Toby Halligan: Popping his Cherry

Toby Halligan is a Feast virgin – but is excited about popping his Feast cherry in lots of ways (and yes he is single!)

After laughing a lot at Halligan’s manic paranoia that he wouldn’t be funny enough, we got down to the serious business of talking about the queerness of comedy. “Being queer is not about whom you’re having it off with. Coming from a different perspective, challenging the status quo is what makes for queerness”, he said. Also it’s about being flamboyant and not just seeking attention, but demanding it!

Finding humour in inappropriate places, questioning commonly held perspectives on life’s holy grails, Halligan was initially inspired by the humour of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett and Billy Connolly. Now his work is more driven by political satire, which he calls “dangerous comedy”, tackling uncomfortable subjects and not being satisfied with cheap laughs. His show takes a poke at authority figures – such as doctors who made his life as an ADD child miserable, flaccid leadership (and who knows what else?) in Australian politics and the church who don’t make any sense at all. How about “You may now rim the groom” as a finale to a queer marriage ceremony? We laughed some more.

Halligan was nominated for Newcomer in the Melbourne Comedy Festival and hailed by the Herald Sun as “one of Australia’s brightest comedic talents.”

Toby Halligan will be in Adelaide for Feast from November 14 – 17 at 7.15pm in The Garden Lounge, at the ANZ Feast Hub. Tickets $15/$13 www.feast.org.au