A New Leaf Media

Never trust anyone who enjoyed high school. In his grown-up festival show, brutal honesty is the name of the game for Josh Thomas, who mines his relationships with his parents, the school bully, the girl who sort of touched him while they were naked, and his testicles. Winner of last year's Raw Comedy competition, Thomas is an interesting new voice in Australian comedy. At nineteen years of age, he is ...

Becoming a fan of Sammy J is exhausting. Like some sort of keyboard-wielding Pied Piper, J compels many of his fans, using his charm and charisma, to travel the length and breadth of the nation just to watch him perform. (I saw one particularly fanatical groupie at almost every show.). Although Australia is the world's smallest continent, it is fairly sparsely populated, which can make travelling between major capital ...

The Powder Room in the Melbourne Town Hall is muggy. Its hot and smoky moisture hangs heavy in the air. The stage backdrop is adorned with a black sign with silver letters that simply say 'HELL'. Sweating, I do a quick stocktake of my recent behaviour and begin to worry. However when Glenn Wool arrives on stage (looking nothing like his poster) I relax. It's just a poorly ventilated ...