Five Minutes With Tommy Dean

You’re hosting a showcase for up-and-coming comics at the Harold Park Hotel. Apart from good jokes, what makes a good comedian?

There is no template, but the things I like to see are confidence in character and material. A sense of ‘now’ is key, as the true beauty of stand-up is this set can only happen here and now with these people in this room. Last night’s gig doesn’t count, tomorrow is an eternity away and tonight is the only show that matters. Comics that are in the moment are a joy to watch and really light up an audience.

You’ve been in Sydney for many years now – are you happy to call it home?

Thrilled! To daily awake in one of the greatest cities in the world… how could I not be happy? The city is abuzz, has some of the greatest rooms in comedy and the audiences feel ‘true’. If you get an applause break here you know you’ve earned it!

How much easier or harder do you find writing about Australian culture when you weren’t born and raised here, but now know the country very well?

Comedy is always easier as the outside observer. Stand-ups are the wallflowers, the kid in the last row of class cracking wise about what is happening in the middle. This makes things in a sense easier for me as everything is outside my original ‘normal’. Plus there is the excitement to discover and play with so many new ideas, places, ways of life – it is a revelation. Add in the crazy change three kids have wrought and I feel I have a lifetime of material to mine here.

One of your better-known bits is about cricket – are you looking forward to the season starting this summer?

Indeed! It refreshes the material if nothing else! Cricket is a great theme to the mood of Australia. The quiet hum of commentary backgrounding summer days is beautiful. And as I come from a culture that rarely plays sport with the world, I never tire of the joy of bringing people together under a common absurdity.

Looking forward to 2015, what does it have in store for you? Will you be on the festival circuit again?

I am a week at a time guy. I read the diary on Sunday and do what has to be done to get to the next Sunday. There is a lot of 2014 left! That said, 2015 may see some more festival action. The kids are getting older so I may finally be able to slip away for a few weeks. Other than that, I’m always hoping something big is on the other end of a phone call. Still waiting for radio to take advantage of me…