Hayley Edwards is my guest on the podcast this week. Hayley is actor who recently saw a huge amount of acclaim for the Melbourne Fringe production of their play Shitbag which they wrote, produced, and performed.We chat about how the play came to be and how Hayley turns challenging subject matter into comedy. We also discuss Hayley's journey to one-person-shows and the trickiness of labels.Follow Hayley on instagram.Follow your host, Marcel Blanch-de Wilt.Sign up to the Comedy Writers Group on patreon to access all the episodes along with regular bonus episodes. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The great Luke Heggie is my guest on the podcast this week.Heggie is an incredible comedian and one of my all-time favourites. He has sold-out shows, appeared on shows like the MICF Gala, Question Everything, and Just For Laughs.We chat about how Heggie approaches stand-up, making it a job, building audiences, and quality control. It's a great chat.Follow Luke on instagram and check out his podcast Mid-Flight Brawl.Follow your host, Marcel Blanch-de Wilt.Unlock all the episodes of CWG via the patreon. Membership starts at $5 per month and gets you access to our exclusive fb group, bonus episodes, and more. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm joined this week by the brilliant Myq Kaplan all the way from NYC. Myq is an incredible comedian with decades of experience and a remarkable CV, with appearances on Conan, Letterman, Seth Meyers, and more. With the US Election taking up all the news, I wanted to hear how it was all going from a comedian's point of view.We chat about life as an American comedian, how Myq approaches joke writing, building a career, and how Myq plans to manage another Trump presidency.Find links to Myq's work including his albums, specials, and books here.Access all the episodes of the podcast as well as our online sessions by becoming a member of The Comedy Writers Group on patreon. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode I'm joined by Dylan Murphy. Along with being a Raw National Finalist, Dylan is also a sought-after comedy director having worked with Scout Boxall, Hannah Camilleri, and Dougie Baldwin.We chat about Dylan's approach to directing, how he got into comedy, and the value of collaboration.Follow Dylan on instagram.Buy tickets to Marcel & "Friends" at The Improv Conspiracy Nov 9th.Catch The Newlyweds at Improv Theatre Sydney on Nov 14th. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I'm joined by the remarkable Ahir Shah. I met Ahir back in 2016 at the Adelaide Fringe and we were well overdue for a catch-up. You might have seen him on Mock the Week, Have I Got News For You or his special on Max. Ahir won the prestigious Best Comedy award at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe. I wanted to hear about the development of the show as well as how it felt to have it recorded for Netflix.We also chat about finding pathos, show structure, working with the great Adam Brace, the value of a director, and loads more.Check out Ahir Shah's new special Ends on Netflix.Find out more about Ahir on his website or follow him on instagram.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lara Ricote is my special guest this week. Lara is an “equal halves Mexican, American, and Venezuelan” comedian based in the Netherlands. Her show GRL/LATNX/DEF won Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe and is available to watch on Youtube. We chat about how comedy compares around the world, finding our identity on stage, the value of clowning, and accessibility in the performing arts. It's such a great chat and I had the best time hanging out with Lara.Subscribe to The Comedy Writers Group and review us on your favourite podcast app.Read the Guardian article Lara was interviewed for about live captioning.Follow Lara on instagram.Follow the Comedy Writers Group on instagram and join the patreon to unlock all the episodes. You can also come along to our online writing sessions. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm joined by special guests Sonia Di Iorio and Samuel Gebreselassie for a group workshop. We chat about university initiations, how to kick off a story, inheritance, the poetry in comedy, writing on stage, and we dig into running comedy rooms.Follow Samuel and Sonia on instagram.Join The Comedy Writers Group on patreon to access all the episodes and our online mentoring sessions on zoom. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 The brilliant Dave Warneke is our guest this week! Dave is the co-host of the incredibly popular podcast Do Go On along with being an accomplished comedian, writer, musician, and producer. I chat to Dave about how he found himself in the world of comedy and how it led to building a podcast empire. We tackle musical comedy and concept shows. Find Dave's podcasts Do Go On and Book Cheat where ever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to The Comedy Writers Group on patreon to unlock all our episodes 1 - 100. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've hit 100 episodes so we marked the occasion with a special live edition of the podcast with special guest Lizzy Hoo. Featuring a live listener joke submission by Oliver Hunter.Lizzy talks Harry Potter lego and I chat about overly masculine hairdressers. We also talk about self-tapes, The Office Australia, and the festival cycle.Also featuring cameos from Thom, Justin, Ainslie, and Rusty.Thanks to everyone who came along and The Theory Bar for hosting us.Special thanks to Bren for producing the episode. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The sensational Hannah Camilleri is on the podcast this week. I chat to the Pinter Prize winner about her background of acting and clown training, and how it led to creating the smash-hit Lolly Bag (directed by Dylan Murphy.) I was such a huge fan of her show so it was a delight to get to talk to her all about it. We discuss Gaulier, creating characters, international touring and more.Follow Hannah here. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Comedian, writer, presenter, Jennifer Wong, is our guest on this week's episode of The Comedy Writers Group podcast. We chat about her new book Chopsticks or Fork co-written by Lin Jie Kong.We discuss Jennifer's decades of experience and how she opened doors along the way. We talk Good News Week, Rove, radio, and puns!Follow Jennifer on instagram. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I'm joined by director Charlotte George and actor Miriam Glaser. We chat all about their new web series Buried, which they co-wrote and developed together. We discuss funding, stunt work, blood continuity, and most importantly, how to get stuff made.You can watch Buried on Youtube.You can follow the director Charlotte on instagram. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scout Boxall is our special guest this week to chat burnout in the comedy industry. Scout wrote an excellent article on the subject for the ABC so I was especially keen to get them into the studio to chat all about it.We tackle burnout from all sorts of angles from how to identify it to how to recover from it. We also chat about the financial side of the stand-up game and how a lot of the hidden variables can make it a tricky industry to navigate.Follow Scout on instagram.Follow your host on instagram. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The incredible Gabbi Bolt is on the podcast this week! You may have seen Gabbi on The Weekly, Spicks & Specks, and Question Everything. We chat about how Gabbi went viral during lockdown, leading to opportunities on a path she never expected to go down.Follow Gabbi on instagram. Follow your host here.Not a member? Sign up to the patreon to unlock all the episodes. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for another Group Workshop. These are special episodes where I invite members of The Comedy Writers Group on to share material and punch-up their drafts. This episode I'm joined by Jeremy Dooley from Melbourne and Louisa Jones from Brisbane. We're fresh from The Winter Writers Retreat and feeling inspired.Got tags and punch-ups? Put them in the comments!Follow Jeremy and Louisa on instagram. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is free for a limited time only!Frankie McNair is our special guest this week. Frankie is a Melbourne comedian, originally from the ACT. We chat about how Frankie approaches being an absolute goofball on stage, doing character comedy, along with tackling burn-out, and the challenges of moving to a new city.Follow Frankie on instagram. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rose Bishop is our special guest this week. We chat about navigating dark and sensitive subject matter while laughing a lot along the way. We also chat about stage fright, theme versus subject, promoting a show, and much more. Trigger warning for conversation around death and suicide.Follow Rose on instagram and go see her shows! Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special episode this week with my live recording of my most recent festival show recorded in May at the Sydney Comedy Festival.Thanks to Raphael Stephens for the recording and Irene Nicola for being a brilliant accompanist. Huge thanks to everyone from the CWG who was in the audience.Let me know what you think! Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've fast-tracked this Q & A to your podcast feed because it's so damn good. We're joined by Comedy Writers Group regular and all-round legend, Lizzy Hoo, to hear about how she stays creatively motivated. We also chat about how she became a comedian in her 30s and made comedy her full-time career.Thanks to everyone who came along to enjoy the live session. Special thanks to everyone who asked questions: Justin, Mikee, Chelsea, Esky, Danielle, Lauren, Sarah, and Claire. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The excellent Aidan Jones is on the latest episode. We talk about his upcoming show that combines Aidan's love of classical music with his love of stand-up comedy. Aidan is a passionate comedy fan that I've known since I started so I was really keen to chat to him about starting in Adelaide, why he loves Edinburgh, and what's next for his career. We also workshop a joke from Rob!Follow Aidan on instagram and see his show in Edinburgh. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The multi-award winning master of clown, Damien Warren-Smith (AKA Garry Starr) is on the podcast to talk about how clowns create material. We also speak candidly about life on the road and the festival lifestyle. How do you survive life on the road? How to best take care of yourself in the good times and bad. A very valuable listen if you're thinking about the festivals next year! I hope you enjoy the chat. Excited to hear what you think.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The brilliant Tommy Dean is on the episode this week to completely nerd out about jokes. Tommy has decades of experience and there is a tonne of great take-aways from this episode so you can get the most of your joke writing.Featuring material from patrons; Erin and Stephen.Excited to see your feedback (and joke ideas) in the comments below!  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The brilliant Suren Jayemanne is on the podcast this week to chat jokes! We talk about dealing with hecklers, accents, and some proper joke nerdery. We also answer a question in the mailbag from Matt about autobiographical material VS broad observational.Send your material in for the next episode to get workshopped by our special guest. We were supposed to do Erin's joke this week but we got too excited talking about behind the scenes. I owe you one Erin!Follow Suren on instagram. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The wonderful Lizzy Hoo returns to the podcast, this time to chat jokes!   Featuring brand new material from patrons Chris and Jessica.   If you have notes, tags, ideas for any of the jokes discussed, chuck them below!Email your material to me at [email protected] so it can appear on a future episode.   Follow Lizzy Hoo on instagram. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lot of you were interested in learning more about navigating the world of instagram and tiktok. Wanting to discover the best ways of putting stuff online. Well fortunately Kate Dolan kindly volunteered to share what she's discovered since she decided to be a content creator. Some of her videos have got over 500K views and she just gets better and better. I think you'll get a bunch out of this chat. Feel free to ask questions below if you want to know more. Find Kate at @thefailingcomedian and go see her at the Sydney Fringe in Double Date with Tori and Kate.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fiona Cox is my special guest this episode. Fiona is a brilliant comedian who has performed at a variety of festivals and has a unique sardonic style. I've always enjoyed working with Fiona who has a great eye for detail and is always able to find new joke opportunities. Our special guest patron is Colleen!  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of two end of July episodes! Sorry for the delay. Next episode tomorrow! This episode features Peter James from Laughing Heart Comedy in Cairns and the Good Chat family in Brisbane. I've known Peter James for years. He would come and visit my venue at the Adelaide Fringe when he was a few years into comedy, eager to soak up the atmosphere and learn as much as he could. He's a proper comedy nerd. This episode features material from patron, Kelly Mac.If you have any joke ideas for us to punch-up our material, please comment below! Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello patrons! A new podcast format where myself and guest workshop our jokes and YOURS! This episode regular collaborator and legendary Sydney comedian Steph Broadbridge is on the show. We chat roadshow before digging into some new jokes. Featuring material from patron Dani Neale. You can submit your jokes in text, audio, or video for our next episode in a few weeks. Would love to hear if you have any notes for any of the material shared on the episode. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fabulous Chris Ryan is on the show to chat about best practices on and off the stage. One of my favourite chats yet. Chris was so generous with her wisdom and honesty. What is it to be a "best newcomer" when you don't really feel new? How do you take care of yourself? Would love to hear what you think!  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dane Simpson is on the podcast to talk about how his comedy evolved from storytelling with mates into getting on stage with the aim to put funny first. Some absolute gems of advice with this absolute gem of a human. Let us know what you think and make sure you check out Dane's work.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.