Australia's biggest and best comedy festival is hitting the road for a huge 25th year. Bringing the best and brightest of the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival to The Joan in Penrith.
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Get ready for a stellar line-up with Roadshow favourites alongside the most talked-about breakthrough stars of the moment, together in one jam-packed show.
Brett Blake (MC) is a self-proclaimed bogan genius with a mullet to prove it. He is a whip-smart, high-spirited stand-up who has performed widely across Australia and the UK. A regular sell-out at the Melbourne International Comedy and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Brett also starred on Common Sense for Network 10, has a hand in Melbourne's Comedy at Coopers Inn, is a regular visitor to The Little Dum Dum Club, shared the reins on Worst First Dates podcast with Kelly Fastuca and currently co-hosts the bonkers double-dare fiesta that is Flat Stick with Nick Capper.
Chris Ryan is a journalist, a mum and one of the most exciting new voices on the Australian comedy scene. She won best newcomer at the Sydney Comedy Festival in 2019 and a best newcomer nomination at the Melbourne festival in 2021. Her dry snark has landed her at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Oxfam Gala (2022) televised on ABC, Just For Laughs Gala (2022) on Network 10, Sydney Comedy Festival, Canberra Comedy Festival and TEDx Canberra (2018) and she often appears on ABC Radio Sydney's Thank God It's Friday with Richard Glover.
Blake Freeman is widely regarded as one of Australia's brightest new comedians, with his own brand of energetic and disarmingly honest comedy, making the intensely personal relatable. A standout 2022 saw him perform in New York, LA, and at the prestigious Just For Laughs Montreal Festival. He won the 2019 Melbourne International Comedy Festival's best newcomer award. In 2018, he was hand-picked for Melbourne International Comedy Festival's prestigious Comedy Zone and appeared on ABC TV's Comedy Up Late series, toured nationally and hosted his own radio show.
Matt Ford carries the demeanour of a cranky 40-year-old, with acerbic observations and hilarious blunt delivery. Matt has earned rave reviews at festivals across the nation as one half of Indigenous comedy show Aborigi-LOL. In his final year of high school, he won the 2010 Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Class Clowns competition and performed at Brisbane Comedy Festival as part of Comedy Hits Puberty. His style is an inspired mix of social commentary musings with absurd everyday observations.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow is on at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday, June 20 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $45/$40.
