Austen Tayshus celebrates 40th anniversary of Australiana hit with show at Gatsbys

Australian comedian Austen Tayshus will be bringing his signature humour to Manjimup, performing at Gatsbys Skyline on September 2.

The comedy legend, known both for his work in film and his smash comedy hit Australiana, will be coming to the venue for the first time, having visited Manjimup about 20 times during his career, performing in pubs.

“I don’t mind pubs, because the people are p..... and fun, and I love when a pub crowd goes mental,” he said.

“I like the chaos and danger of the crowd and what energy that brings, but it’s nice to have a proper theatre and people behaving at a show too.”

The show will mark the first time he’ll be visiting WA this year, having performed 50 shows through Australia.

“I’ve been in WA for 30 to 40 years, and the old Melbourne Hotel was the first place I went to, and I got arrested for swearing and 10 policemen grabbed me for saying f...,” he said.

“WA was quite conservative back then, when Brian Burke was in charge.”

He said the tour commemorated the 40th anniversary of his hit spoken-word comedy single Australiana, which went to number one on the Australian music charts 40 years ago this week.

“I’ve got a lot of other stuff, but they talk about it because it was such a big hit.”

“This week was when it went to number one for the first time, 40 years ago, and it’s been a rollercoaster since.”

“Parents bring their kids a lot to show them the nostalgia of Australiana, which was a part of their childhood and adolescence.”

He also said his show was an enjoyable escape from the current events happening in the world and a night for audience members to “have fun and a good laugh”.

“My show is predominantly improvisation, where I muck about and play with the audience and sometimes upset them too,” he said.

“It’s enjoyable and vulgar at times and I would call it confrontational, satirical and hard-hitting and also funny.”

“People are fairly depressed right now and it gives them a good laugh and escape from all that.

Austen Tayshus had recently been featured in his own documentary Austen Tayshus Skin in the Game which he called a “flamboyant and artistic piece of work” with the documentary following his career as a stand-up performer.

“I helped make the doco, but didn’t interfere with the director and his process on it,” he said.

“Phillip Noyce did a beautiful job structuring on the doco, retrospectively covering my career.”

He said stand-up was his favourite outlet throughout his career, noting the “immediate response” from audiences and the “artistic nature” of the medium.

“It’s very exciting being with the crowd, I did a show in Brisbane and they were all from my generation and knew where I was coming from, and were pissing themselves.”

“When they are pissing themselves, it’s the optimum and what I go for with all my shows because it’s an incredible response.”

Austen Tayshus will be performing at 8pm, after Footy Chat with Woosha and Crowley, when John Worsfold and Ryan Crowley will be having a drink and chat with guests.