MERRICK Watts has spent more than three decades making Australians laugh, but these days he is just as comfortable discussing the character of a Shiraz as he is dissecting the anatomy of a punchline.
And when he rolls into The Cauldron Distillery on Tamborine Mountain for Grapes of Mirth this month, those two worlds will collide.
“I think it is kind of its own beast entirely,” Watts said. “It just represents a great day. It’s a really fun day out.
“You’ve got comedy, which makes you feel good. You’re outdoors, you’ve got fresh air. It’s a different experience.
“I think that’s kind of the alchemy of it.”
The class clown who made it a career
Watts reckons his comedy career began largely because there were not too many other options available – the classic class clown through to having one of Australian comedy’s most recognisable careers.
Along the way came Merrick and Rosso, his partnership with Tim Ross that would take the pair from stand-up to Triple J and commercial radio and make them household names.
“I’ve never found anybody to work with like working with Rosso,” Watts said.
From punchlines to pinot
Somewhere among the stand-up gigs, breakfast radio, television appearances and acting roles, another passion became increasingly serious.
Wine.
Watts became a trained sommelier and wine judge and recently returned to the judging table at the Barossa Valley Wine Show.
“I’m too bogan to be a wine snob,” he laughed.
“I’m not just about the price of the bottle or the label.”
That attitude has become part of the DNA of An Idiot’s Guide To Wine and Grapes of Mirth.
“It’s just a very relaxed way of watching comedy,” Watts said.
Mates, laughs and a glass of rosé
Rather than simply assembling a bill, sending out the call times and hoping everybody turns up, many of those appearing at Grapes of Mirth are Watts’ close friends.
Peter Helliar has been a mate of Watts since their teenage years, while the broader Grapes family has become so popular among performers that comedians now contact him asking when they can get another gig.
If comedy was a wine…
If Australian stand-up was a wine, what would it be? Watts did not need long to think about it.
Shiraz.
“It’s the great Australian grape,” he said. “It’s a character and it’s bold, it’s rich and it’s got so much depth.
“That’s what I feel about the Australian comedy industry at the moment. We are so bold. We take risks.
“Where 20, 30 years ago, it was really just different flavours of the same ice cream.”
Bold, rich, unmistakably Australian and getting better with age.
Come to think of it, that sounds a fair bit like Merrick Watts too.
