Jacques Barratt

I tell you what, Jacques Barrett gets a massive wrap around the traps. He has the easy bloke charm that so many AusComs go for, but few can pull off without his wit, unique subject matter and, okay, his contrariness. Barrett's latest show, The Contrarian, is all about bucking the trend, questioning commonalities, and getting you to snap the hell out that stupor.

It seems he's always been contrary. Barrett describes the show as “about my dark childhood and teenage years as a fat kid with a French name getting bullied in country Queensland for being gay, and then coming out to all my friends and family to let them know I was straight...” Yep, always been buried beneath a bunch of misconception. And just in case you thought he might go and undercut any Queensland stereotypes at this point, think again. Barrett's now a certified lean-ish, green, contrarian machine – powered, he says, by the stuff that has probably drained more funds from the Queensland Arts sector than Campbell Newman. “Many of the show concepts were presented to me by marijuana,” and in real estate terms, his “comedy is best described as a 'leafy outlook.”

But in some sensual twist, when he's trying to describe his transcendence it all gets a bit dicky. “I talk about my penis for 12 minutes of the show; that's as close as my comedy gets to god. Oh yeah, there's also a bit about how the Jesus we know was Bupa-Jesus, and there must have been a non-Bupa Jesus, and they had very different experiences on the day of the crucifixion... it's super dark and real funny.”

Barrett aims to constantly tug at the contradictory pretensions we all have. Even comedians'. “A lot of comics rely on sizzle. Some shows are full of performance skills and audio-visual wonderment... And good on those comedians, they wow a crowd with a confident sell like a sizzling fajita plate through a Mexican restaurant; everyone loves the spectacle of that. I'm more about the steak, the quality of the words and strength of concept in my material.” It's about calling a shank of cow a shank of cow.

“If you want a comic who won't fake the funk on a nasty dunk, all killer no filler, I'm your guy,” he says. “I still sizzle, don't get me wrong, but the marbling of my medium rare rib-eyed comedy is all about quality, not quantity.” Not many comedians could pump that kind of juice and get away with it. But the Barrett Burger's a tasty bloody morsel.

So in preparation for hearing the story of what Barrett describes as “one boy's strange and erotic journey from Milan to Minsk,” perhaps best leave the soft velvet cushion of your self-identity in the glove compartment.

WHAT: The Contrarian
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 2 to Saturday 4 May, Harold Park Hotel