“Everyone’s in their own heads. No-one’s thinking about you at all. You might have a bad set and you can shake it off. You can think ‘Well, no-one’s going to be thinking about this tomorrow. I’m going to be thinking about it more than they are.’

p.s. If any kid is reading this – learn how to edit video.”

In 2004 Josh burst onto the professional scene at the Hobart Comedy Festival, performing his uniquely Tasmanian songs ‘Tassie Two Step,’ ‘Video City of Love’ and ‘Tamara’ about a girl he went to Brooklyn Primary with. He was like Jonothan Richman meets Darren Hanlon – charming and witty – not someone you would want to follow in a lineup.

Exclusive promotional photo of Josh as treasurer of the Hellyer College SRC, 1998 - doing his best Mike Moore from Frontline.

Twenty years later the former Greenacre Street resident continues to kick goals as a successful podcast host and writer for The Project. Josh Earl puts the hours in.

After graduating from performing arts, Josh found himself in a holding pattern. When his friends started a weekly improvised show at a pub, he began performing his original comedy songs. In 2003 he was asked to support Rod Quantock at the uni.

“Rod said at the end of the show ‘if you are serious about doing comedy, you should move to Melbourne.’”

In 2010 he put the icing on the cake with Josh Earl v The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. It was a rollicking ‘Facebook forum’ of a show packed with childhood nostalgia. Josh toured it nationally, clocking up nearly two hundred performances in two years. Forget women’s underwear - he was regularly presented with his very own ‘train cake’ since he’d sung about not getting one on the Melbourne Comedy Festival’s Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow.

“They were not coming to see me, they were coming to see the cakes.”