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Sammy J on the Trades Hall rooftop ahead of his 50 Year Show for Melbourne Fringe.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Justin McManus<\/cite><\/p>\n As its name suggests, the show has a lifespan of five decades. This year sees its fourth instalment, complete with a cast of top-tier comedy talent returning, including Charlie Pickering and, he hopes, Celia Pacquola.<\/p>\n Dancers who were five in the first show \u2013 when Sammy was 25 \u2013 and are now 20 will perform, together with comedian friends, singers and even a teenager who was in utero in the original. Footage from previous shows will run behind the live acts. He describes it as a series of sketches, \u201cand trying to give Father Time a wedgie, playing with the idea of linear time\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first started it, I was bumbling along trying to make a career out of comedy. I\u2019d had a few wins and losses but I was still figuring out what I do,\u201d says the comedian turned ABC broadcaster. \u201cIt\u2019s always been looking forward and now it\u2019s the fourth one, 15 years worth of shows, for the first time properly reckoning with looking back, watching hours of footage. I\u2019ve been watching myself as this young, nervous, ambitious 25-year-old and that\u2019s way more confronting than I expected it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Who doesn\u2019t love a sparkly lycra suit?<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Justin McManus<\/cite><\/p>\n His sense of humour has always been based around commitment to an idea and drilling down as far as you can in that world, he says. \u201cThis was such a stupid concept that made me laugh at the time, what if I genuinely started this and I figured out I\u2019d be 75 by the time it finished.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou basically use a different piece of canvas for every work, so in comedy if I\u2019m writing a song, music is the canvas or doing a sketch then the character is the canvas and with this one, time is the canvas and time is the punchline as well, it\u2019s a totally different way of engaging because I\u2019m setting up jokes and themes and ideas and the whole point is you have to come back in five years or 15 years for that to pay off. Which is not a financially viable move but deeply rewarding.\u201d <\/p>\n This time round, it almost feels like a school reunion, where he gathers the usual suspects. \u201cEveryone gravitates together and has this little reunion,\u201d he says.\u201cThings are starting to get real as far as people\u2019s lives go. It\u2019s sort of like Frankenstein\u2019s monster now, I\u2019ve created it and I will see it through. I genuinely don\u2019t know where it\u2019s going to take me now.\u201d<\/p>\n Does his work with the ABC conflict with his work as a comedian? In short, no. \u201cI don\u2019t feel constrained at all, and I guess the day may come when I\u2019m called into Ita Buttrose\u2019s office because I\u2019ve said something … I think I started the radio trying to combine the two, and that was neither needed nor successful because then we had the pandemic… in my mind now they are very different hats to wear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI treat radio as very much a community setting, positive and joyous and to start the day with a smile, which is a world away from political satire. It\u2019s an interesting line to walk,\u201d he says. \u201cLike John Howard would say, \u2018Like me or loathe me, you know where I stand.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve created it and I will see it through. I genuinely don\u2019t know where it\u2019s going to take me now.\u2019<\/p>\n It has to be said: given he is a high-profile broadcaster known for his work on both radio and television, can Sammy J still be considered Fringe? Very much so, he says. \u201cBecause this show started in 2008 when I was nobody. I had to beg and cajole and invite everybody I could think of,\u201d he says. \u201cIt has the Fringe in its DNA, it was an experimental show from an unknown artist \u2013 now I\u2019m better known but it\u2019s very much connecting with that spirit. The whole notion of the show is me connecting with my past self, so I\u2019m going to get a free pass on that one.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides, says Sammy J, Fringe is about experimenting and pushing boundaries. \u201cI don\u2019t think profile should be a barrier, it\u2019s about ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n