Green’s new show is something of a departure from what fans have come to know and laugh at. “The new show has some rap,” he says. “I love rap. It’s rhythm and poetry, a beautiful medium for people who like words. It’s not the whole show; there’s just a sprinkle of that. I finish on a poem – that’s new. It keeps me and my fans on their toes. I enjoy a turn of phrase; I enjoy exploring that on stage. You can do that with a whole show, explore deeper; an hour is different to 20 minutes. You don’t have the liberty to do that when you’re performing at 11pm on someone’s birthday and everyone is drunk.
“What I love about writing a new show is that it’s like a big piece of marble waiting to be cut. My new show’s about some issues to do with being a father, my kids are eight and six, and the world they’re growing up in. They are facing different issues to what I faced growing up. I bring my own (hilarious – this is comedy) insight to these things. I talk about some of the main broad topics; you don’t have to be a parent to relate to them, things like the dredging of the Great Barrier Reef, the rise of China, the world boiling as we speak. I talk about ageing. There’s that lovely Confucian tradition of revering the elders, whereas we think of aging in terms of senility, sickness, and odd smells. The main issues are dealing with our attitudes, what we think the elderly are capable of.”
Green is generous with advice to would-be comedians, given that he’s been performing stand-up for longer than many of his audience members have been alive, he’s worth listening to. “Give up. I can’t stand the competition!” He adds that writing is the key to finding one’s voice as a comedian. “The only way to really explore your persona is to keep writing. Jokes are not the main thing, your persona is. Young comics often struggle with the jokes, when they should focus on finding their comic voice. And that can take years. Keep turning material over. Most comics have to write one new 40 minute show a year. If you’re not doing that you’re going backwards. You have to be adaptable,” he continues. “Even in the UK where you can make a good living doing stand-up, and it’s a good life, you still need something else to do. You’ve got to keep yourself fresh. I do stand-up, I write, I mentor some young comics.”
Green says the biggest challenge for him as a performer is staying relevant. “My job is to connect with my audience. You have to build that bridge. I have the skills and the experience of being on stage but I find often that I’m not talking to who is naturally my crowd; it’s a tricky tightrope you walk. But every comedian has to have a challenge. Most of us are very competitive, we want to be the best, win them over; we want to be liked, appreciated, and valued. You don’t take that for granted.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
