Richard Lindesay has always been a player.
A recorder and flute player, that is.
His act blends original songs, clown-like physical comedy, and sharp one-liners. He's a New Zealander who began as a stand-up comedian in Australia, and he's produced and performed several shows here.
Last year, Richard's song 'Recorder In The Corner' became a viral hit, garnering tens of millions of views on Tik Tok, and amassing more than a million streams within a month through streaming services.
The UK Musical Comedy Awards finalist is chiming in at Sydney and Brisbane Comedy Festivals, bringing a fun mixture of stand-up and songs to his show 'Always Been A Player'.
Here, he lists the five best things about being a recorder player.
One
You can pride yourself in knowing that you are a frugal and savvy financial genius. An acceptable quality plastic recorder from a good supplier costs about $15, while the average Stradivarius violin costs about $10 million! Imagine what you could do with that kind of savings!Two
You can easily bring your instrument with you wherever you go, and because of that more people can experience the joy of your playing. Can you do that with other instruments, I think not! Have you ever seen someone play their Steinway grand piano on the Saturday night late bus? No you haven’t.Three
You bring back memories for people who were forced to play recorder as a kid. These may have been good memories of making beautiful tunes, but also may have been bad memories of failed attempts at playing 'Three Blind Mice' while suffering the deafening squeals of 100 other beginner recorder players around them. In any case though, it’s nice to think of old memories isn't it!Four
You can know that you are not a quitter! Millions of people have played the recorder, and you know what pretty much all of them have in common? They all quit! Either that or their recorders mysteriously went missing and somehow ended up in the local ocean.Five
You can know that you are playing the coolest instrument there is, and has ever been. What, you want proof of that statement? Well there were recorders in a couple of Beatles and Led Zeppelin songs, and also King Henry the Eighth was a recorder player. And all of them are cool these days aren’t they?Richard Lindesay plays Manning Bar (Sydney Comedy Festival) 8-10 May, Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane Comedy Festival) 11-12 May.
