Comfortable in front of a camera or on stage, presenter and stand-up comedian Tommy Little, 36, spent Aussie lockdown eager to get back to performing.
With Melburnians being released from self-isolation last month, Tommy tells New Idea that it “feels great to be at the end of this bulls**t”.
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“It’s been so long. I’m so rapt for it to be behind us, hopefully, and we can start doing shows and touring again because it is nearly two years later and I am fatter and greyer and I need to get back out there.”
And while the comedian confesses he may be slightly more at ease on a stage than on TV, he rarely finds either intimidating because he’s learnt to laugh at his “failures”.
“None of it really matters…”, Tommy begins, “In terms of, I’m not changing the world; I’m trying to make people laugh and the worst that happens is that they don’t, and usually then I find that funny in a sick way.
“Failure is funny. Which is dangerous because then it encourages you to a fail a lot in your private life, which I’m very good at.”
This carefree attitude has accompanied Tommy throughout his career, with the presenter previously revealing that producers have had to step in before he makes certain jokes on-air.
And while the star tells New Idea that it is rare he doesn’t push the boundaries when it comes to his humour, he thinks 10 are intervening less than they used to.
“After a lot of episodes of The Project I would have meetings with the boss and that seems to be happening less. Which is good.”
When asked why he thinks that is, the comedian jokes: “I don’t know, maybe I’m on the outer. I’m not sure. Now that you say it, I should be more worried. Anyway, I’ll find out soon enough.”
But if 10 is lining up the 36-year-old’s replacement (we doubt it) he can take comfort in the knowledge he has a back-up career as a dolphin trainer… at least, according to Wikipedia.
Tommy has previously revealed that he encourages people to “mess” with his Wikipedia page to include falsities about him. One fan took it upon themselves to say the comedian was a secret dolphin trainer.
When asked about the craziest made-up fact he’s read about himself, Tommy is quick to deem his old Wikipedia bio “unprintable”. Though, the 36-year-old tells us he thinks the site has cracked down on any falsehoods now, which he attests “is what happens when you have too much fun”.
But no matter how many fan-made dolphin rumours he’s read about himself (there’s been a few… some more G-rated than others), Tommy still places a huge emphasis on his audience getting involved – particularly when it comes to his stand-up shows.
“For a person that doesn’t write enough material to fill an hour, it’s very important,” the comedian jokes about crowd interaction.
“But it’s frustrating too, because I will work my a*se off at crafting this material together and I will have people after the show say that they love the show but their favourite bit was the audience interaction. And I’m like ‘Damn it, I just make that s**t up on the spot. This other thing took me six months’.”
For Tommy, who is about to release his own pre-recorded comedy special I’ll See Myself Out, an audience interaction highlight involves a woman making the comedian briefly believe he was going to be a dad.
“I had a woman in this tour when I asked: ‘Are there any questions?’, she yelled from the balcony: ‘How come you never called me back?’ and then I paused and said: ‘Did we go on a date?’ and she said: ‘Yes’.”
“And she was amazing because then she paused and said: ‘And now I’m pregnant’ and a thousand people in the theatre went deadly silent and I went deadly silent and then she started laughing and she said: ‘Oh it’s OK, it’s not yours, our date was five years ago’.
“I went from nearly having a heart attack to applauding her.”
Tommy Little’s I’ll See Myself Out launches exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on November 5.
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