Scottish comedian and professional scamp Daniel Sloss is heading to the west side for Perth Comedy Festival this May. We interrupted the 25-year-old’s domination of the US comedy scene and his Melbourne shows to enlist him as our token straight pal ahead of his one-night-only Regal Theatre performance.
Is this your first time in Australia?
I’ve been coming here since I was about 18/19. It’s my first time doing the Melbourne Comedy Festival but I’ve been going to Sydney since I was about 18 and I started coming to Perth about three or four years ago. The first time I came over to Australia I really fell in love with it and the people and the comedians to the point where the year after that, my mum made me sign a contract saying I wouldn’t move here.
She can’t do that!
It’s because there’s another comedian over here called Rhys Nicholson. When I first came over me and him just became best friends. We pretty much fell in love. So whenever I went home all I would talk about is how much I wanted to come back.
Does Rhys’ fiancée know about this?
(laughs) Absolutely! I’m very good friends with both of them. They hadn’t met the year I met Rhys, but the year after whenever we ran into each other it was like two kids at summer camp who didn’t want to seem too eager, so we played it very calm and cool. Eventually he told me about his partner and obviously I was devastated even through it turns out he is equally, if not more, wonderful.
So between Scotland and here, do you notice a difference in comedy styles?
I’m blown away by the talent of the new comics over here. It’s threatening in the most wonderful way being on these line-up with so many good comics – I’ve really got to work to be in the top percentile. We’re talking Rhys Nicholson and Nick Cody, Becky Lucas, Sam Campbell, Mel Buttle… the list is genuinely endless.
I’m surprised you feel intimidated considering you’ve been on ‘Conan’ a record five times.
In this business, you get used to a lot of things falling through at the last minute – so when I got called for the first time I was like, ‘Well, this isn’t gonna happen. There’s no way that this is gonna happen.’ Even on the day I was sat in the green room thinking, ‘something’s gonna come up’… and then someone came in and goes “Nelson Mandela just died.” I was like “Bastard!”, the most selfish way a comedian can be, so I asked “Does this mean I’m still going to be on TV?” and they were like “Yeah, you idiot. Jeez.”
Leigh Hill
Catch Daniel Sloss’ show ‘Dark’ at the Perth Comedy Festival on Friday 6th May at Regal Theatre. Tickets available from perthcomedyfestival.com
