JOKES ABOUT THE TIME I GOT DETAINED IN AMERICA & OTHER STORIES Comes to Adelaide Fringe
This one-man storytelling and stand-up comedy show is by award-winning comedian and writer Matt Harvey.
By: Stephi Wild Jan. 05, 2026
Jokes About The Time I Got Detained In America & Other Stories, a one-man storytelling and stand-up comedy show by award-winning comedian and writer Matt Harvey, is coming to 2026 Adelaide Fringe. Performances run Tue, 10 Mar - Sun, 15 Mar.
It’s a sharp, satirical, and deeply funny exploration of travel, bureaucracy, and human absurdity told through true stories — being detained in the U.S., accidentally smuggling drugs through eight countries, and surviving a workplace robbery. Blending satire, storytelling, and political comedy, the show turns chaos into laughter while holding a mirror to the systems that shape our modern lives.
Jokes About the Time I Got Detained in America & Other Stories feels especially urgent in the current political moment. With the second Trump administration in power, detaining travellers and deporting people at record rates, and empowering ICE to act like a domestic terror organisation, the show’s themes of paranoia, bureaucracy, and absurd authority are more relevant than ever.
The show uses real experiences — being detained at the U.S. border, accidentally smuggling drugs, and navigating global nonsense — as entry points into a wider conversation about fear, identity, and control. It’s a comic exploration of what it feels like to live under systems that confuse security with cruelty, and to laugh in the face of that.
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