Making the leap from music to ice cream to comedy: a conversation with Joe Avati

Last week, I had a brief phone interview with Australian-Italian comic Joe Avati, who was in Montreal to promote his recently-launched "Back To Basics" comedy tour of  Canada (which will play three dates in Montreal, on October 21 and 22, and November 11). What amazed me at the offset of our conversation was that Joe remembered me when we first met about 12 years ago, when myself, Al Gravelle and Eramelinda Boquer interviewed him on the CJAD show "Freeze Frame", just before his first appearance in Montreal at the Saputo Theatre of the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre in St. Leonard, a Montreal suburb with a predominantly Italian population.

I then recounted to Avati when I attended his first Montreal show back in 2000, when he played to a packed house on a Sunday afternoon. I marveled to him how the audience was mostly made up of family members of all ages and generations, and because of how he built an international following through the pre-iTunes download service Napster, his fans in attendance that afternoon were able to recite the punchlines to his "Nonna's Car Accident" routine word for word (and this was before American comic Dane Cook built his large following through the internet, in which many more followed his example of going online to expose their comedy to worldwide audiences). As well, after the show, the wide assortment of Joe Avati merchandise (t-shirts, baseball caps and CDs) were literally flying off the shelves from the makeshift souvenir kiosk that was set up in the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre's foyer. I couldn't believe I saw such an enthusiastic fan response to a comedian whom I only first heard about a mere two weeks before!

"I bet you weren't able to understand all of my jokes then," Avati retorted with a laugh. He was right ... to a point. Although he did his set-ups in English (and was very good at it), he delivered every punchline in Italian. The audience responded with loud, uproarious laughter. I was ready to pull my hair out in frustration, because I didn't speak or understand Italian, so I never got the chance to fully experience Avati's brand of observational humour that dealt with growing up Italian "down under", which has earned him the moniker the "Italian Jerry Seinfeld".

Avati's career as an international comedian has been extraordinary. Wherever he tours around the world, he always plays to sold-out crowds, whether it be in his native Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States or Canada (where he holds the record for the fastest-selling comedy show ever; an appearance at the Toronto Centre for the Arts sold all of its 3200 tickets in just nine minutes). He also has an impressive line of tour merchandise and has produced five international bestselling CDs and five DVDs.

But Avati's career in entertainment didn't start out on the comedy stage. He began as a self-taught musician, and became quite proficient with several instruments, including piano and guitar. "I originally wanted to be a rock star, but I didn't have the voice for it," he said. "So my dad told me that I should get a degree. I enjoyed food and science, so I decided to pursue a degree in food science." When he got his degree in food science, one of Avati's first jobs was to work for a major food company in Australia, where he helped to introduce the Magnum line of premium ice cream (it's the brand of high end ice cream bars, in which its North American commercials show actress Rachel Bilson climb over cars in a traffic jam to get herself one of those coveted frozen treats from a Magnum truck).

However, being a sharp observer since he was a child, Avati decided to pursue comedy just as strongly as he pursued his other career paths. "What made me go into comedy on a hardcore basis was the fact that doing stand-up allowed me to be more of myself onstage," he said.

While few comics do bilingual shows (Sugar Sammy has broken ticket sales records with his "franglais" shows in Montreal throughout this past winter, spring and summer; and Greek-American comedian Basile still tours the U.S. with his shows in Greek and English), Avati enjoys doing his shows with the set-ups in English and the punchlines in Italian. "I love doing the double entendres and play on words in both languages," he said. "It's a fun technique that really evokes a lot of laughter, and I get a big kick out of being funny in two languages."

He also enjoys the fact that whatever city he performs in, his shows manage to bring together their respective Italian communities of all ages. "My shows attract kids, teens, parents and grandparents. Usually, I would see three generations at my shows laughing along with me, and it makes me tick," he said. "When come to my show, you leave entertained and you talk about the good experience you had there."

For his first tour of Canada in almost five years (which will play in 14 cities in four provinces, including Windsor, Toronto, Hamilton, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver), Avati promises his classic routines that have made him an international star, along with new material and even a musical segment. "I would rather be an entertainer than a comedian," he said. "The show that is going to part of the Back To Basics tour I've developed over the past three years. So far, since I started last month in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, I have been getting a lot of positive responses from the audience, and I'm really happy with it."

For more information about Joe Avati's "Back To Basics" tour of Canada, check out his website at www.joeavati.com.