LISTEN: Matt Okine on Being Black ‘n Chicken & Chips!

There aren’t many people who make being a talented stand-up comedian, actor, rapper and radio presenter look easy, but Matt Okine is one of them.

The popular one-time Triple J breakfast show co-host and writer/star of The Other Guy enjoyed incredible success with his stand-up routine Being Black ‘n Chicken & Shit, which earned him the Best Newcomer award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2012 and cemented his reputation as a comedian on the rise.

It might surprise you, then, to learn that turning that comedy routine into a written novel was something of a challenge for Matt.

“Everyone wants to have written something, but to actually be a writer is very difficult,” he says.

And yet, being a writer is something that seems so natural to Matt, as evidenced by his brilliant debut novel Being Black ‘n Chicken & Chips, a hilarious yet heartbreaking story about a kid on the cusp of adulthood who is dealing with his mother’s cancer diagnosis while trying to navigate high school, his athletic dreams and tricky first love.

It’s a book that’s as devastating as it is funny, and it grew out of Matt’s own experiences growing up as the son of a Ghanaian father and a mother who passed away from breast cancer when he was twelve. Matt worked on the novel for a year while raising his first kid and working on various other creative projects, determined to bring his story to life.

“I love having written something, but writing is hard work, and so taking on this book … it really came down to the fact that there was a story that I really wanted to tell,” he says. “I don’t think I could have written a book if I didn’t want to tell this story or if I couldn’t tell it the way that I wanted to tell it.”

This is really no surprise, given Matt’s writing process – he’s not the kind of writer who sits furiously typing in front of a computer all day. For Matt, the actual writing took place in the outside world, as he observed the people around him. He would spend entire days bussing around Sydney looking for inspiration, and spend hours in the sun at his local pool. Then, with his brain packed full of all of this golden material, he would go home to get the words out of his head and onto the page.

“I liken it to cleaning a room, you know what I mean?” says Matt. “You know what needs to get done, you know what needs to go where, but it’s not necessarily fun … but being in a clean room is awesome.”

While Being Black ‘n Chicken & Chips takes much of its material from Matt’s own life, it isn’t strictly a work of autofiction. Some of its characters live in Matt’s world, but the exact events of the book didn’t happen to him, making the novel more of a heartfelt reflection on an emotional idea.

“The moments I think resonate the best in the book for me personally are the ones that are closest to my life,” says Matt. “It’s not a documentary of my life or anything, it’s not real life, but it is honest and I wanted to capture the honesty. An honest portrayal of what it was like being a 12-year-old with a dying mum.”

Listen to our podcast with Matt Okine below and grab yourself a signed copy* of Being Black ‘n Chicken & Chips, which is out now.

*Available while stocks last.

Being Black 'n Chicken & Chips

by Matt Okine

A heartbreaking and often hilarious story about trying to grow up when everything is falling apart from one of Australia's leading comic talents.

Mike Amon is a regular teenager. All he wants is to fit in. He wants to sit at the cool bench. He wants to be a star athlete. He wants his first kiss.

He also wants his mum to survive...

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About the Contributor

Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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