Matt Okine Told Us Why He Left Triple J and Went Nude for His New Show, “The Other Guy”

Comedian, musician and former Triple J breakfast host Matt Okine is the creator and star of new Stan show, The Other Guy.

So, clearly, we had to put the most pressing question of all to him: Was it his choice to go bare-butt in the opening of its first episode?

“You write stuff, and you think, ‘Wouldn’t it be really funny for the characters to do that,’ but then, when you get to set you realise, ‘Oh s***, I actually have to do that now,’” he tells Student Edge.

Okine insists his nakedness (and that of the co-star in his bed) is justified, as it sets up the mystery at the heart of the season premiere: Who wet the mattress?

The question sets his character, A.J., on a sprawling mission to find the culprit, and purchase a cheeky replacement for his cheating ex, to whom the mattress actually belongs. And it’s all based on a true story, mined from his award-winning stand-up set of the same name.

That shot of Okine in the nuddy isn’t even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how revealing his new program gets, physically and emotionally.

But, understandably, we wanted to talk about the physical stuff first. 

“The very, very, very first scene that we shot of the whole thing was a scene in Episode Four where my character goes to the doctor to have his… like, he’s got something going on downstairs, and the doctor has to look at it,” he says.

“So, the very, very first day on set, I barely knew the crew and the first scene we had to film was me with my a*** out and this doctor, who I’ve also never met before, has their hand about five inches away from my bits. So, it was a little bit confronting.”

Yet Okine, who confesses to having “always written about whatever’s going on in my life,” was open to doing something confronting when he was approached to adapt The Other Guy for television.

Mild coarse language.

He says this is what he “got into the game to do,” even though he admits it was difficult to not keep turning himself into the hero of his own televised story.

“There are certain situations where I would turn in the script and my script producer, would be like: ‘Look, I know you want your character to win here, but you can’t. It’s not gonna work,’” he recalls.

“So, my character is constantly f***ing up and constantly embarrassing himself and constantly losing, and as the person who’s supposed to be playing that character, when you’re writing it you’re constantly like, ‘God dammit, can’t I have a win in this f***ing show?’”

Using his life as inspiration also meant being careful not to “demonise” the real people who (loosely) inspired the show’s other characters.

“I want to be able to tell a story and I want to be able to tell my story, but I don’t want to speak on behalf of anyone else,” he says.

“That’s why my radio co-host in the show, played by Michael Hing, is a gay Asian dude. And I know there’s going to be people watching it going, ‘What? Is [former Triple J breakfast co-host] Alex Dyson gay and Asian?’ No, he’s neither of those things. This is not supposed to be Alex Dyson. It’s supposed to be a completely different person.”

Though A.J. isn’t a comedian or a musician like his counterpart in reality, Okine took the opportunity with The Other Guy to show off the allure of his former radio gig, while also revealing why he walked away at the end of 2016.

“Any job you do can be quite repetitive, eventually,” he says.

“That’s one of the reasons why I left the radio, because Triple J was amazing and it was great to connect with that many people all around Australia, every single morning, but you find yourself eventually coming around and doing the same sort of things every sort of week. It turns into a little bit of a cycle.

“We were so happy with where things were at, at that stage, I just didn’t want to spoil it, you know? I didn’t want to spoil the good memories and the feelings I had about it. You gotta leave while everything’s going well.”

That doesn’t mean he wants to wrap up The Other Guy anytime soon.

“I really, really would love to make more seasons of this,” he says.

“I think we’re really just starting to uncover the cogs that make the characters tick, and certainly where we leave it in Episode Six, I think you’re gonna want to see more from these people and their weird silly lives.”

Not to mention their body parts.

“I haven’t done full frontal comedy yet, so that’s what I’m teasing for Season Two,” he laughs.

Season One of The Other Guy is now streaming on Stan. Matt’s bringing his latest stand-up tour, We Made You, back to The Tivoli in Brisbane on December 7, The Athenaeum in Melbourne on December 8 and The Enmore in Sydney on December 9. Get your tix through ticketmaster.com.au and ticketek.com.au

Photo: Stan