Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Arlington: Aaron Chen has just released his first Netflix special and is about to appear in his first feature film, pickleball comedy The Dink, alongside Ben Stiller and Ed Harris.
To some people back home, though, no matter how famous or successful he becomes, he will always be best remembered for his infamous half-time analysis during a 2017 friendly between Liverpool and Sydney FC, which made him, for a brief moment, the most hated man in Australian soccer.
“I’ve had a few springboards in my lifetime, and that was the first – or at least one of them,” Chen said.
The game was the first major broadcast of a soccer match by the ABC for many years, and the public broadcaster was in the mix for the A-League’s free-to-air TV rights at the time – so it was seen as a critical opportunity for the code that had to be seized.
For whatever reason, though, the ABC decided to hand production duties to the comedy department. And when the call went out internally for people who liked soccer, a mischievous Chen put his hand up.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, big time,’” he recalled.
He wasn’t lying. Chen says he has always been a fan: he was there when the Socceroos beat Uruguay in 2005 – his first game – and fell in love with the team; he used to go to the odd A-League game, here and there; and he is an Ange Postecoglou acolyte.
He also knows he never had any business being on a live broadcast of a soccer game – which is exactly why he had to do it.
“I always thought this, even when I took the job: the misstep was putting comedians in the half-time show. Like, it should be a punditry thing,” Chen said.
“But I took the job anyway. I really enjoyed doing a live cross. Any time you tell a comedian who’s up to no good that it’s going to be live, that’s the best feeling in the world.”
Chen’s two-minute segment interviewing fans over the fence at Allianz Stadium has become part of Australian soccer folklore. He asked one punter what his favourite possession was, and the poor bloke actually tried to respond.
It ended with Chen taking off his Sydney FC jersey, to the horrified screams of the presenters in the studio, revealing an NFL “football” T-shirt underneath.
In retrospect, it was perfectly executed cringe comedy. But at the time, many people didn’t know how to take it – and especially Australian soccer fans, who, let’s say, don’t exactly have a reputation for self-deprecation. They were outraged by the lack of respect Chen had allegedly shown the game. Including, regretfully, this correspondent.
Former Socceroo Robbie Slater said it was “unforgivable”, Football Federation Australia released a statement saying it was “disappointed with some aspects” of the coverage, and the ABC’s managing director was grilled about the broadcast during Senate estimates.
The scale of the backlash was huge – and, to Chen, absolutely hilarious. A week after the game, he remembers being heckled by people while eating a camel burger at the Lakemba Nights during Ramadan.
“It was Facebook days, those days,” Chen said. “So I was getting a lot of Facebook messages from strangers, straight after the broadcast.
“I was kind of responding to all the messages in funny ways. People were like, ‘Your thing made me want to kill myself’, and stuff like that. And I’d be like, ‘Please don’t do that. Life is so important.’
“And honestly, it was funny and exciting to me. I didn’t have any negative emotions. I was just taken by the novelty of it all, because I think at the end of the day, I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, and the people that I had offended was just the Australian football community – which is a vocal community, but it’s a small community.
“And also, it’s funny that they were angry. Including yourself, I guess.”
Nine years on, Chen’s journey with Australian soccer has come full circle.
Now based full-time in the United States, he was just another fan on a World Cup pilgrimage last week. He was in the crowd for the Socceroos’ 0-0 draw with Paraguay in Santa Clara, alongside fellow Australian comedians Sam Campbell and Ray Badran – and two days later, the trio performed an Aussie-themed stand-up show in nearby San Francisco, specifically organised to help pay for the trip, wearing the same jerseys that they had worn to the stadium.
“It was cool to see what the travelling Socceroos fans are up to, the culture coming together,” he said.
“It’s like, we do have our own chants now. There’s a lot of stuff about getting deported.”
Chen, Badran and Campbell’s stand-up show was titled “Crocodile Funnee: Laughteroos”, and your correspondent was there. It was a riot.
Like the Socceroos, Australian comedy appears to be on the cusp of a new golden generation, and these three guys are at the forefront of it. Badran has a captivating vibe, best described as nonchalant neuroticism. Campbell doesn’t so much perform as he opens a valve in his brain and releases his personal brand of insanity onto an unsuspecting audience.
Chen, the headliner, was unsurprisingly excellent. Him and his wife moved to New York City three years ago; much like an aspiring footballer who heads abroad to chase their dreams, he can feel the benefits of exposure to elite competition. There’s less time on the ball, more games to play, and the stakes are higher. You either get better, or you don’t survive.
“It’s a good level in the A-League,” Chen said. “But you do have to move to Europe sometimes.”
Back in Sydney, Chen would do two or three bar shows a week. In New York, that’s what he’s doing most nights. He’s a regular at the legendary Comedy Cellar, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and Ray Romano, and learning through osmosis.
“It’s pretty amazing … they’re just there all the time and you have chats to them,” he said.
“It’s fast-paced. At the clubs, there’s noise happening, people are being served food, and there’s tourists coming in, and they want to hear like a joke every minute, they want to be kept on their toes, so it’s forced me to get really tight with the material, a lot of laughs per minute and stuff like that.
“You’re just like constantly watching and being watched by high-level comedians who were heroes to me when I was in Australia, so you want to perform to that level. And some of them watch Fisk.”
Chen won’t make it to Dallas for Australia’s round of 32 clash with Egypt, but he will be watching.
Which brings us to the question on everyone’s lips. After all these years, what is Chen’s favourite possession?
He doesn’t hesitate.
“My favourite possession is the memories I have,” he said.
