Josh Armstrong has been enriching the Gold Coast's comedy scene since 2014, and now he's bringing Gold Coast Laughs Festival (GC Laughs Festival) into its second year.
Founder of the Gold Coast's Based Comedy, Josh has been putting on stand-up gigs for the past six years. Starting small with a weekly residency at a Robina tavern, Josh's career has grown in leaps and bounds. Adjacent to Based Comedy's success, Josh now runs Gold Coast Laughs Festival (with fellow Co-Director Craig Ivanoff)."We've been running shows on the coast since 2014. So we're coming up to six years and last year in 2019, we partnered with Home Of The Arts (HOTA) for the first GC Laughs Festival, and we're pretty stoked that it's in its second year," Josh says.
As Josh sank his teeth into the Gold Coast comedy scene, he soon got a handle on how to grow his business model enough to cater for a large-scale festival. Based Comedy was expanding organically, and as notoriety and accolades began pouring in, Josh took it in his stride to start developing the comedy festival that he felt the Gold Coast deserved.
Image © Anneliese Nappa
"After running comedy on the Gold Coast for so long, and seeing every other major city with its own festival: from Melbourne International Comedy Festival, to Sydney, Perth, Canberra, and Adelaide with the Fringe. . . I thought it seemed strange that the sixth largest city didn't have a comedy festival to speak of,” he reflects. “Comedy has been a developing scene on the coast for so long. We're finally getting to do it, and work with HOTA, especially after their big rebrand – it all fell into place and makes sense."
Josh believes that the heart of Based Comedy is granting smaller acts the exposure needed to kick-start their career.
Click here to win tickets to one of the festival's gala performances.
"Really, I just wanted to bring those artists to the Gold Coast and expose lesser-known artists who wouldn't usually have a chance to tour here and perform to Gold Coast audiences. We're running, like, ten shows every week up and down the Gold Coast with Based. We have people from all over the country and the world coming to headline.
“So, we're seeing that more and more people seem to be interested in actually going out and supporting live comedy,” he explains. “Being able to bring those people to the Gold Coast is obviously great, we are supporting local acts as well, allowing south-east Queensland performers to perform on big stages with big names and in front of engaged audiences."
Image © Anneliese Nappa
As an event which is still somewhat in its infancy, Josh is excited to see how Gold Coast Laughs Festival has grown since its inception.
"I think it's going to be more organised. More people seem to be aware of what we're doing and that GC Laughs is a 'thing'. We're getting lots of feedback from people on socials saying 'oh look it's back!' and tagging their friends. . . I guess the most significant difference is that we've got a strong audience base this time around."
The line-up for the 2020 iteration is tantalising to any comedy aficionado, as well as just anyone who enjoys a laugh. With performances from Joel Creasey, Gen Fricker, and Randy Feltface to name a few, Josh reveals that his secret to snagging such big names is in part due to hard work and hustle, and in part due to his ability to sweet talk.
"It's a lot of phone calls and promises that we won't be able to keep about giving back rubs!" Josh laughs.
