Melbourne International Comedy Festival

YAY! Lawrence Mooney YAY!

Australia's largest touring comedy agency, A-­‐List Entertainment, is marking its 20th anniversary with a spectacular line-­‐up of local and international talent at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Local favourite Lawrence Mooney returns to the festival this year with his uncanny impersonation of our Prime Minister in his show An Evening with Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull is often ridiculed for being out of touch, aloof and ultimately humourless, but now Lawrence is inviting you to discover the real Malcolm: witty, charming, erudite and sexually explosive!

Worldwide phenomenon Puppetry of the Penis is also back again, direct from Las Vegas, with a spectacle that's totally nuts! These masters of penis origami are sure to shock and awe audiences by folding, twisting, bulging and scooping their junk into a multitude of shapes, all projected onto a huge screen for your viewing pleasure. Get ready for some side--splitting good fun and be prepared to see willies, johnsons and peter peckers (don't worry though, they're not completely naked – they do wear shoes!).

Following 14 sell-­out tours, surrealist connoisseur, story spinner and all-­round comedy marvel Ross Noble is back on Australian soil to take you on a wild ride through his imagination with his hysterical new show, El Hablador. Featuring tomfoolery aplenty, it's a guaranteed night of nonsense from the undisputed king of improvisational stand up!

Much-­loved Australian comedy superstar Kitty Flanagan will be presenting her brand new show Smashing. Educational AND fun, this performance will see Kitty smash everything from love songs, sex and algorithms to chimps, clowns and psychics. Recommended for those aged 15+.

Internationally renowned comedian Akmal returns with Transparent, his funniest show ever in the history of comedy. Known for his incredible ability to deal with hot topics in a hilarious and slightly offensive way, Akmal promises to deliver a show that is punctual and jam-­‐packed with words… some of which he will be using for the first time. Paramedics will be on call to transport audience members to hospital as their sides split from laughter listening to Akmal discuss his Arabic heritage, his experiences immigrating to Australia at the age of eleven, and his disillusionment with religion and the modern world. He may even mention one of the biggest mistakes of his life when he agreed to appear on the reality TV show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

One of Australia's most exciting rising stars, and RAW Comedy runner-­‐up, Cameron James is also back with his new show Chilled Out/Fired Up, a killer hour of pure stand-­‐up about life's most annoying everyday challenges, and the good and evil voices that guide us through them. Plus there'll be a joke about a panda bear that's pretty cute.

Now in its 32nd year, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has grown to become the third largest comedy festival in the world, and Australia's biggest cultural ticketed event. Attracting audiences of up to 770,000, the festival takes over Australia's comedy capital for three and a half weeks each autumn, bringing humour to the masses with a hilarious, jam-­‐ packed program of stand-­‐up comedy, cabaret, theatre, street performance, film, television, radio and visual arts.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival
28th March – 22nd April 2018
www.comedyfestival.com.au

Lawrence Mooney: An evening with Malcolm Turnbull 28th March – 22nd April Athenaeum Theatre
Puppetry of the Penis 3rd – 8th April Athenaeum Theatre
One Ross Noble: El Hablador 10th – 14th April Palais Theatre
Kitty Flanagan: Smashing 10th – 22nd April Athenaeum Theatre
Akmal: Transparent 28th March – 22nd April Athenaeum Theatre
Two Cameron James: Chilled Out/Fired Up 29th March – 22nd April Greek Centre