Comedy<\/a> Central Presents and eventually a recurring role on cult hit show Flight of the Conchords. \u201cIt was once I started getting paid, and thought maybe I could do this for a living. Then you\u2019re trying to get the TV spot, then you wanna get a special, then a sitcom and all that shit.\u201d<\/p>\nWe turn down a street lined with Victorian cottages, and Barker points up at the reverse side of the Pelaco sign, looming huge and white, scaffolded against the skyline. The conversation moves to questions of national identity, about whether he feels more Australian now he\u2019s lived here for decades, or American given it was where he grew up and returns to periodically. \u201cI\u2019m not very nationalistic,\u201d he says without emphasis. \u201cI don\u2019t want to piss a bunch of people off, but a lot of people are just happy to be born somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his new show Mind Field, Barker talks about existentialism, meditation and death in a way that constantly teases the laugh response without reducing the topics to glibness. Photograph: Charlie Kinross\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a political discussion heating up around the country, but Barker\u2019s approach seems rooted in a basic rationality. \u201cThe more nationalistic people are, the more they tend to be anti-immigration. But immigrants, who are often risking their lives to get into a country, put a lot more effort to be in that country than the folks who were born there.\u201d It feels like the set up for a gag, but it also points to a value system underlying Barker\u2019s observational comedy: a tendency to side with the underdog. \u201cI\u2019m really not into that greatest country on earth crap.\u201d<\/p>\n
We turn briefly on to a main road before weaving around St Ignatius\u2019s Church to head back to our starting point. The view of Melbourne suddenly opens out, majestic in the midwinter sun. Barker glances at me as I take in the vista, the tiniest hint of pride in his large brown eyes. \u201cThis is my route with the dogs. One of them has problems walking so I carry her most of the way.\u201d He shows me live CCTV footage of his two French bulldogs cuddled together on a day bed.<\/p>\n
While Barker has often used comedy as a way of talking about his interests \u2013 for a long time, he was fascinated by UFOs and scattered references to them throughout his material \u2013 his new album, Mind Field, wades into areas in which he\u2019s long been engrossed but rarely discussed. \u201cIt\u2019s tricky with subjects you really care about, to handle them respectfully and get laughs,\u201d Barker says. In Mind Field, he talks about existentialism, meditation and death in a way that constantly teases the laugh response without reducing the topics to glibness.<\/p>\n
Some of this expansiveness can be attributed to maturity, but the recent death of his friend \u2013 \u201cwe\u2019d known each other since first grade\u201d \u2013 shook him up like a snow globe. It\u2019s evident in the way he scurries over the topic, as if avoiding a tripping hazard. \u201cIt was a real shock, because he was only a few months younger than me. It became more urgent to look into the idea of dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barker admits the last few years have been characterised by loss, from the death of his oldest friend to the breakdown of a marriage. Photograph: Charlie Kinross\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The question of life after death became more pressing, which led to further questions about consciousness itself, the mind and its relationship to reality. Rather than reassuring answers, Barker was left with more and more questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything that exists is within our field of consciousness,\u201d Barker says, \u201cand we can\u2019t explain what our consciousness is. Science has theories, but that\u2019s all they are, theories.\u201d It\u2019s one of the only areas of scientific research that still feels embryonic, which is a key part of its appeal. \u201cI think that\u2019s the most incredible mystery in the world; it\u2019s gotta be.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Mind Field, Barker leads his audience to the gates of consciousness \u2013 with discursions about coffee breath, New Zealand biosecurity and being eaten by your own dogs (turns out he\u2019s in favour) \u2013 without leaving them confused or bored. The general feeling the album evokes is one of bemused awe. On the track The Big Question Remains, Barker riffs: \u201c95% of the universe, they don\u2019t know what it is. They call it dark matter \u2026 Oh, no big deal, Science. It\u2019s only 95% of fucking everything! What are you doing in the laboratory all day?\u201d<\/p>\n
Big questions can be a great way to distract from private griefs. Barker admits the last few years have been characterised by loss, from the death of his oldest friend to the breakdown of a marriage. \u201cI needed to step back and take a little breather. I\u2019ll go into my usual grind next year,\u201d he says, referring to an upcoming international tour.<\/p>\n
Right now, his focus is on his dogs, one of which has been seriously ill. \u201cA few weeks back, we thought she was going to die,\u201d Barker remembers, the emotion cracking his voice slightly. \u201cI went through terrible grief thinking what I would do without her; the world\u2019s gonna seem so bleak. But of course, the flip side of grief is love. And gratitude. I was lucky to have her for 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does he think comedy can coexist with kindness and gratitude, or has the culture of offence broken standup? \u201cI think it can,\u201d Barker says. \u201cI\u2019m not really drawn to mean-spirited comedy. I want people to leave my shows feeling better than when they came in. Not, \u2018I had a laugh because it appealed to my inner bully. I think joyous, positive comedy is the future, actually. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arj Barker doesn\u2019t answer questions the way other people do. When we meet outside a cafe in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-600765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}