United States Residents Can’t See Arj Barker’s “Balls”

I’m just surprised Arj isn’t bigger here.  Maybe Conchords will help change that.

As far as why… he’s toured a lot there, for many years.  He puts in the work.

Fingers crossed about Jermaine and Bret’s ability to pimp other stand-ups.

The work is definitely a big reason. I’m just kind of wondering if there was any impetus that made him do the work - i.e. an early positive reception. And a reason why that reception might be so good.

But yep, hard work always a good thing - both here and abroad.

I’ve wondered that myself, but have no clear answer.  I think Maria Bamford is also huge in Australia and New Zealand.

I wonder: Are comedy venues in Australia and New Zealand just different than the U.S.?  I mean it seems that in the U.S. it’s brick walls, drinks and “wacky” names.

As a Swede, I’d say that Pablo Fransisco’s popularity in Sweden is due to a combination of our internet-savyness and moderate English language skills.

I think that Swedes were generally rather early adopters when it came to downloading stuff, and a lot of people discovered Pablo when you could (illegally) download his Comedy Central Presents back in the early 2000s, via Kazaa or other means.

And while Swedes are relatively decent at understanding English, the fact that it is a second language is still a hindrance. Most people will miss the nuances of Demetri Martin or Mitch Hedberg jokes, and not be tuned into American news or culture enough to fully enjoy a guy like Lewis Black. Whereas Pablo Fransisco’s sounds obviously are universal and the few jokes that go with them are pretty broad.

It’s not a Jerry Lewis-in-France or Hasselhoff-in-Germany type of situation. Fransisco is hardly anything close to a household name, but he does have enough of a following for a few sell-out dates per year.

Good question, as usual.

I don’t think it’s really new, though.  Bill Hicks was always bigger in England than in the U.S.; but I always attributed that the fact that he had so much political material and made fun of American culture in a way that let British audiences feel quietly superior.  Even recently I’ve seen Greg Proops and a few others do something similar; though, frankly, making jokes about George Bush in Europe at the moment is just pulling easy applause lines.  A bit lazy, I think, in some cases.

Maria Bamford makes sense to me.  Not because she is political, but she is frequently misunderstood and under-appreciated here and I think it would really make sense for her management to seek out places where audiences better appreciate what she is trying to do. There are always subtle differences of taste and humor amongst cultures and there is no reason not to seek out the audience that most enjoys your work. 

But none of that explains Arj.  I can’t put my finger on what there is about his material or style that might appeal more to an Australian audience. 

BTW, I contend that there is no reason to do anything nefarious to see his performances because *real* comedy nerds hack their DVD players to make them multi-regional.  😊

I’m a real comedy nerd. I ordered both Arj DVDs from http://www.sanity.com.au and they arrived within a week. Balls is the better of the two, I feel with all-new material.

Simon—thanks for the tip on where you found these DVDs!

From one nerd to another - cheers - much appreciated.