Dave Hughes Live

The DVD is called 'Dave Hughes Live'. Simple as that, no flashy names or special effects, just down-home humour from the man who I reckon is Australia's top comedian at present. In fact, he's so on top of his game he pops up everywhere: Fringe shows, ABC TV's 'The Glasshouse', countless footie shows, morning radio in Melbourne...

Firstly then, footie. "Mad. Mad about it. Too much sometimes. I just love my footy. I always check out the paper and read up on it; always start at the back of the paper." As if to confirm this rumour there's a surreptitious shuffling down the phone line. "Yeah, you got me," he laughs. "I'm checking out the paper to see if there's a footy story I forgot to read this morning."

His team is Carlton ("errr yeah, there's been a lean few years") and as we talk of such things and the fact that he might be Warnambool's most famous son - having done the Commonwealth Games relay baton as you'll see in the extras package of the DVD he takes the time to correct me.

"Well, there's not a lot I suppose," he responds to questions about the most famous Warnamboolians, that lazily quiet Victorian coastal town. "A few footballers... Jonathon Browne..."

He's as laconic and laid-back as you'd expect, because after all, Dave Hughes has an image to live down to. He's sharp as a tack but knows his greatest appeal comes from playing the great Australian 'whatever' kind of guy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the backstage footage of the DVD, where Hughes is gearing up for his big night (actually filmed over 2 big nights) at the Thebarton Theatre.

When it comes to the DVD itself, he quite naturally strikes the right balance of enthusiastic indifference. "I like it, I suppose. I mean, it's great to have a DVD out and I think it turned out pretty well. I reckon the good thing is the extras - they sort of came out right, got the right feel when we were down home in Warnambool. They put on the front 'over an hour of extras' and I wasn't having that. I wanted it to say exactly how much was there.

"It was a bit strange, I suppose, being there. I'd never performed in that hall before and my parents had trucked in all the rellies for the show. I wanted it to go well, if only to make Christmas dinner a bit less stressful, so I was happy with that." As you might expect of a 'local boy makes good' affair, Hughes puts in a bit of local colour: the Dirty Angel is a local landmark which makes a few appearances, as does a woman he may have once tried to snog.

Another thing I pick up from the DVD is that he's quite a fan of Red Bull. "Yeah, well I think it perks me up and makes me a bit sharper. It probably doesn't though. It's just that when you do a long day starting with morning radio... I probably don't get as much sleep as I should."

Hughes has been doing the morning show on Nova in Melbourne for about five years (along with Kate Langbroek and Dave O'Neil) which he feels might be absurd for a country guy who could never get used to waking up early. "Awwwww yeah," he expostulates. "The alarm goes off at about ten to five - but I don't get up until five - it's ridiculous really."

On the day we spoke he'd done his radio stint then headed off to "a corporate [gig]".

"I don't mind it so much," he avers of playing to the suits. "I mean, some comedians say they hate doing them, but a half hour out of my life...? I'm okay with that, and if they're paying me for it... you never know when it will all end, so while the work's there..." His voice tails off to a low growl: "you know, when they're paying you what you'd sweat for a whole day for in a factory."

Naturally, Hughes knows a thing or two about manual labour as well - the DVD episode takes him back to his first job, clambering around the sheep runs at the Warnambool Meat Works, where he shows a fine pair of heels moving a mob of sheep from one pen to another. "There's your dinner in a couple of weeks," he deadpans to the camera.

Of 'The Glasshouse' he says only, "We expected it to be axed any time. We still expect it to be axed any day, but people still watch it. It's pretty easy really, you know what to expect, there's about 40 minutes filmed and it get edited down to 28 minutes for the ABC so you don't mess around with it."

And there you have it; snapshots in the life of Dave Hughes, all neatly collected together on the one DVD. I was pleasantly surprised by its simple structure and ability to follow the 'talent' around. It's a bit warts 'n all, which no doubt gains the Dave Hughes' stamp of approval.

Alex Wheaton

'Dave Hughes Live' is available now through Liberation, but we at dB Magazine have five copies to give away thanks to Token Artists & Events.