So the Melbourne Fringe Festival (September 18 to October 6) launched this week and the weather is so crap lately we can’t help but be excited. Follow us as we track down some of our Fringe favourites over the next two weeks.
Today we say hello to:
Ben Pobjie
Show: Wearing a Towel
Official Fringe blurb:
Having spent his life fully clothed in restraint and shyness, Ben Pobjie is stripping it all back to present himself in the raw.
With comedy, stories and poetry more personal than anything he’s tried before, he’s cutting himself open and picking through the contents, and finding out whether he can ever truly stand naked before the world, or will he forever be wearing a towel?
Q&A
Q: Who are you?
I am Ben Pobjie: author, comedian, and insecure large man.
Q: Describe your Fringe show in five words or less.
Raw emotional comedy and nudity
Q: It’s cold, raining and miserable. Why should we leave the house to see your show?
Because it’s cold, raining and miserable. You need cheering up.
BONUS QUESTION #1: If you could invite one world leader to your show, who would it be?
Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria
Q: Anyone else in your Fringe team we should know about?
There is a guy, but only I can see him. He won’t leave me alone. He tells me to do awful things.
BONUS QUESTION #2: What inspires you?
Hatred for my fellow man
Q: What other Fringe shows are you excited about?
Sabrina D’Angelo’s Why Do We Dream? Bert Goldsmith’s Sitcom Theme Song Singalong. Victoria Healy’s We Heart Comedy. Tony Martin’s The Yeti.
Q: What is your best Fringe Festival survival tactic?
Curl up in a ball and play dead.
BONUS QUESTION #3: If your show had a mascot, who or what would it be?
A giant otter who is worried about providing for his family
Q: Select a daggy YouTube video that relates to your show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nwRz09F-9c
Very disappointed in Ben. Last night he cancelled his show claiming to be “sick”. However he was on Twitter all night sending out tweets.
How “sick” could he have been?
What happened to the old adage that the show must go on.
Untrustworthy.
Tweeting is different to standing on stage and performing a show for an hour.
If you think the level of physical wellness required to lie on a couch is the same as that required to put on a comedy show, I doubt you’d have understood any of the jokes anyway.
Oh Ben & Mrs Pobjie