For 26 years comedian Wayne Dixon has called Melbourne home, and has had the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the local comedy circuit. Now 6 years into his stand-up career, he’s ready to test out a new town, a new scene, a new audience and the bright lights of Sydney. Like many dedicated young stand-up comedians, Wayne Dixon found his feet in Triple J’s Raw Comedy back in 1999, impressing the judges and making his way to the state finals. In his early 20s, Wayne, who was studying Music at the University of Melbourne fell into the comedy scene after having been egged on by his friends. “My mate said: ‘you’re pretty funny, you should do stand-up’”, and it’s a decision Wayne hasn’t regretted.
After finishing up at University, Wayne took opportunities that would further his career in comedy; the first success – winning the FHM Joke Off, a prestigious competition designed to uncover the talents of unknown comedians held as part of the M-ONE music festival in 2002. The prize was a years supply of beer and a 50 word write up in FHM. Wayne went on to be part of Comedy Zone, and subsequently the Roadshow for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, proving he was moving up in the world of comedy.
Wayne looks back on the Roadshow as one of the most memorable moments of his career to date. “I went on the Roadshow tour…with Daniel Kitson, Danny Bhoy, Lee Mack and all these internationals…and I was the bloke who got to warm up the crowd for them.” he says.
Following his newly gained experience through opportunities connected with the Comedy Festival, Wayne went on to make up one-third of the cast in A Harley Shaped Hickey Called Wayne, a collaboration with Harley Breen and Geraldine Hickey for last years Festival, before going solo this year with his combined animation, stand-up and impro show Citizen Wayne.
Wayne’s ambition is to have fun and to be funny, “I’m like the guy next door, I don’t talk about my cock, I just talk about funny stuff. I’m not rude, I’m pretty mainstream [and] I want to be liked. I like to have fun on stage, ‘cause fun’s contagious, and if the audience sees me Page 16 having a good time, then they’re having a good time.”
Influenced by fellow stand-ups such as Chris Bennett and Daniel Kitson, it is clear to see where he gets his ‘guy next door’ persona. “Chris Bennett…makes what he does look so easy. He talks to the crowd and creates stand-up. He’s got a filing cabinet of jokes, so he’ll ask a question he’s got an answer to…he’s a machine gun of comedy”.
Wayne’s concentration isn’t solely on stand-up though, he also puts a lot of time into his impro work. Originally inspired by the work and unique ideas of Craig Barfoot several years ago, Wayne has followed closely in his footsteps with the desire to carry on a legacy. “[Craig] is inspirational in the sense that he doesn’t do stuff for money. He did street theatre to freak people out and make people laugh for no reason at all. He’d walk around the city in morning peak hour with a sign that said “free hugs” and he used to hug strangers.”
Wayne also performed, until recently, with local impro group The Crew. Having taken over the running of the impro class organised by The Crew and previously taught by Barfoot at the Comic’s Lounge, Wayne has had an opportunity to teach the modes and methods of the comedy form to a group of 20 or so enthusiasts. “Probably three quarters [of the 20] are stand ups and the others are just people who have heard about it from friends who come along, or have seen the shows and think it looks like fun. They’re all just there to have fun and now they’ve started their own impro group out of that too, so the cycle has begun again.”
The beginning of the new cycle is timely as Melbourne says goodbye to Wayne Dixon. “I’m moving up to Sydney because it’s better up there, you see people who haven’t been doing [comedy] that long make a living out of it, and I’m 6 years in and am having to scrape together a living”.
Wayne sees that there is a slight obstruction standing in the way of the thriving success of Melbourne’s comedy scene. “I think we’ve got a lot of talented people, talented comics and not enough rooms” he says, “and there’s a lot of young guys opening rooms, which is good because we need them, but bad because they don’t know what they’re doing yet. ...We should be the ones doing it, the older comics, but we’re just too lazy…and we know what’s involved…and we go ‘that’s just too hard, I’d just rather sit here and bitch about there not being any rooms’, so we’re our own worst enemies”. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival certainly catches public attention, but Wayne comments, “the general populus think that comedy only exists for one month of the year, and you say ‘no, we’ve got 12 months of comedy’, but for 11 months of the year people forget about it. I think Melbourne might fall in a big hole, take a good look at itself and build up again. I think there’s going to be a crash [and right now] there are just a lot more opportunities to get paid [in Sydney].”
For Wayne, the move to Sydney is another step towards achieving his goals. Whilst he mentions the desire to write a movie and do television, ultimately, he’d like to be able to make a living from stand-up and then have the opportunity to diversify. “Comedy is more than just stand up” he says, “and there’s a lot of different outlets that you can do it through and I want to slowly conquer them all”.