|
|
 |
|
Tahir
 "Sorry about the late call," apologises Turkish born comedian Tahir Bilgic. "You're not allowed to have mobiles on set otherwise you have to buy a case [of beer] for everyone. If your phone rings, everyone gives you the death look."
Tahir has just stepped away from filming an episode of 'Fat Pizza', the series that first brought him national recognition as Habib. "We've also got some other new episodes coming out in March," he informs me, "where we went all around the world and broke the world record for the longest distance for a pizza delivery, and that's now gone into the Guinness Book of Records," he proudly declares. "Yeah, we took one of Bobo's pizzas all around the world [countries included: New Zealand, Thailand, The Netherlands, Spain and Malta] and we raised some money for Canteen along the way. We took the pizza to the Taj Mahal in India and the Eiffel Tower, which caused a big security kafuffle, and we also took it to the big Jesus in Brazil."
He laughs as he further recalls the confusion caused along the way. "Especially when we were all dressed in tracksuits, they must've thought we were a rock band or something."
What a job 'eh? Travelling around the globe, having fun and getting paid for it. But for Tahir, while he definitely had no complaints about delivering that order, he readily admits his favourite part of the job is the live theatre. "I just love a live audience," he states. "That beats being on television easily, but unfortunately TV is the media devil that gives me the most publicity and one feeds the other in a way. And some people actually think that the characters on 'Fat Pizza' are real and that's the way we all really grew up, so it's really bizarre. But a lot of people do know that I'm a stand up comedian, so it's always refreshing when people see me as Tahir and not Habib... and that I'm not really a drug dealer," he hastily adds.
Which begs the, admittedly inane, question of; how come Habib didn't audition for the host of the game show, 'Deal Or No Deal'? "Well, you know? I can't really see primetime Australia going for someone in a tracksuit going [puts on thick accent]; 'I'm a hood, hurry up make a deal. Quick!' But that's actually not a bad idea," he considers, after I further suggest that that might make a good sketch. "Last time I was in Adelaide I discussed the local news on stage, and there was this one guy in Elizabeth who had actually done an armed robbery and the police had his mobile phone number, so they just rang him up," he laughs, recounting the absurdity of the story.
"And then they were shocked when he hung up on them," he continues. "Well, I just thought this was the funniest thing ever. It was brilliant! I really enjoy talking about local stuff when I go to different places because people will see things on the news that evening and I'm talking about it that night, so they know that the material is brand new." And that's the strength of Tahir's comedy; he gauges his performance on his audience's locality and responses, therefore making each show unique.
Steve Jones
Tahir performs at the Royalty Theatre on Sun 11 March
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
