Tag: Dan Rath

By Nick Bugeja

Dan Rath hits familiar beats and rhythms in his latest show, Tropical Depression, with his idiosyncratic and neurotic signature comedic style. By any measure, Rath should still be confined to the category of one of Australia’s up and coming comedy stars, but in reality he’s already risen to the top echelons of the country’s comedic hierarchy. One indicator of this is that, every time I’ve attended one of his shows, you can spot other comedians in the audience, a testament to the high regard he is held in by his compatriots.

Rath’s persona on the stage is the opposite: he is relentlessly self-deprecating and defeated, and several of his jokes and bits revolve around his abject failures to make anything of his life. Other jokes jolt the audience into laughter due to their sheer randomness (often these contain references to Australian franchises like Boost Juice or JB-Hi-Fi). Rath is at his best combining his self-deprecation with social commentary, which in equal parts is completely left-field while retaining a semblance of truth to it.

For those yet to attend one of Rath’s shows, you should not delay this any further. With Tropical Depression, he continues to push the boundaries of stand-up comedy and in the process delivers a great night of laughs, even if he still remains down on himself.

Dan Rath performs Tropical Depression at The Swiss Club til April 20

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/tropical-depression/

By Nick Bugeja

There’s something about Dan Rath. There are few comedians who, at the mere sight of them, elicit smiles and laughter. Rath is one of them; his utterly unorthodox, controlled mania on stage is unfailingly amusing, as he saunters around the stage incessantly rubbing his hair, deliberately stumbling over his words, and drinking what he claims is ‘lighter fluid’ (spoiler: it’s really sparkling water).

Almost nothing Rath says is even remotely plausible: he states that he both lives above a ‘backpackers’ and also at his parents’ home, that one of his main interests is hurling activated e-scooters into rivers, and that he’s been afflicted by Lyme’s disease after being bitten by a tic in the CBD. There’s no pretense about any of this: they’re all unashamed lies, and in their absurdity, there’s nothing else to do but to break out in laughter.

Rath is an acquired taste (perhaps just like the ‘lighter fluid’ he’s consuming during the show), though those yet to consider themselves Rath acolytes are most definitely missing out on something special. His comedy has an addictive quality, and you’re waiting to see how he can surpass the ridiculousness, and creativity, of his most recent one-liner. You won’t be waiting for long: Rath’s style is one of rapid-fire joke after joke, delivered without ever breaking the strange and morose and ‘unwell’ character he inhabits onstage.

Rath’s capacity to generate comedy through the specificity of his jokes, which in turn creates humorous imagery for the audience, is unparalleled. By dropping in reference to businesses like JB-Hi-Fi, Boost Juice, Grill’d, Optus, Uber Eats in his act, Rath elevates each joke of his to another level of outlandishness, and hilarity.

Rath’s not alone in trading in this kind of comedy; there’s a small nucleus of Australian comics who embrace the nonsensical, the offbeat, and at times, the outrageous. But he stands at the pinnacle of this comedic form, and his show, Pariah Carey, provides almost 60-minutes of unrelenting, escapist humour.

Pariah Carey is showing at the Melbourne Town Hall until 21 April.  

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2024/shows/pariah-carey