“…is a wonderful thing to see.” ~ Carl Reiner

There’s impro shows all over the calendar in Sydney at the moment (and in many other cities too), so if you enjoyed Comedy Slapdown this week on the Comedy Channel, why not come and see some live impro, and feel the fear right there in front of you?

For the next few Sundays at Belvoir Street Theatre until the Grand Final on December 6th at the Enmore Theatre, teams of improvisors try to knock each other out of the running for the Theatresports(R) Cranston Cup.

Witness the thrills and spills as teams of comic actors create instant scenes based on surprise offers and audience suggestions. Putting their wit and courage to the test, the country’s top improvisers battle it out to get their hands on the biggest, ugliest trophy in Australia.

The Grand Final at Enmore Theatre always sells out, so get booking now, and you could always avoid disappointment and catch one of the Belvoir semi-finals first! I went tonight and had a great time, as did the rest of the audience.

If Sunday night isn’t your thing (or if you just want a bargain), the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe is serving up impro each week as well. On the first and third Tuesdays of each month, Full Body Contact No Love Tennis pits doubles teams against each other in a more long-form style of impro challenge to win something much less ugly (and less big (and less valuable)) than the Cranston Cup. (tickets $10 at door or through moshtix)

Full Body Contact No Love Tennis: pairs of improvisors compete for the tennis u/19 trophy while we dole out audience prizes. you may just win a gem…there’s still a dining table yet to be given away!

On alternate weeks, A Regular One Night Stand sets the scene for the ultimate battle of the sexes on Thursday nights (13 Nov, 27 Nov, 11 Dec - tickets $12/10 through moshtix)

A Regular One Night Stand is a hilarious improvised comedy show which pits boys against girls, and sees the audience vote throughout the evening for who they think is the ‘funniest’ sex. The cast improvise scenes, make up songs and jokes and play solo and team challenges.

There’s also the classic weekly Theatresports(R) show, Scared Scriptless, Thursday nights at the Harold Park hotel in Glebe. This is Sydney’s longest-running impro show, and tickets are only $10.

Elsewhere

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Tags: A Regular One Night Stand, Cranston Cup, Full Body Contact No Love Tennis, Gorilla Theatre, Impro Australia, Impro Melbourne, Impro Vice, Kookaburra Challenge, Open Mic Improv, Scared Scriptless, The Big HOO HAA!, Theatresports(R)

Featured Acts:
Jimeoin on Ice 17-22 June
Puppetry of the Penis 17-22 June
Raymond Crowe 17-22 June
Carita Farrer 18-21 & 25-28 June
Fiona O’Loughlin 17-22 June
Young Guns of Comedy 24 June
Julia Morris 24 June
Anh Do 25-26 June
The Chaser’s Age of Terror Variety Hour 25-28 June
Akmal Saleh 25-29 June
Scared Weird Little Guys 24-29 June
The Kransky Sisters 25-26 June
Umbilical Brothers 27-29 June
Cal Wilson 27-29 June

As well as these top headliner acts, QPAC is offering “Outside” as a separate venue during the In Stitches Festival: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Akmal Saleh, Anh Do, Anne Howe, Cal Wilson, Carita Farrer, Chris Franklin, Chris Pickering, David Eastgate, Fiona O'Laughlin, Fred Lang, In Stitches Comedy Festival, Jimeoin, Julia Morris, Outside, Paul Brasch, Puppetry of the Penis, QPAC, Raymond Crowe, Sarah Pember, Scared Weird Little Guys, Stand-Up Comedy Club, The Chaser, The Kransky Sisters, Umbilical Brothers

June is when most comedy tours finish up here in Oz for a few months as flocks of comedians head north for the comedy festivals of Edinburgh, Montreal and various smaller summer comedy festivals in the northern hemisphere. So the next few weeks are your best chance to catch top comics putting those finishing touches to the shows they’ve been working on all this year. (Of course their absence in July/August means that our winters are the best months to go to your local comedy room to see emerging talent alongside the veterans who’ve done their festival rounds years ago.)

Update: The QPAC In Stitches Comedy Festival 17-29 June at the Queensland Performing Arts Festival - see new post with full details.

Touring now:

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Tags: Austen Tayshus, Chopper, Eddie Ifft, Elliott Goblett, Frank Woodley, Garry Who, George Smilovici, Heath Franklin, MICF Roadshow, Rachel Berger, Ross Daniels, Scared Weird Little Guys

• This weekend saw the opening of the Albion Comedy Club & Restaurant in Brisbane. [link] This space will now be the largest-capacity comedy club in Australia.
  

  Every Friday and Saturday night we proudly present an all-professional lineup of the cream of the local, interstate and international comedians currently working the circuit.

  Each night we feature five or six different comedians.

  Through June the Albion will be featuring Greg Sullivan, Brendan Lovechild, Casey Talbot, Davo & Matt Marr.

• Next Thursday sees the Launching Night of the Ha Ha Harbour Club in Sydney, at the Sonar at Luna Park in Milson’s Point. [link]

  There will be a dinner & show combination offered, or just the show featuring 3 comedians weekly.
  June 5th will feature Matt Okine, Mickey Gee, FRED LANG.

Tags: Albion, Brendan Lovechild, Casey Talbot, Davo, Fred Lang, Greg Sullivan, Ha Ha Harbour Club, Matt Marr, Matt Okine, Mickey Gee, new venues

Booking details can be found at the performers’/venues’ websites linked below:

The Chaser’s Age of Terror Variety Hour on tour until July 2nd. Remaining shows will be in
SYDNEY • ADELAIDE • CANBERRA • GEELONG • MELBOURNE • BRISBANE • NEWCASTLE

Heath Franklin’s Chopper in Make Deadsh*ts History - on tour until June 8th. Remaining shows will be in
BRISBANE • GOLD COAST • BUNDABERG • DARWIN • MACKAY • CAIRNS • TOWNSVILLE • HOBART

The 2008 Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow is gadding about all over the country until the last weeks of June, and then hitting Singapore in July.

Mark Watson: Can I Briefly Talk to You About the Point of Life? (UK) Finishes this Saturday at the Factory Theatre in Enmore, Sydney.

Emma Powell and Bev Killick in Busting Out are touring NSW until mid-June, then BRISBANE from June 11.
SYDNEY • ORANGE • PARRAMATTA • SUTHERLAND • PENRITH • WOLLONGONG • GOSFORD • CANBERRA

Let me know of more tours in comments and I’ll add them above.

Tags: Bev Killick, Emma Powell, Heath Franklin, Mark Watson, Melbourne Comedy Festival, roadshow, The Chaser