Rising star Jeremy Dooley brings his personal brand of heartfelt and side-splitting observational humour to Melbourne International Comedy Festival in his debut solo show, 'Daddy Cool’.
Diving into dads, terrible advice, and speaking when you shouldn’t, 'Daddy Cool' has taken on even more of a personal edge since Jeremy first wrote it, as he literally became a dad for the first time, last week [at the time of writing].
Deep into the world of night feeds, nappies and nursing, Jeremy chats from his car, on his way to get a bassinet from Facebook Marketplace drycleaned. Bubs made his entrance somewhat unexpectedly, and the new parents are a little behind on prep.
“He arrived early,” Jeremy explains. “It’s pretty wild.”
Wild is a good way to describe the last year or so in Jeremy’s life. From working full-time, to writing his first solo show, touring it, and then quitting his day job in order to roll the dice on comedy, it’s been quite the sea change. Now with a brand-new human in the mix, it’s kind of chaos central. Jeremy’s loving every minute of it though.
“I would say a lot of my friends have kids and they always say that it’s this totally indescribable moment,” he recalls.
“From my perspective, it’s certainly the most profound thing I’ve ever experienced. Seeing what my partner went through and how hard she worked, and having to adapt on the fly – it was just an incredible, emotional moment. It’s definitely burnt in my memory in the best way.”
It’s no coincidence that Jeremy’s show takes an in-depth look at fatherhood. The last nine months have been full of parenting research, and plenty of advice from friends and family. All well-meaning, but some perhaps less usable than others. While he’s keen to keep a lot of the 'Daddy Cool' content under wraps until the big debut, he does share a piece of terrible advice he received in his youth.
“I remember when I had my ‘first time’,” he says with a sigh.
“One of my mates had told me that when you’re making love, it’s about connection and you’ve gotta make intense eye contact and NEVER break it,” he laughs.
“You can imagine how horrifying that would have been, when you think about it.”
Jeremy is fresh off a tour up and down Western Australia and Darwin, doing endless late-night gigs and driving for hours between venues. Given his somewhat meteoric rise into the comedy spotlight, it’s like he’s been paying his dues double time in the lead-up to becoming a full-time stand-up.
The gruelling tour enabled him to work on material and tinker with his jokes to get everything snappy for the big show in Melbourne. He’s also developing a real sense of identity as a comedian.
“My style’s very conversational, it’s relatable,” he describes.
“I’m not like an intense edge-lord comedian type who says things for the sake of shock. It’s just about being funny. I’m not very dirty – I’m PG, maybe M-15 at the worst. This is just a very personal show and it’s got a lot of gears to it. There’s some stuff that’s not to do with being a parent, like stuff that anyone with a job can relate to. . . I tend to find myself in some really dumb scenarios and awkward situations, so I try to make it as close to home as possible.
“Expect to leave with something.”
Jeremy Dooley plays Collection Bar (Melbourne International Comedy Festival) 28 March-20 April.
Words: Natalie O'Driscoll
