The Comedy Writers Group

This week we have special guests Mel McGlensey and Belinda Anderson-Hunt. Mel and Bel are both brilliant comedians and Gaulier graduates. I wanted to ask them about their experience in clowning and how it has informed their work. We also chat about improv, festival shows, and attempt to get to the heart of what 'clowning' is to them. Follow Mel . Follow Bel .  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

We’re counting down the comedy highlights of the year that was. Featuring special guest, Freya Reviews. In Part 2 we finish talking favourite specials before talking about our top live experiences, and personal achievements. We also announce the Top 5 episodes of the year - and The CWG Comedian of the Year ! What did you love? What did we miss? Follow Freya . Follow your host, Marcel Blanch-de Wil...

We’re counting down the comedy highlights of the year that was. Featuring special guest, Freya Reviews. In Part 1 we cover our favourite TV shows, movies, and specials of 2024. We also have an much overdue catch-up! What did you love? What did we miss? Follow Freya . Follow your host, Marcel Blanch-de Wilt . Grab the remaining tickets for the Comedy Writers Retreat! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...

Adam Bloom, author of Finding Your Comic Genius , is my guest this week. Adam is a comedian with thirty years of experience and his book on writing and performing stand-up. His book, released in 2023, has become a hit among comedians so I was eager to find out the story behind its author. We chat about how Adam came to write the book, self-publishing, touring, networking, and more. We also have so...

Let's run some brand new jokes with special guests Lauren Edwards and Nicolette Minster. Lauren and Nicolette are brilliant stand-up comedians with shows coming up at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (they're also members of the CWG - what a brag.) We chat about coming to stand-up comedy "a little later" in life before getting stuck into workshopping some brand new material from the thr...

My guest this week is Maggie Looke, award-winning writer, producer, and director. She has written for shows like Hard Quiz and Have You Been Paying Attention and directed massive hit shows like Ultimate Hollywood Tours and Bronwyn Kuss' 2024 show which was awarded The Pinder Prize. We chat about Maggie's various roles behind-the-scenes and how it has led to being an in-demand writer and director....

The brilliant Steen Raskopolous is my guest on the show this week. You might know Steen from his several screen credits including The Office Australia , The Duchess , and Feel Good  or you might know him from his incredible work as an improviser and solo performer in shows like The Bear Pack  and his award-winning solo shows. We chat about Steen's life moving to the UK, how improv has in...

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....

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 h...

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 writin...

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 Cons...

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...

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...

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...

 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 eve...

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. Th...

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 Hann...

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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

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...

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. Hosted on Acast. Se...

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 inst...

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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

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! 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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.