Since his start as a finalist in RAW Comedy in Perth at only 17, Creasey has clearly found his comedy feet, performing a self-obsessed, classically campy shtick. “It’s all about me! I do what I do; I talk about the things I want to talk about, telling the stories I want to tell. I talk about pop culture, about me, about what happens to me, it’s like therapy – stupid stuff, my relationship, family, and events, things I go to, and ‘celebrating’ other people behind their backs.” Rivers is an obvious inspiration. “I’m spreading as much bitchiness as possible,” he continues. “I don’t want to insult people to their faces, I’d much rather do it behind their backs.” Creasey credits women comics as having influenced his style, women from both Australia and overseas: “I love all the great dames, American comics like Margaret Cho, and the Australians, Denise Scott, Judith Lucy, Fiona O’Laughlin…I find women comics so much funnier than the men, they are so cool. Chrissy Swan I adore, and Gretel Killeen. I get so excited when I’m working with Fiona O’Laughlin – I’m such a huge fan. I’ve learnt so much about story telling from her.”
With all his success, is Creasey finding he’s becoming a bit too pleased with himself? “Probably. Being a comic, of course there’s a self-arrogance – if you’re doing stand-up you’ve already decided you’re funny, so you have to have a bit of an ego.” Joan Rivers asked him to open a show for her in New York, after all. “I love Joan Rivers! She was one of the most brilliant people,” says Creasey. “I’m heading back to New York in August to do my solo show in the same club where I opened for her; that’s special!” Did he always know he’d do so well? “I always hoped I’d be successful. I always thought that. Otherwise what’s the point?” As Creasey becomes better known in the mainstream, has he noticed his audiences changing at all? “A lot of my fans are young people, young girls, tweens. I’m the Justin Bieber of comedy! I’ve always had a gay audience but it’s now very mixed. As you get more well-known, you lose a bit of the gay following. These days I promote myself to a much more mixed audience and I’ve carved out a following. It’s a cool audience. They’re smart, well-educated, they ‘get me’, and they’ve come to follow me.”
The night at The Yarraville Club is effectively Joel Creasey and Friends, although Creasey says he didn’t pick the lineup. “Harley Breen is performing and we are friends, so that’s cool. We toured round the world together, went to Asia together. He’s a behemoth of a man, 20 times the size of me.” What will he offer audiences at the Yarraville Club? “The show will be some new material, some of my favourite stuff from my Hurricane show, bits and pieces. It will be kind of a loose night, a fun time.”
Does he hold back on stage? “Even on TV I don’t hold back. But I’m not the bluest comedian around. Some of the things I say, my manager would rather I didn’t. I pull some things back but not a lot.” Creasey particularly enjoys interacting with people after his shows, getting feedback. “I love hearing about all that stuff.” After the Yarraville gig Creasey’s off overseas in July, to London, Montreal, Edinburgh, and Los Angeles, where he’ll reconnect with his boyfriend, comedy writer Jeffery Self. “My boyfriend lives in the USA, in LA. We met in Sydney when he was out here. He’s from Georgia, in the South. We’re doing the whole long–distance thing. We do miss each other but we’re both workaholics, and understand each other.”
Does Creasey have a five year plan or is he happy to just see where comedy takes him? “Absolutely, I have a plan. This industry is so up and down. I’ve thought about what shape I want my career to take – I want to be on regular TV, to have my own show.” A Graeme Norton in the wings, then. “Graham Norton, he’s the best talk show host in the world. He’s so funny, his show is absolute magic. I have had these comparisons…I hate getting compared to people but if it’s Graham Norton.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
