Award-winning comedian and Fox Sports star Andrew 'Barney' Barnett presents 'Barney’.
With razor-sharp wit and a relaxed comedy style, Andrew will tackle all (some) of the issues, both big and small (mostly small). . . From an expanding generation gap, to modern romance, to home-schooling an 11-year-old. . . Andrew finds the funny in all of it, even if you're supposed to take it seriously.
You might've seen Barney on Fox Sports and Kayo in his work on Fox League ('The Professors Late Hit', 'Sunday Night With Matty Johns'), Fox Cricket ('The Night Watchmen') and 'The Back Page'.
This new stand-up show, 'Barney', is about life, love, and the pursuit of a good nickname.
Here, we chat to Andrew before he presents the show.
What’ll you be bringing to audiences in this show, in a few sentences?
This show is the sum of 12 years of jokes and stories. It’s mostly me trying to make fun of my family, work and anything else you are supposed to take seriously.
What’s the secret to a good nickname?
A great nickname just has to be easy to remember and fun to say. The strictest teacher at my high school loved me simply because he liked saying 'Barney' whenever he saw me. Never underestimate the power of people assuming you're mates because they know your nickname. It’s a shortcut to friendship.
You’ve been performing stand-up since 2010. What’s the best thing you’ve learned since starting out?
That I should have listened to that mate who told me to invest in Bitcoin back in 2012. If I’d done that I’d be the only performer at the festival with a show about private jets and owning an island. It’d be totally unrelatable, but I probably wouldn’t care.
Do you have a particularly interesting (for better or worse) recent audience experience?
I recently performed at a fundraiser for a sporting club. My Fox Sports on-air partner, 'The Professor' and I ran a fake silent auction selling memorabilia, commemorating moments when various athletes had disgraced themselves off the field. It went very well, but after we had finished, the MC came backstage and told us that the brother of one of the footballers we had made jokes about was at the event and was “looking for us”. The MC asked if we wanted to meet him. We said we’d be out in a few minutes to say hi, then courageously snuck out the back door. Running away is the better part of valour.
How would you describe your style of comedy to a newcomer?
Mostly it’s just me having fun and sharing the stuff that makes me laugh.
And where did your love for the craft begin?
Drinking at the Exford Hotel watching the comedy showcase during the 2009 festival. It looked like so much fun that I thought I’d give it a crack.
What are you looking forward to about this comedy season?
I feel like with all the drama of the past two years we’ve earned the chance to let our hair down, laugh lots and have a good time. Outside of performing, I’ll be checking out as many shows as I can. I think we all need a good laugh right now.
Andrew Barnett plays Enmore Theatre (Sydney Comedy Festival) 5-6 May.
