Stand-up specials are all the rage on Netflix. The streaming giant keeps commissioning a never-ending supply of shows featuring comedians doing their thing.
Now Amazon Prime Video has announced it’s getting into the act, having commissioned the production of 10 stand-up specials from Australian comedy icons.
The line-up includes Tom “Hard Chat” Gleeson, Judith Lucy, Celia Pacquola, Zoë Coombs Marr, Dilruk Jayasinha, and the reunion of iconic comedy duo Colin Lane and Frank Woodley.
Amazon Prime’s specials will be filmed at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre this September, and are set to premiere in early 2020.
Here’s the full line-up.
Joy – Tom Gleeson
Gold Logie winner. Chief celebrity interrogator. Host of the highest-rated Australian quiz show on TV. All-round hard man (especially in Cairns). There’s not much Tom Gleeson didn’t do in the last year – and Australia can’t get enough of him. Celebrities such as Karl Stefanovic, Lee Lin Chin and Andrew Denton keep lining up to be dragged over the coals by Tom on The Weekly’s Hard Chat. Sci-fi movie geeks and Led Zeppelin buffs are dying for the chance to impress Tom and have their shot at returning a quip on Hard Quiz, now Australia’s highest-rated quiz show. Despite his ruthless grillings, he’s still got a lot of love to give. He campaigned mercilessly to help Grant Denyer win the Gold Logie and he bloody won it, before scoring his very own little gold statue in 2019.
Accolades: Winner of the 2019 TV Week Gold Logie; Three-time Nominee for Best Comedy, Helpmann Awards.
All Talk – Celia Pacquola
Celia Pacquola’s All Talk was a highlight amongst the 600-plus shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, earning Celia a nomination for the 2018 Melbourne Comedy Festival Award for Most Outstanding Show. She also recently took home the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer, beating out a star-studded line up of some of Australia’s top comedians. Celia is a multi-award-winning performer, but it is her genius as a writer that makes her stand-up so damn good, taking stories in unexpected and delightful directions. Sharp, frank, honest, deft and smart as hell, Celia is as good as it gets.
Accolades: Winner of the Best Comedy Performer, Helpmann Awards, 2019; Nominated for the Melbourne Comedy Festival Award for Most Outstanding Show, Melbourne Comedy Festival, 2014, 2018.
Self-Diagnosed Genius – Tommy Little
Idiot or genius? For many, the jury has been out on Tommy Little, but he’s here to set the record straight. I mean, would an idiot bungee jump nude on live TV? Or sign up to run one of the toughest marathons in the world, in minus 20 degrees Celsius in Antarctica with no previous experience or training? We rest our case. Despite not knowing how to spell the word genius, Tommy is without a doubt a genius. Miraculously, Tommy is back on Australian soil after surviving the Antarctic marathon and has a cracking story to share. A life of bad choices and dubious decisions has proven to be professional gold for Tommy, who effortlessly mines his life for big laughs across the country. His 2019 tour, Self-Diagnosed Genius, proved to be his biggest yet.
Judith Lucy vs Men – Judith Lucy
After reflecting on her entire history with men, Judith Lucy has concluded that maybe it’s time to shut up shop. “Whatever it is that I’m selling, a lot of straight guys simply aren’t that interested in buying it. And I’m including people like my father.” Judith Lucy vs Men toured in 2019, exploring stereotypes, Judith’s own desires and recounting her full history with the opposite sex, leaving it up to the audience to determine whether she should ever date again.
Accolades: Winner of the People’s Choice Award, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2017; Winner, Best Comedy Performer, Helpmann Awards 2015.
Fly – Lano & Woodley
After 12 years apart, Colin Lane and Frank Woodley have reunited to realise Col’s dream of making some important theatre, telling the epic story of the pioneers of flight, the Wright brothers. The only thing that could possibly get in the way is… well… Frank. Fly has all the ingredients that have made Lano & Woodley Australian favourites for more than 20 years, with a magical chemistry and polish that had audiences whooping with uncontrollable laughter and jumping to their feet at the conclusion of every performance.
Accolades: Winner of the People’s Choice Award, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2018; Nominated for the Barry Award for Most Outstanding Show, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2018; Nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer 2018.
What’s Wrong with You? – Anne Edmonds
Eddo let her alter ego Helen Bidou take her spot at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival last year but now, against her better judgement, Anne has returned and she wants to know… what’s wrong with you? Not just you, but the whole lot of you. Humanity has clearly flushed its own head down the drain and she can’t decide whether to pull you all up or leave you down there. Clear eyed and in no mood to suffer fools, Eddo is as angry as she is over it.
Accolades: Nominated for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award (formerly the Barry Award), Melbourne International Comedy Festival, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; Nominated for Best Comedy Performer, Helpmann Awards 2018, 2019.
Bossy Bottom – Zoë Coombs Marr
After returning to the stage as herself last year (after years of performing with a neckbeard in her award-winning guise as ‘Dave’), Zoë Coombs Marr earned a nomination for Best Comedy Performer at the 2018 Helpmann Awards with Bossy Bottom. Playful, surprising and a little bit silly, it was an absolute hit with fans and critics from Melbourne to Edinburgh.
Accolades: Nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer 2018; Winner of the Barry Award for Most Outstanding Show, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2016; Winner of the Golden Gibbo Award for Best Independent Show, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2016; Nominated for Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Comedy Show, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016.
Very Very – Tom Walker
After a massive 2018 delighting and frightening audiences around the globe with his show, Honk Honk Honk Honk Honk, Tom Walker is back and, this year he’s decided to strip things back a bit. With a few less words in the title (just two, Very Very) and many less words in the show (he keeps saying this), this brand new hour promises to be, well, frankly, we don’t know. We do know, however, that Tom teaming up with the award-winning comedian, theatre maker, writer and all-round creative genius Zoë Coombs Marr to direct the show is making for the most exciting and exhilarating new partnership in comedy. Put Very Very at the top of your list.
Accolades: Winner of the Best Newcomer Award, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, 2016; Nominated for the Barry Award for Most Outstanding Show, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, 2018.
Live – Dilruk Jayasinha
Dilruk Jayasinha has quickly become one of Australia’s favourite comedians. So much so that he won the 2018 Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent. His small screen star may be soaring but Dil’s finest work is all on stage. His live shows have been received with popular and critical acclaim, and his most recent tour culminated in knockout performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and London’s Soho Theatre.
Accolades: Winner of the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent, TV Week Logie Awards 2018.
Savage – Alice Fraser
Alice Fraser’s critically-acclaimed solo show, Savage, is about life, death and paper towels – a hilarious and heartbreaking show that straddles the line between comedy and tragedy. In 2015, Savage sold out seasons and earned astronomical critical acclaim at comedy festivals in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, as well as getting glowing reviews from some of the hardest critics in the business during Alice’s debut season at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
