LAUGHING STOCK COMEDY GALA at CIVIC THEATRE NEWCASTLE Address

For one fantastic night of music, merth and merriment we’re bringing some of the best comedic acts in the world to Newcastle’s iconic Civic Theatre on March 10. Featuring a line-up worthy of any international comedy festival LAUGHING STOCK is set to become a must-do on the Newcastle social scene.


2011 was a tough year for Hunter: from toxic chemical leaks in the atmosphere to the issue of coal mine expansion and CSG exploration. Even fig trees have managed to divide the community. So we think it’s time for everyone to step back. Have a laugh. Take stock…

LAUGHING STOCK COMEDY GALA!

Featuring – The Axis Of Awesome + The Blanks + Clair Hooper + Rhys Nicholson & more to be announced

For one fantastic night of music, merth and merriment we’re bringing some of the best comedic acts in the world to Newcastle’s iconic Civic Theatre on March 10. Featuring a line-up worthy of any international comedy festival LAUGHING STOCK is set to become a must-do on the Newcastle social scene.

The Axis of Awesome are The World’s Most Awesomest Comedy Band. In the incredible time that they have been together they have blown audiences away across Australia and around the world with their mixture of original comedy songs and pop parodies. Their Four Chord Song is one of the highest rated comedy video of all time on YouTube, and has received over 20 million hits. They have made TV appearances in Australia, the US, the UK, Asia and Sweden and their albums “Scissors, Paper, ROCK!” and “Infinity Rock Explosion” and DVD “The Axis of Awesome Live” are hits with audiences worldwide. They recently picked up the Time Out Award for Best Australian Act at the Sydney Comedy Festival, and they are also recipients of the prestigious Moosehead Award for their first ever Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, “The Axis of Awesome Comeback Spectacular”. Their most recent show “Songs in the Key of Awesome” had its Australian premiere at The Sydney Opera house. The Axis of Awesome are currently touring the United States.

Joining The Axis of Awesome will be the American a Capella all-stars The Blanks. News flash: A cappella is hip! Leading this pack of cool is a quartet of friends, The Blanks, who appear on the worldwide syndicated television show Scrubs as "Ted's Band." In a case of life imitating art (or is it art imitating life?), the group was written into the script as a quartet of friends who like to sing a cappella music. Bizarre, huh? Group member Sam Lloyd played the recurring role of character "Ted Buckland" on all nine seasons of Scrubs aired in Australia on the Seven network. Sam is joined by Paul F. Perry, George Miserlis and Philip McNiven. In 2004, The Blanks released their debut CD, "Riding the Wave" (Parody Records). In 2008 they began touring. In 2008 they also made shirts. Based in Los Angeles, The Blanks perform and sing family?friendly (cool) entertainment with plenty of (hip) musical and sketch comedy. They sing a cappella versions of popular TV show theme songs ranging from "Charles In Charge" to "Six Million Dollar Man”. They've put words to songs without lyrics, such as the "Good Old Days," the theme from The Little Rascals. The only instruments besides a ukulele you'll find on stage are talking toys ? that's right, four grown men who still play with action figures. Not ones to rest on their laurels nor teeter on the edge of rebellion and artistic bravado with their choice of deodorant commercials, the Blanks wrote some original numbers that sound like songs even they might want to cover! You haven't seen anything quite like it before. They love to sing, entertain and make people laugh, so their shows include skits, antics, choreography (the kind a 5-year old could memorize), talking toys as lead singers, and costume changes. (A note on the costume changes: they're not Cher, and they're not Madonna. Because… They're men! Men who sing. Men who dance. Men who'll make the milk you're drinking spray right out your nose with a funny glance).

Claire Hooper is best known for her role as a Team Captain on Network TEN’s Good News Week but she has also appeared on Rove Live, ABC TV’s The Sideshow, The Comedy Channel’s Stand Up! Australia and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Great Debate with Stephen K Amos and Greg Fleet in 2007. Claire began her comedy career in Perth in 2004 when she won her state finals of Triple J’s Raw Comedy. In 2005 she was selected to perform in ‘The Comedy Zone’ at Melbourne International Comedy Festival and won ‘Best and Fairest’ at the National Improv Championships. In 2006 she scored a Best Newcomer nomination at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for her first solo show, which went on to earn a place in Scotland on Sunday’s top five comedy picks of the Edinburgh Fringe. Since then she has written and performed three brilliant solo shows: Showgirl, Storybook and Forget Your Troubles, C’mon Get Hoopsy.

And in a triumphant return home, former Novocastrian Rhys Nicholson will be special guest MC for Laughing Stock, warming up the crowd and keeping them cackling all night with his own caustic observations. Rhys won the Raw comedy award in Newcastle two years in a row. He was one of the most "out there" stand-up comedians around town and certainly the most openly gay one. He has been working the Sydney comedy scene regularly now for a year, but was surprised when he was asked to be one of the pranksters on Balls of Steel a pay TV show with a format imported from the UK. Whatever happened to that chunky, effeminate, red headed guy at high school? He got thin, developed a mild drinking problem and decided to put on a show. Come with Rhys as he answers the question on everyone’s lips; ‘Why are you like this?’

But that’s not all. There’ll also be a smattering of Hunter based comedians sharing the stage and the limelight at the Laughing Stock Comedy Gala. So with all this comedic talent on show it’s bound to be a night of hilarity.