Corey White is not your typical stand-up comedian. He has no need for slapstick, props, fart jokes or blue humour. He didn’t grow up doing impressions at the dinner table to the delight of his parents and siblings. Instead he retreated to a world of his own, preferring to read, write and play chess. He spent years bouncing around from one foster home to another as a result of growing up with a “hustling, heroin-addicted mother and a violent, jack-of-all-crimes, all-round shit bloke” father.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. White turned his hardships into humour after falling in love with stand-up at an open mic night eight years ago. After years as a struggling performer, White received national attention last year for winning ‘Best Newcomer’ at both the Melbourne International, and Sydney Comedy Festival, with his show The Cane Toad Effect. Now as he prepares to bring his award-winning show back due to popular demand, he reveals that he almost never made it to the stage for those fateful shows. “Before last year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival I was ready to quit comedy,” White says.
“I was incredibly poor,” he continues. “I would go into Lentil As Anything, eat a whole bunch of food and not pay for it. I’ve since gone back and dropped $200 in their cash box,” White is quick to point out. “But I was stealing individual cashews from my housemate. Can you imagine? Individual nuts!”
White himself is the first to say that his wins were unexpected, and he reveals that his life since then has been a rollercoaster ride, to put it mildly. “I had no idea that I was going to win – I didn’t foresee that at all. I thought that I’d do a show that no-one would ever see. My intention [with The Cane Toad Effect] was just to put out a show where I expressed everything I thought was worth expressing. I thought it was just another show that no-one would care about. I planned for it to be my last show – my first and last show!” he laughs. “But it turned out quite differently, I guess.”
Twelve months on, and the self-confessed former ice addict has a whole new legion of fans from around the world, including US comedian Maria Bamford, who is also candid about her battle with depression and attempted suicide. But the feeling is mutual. “I draw inspiration from people like Maria Bamford and Doug Stanhope, but in terms of Australian comedians, David Quirk is amazing. He’s probably one of our best. And Michael Workman.”
Despite his success, don’t be fooled into thinking that Corey White sits around all day yukking it up with his famous comic friends. “After I won ‘Best Newcomer’ at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, I moved to Sydney and was living in a squat for four months. I went dumpster-diving and did illegal things that I can’t tell you about over the phone in case ASIO hears me,” he says in his playful tone.
While The Cane Toad Effect is “essentially about compassion and empathy,” White says that his next show will just as insightful. “Next year I’ll be back with a new show called Prettiest Horse at the Glue Factory – it’s essentially about politics. I have very strong anarchist leanings after my experience of living in squats, and things like that.”
Come out and see the fiercely-funny young comic on the verge of becoming a household name, because this year he’s gunning for the top prize.
By Natalie Rogers
VENUE: Forum Theatre – Downstairs, Cnr Flinders & Russel Sts, CBD
DATES: April 12 – 17
TIMES: 7pm (Sunday 6pm)
TICKETS: $20 – 30
