Last Sunday, comedians John Oliver and Seth Meyers gave a rare performance together in New York City. As hosts of their own late night comedy television programs, Oliver and Meyers drew quite the crowd, with some waiting eagerly at the stage door after the performance to meet the pair.
One of those fans was Mia Freeland, a 19-year-old aspiring comedian from Sydney.
Freeland has already made her mark on the comedy scene in Australia, winning an award for best performance at the Masters Grand Final, a humorous debating competition at the World University Debating Championships last week.
Now, she told Women’s Agenda from her relatives’ home in Utah, USA, her dream is to work alongside the likes of Oliver, Meyers and other international comedians in what is a very male-dominated industry.
Where it began
It all started about four years ago, when Freeland was 15 years old. She had always been interested in film and television, but it was around this time where she “went down the rabbit hole” of comedy.
“I’ve always really liked comedy,” Freeland said. “I used to always watch shows like Have You Been Paying Attention? with my dad.”
“But then I really go into old Saturday Night Live (SNL) videos on YouTube, like the Amy Poehler era.”
Comedian Amy Poehler was one of Freeland’s first role models in comedy. Suddenly, the only thing Freeland wanted to do with her time was watch old YouTube video replays of US late night comedy shows.
Instead of studying for school, Freeland would study the comedy sketches on SNL. Instead of catching up with friends, she would catch up on late night comedy TV replays.
“I just got super invested in it,” Freeland said.
“It’s such an interesting thing. They’re funny, but they’re also political – I think the collision of those two ideas was very interesting to me and it got me kind of more and more into it.”
Year 10 Drama was her first stint at stand-up. Her drama teacher gave the class an end-of-year assignment to write and perform a stand-up comedy bit. All those YouTube videos Freeland had watched – all that time and devotion to SNL – had finally come in use at school.
“I really, really, enjoyed it – it was the first time I got really into an assignment,” she said.
“Some people want academic validation, and that’s great, but comedic validation… people laughing… that’s my jam.”
A male-dominated industry
Comedy is a very male-heavy industry, both in the writers’ room and the comedians themselves. A study in 2018 found just 11 per cent of comedy TV series were written by women. It’s the same disparity for stand-up comedians – 89 per cent in the US are male.
Diversity in general in comedy is certainly something that is lacking. More than half of stand-up comedians are white, and the average age for a stand-up comedian is 38.
As a student at the University of Sydney, studying Arts, Advanced Studies and Film Studies, Freeland is determined yet nervous to make her mark in the Sydney comedy scene.
“I’m yet to do stand-up in Sydney because I’m really intimidated by it,” Freeland said.
“But my New Year’s resolution is I need to get into that, but it’s quite scary – people who do stand-up are more like 35-year-old men, which is quite an intimidating atmosphere to go into.”
Women in comedy are slowly changing the industry. At the Emmy awards last week, two women of colour – Quinta Brunson and Ayo Edebiri – won both comedy acting awards for the first time in Emmy history.
“I think Amy Poehler really change the entire environment when she was on SNL,” Freeland said. “I think she’s pretty awesome. But there are definitely some more steps to take, places to go with the industry.”
World Champs in Comedy
While stand-up comedy in Sydney was a bit daunting for Freeland, she came across an opportunity through the USYD Debating Society that seemed like a good stepping stone for her future ventures in comedy.
Freeland found out the World University Debating Competition (WUDC) was going to be held in Vietnam in January 2024. The WUDC is the world’s largest debating tournament, and one of the largest annual international student events held globally.
As a member of the Debating Society, Freeland signed up to join the team that would represent the University of Sydney in Vietnam. Her team, which she adjudicated for, made it to the grand final of the competition, a huge feat for USYD.
Although she didn’t debate with the team, the adjudicators had the opportunity to participate in the Masters, a humorous debating tournament where all the conventional rules of debating are tossed out the window. This competition had one criteria: who was the funniest?
The topic the speakers had to “debate” on in a comedic way was: Who would be better to date: Donald Trump or Joe Biden?
Freeland, alongside her debating partner, were assigned to argue that Trump would be better to date.
“I was quite thankful for (that topic) because there are probably better arguments – or at least more outrageous arguments,” she said.
After what would have been a pretty… extraordinary “debate”, Freeland was awarded the Charles Kennedy Award for the best performance in the Masters Grand Final at the WUDC.
“I was really grateful to be able to receive the award,” she said.
“I think it will give me some confidence. Maybe it’ll inspire me this year, you know? Take some steps to do some stand up – just see where it takes me.
“I really want to get into stand-up comedy. I like the immediate response you get from the audience. I like the challenge of writing jokes based on personal experience, but also more political stuff.”
‘I was so happy.’
Freeland is only 19 and is in the early on in her comedy career. But she already has some career pathways she is considering.
One of her dream job ideas is working as a writer for SNL.
“If I could do some writing there, literally my whole life would be complete,” she said.
Last week, Freeland’s love and obsession with SNL and late night comedy took her all the way to New York City to watch a joint performance with Seth Meyers and John Oliver, two high-profile comedians in the late night comedy scene in the US.
After the show, Freeland waited outside the stage door to meet her role models.
“I don’t normally (do that) because I’m a bit shy,” Freeland said, “but I went to the stage door. It was freezing, like -3 degrees, and I waited.
“And then I met John Oliver and had a full five-minute conversation with him… oh my god, I was so happy.”
Freeland’s dad, who was with her at the time, filmed the whole conversation.
“On the flight from New York to Utah, dad asked if I had any movies downloaded – I didn’t need any movies. I just watched that video the entire flight,” she said.