LAUGH YOUR TROUBLES AWAY
Nothing lifts your spirits like a good belly laugh. Let it all out when the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow comes to Darwin and Alice Springs.
WORDS LISA PELLEGRINO
IMAGE NICK ROBERTSON
TERRITORIANS LOVE TO laugh. We laugh at ourselves, our quirks, our habits. We even laugh in the face of heartache and hard times.
That’s exactly what comedian Robyn Reynolds loves about comedy. She joins the impressive line-up of comics travelling from the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) straight to the NT.
Originally from the UK, Robyn moved to Sydney and accidentally became a comedian.
“I fell ass backwards into stand-up comedy,” recalls Reynolds.
“My absolute favourite thing was to watch open mic nights with my backpacker friends. One day, I was very drunk at the bar, and I was telling my friends this story about this awful date I’d been on, and the organiser said, ‘would you like to tell that on stage?’.”
And the rest is history. Now, fresh off a run at the MICF, Reynolds hits the NT with a cast of comedy legends and fresh faces, including host Cameron James, Celya AB, Daniel Connell, and Prue Blake.
Reynolds describes her comedy as Bridget Jones-level of embarrassing moments storytelling.
“If you have a funny friend who’s always cracking you up, and telling you ridiculous stories, and makes the ridiculous relatable, that’s me!”
But it’s not all awkward dating stories and red-faced recollections. Reynolds appreciates the cathartic side to comedy.
“The thing that I love most about comedy is, for me, it’s been my way to reclaim power over moments that made me feel powerless. Something that made me feel utterly terrible in that moment, I’ll turn that over the next few days, weeks, months – or even years – into a story that I’ll tell my friends … and possibly even my therapist,” she says.
“Once you can reclaim that moment, and get people to laugh at it, it’s just the purest form of owning that moment and reclaiming it as yours.”
Reynolds thinks that the MICF Roadshow is one of the best ways to experience live comedy.
“It’s a showcase, so there’s going to be something for everyone. You will have a really good time because each comedian has only got the shortest number of minutes with you, so we’re doing our absolute best jokes. We’re coming out strong. And we’re all excited to be there. There’ll be joke-tellers, storytellers, there’ll be people doing absolute classic club comedy. It’s such good value”.
This month, laugh your way to the MICF Roadshow at the Araluen Arts Centre and the Darwin Entertainment Centre.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow
WHEN WED 14 MAY | 7.30PM
AT ARALUEN ARTS CENTRE
COST $55 | $45 MEMB | $43 CONC/STUD | $50 GROUP 6+
INFO araluenartscentre.nt.gov.au
WHEN FRI 16 MAY | 8PM
AT DARWIN ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
COST $50 | $45 MEMB/CONC
INFO yourcentre.com.au
