The C-word isn’t one that you’ll hear too often. That is, unless you watch a lot of Alex “Shooter” Williamson’s comedy, in which he champions Australian boganism in various skits via YouTube.
One such skit is ‘You Can’t Say This Word’ where he talked about the infamous word with rapper Eso (one half of Bliss n Eso). “So I noticed a few people still disapprove of the word c*nt, and this saddens me to the bottom of my heart”, Alex says in character at the beginning of the skit. Though the first time Alex heard the word you can’t say was at the dinner table.
“We went paintballing with my football club and my brother was saying, “Did you hear Wayne, he got hit by a paintball and he said ‘Hey you fucking c*nt’” Alex pauses briefly for effect. “And dad was sitting at the table and he overheard and I remember it just being that Hamish had just just killed Dad’s mum or something. And just thinking, ‘This is bad’. Then I got a bit older and [the word] was just a sound you could make with your mouth.”
But Alex’s shows are about much more than just swearing (though there is a lot of that), it’s about showing a side of Australian humour to the world. For many he’s ‘that guy from the internet’ and with views surpassing 100 million on his YouTube channel featuring more than two million followers, it’s easy to understand why he’s such a familiar face on the streets.
“I actually don’t think about it,” Alex says of his millions of views and followers. “But I do get reminded of it quite often when I get recognised at the train station and even in London doing shows over there people were stopping their cars. And that was sort of a, ‘Wow, the internet is a powerful thing’ type of moment for me.”
While he may be recognised for his foul-mouthed, larrikin ways online, Alex’s personality in real life is quite different. Something you’ll get to see when he comes to Bendigo as part of his ‘Open Up’ tour.
“I guess coming to see the show is a good opportunity to see who I am as a person because I don’t give away too much in the shows online,” he says. “Just like Dave Chappelle in the shows he did. There’s the characters in his sketches but then you see him in his stand up and get an idea of who he is as a human being. Quite often my characters are quite criminal or things like that – which is not who I am – but I find it funny for whatever reason.”
Another chance to see Alex’s true personality shine through, aside from on stage, is when he created coverage for Hot Hits Live in LA. An opportunity that saw the budding YouTube star flown across the world and chucked onto the red carpet, interviewing such stars as James Franco, Tom Felton and more.
Having his own respective level of fame, seeing the world in which Hollywood stars were ruled by was a big wake up call for Alex. “Yeah that was interesting,” he laughs of the memory.
“That’s why I knew I was never going to make a good journalist because I was too nice and like, ‘Oh no, you go’,” he says of interviewing on the red carpet. “My producer was standing there shaking his head and going, ‘We just missed an interview with Brad Pitt’ or something, and I just said, ‘Yeah but I didn’t want to push in’. So I didn’t really cut it in that field. And just that breed of people who obsess about that sort of thing, especially in America….that’s what they live and breath and I definitely got that vibe there. It was really scary and I had to get out.”
Since returning some years ago, Alex continued his interaction with Australian celebs – albeit it in a slightly unconventional way. Of the few celebrities he’s impersonated for a clip, Angus & Julia Stone and Ben Cousins are a few that stand out.
“I haven’t done too many celebrities but they are two that I recall pretty well and I remember having [Angus] kiss his sister at the end of it,” he laughs. “I’m not sure if they ever saw it but they don’t look like the type that have the internet anyway and live out in the country… Ben Cousins apparently they did play something at a Richmond club event. Whether or not he was there or having a bender at the Crown Casino is unknown. I suppose he’d be like ‘Yep, fair enough”. But it’s all in good fun.”
And that’s exactly the crux of it, isn’t it? Having fun the Australian way, which there’ll be plenty of at Alex’s upcoming show. And you can always revisit the classic moments via his Facebook and YouTube (shooterwilliamson) channels.
Written by Amanda Sherring
Photo by Steve Ullathorne
When & Where: The Capital, Bendigo – December 16