Austen Tayshus Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Austen Tayshus (born 17 March 1954) is the stage name of Jewish Australian comedian Alexander Jacob Gutman. He is best known for the comedy single "Australiana", a spoken word piece filled with Australian puns. Alexander (Sandy) Jacob Gutman was born in New York and moved to Sydney at the age of one. 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 and took part in the finals in Israel; he finished in the top five. Later, he spent several months at a yeshiva in Jerusalem. He... MORE

Austen Tayshus (born 17 March 1954) is the stage name of Jewish Australian comedian Alexander Jacob Gutman. He is best known for the comedy single "Australiana", a spoken word piece filled with Australian puns. Alexander (Sandy) Jacob Gutman was born in New York and moved to Sydney at the age of one. 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 and took part in the finals in Israel; he finished in the top five. Later, he spent several months at a yeshiva in Jerusalem. He returned to Israel as a volunteer during the Yom Kippur War. Gutman lives in New South Wales and has two daughters. The stage name "Austen Tayshus" is an aptronym based on the word "ostentatious". Austen Tayshus first gained public recognition in 1983 performing his comedy single, "Australiana", written by fellow comedian Billy Birmingham. It is a spoken word piece that contains many puns using Australian terms, especially with the names of places and animals. For example: He branched out into highly political, controversial humour, often drawing on his Jewish background. A tall man (6 feet 6 inches LESS