London comedian Carl Donnelly has been preparing for his show in Bunbury next month as part of the lineup for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow.
Donnelly has previously been apart of some of the biggest comedy festivals in the world including Montreal Just for Laughs, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival and Kilkenny Cat Laughs. But the international star said he’s been enjoying this new adventure.
“This is the first time I’ve done the roadshow. I’ve just finished the Queensland leg and I’ve just landed in Alice Springs for the Northern Territory leg and then we finish up in Western Australia so I’m squeezing all my roadshow experience into one year,” he said.
“It’s a bit different to what I normally do, it’s a mixed bag of comics and you get to go to places you probably would never get to go to otherwise.
“I’ve got family in Melbourne but I’ve seen more of Australia in the last two weeks than they ever have and they grew up here.”
And the critically acclaimed comic is excited for the set he’s preparing for Bunbury.
“I like to accumulate things as I go so by the time I got to the bottom of Queensland, I was talking quite a bit about the things that I had experienced on route which is quite nice,” Donnelly said.
“So I’m hoping by the time I get into the South West of WA, I’ll have some new stuff about what I’ve encountered on the way down.”
The man behind the success of the podcast the Carl Donnelly and Chris Martin Comedy Podcast said he just sort of fell into his comedy career.
“I never really decided to become a comedian, it just kind of happened – I was in a job I didn’t like in my early twenties and went to see live stand-up at 21 and the moment I saw it, I had a weird light bulb moment and I just wanted to try it,” he laughed.
“I’d never done any performing before and I’m actually quite shy in person really but something happened when I watched live stand-up and it really attracted me.
“It took me a year or two to build up the courage to do it but when I finally did one, I loved it so much – it was so scary but fun.”
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival favourite has seen his style of comedy nominated for Edinburgh Comedy Awards for many years and he said he’s been lucky to spend his life travelling the world doing what he loves.
“I get to just tell little stories about things that happen to me and what I get up to and they travel quite well,” Donnelly said.
“I just have to check a couple of words here and there that might not be common in all places but on the whole, the actual stories are pretty universal stories that people will see some of themselves in as well.
“If you love doing it, it’s the best thing in the world – I get paid to be silly.”
Carl Donnelly 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.