Sydney Comedy Festival 2024: our guide to the best laughs
By Daniel Herborn
Looking for laughs? There’s something for everyone in this year’s Sydney Comedy Festival which runs from April 22 to May 19 and offers everything from seasoned stars to up-and-comers, audiovisual extravaganzas to classic stand-up and from out-there weirdness to uplifting storytelling.
Here’s our guide to the must-see festival shows for every taste:
New Faces
LARA RICOTE
Lara Ricote: expanding on previous appreciation.
Ricote’s debut show GRL/LATINX/DEF established her as one of the most exciting new comic voices on the planet. A word-of-mouth hit at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival last year, it expertly shifted through different comic modes, moving from illuminating reflections about growing up deaf to offbeat meta-comedy about the impossibility of making climate change funny and ending with the sheer absurdity of an incessantly catchy song about organ theft. While she didn’t bring that show to Sydney, she’s righting that wrong this year with a new work that promises to be even more inventive.
Little Tiny Wet Show (Baptism), Comedy Store, April 25-27
KEMAH BOB
Kemah Bob: sharp eye for the unexpected.
When Kemah Bob was a student, a professor pulled them up for talking too much in class but was impressed by some interruptions and suggested improv might be worth a try. From there, Bob became interested in a comedy career and has lately made a splash across podcasts (The Guilty Feminist), TV panel shows, and on the club circuit. Now touring their debut show, the Texas-raised, London-based comic has a sharp eye for an unexpected angle and a breezy stage persona that belies a willingness to tackle serious topics, from experiencing racism to living with bipolar disorder.
Miss Fortunate, Factory Theatre, May 16 and 18
SAM BOWDEN
Sam Bowden: out of the classroom?
Debuting as a work-in-progress at last year’s Sydney Fringe Festival, Don’t Panic! It’s Happened Before stood out as an unusually ambitious and well-crafted hour. It draws links across centuries, spanning the insanity of the Trump era, various European upheavals, outbreaks of antisemitism and previous attempts to scapegoat minority groups for the world’s woes and lands in a surprisingly optimistic place. There are audiovisual elements, a general “mad, passionate history teacher” vibe and plenty of laughs.
Don’t Panic! It’s Happened Before, Factory Theatre, May 2 and 4-5
Big Names
ED BYRNE
Ed Byrne: shards of genius.
A familiar face from frequent appearances on UK comedy game shows (Mock The Week, QI, Would I Lie to You?)¸ Byrne has been a fixture on the stand-up circuit since the mid-90s but has earned the best reviews of his career for his new show. Tragedy Plus Time relates the lead-up to the death of Byrne’s younger brother, Paul, a prominent comedy director, and has won acclaim for expertly avoiding sentimentality and taking a clear-eyed and darkly funny look at sibling rivalry and loss.
Tragedy Plus Time, Factory Theatre, April 24 and Chatswood Concourse, April 26
MELANIE BRACEWELL
Melanie Bracewell: now monstering toy transport.
The co-host of The Cheap Seats has risen quickly to take her place as one of the most reliable crowd-pleasers on the circuit. With a likeable stage presence and a relatable “funniest friend in your group chat” vibe, Bracewell’s easy-going and self-deprecatory stories often cast her as a well-meaning but bumbling naif. Her joke-per-minute ratio is up there with the best, and her well-structured, satisfying shows have winning moments of spontaneity.
Attack of the Melanie Bracewell, Enmore Theatre, May 18
Don’t Bring Your Nan
DAN RATH
Dan Rath: crossing comedic frontiers.
Most stand-ups spend their opening moments on stage establishing that they’re confident, relatable and can make their audience comfortable. Rath goes the other way, leaning hard into his odd presence and stylistic tics (he often performs with one hand ominously dangling above his head) and his persona as an anxious, bullied, debt-riddled beta male. The result is some of the most arresting stand-up in Australia or abroad. Expect intentionally awkward crowd work and blindingly original thinking on everything from tech billionaires to the wellness implications of the Titanic sinking.
Pariah Carey, Factory Theatre, May 16 and 18-19
FERN BRADY
Fern Brady: not all sweetness and light. Credit: Raphael Neal
Perhaps a bit too abrasive for delicate sensibilities, the star of Taskmaster and 8 Out of 10 Cats is nonetheless enthusiastically recommended for those who don’t mind some shards of darkness spiked through their comedy. Her recent memoir, Strong Female Character, was an unflinching and fiercely intelligent look at growing up neurodivergent. While not a straight comic work, it had a directness and penchant for insight that is also a hallmark of her stand-up.
I Gave You Milk to Drink, Factory Theatre, April 24-25
Bring Your Nan
JENNIFER WONG
Jennifer Wong: clean comedy and putting the crowd at ease.
Nan might recognise Wong from TV (Celebrity Letters and Numbers) or her regular radio appearances (ABC Radio Sydney’s Thank God It’s Friday), and no doubt appreciate her clean comedy and ability to put an audience at ease. With a penchant for Tim Vine-style puns and a nerdy, inquisitive approach to life, Wong’s shows are clever and rich in charm. This year’s work sees her testing out wellness approaches as she strives for better mental health.
The Sweet and Sour Hour of Power, Comedy Store, May 2 to 4
GILLIAN COSGRIFF
Gillian Cosgriff: bringing the feelgood. Credit: Joe Armao
On paper, it’s a simple idea: Cosgriff asks the crowd to help her compile a list of 10 things that make them happy. In practice, it’s feelgood magic and deservedly won the top prize at Melbourne last year. Cosgriff is gentle with her audience participants and intersperses the collaborative list-making with sharply written songs and tenderly observed, gloriously funny stories, including a tale of an eccentric friend who launched his bid for public office in the nude and possibly the most hilarious anecdote about calling a mental health hotline you’ll ever hear.
Actually, Good, The Grand Electric, April 29
KIRSTY WEBECK
Kirsty Webeck: funny and sunny.
Destined to be described as a “nice young lady” by any nans in attendance, Webeck may be the most wholesome act on the Australian circuit. The sunny vibe doesn’t mean she doesn’t have jokes, though – her shows are very funny. There’s something of Geraldine Hickey in her unflashy but assured storytelling, with well-chosen details and an undercurrent of warmth that turns small-stakes anecdotes into something intoxicating.
I’ll Be The Judge of That, Factory Theatre, April 24-28
Musical comedy
TWO HEARTS
Two Hearts from New Zealand: top twins?
It’s probably impossible for a musical comedy duo to emerge from New Zealand without getting Flight of the Concords comparisons, but Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore also evoke The Lonely Island in their committed silliness and genre-hopping. Last year’s show, We’re Pregnant and the Baby is Music, was a fizzy, fun ride through pop culture and politics (kinda), complete with fawning odes to landlords and a bouncy lament on how everyone used to be hotter. Their latest hour promises songs about their lives as newlyweds and their mission to get the Shaky Isles into Eurovision.
Til Death Do Us Hearts, Enmore Theatre, April 25 and 27-28.
REUBEN KAYE
Reuben Kaye: bringing the fabulous.Credit: Dylan Coker.
Describing himself as “an award-winning cry for help”, Kaye is a camp colossus of Australian cabaret, with his shows combining belting numbers fleshed out by his four-piece band, outrageous one-liners and moments of disarming poignancy. His latest work is his most ambitious yet, stemming from an odyssey into a forgotten chapter of his family history. It tells the tale of his uncle who perished in a failed bank heist in divided Germany and draws parallels between his enigmatic relative and the queer experience in contemporary Australia.
Apocalipstik, Enmore Theatre, April 27.
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