'For a long time I felt conflicted' - comedian Josh Glanc on giving up a law career for stand-up

Josh Glanc: Family Man | Pic: © Marcelle Bradbeer

My dad was incredibly funny. He’d light up a room. He was charming and musically gifted. He was an accountant. A good one. But I know he didn’t like it. He would have made a great comedian, or shock-jock on breakfast radio. And I’m sure he would have made a hilarious Fringe show (something I’m currently trying to do). But, as the eldest son of two Holocaust survivors, those careers weren’t really options.

After surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau, his parents – my grandparents – valued safety. I asked them why they moved to Melbourne, Australia. They said it was because it was the furthest place from Europe. Building a family again was important after the Holocaust. They had six children and expected all of them to have families and become professionals (preferably doctors), or in the case of my aunties, marry doctors (which they all did). So, my dad was an accountant, had three children and lived a few streets away from his parents. 

He was a brilliant father. He spoiled me and my siblings constantly and loved us all unconditionally. We were his life. So growing up it seemed his career didn’t matter much to him. Or maybe, in the context of how he was brought up, it couldn’t. I’m pretty sure he would never have admitted to himself that pursuing his creative talents was something he wanted. I know for a long time I didn’t either. Despite being absolutely obsessed with performing in high school, I too became a professional to make my family proud. I became a lawyer, not a doctor, which my grandfather still complains about. 

Then, around ten years ago, my dad died suddenly from a heart attack. He was so talented, creative and never pursued those things. And then he was gone. 

Like him, I also loved making people laugh. I loved to create and to be on stage and I didn’t want to have regrets; to look back on my life and think that I’d never had the balls to go for it.  So I did. I stopped working as a lawyer, went to the French clown school, wrote hour-long comedy shows and toured them at festivals around the world, the pinnacle being the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, or ‘Clown Mecca’ as we call it. 

I love being a performer. When I’m on stage I feel home. But trying to break through as a comedian is a tougher slog than wading through case law. You need to constantly be self-promoting (what do you think of this feature by the way?), gigging, creating and backing yourself unwaveringly. You also need to tour a lot – which I love, because it means I get to perform regularly, like at the Fringe, where I get to perform every day for a month – but it can also be hard building stable relationship when you’re always on the road. I’ve had great first dates and then not been available for a second until 3 months later, and I’m not that charming that someone will hang around that long. The whole thing is pretty all-consuming. I remember as a lawyer when I’d leave the office, I was done. Now, mid-conversation with a friend I’m worrying about my upcoming Fringe show, my poster design, the gig I’m doing that night, the gig I did the night before – it’s hard to switch off.

Because of these struggles, for a long time I felt conflicted about the decision. I’d be at my sisters’ house, which, because she was an accountant, she owned, catching up with her whilst she was on annual leave, which, because she was an accountant, she could take, sharing a meal, which, because she was an accountant, she portioned perfectly, looking at her life, with her kids and family and wondering If I’d made the right choice. 

Like my dad, and his parents, building and continuing our family after the Holocaust is important to me. I want to have a partner, be a father. But while building my new career I couldn’t be very focused on that.  I’ve being thinking about this a lot lately, while working on my Fringe show this year, Family Man.

I do know now that I no longer feel conflicted about the move. I get immense joy and fulfillment from being a performer. I’m proud of what I’m doing, the work I’ve put in, and I’m OK with not having the house yet or annual leave. I want to be a comedian and I’ve gotten much better at how to be one. Now I think it’s time I get better at how to be a family man. 

Josh Glanc: Family Man, Monkey Barrel Comedy, 3.20pm, until 25 August

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