On Depressing Comedy And Living Off Goon And Mie Goreng

"I worship at the feet of Brett Whiteley." Corey White may be known as many things, but 'art lover' is a mask most would not recognise him in. Wandering through the National Gallery of Art in Canberra, though, he's inspired by the works that surround him. "Whiteley, John Brack; they've got paintings here by my favourite painters so it's a great escape on a day off."

Contrast this scene to last night, performing to "a room of unimpressed bureaucrats. There were people in the crowd still wearing their lanyards from work." Aside from the plain idiocy of wearing lanyard out in public — "at least tuck it beneath your shirt" — the show [unsurprisingly] wasn't White's best.

 "After seven years of living off mie goreng noodles and goon, it's a relief."

"People say that comedy's subjective, and it is, but people not liking comedy is very objective. You can see in their faces if they're not happy. I think every comic's had that moment of staring out at that sea of blank, unhappy heads, and knowing there's nothing you can really do."

Given White's show, The Cane Toad Effect, deals with traditionally un-funny topics like depression, foster care and ice addiction — experiences he has suffered through personally — he knows that sea of blank, unhappy heads well. Despite this, his show has won awards around the country and he's gearing up to perform it a few final times.

It's something of a lap of honour for the show, with White squirrelling away on a new, more politically-motivated show inspired by four months squatting with a bunch of anarchists in Sydney. He's also writing a memoir.

"I'm halfway through and I'm really enjoying it, exploring themes and moments that I don't get to cover in my stand-up show. It's definitely going to be funny; there are already too many sad memoirs.

"It's like that Kurt Vonnegut idea that if someone's gonna be with your work you have to offer them something, you have to give the reader a reason to read it. And if you read [my book] you're sure to get a laugh out of it, so it won't be a complete waste of your time."

The Cane Toad Effect, having been performed since 2014, is a finely tuned show. It's not markedly changed from when White was touring it at festivals in 2015 [notching Best Newcomer at Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals in the process], but its success somewhat validates his far from instant catapult into the spotlight. 

The show's success has transformed White's life, with conference invitations, the aforementioned book deal and being the subject of a high profile Australian Story episode last year.

"At the moment I'm able to make a living off comedy. After seven years of living off mie goreng noodles and goon, it's a relief. When I was working on the show I was living in some ramshackle share house in Brunswick West and I was so poor that I would steal individual cashews from my housemates. Everything's ephemeral though, so I'll probably be homeless in six months, who knows?

"Maybe I've only got one show in me, maybe this is it."