TIM KEY
in
Single
White
Slut
Tim Key returned to Melbourne this year for his Despite his success, the comedian is extremely
show ‘Single White Slut’, which saw the British humble, almost to a fault. When asked what
comedian take to the stage to recollect stories of inspired him to use poetry onstage, he replies
that he tried standup and wasn’t very good at it.
audience.
Hard to believe, given the success this comedian
has achieved. “It’s quite a miserable experience,
Key’s show begins with him ambling around on not being able to do something”, he comments,
a stage made to look like a bedroom, with a bed, “And I really couldn’t do standup. I mean I tried,
maybe ten times, and once was good. I started
playing cards, wandering about in his socks, his talking to a guy in the audience and I reckon
to arrive.
He admits that this is done purposefully so he
won’t be waiting in the wings to go onstage,
“what would go through my mind,” he says, after
being asked about this choice, “is that I would
want the gig not to happen”. I would literally…
end it and make sure this day stops where it is…
I would be like that. I now start the show onstage
when the audience is coming in. That’s a very
conscious decision, to make sure that rather than
pacing up and down backstage and imagining
this audience full of ghouls and demons, I’m on
stage watching people come in and can see that
they’re normal people.”
really working out. But that was over a period of
ten gigs, lasting about six months”.
“What would go through my
mind is that I would want the
gig not to happen”
Key describes the conce