Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

I'm at my Mum's place in Adelaide after travelling from Melbourne to Perth to Adelaide to Cairns and back to Adelaide since Friday. I'm tired, but I escaped the hurricane, and by the slimmest of mercies, will not have to learn the rules to Monopoly Deal while stuck in Far North Queensland with no power this week. Big result for me, actually.

I found a t-shirt at an op shop near my place yesterday with 'Keltic Falcon Rope Access Experts' on the back, and a sick logo on the front. Aside from dealing with difficult moments in friendship and romance, and slowly figuring out the opening 12-15 minutes of my new show, the podcast this week is mainly about the shirt. Big up the Keltic Falcon!! Squarrrrrrr

Yesterday I spent a couple hours of my afternoon at the piano figuring out some jazz harmonies for the melody to 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and it was probably the happiest I've felt all week. Although actually, I was pretty happy when I ate the sandwich I had for lunch on Saturday. And then also actually same goes for the sandwich on Sunday, and when I saw G Love and Special Sauce play at The...

Headspace Andy used to say that when you notice a thought the way to acknowledge it was like placing a feather on the surface of a bubble - what a fuckwit. Something's got me in a bad mood apparently, or maybe I'm just a little stressed? Who knows, I'm feeling pretty good to be honest. Started taking my keyboard to gigs this week, had a very passive-aggressive interaction with the guy at the shop...

I feel so happy with every aspect of my life at the moment. What a wonderful thing to be able to say! This morning I drafted an email to the wheelchair guy that I've been talking about for the last few weeks. I'm going to send it to my friend and see if he'll pass it on, then once I do that, it's out of my hands. 

I'm reading a book called '4000 Weeks', about how we are all in denial about the fact that we are going to die. Once we accept that fact, and the subsequent fact that we will never be able to fit even a fraction of the things we want to do into our painfully brief lives, then we can finally get down to the business of making decisions about exactly which things we want to do. We can stop living fo...

What's that, you reckon there's no way I could possibly still be talking about this story? Wrong. I've been telling it all week on stage, I think I'm going to make it the end of my new show, and I also have a plan to contact the guy it happened to and talk to him about it. I spoke about that, and a bunch of other irrelevant bullshit on the pod today. Still feeling pretty damn good if I'm honest, w...

I'm really enjoying taking things slowly. I'm planning to start a monthly show somewhere in Melbourne, and my dream spot would be Panenka cafe in Abbotsford, but rather than pitch them a show in a few weeks or a month and rush into the thing, I'm going to pitch them something in January. I'm going to give myself heaps of time to get promotional stuff ready, spread the word, build some hype, and de...

If you've been listening the last few weeks, you'll have noticed that I've been obsessed with this story that was told to me a few weeks ago about a wheelchair. As I spoke about it on the pod, I realised that I've never really had a conversation with someone who is in a wheelchair about what that's like, so I thought I'd get my friend and great comic Oliver Hunter on to do just that. I really enjo...

I did a great interview on Sunday with Oliver Hunter, a great comic and friend - that will be out as a bonus episode probably tomorrow. I am still talking about this story with the guy in the wheelchair, and I've been thinking about how stories generally end up getting repeated. There are some stories - the kind of urban legend type - that just speak to something in us, and so they end up taking o...

I've been listening to this podcast about Bach where this guy who is obsessed with Bach breaks down his music and tries, in a very obsessive way, to help people understand the genius of the music. It's really cool, so I've been thinking I might take mushrooms and listen to a bunch of it one night while I sit in my room and do my jigsaw. Sounds pretty cool hey? No joke, genuinely, yes.

Someone told me a story the other day that was both hilarious and very sad. I dunno, there's a lot to say about it, and I feel like I only said some of it on here. I went to a phenomenal house party on Saturday night, told some people the story and then got stuck in a long conversation about morality. Anyway, the party was sick, and so was having friends round my house today for lunch. I'm absolut...

I'm really happy at the moment. I've managed to strip my life back to just the essentials of working to earn money, and doing comedy to find fulfilment. The rest of my time is for whatever I want, and I'm filling it with some great stuff. I went to the NGV on Friday, bought a jigsaw puzzle of my favourite artwork from the exhibition, then on Saturday night I sat at home and started the puzzle whil...

For the last 3-4 years I've had a list on my wall of long-term goals in my life. This week after cleaning my room, I took it down, and went through it on the podcast to reassess which things I want to keep and which things I want to alter. I also spoke about ways to deal with the fact that I yawn a lot on the podcast and how to handle that issue without resorting to the dreaded work of editing.

I'm home! I landed in Melbourne on Saturday morning, and in the last few days I've done a few gigs, had my first piano lesson in 15 years, and started back at my old removals job. I'm also back on the dating apps, and the other day I saw something on a profile that perfectly captured the hopelessness of dating. It's hilarious, its awful, and I absolutely have to share it with you.

Four years after first meeting my biological father, and with a lot of therapy and reflection behind me, I'm back with him in Vienna. I felt like I had some things to say to him, so this week I put them down on paper, and with the help of some friends, translated them into Spanish, then this morning I sat him down and said them to him. Also on Sunday night I went with a bunch of other comics and a...

I recorded this episode of the podcast in Glasgow Airport while waiting for my flight to Paris. The Fringe is over for another year, and after taking mushrooms on the last night I feel clarity about what I want to do. I'm going to spend the next two years putting everything I have into a show that combines classical piano and stand up comedy, then I'm going to take it to Edinburgh, and move to the...

I think I've found an ending to my new show! The show as a whole is coming along really well, and I'm super excited about it. The Fringe is exhausting and sublime as always, and I'm enjoying the last week despite how depleted I feel all the time. Less than three weeks and I'll be back home in Melbourne, and I'm ready for it.

Today is (or at least, the 15th was) my 12-year comedy anniversary! Last year I forgot to celebrate it on the pod, but this year I remembered! And in doing so, I forgot the fact that this was the 300th episode of Sitting Under A Tree!! Isn't that mental ahahaha... I've been doing this podcast for 300 episodes, and almost six years! Thanks to all of you who listen, I genuinely love it.

Week one of the Edinburgh Fringe and man, this is it, I love it. Saturday I had maybe the perfect day at the Fringe! The new show is going amazingly, I think I have a title for it finally, and I crossed a very special item off my list the other day. I'm making money and seeing shows and hanging out and it's all just going really well quite frankly.

The phrase, 'worst podcast ever' gets thrown around a lot, but rarely has it been more sincerely applicable than this week's offering. Truly a horrific listen, made worse by the knowledge that the Edinburgh Fringe is starting in two days, so for the first week of shows, when I tell people to listen to my podcast, this will be what they hear. To all new listeners I say welcome! If you make it to th...

I just made probably the worst cup of tea I've ever had in my life, then forced it down over the course of this podcast. Had a wonderful week on Ikaria in Greece to watch my friend's get married, made new friends and caught up with old ones, and relaxed in a way I don't think I ever have before. I don't really know what I'm doing with my life right now to be honest. Just living it I guess... god t...

I've been on Ikaria since Saturday. The wedding is tomorrow, and I have my suit. I'm feeling good, I'm learning Greek, I'm working on the new show but I haven't performed stand-up for almost three weeks! Mental. I feel pretty happy, but am also acknowledging the moments and ways in which I feel sad. It's all good stuff to be honest, and last night at the Panigyri me and my boy Hugo did some of the...

I've spent the last week in Athens exploring the city, learning about the Ancient Greeks, and meeting some wonderful people. My heart and mind feel so open, and although I'm still feeling sad about the breakup, I know I'm moving in the right direction with that too. I'm in Chalcis right now, and once I upload this ep I'm going to go for a walk along the beach, grab some food and go for a swim. Not...

I've spent a wonderful week in Reykjavik at the Fringe seeing shows, exploring the country, and containing endless rage and fear about my still-missing bags. It's been a week. A fucking week for fuck's sake. I'm losing my mind, this is absolute torture. Iceland is a beautiful country.