Lily Geddes and Morry Morgan are back with a slightly end-of-year, pre-Christmas edition of This Week in Comedy. the weekly hang for comedy lovers who like their industry chat served with dumb jokes, local context, and a mild sense of impending doom.

This episode kicks off with festive season realities (fewer gigs, everyone half-checked-out) before looking ahead to 2026 and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival season. The pair unpack what’s coming up, including the emerging “Business of Comedy” conference within the festival timeline—an event that’s either about to become an annual institution or vanish like Schrödinger’s cat (don’t open the door).

In Comedy News, they celebrate Dick Van Dyke hitting 100 and spiral into robots, hecklers, and whether the future of stand-up involves fear-laughter and chest-kicking androids. In Comedy History, they revisit milestone moments like Candice Bergen becoming the first woman to host SNL, and The Simpsons’ first full-length episode.

Things get unexpectedly real with a discussion on comedian lifespans, dopamine crashes, and why the job can hit hard after the punchlines. They wrap with podcast recs, festival chatter, and a sneak peek at upcoming comedy courses—plus an open invitation for beer sponsors who can handle honest copy.

Marcel Blanch-de Wilt's interview with MICF Director Susan Provan: https://shows.acast.com/the-comedy-writers-group/episodes/micf-director-with-susan-provan

Hard Knock Knocks Comedy Courses in 2026: https://hardknockknocks.com

Learn more about This Week in Comedy by visiting www.thisweekincomedy.com.au

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

Welcome back to This Week in Comedy, the podcast that bravely asks the big questions: Can robots be funny? Should governments fund comedians? And what exactly is happening in Geelong? Episode 4 is a wide-ranging, mildly unhinged tour through comedy news, history, technology, beer, festivals, and the creeping sense that the machines are absolutely coming for us.

We kick things off in a “quiet week” for comedy news, which somehow still includes half a million dollars of government funding being handed to robot comedians. Yes, actual robots. Non-humanoid ones. Ranging from 40 centimetres to two metres tall. Performing non-verbal slapstick. In Melbourne. The duo grapples with what this means for the future of comedy, audience fear responses, accessibility ramps, and whether this is yet another example of governments funding literally anything except working comedians.

From there, things take a sharp, but refreshing turn into sponsorship territory, with a tasting of Oishi Rice Lager - described as “almost too dry” and tasting suspiciously like something a Starfleet food replicator would produce. It’s beer. It’s on trend. It’s reviewed with all the rigour you’d expect from a comedy podcast drinking on mic.

The heart of the episode is a deep dive into the Geelong Comedy Festival, via a long chat with festival director Blaise White. We cover the festival’s growth, its surprisingly rich comedy scene, venues ranging from cosy bars to an actual jail under the gallows, and why regional festivals might just be the future of Australian comedy touring. If you’ve ever wondered whether Geelong secretly rules, this segment will aggressively suggest that it does.

Elsewhere, we unpack the invention of canned laughter (and whether it was the first step in comedy’s robotic takeover), revisit the legacy of Arrested Development, tip our hats to Billy Connolly’s longevity, talk Raw Comedy, preview the Business of Comedy Conference, and somehow end up discussing under-16s being banned from social media and parents radicalising children on Roblox.

Geelong Comedy Festival: Click here

Oishi Rice Lager: Click here

Raw Comedy registration: Click here

Learn more about This Week in Comedy by visiting www.thisweekincomedy.com.au

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

It's episode 3 of This Week in Comedy and hosts Lily Geddes and Morry Morgan aren't in the Rubber Chicken studios. But that doesn't stop them riffing on crime, public transport lines, shopping centres, and the increasingly common appearance of machetes in local news.

The conversation moves into Australian comedy news with the announcement of the Brisbane Comedy Festival for 2026. With strong attendance figures from the previous year, the festival is framed as a major stop on the national comedy circuit, landing immediately after the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It turns out that while the lineup, which includes Denise Scott, Melanie Bracewell, Ray O’Leary, and Tom Cashman, is of top comedians, it might also be a little Kiwi-heavy for Lily's mum.

Up and coming comedian Elouise Eftos and her show Australia’s First Attractive Comedian show then takes centre stage. Lily highlights the satire, and the irony that a few female comedians couldn't take the joke. Were they the usual suspects? Probably. You'll have to listen.

The episode’s history segment looks back to 1963, when British theatre critic Kenneth Tynan intentionally dropped the first F-bomb on live television, causing public outrage and political fallout that now feels almost quaint. This leads into a trivia discussion about Fawlty Towers, revealing that Basil Fawlty was based on a real hotel owner, Donald Sinclair, whose rudeness toward guests and Monty Python cast members directly inspired the character.

And in the 'whip-around' segment Morry chats with Sydney comedian and producer Seizure Kaiser, who offers insight into Sydney’s comedy scene, paid rooms, touring acts, and his Comedy on Edge venues. The episode closes with a call to embrace being “funny in the moment,” finding small opportunities for humour in everyday life as a way to push back against an increasingly bleak world.

Brisbane Comedy Festival: Click here

Sydney Laugh Inn comedy tickets: Click here

Comedy on Edge: Click here

Learn more about This Week in Comedy by visiting www.thisweekincomedy.com.au

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