Comedian delves into extremities of wellness
Series ‘Wellmania’ showcases Barber’s performance style
If you’re one of the
9.5 million people who follow Celeste Barber on Instagram, you already know the Australian comedian will do just about anything for a laugh.
There’s no bikini too small and no pose too ludicrous for the 40-year-old, whose self-deprecating spoofs of celebrities such as Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski have, ironically enough, turned her into a major influencer, one who uses her relatable physique to send up the unattainable standards of social media.
Now she’s bringing her exuberant brand of comedy to “Wellmania,” a Netflix series, now streaming, that explores the extreme and often dubious lengths people are willing to go to in the name of wellness.
Loosely adapted from “Wellmania: Extreme Misadventures in the Search for Wellness,” a book by Australian journalist Brigid Delaney, the series stars Barber as Liv Healy, a hard-partying food writer forced to overhaul her decadent lifestyle and trade in cocaine for colonics after a health crisis.
The series, developed as a vehicle for Barber, is a showcase for her extremely physical style of performance: In the pilot episode, Liv crashes through a glass coffee table.
“It’s my favorite thing to do,” said Barber in an interview from her home in Sydney, where she lives with her husband,
Api Robin — aka “@Hot Husband_”— two sons and two stepdaughters.
As a celebration of a messy, imperfect woman, “Wellmania” is in keeping with Barber’s other
work, including her role in the bracingly realistic postpartum comedy “The Letdown” and, of course, her Instagram persona.
Often billed as a “bodypositive” comedian, Barber said activism was never really her goal.
“I’m very happy to be caught up in that movement and for people to enjoy my content and have a laugh,” she said. “I’m stoked it resonates with women in that way.”
“Fine, Thanks,” a standup comedy special for Netflix that Barber filmed at the Sydney Opera House, also drops in April.
“It’s gonna be Celeste Barber-palooza,” she said.
This interview with Barber has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What changes did you make in adapting the book for television? A:
Brigid’s book is a real
exploration of the wellness industry. It was like a 15-year process for her. To adapt it for TV, we made it really character-driven. We really built out the idea of this character, Liv Healy, and what is it that’s happened to her. Why has she been propelled into this world, and what is she learning from it? We wanted to make it a real character-driven piece about reconnecting with family. The book is our springboard into the world of this bananas woman.
Q: It’s safe to say Liv’s life is a little different than yours. A:
She is really unapologetic about her life. She’s turning 40, and we didn’t feel like we needed to explain why she’s on her own or have her trying to figure out why she can’t find love. This isn’t that story. This is a really
dynamic, explosive, fun story about this woman who 100% chooses her choices and just runs at them really hard. And I love doing that. That’s a point of departure I have from the character. I’m not as brave as Liv. My sister’s name is Olivia, and my sister will just explode into any room. She will take on anything, and I love that about this character as well. (Liv) will throw anything at a wall and whatever sticks — bang! — she’ll run with it. She’s really proud of treating her body like an amusement park.
Q: What’s your general attitude toward the wellness industry? Are you more of a skeptic? A:
I’m a very big believer in different strokes for different folks. I think I had a green juice a week ago. My husband is more into it than I am. He’ll be like,
“We’re doing apple cider vinegar every morning.”
I’m like, “We are absolutely not doing that.” But one thing I’ve noticed, living in the world that we live in now, where wellness is everywhere, is that it is a full-time job. It takes a lot of money. It’s not cheap. I remember looking at a juice cleanse once, and I went,
“If we did that as is advised, we could buy a car with the amount of money.”
Q: How would you describe Liv’s journey over the course of the series? A:
I think she learns that you can’t keep running. You have to deal with things that have happened in your past, whether they were out of your hands or not. And it’s your connection with family, with friends, with yourself, that is the most important thing.
It’s pretty excellent, big arc to play. I just think she’s bananas.
Q: I wanted to ask you about “The Letdown,” which is just a gem of a show. What do you hear from people who’ve watched it? A:
People like discovering it again. I really would love to do another season of the show, maybe our kids are school-age now. I’m really trying to pitch to Alison (Bell) and Sarah (Scheller) that we can do another season of that show. I get so many messages from women saying, “I was up at 3 a.m. breastfeeding a screaming child for the ninth night in a row. I haven’t slept. I just was watching the show, and I felt like I wasn’t alone.”
Q: Were you always funny or was comedy something you discovered later on? A:
I always thought I was funny. But it wasn’t until later, when I was going through acting school, it was like, “If I want to be a serious actor, I need to be doing Lady Macbeth.” I always just found comedy very easy. I thought, if it’s not a challenge, maybe it’s not worth doing. Then I was working on my first TV show, “All Saints,” a medical drama here in Australia I was on for five years.
And my beautiful friend Mark Priestley, who has since passed away, we would film stuff at my house at night, just stupid sketches. I remember one day sitting on set, in between really heavy scenes, writing little sketches. And he said something to me, and I responded like, “Ah, no, it doesn’t matter.” Very dismissive. And he just looked at me and went, “Can you stop doing that? You’re the funniest person I know. And it’s getting really boring that you don’t know that. You need to accept that this is a really amazing talent of yours.” And, bang, it changed that day for me.