“When I first arrived I wouldn’t say I was arrogant, probably complacent,” he says. “I’d been treated really well for a while in Australia, performing at nice places to nice audiences. Coming to New York has made me start from the beginning all over again, which I was a bit worried about at first but now I love it.”
Following this rigorous comedy bootcamp Scott now feels he’s progressed far enough to be considered brand new. This will be demonstrated when he brings the show Debut to MICF. For those who are familiar with Dools’ radio and TV work, his stand-up personality doesn’t precisely match.
“I swear more,” he warns, “and I can tell you my radical theories on the elderly: they’re so fucking lazy. I love doing radio and telly, it’s really fun, but you’re limited to what you can say. That’s not to say that I want to say ‘fuck’ on The Project, but you just don’t have the time. With stand-up I have an hour or so to talk about things that I think are funny or stupid or maddening.”
Showing up as a complete unknown and submitting himself to the scrutiny of American audiences hasn’t only made Dooley a more stage-savvy comic, it’s also prompted him to look closely at the material he’s presenting.
“Because I’m performing at really small places here to no one the idea of shrieking every punchline is frowned upon, which really puts the focus on the writing,” he explains. “I think that you can get away with some loose writing if you can sell a joke, but if you take that away you’re forced to rely on a more nuanced approached which, in my opinion, can only make you a better act. Having said that, the strongest part of my set is still the five minutes when I yell different slang terms for penis. ‘COCK’ I will bellow, followed by ‘DICK’ and…well it’s my opener and closer so I’d better not give too much away.”
So, uh, believe it or not, being a ‘funny-guy’ actually isn’t always an asset. The impulse to turn everything into a joke can even become a nuisance in social settings. Dools explains how he’s gotten better at preserving spontaneous humour for the stage.
“There’s no one more annoying than the guy at the dinner party who’s constantly interrupting with jokes, so you’re conscious not to do that. I write everything down. I’m starting work on the next show, which is probably going to be about being single for the first time in my life. So I spend a lot of time writing little notes in my phone, which gets it out of system and hopefully makes me a much more pleasant person to be around.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
