Welsh born comedian Lloyd Langford is getting his first tour of Australia as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow. Sharing the stage with the likes of the immaculately well-dressed Rhys Nicholson and American stand up star Tommy Dean, Langford will grace His Majesty’s Theatre from Thursday, June 18, until Sunday, June 21. With appearances on Never Mind The Buzzcocks and QI, we find out how the tour is shaping up for him by comparison.
For a first time visitor to Australia, Langford didn’t get eased slowly into the culture. “My first show was in Darwin, so thrown in at the deep end. I was jetlagged and surrounded by crocodiles. I’ve never been in a theatre before and looked down at the front row to see everyone wearing thongs.”
However, for the comedian that has also been an opportunity to garner material for his show. With much of Langford’s humour arising out of observational comedy, the tour has started to provide a fair amount of material. “I’ve been on the road for weeks, so I am starting to write jokes about New Zealand and now Australia. I’m writing jokes about the places I visit. It makes it fun for me to write some jokes in the morning and perform them in the evening and see how it works. I draw from a wide variety of different sources, things that happen to me as I travel around. As a comedian one of the things you need to carry around is a pen and a bit of paper.”
For a man that has seen a mob of Oompa Loompas deliver a swift kicking to a Thunderbird and once beat David Tennant in an arm wrestle while covered in feathers and crustaceans, Langford’s life has certainly never been void of material to draw from. “There are certain things you come back to over and over again, due to the lifestyle – like travelling, because you are on the road a lot. You pick up on your own experiences. It involves a lot of people-watching and eavesdropping out at cafes and bars. Things that you pick up by osmosis from what other people have said.”
From the sound of it, this road show has definitely provided more grist for the mill, with Langford discovering more of the local colour. “The show is kind of different as well, as you do a meet and greet after. That can be… interesting. Like at Alice Springs where a woman came up and said my penis looked odd in my jeans.” Langford paused a moment in disbelief before continuing, “The phrase she used was ‘camel toe!’ Apparently I was really funny so she wasn’t going to heckle me and point it out. I was wondering what she was doing looking at my crotch, but to be fair my face is not much to look at.”
As for what his show will have to offer, it will depend on what happens to him between now and then, as well as how he reads his audience on the night. “I might have a story to tell about a man who had sex with a pigeon. It depends on how the audience are and how rude I can be.”
DAVID O’CONNELL
