thanks. unfortunately the photo isn't on the internet, just the story. here is the story at least.
A comical way of saying sorry
11jan02
Life's been tough for comedians after September 11. For a while there, some experts were even speculating humour would be as thin on the ground as the Taliban militia.
So, before he begins his Sydney season, comedian Wil Anderson would like to apologise for being trivial. Sort of.
"Yeah, I think it is more trivial than some other shows, purposefully, but it still is," he says.
Normally, he'd have no fears about straying into "normal comedy topics like death, disaster and war".
"But if I start talking about one thing, it seems weird that I'm not talking about September 11 in light of that thing. So then do I keep completely away from it?" he asks.
Anderson had a reasonable chance to test out his musings. As co-host of Triple J's national breakfast show, he is afforded an immediacy that can't ignore the stories of the day.
And as host of ABC TV's news-analysis comedy series, The Glass House, he, Dave Hughes and Corinne Grant were arguably the first to trade September 11 jokes on television here.
"And we were only feeling our own way," Anderson says.
"It was hard for us to know because there hadn't been anything like that [before] us. It wasn't like the Challenger [space shuttle] disaster, it wasn't even like Port Arthur."
Even now, four months later, it's an issue Anderson still chews on. Consequently, his upcoming show's content is likely to change wildly, even day by day.
"I felt like anything that had a half-arsed point – you know, 'Racism is bad!' 'Yeah, nice one Wil, really opened our eyes to that' – in the light of what happened in the world last year, it would appear even more half-arsed," he says.
"You had to approach it either pretty full-on, which I feel we did with the TV show, or you had to go the other way a bit and just go 'Right, I'm going to write something that's really fun and just a bit silly.' "
And so it is. Anderson has dumped the thematic content for "a bunch of little things I find funny". Add the greater confidence he possesses now as a, well, veteran stand-up and Wil by Mouth promises to be as free-wheeling as Anderson's shows have ever been. And Sydney will see where it all began.
"I'm going to do this show here, Adelaide, Melbourne and possibly Edinburgh, and I can see this show, even by Melbourne, that not a word will be the same." But be warned, he notes. "You will see a disproportionate amount of material in my show about news that has happened in the last three weeks," he laughs.
Wil By Mouth playsthe Belvoir Street Theatre, Surry Hills, until January 26. Tickets $22/$18. Bookings 9699 3444.
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