Journalism of Courage
Humour comes naturally to some people and even more efficiently to those who practice it to get out of sticky situations. For comedian Dave Callan,a five-year-long career as a radio jockey at Triple J station at Perth,Australia,was enough to inculcate this ability in him. After hosting a radio show where local people would call in to share their strange experiences,Callan now has a bank of funny and weird things to talk about. The show I hosted was a light night talk show on Saturday night so you can imagine the people were funny and also drunk! It has helped me deal with hecklers beautifully. Now no drunk heckler can affect me,I have heard it all on the radio show, says Callan,one of the stand-up comedians to perform at the Melbourne Comedy Festival organised at High Spirits,Koregaon Park on November 3 and 4.
Calling one of chats as an RJ,he says,Once a person rang up and said that he had been abducted by aliens and when he returned he was gay. Another rang up to say she couldn’t get cozy with her boyfriend because the ghost of the town mayor was always watching them. I am still not sure if the people were serious or not, he adds.
Apprehensive about his debut act in India,Callan decided to spend a few days observing Indian people and cater to them accordingly. I think people are basically the same the world over. We laugh at things that are common to us all,like family observations,human behaviours and of course gender. I have been doing some Bollywood dancing in the show and it goes well as people laugh at the sight of a big hairy Irishman struggling with some Bollywood moves. It’s really good fun to surprise people like that, beams Callan,who is fascinated with the Salman Khan-starrer ‘Dabangg’.
Before packing his bags for this Indian adventure,Callan lent his voice to animated series Mollusks,as Feargal the Irish Sea Cucumber. He also touched base with his Irish roots as he performed at the Electric Picnic,a three-day music festival in Ireland.
He has his hands full with pre-production processes of his new show titled The Psychology of Laughter,based on a hundred-year-old book he found in Edinburgh with the same title. I am on the festival circuit now,performing various comedy festivals,Montreal,Edinburgh and Melbourne. I would like to write a television show at some point. I am also hoping to be casted in ‘Dabangg 2’! I have my belt wiggle dance ready to go, he chuckles again.
(Melbourne Comedy Festival is organised at High Spirits,Koregaon Park on November 3 and 4 at 9 pm)
