Australian Comedy legend, Austen Tayshus, is bringing his national Australiana Tour to the Dubbo RSL this Saturday, August 17, from 8 pm.
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Austen Tayshus, or Alexander Jacob Gutman as his mother calls him, is best known for the 1983 comedy single "Australiana".
Australian is a spoken word piece written by comedian Billy Birmingham which sold more than two hundred thousand copies, went double platinum and still holds the record for the highest-selling Australian single ever.
The improvisation master has a plethora of ARIA award nominations and took home the trophy for Outstanding Achievement at the 1984 Countdown Awards.
He won Best Actor at the 1998 Tropicana Film Festival for the film 'Intolerance' and won the Golden Bagel Award for the same film in 1999 at the Jewish Movie Challenge.
Dubbo audiences can expect a healthy dose of highly political, and controversial humour on Saturday night, often drawing on his Tayshus' Jewish background.
Since "Australiana", he has performed over 10,000 shows, and produced films, documentaries and records, mostly dealing with social issues
Tayshus said he initially wanted to be an actor, but it was "pretty obvious" to him that he was hilarious from a young age.
"I was always taking the piss out of teachers," he said.
"I enjoyed it."
Now he's a "Full-time provocative satirical improviser", making his jokes up quite literally as he goes.
"I get a sense of what the crowd reacts to and go from there," he said.
The dark glasses wearing joker said the key to being a good comedian is having natural talent and the ability to be able to improvise.
"I think I'm funny on stage and off stage," he said
"I don't have a wife anymore, which is great too," he added.
However when asked if he would like the single women of Dubbo to attend his show he said, "hopefully not."
Despite being born in New York, Tayshus was raised in Sydney, and later followed his parent's lead and also raised his two daughters in Sydney.
The chart-topping comedian doesn't think a sense of humour runs in the family, replying with a "no" when asked if either of his daughters were funny.
Austins latest successes include his book `Merchant of Menace',
The book is available for purchase at many websites including Amazon and Goodreads.
Tickets to the show are available at the RSL Club reception, or online at www.dubborsl.com.au.