Oliver Twist fled the Rwandan civil war at the age of four and spent his childhood in Malawi, first in a refugee camp and later in the city where his mother and father started a small convenience store. The family arrived in Ipswich in 2014 after their acceptance into the Australian government’s refugee intake, and began their new life here.
“Hey, I’m Oliver. Let me tell you a story. One of the things I did while I was in the refugee camp was apply to go to study in Canada.
By the way they ended up telling me no, which sucked. But part of the process was we had to do an interview. It was a questionnaire that we had to fill out. So we were sitting in the refugee camp, it was about 7am and literally the first question they asked us was: Where do you see yourself in five years?
And I was like “Anywhere but here, literally anywhere but this refugee camp. I’m trying to get the hell out of here, that’s why I’m doing this entire questionnaire.”
It’s a weird thing to ask someone in that situation. Imagine if Hitler kept doing rounds of people in concentration camps asking them where they hope to be in five years. They’d be like “Are you kidding me? I want to get away from you! This is not the conversation we should be having Hitler. Go free us.”
That’s the end of my first story. There’s more where that came from. Now I have a question for you: Where do you see yourself at this Comedy Festival?”
As a comic, Twist has supported the likes of Kevin Hart, Wil Anderson, Tiffany Haddish and Becky Lucas. He’s been seen on SBS TV’s Letters & Numbers, has performed on the Sydney Comedy Festival Gala and on the SCF’s Roadshow, and is a regular at the Sydney Comedy Store.
Don’t miss the very special voice of Oliver Twist this comedy festival season.
We’ve got tickets to give away to Oliver Twist’s Griot showing this Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14 at The Rechabite.
To WIN email us here at [email protected] with OLIVER TWIST in the subject line, and your phone number and preferred night in the copy. Tag the mate you will take in the Facebook post, and don’t forget to like the X-Press Facebook page and sign up to the newsletter to be in the running!
Competition closes Friday, May 13 at 2pm. You must be a WA resident and be able to attend the event on your chosen date.
