Catch these rising stars of Australian comedy before they get big
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Legally, Alexandra Hudson canât have sex in Queensland. The emerging comedian lives with cerebral palsy, and the stateâs criminal code forbids âcarnal knowledgeâ with anyone with a âmental impairmentâ.
The winner of the annual Raw Comedy competition in 2022, Hudson is determined to use her comedy to shed light on this outrageous state of affairs.
At this yearâs Sydney Fringe, sheâll be doing just that with her first show, Making Lemonade.
Alexandra Hudson is using her comedy to celebrate disability.
âIâve always wanted to write a show about attitudes around sex and disability and my experiences dating,â she explains. âIâm really proud to be disabled, and a lot of people consider us the lemons of the world, but Iâm going to flip that into a positive.â
She believes people are more open to hearing other perspectives when theyâre presented in the form of comedy. âIâm talking about things that might be confronting or uncomfortable, but the goal is always to make people laugh at the end of it, and I think thatâs helped a lot of people to understand.â
Hudson is not the only alum of Raw to be bringing their debut hour to Sydney Fringe this year. Melbourne comic Henry Yan won this yearâs competition.
Growing up, Henry Yanâs family had just one towel between them. But he didnât know this was unusual until he went to other kidsâ houses and was confused by the apparent luxury of individual towels. Itâs one of the anecdotes that made up his winning set.
His family enjoyed their moment in the spotlight. âThey loved it, which was nice,â Yan says. âThough I didnât ask for their permission, I just did it,â he says with a laugh.
The win took him to Edinburgh Fringe earlier this month to compete in the So You Think Youâre Funny? competition, where household names like Sara Pascoe and Daniel Sloss got their start.
Another comedian on the rise who is taking their first show to Sydney Fringe is Meg Jager from Brisbane, who also made this yearâs Raw national final.
Meg Jager made it into this yearâs Raw Comedy final.Credit: Henry Sheerman
She credits the cityâs famously raucous comedy scene for her fast ascent: âI think weâre refined through trials of fire because there are so many shocking gigs in RSLs and pubs. Thatâs why thereâs such a strong scene; weâve all already done the worst gigs ever within our first month of comedy.â
Brisbane has long been an incubator of some of Australiaâs most luminous comedy talent, from last yearâs Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Sam Campbell to Becky Lucas â one of Jagerâs industry idols.
âI remember finding her videos and realising: âOh, you can be like that and be a comedian!â I hadnât heard a voice like hers before,â says Jager.
Based in Ballina, Hudson got her first taste of comedy in local legend Mandy Nolanâs workshops. âOne of my friends sent me a text saying, âYou need to stop hassling us and channel this energy. You should enrol in Mandyâs course and start writing bitsâ ⊠He was right, annoyingly.â
Stand-up is a space where she feels she can be her authentic self. âIâve never felt that in a space before,â she reflects. âI thought it would be the most terrifying thing to perform, but Iâve found it to be the opposite, which is awesome.â
Yan, meanwhile, started comedy around three years ago in New Zealand, and has attracted attention with his nerdy but confident stage persona, somewhat reminiscent of the finely tuned silliness of one of his comedy heroes, Guy Montgomery.
He is currently writing his Fringe show, Bored Game, which he expects to be heavy on improvisation and crowd work.
âIâm not sure how itâs going to go because a lot of it is very new stuff,â he says. âI donât expect much turnout. If you come, youâre a brave soul.â
Henry Yan started comedy in New Zealand around three years ago.
Jagerâs Fringe show has its roots in a nerdy teenage obsession â looking up the great speeches of history and teasing out what made them powerful.
Now Jager is a history teacher, especially interested in the 15th and 16th centuries. This fascination feeds into her work-in-progress show, which sheâd eventually like to call Renaissance Woman.
âObviously, I havenât been beheaded or anything like that, but Iâm interested in how that period mirrors my own life,â she says. âIâve included comparisons to venereal disease, plague, fashion, monarchy â you know, all the things that happened in the Renaissance and also to me.â
Alexandra Hudson: Making Lemonade is at Factory Theatre from August 30 to September 3. Meg Jager: Rough Draft is at Factory Theatre on August 30 and September 1. Henry Yan: Bored Game is at Factory Theatre on August 30 and September 1.
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