An impressionist's rise to TikTok stardom.

and my agent comes back and she's like yeah Julian so I've had a look at your proposed rates and if it's okay with you I'd like to bump them up a bit and I'm like bump away all right mate welcome to the podcast thank you thanks for coming on uh why don't you give everyone a quick intro who who you are and where you come from Hello uh my name is Julian Julian sa and I'm based here in Oakland cool well uh firstly like I said off camera I want to take us back to when this content Journey started so when did this content creation and characters and all this world start from I was 13 yeah really that long ago I I had my

own YouTube channel love it yes okay I was I think cuz I was this is like we're talking olden days of YouTube right so like 200 like 8 2009 okay so real early days like way way back and there was like an Aussie uh there was there was quite a few that I followed but there was an Aussie uh Channel called some of you might know or remember she's still around by the way um Community Channel Natalie TR she's like Vietnamese Australian she she was so funny and I was like I want to do that she was doing and and a couple of other um people that I followed did similar things and so I I created my own YouTube channel I'm not going to

tell you what it is what what it was called but um I it was like yeah I had a bunch of costumes and wigs and stuff and I liked playing different characters it went absolutely nowhere that's funny yeah nowhere but that's kind of where it started I did have it and then I stopped when I was like 15 okay you did it for a couple years when did you start it I start I started like yeah when I was 13 14 15 and then I kind of just yeah yeah yeah I was just like I realized that my YouTube career was it was not going to happen Okay I you know I started from scratch and I was also very very young and I yeah

I just I I had my own website and everything that my D helped me good so good and then yeah so I just I I had that for a bit and then I um I put it to rest I I didn't want to 15 yeah and uh I went to I was born and raised in Hong Kong by the way okay that's something people don't know about me which is why I have a weird accent and it can kind of go into different kind of accents and stuff so yes um and I kind of yeah I I I tell people that's part of the reason why I can pick up Impressions and accents and things is because I grew up in such an international city

um I went why does my phone keep buzzing I'm so sorry if you can hear that um I uh went to Australia for for a bachelor's degree okay and then uh I went back to Hong Kong uh worked for a bit fulltime and then I moved back to New Zealand to study a masters in uh writing and theater and I put up my own show I wrote and co-directed it oh [ __ ] um and it was really fun yeah what's it called it was called hush hush and it was like this really like serious drama Coming of Age story against the backdrop of the AIDS pandemic and homosexual law reform it was very real and very like not comedy at all no no it was very

but it was something that I really was like really passionate about I did that and then moved up to Oakland right before the very first pandemic the first lockdown excuse me the very first lockdown that we had and I moved with my sister and you know borders closed everything shuts down um and I had Tik Tok uh I I downloaded the app like a few months before I actually started creating yeah and then I started just doing this I realized that I was just like oh also it's kind of like dub smash it's kind of like dub smash meets um Snapchat meets um you know Vine yeah and I was like oh I kind of like that yeah okay I'll do that and so it

was just me and my sister we were just bored out of our minds during this you know the very first lockdown and so we were just like doing all these lip syns of like certain scenes and then posting them literally just for shits and GS like for like for just no reason other than just for entertainment and sending it to family members like oh you might find this funny oh Hillary and I did something here you might find this um and then one of them got like over 13,000 views but this was from someone that had like zero followers and I was like oh people actually like this one and then it started from there sorry that was a big rant but yes that's where

it started from yeah yeah yeah um what was that first video what was it just a lip sync do you know the Australian TV show Kath and Kim yeah look my look my God that's what it that's what it was and it was of me and my sister's dress I didn't even have a wig on or anything and I had sunglasses and I was like oh it was just one of the scenes that we did and I was like why do people like this it's not even that funny but people liked that and that was the very first video that did that you know got above 10K and I was like wow yeah so and then I realized I started becoming determined I was like

I want to yeah do more more videos that more people like and how long did that like process take from getting that one there to like getting that more regularly um was it a pretty natural thing for you to keep getting that or did it take a little experimenting along the way oh it started yeah it started experimenting I realized that I didn't like the very first video that I did that hit over 100k in terms of views was when I actually used my own voice oh interesting I was just doing lip syns before and I realized I think I chatted to a friend and they're like oh but you're so good at voices you're so good at Impressions and stuff why don't you do

you and I was like okay fine so I did like I did this short it started off as a video and then it became as series it was me recreating recreating scenes from Titanic great yeah and it was just like you know it it was that one first scene that I did which was like rose yeah get into the boat Rose goodbye mother and I did that all like by myself and people are like oh my God we love it can you do more and I was like okay and that's when the following went from like 1,000 to 10,000 really quickly crazy yeah yeah and I started then just recreating for movies and recreating other things yeah when when was this when was that scene

uh that was like mid 202 yeah so pretty early in like so it would take a long time from like lockdown to that point yeah like June 2020 was when it was like I started realizing that like oh I'm really determined now like I want to it's funny cuz like you're saying that now like even doing the voiceover it's like I've definitely seen that video but like didn't realize it was you cuz you know like you watch people back in 2020 and now you see them now and realize it was same person yes no that was that's funny I do remember the videos now do you those ones yeah cuz in 20 so I watched a lot of Tik Tok in 2020 obviously everyone did

and then I kind of stopped for a long time like most of 2021 I barely had Tik Tok open and I didn't really get back into it till 2022 when we kind of started to jump on Tik Tok and then when we hired Joanie and then that sort of snowboard so there's like this whole like gap of like a year and a half where I just like don't know any of the Tik toks did you just go on Instagram I just went on I just didn't do reals or video I just watched YouTube right so I I'm always been a YouTube guy always and so I've always watched even now my Tik Tok app is screwed up right cuz I we do so much with

work on it so all the shorts that I watch are from YouTube I watch YouTube shorts mostly that feeds me stuff I actually like where it's like Tik Tok feeds me crap like all day long because it's so mixed up of all the things I search yeah yeah yeah um so I was just watching YouTube and it wasn't until I was like no we need to make a play on here I always knew going Tik Tok I just figured out how to do it until met and I was like okay for me I'll figure this out with you um but that's funny you say because it happened last week or the week before someone was someone else on the show that I was like oh

I've seen that and actually even when like aluka came on the show and I was like I remember you from 2020 like when I used to watch and then I missed this whole Gap and then now you meet him in real life anyway I'll take you on tangent um that's all good so that's like mid 2020 you started going using actual voices doing movie scenes um what did that look like what did the next sort of six months look like did you double down on that how did that go uh so I continue to do like different scenes um like just I start I I started focusing on like TV shows that I knew were really big so like one video that that I did

I think was like the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones and recreating that scene obviously without wigs and costumes or anything just my voice yeah yeah yeah um and it was purely it purely started from just the voice I didn't do it with wigs or anything like that until a lot later but yeah it was like from different like you know did scenes from Harry Potter yeah cool scenes from Gray's Anatomy scenes from friends just like really popular TV shows that I know that everybody likes um and it just kept on going like that and then I started doing skits yeah and that's when I started experimenting with my own comedy if you could call it that um um and um I this like it's

funny that we're just about to enter an election now because uh right after I think right after then that time uh I think it was no it was sorry it was it was a little bit it was a while after that it was like August 2021 I think we plunged back into lockdown y y and Jinder adur had these these press conferences that she was doing every single day at 1:30 p.m. and I just remember remember where I see you from now now I remember where I've seen you from those yeah yeah so that's that's what people in New Zealand know me from and that's what see I miss that part of Tik Tok I don't remember these I remember the I I remember distinctly

the Titanic ones yeah I remember those not even a clue that you were from New Zealand because of the accent yeah anyway k no no no it's good that's funny so the jinda ones the yeah that got a lot of local attention so I started doing impressions of the whole like she would do the same thing so it was always taking off the mask it was always yeah from the and placing her papers delicately on the podium and just going Koto and then going into it and launching into it and you know TOA Jessica you know always the end of you know when it comes to the questions and I just decided that I wanted to make a skit out skit out of that and

I posted it and it got um a million views very quickly um and then I remember going to like the bottle o going to the liquor store like two days later and getting the bottle of wine and this guy who's like behind the counter and he's like I know you I know you and I'm like oh my God and so yeah it was like around the corner from my house and yeah it just was like people started really hey I know you so that that's when the whole I know where you're from yeah that's yeah that's when that that's when that started and then I was just like hey and I started doing like a series of that so I did that for um weeks

and months and then I was like you know what and I remember my my sister saying to me you got to go full out now you got to buy yourself a brown wig you got to like you got to go you know now you're getting all of this attention you can't just do it just with you you've got to you've got to have like the Blazer and everything so I went bought myself a brown wig and then I and that was the start of the wig collection so I got that and then I started doing and then I remember it was like cuz we have a holiday batch in topor okay and I remember that I got a message from someone it was like I

think the company's called topor jet skis and they've had like a jet ski business or dbats as well on the lake and they were like we would love it if you could be Jinder Jour on a jet ski yeah love it and so I was like all right that's what I'll do and they they you know they paid me money for it and that was the start of the the um business side of things yeah um but then that I that kind of died down after after a while I did do some videos but I F focused more on like my skits and stuff yeah and um yeah that's kind of that was that's kind of yeah end of 2021 beginning of 202 yeah yeah

yeah so that's when the um so when you started to get offers from from the sort of stuff started around that that time yeah I started from around that time around the summer yeah around the summer and uh yeah I got like I I did it by myself for a wee while and then I joined a u an agency cool um and started doing work yeah on that and that was by by that point I think I was around 200,000 followers yeah yeah cool and how was that initial period like when you like how was that topor deal like for you like I it's probably not as much as you're getting now but like just it got over 100,000 views but I mean in terms

of like getting paid for it like what was that like getting paid for these Tik toks and you having fun making well I was just like first of all I I had never never in my life thought that I would ever have a do this like for a career never um it was just it was just something fun you know and I just I I improved pretty much I mean like I did write some stuff down but I more or less improved everything yeah and this is so funny cuz I've never seen myself as an improv comedian like the idea of doing standup improv comedy just freaks me out yeah really and then I realize and my I think I was having a conversation with

a couple friends and they're like you do realize that is what you're doing you are making stuff up for Laughs which is improv comedy and I'm like I never thought of like that so yeah that's uh that's what I yeah that's what I realized I was doing but yeah again the idea of starting standup or anything is freaks me out a little bit so it's still not saying that you can on I never say never but like right now I'm just right now I'm I'm I'm focused on on what I'm doing on Tik Tok so yeah cuz it's quite interesting right cuz like what ah this name's gone blank was the girl who did the Ginder as well Melanie bracewell Melanie bracewell she stand up

she launched a whole career off those videos like I remember trying we tried to get her for a um one inz uh one of our clients um like an influencer clip that we needed for them MH and like her agency was like like this is five figures you want anything from this like you know like she I was like she's not that famous like she's she's like a Tik Tok stared or standup and they were asking for like huge money huge money and like no no this is how much she cost now and I was like holy [ __ ] all right yeah but she's she's gone on to like she's gone on to move to Melbourne or something she's got her own show she's on Taskmaster

go Melanie no she's done awesome I think it's great so what about like like does that Stu have you done any of that have you done anything outside of like Tik Tok and Instagram yeah and driving brand deals through that process like what else is the business doing like the business side of it yeah it's very exciting but I don't want to I don't want to Hype it up too much cuz it's in the very very early early stages of development but I've been approached by a Hollywood producer amazing which is really exciting um but again we're just this very very early yeah on but we're hoping to begin a project together cool so a film I'm guessing for Hollywood or is it possibly a

series but we don't know yet but still it was I mean it was very exciting like it was through my new agency so I have since um that's the original one yeah I since yeah I I separated from that um agency and I joined an agency based in North America great cuz there was one video that I did that went absolute Bonkers yeah and that's that started off a massive people use this word all the time aore l o r e a like a universe from one video that I did which was just me and my sister I was like I had this idea for a Tik Tok I was like I would love to do like a little a little kind of like short

one minute clip of like different Hollywood actresses um you know be S sitting in their chairs like and and the camera zooming into their faces when their names get called out and I thought oh that'll just be really funny and that' be really cute and then I remember my sister was like wait when is the Oscars and I was like oh my God it's on Sunday it was a Friday night I was like we have to do this now we have to do this now did the whole thing I went to sleep I woke up at 7 in the morning and it had 3 million views and I don't think I've ever and that was posted very late at night and it like I was

if you post a very successful video on you on Tik Tok um you get notifications coming in like every minute yeah and you scroll and it goes so and so is just commented just now just now just now just now and you're just constantly scrolling scrolling scrolling scrolling and that was insane that like BuzzFeed gone in contact with me I was on the project for a bit here in New Zealand and that that was for me like that's probably my f my most successful Tik Tok today Y how big did they end up G uh is it over 18 million yeah is it one of the ones that pinned yes it's the top it's the top one on the left I think that's pined yeah

yeah that went that went Bonkers and uh I decided to switch agencies because from that video I had gained an American following um and I was just like well makes more sense for me to appeal to um brands that cater to an American audience so I switched agencies and who's the agency can you say yeah sure Henry Talent okay cool um and how did you go about that I just well like cuz that's not something that everyone just knows how to do right like how did you I mean I don't even know what I was doing I was scrolling I was just like well this Tik Tok Creator is really cool yeah who do they do but I also I didn't want to like there

were a couple of friends of mine who again really really big on have millions and millions of followers I didn't want to kind of copy people that are exactly the same as me and go to their agency so I I hunted for a little bit and then I found one that I really like and then they just they had me on board and and very very different experience to the one that I had here in New Zealand yeah but I don't want to I don't want to name any names we won't name any names we don't need to expose anyone I think probably if I know who they are they' probably already been exposed on this podcast a couple times um oh okay anyway um

we w't get into that um but why like how did you know to go to a North American agency like how did you what made you think that did did someone tell you did you just have that Insight like what made that decision to go there cuz that like I'll tell you like that's not normal for a lot of kiwi creators to do I I do a lot of different um accents and Impressions and a lot of skits with me doing different accents I started after that Oscar video went viral I started exploring different scenes with these characters who are all who were all Hollywood actresses and they all spoke like that and and it seemed to have it that those videos really um they

drew in they drew a lot of they got a lot of attention from um Americans and I would check the the analytics of the video and it was just like massive American following and I was I started speaking to my partner about it and he's just like well you know that the United States has a population that is so much bigger than New Zealand so much bigger and it's it's not that I have any disrespect for this country or whatever that I love to call home um it was just that I started shifting more yeah leaning towards more of an American Focus yeah yeah in terms of my content and so because I it was me it's just me taking the piss out of Hollywood

like that's what I do film tropes um you know media stereotypes a lot of taking the piss out of Hollywood yeah because it's so ridiculous and so that's just kind of where it it started and then I was like well this agency is not really doing anything for me I might as well I might as well just try and find one that will and it's it's been a really great um Advantage yeah yeah tell me um and without you know ripping on anyone too far but like tell me the differences in experience between like a New Zealand based agency and a US base agency like what what how do the US guys think differently to the Kiwi guys or at least the New Zealand base

guys um first of all it was a lot more the agency that I was with was based in Australia and I didn't really I think I only had one phone call from the main person but my agent shifted from person to person to person I never met them in the flesh I never got a phone call from them I just would get emails and everything was um we've got aand that's come forward they've expressed interest in working with you it was that my American agency after I became like I I signed on with them they were like okay Jen this is how it's going to work uh you get to see everything you get to see all of the emails anytime that somebody expresses interest

in you you will automatically get an email now we want to keep you in the loop we will we want to keep you in the loop we will do all of the talking but we don't want that we want there to be transparency we want you to see everything that happens yeah so I didn't realize that actually there's quite a lot of negotiation that happens and there's a lot of like like I remember that burger like Burger King New Zealand got in contact with me and you know they set a price my agent was like let's go higher um you know yeah back and forth yeah there's a lot of back and forth and but um I totally didn't know that and I was just

like it's so nice to have this kind of transparency and actually get to see all of the talking that happens yeah yeah yeah that's cool that's actually really interesting to hear because when we talk to a lot of creators it's like I think they have no Insight on in New Zealand like and actually even when I've talked to agencies here not all of them that I shouldn't be I should be careful with it's not all of them like that but there's like this need to keep everyone in the dark all the time that they have and it's like a smok Ms thing that they're always doing and they say it's to protect creators M but like it's full of [ __ ] yeah like it total full

of [ __ ] because actually like the the more transparency like you think about creators like if you know that your people out there going out there to bet for you and doing what they can and you can see it you're only going to have more respect for them you of course you are yeah cuz you're like oh you've got my best interest you're not just accepting any lowball offer that comes my way you're actually fighting for the best for me and also it f it it fed it felt more like this kind of like Faro environment with the American agency cuz they're like we're like family here you know we we always like video call each other um to check in with each other every now

and then there was like hardly any checking in on the previous agency that I had cuz it was so big and this one it's just like you know we re we understand that for a lot of our creators it's their only source of income so we make an effort and they were really they did a really good job of of earning my trust cool um and I just love them like I just I I you know text her whenever I can I'm hoping to actually see her later this year meet her in person which would be great um she's based in Toronto um yeah it's it's it's actually just been a breath of fresh air and um it's yeah it's nice just it's nice being

able to see everything um and also your agent yes you know provides you with a lot of work opportunities but also they're they're almost a little bit like your manager in a certain way well at least this new one is and I would ad ask her advice on certain things going like can I ask your advice on doing merch can I ask your advice on doing this and she's just like oh absolutely this is something that we should invest in you know a PR person got in contact with me a really prominent PR person got in contact with me and I'm like I don't actually know and so she's just like let me tell you this is what they want the Hollywood producer when he

got in contact with me he called me and every it was so exciting it was so so exciting but I actually didn't know what he wanted I was like is this like is it a film is it a is it is it a series cuz he was really excited and so was I but I was a little bit like I'm whereas like he then got hopped on a call with my agent and my agent goes so this is what he wants he's the dot connector he will actually connect you to different uh you know he will sell your show to different like streaming services possibly so it was all this Clarity that I given and I was like ah that I can really thank my

agent for so so happy that I made this decision that's great that's great you just don't hear about that enough here well like there's a few agent few agencies in New Zealand who I mean they got prominent enough people they're big enough legitimate organizations that can do this but there's very few of them so a lot of kiwi creators are like running and blind and have no concept of a day what about like in terms of the value that you were I guess sold for I suppose let's put it that way like when when brand deals are coming in like did that did it have a impact on the amount of like the amount you're getting paid for deals or did that sort of stay

roughly the same way that was there an increase once the North American guys took on board a huge increase I I don't want I don't want to talk numbers no you don't talk numbers but it was like percentage wise so well for example like I I'll tell you something that I'm happy with I'm happy disclosing was that I originally went to my agent and I think for my the the the agency here or sorry the agent Australia that I was with um I was like let um you know $1,000 New Zealand dos for you know a somebody with a following of 200 to 300,000 I was like that seems fairly reasonable yeah I'm going to put that down so I then like did the calculation

and that was like I think 800 us and so when they were like you then please send over your rates your proposed rates I was like let me do um let me do uh yeah like roughly about like roughly $800 us which was I think $1,200 New Zealand so I upped it ever so slightly and my agent comes back and she's like yeah Julian so I've had a look at your proposed rates and if it's okay with you I'd like to bump them up a bit like are you serious are you serious I've never been paid that much money ever so and that's and the thing is she's like and it's not always like that you know that's what will prop will keep that at

it can go higher it can go lower depending on the actual deal yeah um but that's like that's roughly how much you should be getting paid with the amount of numbers that you have on your on your platform right now so I was like oh okay it's crazy a it's really crazy well I was just like you know when that happened and so um yeah I mean this this switch has only happened recently since the I think I think June I I signed on with the new agency but yeah yeah it's crazy yeah like the num the difference there's a couple things one like the New Zealand Market just sucks at spending money on creators and influencers they just they just don't want to do

it they still so like businesses hate it hate having to give creators money like they just think oh they [ __ ] doing they just have got it all twisted here and the ones who do understand it they want sport stars and TV stars like they very really go on to um create a space which is crazy because there's such a huge market and there's such a huge audience for it it's such a cheap audience too like say converting that number into New Zealand I say it's like 10 grand 10 grand to hit like half a million people it's [ __ ] nothing like it's nothing to pay for like a big brand is nothing to pay yeah crazy just stupid so that's cool oh well done thank you

it is really exciting and especially when like for ages and ages you know cuz I mean you should you probably know this we don't get paid we don't the in terms of the Crea a fund it's not it's not accessible here in New Zealand which is ridiculous by the way so stupid sorry didn't mean to but I am I'm frustrated there is brilliant content here and really Talent like you know so many talented creators and they deserve Financial recognition and so yeah once I signed on with this new American agency I I was just so thankful that they could give me all of the support yeah do you think you do go there it's funny you should say that this is this is not new

information by the way so it's not um I'm not dropping exclusive no so my partner is um have you ever watched a program in New Zealand called One news yeah so my partner is a reporter on on the news cool um and he uh just recently got promoted to us correspondent ah so he is moving to New York City in on the 1st of October I love it and I will be going with him a little off like I I need a few more months just cuz I'm in the middle of doing a um a course at the moment and I would like to finish that first before going but I will be going next year cool how good is it so really exciting and

it's just like you know New York City it's amazing we're going do you know where we're going we're going on the fifth so we're taking Janie my partner oh the business is moving oh the four of us going over for good uh we're going for 10 weeks to start with okay to do some Recon and some feasibility mhm and then once and if we find that it is the right thing to go back to which we think it will be we'll make we'll come back get visas and business visas and stuff and go back properly yeah um so we've had some us clients things like that so we love us they pay more money they're better clients they pay so much more money they have

the population to afford it to fund it like a small business over there turns over 50 million the small business in New Zealand turns over half a million yeah money is so much better in the US just so much better so yeah we go on the 5th of October so um and then next year the idea is to go back fulltime just because like it's not that New Zealand will stop like we've obviously had a pretty successful business here in New Zealand and it's still going well and um we'll continue to grow the New Zealand business but it's never going to keep Pace with what us can do you know so when are you guys going over first initially fifth of October we fly nice

cuz I'm going I'm I'm the first trip that I'm taking will be for a month from the 20th of December to the 20th of January ah yeah cool just over the I mean it'll be freezing cold over there but um but that's where I hope to like officially meet my agent yeah cool nice and also make start to make connections there yeah you know oh yeah yeah cool now yeah we love it New York's the best like why would you not want to go to New York if you had the opportunity I've like had a dream of like living living in New York since like I was like 13 I went there for like 5 days yeah and it is the most exciting city in

the world um yeah I I just can't wait it'll be so much fun I'm the same when I first went there it was like 2014 I think um it was part of like a full trip around the states that I did and I remember arriving in at JFK at like 11: at night by the time I got to my hotel which was just off Time Square it was like I know just after midnight and there was like got to be like a million people on the street I was like [ __ ] I'm home like this is the best thing ever you know and like for lots of people like um probably even for like Connor like that's like his worst nightmare maybe but like for me

it was like the best thing like it was just so packed so many people the energy was crazy I ended up like have you heard of PDT that please don't tell the bar in New York um no you should definitely try go so there's a there's a hot dog place called cff dogss and it's in East Village low Village it's like this grungy hot dog place like looks [ __ ] it's like size of this room but you go on there's a telephone box on the left hand side and you open up t phone box pick up the telephone and they're like reservation and you say your name and then the back door of the phone box opens up and they ask for your ID and you

give them your ID and then they shut the door on you and then they once once they confirm your reservation they open up and they're like it's a speak easy they welcome Mr Henry they bring you in and it's sitting room only there like 20 seats and it's like so hard to get it like most people won't get a reservation and I was staying at the intercon at the time cuz I used to work for interon hotels and so the conci like they like don't worry we know people so got us in but like it's so hard to get in but so cool like and so anyway I sat there all night and I was talking to the owner or I think it was the

owner I was talking to one of the heads of it and I was like bro I want to move to New York like this is what I want to do I want to move here I don't care I'm going to run away with circus like what do I need to do and I was like 20 what is 2014 so must have been like 27 at the time or something like that and he was like just come back on a 3mon visa on your ister and just work in the bar and you'll get tips cuz the tips are like six seven bucks a drink and you'll make 100 drinks a day yeah and so you'll make heaps he's like I don't need to pay you no

nothing and then you can help me cuz I used to run hotels and he's like you can help me with the business and so anyway I was like [ __ ] it I'm moving so I did the whole trip I flew back to to um to work I walked into my boss's office and like ready to quit and then they like dangled this carrot in front of me which was like a $30,000 promotion move to another to Sydney like this whole thing and I was like oh [ __ ] and I ended up taking that cuz I was like you know you're closer to home as well you know yeah and so but ever since that day I was like N I got to fight my way back to

get back to New York well now you can go back that's is it that's all we're doing yeah that's awesome tell me about New York then what's what would be the dream for New York like obviously this production goes hit is going to be awesome but like what does life in New York look like for you I guess just a lot more work opportunities and you know I I've built this this following now that I'm super super proud of and I think just being able to yeah I mean look I I'm I still have questions about what it is that I really want to do whether you know I want to have my own show or I want to do standup comedy which I'm still

a little bit skeptical about but I C for it it is and it's um like yeah it's it's just it's just you know being able to appeal to to that audience and to that um community of people yeah um just is something that I feel like I I've always loved American humor my partner is the complete opposite he loves British humor we Clash on humor he thinks I think what he likes is stupid he thinks what I like is stupid but we can both respect that we've got different senses of humor yeah but um uh but yeah I sorry let me take that back I don't think he thinks it's stupid any um but yeah like I just think yeah work opportunities would be so

yeah so much better what do you think like from a long-term perspective like what what do you see this career going what would be for you like I don't know if it's a pinnacle but it's Pinnacle right now for you to be like this would be awesome if I could get this to happen I mean there's there's a there is a British comedian called Katherine Tate yep um and she had her own show where she played different characters and stuff love that Chris Lily has done the same in Australia I'd love to do something like that like a mockumentary yeah or you know just I I love making people laugh like I really do I think live shows you know I've I've done theater ever

since I was little and I've acted on stage many many many many times um so I don't know if that is you know is a possibility I could do something like that I just think that now that I've made the decision to move overseas where I'm going to be you know in cities like New York and and La there could be a possibility for me to start like a screen like a series or or or possibly a movie or for maybe my characters that I've created to be in other projects that kind of thing you know like um you know Barry humph was Australian legend that passed away this year and Dame Edna everage is like such an icon and if I could do something

like that for one of my characters yeah you know I have a character called Paloma Diamond that's very popular in the states um and elsewhere but um yeah you know if someone like her could be could just go on living eternally in other works of artart that would be really cool that's cool though I love that that's cool I love that sort of stuff I love like I love people who play characters all the time like those the people all that you said and Sasha always screw up his name Baron Cohen whatever yeah always screw up his name but even like filamina K Brin on stuff like her ones what's her real name um that's not a real name e what's her real name who

filamina yeah that's not a real name eh no who's filamina KK you know KK on Britain have you watched that no oh you'd love it can you up in the search you would have seen it you would have seen it she blew up she was like a BBC mockumentary um is with Sasha baren no no no but she's kind of like that idea where she's brought this character to life filamina K have you seen her oh yes I know her real name she was off um that that that yes no she's like the Egyptians believe the most significant thing you could do in your life was die yeah I love her that these sorts of people who have taken yeah I can't character name yeah

I'm pretty sure it's not a real name um these sorts of people who are doing those sort of stuff all the people that you said all that sort of stuff like kind it's like my favorite type of Comedy yeah I love it especially especially when they bring a character to life but then no one knows that they're not real like this like when she B first bought this like people didn't realize she was playing a character people have that with my stuff did they really yes cuz I'm I'm clearly a man with a beard in a week are you kidding no like they thought that I was taking the piss out of a famous actress called Paloma Diamond they thought that she was an like

one of the top comments is um I Googled who po Diamond was and and she didn't come up and I'm like oh my God guys she's fake I made that character you have to start Wikipedia page I should you have to start Wikipedia Pages for everyone of your characters that is so funny think that's so funny that they think that and I need to make more characters I mean I do have a handful yeah um but yes I need to start thinking do when you get brand deals and things like that did they did they ever like call for a specific character except for the first one I guess cuz that was just Cinder so I guess that was a yes uh to but not

really no actually nothing nothing yet in terms of um people wanting specific characters although that that is an option yeah yeah yeah um no quite a lot of the brand deals that I get they go you give us a brief cool which is fantastic cuz you get all the creative freedom right and there's nothing worse than back and forth and back and forth actually we don't like that can you do like this but also I don't mind a little bit of that yeah yeah I don't actually I find it more kind of like if I produce something that maybe I'm not super happy with and they're like yep that's great I'm like well no give me some Direction like I I want it like direct

me I'm I'm your canvas yeah yeah you know yeah so cuz it's a partnership right if they if they win you'll win longterm too cuz they come back yeah right yeah like there's nothing worse than just like doing an ad for someone that flops and then they're like okay never go on Julian again yeah exactly so yeah and so when you're talking like you don't have to give obviously anything away but uh when you're talking to this producer is that kind of the show that you're like a similar style show that you're trying to pitch at the moment um um we are still we're still actually work like I I don't actually have anything written down so I need to set some time aside to

actually like even the term like treatments and and briefs and things and and like I'm I'm still coming to terms with what that terminology is um and so um actually writing like yeah different kind of pictures and stuff I need to kind of set some time aside to do that yeah um and um yeah do you do many collabs with people here I have yeah not not not a huge amount um there is a um uh a really good friend of mine called Sarah Valentine she's also known as the accent lady okay she she splits her time between the UK and here in New Zealand yeah um and we did again this was after the Oscar stuff where all of the American you know taking

the piss out of Hollywood was becoming really big for me and I started leaning in that direction um and I was like what what's what's an event that's coming up that we can do something on and that weekend was the metg I love it so I was like let's do something and she I was like you know those really wanky like videos YouTube videos on Vogue of like celebrities getting like they're getting their dresses on and they're getting their outfits ready and it's just like has Kim Kardashian arrived yet okay we're going to be late you know it's like that so we just did this hu this whole thing of just her and me doing that and that video went Bonkers like you know and

I was yeah so I love I I need to do more of of of collabs with people there's yeah cuz it's like a that would be a big thing like that' be a real good way of getting relationships built in New York right yeah definitely do cobes the whole time because then it gives you not it's it's less about the audience of the people who know you from a like who are watching but more like industry players going ah this guy knows all the people around yeah right yeah yeah got to answer your question from before I get more people approaching me for my characters who want to do collabs I have to do one with Paloma and I'm like okay okay so when I

when I see you in the states we'll do one together I promise they're like oh my God that's what I'm getting from that's cool yeah in terms of the character stuff yeah yeah so other creators love other creators love Paloma got it got it yeah cuz we we're the same right like when we go to New York like Joan's so part of Jan's brief is purely for um content creators like she's going out reaching out to a bunch of New York City content creators uh to do collabs with them like get them on podcasts uh make funny videos with them do some like tazas in New York content stuff like that um but we find that like talking to like even this podcast right like

doing this podcast with all the creators in New Zealand it's less about the views and things we get and all that and more about that like um we're now inside this like quite firmly put ourselves inside a world of Crea and that there has opened up heaps of doors just like people going networking just networking yeah and even like even without like cuz a New Zealand the creat is are like a let's say the creat economy New Zealand socks let's just put it blankly like in in general sense there's very few people who are making full-time livings off it um so it's l about going oh look I'm networking for these creators and that makes me money that's not it it's just that the businesses

that want to work with us go oh you know all the creators around we should do business together yeah you know even that has been good for us and I think that'd be the same for you like it's less about like the views you get from the collabs but more for like the people in the industry going oh you [ __ ] know everyone in New York this guy must be somebody yeah like he can talk to any of these creators and makees [ __ ] with them and also that gives way to future work opportunities and and partnering with Brands and partnering with different people and actually making this more of a solid career um yeah definitely yeah absolutely like it it's it's weird how it works like

we doing doing collabs with people is like everyone a lot of people think it's like oh you can steal other people's audiences you know like I'll post up a video you and I speaking be like oh I can Ste part of Julian's audiences and I like probably not like your audiences come for laughs and this podcast is not bad like they're going to go oh it's cool I get to hear some stuff of Julian but actually I like coming to watch Paloma and so they're probably and so you know the way the algorithm work it's not going to keep showing it to them cuz they're going to get bored of it it's not what they came for yeah and I also find that um you've

also part of marketing yourself on as a as a as a content creator on your platform is you is you have to try your best to stick to your Niche cuz I have thoughts and ideas and opinions about the world and sometimes I'm like I want to vent out my frustration and every time that I'm thinking about doing that my partner goes no you will lose a whole bunch of your audience yeah you know you have to give them what they want yeah if you want to do like um you know have like a little side account on the on the side where you post personal videos or cooking videos or whatever you can do that but keep that on another platform cuz I did

one political video no but it wasn't even that political it was like I mean it was like me talking like venting my frustrations out on some I don't even remember what it was to be honest but it was on something and I just got a whole bunch of people going like how dare you think like that blah blah blah blah blah blah and I was like oh my god I've gotten on to the wrong side of deleted that video Never making any of those again but and I am I'm happy with just sticking to Comedy CU it's what brings people together and also it is a comedy account it's real hard to take like a personal comedy account and then transition into someone who like

talks about you know any sort of Hot Topic in a more serious way like I do think you could have two very different profiles that one you could do anything oh yeah and some people have done that and they're doing that yeah and I also think like when you you if you don't have a niche and your Niche is just you then you can do whatever you can do whatever you want AB then it doesn't matter like my channel not that we like go real hard on it but like any I can do anything on that channel it doesn't matter you can jump cuz but where the attention single one like we got to play the characters like they've all got to play their part

they've all got to do their things otherwise like you put anything in there that's more serious and people like what the [ __ ] is this [ __ ] yeah what are you guys doing get out of here it's not what we're here for I found that even like cuz my Niche very generally very very generally speaking it's comedy right but you know I'm a creative person and you know I did a masters in like I said before you know directing and in theater and writing that was part of what my masters was in I did one video this was a few years ago where I um it was just like it was a parody of of aristocrats and period films very Kieran nightly very like you know it

was you know the whole like um smoking going like you going to the party this evening yes you know it was all just like very very nuanced and very kind of and then people loved that so much that I made that into a series and then it almost kind of didn't become funny anymore it became more I mean it was funny but it became more serious and I started going like this is more of like a drama series I've made a my own period drama series and and like making it really really like dramatic and stuff and PE and again I'm like portraying women I'm not sh shaving my beard off portraying these like aristocratic women dealing with these very serious problems back in you

know 1800s and everyone's just like I want to know what happened like what happens next and they become so invested that I'm like I don't even know if what I'm doing is considered comedy anymore it's not even ComEd I mean yes it maybe it's a little bit funny but people are more inv in the actual drama of the series that I realiz you know and I and I use music and everything and costumes and and it becomes more of a production yeah and I love that as well but like sometimes I'm realizing that my niches can kind of shift as well that I'm doing these maybe because it's such a parody it's almost more engaging than it is funny it's more like a I want

to know what happens next cuz I've created these story lines yeah yeah I love it that's so good I'm tell me the last thing I'm going to ask you about is about actually making these Tik toks yeah so like you know you got to do a lot of dress up and a lot of there's a lot that goes into and acting how is it just you who makes them do you have helped people when you do them in terms of like post producing and production uh most of the time it's just me y um 20 to 25% of the time I have someone helping out and that's either my partner or my sister yeah and they will usually hold the the camera they'll hold the

phone and I'll do it or they'll give me different like my my partner he's a TV producer he works a lot with like media and he's got a huge understanding of like screen film techniques and that kind of thing so he'll be like the lighting's bad like let's do the lighting again or you know or do do you know they provide me direction my sister would be like no no no that's that's too dramatic do do it more subtle do it more so but I need that I need some of the direction cuz I can't see that myself so and quite often at times a video that I want to post up I will send to I have three older sisters I will send to

uh two of my sisters and be like what do you think what does it need more of and they'll be like yeah that's great send it up or they might be like oh don't post this like change this bit so I do get they they told me when I did my masters like as much as you like something you've got to have you've got to have other eyes on it you've got to have a third eye to actually see whether it's wor posting cuz I might have something that I think is so hilarious and then be like my sister be like I don't get it it's not funny do it again you know make it more dramatic make it more funnier make it more big

so yeah I I do have bit of a team around you yeah yeah I don't have like a manager per se or cuz I I've spoken to some other Tik tokers who actually have someone on their team that like they pay money to you know write out material and ideas and stuff for them I don't have anything um but I don't think I need to right now I'm kind of happy with with the process yeah I mean the idea is you give a TV show and then you have a whole team yeah yeah um but I um I I do have a collection of wigs and costumes I love it um yeah just to to yeah and I feel like once you actually put the

costume on and you put the wig on you get more of the characters well because more immersive like that you can be actually be the character and really like get sucked into it no it's great I love it it's you I mean you're obviously Pretty Natural well I don't know if it's natural or you're t or whatever it is but you're pretty good at this acting do you find it um difficult at all to get into character like or is it quite easy for you once you put on the outfit well again it's it's a lot of it like I said before is just improv I mean sometimes I'll have an idea and that's what I've noticed is that I have done videos where I

have a skit in mind and I will write stuff down in the form of a script and it doesn't do as well because it's not as natural all of the videos that I have that actually do quite well are ones that are where I'm just just making stuff up making stuff can you do one to the camera right now what would you like me to do I know give him a situation should I should I do a should I do a podcast yeah yeah typical person that comes on podcast for the first time the first time or like somebody okay host so like the typical hosts I'm not going to copy your like angle but it's like there's a lot of moving the um there's

a lot of moving the um the the mic around and um and you know like it's um it's just a real radical like sense of like acknowledgement like they feel like they they know so much about the universe like very esoteric and like man I just wanted to ask you like like how do you like right now like could you just tell me like seriously like how did you come up with this man I mean like cuz that's like so cool right like I love it I love it I love it it's so good it kind of reminds me of that guy um exit in his Tennessee accent what's his name the um well BR you you like them that comedian guy the like he

plays a redneck character Tennessee dude um what's his name again yeah what superwog n no no no he's American guy and he does podcast and he does this all the time and he's kind of like he's a little bit ADHD and he's just all over the place he's got like the messed up here spiky sort of goes everywhere and he often does it with that Korean guy who's Bobby uh you know the guy I'm talking about BR what's his name I don't remember his name no no so it's it's people no I'm going to do it again so it's people that like it's particularly men I have nothing against men men I am one of them but it's it's particularly like these these male podcasters

that feel like they know so much about and it's like it's like people that these people wanted to pursue a career in like public speaking you know like you have like you have like your whole life to make your own destiny right man like your whole Destiny like you like this is the thing that I'm saying you you have to be in charge of that but yourself no one else is going to do that for you love it you you are in charge of your own destiny it's that kind of thing where they talk out of their ass yeah got it got it got it yeah love it all right well BR that's been an hour thank you so much awesome that was fun thank

you that was fun thank you so much it's it's so exciting to hear that well actually my takeaways from this is that you bit the bullet and got an American well a North American agency which is awesome and I think that like for a lot of kiwi creators out there listening do the [ __ ] same there's more money um and let's be honest most New Zealand creators most the audiences are American every single one we talk to 30 40% of the audiences are so I think that's a good takeaway for people to do um also love the fact that I mean the show might not be an ink yet but you're working towards that being a goal and then finally uh we should do a followup

in New York yes like once we're both there at the same time that great we should definitely like does your partner do any Tik toks we should definitely go make Tik toks with there he no he doesn't do anything uh for the the actual Organization no but for himself no he doesn't used to do bits and Bobs but not not of him going like I'm doing this he doesn't do the whole we should convince him to pretend he's doing a segment for one news and then we'll just like randomly Rock up to him on the streets of New York just like what's up just like be real I'm really curious to see how that'll turn out like [ __ ] up get away from me I'm a

serious reporter all right thanks so much for coming on man thank you so much cheers