Michael Connell dishes out clever, clean fun

Comedian Michael Connell is known for his non-offensive clean comedy. Without uttering one swear word or below the belt humour, he has performed several shows in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, to capacity crowds at both the Melbourne Town Hall and Her Majesty’s Theatre, during a half time show at Telstra Dome, appeared on television and radio and regularly gigs at some of the best comedy clubs around Australia and overseas.

He will present his new cryptically titled show ‘Acting the Goat’ next month at The Butterfly Club as part of 2010 Melbourne Fringe Festival. While his show isn’t strictly a cabaret act, he does tell uproariously funny stories and god knows we all could use more laughs.

Michael talks to us about the new show,  his life as a comedian, thoughts on the comedy industry, and of course, goats.

Your show title ‘Acting the Goat’ is an expression your mum used when you were a child.  Where did your mum hear it from?  Do you use it yourself?

I think she got it from her parents. My Grandma was full of old timey expressions. She’d say “I’m all thumbs” which meant she’d been clumsy, she’d say “I’m mad as a cut snake”, which meant she was quite angry; she’d say “I’m a monkey, you’re the admiral” which meant she’d taken her medication with sherry again. 

I do use it occasionally, mostly when someone’s being silly or I need a title for a Fringe Festival show.

Your show is about communication.  How well do you think you communicate?

It varies. I’ve found I’m better at some sorts of communication than others. I’m quite good at humour, which is great when I’m onstage at a comedy club, not so good at a funeral. 

I’ve found I’m quite bad at lying. I always do a nervous smile or fail to make eye contact and people seem to be able to pick it from a mile off. I think it’s caused by nerves. Sometimes I’ll be walking out of a music shop and I’ll have to go past a security guard. I know I haven’t shoplifted anything, but I start to think stuff like “What if a CD fell into my bag?” or “What if someone PUT something in my bag?”. Then the security guard looks in my bag and wonders why I’m acting all jittery and evasive. So, you can imagine what I’d be like if I DID have something to hide.

What’s the most memorable communication breakdown episode you’ve ever encountered?

There’s an ad for Windscreens O’Brien, and the guy in the ad pronounces his r’s as w’s. They guy’s on there telling me how “O’Bwian has a wevolutionawy way to fix the cwacks in my windscween.” I know the company’s paid a fortune to communicate their message, but I can’t focus on anything other than this guy’s voice. It’s like someone’s trying to tell me something important, but they’re doing it in an Elmer Fudd voice. 

What are the three reasons why people should go see your show?

This is the only big show I’m doing in Melbourne for 2010. I’m doing a strictly limited four night run at the Fringe then jumping on a plane to tour interstate until well into next year. If you miss the show this time, I don’t know when you’ll get a chance to see it in Melbourne.

I’m one of only twenty artists in this year’s Fringe to be accepted into the Outside Eye program (and only one of the other twenty is a comedian). The program offers a handful of promising new artists special support to develop their show. I’m one of them, and with this extra support the show’s bound to be the best show I’ve ever created.

I guarantee this show will have the best goat based humour at this year’s fringe. If you can only see one show full of goat jokes at this year’s fringe, you’d be a fool to see anything else.

I hear you had brush with death while taking the poster photo with goats. How did that happen?  How did you survive?

I didn’t have a goat to get that photo with, and someone told me there might be a goat at the local pound. So I rung the pound who told me that, yes, they had recently caught a stray goat and I was welcome to come take a photo with it. I went down there and the guy at the pound said; “Oh this will be hilarious!” 

“Oh, you think I’ll get a funny photo?” I asked.

“Ah, maybe,” he said. “What I meant was, it’ll be fun to see you in the cage with the Goat. Before we caught him, he put three guys in hospital.”

THEY NEVER MENTIONED THAT ON THE PHONE! They were just gonna let me get into the cage and watched as I got gored to death. They were looking forward to some sort of WWF style “Rage in a Cage” match up between me and this goat. Basically I survived by just not getting in that cage.

What did you enjoy the most about writing this show?  

I always like it when a new routine works. I like it whenever one of my jokes gets a laugh, but when I’m trying a routine for the first time I don’t know if it’ll work so when it gets a laugh that’s a really big thrill for me. Saying a new joke for the first time is a bit like sky diving; I’m jumping out into danger and I don’t know if I’m gonna be OK. When I hear the laughter it’s like the parachute’s just opened and I’ve dodged death (metaphorically). Doing this new show has forced me to write a lot of new material, and I’m really falling in love with the writing process again.

What was the most difficult part of writing this show?

Well, that would be when a new routine doesn’t work. I’ve been trailing a lot of new material in comedy clubs around town, and you know what? Sometimes the parachute doesn’t open. That’s quite painful. However it does teach me a lot, and when a routine doesn’t work I’ll go home, edit it, rewrite sections of it, and work to improve it until it does get laughs. While it’s difficult and painful, it helps me remove any weak spots from the show, and makes sure my material is the best it can be.

When and what made did you decide to become a comedian?

I always think that’s a bit of a weird question, because I can’t really remember ever wanting to be anything else. It wasn’t really a decision for me; I just always wanted to make people laugh. 

Saying that, I didn’t always realise I wanted to be a comedian exactly. I grew up in the country and I’d never even heard of stand up until I was about fourteen. I knew I wanted to tell stories and make people laugh, but I didn’t know what stand up was. It was like I was born to be a sailor, but I’d never seen the sea. Then my Mum took me to a comedy show and I saw Dave O’Neil onstage telling jokes and it was like; “That’s what I want to be! A Comedian.” Before that if you’d asked me what I wanted to be I might’ve said something like “a story teller”

How do you find the industry and competition?

The Australian comedy industry is tiny. I was told (I think by Brad Oakes) that only 3% of the Australian population goes to live comedy once or more a year. That means that 97% of the population never goes to comedy. From my experience that figure of 3% seems to be about right. So for that reason I never see myself as being in competition with any other comedian, we’re all fighting that same battle to bring comedy to the other 97% of Australians. Rather than try to fight others for that 3%, I try to work with them to tap into the 97%; I do my best to help newbies get into stand up and try to help them improve, and I help other comedians in any way I can. Their achievements will increase the number of people coming to see live stand up comedy, which will ultimately benefit me. Their success is my success.  

Your style of comedy has been described as ‘non-offensive’ and ‘clean’.   What made you choose this type of comedy?

When I started I found it very hard to get enough gigs to develop my act. I was young, unknown, and the best I could hope to get was maybe one gig a month at a small open mic. I decided that if I wanted to get more stage time I’d need to have an act that I could do anywhere, anytime. So I started writing clean material that I could do in front of anyone and took any gig that anyone would offer me. I did my stuff at poetry readings, dog shows, trivia nights, hospitals, talent quests, before bands, at the library, school picnics, etc. etc. etc. People didn’t mind giving me those spots because they knew, even if I wasn’t funny, I wouldn’t offend anyone. If I had a dirty act that was heavy on swearing, I’d still probably be doing one open mic gig a month. 

Now I’m a lot more established I don’t have to do all the weird gigs (even though the dog shows were a lot of fun), because I get a lot of gigs at proper comedy clubs. However, I do a lot of corporate gigs and they’ll often ask me to work clean, plus it helps to have clean material for TV, Radio, etc. 

People react to my clean material in one of two ways; they either don’t realise it’s any different (cos my material is as funny as any other comedian), or they say things like; “I was impressed that you kept it clean.” I’ve never once had someone come up to me after a show and say; “You were really funny, but I was hoping to hear more swear words”. A dirty act isn’t automatically more or less funny than a clean act just because it has swearing or “adult concepts” in it, and vice versa. However, having a clean act lets me perform in a lot of places that I couldn’t do with a dirty routine, and options means more work which means more pay.

Regardless of the type or style, what do you think makes a good comedy?

Honesty. “To thine own self be true” as Shakespeare would say. I want to see comedians onstage telling me stuff about what they think and feel, because that’s what they think or feel about, not because they think it’s cool or what the audience wants to see. I love Bill Hicks, but sometimes I get frustrated because I keep seeing new comedians onstage trying to be him (or Eddie Murphy, David Cross, Doug Stanhope, etc.) instead of being themselves. Don’t stand there telling me you’re a world-weary cynic who’s burnt out from doing too many hookers and drugs when you’re clearly sixteen.

What part of performing do you find the most rewarding?

Getting big laughs. When you get a big crowd of people laughing at one of your jokes, there’s nothing else like it in the world. It’s an adrenaline rush mixed with an ego stroke in the form of instant gratification. When you send out an idea in the form of a joke and the audience laughs, it’s like a tsunami of validation. It’s like injecting energy into your soul. Have you ever seen Highlander? I think it’s what The Quickening must feel like…

How was your Australian humour perceived in the UK and Ireland during your tour?

Really well. They got all my jokes and could understand me no problem. I actually had a lot of trouble understanding them a lot of the time. In London there was a lot of people who talked in Cockney rhyming slang or kids who sounded like Ali G. In Scotland I met lots of Glaswegians with accents so thick you could cut them with a knife. And the Irish talk ridiculously fast (I think it’s so they can spend more time drinking which they seemed to do a lot of). 

If comedy shows were banned from tomorrow, what would you do instead?

Starve and die? I don’t really have any back up plan. I take my comedy pretty seriously because there is no plan B. Being funny is really the only skill I have, and the attributes that make me a good comedian make me pretty unsuitable for most other jobs. 

Not having a back up plan can be quite scary at times. I sometimes lie awake at night thinking; “I should’ve got that job at McDonalds, I could’ve been the Assistant Drive Through Supervisor by now.” However, as hard as comedy is sometime, I think I’d rather be constantly hustling and working hard for a life I love, than be comfortable and secure in a boring life.

When you write new material, who are the people you test it out on?

The only way I can test my material is by trying it out at comedy nights at clubs and pubs. I’ve tried telling jokes to friends, throwing them out at family gatherings, shouting them at people on the bus, etc. but I never know if they’re laughing be polite, or to not hurt my feelings, or cos they think I’m crazy and I’m making them nervous. The only way to test material is by doing it in little five or ten minute bits in front of many different crowds several times. That way I know when I do the full show at Fringe Festival all the material will be fully road tested, and works on pretty much anyone.  

Who are some of the comedians you’re inspired by?

I’m inspired by a lot of different comedians. I’ll watch any comedy CD/DVDs I can get my hands on. Off the top of my head I like; Patton Oswalt, Daniel Kitson, Chris Rock, David Cross, Louis CK, Brian Regan, Stewart Lee, Eddie Izzard, Dave Chappelle, Mitch Hedberg, Bill Bailey, Tommy Tiernan, and when I was starting I listened to a lot of Billy Connolly, and Bill Hicks and watched The Goodies religiously.

When it comes to Australian comedians I’m really inspired by comedians like Charlie Pickering, Justin Hamilton, Rachel Berger, Adam Rozenbachs, Adam Hills, Lawrence Mooney, Dave Williams, Chris Wainhouse, Tom Gleeson, Dave O’Neil, Akmal, and when I was starting out I learnt a lot from Dave Grant and Brad Oakes (in fact Brad still gives me useful tips when I see him around). 

Earlier in the year I did the Wild West Comedy Festival in Perth, which was awesome and very inspiring. The festival was great and their scene seems to be booming, so whatever it is they’re doing over in Perth it’s working.

While I love watching stand up performances I also love documentaries/films/shows about the art of stand up. I’m listening to a lot of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, the Comedians of Comedy series, Paul Provenza’s Green Room, and just watched an episode of “Inside the Actor’s Studio” with Dave Chappelle on youtube which was really interesting. 

Official Website: www.michaelconnell.com.au

Michael Connell - Acting the Goat

Dates: 7-10 October

Venue: The Butterfly Club 204 Bank Street, South Melbourne 

Time: 7-9th Oct 9.00pm, 10th Oct 8.00pm

Ticket price: $22 / $17 (concession or group of 8 or more)

Bookings: Click here or call 03 9690 2000

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2010 Melbourne Fringe Festival: Michael Connell - Acting the Goat @ The Butterfly Club 7th to 10th October

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