Advertisment

General News

17 August, 2023

A 17-year-old comedian walks into the Maryborough Train Station... (stop us if you’ve heard this one)

A stand-up gig in Maryborough when he was 17 instantly became comedian Ethan Cavanagh’s worst to date, but seven years later a show based on that infamous gig has been named best comedy — with the comic even boasting a tattoo of Maryborough’s...

By Riley Upton

Comedian Ethan Cavanagh has turned a failed comedy show in Maryborough into a hit success.
Comedian Ethan Cavanagh has turned a failed comedy show in Maryborough into a hit success.

A stand-up gig in Maryborough when he was 17 instantly became comedian Ethan Cavanagh’s worst to date, but seven years later a show based on that infamous gig has been named best comedy — with the comic even boasting a tattoo of Maryborough’s iconic railway station.

Presentation is Everything tells the true story of how Cavanagh returns to Maryborough years after his fateful show and makes peace with the turbulent early days of his stand up career.

It all started on a 40 degree day in Maryborough, with the teenager the only comedian to take the stage at the Station Domain Amphitheatre along with school bands and guest speakers.

It was his third or fourth show at that point and it was a complete flop.

“It was truly one of the worst gigs of my career, I was up there for all of 15 minutes and it was crickets,” he said.

“I think there were about eight or nine people in the crowd, it was 2 pm on a 39 degree day and to be honest, I think people were distracted by the sausage sizzle happening on my left.”

Returning home to Ballarat following the failed show, Cavanagh did some research into Maryborough and uncovered what he described as a veritable “gold mine” of comedic content — Tripadvisor reviews for the Maryborough Railway Station.

“Basically I started to put reviews together as a PowerPoint presentation,” he said.

“A few years later when I was working with another comedian, Sweeney Preston, we started thinking about how we could turn that into a show.

“We organised to meet the local mayor at the station and develop this ark where we’d come back to the town after all this time.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if we went and fell in love with Maryborough’.”

In a way, that’s what happened — Cavanagh and Preston met with then-mayor Chris Meddows-Taylor at the station and while the councillor remains somewhat unaware of the comedic value of their meet, the material for their comedy show was all but complete.

“I remember we discussed a lot of the station’s history and I thought to myself at the time that Ethan would go places in comedy, he was bright and very attentive and it’s great to see a regional person enjoying this success,” Cr Meddows-Taylor said.

“I can’t quite place why we talked so much about the station, I remember speaking about Mark Twain’s visit, but at the time I thought it was great the younger generation was taking such an interest.”

Presentation is Everything is the comedic duo’s first show to be taken internationally and is complemented by PowerPoint slides of images, news cut-outs, maps, animations and graphs to punctuate their humour — this year it won Best Comedy at the Dunedin Fringe Festival.

Given the show’s success, Cavanagh decided it was only fitting to pay homage to the town that has secured him so many laughing audiences.

“Sweeney and I always said that if the show won an award, I’d get the train station tattooed on my body,” he said.

“I thought about getting a skyline tattoo of Maryborough like you see people get of Paris or New York — it would be a great talking point when people ask what city it’s of and you could say ‘actually, it’s Maryborough’.

“In all seriousness though I think it’s a nice reminder that you can work on something and it can become it’s own.

“Maryborough has become a key part of the show, it’s grown into its own and it’s something that really resonates with people.”

Coming off a 15-month international tour, Cavanagh and Preston are doing a live special recording of the show in Ballarat on August 26, with tickets available through Eventbrite.

The show has been so successful the comedian has a tattoo of the Maryborough Railway Station.
The show has been so successful the comedian has a tattoo of the Maryborough Railway Station.
Advertisment

Most Popular