GETTING SCHOOLED
C U LT U R A L
COMEDY VETERAN ROBERT GRAYSON THINKS EVERYONE HAS A STAND-UP ROUTINE INSIDE THEM – AND HE LIKES TO GET IT OUT. ALEKSIA BARRON SPEAKS TO THE TEACHER OF THE UNTEACHABLE ART. If there’s one thing you’d think couldn’t be taught, it’s the art of stand-up comedy. However, New York-born, New South Walesdwelling comedian Robert Grayson does exactly that. He’s shared stages with the likes of Akmal Saleh and Peter Berner, as well as scoring an ARIA nomination for his comedy record (I Turn Four) Tomorrow, a Silverchair parody performed under the name Silverpram. These days, however, he’s focussing on spreading the gift of laughter – by teaching and encouraging those with an interest in stand-up comedy. His courses, which include lengthy six-week options and one-week intensives, have accumulated a hefty swag of positive testimonials, and launched the comedy careers of Raw Comedy state finalists in four states. Grayson accepts that his You Stand Up comedy workshops seem like a strange concept, but he’s adamant that there’s a place for his work, particularly in the tall-poppy obsessed Australia. “I think we have a fairly detractive mentality around creativity in our society, a ‘don’t give up your day job’ type concept,” he explains. “If you take a society like Ireland… everybody can sing, because they hold that in their mind that everyone can sing.” He’s also acutely aware that many potential comedic talents can fall by the wayside if they get the wrong kind of start. “We’re a very comparative society – ‘if you crack a joke at a party and you’re not as good as Carl
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how to lessen the effect of fear, how to be present on stage and giving to the audience,” he says. “Over the course, they get to desensitise any fears they have by performing in front of the group.” Where things get really interesting, according to Grayson, is on the last night of the course, when his students get up on stage and perform to a real audience. “As the course goes on, I spend less time teaching and more time giving them tips to finding their comic voice. And of course, the performance at the end is a key part of the whole experience,” he explains. “They’re actually under pressure to come up with the goods, and that’s the magical thing – I’ve never had anyone not get a good response from the audience.”
Barron, then shut up’ type thing. I don’t hold that in my mind as a teacher.” Wannabe comedians aren’t the only people who benefit from Grayson’s work – his graduates include business people, lawyers, and DJs. Basically, anyone seeking to improve their personal communication and public speaking can benefit from tapping into their comedic persona. “I think that you can’t teach talent, but you can
teach some of the basic skills,” says Grayson. “Everybody’s got something to say, and if they just relax and talk from the heart… then getting their stories funny is actually [easier] – there are certain little tricks that you use to tell your stories or your observations of the world.” An important part of the process, Grayson explains, is teaching his pupils to overcome the jitters of getting up on stage. “I look at fear –
Grayson is particularly heartened that many of the people who have gotten the most out of his classes didn’t necessarily feel that they had much comic potential going in. “Some people are born to be comedians and are really cut out for the lifestyle and the craft and everything, but everybody has the potential to be playful, which is the start of comedy – making people smile and making people laugh.” WHAT: You Stand Up: The Stand-Up Comedy Experience WHEN & WHERE: Gala performance at Last Laugh Comedy Club Monday 23 April/ Next course begins 1 May
CRINGE
WITH REBECCA COOK The general public got right in the nurses’ corner – honking horns and cheering on protestors – when it came to wage negotiations with the Baillieu Government a couple of months ago, with the threat of strikes causing concern across the whole city. Cringe wonders if the warning of walkouts and industrial action at the state’s top cultural institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, Museum Victoria, the Arts Centre, and ACMI will stir similar levels of public support and trepidation. The Community and Public Sector Union wants more than the 2.5% wage increase the government is currently offering up to public sector staff. If these cultural institutions had to shut their doors due to a lack of operating staff, would anyone notice? Care even? Would it cause major public outrage? No, not likely, on the surface it seems innocuous enough. In fact, on the surface it sounds a wee bit reminiscent of The Art Strike, which called upon all artists to cease their artistic work between 1 January 1990 and 1 January 1993 and for all galleries and museums to cease operating for the same period. The purpose was to apparently encourage critical debate around art. Needless to say, it was no Hollywood Writers Strike; no venues and virtually no artists complied. But on closer thought I realised the ace in the CPSU’s hand – well, two aces actually; tourists and school-holiday frayed parents. The impact on tourism is clear. NGV and Melbourne Museum have hosted some blockbuster exhibitions of late, and imagine the
online rage of travellers unable to tick the boxes on their carefully organised itineraries. I would have been gutted if I turned up at the Guggenheim in Bilboa and the gallery was shut for the day. Or if I got the ferry over to MONA in Tassie and a novelty penis sign told me to ‘bugger off, we’re revolting’. The wrath of Victorian parents comes into it if you happen to schedule your strike action on a rainy day towards the end of the school holidays. Everyone’s been stuck inside for a couple of weeks all together, after an enormous amount of shouting and heavy lifting everyone is in the car, factor in some circular parking issues and then when they arrive at the doors, they’re shut. I’m talking Alan Joyce grounding Qantas-style backlash. One person who can’t go on strike because he doesn’t have a job, just a hobby (‘learning videomaker’), is Luis from Lessons With Luis who, together with his little brother and dad, took out the RAW Comedy title on Sunday night. The Victorian daggy family trio battled finalists from other states to win the biggest open mic comedy competition in the nation. In explaining his win the in-character, dead-pan Luis said he hoped he made everyone “smile in their hearts” and put his win down to the number of props in his family’s show. “People like props, that’s why TV is more popular than radio.” The family are off to celebrate their win by sharing a lamington with their neighbour Mr Bianchi.