Comedian Davey Turnhout (38) thought to perform for the public on Saturday at the garden of Brielle festival, but came home from a cold fair. The meadow at the mainstage was almost empty. Apart from one person: the famous comedian Jörgen Raymann, who was laughing in a beanbag watching the performance of Davey, who lives in Schaijk.
“All quietly,” he jokes in a video that fellow comedian Raoel Fatehmahomed made him. “Not all at the same time, only one can play at the same time.” When an employee of the festival was busy with fences during the performance, Davey responded: “Is this to stop the fans?”
The festival programmed alternately comedians and bands. Raymann was like Special Guest announced, but he too could count on hardly any audience. Before noon there were simply fewer tickets sold than before the evening and not everyone was already present. “They should have mentioned his name, I think,” says Davey.
Sarcastic
There were an estimated fifty to one hundred visitors on the site, but they were hundreds of meters away in other activities.
When Davey had to perform, there was hardly anyone with him either. “The festival had underestimated what is needed at Comedy,” says the comedian. “I was just the comedy variant of the DJ who has to open with an empty dance floor at the start of the festival.” Yet he decided to just play his set. “I thought: I’m just going to do my performance and finish.”
Watch the video of the performance of Davey below:
“The first thing I could do was be sarcastic, as if it was great and I was living my dream,” he says. A few years ago he did not succeed. “Then I would have canceled the performance.” Now he noticed that he has grown. “Last year I shared so many personal things about sexual abuse by my babysitter, so that the tension of my shoulders has fallen and I am now comfortably on stage.”
‘Nice compliment’
The fact that Jörgen Raymann stayed and visibly enjoyed meant a lot for Turnhout. “He was very enthusiastic, thought I did well. It’s a very nice compliment.”
He looks up to his famous comedy colleague. “I was well aware that he was laughing and that certainly gave me pleasure and motivation to continue with what I was doing.” Although he normally gets confirmation from the audience, his was enough.
It is not the first time that Turnhout has been in front of a small audience at a festival. “But I can laugh a lot about it now.”
