IF Australian comedian Damian Callinan was mayor of Allansford he'd increase the size of the hairdressers and promote it as a tourist attraction, heritage-list the pub or put "actual" cars outside Warrnambool and District Historical Vehicle Club.
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He is slipping on the mayoral robes for his Mayor For a Day one-man shows in Allansford, Mortlake and Portland this week.
Earlier this month he visited the south-west researching the towns for his shows.
"In each town that I'm doing we organise a local guide, someone that I can ask questions of," Callinan told The Standard.
In Allansford it was Eddie White, Heather Rowe in Mortlake and Cheryl Ford in Portland.
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To put the show together, Callinan combines online survey results and his own research and photographs. Using photographs, slideshows and more, Callinan will have the town thinking he's resided there for a year.
"There's a bit in the show where I get old historic photos and I get someone up on stage to recreate the photo," he said. "It's been really cool because there's been places where I got a couple up and the woman said 'that's my grandparents', so we were recreating her grandparents' photo."
Callinan also posts content from the town visits on social media.
"I posted something online recently after I did the launch at Portland Arts Centre - it was trampolines on the beach and a woman came up to me and said I was the girl," he said. Her dad was a photographer and had taken the photo. It's those little things that you don't expect and the break out conversations."
For the past couple of years Callinan has juggled a range of comedy shows, in between five shows a week through the Australian Government's National Recovery and Resilience Agency.
He has previously performed in all three towns, including an interactive swing dancing show in Mortlake about five years ago. "My shows very much have that sense of inclusiveness and little bit about the town as much as possible, even in the more scripted shows, sometimes incorporating tiffs between local towns," he said.
Callinan performs at the Mortlake Soldiers Memorial Hall tomorrow, Portland Arts Centre on Thursday and the Allansford Mechanics Hall on Saturday. Partnering clubs - Allansford Country Women's Association and Mortlake Lions Club - receive $5 from each ticket sold. A complimentary supper and meet and greet with Callinan will be held after each show.
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