Latest news with #Sez
West Australian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Laughter echoes through Geraldton as comedy roadshow delivers a night of diverse and dazzling acts
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow had the walls of Geraldton's Queens Park Theatre shaking with laughter on Thursday night, bringing an event filled with raucous belly guffaws, awkward audience interactions and a variety of comedic styles for everyone in the audience to enjoy. The evening kicked off with an engaging MC Tim Hewitt who's job it was to warm-up a slightly reserved Geraldton crowd, picking out audience members from the first few rows to bounce off. His jokes about eastern Australian culture resonated particularly well with attendees from Brisbane (there were more than you would think), eliciting hearty laughter and setting a jovial tune for the rest of the evening. The first performer Sez — a self-described 'dyslexic bisexual' — captivated the crowd from the get-go as she walked on stage armed with a guitar and a powerful voice. Her unique blend of comedy and music struck a chord with younger audience members, however, it was her story about her housemate's boyfriend and his weird, and sometimes gross, habits that had the whole audience in stitches — with many seemingly relating to her woeful tale. She had the audience singing along to her tune about online harassment with a twist, which was a standout from the evening and her ability to write, carry and perform multiple songs in a 20-minute set while also engaging with audience members was a credit to her comedic skill. Suren Jayemanne had the tough job of following what was a brilliant opening set from Sez, and he absolutely nailed it — until the end. Jayemanne introduced a humorous concept of tracking the percentage of audience laughter throughout his set, starting at around 14 per cent but aiming for a perfect score. His anecdote about council kerbside collection had the audience in stitches — not due to the joke itself, but because Geraldton does not have kerbside collection, nor yellow-top recycling bins. He expertly recovered by finishing his set, acknowledging the oversight by saying, 'I did my research about crayfish but didn't know the frequency of council rubbish would be my downfall'. With his intelligent and somewhat dry humour, Jayemanne poked fun at his Sri Lankan heritage and told a variety of dark jokes such as one about his appearance and airplanes which had the audience close to tears in the best way possible. French-British comedian Celya AB took the stage next, delivering one of the evening's standout jokes about societal perceptions of women and what they eat. Her observation that a woman eating an entire pizza would be considered a 'cool girl', whereas consuming a whole quiche alone would lead to lifelong associations with 'Lorraine' drew hearty laughter from the crowd. AB's ability to weave storytelling with dry comedy was truly a standout. To conclude the show, Japanese comedian Takashi Wakasugi took to the stage for what could only be described as the most successful set of the night. Something about his comedic take on Japanese culture and critique on Australian habits resonated deeply with all ages and had the audience applauding after each punchline. He humorously called-out Aussies who smoke casually and use an air-fryer, urging consistency with the hilarious Japanese mantra, 'be consistent, be samurai.' Wakasugi's line delivery, use of physical comedy, and stage presence truly had the audience captivated and was an excellent closing to a hilarious show with amazing international and Aussie talent. While some of the night's jokes were more tailored towards an Eastern States audience, the performers' adaptability and engaging delivery ensured that the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow was a resounding success in Geraldton.
ABC News
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Chit Chat: Comedian Sez on un-spiralling her comedy with the help of a millennial
Comedian, musician, writer, content creator, dyslexic, bisexual — is there anything Sez can't do? If you've not heard her mononym yet, you've almost certainly come across one of her irreverent short-form videos, which have racked up nearly 7 million likes (and that's just on TikTok). Stand-up is only one faction of Sez, but that's where she finds herself in this moment, smack bang in the middle of a massive comedy tour that's already dominated the Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals and is about to hit Perth, Brisbane and Tasmania. A self-confessed "mix of Jack Black and Missy Higgins", Sez has combined her irreverent stand-up and unique music for new show Keeps Me Young, directed by comedian and renowned millennial Tom Ballard. We caught up with Sez to find out what it's like to be a multi-hyphenate in 2025. Loading YouTube content This was your second Melbourne International Comedy Festival run, what lessons did you learn from the last time? Water and sleep and not accidentally going on tangents, which is my biggest battle as a comedian. Someone will say something from the audience and then I'll spiral into a five-minute tangent about what they said. Then I'm like, 'Oh shit, we're gonna have to cut a song, I've gone full TED Talk.' What's your wildest housemate story? When I lived in London for a bit, like every Australian ever, I lived in a share house. We paid cash through a private landlord, one of us would always put the cash in the envelope and take it to him. It was my week but my housemate offered to do it so I said, 'Oh, sick' and gave her the cash. It was my birthday party that night so we had heaps of people in our garden for a party. Wake up the next morning and I walk past my housemate's room, it's all empty and the walls are freshly painted. It wasn't until we were all having a coffee, hungover, that it clicked: she had just run off with the money. It was about five housemates, it was a big house, so it was a lot of cash. We tried calling her but she had blocked us on everything, except she forgot to block me on Instagram. I looked at her Instagram and she posted the morning of that day, and it was like in some forest somewhere and the caption was: 'Your vibe attracts your tribe.' It was such a shock because she was fine for like a year. What was your worst phase as a teen that you thought would last 4eva? A lot of people in our school would wear like 1,000 anklets and 1,000 bracelets, all acting like we're from Byron Bay, like we were coastal kids — but it was Katoomba. The tan lines were messed up, so you couldn't stop wearing them. Loading Instagram content What is your signature dish? I make an absolutely life-changing vegan lasagne. I've been a vegan since I was 14, so I just perfected it so much over the years for people who eat meat. I feel like everyone who has this lasagne is attached to me in an emotional way. What do you swap in for milk in the béchamel? That's what I've always come up against in a vegan béchamel. None of the alt milks works well for me That is the problem with a vegan lasagne, the béchamel, but I'm going to keep that secret with me, I'm sorry. Absolutely dastardly haha. What is your average daily TikTok time? To be honest, my TikTok algorithm is just so wild and uncurated, I don't know what's going on with the algorithm at the moment. I don't know if she's going through something, someone needs to check on her, but my Instagram reels algorithm gets me so much. I never, ever thought I'd be like 'Instagram reels', but they really got better. I love to say it's an hour a day, but then I also scroll when I wake up in the morning, have a scroll before I go to bed. That's the most dangerous thing. Would you rather meet an alien or a ghost and why? Probably an alien. Meeting a ghost, it would just confirm that people are being haunting, you know what I mean? And that's everywhere you go. I would feel so aware. At least aliens, from what I know, mostly they're not kicking down here. You wouldn't see them as much. "Around the time of the US election, I actually didn't go on TikTok for like two months or something," Sez says. ( Supplied: Chris Hillary ) What's a huge giveaway that someone's a gen Z or millennial? I think gen Z has more of an internet-culture way of speaking, gen Z has way better sarcasm and dark humour and can switch in between things so quickly. I feel like when I'm around gen Z I don't need to take my ADHD meds. When I'm around millennials, I'm more like, 'OK, we really want to take those meds.' I love millennials, they're literally my life. I honestly feel like a lot of my millennial friends worry about me. They think I'm like, on the edge. But that's just how we express ourselves, we're violently unfiltered. What was it like being directed by possibly Australia's most famous millennial, Tom Ballard? It's been great because I am a musical comedian, and one of the main things that I struggle with is punchlines. Like, I really have a lot of songs where I'm just spiralling through it. Photo shows Two men dressed as Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton In 2003, beloved film critic Margaret Pomeranz was arrested for trying to screen a banned film. More than 20 years later, the incident has inspired a comedy show. So, I feel like working with Tom has kind of helped me realise that if I just restructure the spiral a little bit, it can make a bit more sense to everyone. He gives me a lot of good advice, and he also respects how weird my brain is and how it works, because I often speak in riddles. So he's decoded that. He's the gen Z whisperer. Are you scared of turning 30? No, no, not at all. I talk to my friends about it all the time. I'm always like, get me out! Honestly, every year I get older, I'm so much happier. I'm so sick of that whole woman-turning-30 thing where it's like, 'Oh, my God, she's 30. What the hell is she gonna do?!'' Getting older is kind of hectic in a lot of ways, like just realising that everything's a bit more serious. But I think, as a woman, I feel like I spent so much of my early and mid-20s just accidentally being in the most stupid situation where it could have been so great. When you get older, everything gets a bit easier. Dating and life and things get different as you get older, not because you're getting older, but because you've developed your personality more and know what you want. Sez: Keeps Me Young is at Perth Comedy Festival on May 8 and 9, before touring to Brisbane Comedy Festival, Newcastle, Hobart and Launceston. Quotes lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
