Comedian Application

Thank you for your interest in performing with A Laugh And A Half.

We Have No Urgency or Rush in Adding Comedians to Our Roster

It’s important – and fair – to make you aware from the start that we aren’t in desperate need of additional comedians. If you are looking to ‘jump up’ in the next few weeks, you are in the wrong place.

We are very lucky to have an awesome list of great comedians who have chosen to perform with us.

We have an application process so that we don’t waste your time – or ours – if you don’t meet our criteria.

If you do our application process properly, there is considerable time, effort and some expense required from you, with no guarantee that you will still get to perform with us.

Please take this into account before you decide whether or not to apply to perform with us.

We select our rotating-roster lineup six months in advance (November and May) so no matter when your application is submitted, it will normally be assessed the following November or May (whichever comes first). If we haven’t seen you perform, this also puts you on our radar so we get a chance to get out and see you live, and maybe even have a chat with you before considering you for our lineup.

We promote our shows and participating comedians via social media. For your application to be considered, you must have, as a minimum, both a Facebook public ‘fan’ page and a public account on one other social media platform (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, your own YouTube channel, whatever Twitter is called these days) for your comedy profile (where you only post about comedy).

Please see the full list of criteria below.

Why This Application Form?

Almost all of our communication with comedians on our roster is written communication.

We send details to our comedians about shows, venues, festivals, tours, payments, other opportunities, etc. – all in writing. All of these written communications require comedians to read everything carefully and follow written instructions. If they can’t do that, or they do it half-arsed, it creates more work for us and costs time, money and opportunities for everyone else in the group. It often means they waste their own time and miss some great opportunities.

So this application form is the first step. If completing this form properly is not your thing, or you find it annoying, then this comedy project is definitely not for you either.

We understand and sympathise that some very funny people aren’t organised or don’t do written communication very well. And that’s OK. There are plenty of great rooms who don’t require these things. But the way our comedy is run, good reading and writing communication skills are an essential starting point.

So if you have good reading and writing skills, attention to detail and are still interested, please read the application form carefully, then apply when you are ready. No rush.

To Apply, You Must Meet ALL of These Criteria

So before you apply, please check that you meet ALL of these criteria:

You must;

Not have previously applied to join us.
Be a Sydney-Based comedian (live in Sydney).
Perform stand-up comedy. We don’t do improv or sketch comedy.
Be reliable and organised (don’t cancel gigs, arrive early, reply to messages, etc.)
Be computer-literate. As an example, if you miss the hyperlinks on this page, your application will almost certainly not qualify.
Have fast, easy access to a computer with Word, Excel and a PDF reader (for example, some documents we send you don’t work on all phones).
Have been performing stand-up for at least the last three years.
Have performed over 200 stand-up comedy spots.
Want to do continue doing stand-up long term.
Not be a comedy room-runner (pro/semi-pro/open mic/free room, etc.)
Have a 300-word comedy bio that meets our criteria.
Have a high-resolution (300 dots-per-inch), professionally photographed promotional portrait photo of you.
Have current performers’ public liability insurance.
Attend our shows straight and sober and perform straight and sober.
Perform 100% your own original material.
Not do racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic material.
Like performing in a supportive group of comedians.
Be happy to help out others.
Have an active Facebook Page exclusively for your comedy.
Have liked us on Facebook.
Have an active public account on an additional social media platform exclusively for your comedy.
Be active (with your comedy) on social median and will like and share our posts/tweets.
Have recently been to one of our shows.
Have read our FAQ.
Be able to take the time and care (and research if needed) to fill in our application form properly. Nearly half of applicants make multiple basic mistakes, which means their application is automatically rejected.

Only apply if either:

1. You meet ALL of the criteria listed above or;

2. You have been personally invited by us to apply (please note that sending you the link to this application does not constitute an invitation).

Please aim to meet the criteria. Don’t aim to get invited. We’ve become aware of a couple of comedians trying to game an invitation. Don’t do that.

If you don’t meet ALL of the criteria above and haven’t been invited to apply, please do not apply. Your application will not be answered.

If we offer paid gigs in future, you will be required to invoice us with an ABN. If you don’t have one, you can apply for an ABN here.

Important: For your convenience, we recommend that you print out the list below and prepare all the information required before you start to complete this form.

Please complete all fields

* indicates required field

Name:*

Email:*

Subject:*

Have you previously applied to join us?*

Where do you live?*

Do you run (or co-run) any comedy room/s? (Pro/Semi-Pro/Open Mic/Free Room, etc.)*

How Long Have You Been Performing Stand-Up Comedy Regularly (Continuously, at least once a fortnight)

Your Mobile Number:*

Your Public (Comedian) Facebook Account:*

Your Public (Comedian) Instagram Account:

Your Public (Comedian) YouTube Channel:

Address/es of any other (Comedian) Social Media Accounts You Have:

Your Personal (Comedian) Website:

Link to your comedy showreel or performance clips:

If you join our line-up, are you willing to actively, regularly promote our shows via your Social Media?

Have you liked/followed us on Facebook?

Your Comedy Bio: 300 words. (Stretch box from bottom right corner to expand typing area)*

Professional Promo Portrait Photo of You (300dpi resolution. If you do not know what this means, please do not submit an application). We cannot accept low resolution or amateur photos.*

Acceptable file types: pdf,gif,jpg,jpeg,png.
Maximum file size: 7mb.

Do you perform 100% your own original material?

How many different, tight, proven sets do you have (10 mins each)?

What nights of the week are you regularly NOT available to perform?

Are you able and willing to travel to anywhere in the Sydney metro area to perform? If no, provide brief explanation.

How many times have you performed stand-up comedy (to an audience) in the last 3 years?

At which Sydney comedy venues have you performed stand-up in the last 2 years? List up to 10.*

Do you have current performer's public liability insurance?

Do you perform straight and sober?*

Do you perform any racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic material?*

Have you won any comedy awards? (Not essential)

If you have won any comedy awards, please provide details:

Have You Recently Attended One of Our Shows?*

Date and Venue of the Show You Attended:

What were your impressions of our show?*

What is your understanding of what we are doing with our shows?:

How would YOUR involvement improve our shows? (Be specific)

Do you have any ideas on how to improve our shows?

Any other information that you think may be relevant to your application:

Do you have an ABN (Australian Business Number) for comedy? (Not needed for unpaid gigs)*

Your ABN, if you have one:

Being helpful to others is a requirement to join this group. Please give detailed examples of how you have helped other comedians who are not your friends.*

If a member of our group told you to apply, please provide their name:

If your application is successful, are you willing to sign a photographic release form and a confidentiality agreement?*

I understand that if anything is missing, incorrect or incomplete in my application I will not receive a reply.*

I understand that submitting false or misleading information for financial advantage is fraud. I hereby declare that the above information is true & correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.*

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If you have clicked ‘Submit’ and are still on this page, your submission hasn’t worked. It is probably because:

You haven’t completed some mandatory information (check for fields highlighted with a red border or with red text above them) or;
You haven’t accurately completed the CAPTCHA code or;
Your image is not within the required parameters (usually too big).

What Happens After You Apply

If you complete the application and accurately provide what we have asked for, we will contact you.

If you don’t hear back from us within 4 weeks it is most likely because you did not follow the instructions or meet our guidelines. We understand that you may want feedback, but our admin team is very small and sometimes we get more than ten applications a week and some have as many as six careless mistakes in them, which is just an annoying waste of everybody’s time. So we don’t have the time or resources to reply to everyone individually and explain how each application was incomplete or didn’t follow the guidelines. To avoid your application being ignored, perhaps get someone with even better attention to detail than you to thoroughly check your application before you submit it. Thank you.