INTERVIEW by Samantha Guthrie
Stand-Up Tbilisi (SUT) is a group of people interested in growing the art of stand-up comedy in the capital city, comprised of diverse performers that want to get better at stand-up comedy and make people laugh. The team is currently made up of around 10 regular performers and several others who occasionally get on stage. Georgia’s first English language stand-up comedy event series was founded by Rezi Arsenidze, Jora, Pasqualino Masa, and Nate Eubanks. GEORGIA TODAY sat down with Nate to talk about his involvement and the city’s growing comedy scene.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?
My brother and I have always loved comedy. Possibly because my dad was so funny, and my mom had such a great laugh. I encouraged my brother to perform, and I wrote some jokes for him. He started performing more improv comedy, so I also gave it a shot. I love it. I think I’ll always write jokes and try to make people laugh…I’ve been fortunate enough to perform in over a dozen countries on excellent shows and made friends with comedians around the world.
I moved to Georgia to be close to my wife’s family. My wife is Georgian. We met when we were both living in Kuwait. I know, it’s little cliché: move to Kuwait, fall in love, end up in Georgia. You probably get that all the time. I love Georgia. I love how close people can be to family, friends and neighbors.
WHEN YOU STARTED, WHAT WAS THE TBILISI COMEDY SCENE LIKE? WHAT MADE YOU THINK ENGLISH COMEDY WOULD WORK HERE?
There wasn’t much of a comedy scene here at all. Many people told me comedy here was a TV show, [but] stand-up comedy is in a global boom. People want to laugh. There has never been a better time for stand-up. We were fortunate enough to find each other and make it happen, but if we hadn’t, it would have happened here eventually. English comedy works here because English for the most part is a global language…We want Georgian stand-up events as well. In fact, SUT will be holding Georgian stand-up events again soon.
YOU'VE PERFORMED WORLDWIDE. DO YOU HAVE TO TAILOR YOUR JOKES TO THE DIFFERENT AUDIENCES? WHAT IS PEOPLE'S SENSE OF HUMOR LIKE IN GEORGIA?
Always. I edit my material for the country in which I perform. Performing internationally, the focus has to be on what is universally funny. It is beautiful when people from different countries and cultures laugh together. Laughing sounds the same in every language. When we laugh, we are fundamentally the same.
It took some time to write specifically for Georgia. I was incredibly surprised to find a joke that was my best joke, my closer when performing regularly in Sydney, Australia and the USA, gets absolutely no laughs here. I had to write about my experiences in Georgia and the differences between our cultures, and the different ways my wife and I experience the world.
Georgians are funny. From time spent with my in-laws in Kutaisi, I know most Georgians can tell a story that makes those around them laugh- and what great laughs! Georgians are a durable people and have experienced incredibly difficult hardships in their past and recent history. They find joy in each other and relationships.
HOW HAS S.U.T. DEVELOPED?
We want to make something good and something that lasts. For us, that means expanding when it makes sense. Our home is Creator Bar and, recently, we have had up to 10 comedians performing and a nearly full room. It is starting to look reasonable to expand to other nights…Our challenges are to make a quality event, grow as performers, attract an interested audience, and bring them back again. Since Tbilisi has a small metropolitan area, we have to write new material more often, which is challenging.
My long-term vision for Stand-up Tbilisi is huge. In the near future, we hope to bring regional English-speaking headlining comedians to Tbilisi. But my vision is bigger than that. With regular performances, our local comedians will improve to where they perform internationally in shows and festivals. I have such high hopes for what we are trying to build here.
WHAT IS THE BEST AND WORST PART OF DOING STAND-UP?
The best feeling in the world is making a room full of strangers laugh. The worst feeling is bombing. Every performance has the chance for either of those outcomes. A friend of mine recently performed for the stand-up for the first time. He claimed stand-up was scarier than when he was in a war zone. He may have been exaggerating, but there is some truth to it.
Writing jokes takes listening to your own thoughts and communicating your ideas to strangers and hope they think it’s funny. If they hate it, in a way, they hate you because it is your thoughts they hate. The euphoria of the magical connection, where shared thoughts make a laugh spontaneously appear from nothing, is often worth those harrowing, excruciatingly painful bombs.
HOW CAN SOMEONE GET INVOLVED IN PERFORMING?
The thoughts or stories you find yourself repeating, write them down. Have an idea of what you want to say. Then, either contact us on Facebook, IG, or twitter and we will put you on the lineup Thursday evening. We welcome new performers. We are especially looking for more female comedians. Performing is frightening, but our audience is kind. They want you to succeed. A common mistake is drinking before performing. Do not get drunk before performing. It’s not better: it’s worse. Only you think it is better. Don’t do it!
For those not quite ready to get up on stage, come watch, says Nate, “Watching a new comedian develop, and get more and more laughs, is a beautiful thing to see…you are witnessing the infancy of future great comedians and the birth of a comedy scene in Tbilisi. Come laugh with us!”
Learn more about Nate at http://nateeubanks.com/ (including a sneak peak at his comedy routine!) and catch the next Stand Up Tbilisi show by following facebook.com/standuptbilisi and @Standuptbilisi.