Richmond comic in TV's 'most terrifying zoom call'

American-Australian Mike Goldstein, a regular panellist on Andy Lee's comedy show The Hundred, has a bent for uncomfortable humour and a love of Richmond's live music, bars and cafes. JENNY DENTON reports

For a while Mike Goldstein's standup was informed by "being an American in Australia".

The Richmond-based comedian, who hails from North America's Midwest - "born in Denver, Colorado, and grew up in Kansas" - built his career in Australia.

"But now I've been here for so long that my sensibility is probably more Aussie than American at this point," the 41-year-old says.

Adding another ingredient to the interesting mix of his cultural background, which includes Sri Lankan and Jewish heritage, he has now become an Australian citizen.

Still, his non-native origins give him a relatively fresh eye on local phenomena - like the Queensland capital's nickname "Brisvegas" - "I think Brisghanistan is a better name for that place" - or how laid back Perth is - "I almost got mugged the other day but the guy was too lazy to go through with it".

Goldstein is currently filming the third season of The Hundred with Andy Lee, which premieres on Channel Nine next Tuesday. He describes it as "the most terrifying zoom call of all time".

Part celebrity quiz, part talk show, the program Lee developed with Nine, which premiered in August last year, involves a panel of three comedians guessing the answers to questions about the thoughts and lives of 100 "everyday Australians", who are live-polled online.

If you haven't seen it, imagine a celebrity competitor format along the lines of Have You Been Paying Attention with a human interest focus and a community choir-sized assembly of participants providing the talking points and taking turns to solo about their lives on a giant screen.

With the 100 guests selected to provide a slice of the demographic makeup of Australia, the show promises to reveal "what the nation is really thinking".

In the final episode of season two, for example, viewers learn that 77 of the 100 think Shapelle Corby was guilty of the crimes she was charged with in Bali and 21 have tried to grow marijuana.

Another 21 per cent have streaked in public, and the audience is treated to the details from one of them - a woman who stripped naked and rode her horse around a campfire to liven up a boring party.

"Some of the fascinating stories we've got out of people!" Goldstein says. "And some of the stuff they're willing to share."

There are also more garden-variety statistics.

"Actually, half of the people out of the 100 had never had COVID. That was fascinating. I guess they stayed inside a lot."

Then there are segments where panellists have to guess things about one of the 100 - like the celebrity they are said to look like or that one of them has kissed - which heighten a kind of parlour-game feel to the show.

The participants' life experiences don't always lend themselves to comedy, but with its curiosity factor, changing panel of comedians - Goldstein is the constant - and the warm stewardship of Lee, the show has been rating well, attracting just shy of half a million viewers at the end of the second season in March.

Away from The Hundred, Goldstein has a busy stand-up career, with gigs four or five nights a week.

He has toured in Australia and internationally, opening for some big names, including American comic Doug Stanhope and Irishman Tommy Tiernan.

"Stand-up is a very different beast," Goldstein says. "You're in nightclubs performing to drunks and you can say really, kind of open rein, whatever you want.

"Network TV's a little more restrictive but it's been a good challenge to try to write for that area of things."

His humour, he says, has no particular style or theme, "just the dumb things I think are funny" and a motivation of "pure spite".

On the wall of his apartment are framed drawings of comedians Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Colbert and "these bizarre kind of anti-comedy characters" Dr Steve Brule (created by John C. Reilly) and 'Spagett' (played by Tim Heidecker of US comedy duo Tim and Eric).

"Just very kind of culty, obscure comedy stuff".

Goldstein likes David's Curb Your Enthusiasm and is a big fan of Canadian parody show comedian Nathan Fielder.

"He has a show called Nathan for You and a new one called The Rehearsal, which is super uncomfortable, like, cringe comedy, but yeah, I enjoy other people's pain!"

Awkwardness is the natural territory of long-running podcast The Phone Hacks, which Goldstein produces with comedian Nick Capper.

It involves the two presenters and a guest turning their phones over to each other for examination, riffing on the results and agreeing to make inappropriate social media posts.

"The juiciest stuff is in just Google search history and the camera rolls usually," he says.

"So yeah, it's an invasion of privacy but it's good fun."

The show has welcomed an extensive lineup of local comedians over its 250 episodes - among them Dave O'Neill, Dave Hughes, Melanie Bracewell and Becky Lucas.

"Dave O'Neill announced that he was going to be on the next

season of The Biggest Loser. "Melanie Bracewell announced she was going to be on Married at First Sight as a contestant.

"So basically we just disappoint the family and friends of comics we respect."

Goldstein met Andy Lee two years ago when Capper invited him onto "the pod" for a faux confrontation about a tweet concerning the celebrity's infinity pool.

"The lesson is troll people online," he says. "Because it will lead to opportunities."

He and Lee are now friends and play a lot of tennis together.

"He's never beat me. I feel like I should let him win one or two."

Growing up in Kansas, Goldstein "obsessively watched" American comedians like Chris Rock, Dave Attell and Greg Giraldo.

His first big comic performance was at his sister's wedding.

"I gave a speech and I crushed!" he says, laughing. "It went well, and I was like, 'Oh, yeah, there's something here'."

After that he "made the transition" into open mic comedy.

"I think Steve Martin put it best. He said standup is 'the ego's last stand' because you really put your self esteem on the line every night. You learn to wear your losses.

"Writing jokes is a trial and error thing and there's so many variables with stand-up, but it keeps it interesting."

Goldstein first arrived in Sydney in 2005 after heading off travelling "straight out of high school", and spending time in London, where he stayed with his sister and worked as a bartender.

In the Emerald City he met a girl from Perth and went west for a while.

When the relationship "fell apart" he ended up back in the States, where he decided "Australia's kind of better than America, lifestyle wise".

He had returned to Australia but was visiting New York in "2012 or 2013" when he hooked up with his Australian partner, Shannon Toyne, who was living there at the time.

Toyne, who he says, is "probably funnier than me", works for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

The couple lived in Balaclava for a while and moved to Richmond in 2020.

They love the Corner Hotel and the huge variety of pubs and cafes.

The location also puts Goldstein close to a range of comedy clubs - the Basement, Cooper's Inn, Comics Lounge and Catfish.

"So there's plenty of gigs."

But with his career now branching into television and taking the comedian to such unfamiliar places as The Logies, these days if he isn't working he welcomes the chance to spend a night in with the cats.