Third time's a charm for local comedians Liam Callen and his crew of Newcastle comics heading to Queensland in what they've dubbed "The Comedy Detour".
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For the last two years, Callen has failed twice when attempting to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so now he and his mates are heading to Queensland to prove their talents and get some video evidence to guarantee their place in next year's famous arts festival in Scotland.
"[Comedian] James [Connors] and I think we weren't accepted because we didn't have a lot of promotional material. We're getting better at that now, but it's not something I've thought about in the past," Callen says.
He describes the other comedians on the tour.
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"Elliott Stewart is an adorkable comedy wunderkind with a frenetic delivery and a darkly skewed wit. James Connors is a wisecracking wild man with a polished delivery and no-holds-barred act. Luke Dillon is a self-deprecating lad with a laid back stage presence, and a frank joke-telling style. Allan Brady is motor-mouthed comedy dynamo with an act full of clever quips and masterful moments of improv," he says.
Due to other commitments, Brady won't be able to join until the tail end of the tour, but from August 8 in Muswellbrook the Comedy Detour have at least 12 shows locked in. They'll go as far North as Airlie Beach in Queensland and return to Newcastle at the end of the month to perform two final shows at The Press Bookhouse on August 29 and August 31 (that show is sold out).
Callen reckons for their first couple of shows they'll be relying on prepared material. The more shows, the better they'll get.
"By the end of the tour we'll have five to 10 minutes of new material each. We haven't done a tour of this size before, but we went to Adelaide Fringe and stopped in Griffith on the way, and that was one of the most interesting gigs and that inspired an entire [Newcastle] Fringe show [a few years ago] called Hell Gig Simulator," he says.
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The Comedy Detour is a grand chance a self-promotion, and their actual journey sounds like a premise to a great Aussie comedy (or perhaps horror) movie. All but late-comer Brady are travelling in Connors' mother's Lexus. While the four men will occasionally be sleeping in booked accommodation along the way, for at least half of the three-and-a-half week stint, they'll be camping rough in a six-man tent they'll stash in the car's boot.
Callen has been told the tent is a "legit good one." But he's still a bit nervous about all the togetherness.
"I can deal with James and Luke, but Elliott I'm not sure. He's quite younger than the rest of us, and he can be somewhat hyper at times. I don't know if our energies are gonna gel that well," Callen says.
For Callen, who's been in the Newcastle comedy scene for years, gigs like this are nothing new.
"It's also part of the Newcastle community mentality," he says. "If you can't get the show, then you make your own."
To learn more about their upcoming tour dates, search for The Comedy Detour on Facebook and Instagram.
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