Myq Kaplan is one of the stars in the sublime American line-up for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Headliners show, which also features Cristela Alonzo (the first Latina to write, produce and star in her own sitcom), Hari Kondabolu (former writer on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell) and Wyatt Cenac (former writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart). A Last Comic Standing finalist.
Kaplan’s new show is sure to engage, surprise and amuse. “A lot of the stuff I’m working on right now is about not wanting children,” says Kaplan. “If you want them or have them, I’m fine for you to keep them, but a lot of the jokes are about how I’ve come to this and what it means for me to not have and not want to have children. But it’s a show that anyone who has any number or any amount of desire for or against children to enjoy.”
Kaplan grew up in New Jersey and says that his parents – while of Jewish heritage – are not particularly religious. His mom did want him to have a spiritual upbringing, though, so that he wouldn’t run away and join some cult. He eventually came to the decision that he was an atheist. “Whoever’s teaching what you believe in, they pretty much say, ‘be nice to each other and be nice to the world’,” he considers. “So whether you’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do for no reason or because somebody said so – that’s my general belief system: make the world as nice as possible. You can make your own rules and find people who like your rules and play with them, and people who don’t like your rules don’t play with them.”
Music was Kaplan’s primary pursuit before he discovered that he could talk more as a comedian. With a master’s degree in linguistics, Kaplan has always had a way with words. “Comedy clubs allowed me on their stage,” he says. “I played my funny songs there and just sort of talked a little bit in between them, and talking was what grew into me not doing anything but talking. I didn’t grow up watching a lot of comedy, but since I came to it, my first favourite was probably Mitch Hedberg. I love an assortment of people who are all different like Maria Bamford, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Andy Kindler, Paul F. Tompkins and Reggie Watts. My goal as a comedian is to say things that I think are funny and are important to me; the goal is always to be funny, and if it can be, it’s always about something that I think is important, that I care about or is meaningful to me or present in my life right now.”
Kaplan has had so many different reactions to his comedy over the years that it’s difficult for him to be particularly surprised by anything: “I’m always pleased when an elderly person enjoys my show – maybe I’d talked about paedophilia and bestiality and maybe some issues of religion and things that could’ve been viewed as insensitive by a sensitive person – to find that an elderly person does not have a problem with anything at all and is simply delighted, that can be a nice surprise. Nobody’s comedy is for everybody; my comedy isn’t for everybody.
“I was in Alaska once and performing for a fairly conservative and sort of cowboy-ish audience and I remember I was talking a lot about gay marriage and other liberal issues. I remember a man came up to me after and said, ‘I don’t agree with anything you said, but that was really funny and thank you for coming here’. So that’s the kind of thing that makes me not worry or question.”
BY CHRISTINE LAN
