“I’m not a shock jock. Not at all. I’m not Jim Jefferies. It’s easy to say ‘rapper turned comedian but there’s more going in my shows than first appears.” So says Doc Brown who enjoys phenomenal success in, well, whatever he feels like doing. Brown is performing Of Mic and Men for MICF this year. “It’s a challenging show,” he says. “I’m unapologetic about how I view the way we treat each other. There’s so much cynicism around the world at the moment, especially in the UK.” The show, Brown says is about who he is. “I ask questions about myself: I am unafraid, what the hell, but I never put myself above the audience. I ask them questions about who they are. There’s something for everyone in it. There’s weight behind everything I say. This is what people tell me”, he adds. “It’s not a review of myself. I talk about homophobia and that always quietens the room – a straight guy talking about homophobia. They listen. ”
Brown’s ten year background in rap (he spent 18 months on tour with DJ megastar Mark Ronson and lived the rockiest of rock god lifestyles before burning out) affords him plenty of comic material. He has a go at the homophobia and misogyny prevalent in so much rap performance and in the culture. “I say, ‘hey, why are you still giving us that?’ It’s about human beings, it’s about respect, equal rights for all human beings,” he says. “They say to me, ‘oh you’re batting for the other team, for the gays, for the chicks now’. I say there’s only one team.” Brown can’t understand why feminism is a dirty word. “Equality for women is men’s fight too. If you can’t see that you’re an idiot. If you’re a black dude and you’re not getting called names it doesn’t mean everything’s cool now. There’s always another victim.” So, when Brown was rapping himself, how did he deal with the sorts of things he now rails against? “I did that thing cowards do when you are new at school, when you’re new in the playground and another kid’s being bullied; you stay quiet cos you don’t want to be that kid. I’ve looked at things in my story; I hinted at things in my songs but I could have done more. Stand up gives you the chance to do that.”
Years after leaving rap behind Brown started working in television via a lucky break courtesy of a friend who wanted his script checked for a kind of racial authenticity. “I was the only black man he knew,” Brown recalls. “I appreciated his honesty. I started working on scripts with Lenny Henry and worked on a whole series then I had an idea for children’s TV series – it got made and it was massive and won a BAFTA.”
Of Mic and Men Brown says, is head and shoulders above anything else he’s done in live comedy. “It’s the culmination of all my experiences. The past few years have been a mental roller coaster. I never had the opportunity to go deeper into stand up because of working in television. I was bored with the material from my past shows; I’m not doing that old crap again. This is what’s going on now. Rawness propelled me; I’m really connecting with people. I talk about proper grown up stuff.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
Venue: Victoria Hotel – Banquet Room, 215 Lt Collins St, CBD
Dates: Currently playing until April 20 (except Mondays)
Tickets: $27-$35
Times: 8.15pm (Sundays 7.15pm)
