Best Frienemies

We pull apart Melbourne Fringe with equal parts affection and frustration while admitting we’re still a bit wobbly from the last episode. Culture feels splintered, audiences feel cautious, and we ask whether Fringe should be stranger while stand‑up finds its own lane.

• Melbourne Fringe as identity crisis point
• hypnosis shows, improv energy, and audience buy‑in
• culture reset after lockdowns and a lost zeitgeist
• competing with the past and novelty fatigue
• Warhammer ResinGate as a metaphor for diminishing returns
• MC choices, safety cues, and setting the room’s world
• stand‑up vs clown, music and theatre at Fringe
• letting Fringe be Fringe with clearer expectations
• honesty about fear, therapy energy, and stagecraft
• outdoor recording, nostalgia riffs, ads and video stores

Subscribe, tell a friend, and drop a comment: is Fringe in Melbourne better without stand‑up or stronger with it?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Cold Open, Hiatus Jitters
02:20 Fringe Festival Becomes The Topic
06:00 Words, Rubbish, Collingwood Rant
10:30 Hypnosis At Fringe And Improv Bias
13:45 Melbourne’s Fringe vs Comedy Identity
17:00 Culture Reset And Lost Zeitgeist
23:00 Competing With The Past, Tech Plateau
27:30 Warhammer ResinGate And Nostalgia Bits
31:40 Security Questions, Names, And Costs
36:40 What Audiences Want: Laughter vs Mission
41:30 MC Energy, Safety Cues, And Agency
46:00 Meta: Podcast, Park, And Validation

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WHAT?

JOEL LIFE COACHES SHARAM!?

What a wild ride.

In the last episode, Sharam Namdarian (who used to be a life coach) coached Joel Temperly, but in this episode, JOEL RETURNS THE FAVOUR (badly).

This episode also features Marc Oszhka because he walked in.

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

00:00 – Intro & chaotic start
01:12 – Sharam and Joel’s podcast history
04:25 – Comparing old podcast flings vs long-term commitment
07:10 – Who actually does the podcast work?
10:05 – Dirty Secrets comedy & “triangle of sadness” chat
13:30 – Movie talk: Triangle of Sadness & shapes banter
17:15 – The “Magnific 7” show idea
20:40 – Life coaching twist: who’s coaching who?
23:05 – Sharam’s stage name struggles
26:15 – Surprise guest: Marc Oszhka drops in
28:20 – Footy banter, beers, and panel shows
30:05 – Wrapping up & Shaz/Shazam stage name debate
31:00 – Outro

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WOAH.

Joel Temperly is known for getting mad.

Sharam Namdarian was a life coach.

Let's combine those two in a 45minute and 58 second video where Sharam empowers Joel into some actually quite insightful.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Intro & sarcastic welcome  

00:20 - Setting the scene: Melbourne, comedy audiences, and irony  

01:30 - Joel gets mad on stage?  

03:00 - Sharam's coaching pitch  

05:00 - Life coaching session begins  

07:10 - Joel's narrow ear canals  

08:40 - AI at the doctor's office  

10:00 - Comedy bombing and the knee pain  

12:50 - Tennis childhood trauma & comedy parallels  

16:00 - Anger and boundaries  

19:10 - Coming to terms with being awesome  

22:20 - Holding audiences through intensity  

25:00 - Raw Comedy feedback jokes  

26:20 - Final coaching takeaway  

27:30 - Russian girlfriend and Kossacks  

28:30 - Sharam's recent breakthrough  

30:00 - Tamagotchis, Dune, and the future of tech  

31:40 - Outro and episode title brainstorm  

TEXT FOR SEO

Sharam Namdarian and Joel Templey dive deep into the psychology of stand-up comedy in this episode of Best Friendmies. Recorded live at Dirty Secrets Comedy in Melbourne, this podcast explores comedy bombing, audience reactions, anger on stage, life coaching for comedians, narrow ear canals, tennis trauma, and how to handle tough gigs. Sharam brings his past experience as a life and relationship coach to dissect Joel’s comedy journey, creative frustrations, and breakthrough moments. If you’re a stand-up comedian, performer, or comedy fan, this episode offers raw insights into the emotional highs and lows of being funny for a living. Topics include Melbourne comedy scene, stand-up rage, Raw Comedy, bombing recovery, vulnerability on stage, coaching vs therapy, and comedic self-awareness.

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WOAH! So you're telling me you want Joel Temperly and Sharam Namdarian to tell you how to get a gig in comedy?

What japes, what jests.

Seriously though, it can be quite difficult. If you're NOT a comedian, you might find this insightful anyway. You're trying to get stuff going on, you're a hustler, lead into hustle culture by people trying to sell you things. Maybe you're somebody who's trying to break into a new scene in an age of the internet where everything is just a bit to hard because people are more socially inept than ever before.

FRET NOT gentle listener, for this is for you.

Let the BEST FRIENEMIES SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS! 

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Welcome to Best Frenemies (Outdoor Episode!)  
3:52 Craving Real-Life Experiences Again  
7:46 Avoiding the Thing Everyone’s Talking About  
11:38 Booking Gigs and the Comedy Hustle  
15:31 The Vibe of Where We're Filming  
19:24 Who is Cameron Muratore and why is he here?  
23:18 Supportive Friends vs Silent Judgers  
27:10 Bombing Stories and Lessons Learned  
31:03 Australian Comics Struggling Overseas  
34:57 Joel’s Imaginary Fans and Delusions  

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This is a POST Melbourne International Comedy Festival Catch up with Joel Temperly and Sharam Namdarian.

We talk Australian Politics, Aging, The pursuit of life and overall try and resolve our differences...

FOR WE ARE... BEST FRIENEMIES.....

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Sharam Namdarian is the producer of this podcast, so he can say what ever he wants about Joel Temperly. Joel sucks, he actually does. He comes from a long line of people that suck, and Sharam Namdarian, despite what ever Joel says, is very handsome and quite a nice guy.

In this episode of the BEST FRIENEMIES PODCAST we discuss Joel's tiny social media presence, Elon and the Trojan Horse and something about pretending babies are a meat.

What a wild ride you're about to embark on. 

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In this episode, Joel and Sharam have a chill and relaxing conversation about premises, the senses and the theory behind Thrill.

This podcast was MEANT to be an enrapturing debate where the two contenders battle it out to see if they are friends OR enemies, but instead this ended up being an extremely chill conversation about Trump, Trains and Thrill rides.

Get ready for an extremely wholesome catch up with your two favourite Melbourne Comedians.

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In this Episode, Comedian Joel Temperly gets help from Sharam Namdarian as Joel discusses everything that has been making him really mad in the comedy community for the last month.

Things get really serious as Sharam gives an insight into his life... a bit too serious for Joel's liking.

Will those two ever be friends or are they destined to be... best Frienemies...podcast.

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Sharam Namdarian and Joel Temperly discuss the Dollarmites, the Jones Town Murders nerdy stuff and more in this HOOK episode where we try and grab your attention with as many hooks as possible.

A HOOK is a phrase designed to get you listening/watching to a video. Sharam Namdarian is in social media marketing and hooks are a part of his job, so let's see if this makes Sharam and Joel better friends or will this make them even better Frienemies.

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Seriously, if you were super rich how quickly would you result to the weirdest forms of entertainment? If money wasn't an option?

Turns out... Joel Temperly and Sharam Namdarian decided it would NOT take them very long until they gathered people on an island and hunted them for sport.

In this episode Joel Temperly and Sharam Namdarian do their best to keep the conversation PC. We discuss diversity in comedy, weird stories and of course, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. 

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