If it’s been a while since you’ve had a really good laugh, Victoria’s only regional comedy festival is the medicine you need.
The Bendigo Comedy Festival may have been absent the past couple of years due to Covid, but the laughter didn’t die. The committee has been hard at work to deliver a bumper program this October 12-16 to regional Victoria.
The festival kicks off with the Gala on Wednesday, October 12. From there, comedy lovers will be treated to solo and group performances, as well as showcase events including the Pride Comedy Show and the always popular Women of Wit.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
While you’re free to pick and choose individual shows, day passes are available for Thursday-Saturday for the bargain price of $42. The festival will largely be held at The Engine Room, with the Cambrian Hotel to host Sunday’s wind down.
Bendigo Comedy Festival: Opening Gala Night
A skeleton walks into a bar and says to the bartender, I’ll have a beer and a mop
Stretch your laughing muscles as you warm up to the main event with the line-up of Daniel Connell, Patti Fawcett, Ash Greblo, Poppa and Urvi Majumdar.
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Bendigo Comedy Festival: Thursday Pass
I decided to sell my vacuum cleaner. It was just gathering dust
Act one: The Diplodocus was a herbivorous dinosaur with a long slender neck and whip-like tail. The Big Diplodocus is the new show from Ash Greblo, featuring one-hour of his best bits – plus a joke about a dinosaur that he says may go either way.
Act two: Women of Wit. This ‘next gen’ showcase features Patti Fawcett (winner of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Class Clowns, 2019), Daisy Webb (Breast of the Fest, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2022) and Jordan Barr (Best Comedy 2018 Melbourne Fringe).
Act three: Multiple Green Room Award-winner Jude Perl combines songwriting, storytelling, social commentary and musical absurdity into an act that swings from share house living to meerkats.
Bendigo Comedy Festival: Friday Pass
I haven’t slept for ten days, because that would be too long
Act one: Mike Elliott is a people person, or so says his new show People Person. How many comedians can say that? Enjoy odes to the humble Bunnings snag and his Nan’s Pavlova.
Act two: A celebration of the LQBTIQ+ community featuring Brownyn Kuss (winner of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Director’s Choice Award 2022), Charlie Lewin (Best Newcomer at the 2021 Melbourne International Comedy Festival) and Hot Department (winner of the Green Room Award Best Ensemble in Cabaret 2020).
Act three: John Cruckshank is said to deliver “repeated roundhouse kicks banging out the laughs”, and we all know that roundhouse kicks are the best kicks.
Bendigo Comedy Festival: Saturday Pass
The first time I got a universal remote, I thought ‘wow, this changes everything’
Act one: Why are hearts like starfish and not pizza? Josh Earl has a theory. He also wants you to meet some aliens with a liking for ice cream. *Please note this show will take place at the Discovery Centre.
Act two: Experiments and an exploration of the Cosmos combine in Rachel Rayner’s quantum theory meets comedy show. You’ll learn something and laugh. *Please note this show will take place at the La Trobe Art Institute.
Act three: Poppa’s Showcase is a cheap but definitely not nasty event featuring Dane Knowles, Patti Fawcett, Jim Hallawell, Stevie Stix, Poppa, Kasey Mills and Ash Greblo.
Act four: Andy Matthews and Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall are two lawyers doing their best to represent an alleged hat thief.
Act five: Won’t someone think of the children? Not Nick Capper and Brett Blake and their Vulgar Display of Comedy show.
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Bendigo Comedy Festival: Sunday Pass
I just bought the most useless thesaurus in the world. It’s useless
The festival’s comedians, volunteers and supporters will let their hair down at Cambrian Hotel. The word is there will be a special guest comedian trying out some new material. The BCF team is remaining tight-lipped about just who it is, but they are from television. DJ Grant Lockwood will be spinning some tunes. Tickets are $10, which includes a drink at the bar.
Also at the Cambrian will be Dissecting a Frog, a podcast about the ins and outs of comedy performance and how to run a festival. Hosted by Luke Morris, all your questions will be answered… including, hopefully, whether that dinosaur joke worked.
Further information and tickets can be found here.
