The First Three Up Against the Wall is a political comedy showcase debuting at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It features three of Australia’s best young politically minded stand-up comedians – Jon Brooks, Toby Halligan and Courteney Hocking. Daniel Nicholls interviews the latter:
Tell me about your new show.
Well, it’s a banging hour of stand up comedy, that’s for starters. The three of us have our own quite varied styles and subjects and it runs the gamut of asylum seeker policy, gay marriage, sexual politics, US health-care policy, international relations, media scapegoating and Terri Irwin. It’s really switched on and engaged with the world at large and how that affects us, which I think offers a nice counter-point to a lot of the “why don’t my parents love me/why can’t i get a date” navel gazing that can go on.
Your last show Miss Right had a satirical edge. Is this show a satire or more of a direct commentary?
Bit of both. I think running Political Asylum and having the chance to write and perform and see brand new political comedy once a month has really sharpened my skills and given me a much keener sense of where the satire is. But it is three people doing straight stand-up so it’s also more of a direct conversation, particularly when we only have about fifteen minutes each to smash out some hilarity.
What are the origins of this show?
Well, Mat Kenneally and I started up Political Asylum last year as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival (under the previous incredibly embarrassing name Newspower!, which is what happens when you cross a four people trying to make a name by committee, a newsagent and me thinking an exclamation mark makes a lick of difference to utter rubbish).
Since then, Political Asylum has been running once a month at the Brunswick Green in Sydney Road, which is just an awesome venue. We basically wanted a place where political comics could really hone their specific topical and political comedy skills and learn from each other and not worry about audiences not understanding or just sitting through it until the dick jokes or whatever came back on. Thankfully, we’ve kind of found a niche of audiences who want that sort of comedy, too, which is such a lovely surprise to turn up once a month and see a packed crowd of people who just get it. It’s quite easy to feel isolated doing political satire and topical comedy in Australia because we don’t have a great tradition of it on stage (or on TV, or radio for that matter) and stand-up comedy is already isolating enough as a career. So it’s just been a way for us to specialise in what we’re best at, have a little collective where we can bounce ideas around and challenge each other, improve our skills and really provide audiences with some sharp, funny, insightful comedy about the latest news without dumbing it down for anyone.
So it was really through starting that sort of political comedy collective I met Toby and Jon (and a whole gang of other awesome comics such as Aamer Rahman, Nazeem Hussein from Fear of a Brown Planet and Ben McKenzie from a million MICF shows including +1 Sword). I was planning to have a year off from doing a solo show and at the very last minute Toby rang and asked if I wanted to split a bill with him and Jon. Having felt quite burnt out from doing a couple of solo shows in a row, it’s been really rejuvenating and challenging and fun to work with these guys. It’s a constant battle to make myself better and sharper and funnier than the guys and it just makes for a show I can be so proud of, because they’re both just so quick and sharp.
Your badges are awesome, what was the story with those?
Well, I’ve been loving the Twitter for a while now (I get to swap snark with people who watch Q&A, which is rare. The jokes have to be under 132 characters so people can retweet them so it’s a good writing exercise and Ice-T always has great street wisdom for young players). Basically the day Tony Abbott came out with his stunning proclamation that “A woman’s virginity is the most precious gift she can give.” (for further hilarious unpacking of this ridiculousness, see our show) I had that lovely moment of anger/humour crystallising into a tweet of “I fuck and I vote, Tony. Keep it in mind.” which went on to be retweeted all across the land. A friend of mine is a graphic designer and she kind of said: “Hey, why don’t we make some stickers and badges?” and totally ran with it and did all the work… which was very good of her! So about a week or so later we met in a pub and she handed me this illicit feeling brown paper bag full of swearing badges and stickers. I’ve yet to see one out on the street yet, but the Merch Booth at Comedy Festival are selling them like crazy, so it’s a bit neat to stick it to Tony Abbott with stick pins and a bit of chutzpah.
You also have another show during the festival, Political Asylum. What’s that all about?
Our Comedy Caucus at MICF is a one-off showcase of our best work from the core Political Asylum gang as well as Rod Quantock and [name redacted]. It’s going to be the best night of political and topical comedy at the Comedy Festival and a chance to show a wider audience that comedy can have brains and balls at the same time. Everyone is really amped to use their powers on the big stage at Swiss House and the material so far is as sharp as tacks. So it’s going to be a real belter and a great showcase of smart new political comics doing what they do best: taking the piss out of the powerful.
The First Three Up Against the Wall runs until 17th April at the Fad Gallery. For full booking details go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival website
Political Asylum runs on April 9th at Swiss House and monthly throughout the year. For full booking details go to the Melbourne Comedy Festival website