Fun at the Baxter Pharmaceuticals Xmas Party
Thursday - 16th of December 2010
Last Friday I got a random last minute call from Baxter Pharmaceuticals to perform at their Christmas function the following evening at the Maid and Magpie Hotel in Hackney, Adelaide.
Walking into the venue I just went ‘O God’, as their dinner was in the front public bar section, there were random people not part of the group walking through the area and the microphone coverage in the speeches before I was to get up was not even reaching the end tables of their group!
As it turned out though, the people who made up the group were savvy, friendly and delightfully responsive and it turned out a tremendously fun and satisfying little gig.
Jo, Chip and Wally representing the company were genuinely lovely to deal with and I enjoyed staying around for the next hour or so and sharing conversation and a meal with both them and several other friendly members of the organisation.
One heck of a road trip
Saturday - 30th of October 2010
I just got back home from the second longest road trip of my career - a full month away.
The trip started with a drive through the centre of Australia with a couple of my comic friends, Rich Naberhood and Jason Chong, in which we stopped along the way at several towns and performed a show.
The first night was in a tiny town of 80 people called Mintabie. These were some of the friendliest people we met on the trip and we had a great time putting on a small show for them and then socialising into the night. The town is a little oasis in the middle of nowhere and our evening there was a highlight of the trip. Luka who owns the pub is super friendly and if you get there make sure you catch up with Rus (short for Horus) who is convinced he is an extra-terrestrial being here from egyptian times. Yes!
We then performed a well attended and well received show at Ayers Rock the next night. Thanks there to Frank from the Resident’s Club for having us for what was a fun night. Seeing Ayers Rock at dawn the following morning was also spectacular.
The next night was at Alice Springs Casino. One of the challenges with this tour was getting to the venues each afternoon and often only having a short period of time to set them up suitably. Natasja who we dealt with from the venue is a lovely person and was super to deal with, but ultimately this ended up a gig held in a very challenging environment that unfortunately didn’t reach the mark we were all hoping for.
Tennant Creek was the next stop and unfortunately our show collided with a big rodeo being held in the town on the same night. The owner of the Memo Club, Doug, was a true gentleman, but ultimately the clash took away our target audience and the show was attended by only a handful of people who happened to be there drinking.
From there, the boys and I parted ways, as I was already pre-committed to a flight from darwin to my next stop, Gold Coast. At 3am I caught a Greyhound bus to darwin and enjoyed one rude bus driver and another driver with flat out anger issues who should not be in charge of people. I will not be travelling with Greyhound ever again and was appaled at the service.
Reached Darwin in a heap, after 2 of the toughest ‘gigs’ of my life, no sleep, and 13 hours on a bus driven by two people who clearly reflect a company with no standards about who they choose to have represent them. Bring on 4 nights in the luxurious comfort of…a backpackers. So yeah, 10 nights into this trip and I’m thinking “I’m spent”.
But what do you know, Darwin ended up awesome fun and I met a heap of people and am glad I got to see it. A croc tour through the Adelade River was the highlight that i will never forget - no wonder these things have survived millions of years - they are amazing creatures. And god help you if you fall into that river by chance. It is inhabited by about 4000 saltwater crocs. You are dead. Without doubt.
Next stop was Gold Coast Arts Centre and hallelujah I walk in there and the venue is set up perfectly and filled to capacity with a savvy metropolitan crowd. What a great fun gig and so timely too after the two previous shows. Note to comedians - do the room - and to punters - see a show there - you won’t be disappointed. Tracey Bennett who books the room chocks it up with 3 brackets of talented acts (that included on this night Dave Oneill, Mark McConville and Mandy Nolan) so you pretty much go home with nothing left in the tank. I’m really looking forward to going back there in February to headline for the first time too.
My next week was in Brisbane and I had the upmost pleasure of spending my time accommodated by the Sit Down Comedy Club in an apartment (that after the last couple of weeks living felt like a palace) alongside none other than Greg Fleet, one of Australia’s premiere headliners for the past 20 years. Fleety and I hit it off out of nowhere and I had an awesome time hanging with a man who has seen the highs of being literally one of the country’s top acts, and endured the lows of certain other times, and somehow just keeps ticking through it all in a very ‘real’ and unassuming way. I found Fleety very endearing off stage and really valued my time with him, and had a great time watching series 6 of Entourage (some of the best tv of our time!) and being introduced to Breaking Bad, a series about a pushover high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has cancer and then through some random circumstances becomes a producer of high grade methamphetamines to cover the cost of his chemo treatment, and just becomes bad-ass in a hurry - see this show - it is compelling from the word go. It was great to watch Fleety on stage too and just take in the professionalism, and also to receive genuine positivity back from him about my performing too, which i really appreciated and valued.
As far as the gigs went, I had a fun time MCing the Sit Down Comedy Club for the first time and learnt a lot about Queensland audiences too whilst I was at it. There is something different about them that I don’t find anywhere else - Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney - and can’t put my finger on, but I really do find there that I have to walk out and really assert myself straight away before the response starts coming back, which is not natural for me as I prefer to be laid back and self effacing and draw people in in a more organic fashion.
The trip finished with a couple of tougher gigs at the Newmarket Hotel and The Bank Hotel in the Valley, presenting open mic nights of up to 16 new acts. You certainly earn your money as MC in these rooms!
The final leg of the tour was in Sydney, and I can tell you i was looking forward to it. The Laugh Garage is always a pleasure to perform at, and is so well set up for comedy that even when there aren’t massive crowds in there it has a beatiful resonance to it and is well enjoyed by both comics and audiences alike. The thursday show in front of a small crowd, predominantly of Westpac bankers having some social time together, was pleasant but a little subdued, but the friday and saturday shows there were great and very rewarding. I felt so good about the vibe in there even than Saturday I simply decided to do the material I am working on for Fringe 2011 to get a feel for how that was going, and forego the use of 10 or so of my stronger jokes that I would generally do in my club sets. It was received really warmly, and I got a lot out of knowing that I now have 25 minutes of material worth presenting in the bank for Adelaide Fringe which starts mid-Feb.
The last two nights were MCing at the Star 100 managed rooms, The Fringe Bar on Oxford St and SugarMill in Kings Cross, presenting Tommy Dean, Gordon Southern and Bev Killick. These were absolute delights and were a great note to finish a long and challenging but also very rewarding and growth-filled road trip.
A week at the Lounge and then a run in Perth
Friday - 29th of October 2010
I really enjoyed this little MC run at The Comics Lounge, Melbourne’s biggest comedy club and one of my favourite rooms in the country.
The Wednesday was a little slow but the Thursday and Friday shows were great fun and I really enjoyed working alongside Lehmo, one of Adelaide’s first comics to really take it to the national scene.
I then headed over to Perth on a red-eye flight for the national final of the Rottnest Launch the Comedian competition, in which the adjudged winning comic pocketed $5000.
As fate would have it I lost my voice the night before in the cold weather of melbourne and I ended up performing with about 50% of my voice capacity and sounding like a teenager going through puberty.
I did a really good job and got a very healthy response from the crowd, but ultimately wasn’t able to project my voice well enough to the room of 300 to take the winner’s cheque.
Jacques Barrett performed well and was a deserved winner, whilst Jimmy James Eaton, Kehau jackson, Nick Cody and Shane Hunter also put in really solid performances.
The rest of the run in Perth’s clubs was great fun as always, the highlights being my headline spot at the Brisbane Hotel and MCing the following week at the Comedy Lounge alongside Tahir (Fat Pizza) and Gab Rossi.
Great to reconnect with Sydney
Friday - 20th of August 2010
For the last couple of weeks I have been performing around the club scene of Sydney.
It had been 3 years since my last trip there so it was very satisfying to really reconnect with all of the promoters over there.
I did 8 nights of MCing and Headlining at the Laugh Garage, the Friend in Hand in Glebe and the rooms run by Star 100 and A-List.
The performing went very well, the standout nights being the Friday and Saturday at the Laugh Garage (my first look at the city venue, and without doubt one of the best rooms for comedy in the country - it just cooks!) alongside Gary Eck (co-writer and director of Happy Feet 2, and a thoroughly professional comedian whose ability outweighs his mainstream profile) and MCing at the seriously savvy Kings Cross venue The Sugar Mill mid-week alongside Chris Wainhouse and Sam Bowring, both classy east coast standup comedians any MC would love to present to a crowd.
This trip produced new jokes too which is always great and I came back very fresh, having enjoyed several weights sessions at the impressive UNSW gym facility, a great coffee and writing session at Coca Cabana on Oxford St, and the generous hospitality of Sudanese-Australian stand up comedian Mujahid Ahmed (aka ‘my man Muj’).
I definitely improved as a stand up across the run and I look forward to heading back to Sydney in December after I’ve crossed a few more cities off the list!
Celebrating Adelaide Comedy’s 10th Birthday at The Marion!
Thursday - 15th of July 2010
Earlier tonight I was lucky enough to be in the line up amongst some of Adelaide’s ‘old school crew’ for the Marion Hotel leg of Adelaide Comedy’s 10th birthday celebrations.
I had a fun little spot up the top of the show and really enjoyed the amazing performing skills of Dave Williams, watching Rich Naberhood do a great job, Kehau Jackson and her new joke about ‘faggot penguins’ (that description won’t make any sense but just wait till you hear the joke), Big Al light up the room with an infectuousness that only he brings, and the awesome, charismatic and twisted Mickey D cap the night off beautifully with his feature spot.
Craig Egan has done an awesome job of creating such a vibrant scene here in Adelaide and I’m sure the people who came along tonight to the Marion and caught a glimpse of just how talented our locally grown comics are will vouch that things are only on the up for Adelaide Comedy from here.
Check out Rhino Room on Frome St this thurs and fr if you haven’t already got a chance to catch one of the birthday shows.
New Green Mazda 2!!!
Friday - 11th of June 2010
Life is progressing!
I just purchased an awesome new ‘tree frog green’ Mazda 2 and will be getting my logo across it within the next couple of days!
The model of car is really eye catching and the logo’ing should make it a great business asset.
Who would have thought sitting on the bonnet of my ‘86 Corolla Seca at 2am outside of Gumeracha a few months ago after the engine blew up that the opportunity to buy this would come along so quickly!
Supporting Hollywood’s Tom Green at the Festival Theatre
Friday - 9th of April 2010
Out of the blue I was contacted to open the show for Tom Green (think Road Trip, Freddy Got Fingered) in the two Adelaide performances of his current world standup tour, each in front of 600-strong sold out crowds at the majestic Festival Theatre’s Dunstan Playhouse. Earlier tonight was the first of the two shows and it was certainly an interesting experience. Think walking out to a crowd of blokes who look like they spend a lot of time complimenting watching Tom’s movies with smoking weed, along for a night out with their girlfriends, all going crazy when the stage lights came up for the first time before collectively thinking “who the f**k is this?” as I walk out to open the show. One guy actually did yell that out (to a handful of claps) and it was only when I replied “I’m the guy in the background in Road Trip - who the f**k are you?” and that was greeted with an overwhelming round of applause that I thought “they may not actually hate me for occupying 15 minutes of their pre-Tom existences”. From there it became clear straght up that the night was going to go off as the audience quickly stepped into gear and the majority of my material and interaction was enthusiastically received. I had a great time interacting with the crowd (a couple of stoners in the front, a guy with the most fertilised troll-doll hair I’ve ever seen, a bloke who looked like the non-Keanu Reeves guy out of Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure who didn’t become famous) and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it felt to do so and how effective it was in engaging the crowd given that the size of the room and the audience was much greater than what I perform in the majority of the time. I’m going to reflect on things a bit tonight and look to tweak my approach a little now that I have a feel for the room, come back tomorrow night to a fresh set of confused stares and see if I can’t then take that audience somewhere pleasantly unexpected for a few minutes too. Side note too - Tom Green is a lovely, genuine dude.
Very satisfied with Adelaide Fringe 2010
Thursday - 18th of March 2010
Whilst I haven’t fully reflected on it yet, I know Adelaide Fringe 2010 was a genuine success.
The attendances were great (an average of 52 people across 15 nights), the reviews were really positive (Advertiser and Adelaide Theater Guide listed below), the responses consistently reflected healthy appreciation, Sugar as a venue was intimate and the staff were overwhelmingly supportive, and at the essence of it all I just really enjoyed presenting the content in this show.
I feel every time you come out of an intense personal experience like the Fringe, which always requires every bit of your resourcefulness, you become more attuned to your strengths and weaknesses, more clear on your direction and just more conscious about yourself as a performer, person and professional entity in general. This has been no exception and whilst I don’t know exactly what the next step is for me, I feel there is a distinct opportunity present here to capitalize on the momentum this Fringe has generated and progress with what I do and have to offer.
Of huge importance here is acknowledging the phenomenal support I received throughout the Fringe, which all contributed magically to the way it unfolded. Sean and Kate Heylen of Deadline Media (http://www.deadline.net.au) were hugely generous in their sponsorship of all of my promotional material, including one very massive (and unexpected) eye catching sign outside Sugar on Rundle St. Sugar proved a chilled, funky and intimate venue for live comedy and my sincere thanks go out to Ben, Driller, Keiran, Steve, Loanne, Marg, Claire, Andrew and Sarah for their support. The boys from the Woodville Basketball club deserve some big props too for their help spreading the word about my show through their own personal networks. That really helped me get the awareness of my show out to far more people in my demographic and definitely contributed to the consistently energetic vibe of my crowds right throughout the Fringe - I look forward to being able to reciprocate with some sponsorship of the club this season. My thanks also go to Radhika, or ‘Rads’, my Indian housemate who volunteered three weeks of her time and energy to helping me make sure that each and every show ran smoothly from an operational point of view. I’m truly blessed to have had her move in and I might even wait a bit longer now to increase her rent. Jokes people, jokes. Thanks also to every one of you who came out to check out where I’m at and what I’m talking about at this point in my life, in what was now my third solo Fringe show. I was blown away by the turnouts that seemed to effortlessly flow through the door and also the vibe that people consistently came with.
I thoroughly valued the experience that each and every night of Fringe ‘10 brought and I really look forward to upping my output and presenting a fresh new show for you all in 2011.
Early reviews of Just Say It - my 2010 Adelaide Fringe Show
Friday - 26th of February 2010
Four publications reviewed the first official night of my 2010 Adelaide Fringe Show ‘Just Say It’ - talk about pressure people!!!
As it turned out, I felt the show on this particular night was solid - not one of my best 5 or 6 performances of the Fringe - but nonetheless not a bad night to get reviewed on.
The Adelaide Theatre Review and The Advertiser have already released their reviews.
Check them out below!
JUST SAY IT
Ben Darsow
Sugar
Until 13 Mar 2010
Reviewed by Tony Busch
Ben Darsow is indeed a funny bugger. You almost don’t realise how funny until he’s finished and you
suddenly feel your face aching from having grinned non-stop for an hour. His is the sort of humour that
keeps you saying to yourself “Oh yes, I know, I know…”
He has a rapid-fire delivery and very quickly develops a strong rapport with his audience, eliciting some
unexpected responses upon which he pounces like a raptor.
His material covers everything from dating in Adelaide, to fame versus talent, to how to get rid of a
hard-on. There’s even a video segment, which is perhaps the least successful part of the hour, only
because it removes the intimacy of his delivery.
If you in the mood for some fun get along to Sugar and catch Ben.
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Ben Darsow - Just Say It
Tristan Willes From: AdelaideNow
ADELAIDE’S own Ben Darsow brings his brand of clever humour to a cosy Rundle St venue where a feeling of familiarity is immediate.
Although the show tends to stray from it at times, the central theme is speaking your mind.
Darsow relates the many experiences he has had with people speaking their mind, of the fine line between fame and talent, and hilarious scenarios which make you cringe, grin or a bit of both.
The 28-year-old’s cheerful demeanor on stage is broken only by a short video segment, which nonetheless carries the theme quite well.
Darsow is willing to put himself in his audience’s shoes - or vice versa. If you’re reading, Mitch and Rosie, thank you for playing along.
Sugar, until March 13
3.5 stars (out of 5)
Happy with the Fringe preview of Just Say It
Saturday - 30th of January 2010
Craig Egan was kind enough to give me a really valuable chance to preview my upcoming Adelaide Fringe show ‘Just say It’ at Rhino Room last night, Friday Jan 29.
The ensemble show ‘Taking the Piss’, made up of several of Adelaide’s newer comics, did a great job entertaining the friendly crowd of about 40 in the first half of the show. Steve Sheehan then was hilarious too in his little 5 minute guest spot to open up the second half - what a crazy guy and what hilariously odd ball comedy. Look to check out each of those shows this Fringe.
Having been absolutely consumed lately by the behind-the-scenes application involved in getting prepared for Fringe, actually getting a chance to get up on stage and just have fun presenting my show was a welcome relief. The content was received really well, the show structure seems to flow, a few newer thoughts had legs, and my recently created ‘Just Say It DVD’ was a hit on it’s maiden voyage, always a relief as things never seem funny when you are filming.
The show hit the required length that I need it to be which also gave me a great comforting feeling. It’s always amazing just how much longer things go for in front of a live crowd - this show goes for 35 minutes including multimedia when I rehearse it at home but will clearly have no problem hitting the 50 mark each night with an audience. Of course it always helps though when your crowd is a gold mine of arts students, people from Pinaroo and couples ‘just hanging out’ - the show just writes itself when you land that kind of front row.
With that out the way, and with a very unfamiliar feeling of actually being prepared and on schedule for once (disconcerting in its own right), all I really need to do now is promote the heck out of my show for the next 3 weeks and make sure I perform to as many people as I can across my 14 shows throughout the Fringe.
Spread the word for me Adelaide - this is going to be a great show and an awesome Fringe.
Status: Recently published in Penguin’s new iconic book on Australian standup
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NSW to start 2012
Venue: The Laugh Garage, CBD
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