There was absolutely nothing funny about 2021.
But hey, enough about that year – 2022 is here and so is the 'Best Of The Edinburgh Fest' comedy showcase as part of Melbourne International Comedy Festival!
Across the festival, see comedians John Hastings (CAN), Luke Benson (UK) and Nicky Wilkinson (UK) in night after night of world-class laughs guaranteed to split sides.
Here, Nicky Wilkinson (who is also one half of award-winning physical comedy duo The Kagools) lists her top five tips for an English woman to survive Australia.
The comedian, actress, voice-over artist and presenter now resides in Australia – and has since 2019 – so you'd be silly not to take this advice!
One
‘Slip Slop Slap’ is a cautionary jingle about the importance of sun protection, not an instruction manual for sexual escapades. The slop part is especially important. Wear sunscreen all day every day, even at night. And when your fiancé tells you to put sunscreen on the back of your legs before snorkelling on the Barrier Reef, listen to him, or you’ll be radioactive later that night.Two
Learn the language. 'Yeah nah' usually means yeah. . . Unless it means nah. Courgettes are called zucchinis in Australia. This will save you time at the self-checkout. 'We’re not here to f... spiders' is a weird one. It suggests that at some point, somebody was there to f... spiders. . . Which is a real sign that your netball trip has gotten out of hand.
L-R: John Hastings, Nicky Wilkinson, Luke Benson
Three
Jellyfish stings hurt. . . But they generally won’t kill you. A good guide to the potential lethality of a jellyfish sting is this – if someone is laughing and offering to piss on you, it’s probably not fatal.Four
AFL stands for Australian Football League. That’s where tall, fit men in tight outfits beat the crap out of each other for two hours. When they collide, instead of rolling on the ground clutching an ankle to try and milk a penalty, they just get straight back up and keep playing. It’s weird. Also, it doesn’t matter which team you barrack for (support), the spectators share the same stand!Five
Australians don’t have an accent. They sound Australian, but they all sound the same. Which is great because a stand-up comedian in Australia with any kind of foreign accent is automatically ten per cent funnier. So, if you want to see three great comedians with foreign accents, come watch ‘Best Of The Edinburgh Fest’ – we’ll see you there. Yeah nah. . . Yeah?'Best Of The Edinburgh Fest' plays RMIT Capitol Theatre (Melbourne International Comedy Festival) 31 March-24 April.
