An interview with Kieran Butler
Tell me about your show.
It was late September 2003 and I was living in Scotland. After Collingwood got thumped in the Grand Final I couldn’t sleep so I got up, opened a new Word file, and just started typing. It was a catharsis. I went right back to when Collingwood lost three Grand Finals in a row (1979 – 81) and faced the fact that my heart was irretrievably broken at the age of eleven. I started to evaluate how tragic Collingwood’s recent history really was, and considering good comedy always springs forth from tragedy, I suddenly found myself laughing my way out of the feeling pretty damn low about the Grand Final result. What I wrote is the basis for this show. It takes the audience through pivotal moments in my life where Collingwood has figured largely in some tragic – and funny – life changing events. I claim that Collingwood nearly ruined my comedy career. After the 2002 Grand Final loss I cancelled my Melbourne Fringe show and started drowning my sorrows. Unfortunately for me I was still in the empty venue when an influential Melbourne comedy administrator turned up to check out my show. You can imagine how good that looked.
You’ve been spending a bit of time in the UK. How have you found it?
Amazing. There are so many opportunties there if you want to work hard. I divided my time between comedy and music. I did stand up in Holland .I took my original music (I play with my partner, violinist Michelle Wilson) to Scotland, Germany and Portugal. I was based in Scotland andthe comedy scene there is really diverse. I was able to get broadcasting experience on BBC Scotland, and get down south to London and Manchester from time to time. It is a slow process but it is encouraging to know you can make a living from performing. I did five different shows at 3 Edinburgh Fringe festivals. I did solo stand up, music, and an ensemble show with a bunch of Scottish comics. Last year I did this walking tour about how the festival has become so corporatised. You can have an idea and really run with it in Edinburgh. I love that about the festival. I was making a modest living doing whatI love to do. So yeah, I can probably say that my time in the UK was life affirming in some ways. I am definitely going back. I have a dear friend in Manchester and we have plans to write something for television. In the UK, that actually seems achievable somehow.
Do you get a lot of coverarge of the Aussie Rules footy over there?
Not really. They have a highlights show that is on at 5 in the morning. When you set your alarm for that you know you’ve got problems! There are more games of Aussie Rules going on in the UK than people realise. I was talking to Micheal Chamberlin the other day and we worked out that he played against a friend of mine who brought a team over from Germany to London in 1998. I was always on the internet listening to the commentary of Collingwood games. Very tragic!
Is it good to be home?
It’s great to see friends and family. My partner had to return to Australia for personal reasons before last years Fringe so once that was over I came back primarily to be with her. We are both going back for the Fringe again in July. I can’t honestly say that I haven’t found the lack of gigs here frustrating, but Australia is a big country with a lot less people in it so what are you going to do. I have loved the weather, the food, the fact the footy has already started – and you have to love the Howard government, what more do I have to say?
You’ve been working with Fleety on the new song “The Un Australian Anthem”. How did that come about and how do you find working with Fleety?
Fleety basically asked me to do a backing track for this song he had written so he could sing it in his show at the Adelaide Fringe. Michelle put some violin on the original backing track and it sort of just grew bigger than we had anticipated. It was bit of a hit in Adelaide from what I have been told and the more we worked on it and developed it, the more it became apparent we should try and release it as a single or something like that. I have recently enlisted some other friends to play on it and it just gets better and better, but I have no idea where it will all end up. I am looking forward to playing on it live from time to time during the festival.
Working with Fleety is really good fun. We are doing a show on weekends during the festival called ‘The Kerry Packer Experience’ where we will try and promote other comics shows by interviewing them in front of a live audience in Town Hall. We did a few shows in Elwood last year and when we get going there is a really genuine rapport between us. Fleety is very giving as a performer and writer. If he reads this there is no doubt he will unleash his favourite ‘Deadwood’ quote to describe me -and I really can’t say that here. Fleety really loves ‘Deadwood’.
What’s your favourite aspect of doing festival shows?
The way you have to put it all on the line. It is a month of your life and you have to commit to what you’re doing 100%. I also like the fact that you can expect the unexpected from your experience in a festival in its entirety. You never know who you will meet and what opportunities or adventures you can have. In my first festival in 2002 I ended up on stage with Fiona O’Loughlin playing the part of a drunken Irish musician. It is a really fond memory of my first year in comedy and it happened because we met at the festival. I have looked forward to the Melbourne Comedy Festival since I have got back from the UK. I am looking forward to putting on a really good show. That is always a huge challenge.
For booking details go to Kieran Butler claims Collingwood ruined my life