Interview : Dave Bloustien
By
Lisa Dib
Moosehead award-winner Dave Bloustien may be
known in comedic
circles as the verbose and pragmatic purveyor of thinking man’s ha-has,
but Bloustien and co-pilot Carrie Hardie run the “intellectual,
political & nerdcore comedy community Wit Large” at Gleebrooks
in
Sydney, the pair’s production company and comedy night.
After a
sweet run of his show ‘A Complete History of Western Philosophy’ in the
2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Bloustien is back in
Sydneytown MC-ing to his heart’s content at the Wit Large nights.
I chatted to Bloustien in the lead-up to the ‘Children’s Writing’
edition of Wit Large.
You
seem to pride intelligence in your comedy, as well as the comedy of
others; do you consider comedy to be an art, as opposed to just a way
to get a few chuckles?
Pride is a strong word, which is
probably why people march for it. I value intelligence, and enjoy it.
Comedy is a low art, like comic books, graffiti and floor-moldings. On
the other hand, if all you're "getting away with" is "a few chuckles",
you're not doing that well as a comedian, and even worse as a bank
robber.
Good comedy should hit you in the guts, not just in the
head. But the two aren't mutually exclusive. My favourite kind of jokes
hit you immediately with a guffaw, and then follow up with a rolling
laugh, as your brain catches up to your belly. That's got as much to do
with joke construction as material.
Tell us
about Wit Large.
Wit
Large is my and Carrie Hardie's production company, but it started as a
monthly comedy gig in a Sydney bookshop. I'd become incredibly
disillusioned with the Australian stand-up scene: shoved up the back of
RSLs and bar venues, or fighting with drunk buck's nights. I felt like
a lot of new acts were using lazy racism and homophobia to get laughs
because they felt it was expected of them, and established acts were
dumbing down their material to reach a wider audience.
I'd
stopped performing and even stopped watching as a result, and then it
struck me: if Australian comedy was going for the greatest audience
share (let's say 60% of the general population), and I felt that I
wasn't being catered for, then there were going to be a lot of other
people who felt the same way.
At the same time, I kept hearing
from audience members that they "didn't normally like stand-up comedy",
but when they described what it was they didn't like, it was a very
limited perception of stand-up, the sort you'd find in a boozy club or
bar venue. So I decided to set up an environment where I could see the
kind of comedy I wanted to see, that could be challenging and clever
and still entertaining. The tag line is "smart comedy for smart
people": not only do you get a great line-up of comedians, you get your
ego massaged just for turning up.
Do you
find there is the same ‘snobbery’ with comedy as there is with other
media; writing and painting and the like?
No,
it's the other way around in Australia. You're more likely to be on the
receiving end of snobbery if people think you're trying to be too
clever. There's not the same encouragement to try push the envelope,
unless it's stuffed with a TV contract. There's a really exciting
alternative comedy scene in Sydney, with venues like Ha Ha, A Mic in
Hand and Comedy on the Edge, but those acts often struggle to get
Australian industry attention.
So why
should we come down to the show?
Harsh
question…I'm trying to make you laugh, not sell you a gym membership.
One of the basic rules of ethical philosophy is 'you can't get an ought
from an is'. If you 'is' without a ticket, you 'not ought' to be
without a ticket. Ergo, come watch. QED.
Wit Large features headliner Lou Sanz (ABC’s 'The
Librarians’ and all-round genius), supported by Shane Matheson
("unhinged comedy genius"- Chortle), Cyrus Bezyan (NSW Raw Finalist)
and Patrick Macgee (Project 52).
|
