Damian Callinan could easily host a party of his onstage alter egos without inviting anyone else.
Headed north to perform his one-man show The Merger, inspiration for his array of characters comes from many sources. “When I write a story like The Merger, I work out the characters needed and they come from stories I hear, but every now and again I see a person and I think, ‘oh god, that’s it’.”
Damian can portray so many characters, he often finds new ones lurking around inside him waiting for the chance to pop out. “They all come out quite easily. Some come more easily than others, like Coach Troy Carrington. I’ve been doing him for a long time. I'm used to thinking like him. Then there’s the club president. He is misogynistic and just wrong, but I fucking love doing him.”
The Merger highlights social commentary concerning racism and detention centres, but only if the audience is ready to acknowledge it. “I was commissioned to write a show about racism, but you don’t tell the audience that. In outback Australia people came up after the show saying, ‘Oi, yeah, that’s an interesting way of looking at it and… stuff’. But I’d be an idiot if I thought everyone would walk away thinking the way I do.”
As a travelling comedian, Damian often uses the towns he visits as inspiration. “I learnt that if you engage with the community in some way it makes a big difference. I did a gig in Marysville [Victoria], which was devastated by fires. I walked around and knew I wanted to confront the devastation. I opened with: ‘I’ve been overseas for six months and shit, you’ve really let this town go!’ I’ve never had to wait longer for an audience to stop laughing.”
Damian Callinan The Merger Dates
Tue Mar 12 - Sun Mar 17 — Brisbane Comedy Festival @ Brisbane PowerhouseFri Apr 12 — Melbourne International Comedy Festival @ Tuxedo Cat
Sun Apr 14 — Melbourne International Comedy Festival @ Melbourne Town Hall
