Joe Avati is a Rockstar of sorts. He’s one of Australia’s top comedians and is the number one selling bilingual comedian in the world. His passionate cult following sees him crisscross the globe performing his unique brand of comedy where he sells out shows in the UK, U.S. and Canada. Joe spoke to YQG Rocks about his upcoming show at the Chrysler Theatre on June 23.
“A lot of my show is mostly in English now,” Joe told us about his change from Italian/English shows to English-only programming. “Because of things like YouTube, Facebook and the popularity of online videos, the demand for more English material happened rather naturally and there are a lot more non-Italian speaking fans at my shows. I still talk about what it’s like being the child of an Italian immigrant, but now it gets to a much larger market.”
He is the only Australian artist to have had two albums charting simultaneously in the top 5 internationally (‘Livin La Dolce Vita’ and Live and Unpluggato’) and still holds the record for the fasting selling comedy show ever in Canada selling 6400 tickets in 2 hours. That sort of makes him a Rockstar. And living up to his that new Rockstar status, Joe released a five DVD Box Set containing his entire collection (named ‘Joe Avati The Ultimate Collection’).
“You figured me out,” Joe laughed when asked about the box set. “If I’m not going to be a Rockstar for singing, I’m going to try and be a comedic Rockstar. I guess in many ways that’s actually what I do – I apply Rockstar things to comedy. I have a box set, a clothing line and all these other glamourous things. You found me out.”
Joe is one of the few comedians who refuses to add profanity or controversial material into his show. It’s something he’s employed into his show since he started.
“I’ve always used my mother or grandmother as a measure for the show,” Joe revealed. “If they were there and I was to swear or say something inappropriate, would they be offended? To be honest, I was always scared that if my mother was at the show and she heard me swear, she’s smack me in the back of the head. It’s actually really nice after all these years because people still come up to me after the show and not only thank me for not swearing, but sometimes they even whisper it like it’s even wrong to talk about swearing.”
Joe will feature brand new material when he visits Windsor. It will be a reflection of the first 20 years of his life growing up in an Italian family and through the last 20 years of his career.
“My comedy is very generational,” he said. “For example, a kid can put his finger on an iPhone and take 24 pictures in 10 seconds, but when I was a kid it would have taken me a week to take 24 pictures. My show is a bit like that. I compare the kids to my life and then I compare my life to my parents.”
Along with the generational references, Joe is also a proud Australian and loves to chat about his country, even if it involves the very bitter and salty tasting Vegemite.
“It’s true we do eat Vegemite in Australia,” Joe noted. “I love it myself. Sometimes I’ll trick my Italian friends in Canada by telling them it’s an Australian version of Nutella and have them try it out. The only reason I do that is because the look on their faces when they taste it is just priceless. That’s a comedy show on its own just for me.”
Joe takes to the Chrysler Theatre stage on June 23, 2018 at 8pm. Some tickets are still available at chryslertheatre.com.
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