Interview: My Cousin Vlad chats about his journey from real estate agent to comedian

Landing by accident on the comedy scene in 2019, My Cousin Vlad is Australia’s first official ‘Immaculagent’. A real estate agent by day, and an observational professor by night… actually… by day as well. While on his CATASTROPHA National Tour, and ahead of his shows in Newcastle, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, we called him to chat about his transition and more.

You’re about halfway through your tour. How have the shows been so far?

Yeah, it’s been sick. Wollongong’s a top show. All the shows have sold out that I’ve done so far. It’s a nice feeling.

It’s the “Catastropha” tour?

It’s basically catastrophe, but when you put it in our lingo. It’s a nightmare, just the state of affairs. I don’t want to be negative but that’s the way it is.

How did you transition from being a real estate agent to becoming a full-time comedian?

The short answer is by accident. I’d been in real estate for a while, about ten years. When I started doing those videos, I was just sitting in my car, waiting for a client. The client was late, and I thought if he doesn’t rock up I the next ten minutes I’m leaving. I was flicking through Instagram at the same time. I swiped to my story, pressed the record button, and started talking.

I was saying I was in my car, this client is keeping me waiting, I’ve just bought a new car, had a baby, how am I going to pay this car off? Do I have to go back to driving couriers? Real estate is a joke. I just started venting. I posted it and a lot of my mates said that it was hilarious.

I did another one the week after, documenting another issue that I had, being locked in a parking garage, and they were like man, you gotta post more of this. A whole bunch of people just giving positive feedback.

The name My Cousin Vlad came from the first time I said that my cousin Vlad invited me over for a coffee. Then I just ran with that line. I was going to make all the stories about him, but I ended up being Vlad.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Just general life, bro. I get a lot of material from my family life, my wife and kids, the deterioration of the body and mind over the years, social media, and pop culture. The cesspool of the young generation, the music, the hair. Whatever I see, there’s something in it.

I’m in traffic now. I’ve been cut off three times by a lunatic in a Hilux. It’s a story. He’s cut me off four times and he’s still only two cars ahead of me, over the span of 5kms. These types of people drive me nuts, so I can do comedy or a podcast about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIV-vj4JWVw

That’s the advantage that you can turn these incidents into stories.

I guess so. I’m irritable, but I can write.

I see that your pronouns are dis/dat.

Either dis or dat, I answer to both. That’s another world I don’t want to get my head into. Everything is preposterous to me.

You’re the world’s first Immaculagent?

Correct. I’ve fused those two words – immaculate and agent. I used to say that if I can fuse two words together, I can put a vendor and a buyer together and invent a sale. If I’m out like Shakespeare making up words, I can easily slap a sold sticker on your house. That’s how that word came along.

So, you’ve left the real estate industry behind now?

I live in Sydney, which is the smuggest city in the southern hemisphere. I’m from there, so I get that I’m smug. I had never done stand up comedy in my life, but for my first show I sold out Sydney. The Factory Theatre during COVID. I walked off stage, never done comedy in my life, and I quit my job the next day. I said to my wife I’m not going back, and she said, “aren’t you meant to be in your meeting?” I said to her what do you reckon if I quit? Should I continue in real estate? And she said, “nah I don’t think you should.” She even knew back then that I wanted out. She thought I was more valuable on stage than sitting in someone’s loungeroom trying to make a deal. I just took a punt. It was all by accident. The stories, the suit, the sunnies, it was all by accident. I didn’t plan on making a character, it just flowed on.

So how did your look come about?

I was doing a lot of running at that point, cycling, running, triathlete training.  The sunnies were in my car, because after work I’d go for a run. That day I’d lost my smug pair of Gucci’s, so I was rocking the Oakley’s for a couple of days. I remember looking in the mirror thinking how funny I looked, the hair, the suit. Nothing goes worse than a suit with Oakley sunnies. The people in the office told me I looked ridiculous. I’m a bit of an agitator, so I thought yep, I’m gonna wear em.

When the video came out, the contrast was pretty funny, so I thought I’m gonna keep that look. It became a bit of a mask as well. Soon after starting the videos, they became quickly viral. It took me six months to get 1000 followers, and all the real estate agents knew who I was. The sunnies then became a godsend, because I could take them off and no one knew who I was. I don’t want to be noticed all the time. I like to be under cover.

Other comedians say that I should take the sunnies off when I play the smaller venues. Like, what’s with the sunnies? I tell them it’s just my schtick. Everyone has a thing. It’s just my thing. I’ve had a lot of people tell me to take them off. Once I did and it didn’t go well. I got booed off stage I England. I just wasn’t myself.

How do you rehearse your material? How do you know what’s going to work or not.

I don’t do regular spots. I was at the Palais and had done four shows in the last six months. I could have cut 20 minutes; I did an hour and 20 minutes. I was out there trying new stuff. A lot of it worked but a lot didn’t. I know if it’s good because I find it funny. The writing of it can be really difficult. The dynamic, just a word or mannerism. The best joke I had was based on the mannerism of an uncle of mine. I try it out on my friends, or my brother. My wife’s such a hard judge. If there’s any jokes about her they have to funny.

What’s on after the Ozzie tour.

My dream is to bring the comedy to the wogs around the world. Out of an hour or so there’s about fifteen minutes talking about wogs. The rest is my wife. I really want to go to smaller places in Canada and places like that.

Check out more from My Cousin Vlad on his Facebook page.