[2013045] Joel Creasey in The Drama Captain
Joel Creasey @ Rhino Room – Howling Owl
10:00pm, Fri 22 Feb 2013
A frantic dash through the (previously unknown to me) Friday-night markets sees me scurrying into the Howling Owl just as Joel Creasey was launching into his opening song; as I crouched under the spotlight, I couldn’t help but notice Creasey’s stereotypical nasal, campy singing style. I found an unoccupied chaise lounge at the back of the room, and spent the first couple of minutes of the show sweating from the changeover.
Creasey – clad in his old school uniform (well… his blazer, at least) – spends the first half of his show discussing his role as the eponymous Drama Captain: the leader of the tiny Drama group in his school, led by a disinterested teacher and featuring some even more disinterested students. His heartbreak at not getting the leading role in the big school production leads to a second half which deals with the love and loss of his most recent boyfriend – and that’s equal parts lovely and heartwarming and backhanded snark.
The comparison – and contrast – between the two halves of the show demonstrate a remarkable maturity in Creasey’s writing… but that’s not to say that he ignores his role as comedian. He revels in the stereotype of the bitchy camp: his school days, in particular, are full of humorous spite; after mentioning that Ben Cousins and Buddy Franklin both went to his school, his disdain was obvious, and Creasey seemingly has no issues with painting a picture of Franklin as a disabled-taunting bully. The second half seemed to alternate between heartfelt tenderness and out-and-out cattiness… but there’s still some brilliant asides to his desperate jaunt to a local store upon the release of his first DVD (his disappointment is amusingly palpable), and there’s a hilarious reference to Amol misuse (and the second reference to that muscle relaxant that I’d heard within a couple of days… I’m guessing it must be A Thing now).
The Drama Captain felt like a brutally honest (and henceforth personal) show, peppered with little nuggets of raw truth from Creasey’s emotional travails. That he also manages to make his tales funny – at times uproariously so – is a credit to his writing skills; it really was a high-quality hour of stand-up, delivered with confidence by a truly skilful comic.
why did Joel Creasey tweet on Apr 25, 2011 – I’ve decided that I don’t like Buddy Franklin. I get the “stupid douche” vibe from him. #JCMCG.
But then in 2014 says he first experienced homophobia at high school at Wesley College at the hands of WA-raised AFL player Lance “Buddy” Franklin. “(Franklin) was a few years above me. He was totally homophobic towards me,” Creasey told AAA.
“I am sure when he was walking down the corridors and saying that stuff to me at Wesley, he probably never expected me to grow up and get a platform to speak my mind. (So) be careful who you pick on because they might end up writing sassy stand-up shows.”
Why in 2011 did Joel have no idea who Buddy was and decided he didn’t like him and then 3 years later when Buddy is more famous suddenly he bullied Joel in High School? Seems like Buddy may have grounds for a good lawsuit here with Joel dragging his name through the mud in an attempt to grab the spotlight.