A hip-thrusting, dead-eyed group dance-off in a paddock. The judging eyes of a waiter as you choose the “no tip” option. A strangely sensual car wash with bogan mates.
Watching their work, whether the skits on their phenomenally successful social media or their antics on TV, you’d assume that Matt “Falcon” Ford and Jack Steele have a high tolerance for the awkward. A capacity for cringe, if you will.
But you’d be wrong.
The suggestion alone elicits a groan from the tradies turned comedy and business powerhouse The Inspired Unemployed. Turns out, they’re as mortified as the rest of us; they just hide it better.
“Oh God no, we definitely don’t have a high tolerance,” Steele laughs. “Even just an awkward hug can keep me up at night, like ‘F...! Why did I do that?!’”
“We are definitely just pushing through (the pain barrier),” Ford says. “We do really try and be vulnerable, because that’s the good stuff; it’s the things that people are too scared to say. We try to lean into that but it is tough sometimes.”
Still, that willingness to embrace embarrassment has completely transformed their lives. In 2019 they were best mates from small-town NSW, who had dropped out of school at Year 11 to work as a labourer (Ford) and start a plastering trade (Steele). To escape the grind, they went on a trip to the French Alps and along the way filmed some silly skits for family and friends.
Today, The Inspired Unemployed has 4.2 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, two TV series, a beer brand and partnerships spanning fashion, including brands such as Fendi and Louis Vuitton, travel and fragrances (their Inspiré by No. Emploi collaboration with Chemist Warehouse, with the profits going to charity, came with a shirtless, bonfire-lit parody TV ad).
And last week, they added another bow by going back to their roots — the podcast booth. After an almost two-year hiatus, and perhaps fittingly on April Fools’ Day, Steele and Ford relaunched The Inspired Unemployed podcast, joining the LiSTNR platform.
The decision to go back behind the mic was partly a love of the medium, and partly to stop angry fans berating them on the street.
“When we stopped recording, we had a lot on our plate,” Steele says. “We couldn’t do the best work we wanted to, and because we knew the podcast has such a loyal following, we didn’t want to let them down.
“But after the nearly two years off, we were getting so many messages and people stopping us on the street, just so annoyed. We love doing it, but also, we were honestly getting borderline threats, so bringing it back was pretty much for our own safety.”
Now those fans can catch up on what the duo have been up to, hear from guests including Hamish Blake, and relish the return of the popular “rattled” segment, where the duo relive horrifying moments (Steele has a doozy about butt-dialling his ex).
Listeners can now watch them squirm as well, with video episodes on YouTube for the first time.
Steele and Ford believe the key to their cut-through is relatability, re-enacting on camera the awkward, funny situations and interactions we all experience but rarely talk about.
But there is palpable disbelief in their voices that their signature brand of exuberant chaos has seen them tick at least another two dreams off the list since STM last spoke to them in 2023: their own TV show and travel platform.
The Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers, in which Steele, Ford and mates publicly humiliate each other, is into its third season, and The List, in which the duo take on travel experiences most avoid (think naked badminton in Germany, facing a fast bowler in India and stick fighting with Zulu warriors in South Africa), aired last year.
Arrival launched in July, born of their love of getting off the beaten track. Knowing how much research goes into adventure travel, Ford and Steele decided they wanted to pass their knowledge on, to simplify it for others. They partnered with tour companies, guides and experts, then went out and tested almost all the trips first-hand.
A trip to Kyrgyzstan last year was “a highlight of our life”, Steele says, and became their top-selling package. Another trip through the Sahara desert didn’t make the cut; “we couldn’t make it work, we had a hard time with some dangerous things over there. One day we will get back to it,” he says.
“(Arrival) is so rewarding,” Steele says. “I’ve loved seeing people come home from these trips with the biggest smiles and leaving us amazing reviews and seeing their videos and photos, but most of all, sharing community; they go over there and get to actually hang out with other like-minded people. That’s probably the coolest part.”
The duo are also navigating a rapidly changing social media landscape, which has seen the appearance of TikTok, reels and a proliferation of influencers since they started.
“Everyone’s a creator now, which is really cool, because every single person can just film a video and go viral tomorrow,” Steele says. “The competition’s a lot higher so you have got to keep levelling up.”
Ford says they take a break if they feel their content is becoming stale.
“We pretty much just go until we get so tired and burn out, and then we stop and breathe for a second, then we come back again,” he says. “It’s just we’re in a loop like that right now. We’ve put skits out that weren’t that fun to film or we weren’t in the best headspace and they never actually go that well. And you can have a bad idea but if you are having fun and with your friends, it usually somehow comes through on screen.”
Both agree that having fingers in so many pies helps to keep them fresh, and Steele says they keep each other grounded.
“We take a lot of time to talk about sitting in the moment and thinking about how crazy this is, that we were tradies in 2019 and now we’re doing this full time, which is just beyond anything either of us would have ever thought. Our brains weren’t big enough to even think about a life like this.
“So it’s really, really cool, but it’s also really hard to process, to be honest . . . I feel like we’re pretty good at appreciating where we’re at and you never want to take anything for granted. We worked on job sites, so we know what hard work is, and we know how lucky we are . . . In a way, we’re so scared about losing it that you feel that anxiety, because we love it so much.”
But while there’s an audience for their particular brand of humour, their antics will continue — including on the new podcast.
“It’s just so fun, and you build a nice community,” Steele says. “And God knows why, but people just seem to love hearing us talk absolute rubbish.”
The Inspired Unemployed podcast’s first episode is out now, with new episodes every Wednesday on LiSTNR.