Most people in this country looking to get a little life experience would move from country towns to the big city, not the opposite way.
Nina Oyama, however, prefers to stick it to the status quo. Thinking a move to Bathurst would “straighten her out”, Nina packed up and left, not really knowing that fate had less conventional plans for her. “It was a big change, moving to Bathurst,” the 25-year-old comic says. “I was shocked by the fact there were no 7-11’s!”
The demand for stand-up comedy in the regional NSW town, too, was a little dry, but Nina made do. “I had to start running comedy nights there to get up and do it,” she says. “In my very first year [at uni], during O-week I got up and did a joke where the punchline was me being called ‘schnitzel tits’, and the name circulated the whole uni.
“People would yell at me from across the room, ‘Oi, schnitty titties!’ just trying to get my attention – it was so intense.”
Bathurst proved a batty time for Nina. Her new life was wild, losing her driver’s licence four times, becoming a black market taxi driver and carting drugs across state lines, not to mention falling in love. Nina certainly drummed up some different kinds of experiences, things that have contributed to her brand new show, 'Nina Oyama Needs A Lift', which she’ll debut at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Naturally a big talker, Nina didn’t have to whittle down her stories into her bright brand of self-deprecating humour, she’s open to telling all. “I’m a massive over sharer,” she says. “The show is named the way it is because it’s kind of about how I was experiencing mental illness, so I needed a little lift in mood – but I also lost my licence so many times in Bathurst, I was constantly asking for lifts places.
“I guess I could have just walked, but yeah, I needed a lot of help.”
When she was developing the show, Nina remembers adding up all her driving fines, thinking about events connected with her driving offences. “Crazy stuff was always going down in Bathurst,” she says. “So much strange stuff happens that it becomes normal.
“People behave so badly that things that should get judged, people think are super cool, and really whacky.”
It’s sometimes difficult to tell anyone about a world away from their own at the best of times, let alone trying to add a comedic twist to the tale. Nina spent some time developing the right tone to get the laughs she wants from 'Nina Oyama Needs A Lift'. “My stand-up is pretty confessional already, I tell a lot of debilitating things most people normally wouldn’t.
“I get on stage and I’m like, ‘I have 13 driving offences, not including parking’ – most people wouldn’t brag about that! I’m very open in that way naturally.
“I think it’s that whole poke fun at yourself so other people can’t poke fun at you, but I also think it’s me minding my own flaws in humour.
“If I’m gonna stuff up, I might as well laugh about it!”
