Local-flavour laughs
TOWNSVILLE-BORN comedian Justin Brown is back in Townsville to present his latest show, Tough Titties, as part of the inaugural Northern Fringe Festival.
Mr Brown said the set touched on his upbringing in Townsville as a child.
“I wanted to make it a bit more personal and talk about growing up in the mean streets of Kirwan,” he said. “It’s a very introspective and personal show, this one.”
Mr Brown said it had been fantastic to watch North Queensland’s comedy scene expand and grow to where it is today.
“When I started in Townsville’s comedy scene with the Comedy Generation, the first one I ever went to was I think with two comedians, I think it was at Riverside Tavern and it was just terrible,” he said.
“The Comedy Generation’s goal at the end of it was to do some type of festival, and it’s good to be a part of that.
“Normally we would do open mic nights and we might do a pro show once every few months, but this is a good stepping stone for all the other comedians to go from short sets to a full 45-minute set. It’s good for the development of Townsville comedy.”
Mr Brown said the venue for Fringe Festival comedy acts was another important aspect of the performance, with multiple comedy shows to be held.
“We came together and decided it would be a good idea to do all our comedy shows in the one venue, the Heritage Exchange was good enough to come to the party,” he said.
“It’s super comfy in the Whisky Bar, sometimes you get that plastic seating and it’s all in rows and it’s very rigid, we wanted to do this somewhere that replicates Townsville’s laid-back lifestyle so everyone’s going to be comfortable, everyone’s going to have fun and you’ll be supporting local comedians who aren’t making a fortune out of it. We’re doing it because we love it, not because it’s our job. That’s the best way to put it, it really does come from a special place.”
Mr Brown said the perfect event to test out the local comedy display was this Friday’s Townsville Comedy Gala, to be held at Strand Park.
“It’s like a buffet of comedy, that’s the best way to describe it,” he said.
“There’s nothing worse than paying for a full ticket to go see someone and you just don’t like them, it happens, and because none of us are established you can’t go on Youtube and look up their style of comedy. So the gala’s awesome because they can watch five minutes and then say ‘well, I really like Justin Brown, I’ll go to his actual show now’. It’s a smorgasbord of comedy.
“Come along, you don’t have to do anything, we do all the work. All the artists have put in a lot of work to create that little one-hour break from your life that’ll hopefully have you laughing your pants off.”
Catch on July 19 and 20 at the Heritage Exchange from 9pm.