Cabaret and comedy mastermind Gillian Cosgriff is preparing for the WA leg of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow headed to Bunbury to make local audiences laugh on June 3.
The lovable lady, who spent a few years living in WA herself, said she’s excited to join the lineup again and hit the road in WA soon.
“This is my third year of the roadshow. It’s so nice to hang out with other people,” she laughed.
“So much of the work that I do is by myself so it’s really fun to go out with a bunch of mates and the shows are always great and you get to see all these parts of Australia that you might not otherwise get to see.
“I’m from Brisbane but I moved to Perth to study for three years and I come back every year for Fringe in Perth but getting to see a bit of the rest of the state is really exciting.”
Cosgriff studied music theatre at WAAPA and after graduating in 2010, went on to write her debut show, Waitressing...And Other Things I Do Well, which debuted at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and played to sellout crowds in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.
Her second solo show, This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, won a number of awards, received countless nominations and saw Cosgriff play the show for her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Among many television appearances to also keep her busy, Cosgriff’s most recent show, To The Moon & Back, has received rave reviews for performance seasons at Fringe World Perth, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and the Hayes Theatre Co.
But the humble Brisbane-ite said she never expected to end up where she has.
“It kind of happened by accident that I ended up in comedy,” she laughed.
“I play the piano and I always wrote my own songs on the side and when I was at uni, it was a really nice relief for me from the straight up musical theatre stuff. So when I graduated, I started doing cabarets where I would play mostly my original songs and talk in between them and tell stories and it sort of gradually morphed into stand up and comedy really.
“It’s a pretty ridiculous job, I love that I get to travel so much and meet a lot of different people and just talk to people. Some days I get up and go to work and some days I don’t get up at all so dealing with and accepting the instability and the pay off is that you get to make jokes and drink with your friends so it’s pretty good.”
But, not without it’s challenges, Cosgriff acknowledged the difficulty of being a woman in a somewhat male-dominated industry, and the only female on the touring lineup.
“It’s getting better all the time, I certainly have a great community around me of excellent and funny ladies which is great. It’s nice to feel a part of something that is so supportive,” she said.
“It’s exciting to see it growing and changing and finding more space for women and more diversity in comedy – you just get more jokes that way.”
The talented comedian said audiences can expect a belly-full of laughs from her and her colleagues on the WA leg of the Roadshow.
“My set will be an amalgamation really – I'm about to go through old shows and cherry pick the ones that I want to do. I tour with my keyboard so it’ll be a couple of songs and some stand up across a range of weird topics,” she laughed.
“I’ve toured with Bob Franklin and Ivan on Roadshow before.
“Bob Franklin will be quiet all day and then he’ll say the funniest thing you’ve ever heard, he’s a silent assassin. And Ivan is just a very funny man, and also he loves food so it’s great touring with him because he finds the best food in the town so we’ll see what he can find in Bunbury.”
Gillian Cosgriff will be in Bunbury for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre on Saturday, June 3. For more information visit bunburyentertainment.com.