marina?
825
01:03:26,840 --> 01:03:30,960
And they started walking towards me and it was dark and you don't see like you just
826
01:03:30,960 --> 01:03:33,000
see three big guys walking towards you.
827
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:39,240
And as they got closer, I saw a huge smile on their faces and they approached me and
828
01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:43,360
in Serbia and they said, you know, we were on the show tonight and you know what?
829
01:03:43,360 --> 01:03:45,760
I will never hit another creation.
830
01:03:45,760 --> 01:03:47,080
I will just hug them.
831
01:03:47,080 --> 01:03:49,320
I promise.
832
01:03:49,320 --> 01:03:52,480
And to me it was like, wow.
833
01:03:52,480 --> 01:03:56,080
I mean relief that they're not gonna hit me.
834
01:03:56,080 --> 01:03:58,920
And also it was like, wow, wow.
835
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:00,920
Humor is really like, wow.
836
01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:07,040
And with Osik when I wanted to tell you special moment with Osik and CISAC, like those two
837
01:04:07,040 --> 01:04:12,920
cities are the cities that we performed in that were the most damaged during the war.
838
01:04:12,920 --> 01:04:17,040
We still didn't go to Vukovar and Vinkovtsi because Alexander is kind of not okay with
839
01:04:17,040 --> 01:04:20,040
it yet because of the respect and everything.
840
01:04:20,040 --> 01:04:22,040
He just wants some, he's not afraid.
841
01:04:22,040 --> 01:04:24,400
He's just kind of, I don't know.
842
01:04:24,400 --> 01:04:28,680
We are still talking about those two cities regardless of the fact that people want us
843
01:04:28,680 --> 01:04:30,480
to come, but we are still talking about it.
844
01:04:30,480 --> 01:04:39,080
But the cities that we did perform in Osik and CISAC were the most damaged ones in the
845
01:04:39,080 --> 01:04:40,080
war.
846
01:04:40,080 --> 01:04:49,840
So I cannot, like the atmospheres and energies of the audience, everywhere this show is accepted.
847
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:51,720
Well, really, I cannot say it.
848
01:04:51,720 --> 01:04:55,000
Everywhere people laugh, everywhere, it's really amazing atmosphere.
849
01:04:55,000 --> 01:05:07,000
But the level of love and atmosphere in those two cities was, it's undescribable.
850
01:05:07,000 --> 01:05:13,640
And what kind of, kind of not proved to me because I never thought it, but kind of realized
851
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:21,240
after those two cities that, yeah, laughter is laughter everywhere, but you cannot find
852
01:05:21,240 --> 01:05:27,200
the true laughter if you didn't feel the pain.
853
01:05:27,200 --> 01:05:33,040
It was kind of like, to me, it was like, I cannot, like it's unexplainable for me at
854
01:05:33,040 --> 01:05:40,880
the moment still, but the amount and the people waiting for us outside to take photos with
855
01:05:40,880 --> 01:05:48,080
Alexander and to hug him and it's, it's undescribable.
856
01:05:48,080 --> 01:05:51,400
Yeah, no, that totally makes sense.
857
01:05:51,400 --> 01:05:55,320
I mean, it sort of makes me think, you know, when I went to Sarajevo and they talk about
858
01:05:55,320 --> 01:05:59,120
how people have really, you know, like the dark humor over there because it's sort of
859
01:05:59,120 --> 01:06:03,120
a way of coping with, you know, everything that's happened and to be able to laugh about
860
01:06:03,120 --> 01:06:04,120
things.
861
01:06:04,120 --> 01:06:05,400
And still happening, unfortunately.
862
01:06:05,400 --> 01:06:06,400
Yeah.
863
01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:12,520
But I mean, you know, on a lighter note, it's great to hear that, that humor is, you know,
864
01:06:12,520 --> 01:06:17,000
that powerful to be able to, you know, heal and bring people closer together.
865
01:06:17,000 --> 01:06:22,200
And as we're coming down to the end here of the podcast Marina, but I do want to ask just
866
01:06:22,200 --> 01:06:26,640
one last quick thing and, you know, thank you again so much for coming on.
867
01:06:26,640 --> 01:06:30,120
But just really quick, if you can talk a little about, you know, what does the future hold
868
01:06:30,120 --> 01:06:31,360
for you?
869
01:06:31,360 --> 01:06:36,760
What sort of plans do you have as far as comedy and, you know, any other projects?
870
01:06:36,760 --> 01:06:43,080
My plans are actually to kind of focus on myself right now because after, as we didn't
871
01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:47,240
have time to talk about it, because really talking to me, unfortunately, it's no longer
872
01:06:47,240 --> 01:06:51,000
necessary than one hour, especially regarding the scene.
873
01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:57,420
But after, I don't know, now 12 festivals, two times Lisinski.
874
01:06:57,420 --> 01:07:04,520
And after all those things that were made for the scene, because I got some awards outside
875
01:07:04,520 --> 01:07:12,320
Croatia, and I want to focus on performing in English more in Europe and maybe one day
876
01:07:12,320 --> 01:07:14,680
in the United States.
877
01:07:14,680 --> 01:07:25,000
And I want to focus more on diaspora and kind of my own career and to start.
878
01:07:25,000 --> 01:07:30,920
That's kind of for me, because I believe that scene has grown enough to, with a couple of
879
01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:39,760
little pushes to be, to manage to function without a mom, how they said so many times.
880
01:07:39,760 --> 01:07:48,840
So yeah, for me, at the moment, the future is actually kind of going to be more focusing
881
01:07:48,840 --> 01:07:58,360
on me and hopefully in a year or two tops, again, opening Comedy Club in a lot smaller
882
01:07:58,360 --> 01:08:03,960
capacity just to be kind of an intimate thing where comedians can try out their new things
883
01:08:03,960 --> 01:08:11,600
and where we can play with the audience and to have a home of stand-up actually.
884
01:08:11,600 --> 01:08:19,840
And the biggest focus now definitely is going to be to try to push stand-up on TV and to
885
01:08:19,840 --> 01:08:26,280
push some projects that are, I believe, very humorous and very good to the TV.
886
01:08:26,280 --> 01:08:29,400
That's kind of going to be the biggest focus.
887
01:08:29,400 --> 01:08:38,320
But my plan is to visit the United States before 2024, let's say.
888
01:08:38,320 --> 01:08:42,640
But when you go somewhere that far, it has to be like a month or two.
889
01:08:42,640 --> 01:08:46,640
You cannot just come for two days and perform and go back.
890
01:08:46,640 --> 01:08:48,840
So yeah, that's kind of a plan.
891
01:08:48,840 --> 01:08:55,840
And I believe also what I need to, because I don't think that those groups now that are
892
01:08:55,840 --> 01:09:04,200
existing out of studio now, I believe that they can hold this theater scene and clubs
893
01:09:04,200 --> 01:09:07,720
and stuff like that on a great level.
894
01:09:07,720 --> 01:09:12,320
And the only focus I believe that I'm going to have regarding the scene is the festivals
895
01:09:12,320 --> 01:09:20,520
and those kind of bigger things that are helping also seem to grow.
896
01:09:20,520 --> 01:09:22,120
And also a female comedy scene.
897
01:09:22,120 --> 01:09:25,840
That's actually the biggest part, when it comes to the scene, that's the biggest part
898
01:09:25,840 --> 01:09:27,520
I'm going to focus on.
899
01:09:27,520 --> 01:09:38,840
And I plan to have a La Femme festival, which is not La Femme, but La laughter.
900
01:09:38,840 --> 01:09:44,400
I'm going to connect with La, I hope I'm going to have it somewhere on the coast.
901
01:09:44,400 --> 01:09:49,120
So all the foreign comedians would be delightful to come.
902
01:09:49,120 --> 01:09:52,200
And to spend time there.
903
01:09:52,200 --> 01:09:53,200
Exactly.
904
01:09:53,200 --> 01:09:57,480
That's kind of our, you know, like maybe we don't have a lot of money, but look what
905
01:09:57,480 --> 01:09:58,480
we have.
906
01:09:58,480 --> 01:10:03,960
So hopefully that's going to be the catch that pulls them in.
907
01:10:03,960 --> 01:10:09,440
And yeah, that's going to be my biggest focus regarding the female comedy scene, because
908
01:10:09,440 --> 01:10:12,240
I believe that it can be strong.
909
01:10:12,240 --> 01:10:19,520
And that now it's three of us actually, and I believe that actually four of us, let's
910
01:10:19,520 --> 01:10:21,800
say like that, but this girl just started.
911
01:10:21,800 --> 01:10:26,960
And I believe that we can grow as well as a female comedy scene.
912
01:10:26,960 --> 01:10:27,960
Wow.
913
01:10:27,960 --> 01:10:32,640
Yeah, definitely a lot of interesting projects you have and, you know, big hopes.
914
01:10:32,640 --> 01:10:36,200
And I hope that those are able to come to fruition quickly and easily.
915
01:10:36,200 --> 01:10:39,840
Although of course there's always going to be obstacles and challenges.
916
01:10:39,840 --> 01:10:44,320
But I know we'll be following your career and I know just speaking for the diospora,
917
01:10:44,320 --> 01:10:49,400
they would love to see a Croatian comedian, you know, come into their scene and do something.
918
01:10:49,400 --> 01:10:53,560
So that would be definitely really cool if you're able to get to the U.S. and do some
919
01:10:53,560 --> 01:10:54,560
sets over there.
920
01:10:54,560 --> 01:10:55,560
Yeah, I would love to.
921
01:10:55,560 --> 01:10:56,560
I would love to.
922
01:10:56,560 --> 01:10:58,120
But Marina, thank you again.
923
01:10:58,120 --> 01:11:00,200
Yeah, thank you so much for taking the time.
924
01:11:00,200 --> 01:11:03,520
I know you're super busy and, you know, I want to say good luck in the...
925
01:11:03,520 --> 01:11:05,840
No, it's just now.
926
01:11:05,840 --> 01:11:07,720
Thank you so much.
927
01:11:07,720 --> 01:11:08,720
Thank you so much.
928
01:11:08,720 --> 01:11:13,960
And yeah, thank you so much for inviting me and giving me opportunity to tell my story.
929
01:11:13,960 --> 01:11:19,600
And I don't know, maybe you will invite me again because there is a lot of subjects regarding
930
01:11:19,600 --> 01:11:22,160
comedy scene in Croatia that we didn't touch.
931
01:11:22,160 --> 01:11:25,240
So yes, I'm sure you could talk for hours about this.
932
01:11:25,240 --> 01:11:26,240
I'm so sorry.
933
01:11:26,240 --> 01:11:30,400
I know I talk too much sometimes, but this is, you know, my baby and my life for the
934
01:11:30,400 --> 01:11:32,080
past 17 years.
935
01:11:32,080 --> 01:11:38,040
So that's it for today's episode of the All Things Croatia podcast.
936
01:11:38,040 --> 01:11:40,440
Thanks for tuning in and I hope you all enjoyed it.
937
01:11:40,440 --> 01:11:44,480
You can subscribe to the Patreon and check out the All Things Croatia Instagram page
938
01:11:44,480 --> 01:11:46,040
to stay updated.
939
01:11:46,040 --> 01:11:50,520
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, tips or ideas and make sure to tune back into
940
01:11:50,520 --> 01:11:52,020
the next episode.
941
01:11:52,020 --> 01:12:08,560
Thanks again and vide mosten.