Jason Byrne, Nazeem Hussain, Deanne Smith, Des Bishop and Urzila Carlson Return to Australia's Comedy Festival Scene
By: Stephi Wild Dec. 11, 2017
Live Nation is bringing back COMEDY FESTIVAL favourites JASON BYRNE, NAZEEM HUSSAIN, DEANNE SMITH, DES BISHOP and URZILA CARLSON in 2018.
All five are returning to Australia with brand new shows across various comedy festivals from February to May. Tickets for are now on-sale via livenation.com.au.
Canadian/American multi award-winning comic DEANNE SMITH is heading back to Australia in 2018 with her latest show, WORTH IT.
With a prestigious highly sought after nomination for top Australian comedy award, The Barry, Smith returns to Brisbane Comedy Festival for the first time in five years, and to Melbourne International Comedy Festival following her critically acclaimed 2017 show, Post-Joke Era.
Tickets for DeAnne's Brisbane and Melbourne shows are on sale now. For complete tour
and ticketing details, visit livenation.com.au.
The self-described Gentleman Elf, DeAnne can't wait to get back to Australia, ready to attack the last taboo. Death? Sex? Sexy death? Nope! Money (well, probably that other stuff, too).
A three-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee, her newest show is a post-industrial, consumer-based, sustainable comedy show for the new economy and will no doubt be absolutely jam-packed with the intelligence, spontaneity and sideswipe punchlines Australians love her for.
In Australia, DeAnne is a regular on Network Ten's annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival Oxfam Gala and The Great Debate, as well as ABC TV's The Weekly. Her 2017 MICF gala spot went viral when her video, "Straight Men, Step Your Game Up," was viewed 40 million times.
In addition to multiple seasons at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, DeAnne has performed all over the world, including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Iceland Comedy Festival, the invite-only Just for Laughs Montreal and Chicago, to name a few. She also has an award-winning podcast - "DeAnne Smith's Questionable at Best".
If you've not yet caught DeAnne Smith's incredible brand of comedy, you must. It's worth it.
American-Irish comedian DES BISHOP returns to Australia with his trademark razor sharp wit in 2018 and a brand-new show.
Bishop, a native New Yorker and one of Ireland's most loved comedians, will debut
EGORITHM at the 2018 Brisbane Comedy Festival before taking the show to Melbourne
International Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival and Perth Comedy Festival from March to May.
Tickets for all shows are on sale now. For complete tour and ticketing details,
visit livenation.com.au.
Renowned for his open, honest, and cut-throat wit, as well as his trademark rapid-fire
delivery, Bishop's mind never rests. In Egorithm he'll delve into his thoughts on a myriad of matters: Male defensiveness around feminism; Islamophobia; his time in China; men; sexualharassment... and it wouldn't be a Des Bishop show without a few dirty bits.
Bishop moved from Queens to Ireland as a teenager, and became a hugely popular
household name in Ireland where his incisive, irreverent and critical comedy has seen him carve out a highly successful career as both a stand up and a TV documentary
maker/presenter. Bishop has several acclaimed television series under his belt, including RTE's The Des Bishop Work Experience (2004), Joy in the Hood (2006) and the award-winning comedy documentary series, In the Name of the Fada (2008). In 2011, RTE broadcast the critically acclaimed documentary he made with his terminally ill father, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond.
Bishop's 2015 stand up show Made in China received critical acclaim in Ireland, US, UK and Australia and followed the huge success of his six-part RTE series, Breaking China. In 2017 he competed in the first ever season of Dancing With The Stars in Ireland, and debuted his most recent RTE show, a late-night news-driven chat show, This Is Ireland with Des Bishop.
Charismatic and clever, Des Bishop is not to be missed.
The highly-acclaimed ringmaster of stage chaos, Irish comedian JASON BYRNE, returns to Australia in 2018 with a brand-new show.
No stranger to Australian audiences, the Dublin-born stand-up follows up last year's hit Propped Up tour with THE MAN WITH THREE BRAINS, a new show full of his trademark energetic humour, props and fast-thinking improv.
Opening at the 2018 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Man With Three Brains will then travel to the Sydney Comedy Festival and Perth Comedy Festival during March and April.
Tickets for all shows are now on sale.
Jason has three brains which kick into action when he hits the stage. His left brain scans the audience, looking for improv moments. His right brain collates stand-up material and stunts, poised to dish out the funnies at speed. His centre brain is Jason's coach, pushing him to the limit.
Festival favourite, the affable Byrne is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival's biggest selling comedian. His inspired, original brand of high-energy intelligent lunacy ensures that there is no other comedian like him and his sell out shows both here and overseas have attracted accolades including nominations for the highly-coveted Edinburgh Fringe Perrier Newcomer Award the Perrier Award.
In addition to extensive worldwide touring, Byrne's TV credits are immeasurable. Recently he launched a new series for the Dave channel, Don't Say It, Bring It, an on-location game show filmed around the UK. He's also landed a judging role on RTE's Ireland's Got Talent. Byrne has regularly been seen and heard on Live at the Apollo (BBC1), The Royal Variety Show (ITV1), The John Bishop Show (BBC1), Father Figure (BBC1), of which he is creator and star, Just a Minute (BBC Radio 4), and a self-titled BBC Radio 2 show now up to three series and awarded the UK radio industry's Sony Radio Gold Award for 'best new comedy ' in 2011. Last year he fronted a studio-based comedy chat show, Jason Byrne's Snaptastic Show, for TV3 in Ireland, and co-hosted Sky 1's popular entertainment programme Wild Things. In Australia, he is a regular on Network Ten's annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival Oxfam Gala and The Great Debate.
With a growing international profile, Jason has performed in New York, Boston, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brussels, Milan and Paris, as well as Australia, where his audience grows year-to-year. His first book, a memoir - Adventures Of A Wonky-Eyed Boy: The Short Arse Years - was published last year.
Byrne is as sharp as a tack. His ability to execute strikingly accurate visual comedy is unparalleled. Don't miss the fastest thinking comic around the country in 2018.
Comedian NAZEEM HUSSAIN took the world on in 2017 and he's stepping back onto Australian stand up stages in 2018 with a brand new live show.
Hussain will open his brand-new show No Pain No Hussain at the 2018 Adelaide Fringe in February before touring it to Brisbane Comedy Festival, Canberra Comedy Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Perth Comedy Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival until May.
Tickets for all shows are on sale now. For complete tour and ticketing details, visit livenation.com.au.
Hussain's come a long way since his first-ever solo stand up tour in 2015. He spent the first few months of 2017 as one of the final four on Network Ten's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!.
Since then, he's been more in-demand than ever. Hussain was invited to perform at the prestigious Montreal Just for Laughs festival as a part of Kevin Hart's LOL network in July, before performing his second solo season at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August and at London's Soho Theatre. He also returned to the States to film his second season as an official correspondent on hit Netflix science series, Bill Nye Saves The World, with the congenial US scientist.
2017 also saw Nazeem's live show Public Frenemy earn him a second Helpmann Award nomination for Best Comedy here in Australia. He even found time to play a cameo in Australian electronic music duo Peking Duk's film clip for their latest release, Let You Down. Most recently, Hussain has performed live shows in China.
Previously best known as the star and creator of two series of the critically acclaimed Logie-nominated SBS TV show, Legally Brown, Hussain's other TV appearances are numerous and include The Project (Ten), The Feed (SBS), ABC News Breakfast (ABC), and Q&A (ABC) alongside Malcolm Turnbull and Lindsay Tanner. His comedy podcast, Burn Your Passport, commissioned by ABC Radio launched in early 2017 and ranked within the Top 20 most listened to Australian podcasts in its first few weeks.
Don't miss Hussain's exceptional voice in Australia today, while you still can.
Multi award-winning South African/New Zealand comedian - and one of our favourite ring-ins - URZILA CARLSON brings her brand-new show to Australian stages around the country in 2018.
Carlson will tour STUDIES HAVE SHOWN to Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide Lismore, Gold Coast & Caloundra from March to June.
Tickets for her Sydney and Perth shows are now on sale. Tickets for all other shows go on sale at 10am on Monday, November 27. For full ticket and tour information, visit: livenation.com.au.
A much-loved panelist on Network Ten's Have You Been Paying Attention?, Carlson is so well-loved here, Aussies have even started referring to her as 'Australasian'.
In her brand-new hour, Carlson wrestles with the phrase "studies have shown". Every time you hear it you know you're about to learn something ridiculous! Studies have shown your dog is happier than your cat! Who cares! How about they give funding to scientists to come up with a way to eradicate the unibrow, or those weird thin white hairs you occasionally find attached to your face! Let's get some research done on what happens to your blood pressure when your kid keeps getting out of bed - when you've tucked them in 20 f*cking times already!
South African-born, and household name in NZ as a cast member of TV3's hit comedy panel show 7Days, Urzila took to the stage for the first time in 2008. Since then she's racked up an impressive array of awards including Best Female Comedian at the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 NZ Comedy Guild Awards, as well as the coveted TV3 People's Choice Award two years in a row at the NZ International Comedy Festival.
Urzila regularly sells out her live shows in Australia and NZ. As well as her regular seat on Have You Been Paying Attention, Carlson is regularly seen on Network Ten's annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival Oxfam Gala and The Great Debate. She released her first book, a memoir entitled Rolling with the Punchlines, in 2017 through Allen & Unwin.
Don't miss one of the quickest wits in the biz in 2018 - Ms Urzila Carlson.
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