Jacques Barrett: The Lowest Common Dominator

Jacques Barrett
Our eclectic team of writers from around Australia – and a couple beyond – with decades of combined experience and interest in all fields.

In his show 'Lowest Common Dominator', Jacques Barrett just wants to bring people together.


It's the left vs the right, working class vs middle class... The comedian is requesting a moment of unity when he plays his show. Here, he answers some questions about 'Lowest Common Dominator'.

You're a regular on the comedy festival circuit. What do you love about it?
The travel is great, I’ve seen so much of this fine land and it’s poyple, and seeing so many deadset champions have a chuckle feels good. Feels pure.

What got you into comedy in the first place?
Money... Obviously. The coin I make from doing stupid jokes and half-assed accents keeps a steady flow of Tarocash shirts coming in. I wear a new one each time I hit my parents up for a short term loan. The sweet thread count makes me seem legit. And Tarocash always have great deals... I recently bought into a ‘buy any four shirts and get a free Hummer ride to your court appearance’ deal. Excited to take mum and  dad down to City Hall in a pink stretch HumVee next time I dispute a parking fine.

What made you stay?
The camaraderie in the industry and across the planet is pretty sweet. There’s a natural bond among us comics, the shared perils of trying to make people laugh really brings us together. There are some douchebags out there in the scene too, for sure, but we all bomb from time to time and seeing that vulnerability in another human is quite charming I think. Bringing happiness to people's nights, people's faces, that feels good too.

Jacques Barret 20181

Describe your show to us.
Around an hour of hopefully solid lols. I don’t like having big gaps between punchlines so this show fires like the gun Jesse Ventura had in 'Predator', real rapid, and it’ll clear a square mile of forest in around 60 seconds. If there was a theme for the show I’d say it’s ‘comedy’, but if you must know, it’s about my heartbreak watching the gaps in our society widen. Seeing these chasms open up between people is pretty shit so I’m using my jokey jokes to try and keep the tribes together. See how we go.

You're known to leave crowds 'thinking and laughing' after you're done. What would you like your crowds to think leaving this show?
You pulled that line from the bio I wrote about myself huh? Classic. No one’s really ‘thinking’ after my show, maybe ‘where’d we park the car?’ or ‘oh babe our Uber driver is in a Camry, that’s so rare’.
For this show though I’d hope everyone has a more open mind to those who may hold opposing ideologies. There’s a trend I see of people painting anyone who thinks differently to them as the villain. These kids are watching too many Marvel movies I tells ya. The second someone says something they don’t like they immediately paint that person as evil and go about finger pointing, mustering online hate campaigns and dismantling that person's character and life. It’s really troubling to see it happen with such precision and venom and the fear of having it happen to you stops people broadcasting their truth. I sound like a white guy with dreads on an Ayahuasca binge but aside from thinking about my sweet dick jokes, realise the only person sitting on a Vibranium throne stroking a hairless cat and plotting world domination is Google.

Do you have a favourite person, place or thing to write jokes around?
I love bogans, and in many ways I am one, but I find them to be the most charming and interesting human species on the planet... And they grow right here in Straya!... Abundantly. Maybe too abundantly... But a lot of my comedy is based around ‘le bogan’, just cus they’re like the chicken salt of the earth aye, and chicken salt is the best, literally the crystallised tears of the angel Gabriel himself.

Jacques Barrett Dates

3-4 May – Enmore Theatre (Sydney Comedy Festival)
10-12 May – Hellenic Club of WA (Perth Comedy Festival)

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