Introducing the UK-based Australian, Ro Campbell who has made audiences roar with laughter in UK, Ireland, Europe, and now in India to give the Bangalore crowd a laugh for their money.
At the age of 18 he backpacked through India on a motorcycle, and as he sits down to do the interview he says, “Good to know that nothing has changed, Indian traffic is warfare on wheels. When I was here the last time, I knocked over a peanut seller, who demanded 5,000 rupees for his peanuts. They're an actual metaphor for worth nothing!”
Conversation is easy and Ro makes sure he keeps it flowing. “It didn't really occur to me until later in life that I might have a career in comedy. I was always with the entertainment industry, except it was more backstage work. I have worked backstage with almost every band you can imagine,” he says. We spent the next five minutes, quizzing him about the bands he had worked with.
So while Ro was working backstage at the Edinburgh Festival he did a stand-up show and something about it just clicked with him. Ro has since been crowned “Scotland's King Of Comedy” and was the star performer at the last six Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.
“If I had started younger, it would have probably taken me a lot longer to establish myself. I write my own stuff and that is how it is done unless you are that big. And I have written some jokes that I am fairly proud of,” says Ro whose strength, he believes, is his performance. “I am a fairly strong and physical performer. Most comics have one aspect that is stronger; mine is the acting.”
Ro had ruffled feathers when he did a show at a maximum security prison. “Well, I traced my family and it turned out that a whole bunch of my family were convicts. One of them was a thief and the other was a forger. So I Googled the prison in Scotland and decided to do a show there. It did not go down too well, and the tabloids tore me apart, saying that a comedy show at a prison was a waste of the taxpayers' money.” Ro loves his job and likes being asked about it. “I feel no pressure to be funny all the time, in fact I think at times as comedians we take our jobs too seriously. I hang out with people who are hilarious, but we also talk about politics and malnutrition.”
“This is the first time I am coming here as a comedian, the last time I was here was the late 90's and a lot has changed since. Back then I did not have a mobile phone; today even the peanut seller has one. Even the advertising has gotten more conspicuous.”
Just a few hours before his first show in the city, Ro definitely has a bad case of the nerves, “It's always nerve-racking to play outside your comfort zone, I'm hoping the time I have spent here in India helps.” While in most countries it could be the language that is a barrier he says, “In India language is not the problem; it's more a cultural barrier which covers what I can talk about and what I cannot.”
