AUSTRALIAN comedy rock superstar Tim Minchin’s first gig in York has sold out, so the powers that crank up his publicity machine agreed to his being interviewed on the condition that The Press would discuss only his DVD.

You may have that DVD already: it is the one with an effervescent expletive in the middle of the title, the one that came out last year, but now it is being re-launched with the DVD equivalent of go-faster stripes.

“We released it a year ago, maybe last November. Back then it was called So ******* Rock; now it’s called So ******* Rock, The Special Edition, now that I’m slightly less underground,” says Tim.

“Because I tour three continents each year, I don’t do a new show each year, so they’ve decided to re-release the DVD with a booklet with lyrics and photos and an extra disc with footage from various TV shows and a couple of tracks from the audio tape of the new show.

“That’s called Ready For This? Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall, which we recorded just before Christmas and is available on iTunes – and there’s a semi-singalong version of Canvas Bags with bouncing balls. “Look, it’s pretty fun. I don’t expect people who bought ‘the fun’ the first time to buy the DVD again, but they will… because they’re fans.”

Ironically, a DVD of Tim’s new show is available, but are you ready for this…? Only in Australia. “Strangely enough, there’s a new Ready For This? DVD out in Australia that I guess you can import or order online, and it is compatible with British DVD players,” he reveals. “We’ve also been trying for a year to get a DVD deal in America but that’s been very complicated.”

Should you be attending Minchin’s show on Monday, you can expect to see him confront the issues of the day from the grand piano – sex, death, dancing bears and ginger body hair – in a series of songs and “psychotic monologues”.

If you cannot be there, why not head to the United States next year for his Los Angeles debut.

“I’ve told them, I have to have a grand piano. That’s why it’s funny, because it’s audacious having a piano that size in a small club. Otherwise it’s just an atheist with a few prejudices,” says Tim.