No-one is more shocked by Dilruk Jayasinha’s Logie nomination for the Graham Kennedy Award For Most Popular New Talent than the funnyman himself.
“To be honest, it still hasn’t sunk in,” the 33-year-old tells TV WEEK. “Is this really happening?”
Dilruk is nominated for his work on Network Ten’s CRAM! and ABC’s Utopia. He admits while he knows it’s an honour to be nominated, trying to explain the Logies to his parents, who live in Sri Lanka, is worth an award in itself.
“They don’t really know what the Logies are,” Dilruk laughs. “They know what I do and they’re very supportive, but I had to explain to them how much of a big deal this is.”
From left to right, CRAM!’s Rove McManus, Celeste Barber and Dilruk.
Dilruk, who moved to Australia when he was 19 to study, has certainly come a long way since he was fired from his accounting job back in 2011.
“I never really enjoyed it anyway,” he says. “By that point, I’d realised I wanted to do something that wasn’t just about the money. So I decided to do stand-up comedy for free.”
Surprisingly, Dilruk admits he wasn’t good at it to start with.
“I was actually really bad, but I knew it,” he says.
But proving perseverance pays off, Dilruk received his lucky break when an audience member recommended him to Working Dog Productions co-founders Rob Sitch and Tom Gleisner.
“Rob and Tom are absolute legends and have been really supportive,” he enthuses.
Comedian Dilruk is a man of many talents.
And while he may be up against former The Bachelor/The Bachelorette Australia stars Matty Johnson and Sam Frost, Dilruk is hoping Australian viewers will send their love his way this time around.
“I already feel like I’ve won anyway,” Dilruk smiles.
Rob Sitch agrees.
“A Sri Lankan accountant gives up everything for a career in Australian comedy. He should get a Logie on degree of difficulty alone!” Rob jokes.
The 2018 TV WEEK Logie Awards are set to take place at The Star Gold Coast in Queensland on July 1. Find out more about the nominees here.
