If you’re in need of some laughs this summer, we have good news for you.

Australia’s longest-running comedy club, The Laugh Resort, is back at Fringe World, with a program that includes stand-up, improv, interactive multi-media works, and even a choose-your-own adventure musical comedy.

For younger fans of comedy, The Laugh Resort is also branching out into PG-rated shows.

With WA “open” again, the The Laugh Resort has returned to its pre-pandemic tradition of programming a mix of visiting artists from overseas and interstate as well as locals, and the line-up for its Fringe program is double the size of 2022’s, with 24 gigs on offer from over 70 comedians.

Ahead of The Laugh Resort’s Fringe World season, Seesaw Mag’s Rachel Denham-White was keen to learn more about their smörgåsbord of shows from the club’s manager, Di Star.

Rachel Denham-White: For Seesaw Mag readers who don’t know about The Laugh Resort, can you tell us a bit about the organisation? 

We hope people discover new and local acts … they could become the next big thing – then you get to say you saw them when … Our stage, after all, has seen the beginnings of some of comedy’s biggest names.

Di Star: The Laugh Resort is Australia’s longest running comedy club. In the late 1980s, a bunch of actors at The Blue Room Theatre (then Actors Centre) formed our unique artist-led volunteer-run association, dedicated to fostering professional comedy in WA. We became incorporated in 1991 and what started as a Sunday session – of this gang basically learning stand-up comedy as they went – found a regular home for weeknight shows. 

Our first gig was above a billiard hall (in a long-gone building where Northbridge Piazza is now), then for over a decade upstairs at The Brass Monkey, then the back of Rosie O’Grady’s for a while, before settling in our current home upstairs at The Shoe Bar & Café in Yagan Square. 

For our industry practitioners, we provide professional development by way of workshop and performance opportunities. For audiences, being not-for-profit means our public events can deliver top talent in top value shows, without the top dollar prices. Everything made from our ticket sales is distributed equitably among those behind each show. 

Rather than being one person’s business, the Club belongs to the Perth comedy community, and it’s they who elect the committee that steers it at any given time. It’s probably what’s seen us last for more than 30 years!

RDW: Tell us about the season you are presenting at Fringe World 2023.

DS: This’ll be our fifth show at Fringe, and it’s the biggest one yet! We’ve got 86 performances of 24 shows scheduled over 23 days (Wednesday-Sunday each week).

Now that the world is allowed to mingle again, we’re back to our usual program of shows with about 50% Western Australian artists and 50% visiting favourites, all hand-picked and professionally skilled in the art of “mirth-making”. There really is something to suit most every sense of humour for ages 12 and up.

For those who can’t decide what they’d like to see at Fringe, our top value weekly showcase is “9 AT 9”. It’s a five-star selection of nine top comics at 9pm each Wednesday – you really can’t go wrong with that.

RDW: How do you choose which shows to include in The Laugh Resort’s lineup?

DS: Every Fringe, we seem to have more and more comics wanting to create with us. 

We were peer-voted the WA Comedy industry’s Favourite Venue 2020 – with interest coming from all over the world. But the shows we present or host don’t just have a great title or hook or poster or premise; they’re by creatives with real talent, as joke-writers, performers, storytellers. They’re all good people to be around – those you can face the challenges of the festival environment with and they’ll not just rise to the occasion, but thrive in it.

RDW: What do you hope audiences will take away from one of The Laugh Resort’s comedy shows?

DS: Feel-good vibes. We hope they’ll recognise themselves or find something to connect with in our program – there’s a lot more than blokes telling jokes in our programming. 

We hope, in the diversity of humour on offer, they’ll find the shows and comedians that tickle them. If they don’t find this straight off the bat, well, they’ll give another show and another comedian the opportunity. 

We hope people discover new and local acts they might never have encountered, and take a chance on them – they could become your new favourite or even the next big thing – then you get to say you saw them when they were working with us. Our stage, after all, has seen the beginnings of some of comedy’s biggest names.

RDW: What’s next for you after this?

DS: For our first 25 years, we presented a showcase of the best and brightest local (pro and emerging) and visiting acts every week. Right now, we do that with a regular residency at The Shoe (that’s on the third Wednesday of each month), but once the redevelopment of Yagan Square is complete, we hope to again grow our frequency. 

We’re continuing to work on charity gala’s and mentoring opportunities and presenting the annual WA Comedy Awards – we’ve been hosting the “Dousties” since 2000.

We’re also excited about some new projects designed to keep developing comedians’ skills and connecting them with audiences, both locally and globally. Watch this space!

The Laugh Resort runs 20 January to 19 February 2023.

“9 at 9” plays The Shoe Bar every Wednesday from 25 January to 15 February 2023.

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