With a career that has spanned radio and television, standup comic Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes has seen and done it all. So why is he calling his current tour pointless?
“I see life as... the sun is going to burn out one day. All life as we know it will no longer exist. I suppose everything we are trying to achieve is going to be forgotten about, life itself is pointless in a way. That’s probably why I called the show ‘Pointless’.”
His droll and dare I say depressing views are in stark contrast to how he actually lives his life. “I’ve got a beautiful wife and three small children, any spare time is spent with them — their happiness is my happiness.”
A family man and avid sports fan, Hughesy is sometimes referred to as a ‘typical Aussie bloke’. Yet the man himself says otherwise. “I don't refer to myself as a typical Aussie bloke, although I hope people can relate to me. If people can relate to you it probably means you are being honest.”
“Let’s face it, [Carney] has provided much more joy with that photo than he has misery.”
Whether it’s his honesty or his deliverance, whatever he’s doing it’s definitely working. He has come a long way from his days as a university dropout where he used to spend his time smoking bongs in his parent’s bath. “There was a time when I was 19 and I had to go back and live with my parents. I dropped out of uni and my dad used to work at the factory around the corner. I would spend all day in the bath [smoking bongs]. I used to have to get out of the bath and empty it before he came home for lunch so that he wouldn't think that I was in there, and when he went back to work I would just fill the bath back up and get back in.”
So you literally spent all day in the bath smoking bongs? “I did for a little while, I mean I needed to reassess, and I came through that period and I’m a stronger man for it. And I stopped smoking bongs; I’ve been drug free for a long time.”
No stranger to embarrassing moments, Hughesy shares one particularly mortifying moment. “I was at uni camp out in the bush somewhere with a group of uni students and I got drunk and woke up [he pauses]. Look, I may have vomited everywhere and maybe even more than that. I had to drive home in disgrace, I had to leave early.
“I got home and my mother said — I was probably 18 at the time — ‘Oh did you have gastro?’ because our whole family had it. I said ‘I did mum, and I had it at the worst possible place’. That would be my most embarrassing moment in life. I couldn’t laugh about it. It wasn't something that people couldn’t even bring up with me.”
For such a funny man, you’d be surprised to learn that Hughesy hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol since his early 20s. “I was very funny when I was drunk. Often the funniest was when I actually couldn't remember it... people would say to me ‘oh mate you were hilarious last night!’. I'm like ‘oh really? Can you describe it to me ‘cause I can't remember it.’ It would affect me where often I wasn't able to laugh at how funny I was, I was too fragile. At least now I can laugh at myself more than I could back then.”
At this point, the topic of recently shamed NRL player Todd Carney pops up in conversation. Carney’s infamous public picture of urinating in his own mouth is where Hughesy says he would have drawn the line; although he reckons despite the shame and humiliation Carney brought to himself and his family, the hilarity far outweighs the scandal. “Let’s face it, he’s provided much more joy with that photo than he has misery.”
Dave Hughes Tour Dates
Oct 8 - Queens Park Theatre (Geraldton)Oct 9 - Mandurah Performing Arts Centre
Oct 10 - Albany Entertainment Centre
Oct 11 - Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre
Oct 12 - Goldfield Arts Centre (Kalgoorlie)
Oct 14-18 - The Regal Theatre (Perth)
Oct 29 - The Events Centre Caloundra
Oct 31 - Townsville Entertainment & Convention Centre
Nov 1 - Moncrieff Entertainment Centre (Bundaberg)
Nov 2 - Civic Theatre (Cairns)
Nov 5-9 - Twelfth Night Theatre (Brisbane)
Nov 20 - The J (Noosa)
Nov 21 - Pilbeam Theatre (Rockhampton)
