Larry Dean is a lovely bloke. Not that you’d really be able to tell him that, mind you. The comic has a heightened awareness when it comes to people complimenting him, in no small part because he’s used to such platitudes being used to soften the blow of a particularly unpleasant punch.
“Usually when I get a bad review, I’ll know it’s a bad review because they mention how nice I am in the first couple of sentences,” Dean laughs. “They’ll go, ‘Larry Dean is a really amiable man,’ and I just go, ‘Oh God, here we go…’ Even when I used to be absolutely rubbish at comedy, I’d always get told, ‘You’re a really nice guy!’”
Of course, you wouldn’t imagine Dean is getting very many bad reviews these days. The Glaswegian comic – or “vagina dodger”, as his Facebook page introduces him – is a certified talent, and has sold out shows across the globe. He has even earned himself a gong or two for his gags, picking up the Amused Moose Comedy Award last year.
Nonetheless, the stand-up stage is a brutal place – a remorseless no man’s land that cares neither way for such plaudits. Dean might be at the stage of his career where almost every one of his shows gets a glowing review, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t drop a bomb here or there – though noticing when a show has gone bad is a problem in itself.
Usually when I get a bad review, I’ll know it’s a bad review because they mention how nice I am in the first couple of sentences.
“Sometimes I’ll come off stage thinking I’ve done badly because I’m not in a great mood, but people will be like, ‘Oh, that was great!’ Only I’m never sure if they’re lying or not. And other times I’ll come off stage and think I was amazing, and I’m in a great mood because I’ve been making myself laugh. And that’s when people are like, ‘The audience didn’t really think you were so amazing, Larry.’”
Part of the problem is the varied nature of the audiences Dean performs to. Though every show is peppered with a throng of comedy diehards – the kind of lovers of laughter who will see pretty much anyone take to the mic; punters largely unperturbed about whether they’re seeing famous stand-ups or not – you always get your bad eggs.
“I kind of can’t understand why people would turn up to a comedy show not wanting to laugh,” Dean says, sounding genuinely puzzled. “Even if I’m not in a good mood and I go to a comedy show, I’m obviously there going, ‘Y’know, this might cheer me up,’ and I give the comedian the benefit of the doubt for the first 15 to 20 minutes of the show. I never get these people who are like, from the beginning of the show, ‘Go on, do your best, make me laugh – I’m really hard to make laugh.’ I don’t get it – you spend your own money trying to prove the comedian wrong.”
In any case, even with such dangers lurking in the audience, and even when Dean has had a tough show, he always gets some kind of love in return. This is why he does what he does: it’s not the awards that keep him going, it’s the genuine gratitude of his audience.
“When I have the quietest days when I’m onstage, when it feels like nobody is really laughing, that’s when I’m much more likely to get a tweet from someone saying, ‘I really enjoyed that.’” he chuckles. “I think people quite like thinking they’re one of the few ones who liked it.” ■
Larry Dean’s Sydney Comedy Festival show, Farcissist, is at Factory Theatre and runs Wednesday May 3 – Sunday May 7.
