‘An earnest attempt at communal healing’

“What does it mean to be a survivor?”

I’m interviewing 29-year-old comedian Jacob Sacher, and it’s not going well.

To the above, he offers a simple – unsatisfactory – response: “That’s the fundamental question of the show”.

I try a different angle.

“To what extent is the show based on your lived experience of abuse?”

Sacher does not budge. “That’s the big question. That’s what the show is about,” he answered.

No doubt sensing the distress in my voice, Sacher offers slightly more context: “A lot of shows about trauma really discuss trauma. It’s like the ticket to entry is telling the audience exactly what happened. I’m questioning to what extent the artist needs to share with the audience their trauma in order to be able to talk about these topics.”

We’re discussing Promising Young Mensch, Sacher’s latest comedy show set to premiere at the Sydney Fringe Festival next week – coincidentally on his 30^th birthday – before moving onto his Melbourne hometown in October.

Told from the perspective of his 13-year-old alter ego, the 50-minute show reflects on Sacher’s ultra-Orthodox upbringing at a time when the Jewish community was reckoning with painful revelations surrounding the trial and conviction of principal Malka Leifer and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.