“It’s a fantastic privilege and honour to be on the Gala and to have done that in your career, but the actual experience of it is incredibly nerve-racking,” Power laughs. “I don’t think a lot of comedians will probably say that, but it fucking is. You’re like, ‘Holy fuck, don’t fuck it up, you’ve got four minutes, you’ve got one shot at this.’ There’s 2,000 people and the whole industry Is watching backstage on a TV.”
As a co-winner of the 2016 MICF Directors’ Choice Award and nominee for both the 2015 and 2016 Barry Awards, Power has proven himself as a thought provoking and intellectually explorative personality. It’s these traits that he carries with him in Utopia: Now in 3D! – an exploration of both the everyday and the ongoing absurdity of humanity.
“The show’s fun, silly, and never serious, but there are those points there, and overarching laws – high-concept themes,” Power explains. “I like to think that my shows can be a little bit challenging to the audience in a good way – not to take them as fools, like, ‘Oh, you guys won’t get this or won’t be interested in that shit.’”
With curious honesty and a natural knack for delivery, Power dissects the philosophical, political and social worlds that interest him in digestible portions of hilarity.
“I think there was always a thing to perform,” Power says. “I was always the kid who got kicked out of the class and was a prick to teachers. I tried to do a real career in IT, and went back to performing in my early twenties doing improv, theatresports and acting. People from those circles were doing stand-up. To me, that seemed crazy to do. I tried it, and then I think it became a bit like an addiction. The thrill in the early days is so fucking crazy. You do it for different reasons as you go on, but once I got hooked on it – and that was over ten years ago now – you want to keep getting that hit.
“When I started out, I got up and had glasses pretending to be Tom Cruise, doing impersonations and all this terrible shit,” Power laughs. “I used to have a joke about Richie Benaud on acid and what he’d be like commentating – just the worst fucking comedy imaginable. Even then, getting up and getting laughs was just shocking. Now, obviously, getting up and doing five minutes is like, ‘Yeah, you know, whatever’ – but now I do an hour, and if I get an hour that comes together really well and I think it’s really interesting and clever, then that gives me a bit of a kick. The bar keeps going up. That keeps changing; those little milestones.”
By Jacob Colliver
Venue: ACMI – Studio
Dates: Thursday March 30 – Sunday April 23 (bar Mondays and Sunday April 9)
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $24 – $32
