Wil Anderson: golden rules of comedy

Ben Cameron | Bendigo Weekly | 10-Nov-2011 12.25pm

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Wil Anderson has some tips for budding comics.
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As a comic, Anderson admits he’s getting closer to what some comedians might call the comfort zone.

“Don’t get me wrong, some gigs are better than other gigs, but by the time you get this far into a tour, every joke works,” Anderson laughs.

“I’m like ‘I’ve run these jokes by thousands of other people, and we’ve all agreed they’re funny jokes, so if you guys aren’t enjoying them, that’s your fault’.”

He admits his routine is more timeless than topical, born from three months of solid writing.

“It has to be timeless,” Anderson says.

“Topical material would be great in the first couple of weeks but then you’d be like ‘Hey, do you remember...?’

“‘And everybody’s like ‘f*ck, that was six months ago’.”

While sometimes described as an edgy act, Anderson likes to think of himself as a nice guy of comedy.

“I want comedy to be a positive thing, I’m not a fan of comedy that makes people feel bad,” Anderson says.

“I only attack things if I feel they deserve to be attacked.

“I’d have no problem with bullying a bully, but not somebody who’s already in a sh*t situation.

“Most of my jokes are at my expense.”

One of his golden rules of self deprecation is to share his stories of pain and suffering. 

“You’ve got to share personal things,” Anderson says, although his style is to mesh several different but truthful stories, into one funny narrative of fiction.

“I like to think anything in my show, anybody I talk about, can come and see the show and enjoy it.

“Otherwise I wouldn’t want to do it.

“If something’s true, I try to muddy it enough that it’s not about specifically one person.”

Currently on a national stand up tour, Anderson will touch on a few old favourites, like gay marriage.

“One guy said to me ‘man, you’re talking about gay marriage again?'" Anderson laughs.

“I said 'as soon as gay people can get married, I’ll stop talking about it'.”

Gags on subjects like gay unions are what Anderson describes as “tester jokes”.

“There are jokes within the show that I consider to be my tester jokes,” Anderson says.

“If the audience get them straight away I know it’s going to be an awesome night.”



Wil Anderson plays Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal on Friday,  November 18.


b.Entertained

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