WILARIOUS

You’d need all your fingers and a fair few toes to count the awards Wil Anderson has won over the years and it looks as though his latest offering has a good chance at nabbing yet another Helpmann. “Stand-up comedy is like a joke-by-joke job application,” he explains to me. “They don’t laugh at your jokes because they gave you an award. But it’s nice to know at this stage in my career I’m doing my best work.” Not only is Anderson an Australian household name, but after a tour working alongside Sarah Silverman, Louis CK, Stephen Fry and John Cleese he is also one of our hottest exports. “Louis CK is my ultimate hero. His main focus is stand-up and he has a really good career. I want to get to the point where I’m predominantly doing stand-up and I’m close to that but not as close as I would like.” A scan of Anderson’s reviews and it’s hard to know what to expect from his shows which have been described as anything from thought-provoking political satire to crass dick jokes. For someone who is chatty and down-to-earth during our interview, he remains vague on what exactly audiences can expect. “I don’t really like to talk about what the topics are because it’s my perspective that should be the interesting thing,” he continues. And he’s right. When it comes to Anderson, audiences come to watch him cut loose. “This is the fun time. This is why instead of doing one or two nights in Sydney in a big venue, which is economically better, I like doing lots of shows. I know it’s going to be good and people are going to enjoy it and I can knuckle down and have fun.”

Until Oct 28, Sydney Comedy Store, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, $30-40, 9357 1419, comedystore.com.au