The comedian and author is bringing his one-man show to Canberra in September.
He spoke to The Canberra Times via Zoom while zipping around the streets on London
He spoke to The Canberra Times via Zoom while zipping around the streets on London
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00:00So tell us about the show, why did you want to do this kind of show at this time in your life?
00:06Well, I thought it was a good opportunity to get out there and entertain. That's the first thing I
00:15want the show to be, really entertaining, really fun for everyone to leave on a high. And I think
00:22I think mainly because I feel like a sort of generation has passed and the new generation
00:29of like teenagers and stuff are watching Little Britain and Come Fly With Me and loving it. And
00:35so I thought maybe there's a show where you've got the people who kind of were watching it,
00:43you know, first time around and now they've had kids and now they're going to share it together.
00:47But, you know, I thought I've never done a show like this. It could be quite fun. I've got a lot
00:54of great stories. I've had lots of adventures over the years, lots of stories and that I've
01:00never been told before. And people are interested in how characters came about and, you know,
01:07who's the, what's it like meeting the Queen or whatever, whatever it might be. And I feel like
01:13I've got a lot of great funny stories and I've never had the opportunity to tell before I wanted
01:18to do that. And then also when I announced these shows, lots of parents got in touch and said,
01:26and said, you know, can I take my eight year old to the show? And so I thought
01:34probably not. Not that it's going to be with food or anything, but just, you know,
01:39I've got an 11 year old son. I know that's a late night thing. And I thought with it,
01:43and also because I've got a lot of readers around the world, particularly in Australia and New
01:50Zealand, I thought that it'd be nice to do a show for the families and kids during the day.
01:57And then a show for the grown ups, teenagers or whatever. So that's what we're doing.
02:10Because when I've been on tour before and done like the other stuff, the traveling,
02:14the sitting around, the waiting to start, that's the bit that's a bit on, you know,
02:19I don't know. It's just, there's the bit you don't enjoy very much just because you're just
02:23waiting to get back on stage. They're actually doing two shows a day is actually suits me fine.
02:28And they're very different.
02:29Are you doing it for every venue? Are you doing in Canberra or just some?
02:33That's a big question. I think so.
02:36I think we have to campaign for Canberra for the book show, definitely. Because so many.
02:40Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry if I'm not.
02:47Because I think we should, I should do it.
02:51Yeah, definitely.
02:52So I like that I haven't, you know, this isn't like, this is something we're creating,
02:57especially for Australia and New Zealand, which I really like. And it's not just me sitting
03:05chatting, there's going to be a couple of appearances of a couple of less Britain characters.
03:11And the show, there's a kind of Q&A aspect to it. But at the same time,
03:18they're prompts for me to tell my story, not necessarily. But then there's a chance,
03:24a really spontaneous part, where the audience get to ask me anything they want.
03:29And I like those bits, because I feel like when you're doing any kind of show,
03:35if you can, unless you're doing a play or something, you want to build in something
03:40that can be different every night. Because that makes it interesting for you. And I think also
03:45audiences like it when they know you're thinking on your feet, and that you're being spontaneous,
03:49because obviously, you didn't know what that question was going to be. So if your answer is
03:52funny, you know, people go, Oh, you know, that was a good moment. Normally, people like moments
03:58that are completely spontaneous. Yeah. Anything. Also, they love things going wrong. So someone
04:04asked a kind of awkward question or difficult question or something is actually quite,
04:09you know, actually people rather like that, you know, so I'm looking forward to that part of it.
04:16And, you know, ultimately, I don't want to be like soul searching or anything like
04:23that. I mean, I'll be honest and open. But the main thing I want this to be is a great piece
04:28of entertainment. Yeah. Because we're all for a laugh. And, you know, I just want people to have
04:35had a great time. You know, like we sat around dinner table together, and I told lots of funny
04:40stories, done some impressions and gone into the dressing up box and dressed up and done some like
04:45sketches and things for them, you know, and I just want them to go that was a really, really
04:49brilliant evening. Yeah, definitely. So I heard an interview where you talked about, you know,
04:54Barry Humphries, igniting a light in you or something like that. Like, what can you tell
04:59me about that when you first saw him? Well, I first I he was very big on British television,
05:06the 80s with this, the Dame Edna experience. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And basically he.
05:20So I went to see it. I sat with the porpoise because that's all I could afford
05:24first time around. Then I saved up because the show ran a long time. It was such a hit.
05:28Go back with a vengeance, the live show. And and I saved up and sat like 10 rows back. And it was
05:34like the moment I thought, oh, this is what I want to do, because I knew I wanted to do comedy,
05:39but I knew I wasn't going to be a stand up comic. I just couldn't get my head around
05:44how I would do that. And it's very hard how you would do that when you're 16, 17 anyway, because
05:49you haven't, you know, so much of being a stand up is based on life experience and sharing stories.
05:55You know, you're 16, you haven't lived a long time. So, you know, what I loved was,
06:03obviously, it's one of the greatest comedy characters ever created. But also, I loved
06:08how anarchic it was, the games he was playing with sort of being nice to people, but rude to
06:14them at the same time, that the backstory of the character was always good. I think it started with
06:22that Norm had died. Her husband talks about her children, Madge, the bridesmaid. I mean,
06:34it's just hilarious. And I just remember this. I can remember the whole thing in great detail.
06:41Because, you know, if you something probably much better than I can remember something I
06:44saw last week. Anyway, so I saw that. And then a couple of times in London,
06:49I saw him out and about. I saw him at this classical music store looking incredible in
06:55this fedora and so elegant. I wanted to say something to him, but I was just too shy.
07:00And he was just such, you know, you need to think you don't want to say the wrong thing.
07:05And then I saw him again at the theatre and I was just like, I don't want to say anything.
07:09Anyway, we, me and Matt were asked, we're making a documentary about Little Britain and us. And so
07:16they said, you know, asking questions, you know, who were the big influences? I said,
07:20very helpful. And they said, well, let's see if he, you know, he'll do an interview.
07:24And then he came in to meet us. And that was the first time I met him about 2005.
07:29But then after that, we became friends. Our very first night at the Little Britain
07:33tour in Australia, he came. We were in Melbourne the next day. He took us out for lunch at the
07:39Flower Drum Chinese restaurant. The whole thing is etched on my memory because we were sitting
07:45there with our hero. And then now I saw him, you know, a few times a year, going out for dinner or
07:52lunches or things like that, going to see shows. He was very, what I loved was sometimes when
07:58people are older and they are quite dismissive of younger generation, you know, because I was
08:07all better in my day. But he was so welcoming and not just to me and Matt, but lots of other people
08:12too. Rob Brydon was also a great friend of his. Me and Rob spent time with him together.
08:21So, yeah, he's very special. I mean, he had an incredibly long life and career. Very successful.
08:29He was also, what was surprising was he was absolutely hilarious as him. Because the thing
08:35about when people have a comedy character, sometimes it's because they're not or a persona,
08:39because they're a bit serious in real life. Like I love Rowan Atkinson. And I don't know him well,
08:46but I've met him a handful of times. I think he's brilliant, but he's quite serious in real life.
08:50He's not, well, certainly with me, but he's not, you know, he's not, Barry is like,
08:57Barry went around sort of making outrageous comments all the time, all that liking to
09:02Rowan is sort of dying. And so it's a kettle of fish, but so it's not like, it's not a given,
09:09but he was so funny as him too. Anyway, so for me, there's always been this connection. Like
09:17Little Britain was big in Australia. And just as well, not just us, but also there's so many
09:24brilliant Australian comedians and, you know, actors and musicians that come from Australia
09:30and make it around the world. And Chris Lilley, you're a fan of Chris Lilley too?
09:35Love Chris Lilley. Yeah. Brilliant. Yeah. I mean, Summer Heights High is one of the
09:40funniest shows I've made, I think. I mean, brilliant. And also I just love things when
09:45your jaw is on the floor. I just love it because it's brilliant because I mean, comedy doesn't
09:51always have to be like that, because I love more wise and they weren't like that. You weren't,
09:56you know, shocked, but sometimes it's just, it's, it's, it's a real, you get a real buzz
10:03being shocked and Chris Lilley, so talented, such a great writer and actor. And again, I mean,
10:12I'm not unlike Dame Edna that he created all these kind of, basically the characters are kind of
10:17monsters, these characters, aren't they often, you know, they're quite kind, there's bullies,
10:23they're self-obsessed, all of those things as characters, but at the same time, just like Edna,
10:28you love spending time with them because they're funny. And so, yeah, I think he's, I've never met
10:36him. I think he's an incredible talent. I don't know anything about him, you know, in his private
10:41life or anything, but I would hopefully one day I'll pass across because I think he's a genius.
10:46Well, hopefully he'll come to one of your shows.
10:49Maybe. Well, where does he live in Australia? Do you know?
10:51I think he lives in Melbourne.
10:53Okay. Well, maybe I'll try to reach out to him when I'm in Melbourne.
10:56Yeah, definitely.
10:57I wouldn't force him to come to the show.
10:59Oh, I don't think you'd be forced.
11:01But I would certainly love to have lunch with him and explain what he does.
11:09Because I obviously watched Little Britain and all the other shows like for the first time around,
11:13and now I've got kids and they're reading your books and they're such great books and they love
11:18them, especially the, you know, World's Worst Parents and World's Worst Teachers and all that
11:23sort of thing. But what were you like as a kid? Like, did you like reading or?
11:29Well, I got into reading because, well, my mum and dad, very good, they took me and my sister
11:34to the local library every couple of weeks so we could pick, take out three books. And so I'd often
11:40go and I think, oh, I'll get a book about volcanoes, one about space travel, you know,
11:45one about werewolves, whatever. And I wasn't that drawn to fiction, you know, and I think boys often
11:51like, you know, things that has lots of pictures and descriptions and, you know, I don't know,
11:58things about trains or planes or dinosaurs, whatever. And then I read Charlie and the
12:04Chocolate Factory and that was it, you know, it was away. And so that book will always be very
12:10special to me, as it is to people around the world. And so I was lucky that we didn't have
12:19books in the house, we didn't really own them. But we, so, you know, we went to the libraries,
12:24we didn't have to own them. So I did, I was exposed to books at a young age, but I wasn't
12:30thinking that I wanted to be an author at that stage because I really wanted to act,
12:37perform. And I got into writing really because I realized that to be a successful comedian in
12:44the time that, you know, I was thinking about this, is you have to kind of, you have to write your own
12:49stuff. There weren't many comedians who didn't write their own material. So I became, I got into
12:57writing really just comedy sketches and things because I wanted to get up in school and do little
13:04little sketches and things. So that was my first thing of writing. And then as I sort of progressed
13:10as a writer, you know, did more, started working professionally, I sort of started thinking about
13:16writing as just the more creative part, for me at least. And I thought, you know, because it's
13:24like you've got the blank page when you're an actor, you're interpreting what's already there.
13:30I get slightly annoyed when actors go, oh, when I created the character of this, I think, well,
13:35no, the writer based it, you interpreted it brilliantly, but didn't invent it anyway. So
13:42and then I got more into like, I just, I suppose, I like performing a lot, but I just probably felt
13:51sometimes more fulfilled writing, coming up with things that, you know,
13:57you know, just creating something that, you know, had never existed before. It's just a thrill.
14:02And so, and then I just had this idea for a children's book about a boy going to school
14:10dressed as a girl. And once I'd had the idea, I thought, maybe all right, children's book, you
14:15know, I still was interested in looking at them, reading them. I didn't have kids at the time, but
14:19I'd missed out on some. And I was always curious to like read something like Alice's Adventures
14:25in Wonderland, again, is, you know, a pretty, you know, it's a work of art. So you don't have to be
14:3310 to enjoy that you can be. And I was thinking, oh, this could be quite an interesting story,
14:39and maybe I'll have a go. And it got, it got, it wasn't a big seller, but it got,
14:46it got kind of well received. And, but I suppose most importantly for me is that I just
14:52got a real kick out of doing it. And I realized that I could have an emotional dimension to the
14:58characters of the story that I couldn't in a comedy sketch. Comedy sketch is two minutes,
15:04you know, beginning, middle and end, punchline, on to the next one. So you might have a little
15:11poignant moment or two, but you can't really get deep into things. And also, you can't really
15:17have scenes that, you know, are not funny. You can't just have a scene where they're laughing.
15:22That's what they're all about. So, so I found it very fulfilling. I found it quite personal. I
15:28found that I was expressing myself more openly and honestly in that book. And, and so I wrote more.
15:39And now we're on like book 41 or something like that.
15:42Amazing. Yeah. And it's, and you're always mentioned as, you know, Roald Dahl's successor
15:47and you sort of always, your books are always giving the kids the power over the sort of the
15:51bad adults. And there's also good adults, but like there is that power of kids, you know, sort of
15:59standing up to the, to the adults that aren't quite, you know, good. So was that, is that a
16:07theme like that you always try to pursue? I think most, most children's books probably do that,
16:12don't they? Because I think the adult world, adults have power over kids and often it seems unfair.
16:19There's always hypocrisy, isn't there? You know, one of the things in The Boy in the Dress is the
16:24headmaster throws Dennis out of school for dressing as a girl, but he himself likes to
16:31cross dress. So, you know, I mean, that's the sort of thing that the hypocrisy is a big part of it.
16:36I mean, sometimes in books like in Harry Potter, the children are really empowered by the fact that
16:45they have like magical powers and things like that, aren't they? I mean, they have wands and things like that.
16:50But I wanted to make it a little bit more in the real world where grown-ups still have some
16:55power over you to, you know, put you in detention or parents to ground you and all that kind of stuff.
17:01But basically, yes, you want the children to triumph over the horrible grown-ups as much as
17:10you can. But then I also, to turn it on its head, I wrote these books called The World's Worst Children.
17:15And I thought, because, you know, you're constantly having these kind of, you know, good children at
17:21the center of your stories that are interesting. You know, you can still make them, you know,
17:29different to your other characters in some ways. But I felt like, yeah, but what if the children
17:33at the center of the story were really awful children? I thought that could be quite fun.
17:37And in those ones, some of the adults are the good characters and the children are
17:42actually children love, you know, those books have been very successful.
17:46Well, there's a lot of snot collecting and everything else in that one.
17:50Yeah, there's lots of different ways to approach it. I think the main thing is,
17:53because I've written so many books and I've not written a series, you know, it's not
17:57a series of Potter books or whatever. I feel like I want to make it different every time. So I want
18:02to set myself a challenge each time. The new book I've just written is a murder mystery. I've never
18:07done that before. Books in the future, books in Victorian times. You know, I like to think,
18:16hang on, this has got to be different. I've got to set some challenges. I know quite a few of my
18:21early books are sort of set in a very much contemporary real world, but it was very freeing
18:27suddenly going, right, I'm going to set it in a country house in the 1930s. The new one's all
18:33on a cruise liner. And, you know, it just somehow, it just, I don't know, it shakes things up for you,
18:44which I think is always really important. Because, and sometimes the form changes,
18:50like I also did this book this year, Astrochimp, and it's in the form of a graphic novel. And just
18:55having a different form really helped as well. It really, it was great because it's like, oh,
19:01okay, this just looks and feels different to other things I've done. And sometimes the story
19:07suggests the form because the Astrochimp is very much like, you know, it feels like an animated
19:16movie to me. And the closest you can get in book form, I'd say, would be a graphic novel.
19:21Well, there you go. I hope they gave you a free one.
19:26So, and what did you think when they were talking about changing Roald Dahl's,
19:29you know, work, like his words or his, you know.
19:32Well, they weren't talking about it, they didn't. The thing, and personally, I thought it was
19:40counterproductive, because I think immediately everyone wants to rush out and buy the
19:45original versions. It's just natural instinct, isn't it? It's like, you know, and I think also
19:52it's slightly jarring to think if you're reading something and you go, hang on, have they changed
19:56this bit? Have they changed that bit? I felt, I think what they tried to do was, they tried to
20:02sort of future-proof it. And so basically look at every single thing that they possibly could. And
20:08they made lots of changes, but I felt a lot of them were not necessary. And I think some of them
20:19felt very intrusive. Like in Matilda, Roald Dahl writes that Matilda's like five or six and she's
20:28already read all these kind of incredible books. I think it's like Ernest Hemingway and there's
20:32Richard Kipling, I think the Jungle Book's in there. And then the publishers took like
20:38the Jungle Book out because they thought, well, we don't quite approve of that book anymore,
20:42you know, it's a product of the British Empire. But I thought, well, this is just an interesting
20:48list of books that Roald Dahl liked. I mean, I don't know why he needs not put Mein Kampf.
20:55I don't know why. We've all heard of the Jungle Book. I just think probably it was,
21:01probably looking back, I think it was too much. I think it stemmed out of the fact that Roald Dahl
21:09was anti-Semitic and there was a lot of,
21:17there's a lot of, you know, uncomfortable feeling around that obviously. And I think the publishers
21:24wanted to sort of address that and make sure there weren't things in this book that would have
21:29sounded better. I personally think it's a work of literature and as such,
21:41they should be left as they are. Of course, there were offensive things. I think it's a bit
21:45different, but I don't think that was the case. And I think, you know, and they had to backtrack
21:49and make the original versions available. And I think, I doubt that will happen again. But I mean,
21:56do we want to go through all books and start crossing out things we don't like? I mean,
22:01and cut bits out of movies? We won't learn anything about the past.
22:05And so I found it odd. I mean, I have, at points, I have made changes to things,
22:14you know, where there's something that felt okay 10 years ago. But I mean, minor things,
22:18but like, I'm alive, only just, but I am alive and I can make changes. But Roald Dahl, I felt,
22:26you know, you've got to respect, he's one of the world's greatest storytellers. He might have been
22:30the greatest writer for children of all time. So I'm not sure, it feels, it was like vandalism to
22:37me to change it. It just doesn't feel right because he chose all those words for a reason.
22:44And he's a great artist, a great writer, most brilliant prose. I just think, I don't really
22:51think it's, you know, his place. Also, what are we going to do? Do we want to just look at Shakespeare
22:57plays? Who thinks we don't like their Charles Dickens novels? And, you know, it's all of a
23:04twist is, you know, if you want to say it's problematic, but it tells us about what life
23:08was like, you know, nearly 200 years ago, doesn't it? Interesting.
23:12Yeah. So are you bringing Alfred to Australia? Is he allowed to come?
23:18I'm not bringing Alfred to Australia because people often say, oh, are you bringing someone?
23:21It's like, I would be working and he also has got to be at school. So he's not coming,
23:28but I'm looking forward to taking him one day soon because he is, we're both into our diving.
23:35He recently got his like, you know, diving certificate. So it's something we've started
23:42doing together. And obviously Australia has some of the best diving. Yes, of course. So
23:49we want to go there and explore. So we'll do that at some point soon, I think.
23:53So what's it like being a dad?
23:56It's the best thing in the world. Someone said, I can't remember where I read it. So I'm just
24:01getting out of the car, but we can keep looking. Someone said when you become a parent, it unleashes
24:06sort of chemicals in your brain that you never knew existed. And, you know, you think you know
24:13what love is. And I don't want to exclude people who are not parents because, of course, you know,
24:20not everyone can become a parent. No one wants to become a parent. But for me personally,
24:25um, it's been the most extraordinary thing. And the thing is, when you're,
24:29um, you're pursuing a career, you know, like show business or something,
24:38it can make you very selfish, you know, because you're just, and then you have child and you go,
24:47oh, now my whole life is about, you know, what's best for Alfred.
24:55It's just stopping, I think.
24:59Um, there's no person that I'd rather spend time with than him. And, um, my dogs.
25:13Yeah, it's just the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life. And because I'm a
25:19single dad, it's very nice, very unusual interview, this isn't it? Dogs, cars, everything.
25:29Because, um, it's just me and him a lot of the time. It feels very close. Yeah. You know,
25:35it feels like a very close, intimate relationship. And, you know, children sometimes break your
25:42heart. They don't even necessarily mean to, like we were going to, um, we plan to go to
25:49Disneyland in Florida. And, um, and basically, I don't know if you've ever been, but there's like
25:55three parks, there's miles and miles and miles of it. And, um, so I said, oh, we should look at,
26:01you know, the map and see if, you know, see what we want to do when we get there. And I said,
26:05oh, and I think we're going to have fun. And he went, of course, we're going to have fun,
26:09daddy. I'm going to be with you. And that was it. He doesn't care about Disneyland. He just
26:17wants his dad. Yeah. It's important as being there. You know? And so, yeah. And also we went
26:28to universal studios and there's a, there's a Harry Potter world and we went this Hagrid's
26:35motorcycle adventure ride, which basically uses a sidecar and a motorbike. And they said,
26:41we went up this massive, um, you got this massive slope and then he goes,
26:46that goes backwards and then you drop. Anyway, the first time I was retching,
26:52right. I just was like, I'm going to puke. We had this thing was very nice because we didn't have
26:58to queue. So he wanted to do it five times because I love him so much. I went on five times, even
27:06though I was puking my guts out on number one. But I feel like it's a sort of, it's a bit of a
27:19rites of passage thing, isn't it? Disney. And I felt like if I don't do it now, you know,
27:26I'll sort of never do it. So, um, yeah. All right. Well, it looks like you're home,
27:32so I better leave you alone. It's fine. I probably got to speak to someone else
27:36now. I'm a little bit, um, bit over. No, I saw fine. I just, I just, I was swimming.
27:43That's what I want to know. I will be swimming when I come to Australia. Yeah. I like swimming
27:48and I go swimming all the time, but I'm not swimming. Like I'm not doing some kind of
27:53swimming to another country. I'm not doing Australia to New Zealand.
27:59Okay. You're not going to find me doing that now. It's not, it's not good, but, um.
28:06Hopefully we can get the book thing in Canberra as well. I know you're probably under the pump,
28:10but it would be good to get it. Yeah. Yeah. I want to. So yeah, I don't,
28:16I don't see why not, but I didn't know if they'd announced it or not. I wouldn't pay
28:20quite attention to it, but I will. Well, I will petition them. Yeah.
28:28All right. So good to talk to you.
28:30Lovely talking to you and thank you for your time as well. I appreciate it.
28:34Thank you. So generous. All right. See you, Dave.
28:37Bye.