Most stand-ups love a good a dick joke. As such, they’re always looking for new ways to justify their inclusion. On the surface, David Williams’ new show Cool Genes Man – a tale of him donating sperm to a lesbian couple – seems like an elaborate ploy to carry on about his almighty wang. However, the show’s premise is no mere fantasy.
“I knew this couple since we were teenagers,” Williams says. “They’ve been together forever. I guess lesbian couples don’t really know too many guys, so because I was their mate they asked me. Straight away I was like ‘Yeah totally.’ Then afterwards I was like ‘Oh man, I probably should’ve spoken to my folks about it, considering it’ll be their first grandchild’. But at the time I just went ahead like a teenager.”
OK, so it actually happened, but is the story of Williams jacking into a cup an adequate foundation for an entire comedy show? Well, while the physical details aren’t left untouched, that’s only just the beginning.
“My role in the whole thing is pivotal,” he says. “But it’s also a bit of an exploration of same sex parenting and why I reckon it’s completely functional and excellent. So there’s some fairly brutal comparisons between the supposedly sanctified family unit and a same sex couple that want a child. You have to really want a child if you’re a same sex couple. There’s no accidents.
“I meet dudes at the pubs all the time in the rural areas and outer suburban areas who have these big gangster tatts of ‘Jaden’ or ‘Shareeka’ or something like that. I’m like ‘Who’s that?’ ‘That’s my daughter. I love her eh. Nah, I love her so much eh. I haven’t seen for like five years, but she’s me heart’n’soul.’ And you feel like going, ‘Really? I reckon you probably want to put in a bit more effort.’ A tattoo doesn’t say love like a good role model and perhaps an education does.”
Although never an utter goofball, in the past, Williams’ stand-up has tended towards physical gags and zany subject matter. Evidently, Cool Genes Man marks a shift in his stand-up approach. “Usually all of my comedy has been about impersonal things, just conceptual things,” he says. “I’ve never really had anything to say either. I’m a fairly privileged, middle class white guy in Australia, reasonably educated, reasonably socially aware. But I’ve never really had a cause, I’ve never done anything extraordinary before. So I guess this is the first big point of difference that I thought would set me apart. Also, the whole subject is just loaded with gags.”
Yes, in terms of abundant humour and thought-provoking substance, this real-life event has been a godsend for Williams. Yet, he didn’t start working on the show immediately after the genes transfer occurred.
“This happened years ago,” he says. “Out of respect for the family I chose not to. It was on the parents’ prodding, saying ‘You should talk about this in your stand-up.’ You know, to alleviate a lot of the embarrassed tension that happened between friends, in this really awkward circumstance, we would joke about it lots. So it was their prodding that made me do this show.”
This prodding has succeeded in bringing Williams to Melbourne for a full season of comedy festival shows. “At festival shows you can explore social issues in greater detail than you can when you’re doing a front bar of a pub that is a free show,” he says. “With that longer format you get to stretch your intellectual legs a bit more.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
