Coast’s becoming laugh hub
KNOCK knock, who’s there? That’s the sound of internationally renowned comedy at the Gold Coast’s door and it’s swinging wide open.
Celebrated comic Nikki Osborne, whose new show Too Far is coming to HOTA on March 18 as part of the GC Laughs Festival, said locals can expect the city’s comedy scene to get bigger and better in the year ahead.
“It’s a scene – I know a whole heap of comedians in Melbourne moving up to the GC in 2023 just on the down low,” Nikki said.
“I’m on the Sunshine Coast it’s a bit out of my way but at least I know it’s there.
“As for the rental crisis, they can sleep in the green room and do cruise ships in between local gigs,” she laughed.
A master of reinvention, Nikki has gone from modelling to acting, TV presenting to comedy.
“It’s less about being good at lots of things,” she said
“You’re only good looking for so long then you’re like s**t better flex, better act, then you act, then you’re like s**t too old for this I’m gonna be a comedian, then you’re a comedian, then you’re like s**t, what’s left, Onlyfans?
“I found at the moment being a woman in comedy has been fantastic.
“The thing in this industry is the men and women, we’re all competing against each other.
“It isn’t a matter of if you’re
male or female – you’re gonna give each other a hard time in the green room, that’s just how it is.
“It’s ego-based and everyone hates themselves and everyone hates each other, but we have a really good time doing it.”
No stranger to criticism,
Nikki has and continues to defend her style of comedy, often facing backlash from social media “upstarts”. Circa, 2021 the Harvey Weinstein Lindsay Lohan post. The post was a photo of both convicted sex offender Weinstein and actor Lohan with the caption “the original no jab, no job”.
The internet went into a frenzy with Abbie Chatfield at the forefront.
“Firstly it’s funny, secondly it’s funny because I’ve been hit on more times than the Family Feud buzzer,” Nikki said.
“I’ve lived it and I feel like I’ve conquered it.
“I lived through the era of the network ‘bonings’, I went through all of that – and now these little upstarts are coming in, going on their moral soapbox and I feel like people like me and Christie Whelan Browne – we’re the ones who were on the front line,” she told the Bulletin.
“They’re just reaping the rewards of all the s**t we went through so yeah – f**k off.”
Cue the return of Nikki’s ‘Bad Barbie’, an egocentric on stage character.
“I plan on taking Bad Barbie over to Edinburgh,” Nikki said.
“We might go counterfeminism and see how that goes – imagine that – they would be like ‘how dare you work against feminism?’
“I’m a female stand-up comedian doing a show in Edinburgh – you don’t get much more feminist than that.
“People don’t understand irony anymore.”
Nikki admits she has been cancelled a few times, but she’s merely giving “the punter what they want”.
“With Too Far the punters can expect lots of belly laughs,” Nikki said.
“It’s interactive so if you’re shy don’t come. There’s a lot of roasting – it’s almost like theatre in the round.
“If you wanna come and have a real experience, it’s a good show.”