Newcomers and rising stars to watch at the 2019 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
These fresh-faced talents are poised to take the comedy world by storm — and you can catch them at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
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A cornerstone of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s prime directive has always been to give up-and-coming comedians the chance to take their budding careers to the next level by pleasing eager audiences with new, audacious, exciting material.
Among those acts to look out for - and, rest assured, this list was hacked down from a much longer one - are these fresh-faced talents whose impressive track records thus far bode well for big laughs in the coming years.
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STEPH TISDELL
Often taking to the stage without shoes - it’s a comfort issue, not a cultural one - Steph Tisdell has rapidly matured into a warm, confident stand-up; as a proud indigenous woman with a mixed-race background she inevitably delves into political comedy, but her biggest laughs come from her insecurities and observations about everyday life.
Steph Tisdell, The Pyramid, March 28-April 21, The Victoria Hotel, Tickets $20-$25.
STEPH GETS COMFY AS RISING COMEDY STAR
JACK GRAMENZ
Fresh from Brisbane comes Jack Gramenz, a self-effacing, straightforward stand-up who openly admits he’s a generic comedian with dumb ideas whose routines are essentially narrative rambles peppered with punchlines.
He loves comedy, hates handing out flyers.
Jack Gramenz, Is Trying to Win Best Newcomer, March 28-April 21, Greek Centre. Tickets $15-$20.
OUR JACK GRAMENZ Q&A AND REVIEW ★★★½
ED NIGHT
With his sharp tongue and sharp eye, Britain’s Ed Night will indulge us with his deep love of life’s little ironies.
He’s one of a flurry of hot new UK acts heading our way including Sarah Keyworth, Rob Broderick (aka Abandonman), Jordan Brookes and Eleanor Tiernan.
Ed Night, An Aesthetic, March 28-April 21, ACMI. Tickets $26-$33.
OUR ED NIGHT Q&A AND REVIEW ★★★★
LAWRENCE MONEY
Slightly older than most of the acts at the festival is the esteemed journo Lawrence Money. He wrote popular newspaper columns for decades and will now try his hand at stand up.
Just goes to show it’s never too late to start a second career.
Lawrence Money, Loose Change, March 28-April 20, The Vault Theatre. Tickets $20-$25.
OUR REVIEW OF LAWRENCE MONEY ★★★
VETERAN COLUMNIST MAKES STAND-UP DEBUT
DANIELLE WALKER
Townsville-born Ian Thorpe fan Danielle Walker is set to seduce with her sweet-voiced, edgy, somewhat sick sense of humour and her maniacal, slightly disturbing giggle.
She also won Best Newcomer at last year’s Melbourne comedy festival, so intrigued to see what she comes up with this year.
Danielle Walker, Myths and Legends, March 28-April 21, The Victoria Hotel. Tickets: $24-$29.
ANGE LAVOIPIERRE
We all want to be liked - but why?
ABC reporter Ange Lavoipierre debuts at the festival with a sociological show themed around the basic human instinct Woody Allen so brilliantly explored in Zelig, that dire need to fit in. Sounds almost too intriguing.
Ange Lavoipierre, Final Form, March 26-April 21, Crowded in the Vaults: Pilgrim Bar. Tickets $20-$25.
AARON CHEN
Meanwhile, on a more philosophical bent, the very funny Aaron Chen will articulate the yin and the yang of life in his new show.
Epiphanies are possible but not guaranteed.
Aaron Chen, P--- Off (Just Kidding), March 28-April 21, Melbourne Town Hall. Tickets $22-$28.
OUR AARON CHEN Q&A AND REVIEW ★★★½
LAUREN BOK
If there’s one Melbourne-based festival act who’s overdue for a wider reach it’s got to be Lauren Bok, who’s been marinating on the comedy fringes for long enough.
Her innate nuttiness and gift for physical comedy need to be seen live and up close.
Lauren Bok, Rock Out with your Bok Out, April 8-21, Crowded in the Vaults. Tickets $20-$25.
TOM WALKER
How can you not admire a comic who can get a big room laughing and even applauding just by standing there?
As if channelling the spirit of a young Jim Carrey, Tom Walker offers impressions of things both animate and inanimate.
He proves that sometimes the surest way to get a laugh is to just be silly - for minutes on end.
Tom Walker, Very Very, March 28-April 21, ACMI. Tickets $24-$29.
DEMI LARDNER
Since winning RAW Comedy in 2013, off-the-wall firecracker Demi Lardner has been incorporating more physical comedy into her act.
And it’s something she has an uproarious gift for.
Here’s to seeing this outlandish, award-spangled act get even more outlandish.
Demi Lardner, Ditch Witch 800, March 28-April 21, Greek Centre. Tickets $23-$30.
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