Local stars of Perth Comedy Festival to perform on virtual stage at The Laugh Resort

Perth's original live comedy club, The Laugh Resort, has replaced its formerly monthly shows with a series of fortnightly comedy gigs to be live-streamed from it's home at The Shoe Bar, Yagan Square, providing some welcome relief for those missing this year's Perth Comedy Festival. Streamed via Zoom, the launch event will take place at 8pm Wednesday, May 20, with the next taking place June 3, and further gigs scheduled for the first and third Wednesdays of every month. They are set to be a great shows. The Laugh Resort have been hosting comedy events since 1991 and are Perth’s longest running not-for-profit association run for and by stand-up comedians. Alumni include the likes of Dave Hughes, Rove McManus, Claire Hooper and WAAPA grad Jim Jefferies. In addition to hosting monthly comedy nights in front of 100-strong audiences upstairs at The Shoe, earlier this year they hosted 23 shows as part of FRINGE WORLD.

Sami Shah photo by Nicole Cleary

This Wednesday’s event is a showcase of WA-made favourites who would have starred at the Perth Comedy Festival this month, including FRINGE sell-out acts Jon Pinder and award winning ensemble The Motherhood, online sensation Rory Lowe, and 2019 WA Comics’ Choice winner Andrew Wolfe. Acclaimed writer, broadcaster and comedian Sami Shah will also be joining the fun, zooming in from Melbourne to perform his set. Tickets are only $10 to $15 and the recordings won’t be available after the show, so like a live show, you either see it or miss out. Because audience interaction is so central to comedy, it was important that the experience was as close to the real thing as possible. The team at The Laugh Resort experimented with a host of different streaming platforms before deciding on Zoom. Di Star, Manager at The Laugh Resort, emphasised,

“Live comedy is a dialogue – the audience laughing is literally half the experience. So, rather than a one-way stream where the only interaction is by typing, we’re using Zoom so the audience and performers can see and hear each other, in real-time, in the same virtual room."

Tickets are limited to 95, and as with all The Laugh Resort’s shows, ticket income goes directly to the cast and crew – all members of the Arts & Entertainment industry who’ve had their income cut. Plus, all ticket holders go in to the draw to win a $50 voucher from The Shoe.

"A comedian is a comedian as long as they're making comedy and because we want our post-COVID world to still contain comedians, they've got to keep making comedy," Di said.

Andrew Wolfe photo by Aidan Pelham

Last week's preview event attracted audiences from all over Australia and as far as Canada and the UK, which goes to show how laughter can bring people together even in times of crisis.

“One of the great things about this format is we’re not restricted by geography. Local acts can perform on the stage they’re used to - with pro sound and lighting - but we can have performers and viewers from anywhere, suddenly giving our humble Club and WA talent an international stage, and that’s a silver lining."

Event Details

Ticket Price: $10 Concession | $12 Standard | $15 Household (more than one viewer per device) Virtual doors open at 7.30pm for 8pm start. Get tickets here: https://laughresort.eventbrite.com.au/ For updates on acts follow @thelaughresort on Facebook and Instagram.

Featured image: Rory Lowe photo by Kaifu Deng.