Brisbane Comedy Festival Focus: Damien Power

What is your show called? Utopia: Now In 3D!

Could you please give us a brief description of your show? It's stand-up, obviously. Ah, Jeez , how do I describe it? It covers some pretty big ideas, from a personal perspective, to do with utopia and idealised notions of life and love and romance and then talks about bigger societal versions of those same themes. Talking about technological utopian ideas and then political utopias and the failure of politics at the moment. But it is also very funny [laughs]. I really have trouble selling the show 'cause I say all those things and then people get deterred because it's like, "Ugh, it sounds like a lecture". 

What was your inspiration? I do that sort of stuff because it interests me off stage and because I think it creates jokes that people aren't doing, topics that people aren't covering. That's sort of the goal.

How was the reaction in Perth? It was good actually, for a first run. Normally those first runs can be pretty tough, but the show has plenty of really good jokes in it so it was just a case of moving them around. Perth's a pretty tough audience, really; they're a bit like Brisbane. Perth and Brisbane are sort of similar in audiences; I feel that they're not as comedy-savvy and they're quite tough. So it's a good place to try stuff out, but it was a pretty good reaction. Happy with it.

You've been nominated for the Barry Award in Melbourne the last two years, do you think this is the year you take it home? Jesus [laughs], I try not to think too much about that. I think if I come back with a good show, which I think this one is, and people that have come to previous years come and enjoy it and like it and get a lot out of it, then I think that's the best you can hope for in the long run: that people are coming back year after year. As long as you're enjoying creating work and you're creating work constantly and doing stuff constantly, that you enjoy, then that's all you can really hope for, I think. The rest is out of your hands.

You did ten nights in a row at Fringe World, how do you prep for that? I think you have got to be well aware that you will suffer a deep depression [laughs], at some point in those ten nights. And you can't be too surprised when it happens. The less surprised you are the better. It is exhausting, it absolutely honestly is.

How do you cope, have a beer? Some ice cream on the couch? There's a lot of eating ice cream on the couch, I think. It's a lot of ah, getting home and just going to sleep as soon as you can so you can muster the energy to do it night in, night out. Because every night someone's coming or there's a reviewer in. Every night, for a month, you're on show.