SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL
“We love Sydney! Comedy is our gentleman!” On the phone from Melbourne, duo Luke & Wyatt are helping me out with some cheesy sound-bytes in the lead up to their Sydney Comedy Festival show which they promise to be an, “Explosion of laughter”. This is after a few gleeful, “Da-da-das” – they’re also happy to be getting a look-in in a line-up cluttered with big names, including celebrity darling Mitch Fatel, stoner king Pauly Shore, the “Pathetically hilarious,” Jeremy Hotz, hardrocker Henry Rollins, plus many more.
The Sydney Comedy Festival – then Cracker – burst onto the international festival circuit in 2005, angling for a place beside Melbourne and Edinburgh in the comedic limelight. But do we have the right culture for it? “It’s a bit weird for up-and-comers,” says Seizure Kaiser, who is debuting 60 in 60 – a, “Freak show … a spectator sport” of 60 comedians in 60 minutes – at the Festival this year. “For emerging artists there needs to be some guidance. In Melbourne it’s very supportive – in Sydney for some reason it’s very cut-throat.” Kaiser admits this is changing slowly, with ‘underground’ events like the International House of Comedy at Newtown’s Town Hall Hotel, Stand Up Get Down at the Wall, and the stalwart of the scene, The Friend in Hand in Glebe. The Comedy Festival also purports a policy of, ‘developing and fostering new comic performers and comic works’, although when I ask the Festival about their tailored programs like Fresh and Get Pitched (where writers get to pitch their ideas to industry reps) I draw a blank. Whether they capitalise on it or not, there is plenty of fresh talent around, eager for what Kaiser describes as a, “Massive adrenaline rush” – creating a rapport with an audience.
Kristal Maher from the Campfire Collective taps into this communal spirit of comedy with Storytelling, an evening of true stories that will take place three Saturday nights during the Festival. “They’re so important to society’s collective learnings about each other, and about the present and the past,” Maher says. When asked about the connection between telling a joke and telling a story, Maher responds, “The success of good jokes and good stories alike hinges on structure. There are plenty of other factors in their success, but the laugh in a joke only arrives with a proper setup followed by a punchline, and similarly memorable stories will almost always feature a proper beginning, middle and end in the telling.”
The story of comedy in Sydney is one that’s really only just finding its proper beginning – and while it has the room, it needs the support. “People who go and see a bad show may never go again, they’ll have a stigma [sic] against it …” says Kaiser. Luke & Wyatt promise to give hugs to any Sydney comedian who are lacking love. “I’m gonna get all hippy and shit,” says Luke, “I believe if you put out positive energy it will come back at you. It’s all about chakras, right?” There we were thinking it was about comedy.
Sydney Comedy Festival runs until May 9, Luke & Wyatt Apr 24-26 @ The Factory, $16-18, 60 in 60 Apr 27 @ The Factory, $27-35, Storytelling Apr 24, May 1, May 8 @ Enmore Theatre Wine Bar, $17, 9020 6966, sydneycomedyfest.com.au
