COMEDIAN Daniel Connell caught up with The Euroa Gazette ahead of his dinner show performance at Northern Republic in Euroa on Friday, June 16.
Tickets for Daniel's show "I'm Always Sore" are available from the Northern Republic website: https://www.northernrepublic.com.au/events.
Here is what Daniel had to say about Euroa, regional Australia and his comedy career.
Q: Have you ever been to Euroa?
A: You know what, I've only ever stopped through on travels up the Hume – I've only probably been in a couple of times.
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But I went in for lunch around Christmas and thought I'd come here more because it's a beautiful little town.
Q: Do you remember where you got lunch when you came here?
A: Yeah, it was the bakery – I can't remember what the bakery is called, but it's just down from the supermarket.
Q: That sounds like Burkes Bakery.
A: Yeah, that's what it was – I had a beautiful pie and a custard tart.
Q: Your manager did mention you were looking for Australia's best custard tart – we've got another bakery, Mawson's Bakery, which also has a custard tart, so that might be worth trying when you're here.
A: I'll come up early on Friday and have lunch.
Q: I was looking at some of your past gigs and you played opening night at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, you've been on ABC TV and you've played internationally – why are you now coming to Euroa?
A: (Laughs) My career will peak on Friday, June 16 when I come to Euroa.
I'm from country New South Wales, so my dream has always been to get well known enough to be able to go to all the country areas.
Because I just feel like that's the people who react to me the best, and my style lends itself to the people in country areas.
And I do live in the city, obviously I have to be based in Melbourne for opportunity reasons, but I would move to the country in a heartbeat if somewhere like Euroa had a bustling comedy scene.
Yeah, I just love touring around the country – if you look at all the dates on my tour, I probably go to about five or six cities and then the other 12 are just regional.
And then Adam, who runs Northern Republic, got in touch and I was like, "yeah, this is too good – I've got to get out there and check it out."
Q: What can people expect from your show in Euroa?
A: This new show, "I'm Always Sore", is kind of just about – I've become a father in the last three years, getting older.
And just how, you know, things get in the way of life and how much life changes, and how sore I always am from running around like a madman after a son and then trying to work full–time with comedy.
There's something in there for everyone, whether you're a child or a parent or a grandparent.
I think if you come along, you'll laugh at some point, I think I can guarantee that.
Q: You mentioned daily observations and I've seen people describe your comedy style as observational – who are some of your comedy influences?
A: In the late 90s to early 2000s, people that were really prominent on Australian TV were guys like Carl Barron and Jim Mullen.
Billy Connolly also used to get played a lot on Australian TV in those times.
So, I guess those guys were what I watched a lot and I was really drawn those classic observations of Australian life and obviously for Billy Connolly, Scottish life.
But definitely I saw Jim Owen when I was about 17 at my local RSL and that was kind of moment I was like, "I want to do this for a living eventually".
Q: I believe you formerly worked for the Department of Defense – what kind of work did you do there?
A: I lived in Canberra and worked in a mail room – I was a manager of a mail room for about two and a half years.
I was a chef after school, and then I threw that in and my mate got me a job in the public service in Canberra.
It was kind of the perfect job, just getting a couple of deliveries of mail every day, then walking around this huge building and delivering it to staff and chatting and having a laugh.
And then I started doing stand–up around that time.
I had a lot of free time during the day at work to write jokes or think about jokes.
Q: Now you're working in comedy full–time, do you ever find you get tired of telling jokes all the time, or worry it will affect your funniness?
A: I haven't felt burnt out yet, or over it in the 14 years I've been doing it, doing anywhere from 250 to 350 gigs a year.
Personally, I just got to keep at it – I know some people get a bit over it and will have three or four months off and then come back fresh, but I can't really do that myself.
I like to just keep my foot on the pedal and keep going.
Q: Is there any last thing you want to add?
A: I can't wait to try the custard tart at Mawson's Bakery.
