VALENTINE funnyman JASON STARRETT has joked his way into national stardom, collecting a coveted GREEN FACES AWARD a fortnight ago at the Canberra Irish Club.
Starrett, who performs stand-up comedy every Saturday night at the Wog Rock Cafe in Warners Bay, collected $2000 for his trouble and has been inundated with offers of work from Brisbane to Sydney.
But he was lucky to collect the prize after judges considered disqualifying him from the competition for running three minutes over the 10-minute time limit.
'They actually took off a third of my votes and I still won,' Starrett said.
'But I would have been happy with the night anyway, because it was sponsored by Tooheys and I figured that I'd been paid pretty well backstage anyway.
'A little bit too well before the show actually.'
Starrett, a graduate in commerce from the University of Newcastle, threw in his accountancy job two years ago to concentrate full-time on making people laugh.
In seven weeks he expects to have completed a Diploma of Education and will next year face his toughest audience yet - primary school children.
'Watching the teachers who have been at it for 10 or 15 years, they control the group exactly the same as someone on stage does,' he said.
Starrett believes teachers face the same challenges as comedians, including 'dealing with hecklers and trying to keep someone, especially an 8-year-old, entertained and focused for a whole class'.
In October Starrett will give comedy lessons through PERFORMING ARTS NEWCASTLE at the arts organisation's Auckland St, Newcastle studios. He plans to cover areas such as style, ideas, inspiration and joke writing. Starrett is taking registrations for the course at 4946-1318. TE
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