As usual, Sydney Comedy festival knocked it out of the park. Best of the Fest Award went to Lou Wall for The Bisexual’s Lament. This year the Best Newcomer Award went to the fantastic New Zealand comic David Correos, for his show I Can’t Stop Vibrating saw a mix of physical theatrics, jokes and stories from his life.  The Director’s Choice Award went to Elouise Eftos for her show Australia’s First Attractive Comedian.Â
Beyond these acts, Irresistible caught the following comedians, a mixture of well established, mid-career and pretty fresh, for you to keep an eye out for in the future.Â
Details of Sydney Comedy Festival’s Showcase Tour around New South Wales can be found here.
Zoe Coombs Marr
No stranger to success, the previous Melbourne International Comedy Festival Outstanding Show Winner and Edinburgh Best Show nominee, and creator of the ABC’s Queerstralia, has written another hilarious show Every Single Thing In My Whole Entire Life. Using the power of computer spreadsheets we get to travel with Coombs Marr as she pours over the details of her life, some small ones, like frogs and vomits, and some big ones, like the universe and suicidal ideation, but always very very funny ones. She pulls all the threads together to leave the audience both satisfied and mind expanded, as well as with new spreadsheet tips.
- Bossy Bottom Special available on Amazon Prime
- Replay Festival Melbourne 11 &12 July.
- Edinburgh Fringe 30 July- 25 August.
- Soho Theatre, London 10-21 September
Anthony Locascio
Locascio has joint Italian and Greek heritage and has made a name for himself on the Australian comedy circuit as a ‘post-racial’ stand-up, ready with sharp funnies on the Mediterranean cultures he’s been brought up in. Pappou is his charming new show which celebrates the life of his Greek grandfather and the ties and echoes that bind across the generations. It’s a hilarious reminder of how cultures intersect in countries like AustraIia, and what are the versions of success and family that migrants and their children strive for.  It’s been well received across the festivals this year, and Locascio is clearly having the time of his life. As he told Irresistible, “Doing this show has made me feel closer to my Grandfather than ever before, and I’m doing it while making people laugh, it’s the dream.”
- Full Time Pony Canberra 3 July
- Side Door Theatre, Woollongong 6 July
- Comedy Carnival Leicester Sq London 4 August
- The Greek Centre Melbourne, 20 September
Kanan Gill
You get the feeling that Gill could make anything funny, in the way that some comedians don’t need to go to extremes, or say anything even vaguely rude, to have everyone rolling in the aisles. He’s become a huge star across the world and is practically a national treasure back home in India. Â His calm and charming delivery and perfect pace underpins an intellectual approach to his comedy, and he’ll have you laughing equally about his family idiosyncrasies and metaphysics.Â
- Gill has a book out “Acts of God”, check out the Irresistible Book Club.
- Full Comedy special available on Youtube.
- Yours Sincerely, Special available on Netflix.Â
- Edinburgh Fringe 31 July- 25 August.
- North America Tour 2- 27 October             Â
Andrew Hamilton
A generous, funny, self- deprecating look at the time Hamilton spent in prison, the choices he made to end up there, and what his life is like now on the outside. He’s blokey, but without alienating women, which is a mean feat. His cross- section appeal extends to those on all sides of the law, so don’t be surprised if you’re sitting next to a criminal lawyer, a cop, or a guy with a hood over his head laughing very hard at all of the tight bits.Â
The irresistible profile of Andrew, including his tour dates can be found here.
Alexandra Hudson
Hudson’s show Making Lemonade is a natural fit for a comedian who’s out there to “make fun of non-disabled people”. She’s quick witted and full of observational humour about her life with a disability, and is really making people laugh about topics they never thought they would, while giving people plenty to think about as well. She’s previously won joint 1st place in the National Final of the Raw Comedy Competition at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2022 and in 2023 was part of their Comedy Zone programme. She made her comedy debut in July 2020.
Aliya Kanani
As well as being a stand-up, Kanani is a Canadian Academy Award nominated Lead Actress. She’s based in Canada, but is regularly touring in the USA, Europe and Australia, including Edinburgh Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy festival. She’s won Best of Fest at Ottawa Fringe and Patron’s Pick at Toronto Fringe. Her work is all about human connection and she’s deeply interested in how that makes life worthwhile. She’s authentic and very funny and has a natural warmth with her audience. Irresistible caught her show Wine + Yoga, which she’s also just taken to Orlando Fringe. In it there’s sharply drawn humour about the wellness communities plus actual meditation, which she’s become pretty good at after her own stint in an ashram. Together with her partner, Emo Majok, she has crafted joint shows, Ride or Die, which recently toured in Australia, and their new offering, Comedy and Lemonade, which is just starting it’s debut North American tour.
- Plano House of Comedy, Plano, Texas 7 July
Emo Majok
Majok was a Golden Buzzer Winner on Australia’s Got Talent, and he has regularly won awards at Perth Fringe World, as well as selling out long runs at Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. He’s based in Perth and spends a good chunk of time in North America touring his own material, and now collaborating with his partner Aliya Kanani, see above, in their power-comedy-couple joint shows. His family arrived in Australia as refugees, having fled from war-torn Sudan to arrive in a refugee camp in Kenya, from where they were able to move to Australia. His comedy is laser sharp on what it was like growing up in the suburbs of Perth, and the realities for those arriving in new communities as refugees. He’s great at crowd work too, and soon has the room in the palm of his hand. Â
- Plano House of Comedy, Plano, Texas 7 July
NEMR
NEMR is a huge star across North America and the Middle East, and has sold out massive stadiums across the globe. He drills down on what he knows, reflecting on his own life growing up between Lebanon and the USA, and his ability to identify where the comic differences and the heartwarming similarities lie between Arabic speaking nations and cultures. His sets are polished and he has the audience in stitches, even when he’s speaking in a language not everyone in the room understands. It’s a long night that maybe could do with an edit, but most of the room are just happy to have someone making them laugh who gets where they came from.Â
- Jounieh, Lebanon 19-25 July
- Amman, Jordan 1 August
