For Stage and Screen, planning for Bill Bailey's 'Larks in Transit' tour started back in May in collaboration with Adrian Bohm Presents who is managing the tour.
A Recipe for Comedy Success
You may never look at Tupperware the same way after the 2017 Mardi Gras Comedy Festival. The ubiquitous plastic containers found in almost every Aussie home are coming out of the closet and on to centre stage thanks to the boldest – and newest - comedy festival in the country.
Just as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is a celebration of love, diversity and pride, the Mardi Gras Comedy Festival is set to celebrate tolerance, acceptance and irreverent humour. Challenging the status quo through humour, the first Mardi Gras Comedy Festival in over 25 years is set to be a highlight of the Sydney-wide celebrations.
For Frontier Comedy duo - Andrew Taylor and Jeff Green - the concept for a Mardi Gras Comedy Festival has been brewing since 2014, but they wanted to get the formula right. Their perseverance has paid off with 2017 set to feature the hottest young comedians from Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The festival promises a dazzling program of comedy designed to attract both LGBTQI+ and mainstream audiences. With a host of celebrities and gay icons taking to the stage, the comedy is guaranteed to be original, controversial, naughty, bold and outrageously funny.
However finding a hotel room in Sydney during Mardi Gras is outrageously difficult, with thousands of domestic and international visitors in town for the event. So the Stage and Screen team pulled out all stops to secure suitable 5-star accommodation for the VIP stars of the Comedy Festival. International and domestic flights were locked in and VIP transfers sorted to get the performers to their hotels in true diva style.
The Comedy Gala event on 28 February will set the tone, with the irrepressible Em Rusciano and Bob Downe hosting the show. The line-up includes Dixie Longate, Panti Bliss, Bridget Everett, Hannah Gadsby, Tom Ballard, Axis of Awesome, Stephen K Amos, Shiralee Hood, Alice Fraser, Neel Kolhatkar, Joel Kim Booster and Emma Willmann just for starters.
A week of sequins, stories and laughs follows with three not-to-be-missed solo shows, a podcast hosted by Em Rusciano and a gaymes night, hosted by razor sharp Rhys Nicholson and acid tongue prince Joel Creasey. Highlights include shows from the (drag) Queen of Ireland Panti Bliss, outrageous cabaret icon Bridget Everett, America’s most famous Tupperware lady Dixie Longate and author/singer/comedian extraordinaire Em Rusciano.
Frontier Comedy look forward to the Comedy Festival becoming an annual event as synonymous with the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras as the street parade itself.
