Pitching a tent
Whatever you do, don't ask Al Pitcher which sporting team he backs.
By Sarah Norris
Crossed wires... A true citizen of the world contemplates the thrall of turtle love
Al Pitcher is a man of many homes. Born in England, he then shipped out with his family to spend his formative years growing up in New Zealand and now spends his time dashing to London for comedy shows, the rest of his hours spent at home in Stockholm, Sweden where he lives with his wife.
"Honestly, the identity thing freaks me out because I don’t know where I should be, where I belong. I’ve never supported a national team – I just change around to whoever is convenient for the situation. To make it worse, when I go back to NZ they think I’m English and in England they say 'Good on ya, digger – you’re great, put another barbie on the shrimp. Wait, that was a cruel way to kill a shrimp."
Chatting to a 'non-show mode' Pitcher is like chalk and cheese with his on-stage persona. In the spotlight he’s quick, a little blue, and almost authoritarian. Behind the scenes he’s lovely, thoughtful and a little nerdish. You don’t have to look past his t-shirt to know that.
When Time Out caught up with Pitcher in the Cracker Comedy offices, he was dressed in a black t-shirt complete with a collage of frolicking horses proudly emblazoned on his chest, designed by the man himself. "I tried to look for the most naff t-shirt and hey, I won."
Did he happen to notice the faun horse getting a little friendly with the brown horse? "Actually, I never really looked at it that closely, no, I didn’t notice there was mounting. The other day I saw an amazing David Attenborough doco. He was watching two turtles and was describing how they did it but he was really creepy about it – it was kinda like [he puts on a lascivious voice]: 'And here they are, having sex'. And I thought wait, he’s not doing it for the wild life, he’s doing it for the sex, for the turtle love."
Al Pitcher in Idiot Wind is at the Yalumba Wine Bar, The Enmore Café Theatre from Tue 29–Sat 3 May. Tickets available at the Enmore Theatre on 02 9550 3666 or www.crackercomedy.com