Helping hand for stand-up career

WHEN comedian David Smiedt finally found the courage to get up on stage, thanks to a push from well-known TV personality Adam Hills, he wished he’d done it sooner.

As a comedy writer he had mastered the art of making people laugh on paper, but it was Hills – who was host of ABC TV’s Spicks and Specks for many years as well as a stand-up comic – who organised a comedy gig for him.

“Hills said, ‘I’m really sick of having this conversation with you about how you want to try stand-up. I’ve organised you a gig, you’ve got a month’s notice, you have to do five minutes, and it’s in a pub in Melbourne so no one will know you’,” recalls the Sydney-based comic.

“Hills added: ‘If it goes terribly at least you’ll know whether you want to do it again or not.’

“The show went really well. Vodka-powered admittedly, but it went really well, so I’ve been doing it for eight years now.”

Smiedt, 45, has done several full-length shows with a highlight being the opening act for Joan Rivers at two sold-out shows at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre.

Last month he was back at the Enmore, performing his solo show Smiedt Pray Love as part of the Sydney Comedy Festival.

As the title suggests, the show is divided into three parts. It starts by being biographical, then it reflects on spirituality, and the third part “goes into a rant about why gay marriage isn’t legal”.

Smiedt will also appear in the Jewish Comedy Showcase at the festival on May 13, joining some of Australia’s best Jewish comedians.

He says he’s excited at the opportunity to present material which will be appreciated by a Jewish audience.

“With the ‘in’ jokes or throwing in a bit of Yiddish, you get to do material that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do performing for general audiences. It’s just fun.”

Although Smiedt is not strict in his observance of Judaism, he admits that being Jewish certainly colours his comedy.

“Rachel Berger, who’s a Melbourne comic, put it to me beautifully. She said, ‘I’m not a religious person, but my Jewishness is a lens through which I view the world.’ And that really resonated with me.”

Smiedt says that he would like to write a show about his Lithuanian Jewish heritage and growing up in South Africa, having already written two books on this.

“I’m just trying to find the funny side to it now, because anyone who knows Jewish history will know that there isn’t a great deal to laugh about; but it’s also such a coping mechanism,” he explains.

Smiedt is determined to keep up his comedy gigs alongside his writing pursuits.

“It just feels good to make people laugh … whatever stress or anxieties they have in their own lives, it’s really lovely to just be able to make them giggle for 45 minutes or an hour, and maybe just forget about those things for a while.”

The Jewish Comedy Showcase is on May 13 at the Comedy Store, Moore Park. Bookings: www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au.

REPORT by Phoebe Roth

PHOTO of comic David Smiedt.