Katherine Phelps

Jeez Louise once was a regular conference, where women who were interested in the business of comedy could learn and network over three days. I know of a number of women who got their start at those conferences. I loved it. Jeez Louise has been pared back considerably, but it’s not dead. Every year now [...]

Certain subjects make audiences squeamish. Doesn’t mean you should avoid these subjects or that people won’t enjoy the exploration once they are sitting comfortably in the audience. However, you will have a challenging time getting past their discomfort. A couple years ago Jason Chong produced a show about the value in donating blood. The show [...]

After seeing Spirit Comedium I found myself thinking about how one would come up with a show like this. By the time I was through with this chain of thought, I had concocted the next blockbuster film in the spirit of Sixth Sense and Ghost. So bear with me, I don’t often get this silly [...]

Be still my geeky heart. One Small Sketch for Man is a dream show for anyone who is a lover of sketch, mime, off-centre humour, and science fiction. Jimmy Eaton manages to pack in space travel, time travel, and monsters that shoot lasers from their nipples, along with sketches that can only be described as [...]

Constantinople is a piece of fairy floss: lots of sugar, lots of colour, and frothy with lighthearted fun. The recommendation I received was, “Go see it and enjoy a grape.” Yes, a bit cryptic, but I trusted my source. Trygve Wakenshaw and Barnie Duncan formed their own company Theatre Beating in 2003 Auckland New Zealand. [...]

Tessa Waters begins her show A Little Bit of Standing Up by playing a recording of the answers grade one children gave to “What makes you happy?” Their responses are quirky and range all over the place from friendships to pushing someone into a rose bush. They haven’t intellectualised their joy, nor brought it in-line [...]

I am so happy sketch comedy is seeing a resurgence at the comedy festival. Writing and performing live sketch is one of the best ways for developing television comedy skills. And we need a return of more sketch comedy on our screens. Cleaver & Clag is a sharp polished production. Clare Hampson and Nathan Murfey [...]

One of the glorious things about the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is that it’s about comedy: not just standup, not just sketches or impro, but anything that brings smiles and laughter to your lips. Michael Workman’s shows verge on comic performance art. He brings together storytelling, poetry, illustration, and musical composition to create a series [...]

Before her show Jan Maree actually apologised to me, because she was afraid I might find it a little blue. She had recently been asked to tone down her material for a different event in order to make it more likeable. Eek! Fever Bitch! is a romp. Yes, it is blue, but yes it is [...]

The Melbourne Comedy Festival is full of hidden gems. One of my favourite occupations is to dig up those gems and help hold them up to the world, so people can see them shine. Sammy Harrison is one of those gems. For ten years now Harrison has been opening for other people’s acts at comedy [...]