COMEDIAN Rod Quantock is expert at making light of the serious stuff.
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Quantock will tap into social and political debate with his trademark dry wit when he brings his show Boredom Protection Policy to Wodonga on Thursday night.
Quantock said he regarded it as a rare privilege to be able to vent his spleen about things that mattered to him.
“Interestingly the show was named before Pauline Hanson got back into Parliament!” he said.
“But the faces and names keep coming back.”
A passionate environmental activist and advocate for social justice, Quantock is renowned for tackling the serious subjects with knowledge, grace and humour.
“I really do expect there will be laughter in Wodonga,” he said.
“I certainly hope so!”
On a serious note, Quantock said the same issues that plagued the world when he first toured with this show more than a decade ago were still relevant now.
He said much political unrest worldwide could be linked to oil and energy and the strategic problems related to the grab for energy.
“There is a desperate attempt for nations to corner energy,” he said.
“On the flipside it makes it a very funny world.
“Donald Trump is getting closer and closer to potentially gaining power and we’ll all die laughing from that!”
Quantock said he had noticed that the headlines of today were the same as the headlines of yesterday.
“In 2002 the raw issues were terrorism, refugees and the prime minister,” he said.
“In 2016 the raw issues will be terrorism, refugees and the prime minister and possibly still James Hird.”
Quantock, who received an Order of Australia in 2015 for services to conservation, sustainability and the performing arts, said he liked to mingle with the crowd after his shows.
“I like to think of the shows as real community events,” he said.
“I have a chance to meet people in the foyer before the show and mingle with them after the show.”
A pioneer of Australian comedy with more than 45 years in stand-up, cabaret, theatre, television and radio, Quantock is the only comedian to have performed at all 30 Melbourne International Comedy Festivals.
The two-hour show, Boredom Protection Policy, will be performed at The Cube Wodonga on Thursday from 7.30pm. Recommended for those aged 15-plus.