Mark Swivel Is A Post-Truth Comedian In His Latest Show 'Dad. Joke.'

Mark Swivel has had a hell of an interesting journey to his newfound career as a comedian. In fact, as Swivel himself says, "it's still happening."

"I've dipped my toe in the water at different times in my life," Swivel reveals, "and this time I'm trying to do the full body immersion, I guess. The process, if you want to call it that, really all started when I got involved with a choir — a choir of men. There's 30 of us, from the northern rivers, and we sing in Russian." Suddenly adopting a flamboyant Russian accent, he continues, "You not mind if I switch into zis persona? Ve sing in Russian, ve sing Red Army songs, Russian folk songs, and little bit Russian hymn. And ve come out and speak like zis in between song, because the people, they get confused. So we amuse them little bit." Returning to his own voice, Swivel says, "we're kind of like a cult thing, it's great. It's pretty unlikely, these big blokes bellowing in Russian, peppered with a little bit of humour. So in that experience, which started about three years ago now, I got hooked on doing the banter in between songs."

Along the way, Swivel stumbled upon his brand new stand-up show: Dad. Joke.

"Ve come out and speak like zis in between song, because the people, they get confused."

"The shtick, if you like, in the show, is that I'm making a speech for my son's 21st, and I'm struggling. So I get the audience to help out, then at the end, I reveal that my son is having a gap year — a year off. And he says that to me and I say 'A year off? From what?' So that kind of sets up the dynamic." Swivel also struggles in his show with the nature of the modern world, explaining, "I go into this sort of angst about my authoritative position as a father, and thinking 'what have I got to share... apart from my fear? My fear of his future and this world that he is coming into?'"

Along with the fear, Swivel has a very self-aware, and potentially divisive, perspective on the times at hand. "I don't labour the point, but it kind of sits throughout the show," he states, "that we kind of pay out on the millennials, we pay out on the baby boomers, but my Gen-X crowd get this massive free kick as if we've had nothing to do with the way the world's gone. But as far as the show's concerned, that's just an aside from the funny stuff about being a dad and growing up watching Countdown."

One thing Swivel is sure of is that audiences will have fun at his "not quite stand-up" show. "It's a show full of what I call evidence-based musings for a post-truth world. And it's a show for parents like me, and the kids who hold them in contempt."

Mark Swivel's Dad Joke plays 10 Mar at The Factory, Sydney, 18 Mar at the Ex-Services Club, Mullum, 24 Mar at The Club, Burringbar, 10 — 15 Apr at The Loop, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and 21 — 22 Apr, The Street, Canberra.