We Are All In The Gutter, But Some Of Us Are Looking At David O’Doherty.
That’s the distinctive name of a new show coming to Sydney Comedy Festival this year. But what is a David O’Doherty, anyway? A David O’Doherty is a man. A man with a silly sense of humour, which he says has been fairly constant since he was eight or nine years old. “I still love people falling over and farting and things like that,” the Irishman confesses.
But he’s also someone who can speak convincingly, and at length, on more serious issues such as economics, politics, LGBT rights and social issues. He’s empathetic, a human encyclopedia, and a bit of a cynic who makes funnies for monies – and of course for his own pleasure. O’Doherty’s dad is a jazz musician, and it would seem that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
The BRAG attempts to commend O’Doherty’s work ethic on this tour: he’s doing a long run of evening shows in Melbourne, as well as a few children’s shows during the day, immediately followed by two dates in Sydney. But he won’t hear a dime of it.
“You have to realise, this job is a piece of piss,” O’Doherty says. “The hard part is writing a show – especially when you’re under pressure to get it ready for a festival or whatever. You can lose your mind doing that. But then doing it, once it’s of a reasonable standard, is the joyful part of this job. And anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to make themselves sound more impressive – probably to try and get off with a girl or something like that.”
How’s the tour going so far, then? “It’s been a highly eventful tour so far – no. It hasn’t really been very eventful. Although I did get hit by a triple-A-battery-sized bug in Brisbane that went straight for my nutsack.”
O’Doherty’s most famous talent is his composition of amusing songs in which he sets his inner monologue to music. However, it’s important to his shows that his inner monologue relates to the universal inner monologue of humankind. “I don’t have the veneer of showbiz,” O’Doherty says. “I just try to be myself. I can’t think of another art form where you can just go on as yourself.”
He has lots to say – through song – on topical issues from Grand Designs to living life in general. In his song ‘Life’, O’Doherty quips: “Life is like a long journey in a car … And that car is a 1991 Toyota Corolla where you have to leave the hot air on to make the lights work”.
It’s been a while between visits Down Under for O’Doherty – a few years, he says – but his first visit here as a comedian was now over a decade ago. He particularly enjoys the Sydney scene where he can “stretch out a bit”, playing longer sets than the 55-minute slots usually afforded by comedy festivals. And it also gives him the chance to check out the local talent.
“There’s a bunch of [Australian] comedians who I really look up to, like Claudia O’Doherty – she’s writing for Amy Schumer at the moment, she’s great. [And] I saw a really interesting show here the other night called True Australian Patriots – it’s a seminar on ‘How to spot lefties and halal people’, is their description of it; it’s all Australian flags onstage and they come out with flag capes on, and it’s one of the most subversive shows I’ve seen.
“It’s on in Melbourne in the Town Hall – it’s literally in the establishment – and I think they’re possibly going to get punched for doing it by someone who thinks of themselves as a ‘patriotic Australian’. It feels very exciting when you’re in the same room.”
David O’Doherty’sWe Are All In The Gutter,But Some Of Us Are Looking At David O’Dohertyis on Sunday April 17 and Monday April 18 at Enmore Theatre, as part of the 12th Annual Sydney Comedy Festival.
