Austen Tayshus

Alexander Jacob "Sandy" Gutman (born 17 March 1954), better known as Austen Tayshus, is an American-born Jewish Australian comedian. He is best known for the 1983 comedy single "Australiana", a spoken word piece which is filled with Australian puns.

His humor often draws on his Jewish background. A tall man, standing at , he appears on stage wearing a black suit and dark sunglasses. He is characterised by a deep, resonant voice. He is often moody, and he is renowned for taunting his audience and venue staff. He is the son of a Hasidic Holocaust survivor. He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home. At 15, he participated in the International Bible Contest for Jewish Youth in Australia and won, and he then took part in the finals in Israel, where 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 attended Vaucluse Boys' High School from 1966 to 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, Television and Radio School, graduating as a film director in 1978. He wrote and directed three 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. From 1979 to 1980 he freelanced as a camera assistant and cinematographer on film clips for Australian bands including Cold Chisel, the Angels, and Mental as Anything.

Gutman lives in Sydney, New South Wales, and has two adult daughters.

1981–1984: "Australiana", "Phantom Shuffle" and When the Ticklers Stopped Quivering His stand-up comedy career began at the Sydney Comedy Store at the beginning of 1981. The stage name "Austen Tayshus" is an aptronym based on the word "ostentatious".

He first gained public recognition in 1983 when he signed to Regular Records who released his comedy single, "Australiana". It is a spoken word piece that contains many puns using Australian terms, especially the names of places and animals. For example: "...my mate Boomer rang" (boomerang) "...do you wanna game of Euchre, Lyptus?" (eucalyptus) "...how much can a koala bear?" (koala) 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.

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

In 2025, Tayshus faced criticism over a 2024 incident involving ABC regional radio. Tayshus alleged that his interview requests were denied due to antisemitism. In response, ABC Chair Kim Williams intervened multiple times, contacting editorial staff to question their decisions. This raised concerns about editorial independence within the ABC. It was later revealed that Tayshus had received significant airtime on the ABC, with over 90minutes of free publicity across 11 segments since mid-2023.

Discography Studio albums + List of studio albums, with selected details and chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions AUS When the Ticklers Stopped Quivering Released: December 1984 Label: Regular (RRLP 1214) 76 Whispering Joke Released: February 1988 Label: MAX (MAX LP188) —

Live albums + List of live albums Title Album details Lounge Lizard Live Released: 1985 Label: Regular Records (L38473) Alive and Shticking Released: 1994 Label: Laughing Stock

Singles

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

"Australiana" Best Debut Single himself Special Achievement 1984 "Phantom Shuffle" Best Male Performance in a Video

ARIA Music Awards 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. Tayshus has been nominated for four awards. 1987 Do the Pope

1989 "Highway Corroboree" 1995 Alive and Schticking 1996 "I'm Jacques Chirac"

Literature