EVEN though it was clearly on the billing, Halls Gap Comedy Festival organisers were amused most people were still surprised to find international acts.
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It was the whole basis for the festival.
The inaugural Halls Gap Comedy Festival attracted more than 220 to Centenary Hall where international comedians, travelling between major festivals in Adelaide and Melbourne, stopped to generate some laughs.
Festival co-founder Angeline Martin enticed them with the guarantee to see a kangaroo, which she did as promised, plus a few emus and a snake.
“They didn’t know how well they’d be received in a country town,” Ms Martin said.
“At one stage, I looked at the crowd and there wasn’t anyone with a straight face. It was a really good crowd, the comedians were all pretty pumped at the end.”
The Halls Gap show fits into a 10-day gap between the Adelaide and Melbourne comedy festivals.
Ms Martin, working with Cassandra Toombs of Tuxedo Cat in Melbourne and Adelaide felt it was the perfect chance and timing to entice comedians to Halls Gap, knowing many travelled by road between cities and were looking for places to stay along the way.
Tuxedo Cat helped transform the hall into a city-like comedy venue, with backdrops and equipment needed for the show.
This year’s event featured international acts Deanne Smith (Canada) Seymour Mace (United Kingdom), Markus Birdman (United Kingdom), and Zach and Viggo (Norway).
All will feature in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Ms Martin said they learnt plenty from the experience but all were keen to make the show bigger and better next year.
She was pleased initial feedback from the town, the comics and from visitors was a resounding success.
Ms Martin hoped to eventually add more shows to help make Halls Gap a ‘comedy central’ and she hoped more Halls Gap residents or businesses could ‘foster’ a comedian, providing accommodation and a tour guide during their stay.
Planning is about to begin.
