He chose this year's Panč for his first performance as a stand-up comedian, which started last night, and will continue until Sunday with the Black Comedy Night. "I will chose the topics dealt with in my show In my opinion Slovenians, with which I have been touring through Slovenia," Kobal told us during telephone conversation.

The inhabitant of the Primorje region intends to touch upon his relationship with Ljubljana – such as he had in 1976, when he, a Slovenian from Trieste, arrived to the capital to study. "At that time I was not yet aware on which planet I had landed," he added. He will also toy with the concepts of fear, success...

Boris, at Panč for the first time. What else can you remember that was the first for you?
That's a tough question for such an early hour (laughter) (it was noon, auth. note). In the theatre the last thing is always the first, and the first can always become the last. It is very difficult to divine the boundary line between the first in the last when performing. It is a very relative concept, and in life it is just as difficult to define »the last«.

TV Poper used to be a good platform for humour, while today it somehow transferred to the stand-up stages.
Or into Parliament.

Or into Parlaiment ...
But the humour there is bad.

If you had to describe it with a colour – which would you chose?
Rotten.

How much attention did you pay to stand-up comedy previously?

Quite casually, I did watch what was available. I often went to the Slovenian performances, as I was interested in the phenomena, but if I was not attracted by the performance, I simply stopped watching. Comedians differ, some are better than average, and some worse, and they can be categorized by different criteria: text, performance, sense of comical, sense of rhythm. They also differ by their stance on the stage, and by their sovereignty on stage.

And by their self-censorship?

I don't have a feeling they use it often. Perhaps at TV shows, where much more depends on agreements. I am convinced in such cases it can’t be done without censorship. While we performed for TV Poper we never allowed ourselves too much censorship. But that does not mean there are no limits – you know for yourself how far you intend to go. But it is very difficult to generalize that.

George Michael was in his recent interview for Guardian asked to tell a joke; he said: "Tony Blair". How come politics is such a grateful subject?
Politics allows you to make a political satire. And the subject is the politics, in which you try to find something stupid, be it Tony Blair or Karl Erjavec. He is an extraordinary stand-up comedian, but he doesn't know that. Yet. Once he discovers his potential, he will most certainly make a good career out of it. Politics is altogether very attractive. Yet it is a very delicate matter, especially in Slovenia, as all the Slovenian politicians have a very poor sense of humour, and can't stand any criticism on their behalf. The tolerance is very low. Perhaps that makes it even more delightful.

Do you have to take a stand?
Yes, definitely. You need not speak about politics, but you need to take a stand regarding the topic you are talking about. The audience has to understand whether you are for, or against life. It makes no sense without you having a firm stand, it turns into plain opportunism.

What are your experiences with Slovenian politicians? Have any of them ever called you?
No, nobody called me. But years ago they wanted to fire me. It was Milan Zver, one of Janša's men in the city council, who had been given the assignment to kick me from the public institute. I was charged for verbal offense. And at the same time they consider themselves outstanding anti-communists. It is common knowledge that verbal offenses thrived in communist times. And it is also common knowledge that Janša used to be a strong communist.

Why hadn’t you just waved goodbye at that moment, and said you could live without such hassle?
What else do I have but the fact that I can say to a person to his face what I think of him? And I often believe it is a good protection against cancer – thus you prevent things from accumulating in one of your organs.

Klavdija Kopina
Translated by G. K.