Category: appearances

Ending the year with a bang!

I’m coming to the end of my time writing a videogame with Tin Man Games; it’s not yet been officially announced, so I can’t talk about it in specifics, but it’s been a great project to work on. My experience with branching narratives and game design has been super useful, but I’ve also learned a lot about scripting dialogue for games, and particularly some of the considerations of working in VR. I’m hoping to talk about it a lot more in future, once the word is out!

But the end of that project means space for new ones, and there are lots! I’ll soon be launching the Terry Pratchett book club podcast Pratchat with Elizabeth Flux. We’ve been talking about this for ages so it’s great to finally be making it happen! Watch out for a special announcement in the next week on that score.

I’m also getting back on the stage after too long away from performance. First up, you can catch me in a reunion show with my old sketch group, the Anarchist Guild Social Committee, on Sunday, October 15, to help farewell the Bella Union bar at Melbourne Trades Hall.

The Bella Union has been home to so many of my shows and events over the years – including Dungeon Crawl, Splendid Chaps, the launch of both seasons of Night Terrace, and many more – and like the rest of Melbourne’s artists I’ll miss it terribly. But if we can’t hang on to it, we can at least send it off in style! So join us for a collection of classic sketches, plus a few new ones – including some written by yours truly – in a few weeks’ time.

Speaking of Dungeon Crawl…the official PAX Australia schedule hasn’t yet been finalised, but I can announce that the classic improvised Dungeons & Dragons comedy show will return for a one-off performance at the expo on the Friday evening (October 27)!

I’ve seen the amazing community that has developed among PAX attendees and volunteers with the support of the local organising team over the last few years, and I am excited to bring them an evening of ridiculous, dice-fuelled improvised comedy. We have a stellar line-up of players, with Elly Squires, Bri Williams and Jordan Raskopoulos forming our adventuring party, and some very exciting potential special guests currently in negotiation. Watch this space for more news!

To finish off the year, also returning after a long absence…it’s The Terminativity! Yes, the much-talked-about comedy musical returns, and once again you can experience the Christmas joy of an unstoppable killing machine from the future going back in time to kill Mary before Jesus is born. I’m super excited to be part of this revival of a cult hit, and to be joining an amazing cast of returning and new performers. Tickets are on sale now, and if the original seasons are anything to judge by, I wouldn’t wait to book your tickets if you want to come along…

There’s more I want to tell you, but for various reasons, I can’t – not just yet! But let’s just say there’s more in store for 2018. But let’s finish off 2017 on a high first, shall we?

One festival over; next festival begin!

It’s been a stupendously (or perhaps stupidly) busy Melbourne International Comedy Festival for me, as evidenced by the list of eight nine shows in which I performed this year! I had this list on the front page, but now the festival is over it seems wise to move it to a post. Here’s a run down all in one place:

But now that festival is done, it’s time to look ahead to the next one: the 2012 Emerging Writers Festival begins on May 24, and the EWF events program – launched today – is chock full of great stuff! If you’d like to see me, I’m hosting the “Revenge of the Nerds” slide night at the Workers Club on May 30. A lovely line-up of writers will present pecha kucha style presentations (20 slides, auto-advancing every 20 seconds) about their inner nerds. I, of course, do not have an inner nerd; I’m at least 86% nerd, so if anything, I have an inner cool guy.

I can have a dark side too…

I was somewhat disturbed recently to find my dark side laid bare for all the world to see. But, since its out in the open and more than 11,000 people have watched it, I guess I should put it here for all the world to see.

You may find this video shocking, but really, it’s a call to wake up and smell the MediaWatch. It’s the red pill. It’s reality…

For more of my underhanded trickery, you should catch Late Night Letters and Numbers at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as part of Curtin Comedy.

(With thanks to “Addled Aphorist” who created this video back in July.)

Calm the flock down

When I was a younger man, imagining where I might be in 2011, I thought I might be on my way to becoming the next Dr Karl, auditioning to play an elder Weasley brother, or perhaps starring in a YouTube Doctor Who fan film as the first ginger Doctor.

I never considered I might be in a musical about a killer robot travelling back in time to kill Jesus before He’s born.

The Terminativity is easily one of the greatest things I’ve ever been involved with. First, it’s been super popular: I’ve never before sold out an entire (short, and not including the preview) run before opening. So a big thank you everyone who came along! Second, the response has been great. Cameron Woodhead in The Age gave us four stars (not 40, as the Google search result suggests). Wonderful talented people I admire came to see it and liked it and wrote about it on their blogs and told me so on Twitter. And so many friends have come as well and laughed and said lovely things! (Mostly, it’s true, “I didn’t know you could sing!”, to which I want to answer “I’ve been in five musicals!” but I understand that very few people saw the last four.) I love you all. I even got the chance to sing on the radio – and you might get to see a bit of the show online in the future. (I’ll keep you posted!)

But most importantly, The Terminativity is a great experience as a performer because it’s a great show. The cast – Aurora, Mike, Gatesy, Lawrence, Andy, Tegan, Adam, Rebecca, Scott and of course Richard – are amazing. I’m working with friends and peers and people I admire, all putting in professional effort out of all proportion with the amount of time we’ve had to prepare. The band – Casey, Matt, Ben, Ross, Enio and Vincenzo – are amazing: we sound good because they are all top notch, and similarly have put in hard work to sound so amazing. Our production team – Catherine, Jacky, Jackson, Julz and Lara – have done an incredible job with props, costumes and lights; we don’t just sound good, we look good. Nick Caddaye (with a little help from the cast, it’s true, but not too much) has crafted some of the finest Christmas/Terminator mashup gags you can imagine. And Casey Bennetto…well, I’ve used the term musical genius before, but that’s because I’ve now met about half a dozen people who really deserve the title. Casey is king of the bunch; when people tell me they love my song, I reflexively deflect that praise onto him. After all, he created it, and was kind enough to let me be the one to sing it.

In short, I’m in the kind of show I would be in the audience watching if I could be, and really that’s the best possible thing any of us can ask for, isn’t it? It’s like a Christmas present that we all get to do this again. Now I understand what the cast of Doctor Who mean when they go on about it being like a family.

So thanks to everyone involved in, watching or even just talking about The Terminativity; it’s only halfway through our brief run of four nights and it’s already been a rollercoaster.

And if you wanted to come, but you didn’t get in quick enough, don’t worry: I’ve a feeling you haven’t seen the last of us.

We’ll be back.