Watch your step, avoid the cobwebs and prepare to scream [with laughter] as you enter Paul Brasch’s ‘Haunted House’.
Your new show is titled ‘Haunted House’; have you had any encounters with ghoulish entities?
Once many years ago in an old house in Kedron I had a strange book-moving-around-the-floor thing happen to me... very strange... still can't explain it to this day. Very unsettling.
The show features incarnations of Frankenstein, Dracula etc; what's the premise of the show? Will you have props?
There are some props at use in the show and some of the creatures will come to life in different situations. My show is about my fascination with Universal Studios’ famous monsters, which were released between 1930 to early 1950. We all have a haunted house in our heads where for a brief time as children we were scared or fascinated by what we saw and that remains with us as we get older. These monsters are my haunted house and they are still immensely popular — I want to tell their story because they are a part of my story.
Did a particular event inspire the current show?
Absolutely... these monsters have been a part of my whole life. As a comedian, I like to explore themes that are very close to me and it's through this process that I write my shows. After 'Brisbane' and 'Superheroes' this was the next natural show for me to do. I've had four shows brewing away for years and through the [Brisbane] Comedy Festival, I've been allowed to complete three.
As a comedian, is everything you observe and experience fodder for a future show?
Most of what I witness gets filed into the brain and is considered for comedy. After a while it becomes a matter of editing and storing things away for future use.
Hecklers... what's the Paul Brasch method to dealing with those folks who desperately want to be a part of the show?
I've never been a fan of hecklers. I don't understand the need of a person to yell out, but my favourite is to ignore them or I sit in the audience and tell them to go on stage and tell a joke while I heckle them. I don't get heckled too much these days and never during my festival shows. I think as a beginner it's a danger... the audience knows you're fresh and they go for you.
{youtube}YubddXgEZkQ{/youtube}
Do you enjoy watching other comics perform?
I don't watch many other comics these days. I've pretty much seen every way it can be done, but occasionally I'll watch a comic — not often.
Off stage... is there a wildly different character you inhabit when you don't have a microphone and a group of seated humans to entertain?
I'm a lot more quiet and considered off stage than on stage where I can be quite wound up. People over the years have described me as angry on stage, but they don't really know what they are talking about since my performances from show to show are very different.
As a local comic, the continuing success of the BCF must be pleasing...
I think the Brisbane Comedy Festival is head and shoulders above all festivals in this country because you have to be invited to perform. It's not the bloated mess that other festivals have become and that is great for the Brisbane scene. It gives comics something to strive for, and it's fantastic that fans can see me and other comics doing something other than stand-up — it's refreshing.
Paul Brasch Dates
Fri Feb 28 - Arts Centre Gold CoastTue Mar 11 - Sun Mar 16 - Brisbane Comedy Festival @ The Powerhouse.
