If you’ve been keeping a low profile, like me, trying to avoid Covid you’ll be pleased to hear that the Perth Comedy Festival starts just as the numbers are going down. I couldn’t think of a better way to reward myself than to step into a theatre and have a good old belly laugh. With 50 comedy shows on between April 29 and May 15, I’d better start my stomach work out now. Here’s just some of what you can expect.
The Festival will see over 50 shows taking place upon the stages of the Regal Theatre (Subiaco), Astor Theatre (Mt Lawley), the Rechabite (Northbridge) and Freo Social (Fremantle) from 29 April – 15 May.
The Gala
The first thing I always put in my diary is a Gala night which acts as a tasting plate of what’s on. This year there are two Gala’s at The Regal Theatre on the 4th and 11th of May, as well as showcases on at Freo Social on the 5th and 12th of May.
The Biggest Comedy Show on Earth
This popular late-night comedy show is on at The Rechabite this year; it’s like speed dating with comedians and features a huge line-up of comics performing short sets back-to-back. Clear one of these dates to check it out – Thursday 5, Friday 6, Saturday 7, Thursday 12 and Friday 13 May.
Tried and Tested
There’s a group of comedians who I just can’t go past. I can attest to these guys always giving me a great night out: Floyd Alexander-Hunt, Aaron Chen, Luke Heggie, Jeff Green, Dilruk Jayasinha, Nazeem Hussain, Becky Lucas, Rhys Nicholson and Marty Sheargold.
Add in someone you haven’t seen
Each year I like to add someone new to my list. This year it’s New Zealand comedian, actress and scriptwriter Melanie Bracewell. Melanie has been popping up on quite a few Aussie shows lately. You may have seen her do an impression of the NZ PM. I’ve not seen her live before so I’m keen to check out her show Ooh La La on Saturday 7 May at the Regal Theatre.
Someone else I haven’t seen yet but want to is Australia’s favourite metal loving iso cook and mental health advocate Nat’s What I Reckon.
Other key shows
A couple of key shows to watch out for are:
- David O’Doherty (IRE). Two performances at the Regal Theatre on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 April. Fans can expect lots of talking, some apologising and some songs on a glued together plastic keyboard from 1986 as part of his show whoa is me.
- Alfred Adriaan (RSA) presents Another South African on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 May at the Astor Theatre – a highly relatable, slightly nostalgic show which chronicles his time spent during lockdown.
- Alfie Brown (UK) presents Sensitive Man on the same nights at Alfred around the corner at The Rechabite – a brand new show in which the thoughtful social satirist asks, ‘does emotion help us make moral judgements?’
- American history podcast The Dollop, presented by comedians Dave Anthony (USA) and Gareth Reynolds (USA), makes a highly anticipated return to Australia for Down Under 6 – which follows multiple sell-out tours in the US, Canada and Europe; Tuesday 3 May at the Astor Theatre.
- Frocking Hilarious performs for the first time in Perth on Friday 15 May at the Rechabite. The dazzling, fierce and fabulous all-women line-up has been a huge success at recent comedy festivals on the east coast. All proceeds from ticket sales will support Action Aid’s work to empower women on the frontlines of injustice to work together to transform their communities.
- Beloved Australian drag queen Karen From Finance
- Medical doctor now turned self-described “Malaysia’s funniest comedian” Dr Jason Leong.
Other home grown talents include; Michelle Brasier, Harley Breen, Sam Campbell, Nick Cody, Alice Fraser, Andrew Hansen, Ivan Aristigueta, Emma Holland, Christian Hull, Cameron James; Anthony Locasio, Daniel Muggleton, My Cousin Vlad, Mystery Flight featuring Elouise Eftos and Ruby Teys, Chris Ryan, Sami Shah, Brodi Snook, Oliver Twist, Danielle Walker, Kirsty Webeck.
Perth locals Daniel Delby, Colin Ebsworth, Grant Mushet, Simone Springer, Matt Storer, Fabian Woods and Jez Watts are also bringing the goods in what promises to be a great fortnight of comedy.
For more information go to Perth Comedy Festival
