Comedian Nick Cody: What’s all the fuss about parenting?

Radio star comedian Nick Cody has just become a father, and he can’t see what all the fuss is about — parents just need to remember who’s in charge.

Hoppers Crossing’s favourite son is back and watch out folks — he is now a parent and can’t see what all the fuss is about.

Comedian Nick Cody thinks adults should remember who’s in charge. And keep it simple.

“The baby has come to us, not the other way around,” says the comedian known equally for his ginger beard and laid-back larrikin take on the everyday topics people tend to over-complicate.

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“Some people seem to think they’re living in the baby’s world, but it’s come here.”

Grinning that “living a pretty loose life” has left him well prepared for fatherhood, Cody says not too much comes as a shock after the capers he and his mates got up to.

Cody and wife Lucia Smyrk, an actor and assistant director, got in “responsibility practice” with “bogan” dog Yumi (a staffy named after a brand of dips), described by the funnyman as “a hurricane made out of bricks”.

“We adopted a dog and four days later found out Lucia was pregnant,” says Cody, a proud “Westie”.

“So I went from cleaning up no poo to about 35 poos a day; it’s all that I see.”

Nick Cody says growing up in Melbourne’s west left him well prepared for fatherhood.

Jokes aside, there’s no hiding the fact the popular comedian is chuffed with son Charlie (“the best little dude”), even while bemused by the hoo-ha.

He says there’s no signs yet that Charlie will be a “ranga” like Dad.

“He’s bald on the top with a thick black mullet — he’s come out balding, which is weird.”

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With his other new gig a job on early morning radio on Triple M Brisbane’s The Big Breakfast (taking up the spot left vacant by Lawrence ‘Moonman’ Mooney), he admits Lucia is doing the heavy lifting — especially as he travels to Brisbane each week, returning to Melbourne for weekends.

“I’m up and out of the house early for breakfast radio, and out again doing gigs at night, she loves it,” he jokes.

And in response to those friends who tell the comic to nap when the baby is sleeping, he says he would, “but I’m not a baby, I’m not trying to grow a brain and skull, and I’ve got s--- to do!”.

NICK CODY’S RISE TO GLOBAL FAME

Cutting his early comedic teeth in Melbourne’s western suburbs where his parents (and nearly everyone) “were loose units”, Cody says making fun of people was a constant and it was sink or swim in the game of verbal warfare.

He mastered the art form early and doing stand-up was the only thing he wanted to do, despite short stints as a bartender, a nanny and in door-to-door sales (one can only imagine his sales patter). It’s a gamble that’s paying off.

As well as playing to comedy festivals across the world, he’s entertained Australian troops in global hot spots including Afghanistan and has had stints on TV shows including Talkin’ About Your Generation, Hughsey, We Have A Problem, The Project and others.

He describes appearing on Conan O’Brien’s influential late-night talk show as “an insane experience”, and was only the fourth Aussie comedian to ever receive an invite after being spotted by a talent scout at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016.

“I was a bit nervous to begin with, but I settled into it. I just wanted it to go well, I’m not doing stand-up for people to have a s--- time,” he laughs.

Nick Cody flies to Brisbane every week his breakfast show on Triple M.

Both sweary and self-deprecating, Cody’s subject matter is varied, with a lot of it autobiographical.

“I mine my own life, it’s all the stuff around me, and things that annoy me,” he says.

“What’s hard is that you have all of this material and over 70 or 80 tour dates you tighten the hour, only to get to the end of the year and tape it for a special and then go back to zero.”

His life has thrown the funniest moments up out of the blue.

He cites the time he was hired to do a stand-up gig at car dealership, only to discover at the last moment the audience was full of kids — which put the kybosh on most of his material “not known for its lack of sexual references or swearing”.

“It was just brutal,” he recalls. “I was going to Afghanistan the next day and thought, ‘I can’t wait to get to Kabul’, which is pretty weird.”

Of all the subjects he’ll cover in Old Mate at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, one suspects parenthood will be right up there, with his plea to adults to “just adult” and not be soft losers.

“I was once told when I became a father everything would change,” he says.

“Nope — beer is still delicious and I’m still a d----head.”

NICK CODY ON …

‘SOFT’ PARENTING:

• “A big chunk of parenting is easy if you’ve lived a pretty loose life; it’s not the first time I’ve seen someone s--- themselves.”
• “My grandfather used to make me roll his cigarettes when I was six — there’s a lost skill.”
• “My wife keeps catching me putting peanut butter on my mouth then giving Charlie kisses. I’m confident. My people are hardy, we live until we’re 100, or we die when we’re 54. There are not many Cody’s who are 70.”

THE FIRST FEW WEEKS OF PARENTING:

• “I’ve never eaten so much lasagne in a six-week window in my whole life. Lovely friends and relos dropping off food. They’re dropping off food as if I’m carb loading for a 100-mile ultra-marathon. They’re like, `Man you know what you need? Calories. You know why? Because you’re sleeping in two-hour increments and taking anywhere between six to 12 steps a day’. That’s all you do for the first few weeks, f--- all steps.”

BECOMING A FATHER:

• “The downside to having a baby is that now I’ve been bumped down to ‘Third Best Looking Person In The House’.”
• “A lot of people think their baby is the best. That’s nice. But incorrect. Mine is the best. Objectively.”

WHY PLANES ARE THE BIGGEST SOURCE OF HIS RAGE:

• “You should have to pass a simple quiz to be a passenger on a plane. I’ve had enough. I fly 90 to 100 times a year and there are some people doing some outlandish, horrendous stuff on planes.
• “First of all, should you take your shoes off if you go to the bathroom on a plane? No. Don’t be an animal. If you’re barefoot on a plane, you’re a savage.”
• “If you’re a grown adult watching a movie on the iPad with no headphones, you should be tasered. A few weeks ago an adult man, in his 50s, was watching a movie at full volume with no headphones. F--- that. If you’re a teenager on the Werribee line playing music out loud on your phone I get it, but not an adult watching a movie on a plane.”
• “A lady bought on three boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on my flight from Brisbane to Melbourne. From a city that’s got Krispy Kremes to another city that has Krispy Kremes, and taking up space in the overhead locker. It’s well known a plane is a tube of dirty air, sneezes and farts. Why the f--- would you?”

Nick Cody, Old Mate, March 28-April 21, ACMI — Beyond.