Shawn McAvinue talks with comedian Jeremy Elwood, who is returning to the Fringe Festival after an absence of several years.
When did you last perform at Dunedin Fringe Festival?
The last time I did my own one-hour show at the festival was 2009. [He won the festival’s award for best comedy].
What brings you back to the festival?
I did my first gig 20 years ago in Dunedin, so I figured why not do a 20th anniversary show where it all started.
What venue did it start at?
At The Loaded Goblin (now Re:Fuel) underneath Union Hall. I went along to watch a stand-up comedy night and the MC ran out of acts and panicked and introduced the first person he recognised, which was me, so I had zero preparation and I got up with some half-baked ideas and that was the beginning of it all.
Do you remember any of your material?
Not even slightly, I’m not sure I would have remembered it the next day to be honest —there were a few beers involved.
Do you remember any buzz from the first performance?
Absolutely, the first gig adrenaline and the fun of just doing it, is what keeps you going. For most comedians their first gig was pretty good and the next 10 were pretty awful but by then you’re hooked — it’s a fast-acting addiction.
Do you still get the buzz?
Yeah I do. It has been my fulltime job for 20 years now and for some gigs you’re just going to work but with the fringe shows, it’s just me for a hour and I don’t have any restrictions on what I can or can’t say. There is something still exciting about that.
What are your links to Dunedin?
I was born in Canada and moved to Dunedin when I was 13 and did all my high school [Otago Boys’] and university here. I lived here for a good 10 years.
Is Dunedin a good place to be creative?
It’s a great place to fail. If you want to try to put on a show — as a stand-up or a musician — you can afford to promote shows in Dunedin and people will come and you don’t need to make a lot of money from ticket sales. To try to promote this show in Auckland, you’d be $2000 in the hole by hiring a venue and getting posters up, where in Dunedin, you can go to a bar and say ‘‘Can I have your back room for a week’’ and do a show, and I still feel like that is possible. There are a lot of opportunities to do things in Dunedin that you don’t get in bigger cities.
