And the Grammy goes to...
Flume.
At just 23, this Aussie music prodigy has already nabbed a goddamn Grammy!
This incredible guy went from child soldier in Sudan
to Young Australian of the Year.
And at 27, this show-pony became a self-made millionaire
with her online fashion store.
Okay, check this out. It's our own private penthouse.
What do they all have in common? Success.
They're all huge, publicly celebrated winners and grinners.
The kind we hear about all the bloody time.
And good on 'em. But what about the rest of us?
Failing, fucking shit up, making all the mistakes.
It's the stuff we keep secret. We don't dare talk about it because,
well, who wants to own the fact that they're a loser?
Especially in public.
It's tough to start because you need some people to lead the charge
and feel comfortable in sharing that type of story.
Surprisingly, thousands of people are doing it right now,
thanks to the genius idea of Fuckup Nights.
LAUGHTER
In over 170 cities around the world, almost every night of the week,
strangers meet in pubs, theatres, bars
and divulge their worst life fails, personal and professional,
on a stage, with an audience of hundreds.
SPEAKS SPANISH
SPEAKS GERMAN
SPEAKS PORTUGUESE
And the guy you're about to meet is bringing it to Australia.
Why do you reckon this is important?
Like, why is it important that something like Fuckup Nights exists?
I think it's just acknowledging that we're inherently human.
We have flaws.
People are acknowledging more than ever
in a social-media-focused world
that, um, real people speaking before them
about, um, real issues or personal feelings
and they appreciate that honesty coming at them
from right in front of them.
There's a certain level of vulnerability in it.
You are, you're taking a risk.
For the skeptics out there that would hear about this and think,
"Oh, God, this is like a bunch of you know, self-help-obsessed people
"in a room together, bit like a circle jerk..."
Yeah, bit of a circle jerk. (LAUGHTER)
No, it's not a pathway into self-help courses or anything like that.
It's purely intended for the events itself
and to be entertained
and also glean some knowledge from people sharing with the room.
It's basically shaming yourself. Who wants to do that?
Well, look, it's really not about, um, shaming, you know, yourself
by speaking, but yeah, give it a go, give it a crack.
Tonight is one of the biggest Fuckup Nights in Australia.
There's four speakers.
An inventor who fucked up by almost getting herself arrested.
I got a phone call. ASIO had called me.
Greer built Australia's first pedal-powered generator
in an old ammunition box
without realising the words 'FOR BOMBS' were stamped on its base.
And then she tried to ship it to London on a plane.
It's a fuckup but it's a hilarious fuckup.
Once ASIO discovered she wasn't a terrorist but a mad scientist,
they let her off the hook.
I don't believe in myself all the time
but I can always look back on this experience
and say "I did something that I never thought I could do."
Thank you.
APPLAUSE
Rachel was in a band
and she says her obsession with body image was her ultimate fuckup.
When I wasn't in a rock band,
performing, starving myself to look thin and look the part,
I was in the gym.
Smoking ten packets of cigarettes a day
and three or four coffees a day and eating next to nothing.
And shit got pretty heavy
when this dude talked about how turning to alcohol
as a way of dealing with stress at university
fucked up his life so bad that it almost killed him.
And suddenly I lost conscious.
I had to go to a hospital. I was in an alcoholic coma.
There was lots of this... (WAILING)
- And this... - Uh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh...
APPLAUSE
How did it feel tonight sharing such a personal story
with basically a roomful of complete strangers?
I think removes this burden that you carry
and we all have a bag of shit that we carry, right?
And the more cuts you can make on this bag of shit,
the lighter it gets.
So by sharing your vulnerabilities, sharing your fuckups,
is a good way to make life be a bit lighter, a bit easier,
and allow you to walk faster to where you want to go.
More needs to be talked about fucking up.
Um, I'm a little bit sick of hearing about all the successes in this world
when we know that shit goes wrong a lot.
I think it was a really interesting experience
'cause it kind of makes you reflect on your own mistakes
and your own situations,
which you might approach differently with the benefit of hindsight.
Oh, hindsight. But that's really not how life works, is it?
- Cheers to fuckups. - Cheers, Pat.