“This might be a big call, but a lot of people back it up – it may be ‘the’ finale of the festival it’s so fucking fun. Like, people lose it,” says Sam Simmons.
“This might be a big call, but a lot of people back it up – it may be ‘the’ finale of the festival it’s so fucking fun. Like, people lose it,” says Sam Simmons. He’s talking about his new comedy show and a taco kit. And if Sam Simmons (a comedian known for his signature surrealism) is talking about somehow using taco kits as part of his finale, and that it’s already been enjoying a huge response in Adelaide, then one can only wonder in joyous anticipation at what brilliantly twisted way his demented mind has worked this into Sam Simmons And The Precise History Of Things.
While he says people oftentimes walk away from his shows commenting, ‘That was so random…’ he says he’s not trying to be absurd simply for the sake of it. Especially with this show, the most personal one he’s done to date, he says, there is meaning behind his apparent madness.
“Last year’s show was really personal,” he says of Fail, which won the The Piece of Wood Award, the Comic’s Choice honour at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and collected glowing reviews and accolades wherever it performed. “This one is really personal and it’s not even upping the anger, there’s just a lot more to say in general in this show compared to last year,” says Simmons, who also won The Golden Gibbo for his other show at last years festival, The Incident, which he performed with David Quirk.
Sam Simmons And The Precise History Of Things was inspired by a segment he did as a Triple J presenter. “Basically I put out a call-out on radio,” he says down the phone from the radio studio in Sydney. “Asking for any questions they’ve got about life in general and I got some really random, stupid stuff and I’m just trying to answer them,” he says, adding he also received “a couple of really beautiful ones” as well.
“It’s a blue collar absurd kind of thing. A bit ranty. A bit stupid. All that stuff that I love to do. It’s cool fun,” he says of the stage show that has since evolved.
“It’s a contemporary rant. It’s all about how safe we’ve kind of become, in terms of rules… It’s all about just how fucked it all is, the Western world.” While his unique approach to comedy means there are still in his audiences “a lot of vacant faces going, ‘What the fuck?’”, he believes “they’re staying for the whole journey and at the end they’re all into it.” The taco kit relates to a memory from when he was eight. “The cool thing about this is it’s all for a reason,” he says of his finale.
Sam Simmons performs Sam Simmons And The Precise History Of Things at Melbourne Town Hall’s Supper Room from March 31 – April 24. It’s at 9.45pm Tuesday – Saturday and 8.45pm on Sundays. Tickets are $20 – $28 and available through Ticketmaster online, 1300 660 013 and at the door.
