Starting this January Australian comedian Brendon Burns will embark on his latest tour, but instead of the usual comedy clubs and theatres he normally fills he'll be taking his show to unusual and unique venues across the UK including tea shops, cinemas, rock clubs, libraries and cafes.
We chatted with Brendon for his take on the current comedy scene and why he's decided to take his show to new places.
Get tickets to his Outside The Box tour here.
When did you start doing comedy?
1990
Who were your comedy influences growing up and who inspires you now?
Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, George Carlin and Sam Kinison
Inspiration now is a much broader thing. I think right now I have to look at younger acts because they have their ears to the ground and you need to remain relevant but without being so broad that you're doing what everyone else is. You look at the system in New York and it very much works that way. The older guys teach the younger guys about craft and the younger guys keep the older guys from becoming, stale dated or hack.
Why do this tour now?
I guess it's largely down to only wanting to play to people that really want to be there. Rather than begging just anyone to come to my shows.
For Edinburgh this year you did an entirely new show each day, will you be taking this approach on this new tour?
Well that's not entirely true. I produced new content each day and by the end had a pretty decent "best of". Although one day I did throw a BBQ instead of my show, which was exhausting and I definitely won't be doing that ever again. But as I'm now doing a travelogue podcast with material geared specifically to wherever I am in the World this should lend itself to that quite neatly.
How do audiences differ in Australia compared to the UK?
There's a background knowledge that I share with an Australian audience whereas the UK does understand certain subtleties that no one else in the world does. Except for, oddly enough, Finland. The Fins even put the UK to shame. It's weird and totally blows everyone away the first time they play there.
What’s the most unusual venue you’ve played before this tour?
There's too many to count over the years. But most recently a disused fire station. There's just something about the odd setting that lends itself to stand up. Rooms or environments that shouldn't work often do. Because comedy is such a team game, when the audience has to lift their game to make it work, they often do.
Have you always been a fan of wrestling? Have you found there is a crossover in your audience of comedy+wrestling fans, have you gotten new fans from this?
Undoubtedly. At Wrestlemania (the annual superbowl or FA cup of wrestling) I'm 1000 times more famous than I am in regular life.
What other comedians would you recommend on the circuit that may not be that widely known?
To be honest, I'm so often gigging overseas now that I don't even know who's well-known and who isn't anymore. I've lost count how many times a crowd has gone nuts for a somebody and asked them, "Are you famous now?"
But I absolutely adore John Robertson's Dark Room and I think John Hastings is the guy of his generation who just works and works and works to get better and better. And as he's been on the road with me the guy just really cracks me up on and off stage.
Do you hope this tour will be the start of a new way of touring for you, is this just the beginning of a new way to perform comedy for you?
Definitely. There are literally hundreds of guys in the States, whom you've never heard of, that make a fantastic living through online content and DIY. They just tour and promote on their own show and they don't need anybody else. I'm late to the game for sure but this year at the free fringe all I heard form other acts in hushed whispers was, "I hear you're making some decent money on the free fringe". I didn't go out once. I went home each night and edited. So god knows how everyone knew. But clearly the word is getting out and DIY is here to stay for sure.