Andrew Hansen may have found fame playing zany warehouse workers and 'slightly too loud' commuters on satirical sketch show, 'The Chaser's War On Everything', but he's equally at home performing traditional stand-up.
“I'm a very non-confrontational person, I never really enjoyed performing those pranks,” admits Hansen. “I always used to think, as long as the result is amusing, it's worth being uncomfortable but it is more enjoyable doing a controlled show in a normal situation.”
Hansen and Chris Taylor's latest project may lack those cringe-inducing pranks, but it does blend a similar satirical edge with the pair's own love of absurdist humour. 'One Man Show' begins a national tour next month, including a date at Brisbane Comedy Festival.
“It'll be full of sketches and madness. It'll probably be disgusting and appalling, which is good because people who come and see our shows tend to be people who enjoy that sort of thing like I do.”
Alongside the promised sketches and madness, 'One Man Show' includes new songs and musical pieces from Hansen, who penned the 'Chaser' theme tune as well as the show's infamous 'I Am Thesaurus' Beatles parody.
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“The show will be pretty music heavy. It's a fun way to show ideas; you set them to music and they take on a different lease of life. There is something inherently naff about doing musical comedy so you either have to embrace that or avoid it somehow and I'm not sure if I've ever managed to do either! But nevertheless we're determined to do as many songs as possible.”
Contrary to what its title may suggest, 'One Man Show' centres on the writing partnership Hansen and Taylor honed during 'The Chaser' as well as their 2007 stage show, 'Dead Caesar', a humorous take on William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'.
“Out of the 'Chaser' group, Chris and I have the most overlap in our sense of humour. He and I are the ones who are very interested in silly, absurd comedy and characters with ridiculous voices and odd situations. On TV, a lot of the more fanciful things that we've done — like the pranks where we burst into song in front of members of the public and the 'Doctor Who' song — came from Chris and me, more so than the political comedy.”
Snatching time between filming for a new 'Chaser' series (expected in late 2014) and testing ideas on audiences in Sydney, Hansen co-wrote 'One Man Show' with Taylor — albeit with surprisingly little face time.
“We tend to work alone initially and beaver away on things. We send each other thoughts like, 'I'm thinking of writing a sketch about Twitter outrage' or write something up and send it to the other person. They'll then throw in suggestions and say, 'That sounds promising' or 'That sounds incredibly lame, I don't think you should bother' and then we'll cobble something together.”
Despite their distanced writing relationship, Hansen insists that he and his comedic partner make a unique kind of team.
“One of the connotations of calling it a 'one man show' was that it requires two of us to balance out into one talented performer. I feel like we're half a comedian each. If you combine our abilities, you've got maybe one passable person.”
Chris Taylor and Andrew Hansen One Man Show Dates
Tue 25 Feb - Wed 26 Feb @ Civic Theatre (Newcastle)Thu 27 Feb @ Illawarra Peforming Arts Centre (Wollongong)
Fri 28 Feb - 2 Mar - Adelaide Fringe Festival @ The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Thu 6 Mar - Canberra Comedy Festival @ Canberra Theatre Centre
Fri Mar 07 - Sat Mar 08 - Brisbane Comedy Festival @ Brisbane Powerhouse
Mon 10 Mar @ The Spiegeltent Princes Wharf No 1 (Hobart)
Wed 23 Apr – Sat 26 April - Melbourne Comedy Festival @ The Athenaeum Theatre
Thu 01 May - Sydney Comedy Festival @ The Concourse Theatre, Chatswood
Fri 02 May - Sydney Comedy Festival @ The Metro
Sat 03 May - Perth Comedy Festival @ The Astor Theatre
