14 January, 2015 11:42AM AEDT
Comedian is training to be a ninja
By Simon Leo Brown He's done radio, television and stand-up. Now Dave Callan is becoming a ninja.
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Dave Callan's current live show features pop songs and back-up dancers. (Publicity still - Supplied)
It may seem an unlikely fit, but comedian Dave Callan is training to be a ninja.
"I want to do this show, which is going to be called 'A Little More Action' which is going to be all fight choreography," he told 774 ABC Melbourne's George McEncroe.
The show will follow on from his dance-filled 'A Little Less Conversation', which he is performing at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
The Melbourne-based comedian, known to ABC audiences from Triple J and ABC2's Good Game, said the training is letting him indulge in a long-held fantasy.
"I've always loved pirates and wizards and Vikings, and you can't actually be any of them anymore, but you can become a ninja," he said.
"If you seek them out, there are ninjas who will teach you to also be a ninja."
The 40-year-old comedian said it was a 'joy to discover a new passion' and he hoped to continue training beyond the show.
He said training with a short staff, called a hanbo, could come in particularly handy when he's older.
"When you're an elderly person... you can use those techniques with your walking stick if any young whippersnapper comes to attack you," he said.
Along with the hanbo, Mr Callan has been learning to use swords and shuriken, or ninja throwing stars.
"We just have rubber ones, because the spiky ones can be a bit dangerous," said Mr Callan.
He said he respects all martial arts, however ninjitsu has a cool-factor that other disciplines don't.
"With karate, at the end when you get a black belt, you're like 'I've got a black belt in karate', or if you're a kung fu person you go 'I've got a golden sash in kung fu'.
"When you get to the top of ninjitsu you can just go 'I'm a ninja'."
Ninja mind techniques
Dave Callan is interested in learning 'ninja mind techniques', where one learns to be aware of one's surroundings through 'a sensitivity to motion, sound, vibrations through the floor'.
"There's a black belt test later on where you sit down on your knees, and you close your eyes and you just sit there for ages, and then a senior-belt comes up behind you with a wooden sword and hits you on the head."
Being hit on the head, of course, means the candidate has failed the test, with the aim being to sense the attacker and roll out of the way before being struck.
It's an attractive skill for Mr Callan, who practises meditation.
"The more meditation I do, the more momentum I build up with it, the better I feel," he said.
"It opens up the flow of your conscious mind and you can think of things a lot easier, you feel more creative and vibrant."
He said it can be hard to be creative if your mind is filled with everyday worries.
"If you meditate and clear all that out you can focus on the creation of stuff," he said.
Ninjas are cats
With a history dating back to feudal Japan, Dave Callan describes ninjas as "a cross between amazing Bruce Lee style martial arts, and the mafia".
Also known as shinobi, ninjas were covert agents who carried out operations that samurai, with their strict rules, were forbidden to take part in.
"Samurais had this code of conduct, and ninjas had this code of sneakiness," said Mr Callan.
"Samurai are dogs, and ninjas are cats."
The large-statured comedian admits that ninjitsu is a hard martial art for 'a big lumbering man like myself' to learn.
"Ninjas are tiny and generally quite stealthy, I don't think I'd be able to run up walls very easily."