Joel Creasey's fast-flourishing comedy career has resulted in some unlikely but cherished friendships.
The 24-year-old stand-up star, who will be performing in Sydney Comedy Festival with his Hurricane show, was helped through a break-up by Joan Rivers not long before she passed away, and bonded with AFL champ "Bad Boy" Barry Hall during their recent I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here stint.
The bromance with Baz was one of the more pleasant experiences during Creasey's gruelling 41-day jungle stay on the reality show, from which he emerged three weeks ago.
"The jungle really was as bad as it looked," he says. "I thought there would be off-camera benefits, but there were none – not even basic toilets. We had a genuine, full-on drop toilet."
The main challenges, though, were emotional. "It really does a psych job on you," he says. "You're stuck in there with your own thoughts.
"I have known who I am from a very early age and to have everything ripped away and your control all gone, it was very confronting."
Hall, he says, struggled too. "He is so used to winning, being in charge."
The pair hit it off almost immediately. "People often disregard me for my age," says Creasey. 'But Barry didn't talk down to me. He is truly one of the most lovely people I have met. He came to see my show last week and we've caught up for dinner."
Creasey speaks just as highly of the late Rivers, who saved his comedy career by hiring him to open for her in New York in late 2013. "I'd had a horrible break-up and I was about to quit comedy and run back to Perth, where I come from, and I got the call to open for Joan.
"Joan had great advice. She said 'stick it to him! Being funny will get you through'. She was right – it was the best revenge." Creasey opened for Rivers again shortly before her death, which sadly cut short the blossoming friendship.
But he didn't forget her "comedy as revenge" life lesson. Ever since actor Christoph Waltz was rude to him in an interview, Creasey has mercilessly lampooned him in his routines.
"He was just a horrible, mean actor who takes himself and his work far too seriously. But now I'm getting my revenge one audience at a time!" he says.
Joan would be proud.
Sydney Comedy Festival: 20 April – 17 May. Joel Creasey is at the Enmore Theatre on 14 May
