Q&A: Raybon Kan

Comedian Raybon Kan ponders life at Dog With Two Tails Cafe & Bar before his Dunedin Fringe...
Comedian Raybon Kan ponders life at Dog With Two Tails Cafe & Bar before his Dunedin Fringe Festival show ‘‘Positive Pessimist’’. Photo: Linda Robertson.
Question and Answer time with Raybon Kan, a comedian performing at the 2017 Dunedin Fringe Festival.

What is your show "Positive Pessimist" about?

The show comes from my outlook on life — which really hunts out the negative and is programmed for disagreement.

Hunts out the negative?

It ferrets it out, absolutely seeks it and finds it like a heat-seeking missile.

Is it a cancerous negativity?

Cancerous is a bit far. I’m wondering what illness is appropriate. People who see things as a glass-half-empty would say it keeps them safe. It’s a life-saving attitude rather than a life-terminating attitude.

Do you embrace your negativity or do you like to change it?

I marvel at people who are cheerful ... They are squeezing a lot more juice out of life than I am.

When did you start in comedy?

In 1994 in Wellington in a place grungier than this [Dog With Two Tails Cafe] on a Sunday and I showed up with a piece of paper and had a go. It was nerve-racking even though the stakes were as low as they could be — there were three people there.  I was in my car parked outside the place wanting to drive away.

What’s kept you going?

It’s like a slot machine addiction. There are times it goes well, when everything is right in the world. It’s like a surfer catching a perfect wave and it’s something they hold on to and they don’t think of the 99 times they get dumped and get salt water in their mouth.

What is the worst gig you’ve done?

I had an empty pint glass thrown at me at a gig in Scotland. The gig started at 1am and I went on close to 3am and they had been drinking since lunch.

What did you do?

I finished my set to the bitter end, amid people yelling "your taxi is waiting". It was the perfect storm of not going well.

Best gig?

There are magic gigs, so good you step outside of yourself and feel fraudulent and they are giving you laughs where you don’t expect them. They spoil you. Those gigs are amazing.

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