Women Like Us comedians Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs are different from your usual comedians. For a start they’re women. They’re mothers. They’re middle aged and they are country girls.
With over 50 sold-out shows to their credit, the girls have performed to packed houses at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival’s Enmore Theatre, Adelaide Fringe and Perth Festival, as well as taking their comedy stylings to halls, pubs, clubs and theatres around the country. And now it’s Cooroy’s turn with Women Like Us performing at the Club Cooroy on Saturday 7 October.
Women Like Us is two hours of stand up comedy – an hour apiece. This isn’t your regular stand up comedy show. These are untold laugh out loud women’s stories, smack bang centre stage.
Small town showgirls, there are few sacred cows that Briggs and Nolan shy away from milking, with seven children and 35 years of stage time between them, their ‘failure to parent’ is the focus of their material, along with the beauty industry, getting older, getting fatter, strange surgeries, weird TV shows, obsessions, frustrations, and at the end of the day, who unpacks the dishwasher.
Mandy Nolan is a columnist for the Byron Shire Echo, and writes regularly for Mamamia. She has appeared on ABC’s Q&A, SBS’s Mums The Word and About Women and is in demand as a corporate and club performer around the country. Ellen Briggs is a national Finalist for RAW comedy and winner of Foxtel Comedy Channel’s Be A Comedian.
Performing in the sold out Up Front showcase at Melbourne Comedy Festival at Melbourne Town Hall, these two were clearly the comedy picks of the night. One reviewer raved ‘Two totally relatable ladies who hit the nail on the head of charismatic female comedy. Prepare yourself to be hunched over in hysterics!’
Ellen Briggs never intended to be a comedian. She just wanted to write a book. That’s why just over a decade ago she enrolled in Mandy’s stand up comedy class.
“If the sole purpose of teaching over 1000 people was just to get someone with Ellen’s talent and ability up on the stage, it was well worth it. I’d hate to think what would have become of her if she hadn’t found her feet as a comedian. She just had too many stories to waste on her labrador. It’s a real privilege to share the stage with someone who is just getting better and better with every show. She’s a knock out.”
Women Like Us is a riot. Audiences have complained of aching stomach muscles, sore jaws, and at one show a woman actually injured herself when she laughed so much she slipped from her chair onto the floor.
“We want to make you laugh, but most of all we want you to go home feeling good about yourself. Women spend too much time not liking themselves, beating themselves up for being too old, too fat, a bad parent, a terrible cook, but we just say, hey, its what makes us human. Celebrate your imperfection!”
The girls perform on Saturday 7 October, from 7pm, at the Cooroy RSL. Tickets are $32 from www.womenlikeus.com.au or call 54476131. Grab some girlfriends and don’t miss your chance to see this hilarious show.
