Having just popped down the shops for a wee bit of grocery shopping, Scottish comedian Larry Dean expresses his delight at the very Aussie expression: 'hope you've had your Weet-Bix'.
“Is that what they say in Australia?” he laughs, “I thought the motto in Australia was 'what did you just say?'. . . That's what they always seem to say to me.”Hailing from Glasgow, Larry often faces the same challenge as many when it comes to Australians – no one understands what the hell we're talking about.
“Some accents are quite similar,” he remarks.
“For example, my South African friends don't have a problem understanding the Scottish accent because even though the South African accent sounds more similar to Australian, apparently some of the inflections are similar. A lot of the times when I talk in Australia or in England I have to draw out words for longer, because it gives you more time to figure out what the word was.”
“I always say Queenslanders,” Larry begins before feigning a classic ocker patois, “seem to talk with a bit more of a higher pitch, it's like [they] got too close to the equator and can't handle the gravity. Fark, mate.”
Larry is in Australia with his brand-new show 'Fudnut', which he'll be bringing to audiences at festivals around the country.
“A lot of people go in with a real set theme for their shows, I'm not particularly one for a huge theme,” he explains when asked what he has in store for us in 'Fudnut'.
“I usually basically think of all the funny things that have happened to me lately, or that I can remember, and then I put that in. The past year has been quite eventful with my personal life, because I was going out with a guy then I broke up with him and then when we broke up we ended up getting back together after my last tour, and then we broke up again.”
The conversation wraps up with Larry regaling us with his experiences in Dubai, where homosexuality is outlawed under UAE law and punishable by imprisonment. Not the place to be a young gay guy with a broken heart, that's for sure.
“The last time I was in Australia I had to leave early and on the journey I had to stop in Dubai and I got put into police custody for three or four hours because I had CBD [Cannabidiol] oil in my bag and I also had PrEP pills in my bag,” he says.
“Also, I'd taken a picture of a police officer and it's illegal to take a picture in Dubai of somebody without their permission. Also, I broke the law in Dubai because I was really gay the whole time I was there,” he laughs.
“Since I was dealing with my break-up, it was like 'why are you so upset?' and I had to lie, like, 'because my girlfriend broke up with me'.”
Larry Dean Tour Dates
10-16 February – Cabaret Bar at Comedy Hub at Rosie O'Grady's (Fringe World)25 February-1 March – Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane Comedy Festival)
2-15 March – Le Cascadeur at The Garden Of Unearthly Delights (Adelaide Fringe)
19 March – Home Of The Arts (Gold Coast Laughs Festival)
26 March-19 April – State Library Victoria (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
23-25 April – The Comedy Store (Sydney Comedy Festival)
