Comedy Salon: So Bad it’s Good

Steph Tisdell With an ever-growing list of acting (Class of ’07, Total Control, Bump and Netflix Original Love is in the Air) and writing (Fisk, Bump, Rosehaven) accolades, Steph Tisdell’s star is on the rise. While she’s best known – and loved – for cracking us up, an early interest in politics saw Steph enrol to study law. This sense of social justice matched with her formidable intelligence enables Steph to deliver insights that challenge cultural stereotypes in a way that is hilarious, relatable and – importantly as a proud Indigenous woman – powerful. Steph lives in Meanjin with her pet parrots, Parky and Eddie. The Skin I’m In is her first novel.

Garth Nix OAM has been a full-time writer since 2001, but has also worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. His most recent books are Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer, which collects all nine stories of the godslaying duo; and the children’s novel We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord. More than seven million copies of Garth’s books have been sold around the world, they have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller and others; and his work has been translated into 42 languages. He has won multiple Aurealis Awards, the ABIA Award, Ditmar Award, the Mythopoeic Award, CBCA Honour Book, and has been shortlisted for the Locus Awards, the Shirley Jackson Award and others.

David McWilliams is an economist, author, and podcaster who strives to demystify economics and make it accessible to audiences worldwide. His latest book, Money: A Story of Humanity, explores the evolving relationship between humans and money, and argues that money is humanity’s most impressive technology. It traces the story of money from the Stone Age top Bitcoin and was named a “Book of the Year” by the Financial Times, the Economist, the Guardian and Prospect Magazine. David also hosts The David McWilliams Podcast, Europe’s most popular economic podcast, with over 35 million downloads. Known for breaking down complex ideas in an engaging and straightforward way, the podcast connects economics to everyday life with humour and sharp analysis. David is also the founder of Kilkenomics, the world’s only economics and stand-up comedy festival, and now the largest economic festival in the world, described by the Financial Times as “simply, the best economics conference in the world.” He writes a weekly column for The Irish Times and is an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin. In the past, David has had a few proper jobs, working as a monetary economist at the Irish Central Bank, UBS, and Banque Nationale de Paris.

Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and USA Today best-selling author. He is the author of the globally popular Ernest Cunningham Mysteries, including Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, which is currently being adapted into a major HBO TV series, and the sequels: Everyone on This Train is a Suspect and Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret. His books have sold over one million copies in twenty-nine territories and have been nominated for nine ‘Book of the Year’ awards. His latest mystery, Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief, releases in October 2026.

Alice Fraser grew up halfway between suburban Sydney and her own imagination, raised as a Burmese Buddhist by an ex-Catholic and a Jew. She has been named one of the Telegraph (UK)‘s 50 Funniest Comedians of the 21st Century and her stand-up comedy specials are on Amazon Prime, NextUp and the ABC. She has a number of bestselling audio documentaries on Audible and has produced two critically acclaimed babies. Alice shuttles her family between London, Smalltown Queensland and alternate dimensions in an attempt to get the best and worst of all worlds.

Patrick Lenton is an author and culture journalist currently living in Melbourne Australia, who has regular bylines at The Guardian, SMH and The Age, the ABC and more. He is the author of the book of short stories A Man Made Entirely of Bats (2015), the book of comedic essays Uncle Hercules and Other Lies (2019), and the full length short story collection Sexy Tales of Paleontology (2021). His debut novel, a queer rom-com called In Spite of You came out in August 2025 through Pantera Press. He is also the editor of the queer-led independent publication Nonsense, a newsletter which covers comedy, queer news and culture. In 2024, Nonsense received a public interest journalism grant from The Walkley Foundation and Meta, to expand coverage of queer culture and news as depicted in the media.

Siang Lu is the Miles Franklin-winning author of Ghost Cities and The Whitewash, the co-creator of The Beige Index and the creator of @sillybookstagram. Ghost Cities has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the ALS Gold Medal, the Russell Prize for Humour Writing, the VPLA John Clarke Humour Award, the Readings New Australian Fiction Prize and the University of Queensland Fiction Book Award and The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year at the Queensland Literary Awards. The Whitewash won the ABIA Audiobook of the Year in 2023. In 2023, Siang was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Asian-Australians at the Asian Australian Leadership Awards. He is based in Brisbane, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kris Kneen is the award-winning author of fiction, poetry and non-fiction. They have been shortlisted for many awards including the prestigious Stella Prize. Their poetry collection Eating My Grandmother won the Thomas Shapcott Prize. Their latest book Fat Girl Dancing was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, The Qld Premier’s Literary Award for a work of state significance and the South Australian Literary Award.

Leon Filewood is a Kuku Yalanji Bama (North Queensland Aboriginal) and Kemer Kemer Meriam, Moalgal and Kaurareg Torres Strait Islander comedian, lawyer, and community advocate who exemplifies the power of creative expression to drive social change. Born and raised on Waiben (Thursday Island), Kaurareg Country, Leon masterfully wields comedy as both art form and activism, proving that laughter can break down barriers and foster understanding. Armed with a Bachelor of Laws from Queensland University of Technology, Leon initially pursued justice through the courtroom before discovering that comedy could reach hearts and minds in ways legal arguments alone could not.

“We fear things we don’t know, so I’m using comedy to make people more familiar with who we are as a community, to make people less afraid,” he explains, addressing the reality that six out of ten Australians have never interacted with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. In 2018, Leon won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s National Deadly Funny competition, launching a career that has seen him perform at premier venues including the Sydney Comedy Store and Enmore Comedy Club. In 2025, he performed at the prestigious Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala supporting Oxfam Australia. Leon’s debut solo show Whichway? represents writing for social change through performance. Touring Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne and Sydney Comedy Festivals, the show tackles political discourse and racial division with sharp-witted storytelling, inspired by divisive political rhetoric and demonstrating how comedy can be both entertainment and powerful social commentary. Through Deadly Funny workshops, Leon mentors emerging Indigenous comedians, expanding First Nations voices using humor to challenge perceptions and build bridges between communities.