With numerous accolades under his belt including a Barry Award for the best show at the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, London-based-Californian comedian Phil Burgers is bringing his signature comedy style back to Australia.
Drawing inspiration from early, French bouffon clowns, Burgers is performing at the Brisbane Comedy Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as the dark and disturbing clown, Dr Brown.
We last saw Dr Brown in your show 'Befrdfgth'. That show received plenty of critical acclaim and won quite a few awards. Are you hoping your performances at the Brisbane Comedy Festival & Melbourne International Comedy Festival will bring in another trophy?
No.
So what exactly does Befrdfgth mean? And how do you pronounce it?
Doesn't mean anything and I have no idea how to pronounce it.
What can we expect from Doctor Brown? Has Doctor Brown evolved as a character?
Hasn't evolved really, you can just expect complete stupidity and fun.
The Brisbane Comedy Festival line-up includes some of Australia's best comedians. Are you looking forward to seeing any one in particular perform, or do you try and avoid being a part of the audience?
Looking forward to seeing comedians that are breaking conventions or just really good at what they do. Excited to see them and be inspired.
You've studied at the renowned Ecole Philippe Gaulier clown school in France. Did you get a chance to meet and learn with Gaulier himself?
Yes. The one teacher at Ecole Philippe Gaulier is Philippe Gaulier himself. So the whole time was spent with him.
How long were you a student there?
A year and half.
The Gaulier school is best known for popularising the bouffon style. Would you say this was your main influence in terms of developing your style?
I learned to find my fun to be an idiot and to share that idiocy with an audience. Each person's idiocy is particular to that individual, so he helps you connect to your particular way of being an idiot, and your genuine fun in being that idiot and how best to share that with an audience.
As well as bringing your new show to Brisbane, you're also hosting a five-day workshop teaching the Gaulier technique. This is quite a unique move for a comedian. Are you hoping that the style will grow in popularity as a result of this?
Not really. It is not necessarily a style I am 'teaching'. I'm just happy to help people find their voice and their freedom and to not be constrained by their ideas of what comedy should be or their fear of failure. Everyone has their particular way to be funny, that is ultimately freeing and fun for them (and a pleasure for the audience to witness). So the workshops are aimed to help people to connect to that.
What can participants of the workshop expect to get out of it?
A greater comfort with failure and, therefore, an encouragement to go further in the exploration of their way to be funny and to better share that with an audience.
Will you be aiming to let workshop participants find their 'inner clown', as Gaultier did?
Not sure about the term 'inner clown'. Just helping people be themselves and be open in all of their vulnerability and failure and not hide that in front of an audience. Also, encouraging them to play in their particular way and to best share that with an audience.
You're based in London now; how does the comedy scene there compare with back home in California?
I don't do any comedy when I'm back in California. I just chill out. The Brits and the Aussies have been essential in helping me develop and find my voice in comedy. And I am greatly influenced by the scene in both places.
'Dr Brown: Befrdfgth' plays at the Brisbane Comedy Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse on 4-8 March as well as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival at Melbourne Town Hall on 30 March. The five-day 'Dr Brown: Clown' workshop takes place on 2-6 March at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
