Is improv the same as stand-up? Nope! Improv comedy and stand-up comedy are two popular forms of comedic performance, but each have their own distinct style and approach. While both aim to make audiences laugh, they differ significantly in their execution, preparation, and interaction with the audience. Improv Comedy ‘Improv’ is short for improvisational comedy and is a form of …
095: Ian McFadyen – Creating an Australian sketch comedy national treasure
In 1988 The Comedy Company changed the face of Australian sketch comedy. Kylie Mole, Uncle Arthur, Con the Fruiterer, and Colin Carpenter became part of the Australian lexicon. So too their creators – Mary-Anne Faye, Glenn Robbins, Mark Mitchell and Kym Gyngell, as well as Russell Gilbert, Tim Smith and, the group’s founder, Ian McFadyen. You know them as comedy …
062: Nadine Sparks – From improv to stand-up comedy
Nadine Sparks loves learning comedy. At aged 12 she began learning improvisation comedy, including a course at 18 at the highly respected NIDA, then performing with Improv Conspiracy, before travelling to the US to learn the Chicago method. And then seven years ago Nadine Sparks did a stand-up comedy course, and this resulted in her first five-minute performance at the …
044: Tegan Higginbotham – Class Clowns to celebrity comedian
Tegan Higginbotham started comedy when in high school, through the Class Clowns competition. Today, just shy of 30, Tegan has an impressive comedy resume, which includes writing columns, improv, sketch comedy, and stand-up comedy, at festivals right across Australia. This year also happens to be her 12th consecutive Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF). And that’s only the half of it. In …
019: Greg Fleet – The Accidental Comedian
Comedian Greg Fleet is Australia’s bad boy of comedy. On stage and off, ‘Fleety’ has made a name for himself for pushing the boundaries and living life to its fullest. TV, movies, theatre, breakfast radio, and twenty-nine Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows later, it’s hard to imagine how Greg had time for his now infamous drug addiction. But he did, …