Scott Edgar has visions of a three-legged Angel. Photo: Ken Irwin
What artwork has best captured your sense of the city?
Deborah Halpern's Angel sculpture - you know the three-legged colourful strange mosaic thing that used to be outside the National Gallery on St Kilda Road. I was just out of high school - at uni studying design - and joining the big world and I really associate that sculpture with a sense of discovery. It's extremely evocative of a time in my life when I was almost pupating, coming out of my cocoon of being a teenager and into my adult life as an artist. The fact it's down on Birrarung Marr now is a shocking revelation of the inevitability of change and the march of time.
Which doorway would you most like to go through?
Edgar at Jells Park, Wheeler's Hill, in 1983.
I've got to be honest, it's always the front door of my own home. I'm a hobbit at heart, even though I like to pretend I'm a wizard, but really, I just like to be at home like a hobbit.
Also, I do a show on Triple R every Tuesday night with a couple of colleagues. We always show up a bit late and hope to get through the big red door in time for our show. The people inside have a little button to press and there's a video of who's at the door. So we always have to do this stupid dance, jumping up and down, hoping they will see us. So, if you drive past at five minutes before eight, you'll see four people leaping up and down like fools trying to get noticed.
The place that most surprised you?
The front bar at 303 on High Street, Northcote. I'm a Northcote boy through and through. High Street's totally my 'hood and 303's front bar is such a fantastic venue to play music. It doesn't look much from the outside but there's something exactly right about the relationship of the bar and the size of it to the number of people and the vibe on the street out the front that when you play there, it's a lovely surprise. A room that feels full with only 10 people suits me just fine.
Where do you take visitors to Melbourne?
I take visitors to High Street, as there are always bands playing. It's one of the few places you can walk down the street and listen to the music coming out of the venues and choose where you want to go. My sister used to live in London and I took her to High Street and we ended up outside the Northcote Social Club being taught accordion after a few beers.
The building you hate?
The Crown Palladium might be the worst room I've ever performed in. It's horrible - I've never met an audience member or a performer there who enjoyed themselves. There's something about the big, flat wall at the back that bounces the sound back. Maybe it's just my association with horrific gigs we (Tripod) have had there over the years, but it's a tough room. The huge gouts of flame out the front that remind me of Satan's front door probably don't do it any favours, either. Also, I spent about an hour looking for my car in the car park one time. That place reminds me of an Hieronymus Bosch painting.
Your favourite sign?
It's a red No Through Road sign at the end of my street. I always tell taxis to look for the red sign at the bottom of the hill. My heart broke in half when some tradies drove a truck into it a couple of weeks ago and knocked it over. I felt emotionally scarred by that. Now I tell the cabbies to look for the knocked-over red sign.
Where did you hang out as a kid?
Jells Park, Wheelers Hill. The sunny hub of my young life. We fanged our BMXs around it, hung out in trees talking about girls and later played Dungeons & Dragons around the picnic tables. Don't ask me why I'm in my budgie smugglers [see photo]. Maybe I was looking at a career in politics.
■ Scott Edgar, of musical comedy act Tripod, stars in Malthouse Theatre's production of The Dragon, June 27-July 26.
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