Becoming bulletproof at Private Bin: taking stories to the world after Eck of a life shaped by Canberra

Detailed summary

Canberra's Ecks keen to bring new project to their old schools.

Gary Eck started his comedy career at the old Private Bin nightclub in Canberra, delivering his jokes to a tough crowd, usually of drunk ADFA cadets.

"As a comedian, it was like going to war," he said. "When it went off, it went off. It was electric. Other times, I'd die on my arse and they were not kind.

"But it taught me a lot. It taught me to be really resilient and bullet-proof."

That baptism of fire also introduced him to visiting comedians and convinced him to give comedy a go in Sydney. The gamble paid off.

Gary, now 56, has gone on to have a long career in comedy, performing around the world. He also won Tropfest with the viral short film The Money and co-wrote and co-directed Happy Feet Two. He also created the hit animation kids' series Vegesaurs.

Gary's latest project is pretty personal, and, in a way, grounded in Canberra.

Gary and his sister Karen Eck, now a star publicist, grew up in Canberra.

"My dad [John] was in the diplomatic service and we travelled around. I was born in Japan. We lived in Singapore as well and then he decided to come back and join the public service and move to Canberra," Gary said.

Gary did year 6 at Latham Primary and then went on to Belconnen High and Hawker College and also studied at the University of Canberra.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Canberra Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.