Interview with Yianni
Welcome back to Australia, are you here to stay?
No unfortunately, I’m back for 2 months, which pretty much encompasses festival, 4 weeks beforehand and 1 week afterwards. I really would love to live in Australia, I love Melbourne and it’s so hard being away from all of my friends, but London is just such an amazing place for a comic. It’s widely regarded as the best stand up scene in the world and having lived there for 18 months I can see why.
I do ultimately want to return to Australia, but I want it to be on my own terms. I always had a feeling before I left that there were a lot of people fighting over not much. There’s so much talent in Australia but maybe not enough outlets for that talent.
I always just wanted to do stand up, rather than use it as an avenue to a TV show or a drive time radio slot or something like that. In England you can build a profile on the circuit working full time, whereas it seems in Oz, the only comics who can work full time as stand ups if they want to are those that have an existing profile via TV or Radio. Very chicken and egg.
Was it easier / harder to work and live in the UK?
It’s just different. Obviously when you first turn up and you don’t know anyone it’s very difficult, but it’s also a lot of fun going to gigs, meeting everyone, making friends and working your way into the scene. Also, every gig you go to, you’ll almost certainly be seeing acts you’ve never seen before!
It’s just such a large scene over there. A top headliner told me that even if you were only playing half the rooms in the country, you’d still be booked solid. And that to me is one of the intrinsic differences I find between London and Melbourne. In London a normal week will consist of 4-5 gigs whereas in Melbourne I’d consider it good if I had that many in a month! Plus, because it’s such a small place geographically, you can head halfway across the country, do a gig and get back the same night. If you plan on doing that in Australia you’d best be advised to get sponsorship from the RACV because you’re not going to make it across the Nullabor in enough time without a tow truck.
So there are certainly more gigs, which allows you to improve so much faster. Also, being an outsider means that you have to always consider how universal your jokes are, whether they have broad appeal. I think that can make you stronger as a writer.
Being away from home is hard, but London has become my second home now. I know my way around, I have places that I go, and I have friends. Ideally I’d love to be able to split my time 50/50 between home and here.
Is there a sense of community there as there is here?
Oh totally. I think comedy scenes are comedy scenes wherever you go. The only thing is there, the scene is that much bigger. For example, I’ll still meet new people at gigs here even though I’ve been gigging for 18 months.
But it’s great. You meet so many people and it’s so very social. A bunch of us were doing the Dubai Comedy Festival and I organised a day out to Wild Wadi’s waterslide park. Mark Watson (who has flown out for the Comedy Festival, he’s great, get out and see him!) conquered his fear of water slides that day. Memories like that of being in strange places with your peers, are what it’s all about.
Other comics are always happy to help you workshop and write. There’s nothing better than seeing a joke you’ve helped someone develop kill on stage.
Have you managed to survive in the UK on money from Comedy alone?
When I went over there, the first goal I set myself was for Comedy to be my primary source of income and within 12 months I achieved that, which was a great feeling. Being able to have the knowledge that something you love clothes and feeds you is very empowering. That said, I’m not exactly living the high life, it’s a slow but steady progression up the comedy ladder and I’m probably still just above the bread line. For that reason I still do some part time work at a law firm (I used to be a lawyer) which helps make the difference between just getting along and living a reasonable lifestyle (London is awful if you’ve got no money!). Next step is to ditch the suit and tie for good!
What was your biggest challenge while you were away from home?
I think just the freedom that comes from learning that you have to be the architect of your own life. You might ask how is freedom a challenge, but in freedom lies great responsibility. I quit a career in the law to move overseas and become a comic, which was a great personal thrill, but once the thrill subsides you’ve got to deal with the reality which is “OK smart guy, you’re chasing your dream. How are you going to make this happen?”
It’s a good challenge though. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Do you think living overseas has changed the way you do comedy?
I think I’ve become a lot more professional in my attitude to it, but I wouldn’t put this down to ‘living overseas’ as much as I’d put it down to simply seeing it as my main job. Things like writing every day, doing post mortems of gigs, networking more, all just come out of seeing it not as ‘this thing you do’ but as your job. That might sound like it takes some of the joy out of it but on the contrary I feel it makes it much richer.
So tell us a little about your show ‘Yianni’s Head’?..
The show goes through the process of a relationship from two people meeting each other, all the way through making a move, kissing, sex, breaking up and finally what you can do to just be happy. However all the way through I am buffeted to and fro by my conflicting and equally powerful personalities: love, lust, fear and logic.
For example there is one scene where they are all discussing whether to go and talk to a girl who is looking over at me at a bar. Fear is against it and in protest goes downstairs to release butterflies into my stomach. Libido is obviously for it, and tries to encourage me to have a few drinks to shut Fear up. Logic says that she’s clearly looking over for a reason whilst Love likes the fact that she’s wearing an Atari badge, indicating ‘geek chic’ which we like!
Using that I cover topics such as ‘how do you try to kiss someone?’, ‘why do guys find commitment a bit prickly?’, ‘can you stay friends with your ex?’ and ‘is there any such thing as ‘The One’?’ Being able to see the topics from four The Groggy Squirrel different points of view is really fun, and I’ve enjoyed writing the show because of it.
I notice you have a director, Lorin Clarke, is this more of a one man play than stand up?
The show is really a hybrid of stand up and a one-man play. Some of it is stand up, but periodically I will switch from doing straight stand up on a topic to playing out deliberations inside my head where the four main impulses libido, logic, fear and love debate my actions and make decisions on what I should do. These parts are more in the mould of a one man play. Each of them has a distinctive voice, characterisation and physical attributes.
Have you worked with a director before?
Yes, Lorin directed my debut MICF solo show in 2003 ‘USA’. I really have faith in her abilities and she has faith in mine. Plus we’re very close friends from university which allows us to be totally honest with each other, I’m not going to go to water if she tells me straight up “Yianni, that part is shit”.
Going back to the question of professionalism however, this has been a completely different kettle of fish to the 2003 show. That was my first hour long show ever, this is my fourth. At that time, I was relatively inexperienced; I’m now a professional stand up. The night before ‘USA’ opened, I remember Lorin and I in my room trying to cut 100 minutes of stand up down into 50! Hopefully that won’t happen this time!
Is it a new show for you or is it one you’ve been working on and honing overseas?
No, this is the world premiere! I’m doing the show in Edinburgh this year though, I’ve got a venue booked and everything! I’ve been honing my performance skills all over the world this last year, but you guys are getting the material fresh!
What are you looking forward to most?
First of all, just being home! Comedy wise, getting the show to the point where it reflects the picture I saw in my head when I first had the idea. But really, the joy is in the show itself! It gives me unbridled joy to perform, to make people smile and laugh. To perform something that you’ve seen grow from a seed of an idea in your head into a tangible 55 minute performance that you’re happy with is immensely satisfying.
I hope to see as many of you there as possible!
For more information see Yianni In Yianni’s Head