Hannah Gadsby, Garry Starr, and More Will Headline Malthouse Comedy 2026
Malthouse Comedy celebrates its 10th anniversary with the world premiere of Hannah Gadsby’s new live talkshow, The Evening Muse, and more.
Malthouse Theatre announced a sneak peek of its 2026 Malthouse Comedy program, revealing some of Australia’s finest comedic talents including Hannah Gadsby, Lou Wall, Rob Carlton, and Garry Starr, as well as UK chameleonic clowning extraordinaire, Elf Lyons, will take to the stage from 26 March - 19 April 2026. Tickets are on sale now, with the full line-up to be announced in January.
After delivering its biggest year yet in 2025 and cementing itself as a major hub of Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Malthouse Comedy celebrates its 10th anniversary with the world premiere of Hannah Gadsby’s new live talkshow, The Evening Muse; multi-award-winning festival favourite Lou Wall’s brand new show, Where Are All the Tall Grandmas?; Logie Award-winning actor and bravura storyteller Rob Carlton’s Virgin in a Knife Fight; the return of Garry Starr’s riotous reenactment of Penguin Classics in Classic Penguins; and Elf Lyon’s euphoric, cult spoof of Swan Lake, Swan.
Making their Malthouse Comedy debut, Hannah Gadsby will present their most unpredictable show yet in The Evening Muse. It’s like a Tonight Show, but it’s hosted by Hannah, so it probably isn’t anything like what you’d expect. But it’s exactly what Hannah will expect. Or is it? Hannah doesn’t venture out much these days, so they're inviting people in...like guests...who knows what might happen? With different content each night of the week, audiences are invited to join Hannah on a mission to reconnect with the world.
Following a smash-hit, sell out Australian tour and West End season, Garry Starr is back and hell-bent on saving books from extinction by performing every Penguin Classic novel ever written. Naked. But with flippers. Winner of Most Outstanding Show at Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2025, Classic Penguins takes audiences on a literary adventure through the world’s most beloved works of fiction. From The Little Prince to Moby Dick and everything in between, nothing is safe from being lampooned with the utmost nincompoopery.
The electrifying whirlwind that is Lou Wall (Nominee 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award for Most Outstanding Show) premieres their hilariously unhinged new hour, Where Are All the Tall Grandmas? Be honest, you’ve never seen one have you? So where the f*ck are they? Do they shrink? Die young? Are short kings eating them!? Or perhaps they are thriving in an underground society, gathering each night by candlelight to uphold the sacred sanctity of the towering matriarch. Lou Wall is not saying that Tall Grandmas are the Illuminati...but they’re also not saying they’re not. Wall dives head first into the disappearance of tall, old women everywhere in this comedic investigation into height, heritage and what it truly means to live large.
Logie-winning actor and masterful storyteller Rob Carlton (The White Lotus, Boy Swallows Universe, Paper Giants) brings his award-winning narrative chops to Malthouse Comedy with Virgin in a Knife Fight. The show features four true tales of chaos and courage, where he's the hero and the idiot. From a Salzburg knife fight to courtroom mayhem and a moving story of fatherhood, Rob turns real life into sharp, funny and heartfelt comedy. Winner of major fringe theatre awards, Carlton’s storytelling is as fearless as it is entertaining.
UK icon and winner of the Sky Arts Best Comedy Award, Elf Lyons, who brings her cult classic, critically acclaimed, one-woman punk reimagining of Swan Lake to Australia for the first time with Swan. The giraffe-limbed and Gaulier-trained harlequin's acclaimed solo performance involves ballet, violence, wrestling, nudity, an evil owl, magic, 45 bras and a very loose grasp of the French language. Other than that, it's a very traditional stand-up comedy show performed by a woman.
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