Goo goo, ga gag

After ten years, Greek standup sheds its diapers and enters childhood,creating its own character - free from political correctness

"With the Olympics, Greece has inherited a huge dowry?"

"With a dowry like that, who'll take her?"

Evgenia Sassallou - bank lawyer by day, rising standup comedian by night

JOKES may not translate very well, but this is the sort of humour found in Greek standup comedy as it moves out of its infancy into a promising childhood. For a decade, the cradle of Greek standup was Comedy Nights (most recently based in Exarhia). Now Comedy Nights has a new Monastiraki home and some of its 50 'graduates' are entertaining crowds on standup nights at places like House of Art and Club 22.

Honesty advocate

"Last year for the first time, 'standup' was a separate entertainment listing in newspapers," explains Evgenia Sassallou. A bank lawyer by day, she has witnessed the rise of Greek standup comedy first hand. For the last three years, Sassallou's taken to the Comedy Nights stage; this season she offers her shtick three nights a week. Her speciality? Relationships. "My ideas come from my friends," confesses Sassallou with her 100-volt, toothy smile. This season, when it's her turn at the mic, the thirty-year-old with the gift of gab fills the Comedy Nights glass gallery with jokes about friends, boyfriends. She pokes fun at others and herself, bubbly yet sarcastic. In one joke she says: "Relationships demand lots of sacrifices. (Pause) Let the other person do it." The punch line always comes to her first when writing a joke.

Sassallou jests about whatever annoys her. One fountain of inspiration is "the lack of honesty among women when it comes to talking about what bothers them" about men. In Greek women's quest for marriage, Sassallou has observed a "fear of loneliness" and "lots of compromises". The comedienne airs the rapidly-accumulating dirty laundry between the sexes. She launches many-a-verbal attack on marital bliss. In one routine she likens a slumbering Hubby, baby and dog to monsters snoring in their lair.

She often jokes about her looks and weight. "Why make yourself up to be so bad?" I asked her. Sassallou says she knows she's not fat or ugly, but says things to make those who are (or worry they are) feel better. "Last year I went on a diet," she says in a routine. "A beggar came up to me and said, 'I last ate three days ago.' I slapped him, saying, 'How could you?'"

Dressed up for a show in a soft white sweater, with a cappuccino and cigarette at hand, she explains the secret of preparing: "lots of rehearsal and no alcohol." Like many of those at Comedy Nights, she was introduced to the genre by founder Lucia Rikaki. As far as performances go, she says, "It's hard to have the perfect evening." On stage she's observed a weird phenomenon: "It's as if the audience becomes a single person." It feeds off of itself. If the energy is high, she stays on stage for 30 minutes. If not, she yields the microphone to the next comedian. "Pacing is everything," she explains.

Comedy student

The Comedy Nights group is going from strength to strength, creating a Greek genre all of its own

Most Comedy Nights, Lucia Rikaki's loud laughter can be heard from the back of the room. She was inspired to bring standup to Athens, after being exposed to it while studying in the UK. Rikaki, who's also a busy film director and festival organizer, explains that while Greece has a tradition of comedy reviews and one-man shows, standup was an entirely new form when she launched the group in 1994. "We were educated along with the public. At first the shows were quite awkward," she recalls.

Today, some 8,500 audience members have passed through Comedy Nights' doors (at its various previous locations). There's also a monthly TV show on Star, broadcasting show highlights.

When it comes to discovering comic talent, Rikaki says she's found the most important element is the ability to come up with funny lines. It's not always actors who have this skill, so her comedians range from doctors and ceramicists to theologians. A strong stage presence is as important as having "strong observational skills and caring about society." Snobs can't do standup. Nor can people unwilling "to make fun of themselves."

Rikaki's thrilled with Comedy Nights' new space, which consists of a long, second-floor space full of windows. On a good, mild night, she says, people passing on the street underneath will not just hear the comedians above, but shout out and interact with them. She believes standup has the power to shake up society. "It's important to offer the audience some proposals on how to accept life more openly, on how to fight the silly social taboos that are placed on us daily by our consumer/mass media culture."

* Comedy Club (48-50 Aiolou, 210-3311009, 6973-371601, http://www.standupcomedy.gr/, Wed-Sun, 10pm).

* House of Art (4 Santouri, 210-3217678, Fri, Sat 10.30pm and Sun 9.30pm), Club 22 (22 Vouliagmenis Ave, 210 92 49 814, Fri-Sat, 10pm)