Maltese-Australian comedian to perform at major platform in London<\/p>\n
A young Maltese-Australian comedian is performing across London and is gearing up for performances at top-rated venues.<\/p>\n
Nineteen-year-old Alex Hudson started doing stand-up comedy in open mics around two years ago in his home city of Perth, Australia.<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Malta Independent<\/i> from London, he said that he had originally lost a bet with one of his friends and was thus made to perform for the first time. He enjoyed the experience so much that what started out as a joke quickly snowballed into a passion, and he was soon performing on the regular.<\/p>\n
Hudson recently moved to the UK for university, where he gained access to a wider range of performance venues. This also meant him being closer to Malta, and so he was able to connect with the comedy community here as well. In fact, Hudson took a liking to the Maltese sense of humour, explaining that the Maltese are not ashamed to make fun of themselves.<\/p>\n
“There’s some places where you perform comedy, and making jokes about the place in question doesn’t go down too well,” Hudson said. “But in Malta, you can make fun of Paceville or something like that and it always gets a good reception.”<\/p>\n
Hudson has performed at major platforms like the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He described the experience as “very cool”, particularly because of the people that he met and the connections he made as a result. He is also currently preparing to perform at the Top Secret Comedy Club, which is widely considered one of London’s top-rated venues for live stand-up.<\/p>\n
“To me that’s pretty big because that’s a venue where a lot of my idols have performed,” said Hudson. “Guys like Trevor Noah and Jack Whitehall and just about every big-name comedian.”<\/p>\n
Hudson has also performed across London’s comedy circuit, which is home to a much larger community than he was used to back in Perth, which he described as “tight knit”. On the other hand, London has many unique performers with lots of different styles. This means that the competition is fiercer, but there’s also more of an opportunity to learn from other people, he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s good to see some pretty whacky acts, some really funny acts, and not so funny ones,” Hudson said. “You kind of learn about the craft a bit more, because it’s a much, much bigger community that performs here as opposed to back home.”<\/p>\n
When writing his material, Hudson said that he has an observational and storytelling style. He describes humans as “funny creatures”, and his writing process as taking note of that and putting it into joke form. He said that his jokes are never controversial or “punching down”, but rather his humour is all about noticing the things around him and making fun of it, be it himself or society’s elites.<\/p>\n
When asked how he handles jokes that don’t land, Hudson explained that on some days, he will tell a joke that goes really well, and the next week he would tell it in the same venue but with a different audience, and it would not land. He said that this aspect of comedy is ultimately what keeps you on your toes.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Hudson said that people tend to be a bit wary of a 19-year-old pursuing comedy, as they do not expect his humour to resonate with audiences. Comedy clubs might therefore not want to take the risk by allowing him to perform. In Hudson’s experience, the average comedy audience is in their 30s, and so it makes sense to wonder whether a teenager’s act would land well with that demographic. That being said, Hudson explained that some people are intrigued by his backstory and his young age, which has opened the doors to multiple opportunities for him.<\/p>\n
Hudson expressed adoration for the comedy scene in Malta. He has already performed at a number of small venues on the island, and he said he would be willing to perform here again when the opportunity arises. <\/p>\n