BARRY HUMPHRIES/ AUSTEN TAYSHUS
by Professor Ross Fitzgerald AM

Since the death of my long-time friend, the comic genius Barry Barry Humphries, by far the most outrageously talented stand-up performer in Australia is the Sydney-based Jewish comedian, Austen Tayshus.

Indeed Barry told me that Austen Tayshus was the only contemporary comedian who made him gasp, before he laughed. In comparison, most other stand ups were, he said, “about as funny as an orphanage on fire!”

Last week I attended The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

With the exception of a Korean lesbian who’d had four abortions, none of the stand ups who performed, for hours and hours, were a patch on Austen Tayshus.

Yet just as a few years before his death, Barry was ‘cancelled’ by feminatzis and fellow travellers of the woke brigade, these days Austen Tayshus finds it very hard to get a gig in Sydney or Melbourne. This is despite the fact that his shows still go down a treat in country and regional Australia.

Anyone interested to learn about the life so far of Sandy Gutman, aka Austen Tayshus, might care to read my co-authored biography Austen Tayshus: Merchant of Menace, which is available on-line from Amazon etc.

Professor Ross Fitzgerald’s most recent books are a memoir, Fifty Years Sober: An Alcoholic’s Journey,and the latest Grafton Everest political satire,co-authored with Ian McMcFadyen, Pandemonium, both published by Hybrid in Melbourne, and available online from Amazon. A four boxed set of Grafton Everest adventures, The Ascent of Everest, is also available online and direct from Hybrid in Melbourne.