In the last couple of years, Tim Minchin’s musical satire has taken him from 30 seat gigs in South Melbourne’s Butterfly Club, to just about every comedy festival the world has to offer.
 
He has picked up the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe and more recently the Perrier Award for, well, being very, very good at what he does. He consistently gets rave reviews from all corners of the media and this month releases a captivating two hour DVD of his solo show which will surely further the cause.

So you’d have to say things are going quite well.

During this busy time, Minchin’s audience has grown from a small but dedicated group of arty types, to include people of all ages, tastes and philosophical leanings.

“I don’t think it appeals to everyone, but I also don’t think it has to only appeal to arts grads. It’s never done with intent, but when I look back at a show I can see that the kids are getting the rock star parody, and they get that they are virtually ironic fans of an ironic rock star. But there are also people in their fifties who love it so I feel like against all odds, I have an extremely broad audience.”

And while the general public are not usually known for cerebral smarts (you wouldn’t trust most of them to sit the right way round on a toilet seat, right?), the ever growing audiences drawn to Minchin World seem to be a lot more highbrow than you would expect.  But that’s not necessarily where Minchin is trying to point the ship.

“We all attach ourselves to someone who is articulating something we think, but I’m also aware that you shouldn’t be too much of a cunt about things. The English and Australians are the same in that they’re really up for the dark stuff, but if anything, the English are a bit suspicious of showmanship. The few bad reviews I’ve had over there reek of someone saying “get off your high horse you showy cunt” and it’s usually about my ego.”

This self-censoring servitude is a big part of Minchin’s appeal. The ‘ego’ he refers to mostly sees him apologizing to the audience, as though he’s taking up their valuable time with his leftfield anthems and musical tangents. Any delusions of grandeur are immediately dispelled as the apologetic and slightly awkward side of this rock n roll nerd emerges.

“I worry that I apologize too much in the show” he says, apologetically. “Do you think I apologize too much? Even the opening song contains a big disclaimer. I’m saying ‘don’t expect me to be a stand up or anything else. …just enjoy the show’.”

At first the statement seems absurd and unnecessarily humble, but it soon becomes clear that this is all part of the plan. As much as Minchin claims not to be into preaching, clearly there is an underlying agenda being pushed, albeit one that simply encourages people to make use of their brains.

.“I was thinking the other day about people who think thoughts and then people who think thoughts about thoughts. You could say these are two types of people but that’s a really snobby way of looking at it.

I was made to think about it because of the Chaser’s song. The people who phoned up and complained obviously had a thought about it. But they never thought about their thoughts, you know; “why have I got my back up about that?” “Why do I care so much about Mrs. Brock but I don’t care about dying Africans?” Asking why you can spell ‘fuck’ with asterisks and all of a sudden it’s OK. How can it be so simple to differentiate between what’s offensive and what’s not?”

But within a few minutes of claiming neutrality, he admits,

“My stage persona is quite apologetic and is surrounded by music, so there are all these ways of sneaking the worm pill into the dog food. If you shout you’ll only reach the converted.

And that’s never going to be very rewarding for someone who likes to think of their work as a “slightly amusing university lecture”.

“I like it when I have to win them over. I like it when I’m trying to get away with my cot death gag and atheist rants in the face of the fact that they might not be ready for it.”

Tim Minchin’s ‘So Live’ DVD is out now through Madman for $29.95. Click here to read a review.