Interview with Scott Steensma
Describe yourself in 15 words or less? A kiwi interloper in love with comedy, stupidity and the humorous hypocrisy of life.
What inspired you to call your show that? It’s a parody of the fringes of right and left wing politics- Comrades on the Left, Consumers on the Right and the rest of us somewhere in between.
What’s the show about? The show is satirical look at Australian history and the craziness of extreme right and left politics. Potatoes get a look in too- after all the bad press with the Atkins diet they’re making a comeback and my show is the beginning of the potato renaissance.
Do you have a favourite bit of the show you just can’t wait to perform? Can you tell us about it? One of the characters has a rant about how, despite the fact that he was born with a silver spoon, his life was as hard as someone born poor. I think it says a lot about peoples’ need to feel like they are a victim so they can feel guiltless for not helping those who are worse off than they are. Comedy Gold. Seriously though there is a healthy dose of humour in the rant and I’m really looking forward to performing it.
If your audience was to walk away having learnt only one thing – what would you want that to be? That there are many sides to every story and the way people interpret things is influenced by their prejudices and biases- they can always spin something the way they want to if they try hard enough. I’d tell them how good potatoes are, but they already know that.
Have you always been a fan of potatoes? Yes. The potato is more than just a root vegetable- it is THE supreme tuber. Australians eat 68 kilos of them a year so I know I am not alone.
How are you feeling about festival right now? Excited! And Nervous, nervous, nervous, nervous. Oh, and Poor too.
How many comedy festival shows have you done? This one, although I teched for a great show called ‘half-man, half-bullshit’ last year.
What are your expectations for/from festival? To learn a lot, to have fun, to meet more interesting people and to run myself into the ground.
What are you most looking forward to? A good audience who want have fun and have a bit of a think too! And the debauchery of the festival club. I have fond 2005 memories of talking to someone who was desperately glancing around trying to find someone more famous than I that they could schmooze…
When/where is your show on? How do people get tickets? Café 396, 396 little collins street, 8.30 pm on April 15th, 18th-22nd, 25th and 27-29th, and May 2nd, and 4-6th. Tickets are available through ticketmaster soon, on the door or through emailing comradeconsumer@gmail.com! Tix start at $12/10 and group rates are available.
For more details see Comrade Consumer