Comedy Connections: Melbourne & Malaysia - online premiere

Hosted by Australian-Malaysian Lizzy Hoo, feast on performances from some of Malaysia’s funniest including Douglas Lim and Hannan Azlan, Australian-Malaysian Suren Jayemanne and British-Malaysian Phil Wang.

Celebrating some of the best comedians from Malaysia, Comedy Connections: Melbourne & Malaysia also features conversations with and messages from Douglas Lim, Brian Tan, Prakash Daniel and Joanne Kam Poh Poh.

Comedy Connections: Melbourne & Malaysia will premiere online on the Festival's YouTube at 8pm AEDT on Tuesday 25 October 2022. Head over to our YouTube Channel to set a reminder now to tune in, or catch up after the online premiere on demand!

For the past 35 years the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has been a cross-cultural celebration of the funniest people in the world. The Festival has a proud connection with Malaysia and has enjoyed almost a decade of cultural exchange. The Festival has supported tours of Australian comedians to Malaysian cities and presented emerging and established artists from Malaysia’s dynamic comedy scene in Australia at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and beyond. A true intercultural alliance, the Festival looks forward to growing the collaboration between Malaysian performers and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival – the biggest comedy festival in the southern hemisphere and one of the top three comedy festivals in the world.

Comedy Connections: Melbourne & Malaysia premiered in Kuala Lumpur on 21 October at The Joke Factory, where it was introduced by Malaysian comedian Harith Iskandar and accompanied by performances from Joanne Kam Poh Poh, Prakash Daniel, Brian Tan and Hannan Azlan, all of whom feature in the episode.

'Malaysia and Australia have always enjoyed close ties. But our shared love of comedy flies under the radar. Its extraordinary how many Malaysian comedians perform at world-class comedy festivals in Australia. I’m excited we can support this project showcasing the breadth of Malaysia’s comedy talent, which Australian audiences have enjoyed over many years'.  Justin Lee, Australia’s High Commissioner to Malaysia

Comedy Connections: Melbourne & Malaysia was produced with the support of the Australian Government’s flagship public diplomacy initiative, Australia now, which focused on Malaysia in 2021 and 2022, with additional support from Creative Victoria.

Supported by the Australian Government as part of Australia now Malaysia and by Creative Victoria