Before making his debut at the Edinburgh Fringe with his show, Ukrainian Dream, Dima Watermelon describes his unique perspective of the world to Katerina Partolina Schwartz, on the Ukrainian Dream itself and his own foray into the German comedy scene.
Humour and jokes and laughter is the same everywhere
How would you describe your show?
It’s a personal show about my personal journey getting into comedy and doing jokes, but also about what’s happening in the world and the view on what’s happening from a Ukrainian perspective. Just trying to get across the point of Ukrainian opinion on what’s happening andthen also my personal story.
What would you say is the central tenet of absurdity that all other absurdities stem from?
The whole predicament of me doing comedy and getting out of my “main career”, quote unquote, and being from Ukraine living in Germany, that’s already absurd enough and then with my jokes I’m trying to show that yeah I can do it because everything else doesn’t make sense and living in a world where nothing makes sense anymore, and so I would say that’s the thread line - how they say in Germany- that goes through the whole show.
How did you start doing comedy, was it always something that you wanted to do?
Kind of by accident, so I always felt that I’m not in my place whether being in university, my day-job and everywhere, but then I was working here in Berlin for a company, and they sent us to the stand-up course, like a team-building exercise just for fun. So, we took a course with some coach let’s say, and you just do 5 minutes, you write it and perform in front of your colleagues. Then for the first time I tried, I understood, “Okay, I can actually do this,” and I enjoyed it from the first laugh. Then I just found out there are open mics that I can do. So, I didn’t know much about stand-up comedy before I tried.
What is your riskiest joke?
riskiest for whom? This depends. Cause I have jokes where Ukrainians will get a little bit upset and triggered like, “How dare he?!” and I have jokes which let’s say Europeans or Western people get a little bit triggered like, where it’s not like ‘politically correct’. The joke that I’m now working on - because the name of the show is Ukrainian Dream - took me a lot of times to get actually to this Ukrainian Dream and to say it, because I felt like it would be unfair if I just use Ukrainian Dream as a show name and then not address what’s actually the Ukrainian Dream. But because it’s so tragic, and because the war is still happening, and people are still dying it’s kind of a sensitive topic. And a lot of Ukrainians come to my shows so I’m always a bit nervous to do this joke, but I think now I’m almost there so I’m starting to get laughs and I’ve found a punchline. But it's the riskiest joke because I’m describing the memories of where I was when the war started, and for Ukrainians, it’s like how for Americans it’s like 9/11, we all remember where we were and we all remember very clearly the first day of the war. I use it in my set-up for the joke and I say where I was and it was pretty tragic, and the challenge is to get people back and to get a laugh. Now after doing the show many times, I am comfortable to do this.
What are you looking forward to the most in making your debut at the Edinburgh Fringe?
Just I hope to that people come and hope to see other acts, to do my show and get to know a lot of people from the industry and to get immersed in this artistic comedy world, to become part of it.
How would you describe your perspective of the world?
The Ukrainian perspective? We are frustrated and tired about what’s happening. Of course, we are all very upset because of the war and it’s going on for more than two years, and it seems like there’s no end to it. Like in Western world, everyone just watching like it’s a reality show. People are like cheering and everything like, “Yeah, yeah, you can do it!” But then no-one actually like provides us with any substantial tool to end it. No-one wants it to end, so then the frustration grows.
How has your experience of living outside of Ukraine in countries like Finland and Germany affected your world view?
Of course, my world view changed so I can now, I get both perspectives, I get this European, comfortable life living in a bubble not really caring what’s happening outside of Europe. Like I get it, but I also get the Ukrainian perspective because I still have relatives there, I have friends, my mum right now is here, and I would visit Ukraine a couple of times a year. So, I get both and that’s why I try to play it in my comedy show, this contrast. It puts me in this unique position whereas I said, I’m not Ukrainian Ukrainian anymore because of this experience, but I’m not European either; I’m stuck in this cultural limbo so I can empathise, I can understand both sides.
What is the most surprising thing you’ve experienced when touring in other countries?
I think the surprising part, maybe not surprising but what I actually now can I say from experience, after touring in more than 20 countries, is that humour and jokes and laughter is the same everywhere. Of course it lands differently and there are specifics in every country, but the same jokes get a laugh for you in Warsaw and in Oslo, Norway, so there are some differences, but in general if it’s funny, it’s funny. And universal humour is universal language where you can just make people laugh and people will understand what you mean.
