Comedy green and gold
Several weeks ago I was asked to run a workshop for the international students of Swinburne. Quite an unusual request, I thought.
The only other gig I had ever done that was anything like this was a spot at the Slovenian Society of Melbourne’s 50th Anniversary celebrations and I was once a
MC for a trivia night at a Russian nursing home (I get all the good gigs).
Despite my limited experience performing for international crowds, the gig sounded like fun so I said I would give it a go. I had to point out to the Swinburne audience that I could not promise I would deliver laughs. I know the international students are still learning English, and speaking English is pretty much all my act is. I remember staring in bewildered silence when I went to a Japanese comedy show on my high school exchange trip.
I was told that it would be fine as even if the students didn’t get my jokes it would be a good learning experience and they’d increase their vocabulary. I wondered how learning words like grouse, unco, and dork would help them get a job. I was very nervous as performing to a silent crowd is always excruciating.
In the weeks before the show I trawled through YouTube trying to find Australian comedy clips that I could show the students. Did you know there are hardly any clips of Graham Kennedy online? Luckily I managed to find a good cross section of Australian comedy through the ages such as Lano and Woodley, Doug Anthony all Stars, Los Trios Ringbarkus, Circus Oz, Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering.
On the day of the workshop I sweated nervously while the students filed into the lecture theatre. After a quick intro from the Careers and Employment team I was up. ‘Get ready for a big slice of silence’ I thought, as I nervously took the mic. I told my first joke and amazingly, they laughed. They laughed at my next joke too. In fact, they got just about all my jokes. I was surprised and very impressed that they had near fluency in English after just a few years study. It made me feel bad that I studied Japanese for eight years, and can barely manage where is the men’s room? and please repeat that slowly.
As well as enjoying my jokes, the students loved the clips I showed them. Not everything got over the language barrier; I showed a clip of The Castle and then had to answer a lot of questions like: What are jousting sticks?
They got just about everything and it was a really fun gig, much better than the Russian nursing home.
Michael is currently studying a Bachelor of communication (Public Relations) at Swinburne University.
Michael Connell will be performing his new comedy show ‘I am Super, Man’ at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. 6:45pm September 23rd to October 8th at the Lithuanian Club North Melbourne. Tickets $20/18 concession. Bookings essential: (03)9660 9666 melbournefringe.com.au or michaelconnell.com.au
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