SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL: DANNY BHOY
- Author:
- Komi Sellathurai
- Posted:
- Sunday, 3 April 2011
On a 38-degree summer day in Sydney, Danny Bhoy blew into a slightly stifling Gleebooks like a cool breeze when he made a surprise appearance at comedy show Wit Large. He came, joked about Australian animals and left. The audience didn’t know what hit them but they loved every bit of the Scotsman’s lightening-speed set. We speak to Australia’s favourite import at this year’s Comedy Festival.
You made an impromptu appearance at Gleebooks earlier this year. Are you warmed up and ready for Messenger (please do not shoot)? Yes, nothing prepares you for a big tour better than a sweltering afternoon gig in the upstairs of a bookshop in Glebe. What’s great about a gig in a bookshop is that you can do comedy and browse the shelves at the same time.
When did you know you wanted to be a comedian? I really stumbled into comedy. I was walking down the Grassmarket in Edinburgh one night when I noticed there was a comedy night on in a pub. I went in to have a look and was hooked. I watched a guy die on stage and thought he was the bravest man I’d ever seen.
You seem to have animated and lengthy conversations with Australian animals. Are they more interesting than the people? I grew up in quite a rural town, so I probably had more animal friends than human friends. I find animals teach us loads of things about the planet which we struggle to understand as humans. My ‘conversations’ with animals are really fantasies of what an animal might say in a given situation if it had a voice. Generally that voice is saying to a human, “Hey, what did you do that for?”
What’s been the highlight of your comedic career thus far? Meeting Billy Connolly was a real highlight. He is such a nice guy and he pretty much invented what we do for a living. He’s my Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Who would star in the movie of your life? What would be the film’s tagline? I think Keanu Reeves would be good, because he would naturally portray how uncomfortable I am in front of a camera. The tagline: How not to use a history degree.
What is the hardest accent for you to attempt? I can do most accents, but I’m not great at the Dutch accent. I always end up sounding a bit like Sean Connery after a stroke.
What haven’t you seen or done in Australia that you’ve really wanted to? I would quite like to do the Bungle Bungles. Just because I really like the name Bungle Bungles.
If comedy hadn’t worked out, what career path would you have taken? I would probably be the funniest bank clerk in Edinburgh.
What did you believe in when you were 18, you wish you still believed in today? The right to party.
May 3 -6, Enmore Theatre, 118-132 Enmore Road, Newtown, $34-39, 9550 3666, enmoretheatre.com.au
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Story posted on Sunday, 3 April 2011, filed under Comedy. Follow responses via the RSS feed.
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