Dave Eastgate

Biography

Dave Eastgate is the hottest young musical stand-up comedian in the country, described by Time Off Magazine as “the lovechild of Simple Plan and Tenacious D…” but it’s been a long way to the shop…

In 2001 as a member of the opening cast of the brand new Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka. Dave Eastgate was assigned the job of being an assistant to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was the special celebrity guest at the official launch. During an elaborate pyrotechnic stunt show involving helicopters and speedboats, it was Dave’s job to escort the future Governor down a dark flight of stairs and into a small room underneath a floating barge. The conversation started,

“This way, Mr. Schwarzenegger, watch your step. Just into this little room…”

“Thank you…” the star of Twins replied.

“How was the flight?”

“Not Bad...”

“Jet Lag?”

“No… Not really…”

From that moment on, Arnie and Dave shared a good five mins of awkward silence in a room that was barely a pantry.

It is encounters like this that are indicative of Dave’s long career, slightly uncomfortable but very amusing.

Dave Eastgate has gone from stunt shows to television shows, theatre to feature film and New York Comedy Clubs to the Sydney Opera House via the Tokyo Punk Scene. He has received rave reviews and has supported international comedy stars including Arj Barker, Ed Burn, Stephen K Amos, Ross Noble and Emmy Award Winner Kathy Griffin, not to mention Australian comedy greats like Carl Barron, Jimeoin and The Umbilical Brothers. Dave has become an overnight sensation, 14 years in the making.

From the age of 16, Dave cut his teeth performing characters and playing music in Queensland’s famous comedy clubs, theatre restaurants and theme parks. During this time, Dave experimented with his performance style both during the day at theme parks with characters as diverse as Kenny Koala to Austin Powers and even a bushranger stunt show and at night in the burgeoning Brisbane comedy scene. With a routine known as the Scottish Rap, Dave won Channel 9’s Red Faces after an unusually high score of 7 from judge Red Simmons, and then flashed Darryl Somers with the haggis under his kilt.

At the age of 21, after being fired from every major theme park on the Gold Coast Dave found himself in Osaka Japan performing at Universal Studios Japan, and holding cue cards for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Immersed in the language and the culture of Japan, Dave spent 4 years performing his own characters and routines 6 shows a day to crowds of between 3 and 3,000 people… in fluent Japanese…

In that 4 years Dave notched up over 35 characters in 4 Stunt Shows (including John Connor in the Terminator 2 3D Live Action Stunt Show and Rick in the Mummy Returns Live Action Stunt Show), 5 street bands, 10 street shows and as the host of 8 major special events including a huge campaign that saw a massive picture of Dave’s face planted on every train in Osaka. During this time Dave also toured with local bands, performed Japanese stand-up comedy and made several television and radio appearances. Footage of these performances can be seen on http://www.youtube.com/user/daveeastgate

A six-month tour performing in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Glasgow and Edinburgh followed before Dave would return to Australia and to Aussie stand-up comedy in 2006. After only 8 months back in the country David was runner up in the prestigious Green Faces Comedy Competition National Final, was featured at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Showcase and represented Queensland at the National Theatresports Championships in Sydney’s famous Enmore Theatre.

Since then Dave has taken the Australian comedy scene by storm, rocking out audiences from Perth to Townsville and everywhere in between with his hilariously unique brand of high energy, socially conscious stand-up comedy, characters and music. A spot on Stand Up Australia, airplay on JJJ and several live radio appearances have added to the buzz. Not satisfied with just comedy clubs, Dave has lent his talents to the biggest live shows on Australian television as a scriptwriter and audience warm-up including the reality TV tri-fecta that is Big Brother, Australian Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.

Dave is also reasonably accomplished as a serious musician having toured nationally and internationally with his own bands, including a stint as lead singer of Japanese punk heavy weights, ‘AKAINU’. He has also recorded and played with members of ARIA winning Brisbane band, ‘george’.

For Dave though it’s not all fun and games and in 2007, inspired by his time overseas (including his childhood in Papua New Guinea), Dave wrote and performed a dramatic one-man show.

The show titled, ‘GAIJIN’ (meaning foreigner’ in Japanese) was directed by Ben Knapton and required Dave to switch between 5 characters of different nationalities. It debuted at the Brisbane Powerhouse in August of 2008 and was lauded for its characterisations and innovative use of multi-media.

Dave’s talents as an actor have also lead to lead roles in three major national Television advertising campaigns, a cameo on the Emmy Awardwinning “My Life on the D-List” and a role in Chris Nyst’s 2008 feature film, “Crooked Business”.

His second one-man show and accompyaning album, Hot Tokyo Nights, debuted at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in March 2009.

Testimonials

“…a consummate actor…” Sue Gough, Courier Mail

“…multimedia media used with superb and magical simplicity to maximum effect… The illusions are achieved so seamlessly that they take your breath away…” Sue Gough, Courier Mail

“dazzlingly inventive… stunningly nuanced and unbelievably elastic… has the audience gasping for air between deep belly laughs with his signature blend of stand-up comedy, live music parodies and film… an undisputed hit… He is one of those rare talents that can succeed on delivery alone…”

Time Off Magazine

"There's nothing worse on a LIVE TV show than losing the studio audience. Every performer on stage lives for the audience’s vibe.

Dave was superb at maintaining the audiences energy levels throughout the long 2 hour shows, and that gave the singers on Australian Idol the perfect platform.

If you are looking for someone to entertain a crowd Dave is your man. He's funny, and is a one man show" –

Greg Beness (Executive Producer, Australian Idol)

“Funny guy!” Cindy Lauper (Guest Judge on Australian Idol)

“Hilarious!” Jermaine Jackson (Guest Judge on Australian Idol)

“No. Not really…” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Commercial Credits

XXXX Gold - 2008
Subway Sandwiches – 2008
Acer Computers – 2007

Television Credits

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List – HBO
Stand Up Australia – Comedy Channel
So You Think You Can Dance (audience warm-up) – Channel 10
Australian Idol (audience warm-up) – Channel 10
Friday Night Live (Writer) – Channel 10
Big Brother Evictions, Nominations, Friday Night Live, Big Mouth (audience warm up) – Channel 10
Hey Hey It’s Saturday – Channel 9
Yoshimoto M1 Comedy Competition – NHK, Japan
MBS National News – MBS, Japan
Good Morning Osaka – MBS, Japan
Katsumi Sayuri – J-Com, Japan
Getsu! Osaka – Kansai TV Japan
24hr TV Telethon – Yomiuri TV, Japan

Feature Film Credits