Bob Downe

“It's a completely new show, which I'm really proud of,” shares Mark Trevorrow aka Bob Downe about his show Bob, Sweat & Tears. Showing at the Athenaeum as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Bob, Sweat And Tears “has the audience singing along after 30 seconds!”. Trevorrow has been touring around the country and “kicking royal butt” in the process with performances in Sydney and at the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Trevorrow got his inspiration for the character of Bob Downe as a child growing up in Melbourne. “I've been doing [Bob] since I was a kid to make everybody laugh. He's based on all the Melbourne TV entertainers from the late '60s and '70s. People like Phillip Brady, Bruce Mansfield, Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton; high camp vaudevillian entertainers that did television when TV was all local.”

Trevorrow first cut his teeth in the cabaret scene that sprang up in the late '70s around the famous comedy lounge The Last Laugh. However, it wasn't until the early '80s that he went professional and started performing solo as Bob. He's probably most known in Australia for hosting the Mardi Gras when it was broadcasted.

“[Bob, Sweat And Tears combines] little bits of Dusty Springfield, Burt Bacharach, Gary Glitter and Roy Orbison. It's very '60s and early '70s,” Trevorrow explains. As well, the show features special guests that are invited to perform on different nights. “Bob knows everyone, and everyone knows Bob. Very rarely do people say no.” In previous shows, Trevorrow has performed solely with CD accompaniments. However this time Trevorrow says, “I've got a band in this show! It's like going from black and white to colour.”

Trevorrow is genuinely excited to be bringing the new show to Melbourne. “I'm really looking forward to do it in the Athenaeum, the Ath is my favourite theatre in Australia to work at – it's magnificent! [I have] a lot of fun doing shows in Melbourne because there are all those Melbourne references that I can bring up.” However, he's aware of the challenges: “You wanna open in Melbourne tight.”