Anyone who has caught David Quirk’s previous work knows that he has a penchant for injecting the darkest facets of his personal life into his comedy. However, this year he is going in an entirely different direction with his latest show, Career, Suicide.
The aptly named comedian explains, “There were a couple of inspirations for this show. One was towels, in particular, the time I borrowed the wrong towel in Edinburgh. There’s a big story about that and it’s quite ridiculous. Apart from that, the themes are my career and how derailed it’s become, how weird it is and how poor I’ve been. That’s all discussed at length. Also the plight of animals, Morrissey, The Chippendales and things like
that.”
Quirk is challenging both himself and the industry by changing his comedic styling and material in such an astounding way. As always, he’s prepared for any reactions. He states, “My last show was literally about the time I cheated on my girlfriend. You can only tell that story once, really. If I had any other stories that were as bad or upsetting or confronting, I don’t know about them. That’s why I call this show Career, Suicide because, can you write a show about towels? Who in their right mind would do that? Can you talk about animals and how we consume them? So I just thought maybe I’ll just write this show as though it might be my last.”
Quirk has been described by critics as “quietly devastating” and a let-down as a human but a triumph as a comedian. This is exactly what is so appealing about his work. He is living proof that we’re not alone in our fuck ups and that we’re not the only ones with horrible thought processes. “Someone saw the show the other night and said that watching it made them feel like they were okay. They saw all of these things [that I say] and I’m just going ‘Hey, it’s okay to feel this way. Relax.’ I think that if you can get that from a comedy show then it’s quite good and I’m happy about that.”
Will Quirk’s change in comedic approach be a success, or will the title of his show be as prophetic as the self-deprecating comedian has predicted? Find out when he hits the stage at the Sydney Comedy Festival.
See David Quirk atFactory Theatre fromTuesday April 29 to Sunday May 4, tickets available through Ticketek as a part of the Sydney Comedy Festival.
