Stitch in the ‘swich – Christmas Special – December 2024

Presented by Ipswich Civic Centre

Supported by Sit Down Comedy Club

Sit Down Comedy Club brings comedy to Ipswich in the monthly Stitch in the ‘swich series.

This month features an incredible lineup featuring Mike van Acker, Rusty Berther, Mandy Nolan and Georgina Humphries!

Mike van Acker

Mike van Acker has spent most of his adult life trying to stay away from stand up comedy. It was easy when he left high school – there was no comedy in Brisbane.  He became a singing telegram performer instead.  Keen wasn’t he?

In January 1992 Mike was minding his own business contract cleaning when his acting agent called, reminded him who she was, and told him the ‘Sit Down Comedy Club’ was about to open in Brisbane.  It was a defining moment for him.  As he stood in his trusty storeroom surrounded by mops and Chux supa-wipes (the extra absorbent type) he received ‘the comedy calling’ – a strange, dizzy feeling that seemed to bring stomach cramps as well.  Two weeks later as he failed miserably on his stand up debut he realised it was not the comedy but the ammonia calling.  It really wasn’t a well-ventilated storeroom.

A few years later becoming a bit good at comedy Mike sold his contract cleaning company and began making a full time living as a performer.  To facilitate this, there may have been a time when he regularly dressed up as (among other things) a clown, a spy, a waiter, and at one memorable gig the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.  What can we say?  He was young.  He needed the money.

Mike continued to avoid doing stand up where possible – he even took a year off to sing and dance in a theatre restaurant on the Gold Coast, but always found his way back to stand up. Stints as the audience warm-up comedian for Channel 7’s Family Feud did little to dampen his enthusiasm, and after his fourth successful tour of New Zealand’s comedy clubs (both of them) he decided to give the street theatre and magic gigs a big miss, and gracefully accept that he and stand up comedy are going to be together a long time.

Mike’s list of foreign countries worked in reads like a list of foreign countries worked in, and includes England, USA, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and New Zealand.  Some people are impressed by stuff like that.

Rusty Berther

In 1986 after a stint as a burger flipper at McDonalds and a few years as a roof plumber, Rusty moved to Melbourne from his native Queensland in search of a career in entertainment.

He first joined a barbershop quartet called Four Chairs No Waiting, playing festivals and shopping centres around Melbourne to great acclaim, as well as a four month stint at Expo 88 in Brisbane.

Four Chairs was where Rusty first met John Fleming and together they joined another successful  acapella group, The Phones, then in 1990 started the Scared Weird Little Guys.

The Scaredies have just finished an incredible career which included an astonishing number of shows – over 4500 in countries all over the world – festivals, comedy clubs, theatres, universities, countless television and radio spots, corporate events, childrens shows and everything in between. However, all good things must come to an end and Rusty and John went out on a high with a successful national farewell tour which left their legions of fans shouting for more.

An exciting future now lies ahead with Rusty working on various television related ventures including a documentary on his trip to Antarctica to run a marathon!

Rusty is an accomplished, all round entertainer and musician. He plays a variety of instruments including guitar, ukulele, banjo, harmonica and double bass. He is a skilled vocalist, comedy writer, musical arranger and bandleader. Years of diverse performing situations has given him the ability to work under any circumstances – from noisy street shows to corporate awards nights, from nerve wracking live television to a packed MCG.

Mandy Nolan

Mandy Nolan is a funny woman.

A stand up comedian for well over 28 years, audiences adore Mandy on stage, and around Byron Bay where she lives, Mandy-jokes are as much a part of the vernacular as any surf speak.

Her humour is sharp, honest, sometimes self-depreciating, somewhat outrageous, but never cruel or pretentious. Frequently irreverent, it speaks to a diverse audience with no set demographic, no gender, race or religion, occupation or tribe.

Mandy’s stand-up is known and loved for its rapid fire  philandering and esoteric observations that emerge from the musings of what she describes as ‘a woman whose dilemma it is to navigate the new frontiers in the suburban badlands of human relationships and traverse that darkly hypocritical abyss that exists between action and belief.’

One of Australia’s strongest female comedic talents, Mandy Nolan has honed the ability to bring a room to its knees, whether that be Melbourne’s Last Laugh, Gold Coast’s Comedy in the Basement, Brisbane’s Sit Down Comedy Club, the 2000 plus crowds she’s wowed at Jupiter Casino’s Laugh Your Pants Off Gala’s or the 800 strong function of women from VIEW club who all declared Nolan hands down the funniest guest speaker they’d ever had.

Multi-talented Nolan is an accomplished comedian, artist and journalist. A self proclaimed expert on all matters feminine she writes for the Byron Echo where her weekly Soapbox has attracted the admiration and loyalty  of readers for almost two decades. Nolan also writes for Mamamia, was a contributor for Wendy Harmer’s Online magazine The Hoopla and has been a featured guest on ABC’s Q&A  and SBS’s Mums The Word.

A thrice published author Nolan’s previous titles with Finch include ‘What I Would Do If I Were You’  & ‘Boyfriend’s We’ve all Had and Shouldn’t have.’ Sydney Morning Herald’s Bruce Elder called Nolan ‘the country’s sharpest and wittiest comedic columnist’ . In 2015 alongside an 8 date East Coast book launch she also appeared at Bellingen Writers Festival, Byron Writers Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival and the Romance Writers of Australia Conference.

For nearly two decades Nolan has taught the gentle art of stand up comedy to over 1000 aspirants, with successful proteges Hannah Gadsby, Ellen Briggs and Paul McMahon all featuring on the national, and international circuit. Nolan believes comedy has strong therapeutic value and has delivered several programs to Kids, People with Lived Experience of Mental Health, Grandparent Carers and seniors, who all found themselves on stage delivering 5 minutes of comedy, smashing stereotypes and reframing limiting social views.

Nolan’s most important work however is the unique Stand Up for Dementia, the  Humour Therapy she created for people with dementia that was developed with the assistance of  Commonwealth funding with research making its way International peer reviewed medical journals. Most recently Nolan was featured on SBS’s Insight for her innovative approach to working with people with high levels of dementia.

With her keen eye for detail and dark wit, Mandy excels in what she calls ‘a dangerous social autopsy!’ If you like David Sedaris and Jennifer Lawson, if you like outrageous observations peppered with intelligent insightful quips, then you’ll love Mandy Nolan.

“Mandy Nolan is hilarious, with a wicked, wicked sense of humour!” Olivia Newton John

“…the country’s sharpest and wittiest comedic columnist” Bruce Elder, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Georgina Humphries

Georgina has been making her mark on the Brisbane comedy scene and is determined to put her small rural town of Millaa Millaa on the map.

She has become a regular at the Sit Down Comedy Club in Brisbane and has appeared numerous times on ABC Radio Brisbane as a guest panelist.

Performing at several comedy shows each week, Georgina is passionate about bringing tales of small town life and rural antics to city crowds during her time on stage.

After qualifying for the State Finals of Triple J’s Class Clowns in 2015 and later being selected as a semi-finalist for RAW Comedy Queensland, Georgina realised that the life of a chicken farmer wasn’t her destiny.

Daughter of a fourth generation dairy, she traded in her gumboots for a microphone and moved to the city in 2016.

Stories about being bucked off buffaloes and rounding up prize chickens, are great fodder for her on stage act, giving her plenty to ‘crow’ about!

Her unwavering love of chickens and passion for telling small town stories to big city audiences, has led to her being referred to as the “Spring Chicken” of the Brisbane comedy scene.

As the famous saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child and the small town of Millaa Millaa to raise this up-and-coming comedian.”