Can’t Afford A Real Show
After many years on the stage as an actor and singer, Karin Muiznieks is making her Comedy Festival debut in a solo show entitled Can’t Afford a Real Show. I caught up with Karin to see how things are coming along.
Colin: What made a nice girl with classical theatre training decide to get into comedy?
Karin: I guess I was pretty mediocre as an actor. I wasn’t lousy, I just didn’t get a huge response with my work. My class members could move you to tears, I could move your coat to a different seat during interval. Then one day in my first year at uni I’d forgotten to rehearse a song for a big assessment. Rather than excuse myself or call in sick I decided to just walk onstage and sing it as best I could. Naturally I forgot the words about half way in, so I started making them up. By the end Surabaya Johnny included the fabulous line “you’re just a dickhead Johnny, get out of my hotel room and take your lederhosen with you!” The room was in hysterics – apart from my singing teacher who gave me 3/10 for the song and was so outraged by my irreverence that she attempted to fail me on every assignment for the rest of the year. The reaction I got from that song was so much bigger than any serious acting I’d ever done that I thought: “Screw artistic integrity! I’m gonna take the piss from now on.” I consummated that idea by going into class the next day and performing Cleopatra’s death scene with a Ragtime accompaniment and two very unrealistic dead snakes. My marks started slipping while the audience laughed harder. But basically, I knew I was on track if my very serious lecturers threw their hands up in the air, gagged and left the room.
Colin: How long have you been dabbling in the world of stand up?
Karin: I did my first official stand up gig on November the 1st 2006, but I’d done a fair bit of similar stuff before then at uni. We were always asked to write short speeches or scenes for class and I always leaned towards the absurd, I presented a scene study from Two Gentlemen Of Verona as a gun-toting New York Mafia Don in drag just for a laugh. (A laugh that nearly got me failed again.) But the first time I consciously wrote funny solo material from scratch was for Cabaret Project 2005. We were each given 15 minutes of performance time to do whatever we wanted, and my cabaret ended up just being stand up punctuated by songs that made me laugh. The audience loved it and my acting teacher came up to me and said “Forgetting acting! You have to write!” Great words of confidence to hear from your acting teacher. She attempted to fail me later that year.
Stand up is much harder than any other kind of performing I’ve experienced in my 13 years onstage. It takes guts to write and deliver your ideas with confidence and there’s no one else to blame if it all falls apart.
Colin: How has the experience of putting together your first Comedy Festival show been so far?
Karin: I bumbled into this thing pretty blind, whacked down my entry fee and expected it to take care of itself… genius, I know. It’s been a lot of organizing and business that I’ve never had to deal with as an artist but it’s interesting to learn about all the serious non-creative stuff. I feel like I’m gaining a more intimate knowledge of the industry.
More importantly, I’m absolutely overwhelmed by the positivity of everyone involved in the festival. Everyone I’ve spoken to has genuinely wanted to help out and give me the benefit of their experience. The festival team is amazingly supportive and stand up comics in general are just the funnest people I’ve ever met!! It’s such a different world to theatre where everyone’s in it for themselves, all vying for the ONE part in a play, everyone’s competing. Established comedians are a lot more generous to fledglings, there’s a sense of “I was there once and I know how it feels” and people will take you under their wing, teach you the ropes and help you find your feet on shaky ground.
Colin: Aside from a pianist, what other audio visual treats can we expect?
Karin: Ahh… that’s the thing. If I could afford more audio visual treats I Could Afford a Real Show! I do something French with an easel… but you’ll have to come see the show to find out what that is. I’ve started writing my own songs too, (which seems to be the logical thing to do with 7 years of music theory under your belt) so that’s something of a treat, but it’s mainly about doing a good show without any kind of extra assistance. Hopefully my resourcefulness and optimistic outlook will cover the fact that I can’t afford a projector or a laser show.
Colin: Is there an overall theme to the show?
Karin: The whole show is linked together by the fact that I can’t afford to put on a show, but it bounces off that idea into several other realms. I’m unemployed and I can’t really afford anything at all so there’s plenty of room to play around with that idea. It’s based on the cabaret I did over summer this year: “Can’t Afford a Summer Holiday?” which was about staying in Melbourne over the summer and why it’s not the end of the world if you do. I guess the point of “Can’t Afford a Real Show?” is to celebrate just how far you can go when you have nothing to begin with. A lot of TV will rely on celebrities and gimmicks and big budgets and dancing-ex-journalists to lure in viewers rather than talent and good ideas, but I can’t afford any of that so I just have to try and make my show really, really good using only my own resources. … hilarity ensues.
Colin: What makes your show different to the others in the festival?
Karin: I’m in it.
Can’t Afford a Real Show is on at The Butterfly Club (204 Bank Street South Melbourne), Thursday to Sunday from 19th April at 7 pm. Point your browser at “Can’t Afford A Real Show”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/11/ . Karin is also on Myspace at “Karin”:http://www.myspace.com/foolishgenius . Be sure to pop in and say hi!