The Comedy Writers Group

This week I'm joined by the magnificent Emma Holland! You might know Emma from Have You Been Paying Attention  and Thank God You're Here . She's also on the upcoming season of Taskmaster Australia . I chat to Emma about her Raw Comedy experience, building community, writing for TV, and managing a hefty work schedule. Forgive this episode being recorded out of the studio - fortunately the cont...

Stephanie Hare returns as we continue the journey of developing a show for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. I wanted to give listeners a sense of how I direct a show, and to let you be a fly-on-the-wall as a stand-up show comes to life . Make sure you listen to Part 1 first! Follow Stephanie  and grab tickets to her show. Follow The Comedy Writers Group  on instagram  an...

The brilliant Kate Dolan returns to the podcast to chat about all the ups and downs since we last talked. We talk about content creation, the fear of rejection, developing a show, shooting a special, making comedy a viable enterprise, and much more. It's also a very silly episode. Go see Kate Dolan  when she comes to your city. Follow The Comedy Writers Group on instagram  and sign...

I'm joined by expert one-liner comedian, Mark Simmons, all the way from the UK. We chat about Mark's love affair with the one-liner, how he came to comedy (via a member of the CWG), branding, joke competitions, and being accused of joke thievery. Mark has a new special out called Quip Off The Mark that you can check out on Youtube. He's also on tour so make sure you follow Mark so you can see him...

The magnificent Steph Broadbridge returns to the podcast to chat about Breaking The Musical , a show that has already taken the world by storm despite the fact it hasn't even opened yet. We talk about the origin of the idea, rehearsal, and what is going through Steph's mind this close to the debut at the Adelaide Fringe. We also chat about Steph's experience as a judge for the Raw Comedy competiti...

This week we're joined by the brilliant Han Arbuthnott. We chat about starting comedy in High School, neurodiversity, coming out, identity, and more. It's a great chat and you should go see Han at the Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Festival. Follow Han here . Follow The Comedy Writers Group on instagram  and sign up for the patreon  to unlock the back catalogue and bonus episo...

On this week's episode I'm joined by improviser and actor Jason Geary. We chat about Jason's thirty year career from his appearances in shows like Thank God You're Here, Skithouse, Neighbours, and Fisk, to his first love of improv. Follow Jason here . Follow The Comedy Writers Group  on instagram  and sign up for the patreon  to unlock the back catalogue and bonus episodes. Hosted o...

I wanted to give you insight into what's involved in directing a show from scratch. This week I'm joined by Stephanie Hare (Raw Comedy National Finalist 2024) for our first directing session. I wanted this episode to emulate a one-on-one as closely as possible. We'll check back in with Stephanie in the bonus feed so sign up to the Podcast Fan tier if you want to go on the journey together. We also...

This week I'm joined by special guest Jasmine Ellis all the way from LA. We talk about what it takes to make it as a comedian in LA, getting attention online, the hustle, ADHD comedy, and her new special Black Girl Panic . Follow Jasmine here  and find links to all her brilliant content. Follow The Comedy Writers Group  on instagram and sign up on patreon  to unlock bonus episodes....

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...