Lauren Bonner loves telling jokes.
She's done it in many places – stages, on our screens, and you might even know her voice from triple j or being one half of the 'Big Natural Talents' comedy podcast with Concetta Caristo.
Lauren's got a hilariously honest, dark but cheeky comedy style. She's performed at Splendour In The Grass, and brought her solo show 'Heartbreaker' to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne comedy festivals.
Now she's back again for the festival season with 'Elephant' – a brand-new hour of her signature stand-up with hints of chaos, and the concept of being okay with giving up control.
Before Lauren hits the stage, we sit down with her for a chat about the show's themes, what she loves about the entertainment industry, and what's on the horizon.
Where does the name of your show come from?
It comes from a few things that I reference in the show, so I don’t want to give too much away. But I’ve been stuck on the idea of ‘the elephant in the room’ – those big things that kind of loom over us, but we’re unable to acknowledge for whatever reason. Also I might mention the cartoon Babar about the young elephant king who marries his cousin Celeste. Did you know it’s been criticised as promoting neocolonialism? I just like his little suit.
And what can audiences expect from it, in short?
A comedy show. It’s an hour long, so there’s a bit more of a story to it than a short set but really, I will do a lot of jokes, riffs, jabs, razzing etc.
The show deals with a few things deeper than your average laugh-out-loud comedy routine. What has inspired you to create a show such as this?
To be clear, I still consider this a laugh-out-loud affair, so please do come along for that. This show does feel a bit more personal though, and I think the inspiration for that is really just because I spent a large chunk of the year locked inside the house with nothing but myself to think about (and my boyfriend I guess). I think I’m like a lot of people in that I like making jokes to deflect or distract myself from any sh.t situation. I mean look at you, reading a fun little article about a comedian while the world burns. It’s nice! What can you do! So the main inspiration was really just thinking about that – using humour to avoid things, and if maybe I sometimes take that too far.
What are you most looking forward to about presenting it to audiences?
It’s such a long season – in Melbourne I’ll be doing 22 shows. So I’m excited to see how different people respond to different things night after night.
How are you hoping they respond to the material? Aside from of course laughing out loud and being entertained, do you have a particular desired reaction/response to the content?
Not particularly. You can never predict how people will respond to whatever you say, so I really just hope people laugh and have a good time, anything other than that is a fun surprise. And I’m also not saying anything particularly profound anyway. Please don’t be fooled by my talking about concepts and ideas, yes there’s a few themes and a bit of a story but at the end of the day it’s a stand-up show and there is at least one joke about pre-cum (consider this a warning).
You’ve had appearances across a few TV networks recently and you’ve lent your voice to radio and podcasts. What’s your favourite thing about being in the entertainment/comedy industry overall?
I like getting to do different stuff every day. I could say this is because I’m highly energetic and love a challenge, but actually I’m a millennial/gen z cusp so that means I hate hard work and getting to know new people. Doing different gigs all the time means that if something really sucks I get to just say “phew well at least you don’t have to do that again tomorrow”. Then the next day I do something else and say “phew well at least you don’t have to do that again tomorrow” and so on and so forth until I either hit the big time or I die.
What’s something really important you’ve learned about being a part of it?
If someone in the audience has a tattoo of a date, it’s probably about someone who died. Don’t ask them about it, it won’t be funny. On the flip side, if someone in the audience has very tight suit pants on, they may be a real estate agent. Attack them, it will be funny.
What’s on the horizon for Lauren Bonner?
Oh so much. Absolutely loads of stuff. I imagine the producers of 'Fleabag' will be in touch with my agents after reading this interview so I will be absolutely flat out. But aside from that I have a feeling my podcast with Concetta Caristo ‘Big Natural Talents’ will continue to inspire strangers to DM me stories about sh.tting themselves, and I’ll also be touring this show 'Elephant' to Sydney and Brisbane after Melbourne.
Lauren Bonner plays Trades Hall (Melbourne International Comedy Festival) 31 March-24 April.
