Melbourne International Comedy Festival kicks off at 110% with Michael Shafar

Comic Michael Shafar thinks ‘everything is funny’, and he’s willing to stand up on stage to prove it.

Comedian Michael Shafar will perform at this year's Melbourne and Sydney Comedy Festivals. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

For Michael Shafar everything is funny – including beating cancer twice.

The 30-year-old comedian has returned to the stage with a new gig that is nothing short of edgy, making light of a topic most people would not consider funny. But Shafar is adamant laughing is one of the best treatments out there.

“The main message I try to send is everything is funny. And if someone says something isn’t funny, they’re wrong,” he says, laughing. “You have to laugh at everything and I hate the cliche that laughter is the best medicine but it certainly is important.”

Diagnosed with testicular cancer in October 2017, Shafar was shell-shocked when specialists gave him a 50 per cent chance of surviving after it was found to have spread to his abdomen.

Immediately after his diagnosis, comedy took a back seat in Shafar’s life for the first time since 2014 as he stared down six months of high-dose chemotherapy. Following treatment and a round of surgeries, Shafar got the all-clear from his doctors and knew immediately it was time to start talking about cancer on stage.

“I realised without comedy I was miserable,” Shafar recalls. “So in between cycles of chemo I was going on stage because I was trying to keep up with the normal parts of my life.”

Concerned that audiences would be put off by his show, Shafar says it took him six months before he tried to talk about cancer on stage.

“It’s not really the funniest subject,” he says. “But I realised I had to talk about it. As a comedian I draw a lot on my personal experience and it turned out to be my best material and people resonated with it. They realised it was authentic.”

Having a low immunity and doing stand-up gigs like 50/50 and Getting Better, in small basements packed out with people, was the biggest risk Shafar faced, “but the mental release it gave me was the best way to deal with what I was going through”.

After a routine check-up in July last year during Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown, cancer was found growing in his abdomen for the second time. “That was scary, especially during a pandemic with this unknown virus.”

Undergoing another four months of chemo, Shafar’s personal story fast became the pillar of his newest show and a way to tap into a whole new audience.

“I have a lot of cancer survivors come to my shows and they tend to be laughing the most,” he says. “They always say it’s great that someone is talking about it.

“I had three women come up to me after a show and say that they were all breast cancer survivors. It’s very satisfying when it connects with people.”

Selling out shows Jewish-ish and Kosher Bacon at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival since his debut in 2017, Shafar is back this year and ready to give 110% – aptly the title of his show. Opening on Wednesday, the festival will run until April 18 and will include performances from Adam Hills, Aaron Chen, Gen Fricker and Anne Edmonds.

Shafar’s career in comedy began with performing at open mics in Washington, when he realised pursuing a career in law was never going to be for him.

“I just decided I didn’t want to be a lawyer, because I kind of knew it wasn’t for me. I had always loved comedy and I never thought it would be a real career, but I just kept doing it. And if you don’t stop at something you eventually just become that thing,” he says.

Now in remission, Shafar, who has appeared on Channel 10’s The Project and triple j’s Good Az Friday, wants people to know that laughing at difficult situations makes them “seem more manageable and less scary”.

“If you can laugh at it you can be ready to tackle it. Any topic can be really funny, especially when it’s something you are living through.”

Shafar says being on stage sends the message to other cancer survivors that “even if you have cancer it doesn’t define you or hold you back from doing what you love”.

“I hope I can help create a different depiction of the typical cancer survivor,” he says.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival opens March 24.