Austen Tayshus

Alexander (Sandy) Jacob Gutman was born in New York to Polish Jewish parents and moved to Sydney at the age of one.[3] He is the son of an Hasidic Holocaust survivor. He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home. At 15, he participated in the International Bible Contest for Jewish Youth and took part in the finals in Israel; he finished in the top 10. Later, he spent several months at a yeshiva in Jerusalem. He returned to Israel as a volunteer during the Yom Kippur War. Gutman went to Vaucluse Boys High School from 1966–1971. He received a Commonwealth Scholarship to Sydney University in 1972 where he began a dentistry degree. After two years he lost interest in dentistry and changed to an arts degree, and subsequently to a film directing course at The Australian Film and Television School, graduating as a film director in 1978. He wrote and directed 3 short comedies while at film school, ’Eric and Alice’ in 1975, ’Waves’ in 1976 and ‘The End’ in 1977. After graduation from the AFTRS, he worked at ABC Television as an assistant cameraman in their Cinecamera department and then from 1979-1980 he freelanced as a camera assistant and cinematographer on film clips for Aussie bands including COLD CHISEL, THE ANGELS, and MENTAL AS ANYTHING. Gutman lives in Sydney, New South Wales and has two grown up daughters.[2]

His stand-up comedy career began at Sydney's Comedy Store at the beginning of 1981. The stage name "Austen Tayshus" is an aptronym based on the word "ostentatious" Austen Tayshus first gained public recognition in 1983 with his comedy single, "Australiana". It is a spoken word piece that contains many puns using Australian terms, especially with the names of places and animals.[4] For example:

• "...my mate Boomer rang" (boomerang)
• "...do you wanna game of Euchre, Lyptus?" (eucalyptus)
• "...how much can a koala bear?" (koala)[4]

Australiana is the biggest selling Australian Single ever and resonates from generation to generation. It was number one on the charts in 1983 for 13 weeks

In 1984, Austen Tayshus released the single "Phantom Shuffle", which rose to Number 16 nationally on the Aria Chart, followed by his debut album When the Ticklers Stopped Quivering also peaking within The Australian top 100.

In 1984, Austen Tayshus sold out the Sydney Entertainment Centre, supported by local comedians.[5]

In February 1988, Austen Tayshus released the single "Highway Corroboree", which peaked at number 46 on The Australian charts. It was lifted from the album Whispering Joke. He performed the single live on the Sunday Program in 1988, on Channel Nine, especially for the Australian Bicentennial Anniversary. A controversial monologue which sided with The Aboriginal People, and was highly critical of the First White Settlers.

In the late 1980s Austen Tayshus toured Australia with other well-known comedians and he always introduced young and gifted new comics to his audiences.[5]

In 1990 Austen Tayshus had relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a movie career. He had a small cameo in the Sharon Stone movie Sliver, directed by mate and fellow film school alumnus Phillip Noyce. At night, Austen Tayshus worked in all the comedy clubs in LA and in New York. He was represented for stand-up by Irvin Arthur and Associates in LA in 1993 and for film work by Metropolitain. He auditioned for many movies like Ace Ventura Pet Detective and Clear and Present Danger.

His stay in Los Angeles culminated in a collaboration on a low-budget feature film titled Dream Factory, which he co-wrote with the Director Paschal Franchot, and was lead actor. The film was a tragi-comedy about Austen's last days in LA trying to become a big shot. Also included cameos from Naomi Watts, Billy Zane, and Nehemiah Persoff[5]

Returning to Australia in 1997, Tayshus wrote and starred in a short film titled Intolerance. At Tropfest in 1998, the film won the award for Best Film and Tayshus won Best Actor. INTOLERANCE had been entered in competition under the name of a fictitious feminist filmmaker, Laura Feinstein. When the film won, the boss of Tropfest, John Polson, announced that the Top prize had finally been won by a woman. When the director, Paul Fenech jumped up to claim the award, to everyone's surprise, saying there was no Laura Feinstein, it created great controversy.

The Tropfest win led directly to work on the Jane Campion film Holy Smoke!, Emma-Kate Croghan's Strange Planet and Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!.[5] Austen Tayshus/Sandy Gutman has appeared in almost 30 Movies and Documentaries A full list is available at Imdb.com/Sandy Gutman.

In 1999, he participated in a television series, Aussie Jokers, produced and directed by Paul Fenech for SBS tv. His segment was an historical journey about his fathers’ Holocaust experiences in Poland from his hometown of Łódź to the death camp Treblinka to his rescue from Bergen Belsen. An emotional and deeply moving double header tracing Isaac Gutmans’ life from 1939-1945, when most of his family was murdered by the Germans just for being Jewish. The documentary has been shown several times on SBS and is available on YouTube.

A documentary about Austen Tayshus, produced by Angry Messiah Pictures and titled Austen Tayshus SKIN IN THE GAME, was completed in 2020 and scheduled for release in 2021.

In July 2000, he released "Footyana", a comedy piece in the style of "Australiana", referring to Australian rules football and the National Rugby League. It includes such lines as:

• "Is Stephen Tingay or something?" (gay)
• "We passed Liam the Burger Rings. Come on Liam, pick a ring." (Liam Pickering)

He performed it live on the television show Live and Kicking to great acclaim.He continues to tour Australia, performing one hundred shows a year, and attracts younger and hipper audiences.

In August 2010, he ran for the Australian House of Representatives in the Division of Warringah in the August federal election, representing the Australian Sex Party. He stood against Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott.[6] He subsequently ran in the 2011 New South Wales state election as a member of the Outdoor Recreation Party, contesting Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell's seat of Ku-ring-gai.[7]

In 2012, he appeared as a panelist on the ABC's political panel show Q&A to promote the release of the acclaimed biography, 'AUSTEN TAYSHUS Merchant of Menace', written by Richard Murphy and Ross Fitzgerald.

The Countdown Australia Music Awards were an awards ceremony produced by Countdown in collaboration with the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), from 1981–1986.

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that commenced in 1987 and recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Austen Tayshus has been nominated for four awards.[9]