You are probably already familiar with Tommy Little.
The well-loved comic has saturated Australian media for some time, writing and starring in television shows as well as appearing on panels and Melbourne breakfast radio. However, comedy has always been the cornerstone of everything he does. Having sold out shows around Australia on previous tours, Little’s 2016 incarnation is looking to be no exception.
Late last year, Little became disenfranchised with his career in radio. “[I became] really quite pessimistic,” he admits. “[With] heaps of shows cancelled … while it keeps you on your toes, you start to learn everything is shit.”
The ups and downs of his career got the better of Little, and the result was a mild quarter-life crisis, with the high points of his 2015 including being the victim of identity fraud and going overseas to a health retreat that he escaped 24 hours later. It all culminated in a big decision to “quit radio to do something new”, he says. “Not listen to shit pop tunes, or have to wake up at four in the morning.”
Fortunately for Little, his personal crisis led to a reboot of sorts. It offered him a chance to explore his dormant talents of the past, and since he’d gone through so many trials and tribulations, it proved the perfect chance to inform a new routine. Soon enough, his new stand-up show Dickhead was born. “[This way] dick jokes can pay for the apartment,” he says.
Despite his relative youth, Little has been a favourite of Aussie comedy fans for years now, though he doesn’t count his own family among his audience anymore. “They have had to put up with this for 30 years now. They are over it,” he laughs. “They will stay home to not get abused.”
Nonetheless, Little is ready to unleash his best at Sydney Comedy Festival.
“Life lessons will not be learned,” he says on the Dickhead hour. “If you giggle at the title, you’ll love it. If you hate musicals, then you’ll love it. And if you don’t like it, go see a musical.”
Dickhead, the show byTommy Little, runs Thursday May 5 – Saturday May 7, at The Comedy Store, as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2016.
