Ladies laugh at days of their lives

COMEDIENNES Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs bring their rollicking roadshow to Hobart for the first time next weekend, off the back of headlining this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The two-woman, two-hour show Women Like Us, is billed by Nolan as “a show for the everywoman”.

“Forget the Pilates and the yogalates, by the end of the show your abs will be so tired,” she said.

The show features observational and offhand stories about children, weight gain, the duo’s perceived failure to parent, strange surgeries and tax departments.

“Women go nuts at those performances because they like to hear stories about their lives,” Nolan said. “And we’re delivering laughs solidly. “Sure we’re making jokes, but in the end if you laugh at something you disempower it.

“Women are leaving our show thanking us for not just how much they have laughed, but because it made them feel normal.”

To date, the duo have performed at more than 85 venues across the country, and were nominated for Best Comedy at this year’s Perth Fringe Festival.

The show follows the release of their book Women Like Us, which came out in May.

“Women Like Us isn’t just a comedy show, it’s a movement,” Nolan said.

“But it’s not just a show for women. This is a show for men who love women; men with mothers, sisters, wives, daughters; men who work with women; men who spend their life in the car beeping the horn waiting for women.”

Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs present Women

Like Us at the Blundstone Arena Function Centre from 8pm next Saturday (August 25). Tickets are $35, available from www.womenlikeus .com.au or the Bellerive Quay Newsagency.