Tour Diary: Australia, Beers & Chris Hemsworth.

Key Takeaway

The only reason to win the game is to be free of it. Most ambitious people chase achievement after achievement, constantly moving the goalposts on what success looks like. But true wisdom lies in understanding that the purpose of winning isn't to validate yourself—it's to liberate yourself from the need to keep playing. Achieve your goals not to prove something, but to reach a place where external validation no longer controls you. The ultimate victory is freedom from the game itself.

Episode Overview

Chris Williamson documents his Australian and New Zealand tour, sharing behind-the-scenes insights from performing his live show across multiple cities. Throughout the journey, he refines his performance, wrestles with self-doubt despite massive success, and explores themes of masculine identity, emotional connection, goal-setting, and the paradox of achievement.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Tour Diary: Australia, Beers & Chris Hemsworth. from Modern Wisdom. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

The only reason, the only reason to win the game is to be free of it. Sorry James, I remember my first helicopter. helicopter. helicopter. Three shows in three cities in four days. days. days. I'm still working the show out. Then we get to see Chris Hemsworth. Tour life is hard, man. Tour life is very hard. And right then, as you can see, 7:30 was the meet time. Got an airport to get to, talk to Vian, no Dean, no Alex, no Chris. But, just says they don't care.

Stop it. Stop it. I want to see that. This is lovely. Adelaide's nice. Adelaide, I'm inside of you. Adelaide has more restaurants per capita than any other Australian city. I do not know what to do with my hands. Uh I just think we are neutronic-less today, which is a fantastic use case for the focus pouches. Arrived in Adelaide with no neutronic. What have you done? Changed Changed a lot. Changed a lot tonight. Just wanting to see if this works better. Similar show, different order, new stuff in, old stuff out.

Might as well do it in front of a thousand people. Why not, you know? Makes total sense. What's that? Every time you do an event, you get a feel for stuff that you're like, "Oh, that did better than I thought." Or "That did worse than I thought." So, you're you're always just course correcting. There's a principle that is the nucleus to Chris's live show. And it's a principle that will stay with people for a long time. Is the principle you? No, no, no. For me, I just come out softening the crowd up.

Give people a laugh. You do soften everybody in the Look, people have people have spent a bit of money to come see Chris. They get their money's worth before he's come out. THAT'S ALL I'M SAYING. WE GOT THREE SHOWS in three cities in four days. We've got travel days in between each of them. Then we get to see Chris Hemsworth. Chris Hemsworth. Chris Hemsworth. So, the show's changed again from first two nights. This is the third night. So, from a production standpoint, we just need to make sure that we are in the right place at the right time.

What we capture tonight is a different format. So, it's like starting again. It's a It's an age-old question, right? Like, how much am I supposed to burn the candle at both ends versus kind of optimize for longer term. But, I do think that you can do both. I think that you can swing not from like absolute hedonism, right? You don't need to be James Smith 2016. Yeah. But, you can do Okay, I'm going to say yes to more adventures. All of the adventuring and the things that you're going to do, they don't necessarily need to be bad for your health, right?

Like, you can do things that actually make you feel more regulated and expand your ability to enjoy life. If nothing else, you won't regret the break because it will teach you the very important lesson of what it's like to not always be working. By the way, this is the first time tonight is a completely new show. The same lessons, the same central thesis, but a completely new show to the one I've done for the last two nights. So, you guys will get to see something fresh.

I'm the [ __ ] poster child for self-doubt. self-doubt. self-doubt. I'm just chronically uncertain. Am I doing this right? Is this correct? Do people care? Should I keep going? Should people pursue a goal which is probably beyond their reach? I mean, does that aim for the stars and if you miss you land on the moon thing? I get the sense that if you constantly try and live in what's called the gap, not the gain, like how far you are from where you want to be as opposed to how far you have come, I don't think that it's the optimal way to motivate yourself.

yourself. yourself. So, So, So, when it comes to should we set goals that are greater than those that we can achieve? You can do it for a while, eventually you'll run out of gas. You will know, oh [ __ ] this isn't motivating me to go and do the thing anymore. Yes, it's setting my sights unbelievably high, unbelievably high, unbelievably high, but at least in my experience, my friends that have set their sights at a level where they actually allow themselves to [ __ ] celebrate when it happens, their motivation keeps on going.

Right, you can posit an ideal. You compare yourself to the ideal. You find yourself lacking. Then you get to the ideal. And you [ __ ] move it again. That is not the way that you motivate yourself. Yes, it's how you get from this lamp post to that lamp post to the next one when you're running a marathon, but if you only had a sports coach that identified when you [ __ ] up, I don't think that you'd be particularly motivated. I don't think that this is the way that goals should work either.

So, can you set unrealistic, insanely high goals? Yes, you can. But eventually, you're going to have to feel like you arrive, or else you're just permanently going to be living in sort of sort of sort of successful misery. successful misery. successful misery. And that doesn't sound very fun. So, I'd advise against it. All right, Adelaide, thank you so [ __ ] much for tonight. You guys absolutely rule. I love you all. It's the first time I've been here and I can't wait to come back. For me and James good night.

Yeah, a lot of changes, obviously, um from last night to tonight. Did you prefer the this time? Difficult to say. I definitely I think the start is nice. And the end, if I cut a little bit, is nice. nice. nice. Because there's a little bit more It's a bit more uplifting. I think what I need to do is just throw some more [ __ ] videos throughout. Like a silvery sun wood series. All right. I think I've got it. Think I've worked out what I need to change.

All right, we've landed in Perth. We have 18 hours here. Tail lights hard, man. Tail lights is very hard. There's a mango daiquiri or a pina colada. Well, well, well, well, well. Now we're starting a party. Okay. I don't you know what? I'm too sexy and I'm already feeling like I'm going to have a little gamble. We need eight more immediately, as fast as possible. as possible. as possible. Oh, yeah. Cheers. How are we? [ __ ] me, this is really you really have to Mate, two two hey hey hey one two three [clears throat] four five six.

So, what's this channel called comedy without errors? And in it, he talks about Mike Craft and this big bit this whole video that he does about Mike Craft. He talks about the more relaxed you hold the mic the more relaxed you are as a performer. I noticed last night there was a point where I was [ __ ] death gripping this thing. It's like, hey hey hey. Why don't we calm down? And then we can Yep, exactly. Going to Texas by Big Texan. What? You can't tell me that.

This this is [ __ ] dialed. Dialed. Dialed. Dialed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What about Gondo? Unreal. Did I encounter much self doubt? And what did I do to get over it? Yes. There's this idea from Mark Manson called identity dysmorphia. I I named it. He came up with it. I named it. Which is which is the important bit. He says identity lags reality by one to two years. Kind of like looking in the mirror as an ex-fat person having lost weight and still seeing the fat person in the mirror.

I I I think that identity lags reality by one to two years in that same sort of way. For me, I'm only just now being the person that went on Joe Rogan's podcast for the first time as someone that's been on four times and is got to number eight in the world on the Spotify charts last year. And in two years time, I'll be like, oh, I'm number eight in the world. The other thing to consider is it's taken this long, which is almost an indication of how just how big my self-doubt has been.

Like there's just such an unreasonable dosage of offsetting that in order for me to feel like I've made it. So, if you're the sort of person that comes to these kinds of events, you're thoughtful, you're reflective, you're introspective. Again, like I could have just The whole advice is like be gentle with yourself, try and be patient with yourself, give yourself spaciousness, keep going, but keep going at a pace that's sustainable. Like that's it. That's that's the answer to everything so far. Yeah. This is James. Say hello, James.

How's everyone? How's everyone? How's everyone? But just to finish that off, how would you A lot of the show tonight, you know, I've changed This is the first time that I'm doing this show. I did a different show in Sydney, in Melbourne, in Adelaide, and now tonight, too. I'm trying to tune it appropriately. But really what I'm saying to people is I want you to try and end some worlds. I want you to try and achieve the things and I don't want to suck the oxygen out of your fuel source.

But the things that you want to achieve are going to be empty and they're going to be unsatisfactory when you get there. Now, I don't want you to stop. I still want you to go and do the thing, but the only reason The only reason to win the game is to be free of it. It's the only reason to be to win the game. So, that you don't need to play it anymore. That's literally it. What do we got here, sir? I'm boosted. Chris gave me a mango daiquiri earlier.

Now let's get lit. There is a serious chance of slurring tonight. Smells a little boozy. Yeah, Chris is hiccuping. And then And then And then Down way. Yeah. Q&A, Q&A, hold on, one sec. For you up. Uh we side is Stewart on this side. I'm feeling a bit drunk. I don't know which side to go to. Good evening, class. So, as some of you might remember me from Chris's last tour, but most of you might be thinking, "Who the [ __ ] is this guy? Why is there a BTEC Chris Williamson on stage stage stage with a much worse hairline?" Now, I'm here really to test your temperature, and I've got a good feeling about tonight.

about tonight. about tonight. [cheering] You seem like a good crowd. You seem kind of relaxed. You've got that Perth vibe to you. And I will say this, honestly, professionally, I've never seen so many fit birds. So, for that reason, this is the first event in 3 years while I'm drinking. Absolutely no idea what he's done with his set. Absolutely no idea. What do you think the answers are to the current crisis of men? What do I think the answers are to the current crisis of men?

men? men? Is Hustlers University an answer? I don't know what you've seen, but I had Louis Theroux on the podcast and I managed to unite the feminists and the manosphere in agreeing for once. They realized that the worst part of the Louis Theroux documentary was him coming on my podcast. Both sides had a massive problem with what I'd said, despite the fact that they fundamentally disagree with each other. And I think that just explains how perverted the conversation's got, that both extremes don't represent most people in the bell curve of the middle.

It seems to me that there is a huge cohort of people who are appearing to do good while actually doing bad and I have no [ __ ] desire to be associated with any of them. The only time that you ever get this much flak is when you're directly over the target. So, I'm not going to stop talking about it, no matter what people say. What's the most profound experience of your life? your life? your life? Oh, [ __ ] hell. What's the most profound experience of my life? The first time I got a [ __ ] it made my ears ring.

Yeah, it was brilliant. Learned more things than when I watched the podcast 24 hours a day. We had to see him in person, but he just feels like very genuine, like Like you would meet him in the crowd. Mate, I'm ready for the Mate, I'm ready for the [ __ ] casino, mate. Dude. Yes. Thanks for shining a light on the struggles of men's and men and boys, bro. You've been my hero for like 5 years, man. My life since I was like 17. The fact that you're listening to this [ __ ] at your age is like I just [ __ ] wish that Changed my whole life.

The only reason why I have the such a high quality relationship with my partner is because of you. Why I got young young mentors when I didn't have a father figure was because of you and you you just I'm so proud Ever since when I was in high school I felt so lost. It was your podcast, man. I'm so proud of you. No, thank you for being you. being you. being you. I loved it. It was mix of humor as well as like getting to the point.

I found that he definitely was like working the room really well. awesome. It was everything that we've absorbed over the years, and it's pushed into one into one into one very very concise thing. Makes you think hard. The cutting of humor through helps a lot with that cuz it's you get in deep in the thing as well, but it's stopping to like pull back to laugh for a second before going through like thinking about whatever deep deep life thing thing thing from there. And it's just like it's a good balance with that, I think.

Thank you for everything. Uh I got you, man. I got you. Keep going. Thank you so much for having such a profound effect on my life over the past few years. It's been amazing. been amazing. been amazing. Yeah, I'm 18, and you've helped me so much. I just want to quickly You just made me feel less alone, and that's the greatest gift. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. [panting] [panting] So beautiful. So beautiful. So beautiful. I got waters and tonics. Yeah, waters and tonics are in the car.

I'm going to take this to the casino. This? This? Casino. Gaff with a casino. How you feeling? The talk went well, good. The show went well. Very well. You seem very relaxed. Yeah. Crowd seemed very seemed very seemed very well paced for a Monday as well. That flight today, even I changed it in between each show and ours, that flight today just finally [ __ ] got it. And then you had to get standing O on a Monday night in [ __ ] Perth. I knew that there was something up with it.

I just didn't know what it was. I'm glad I'm really glad that I didn't let up on up on up on keeping on changing it or changing it and changing it. It's nice to have finally got that flow right. It felt really good. Well, it felt really good. You also want to change stuff tomorrow, you [ __ ] There's still more All right. All right. All right. [ __ ] [ __ ] turned red. I love that you know the [ __ ] lyrics. The merch knowing THAT WHEN DID HE WENT WHEN DID WE [ __ ] [ __ ] YOU LOOK JUST LIKE CHRIS.

WHEN DID WE [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] turned red. red. red. Shall I make you a drink? [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] I'll pop down to five. Dude, I'm [ __ ] I'm so tired. I love it. So, actually this is Chris passing his uh welcome to the crowd. So, when he enters the stage, as you'll see I love it. Slept 5 hours. Body has no idea what time it is, but last night was [ __ ] amazing. amazing. amazing. One of the best shows I've ever done. It's so [ __ ] good. What? [sighs] [sighs] [sighs] So, I worked really hard on it.

I know. Just keep Just keep Just keep poking poking and rejigging it rejigging it. it. it. And then we've got it right. Now it's like, "Oh, well now we've got a [ __ ] show. That's a really really good show." So, So, So, given that given that given that people liked the first three, and then last night felt like another step up. Pretty good sign. Been in Perth for 18 hours. Another Another Another 4 and 1/2 hour flight. 5 hour flight back to Brisbane. Woah. Day 700 of tour.

Everybody hates each other. Go [ __ ] yourself. Rather than moaning in Chris's face, I'm just finding more ways to rack up hotel room bills. bills. bills. I had the best massage of my life the other day. Uh and then today I took a few alcoholic beverages out the mini bar, poured down the sink. Just fill up the bath with uh Johnny Walker Black Label and leave the empty bottles in the room. I do appreciate the fact that you don't let anyone off the hook with being late.

I do appreciate it. Keeps us all disciplined. It's good. Sorry. Speaking to Chris Hemsworth, I was organizing the helicopter trip that I got you to go to on uh on Thursday. Is that an acceptable excuse? I will Can we get booze on the plane? What's up with you today? I'm sensing morale low. Hey. Hey, come here. Come here. Come here. [ __ ] sick of carrying the morale of this team. this team. this team. I'm absolutely sick of it. Biggest load of [ __ ] I've ever heard. What? I kept on ordering more and more sparkling wine.

Every time that Luke woke up there was another glass of sparkling wine there. For him? Yeah. Where was that [ __ ] thing? It's on the other side. James. Yeah, I'll do that. You're not You're not doing seven. OH, NO, I WON'T LEAVE. LEAVE. LEAVE. HELP ME. MORALE IS LOW. Uh we not speak English. English. English. Oh, no. You dog. You [ __ ] dog. Oh, that's it. All right. Last one's got the DICKS OUT, GUYS. GET OUT. EVERYONE OUT. EVACUATE. Ain't no sunshine when she's gone. It's a really [ __ ] high city.

It's not a warm when she's gone. Absolutely. All right. Thank you for your election. Cheers, mate. Have a good day, brother. Cheers. Ain't no sunshine was a [ __ ] hit and run. That was an absolute hit and run. Any [singing] time she goes away. Wonder this time where [music and singing] she's gone. Mate, this place rules. So good. So good. So good. Wonder if she's gone. gone. gone. Hello. Ain't no [singing] sunshine when she's gone. gone. gone. And this house just ain't no home. home. home. Any time she goes [music and singing] away.

And I know I know I know [singing] I know I know I know. Slower makes it better. No, makes it what? Huh? Huh? Now, this was the first city that we were at last time. We landed in Brisbane 2 years ago. And all we did was live here for 3 full days. Work, pool, work, gym, work, sauna, food, home, get up, do the same thing again. [ __ ] fun. fun. fun. Still that's hard. I ought to leave the young thing alone, but ain't no sunshine when she's gone.

There's a lot of some physics to doing the live shows. And um I remember I was sat watching Rogan in the Vulcan in Austin, and I was next to Mark Normand. Mark Normand. Mark Normand. And it was so [ __ ] cool. It was like having someone that's an expert in sports explaining what the play was that the teams were doing. So, Joe said this line something like, you know, "I love my wife. She's my favorite person in the world." He leaned over and he said, "Two spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down." So, I huh.

And then he goes into this big diatribe about he he sort of takes the piss out of his wife. He says something where, you know, he's at odds with his wife. And that always stuck with me that if you're going to say something that's funny and mean, but done with love, you have to have something that shows you're a nice person, and you really care about this person, and you're empathetic, and all the rest of it. Cuz otherwise, it just sounds mean. Even if it's not, and even if you're not.

You have to do it. And I think that think that think that all together, if you've got really [ __ ] spicy jokes and a heavy topic that comes after and not much and not enough self-deprecation and not enough uplift throughout and just chill levity it's just too much. It's It's good, but it's a it's a it's a existential hammer blow. It's a full-on mallet. And donk. Like each night, I feel like I'm getting 15% better. Remember, we've already done four five tours all right across different continents with the previous show, but this is the first time that I've done a second show.

See what tonight's got in store. Brisbane. Brisbane. Brisbane. You go gentle on me, okay? It's my last city in all of Australia. I'll talk about this is what a real man looks like, all right? We've obviously built this new studio and then we are launching first episode of the new studio on Monday. It's Wednesday at the moment. A lot of new tech that we don't know how to use and are learning how to use. Got to edit on a completely different time zone and do it all while on tour.

Pray for me, please. Thank you. How has tour been in Oz? As far as like lots of flying, like you're not driving, obviously. Yeah, [ __ ] ton of flying, dude. I mean, we did Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane in 48 hours. Sick. Is this a world tour? This is we we just have to chuck them together. I I couldn't take enough time off from the show to do more than probably about 3 weeks, 3 to 4. I mean, in order to be able to come out here, I did seven episodes in 4 days before I left.

Just so that I could get out here. Yeah, I can't I'm like I just can't imagine imagine imagine Yeah, it's awesome. It's like a totally different world. It's not like we spend lots of time in studio, but it's something really curious to me because it's like same same but different. First time you do a new studio time and we do that thing that's different. The the the the touring thing is relatively new in rap. What it would be like would be if you only wrote music but never got to play it live.

Yeah. And you had to write three new songs and publish them a week. And they couldn't afford they weren't like album worthy. They weren't going to be like massive hits. But you had to put out put out three a week. That would be what it would be like. And it's it's just so strange that uh you know, people will go and see The Killers or yourself and they want to hear the big hits. That's good to hear it again. It that's almost better. I want to hear the old stuff more than I want to hear the new stuff.

If I say the same story on a different podcast, that's frustrating me in life. It's so funny cuz yeah, music it's like if you just played your like hit songs, like you they're That's something I like. Thank you. Yeah, don't want to hear the [ __ ] new stuff. I don't want to hear the new stuff. [ __ ] off with the new stuff. I want the 15 years ago stuff. Like in have a sick show. Got a quick question. Um so what like what would you say your kind of north star that guides you in life is?

I'm not sure if you've had one for 20 years or 10 months. for 20 years or 10 months. I've always been really bad with long-term goals. At least in my experience, when things go really well or if you're a hard worker, if you're an outlier, which you are because you've come to see me on a [ __ ] Wednesday evening, it's not a normal thing to do. The results that you get will be so unpredictable that you're not going to be able to work out what the optionality will open up for you in future in any case.

I had no idea. If you would say 10 years ago what you're going to do, like live in America, do a podcast, I'm do tour live book date. Like I just none of those things were even on the table. So um shorter sprints for me in principles are a little better, but even those are relatively loose. I like learning. I'm curious about a lot of different things. I've managed to find a way to basically monetize asking interesting people questions that I care about. But for me, all I've done is just it's curiosity is the closest thing I can give you.

Just follow my curiosity. What am I interested in? Connecting with feelings. Where are you from, sir? Take that guess. guess. guess. Can I film the front? Uh uh Uh uh uh uh uh I'm terrified of doing whatever people have misgendered is but for race. As a guy, especially speaking as a man, close wise said, there is not much room for guys to connect with their emotions. I think that there is a [ __ ] awesome revolution sitting below whatever that service thing happening on the internet is. is.

is. I get the sense that most of the guys who are in the room tonight are a part of the deeper thoughts than the shallower ones. Problem is that the world doesn't really reward you for connecting with your emotions. Can't Can't Can't flex it anywhere and in order for you to go from where you are now, which is probably a super competent, active, high agency, self-determining person to embrace your feelings, what isn't evolution to a better version of you feels like a devolution. Back to the version of you that you used to be, where you were taken advantage of by your emotions.

Then you learn to suppress them. suppress them. suppress them. Work hard, push through, don't listen to it. it. it. Chuck a woody. Think you got game, yes. And then you have to try and undo all of that, keep the hard work bit, and feel the feeling bit. Cracking the [ __ ] shell shell shell of whatever it is that most guys have got going on. Like, competent enough to get [ __ ] done, but deep enough to realize that they want to feel it. That requires a It would be like trying to do surgery on yourself.

It's probably a bad idea. You should get an expert in. So, So, So, I uh I uh I uh I would say do an intense retreat. After you've done a little bit of self help, you've probably done breath work and meditation. You've done the level zero stuff. zero stuff. zero stuff. I wouldn't jump to ayahuasca. I don't think that's how you're going to do it. And I'm from Austin, Texas. That's like the [ __ ] city of ayahuasca. Enter retreat and find some guys around you that want to go on the journey, too.

Like you need dudes that when you are struggling and you open up about your emotions, they emotions, they emotions, they they hold that space. Because Because Because if you've got I mean, Australians got tall poppy syndrome thing, right? Like the the the the reflex desire of every British and Australian guy to go gay. And I I actually think it's sort of gifted at birth. Genetically inherited. Um that's what school was. That's what a lot of your 20s was. But like at some point we're going to grow up and that group of people then fall away.

So you need to find a group of guys that can you know relate to. I loved it. The flow was just even there. It was amazing. I was at your headlining show in Brisbane say two months ago. Yes. And since then I said to my mates that night I'm going to [ __ ] do the thing. Since then I've blown up on social media. I'm about to move to London. I just signed with a manager. Let's [ __ ] go, dude. Yes. Helped me start a business and run a marathon.

Thanks, mate. Helped you start a business and run a marathon. What's next? Didn't expect a seven and a half, but thank you. Podcast helped me like you wouldn't believe. Cancer that's gone, had that twice. Now beat it both. I know you're a big inspiration. Stuff's life changing, man. Seriously. Is it your birthday? Cool. Dude, happy [ __ ] birthday. Who knew you'd spend your birthday thinking so much about Matthew McConaughey's dick? That wasn't ON THE [ __ ] HOW'S LONG IS TO THAILAND? TWO MORE DAYS. I've got a little bit of time.

I'm going to fly up to Byron and uh hang with Chris Hemsworth tomorrow. So, that'll be fun. I'm not talking about what? Meeting Chris Hemsworth. Some of these things you can't jinx because if you get excited about it, there'll be a storm. Chris is very good at playing it cool. Yeah, I've seen him opposite Matthew McConaughey with a resting heart rate of 44. So, that's probably his most impressive feature. Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris Peeling shell on the outside to the seal. Yeah, but there's not even a sweat.

to go hang out with a friend. I've got a friend lives in Byron. Lovely guy. And um And um And um we've sort of been flirting online for a little while and I thought it'd be nice to go see him. Yeah, I'm not that far away, but it's it's a bit of a drive, a bit of a trek. I thought we we could we could take a mode of transportation that's a little quicker. Like getting a tuk-tuk through through downtown Thailand or something. To go and just see a friend for a coffee.

So, essentially that's what we're doing today. It's Chris Hemsworth with Chris Hemsworth in a helicopter. That's what it is. It's a seat back pocket. You can put my drink in. Brilliant. All right, James. I don't remember my first time in a helicopter. Dog, sunset, pool, mates. What else is there? Back to tour. Don't go sleeping in your head. I'm revitalized. Two days off, two full days off. Feels fantastic. I I hit my stride. Dude, the the difference between the first three shows and the last two has just been I found that unlock.

It made everything else feel lighter. Because as fun as it is to be on tour, I'm here to give a good show to everyone and to feel like I'm performing well and to be confident in how the night's going to go. And um And um And um yeah, it it it's been a real change of a real change of energy. I got tons of great feedback from Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide. So, thank you to everybody that did that. It's really [ __ ] awesome. And um that was the just the little thing that was missing.

So, it's been a good run. I've loved being in Brisbane. But, we've got 48 hours in a brand new country, two shows, Christchurch and Auckland, and then a 9-hour flight to Bali. All in the space of a single weekend. So, So, So, see you then.