The Complete Package

Tommy Little

“Tommy Little is everything I normally dislike in a comedian,” says Adam Hills. “And yet I like him as well.”

It seems Tommy Little's status as a triple threat – youthful, handsome and hilarious – is enough to intimidate even the most successful of Australian comedians. We catch up with Little in the middle of a writing session (“It involves a lot of staring at a computer and asking yourself, which word is funnier, arse or bum?”) who sets the story straight. “Here's the secret – I just slipped him twenty bucks,” Little says. Who knew Hills came so cheap! “Yeah, his career is really on the rocks,” he adds with a sly chuckle. “Sure, he's got TV shows and international success, but woah, behind the curtains, he needs money.” So does Tommy Little have plans up his sleeve to take over Adam Hills' position in the world as the most likeable and popular comic in Australia? “I would love that, he's having an amazing career. I think any comedian in the country would love to have anything close to the success that Hillsy's had. So fingers crossed, if I can keep bribing people, all the way.“

Truth is, Little doesn't have to bribe anyone. Because Little is just really, really funny. He's also a master of self-deprecation. “I'm only in comedy because I suck at everything else. If I could do anything else I would do it. The working conditions and the pay are so horrible that if this is your choice, you're insane.” So is he a bit insane? “Uh… no…” he sighs, and then, pissing himself laughing again adding, “What a reassuring tone!” Do his friends think he's insane? “My friends are funny. I'm lucky doing comedy that a lot of people that are funnier aren't doing comedy.”

Little finds ambiguity interesting. “Ethnically and sexually ambiguous, that's what I'm going for. No, I mean, I think, like a lot of things, the fun is in the middle area with everything. Like right is always pretty boring and wrong is always pretty boring. But a little bit of right and wrong, that crawl space in the middle, is very funny.” Suggest to Little that from his material it seems as though he spends a lot of his time drunk, he pisses himself laughing. “I love that that is the initial perception! And you know what, it's probably fair. I think it's towing that fine line of, sure, drinking hacks into your working week, but it also provides a lot of funny stories. I don't know if you'd call it a fine balance, I think you'd call it just a seesaw gone wrong.”

And since he's currently writing material, alone at his computer, asking himself life's big questions, how does he know what's funny? “I find out that night at the gig when instead of laughter, the room is filled with silence and someone winding up their arm to throw a bottle at me! That's generally a fair indicator.” He prepares a lot of his material but really enjoys audience interaction. “I sincerely find people very interesting, so actually a lot of my material will originate from chatting with the crowd that then turns into bigger chunks of material down the track. I always know where I'm going to start and where I'm going to finish and the stuff in the middle is kind of up to the gods – the comedy gods – that sometimes decide to shit all over me and give me nothing.“

WHO: Tommy Little
WHAT: A Fistful Of Apologies: Warehouse Comedy Festival (Madman)
WHEN: In stores Wednesday 12 December