The Listies, produced by Critical Stages Touring
Australia
The Listies are Richard Higgins and Matthew Kelly, a comedy double act who are serious about being silly. They formed during the latest Ice Age (2008) to perform absurd-ist comedy to elderly people (i.e. 18+) but switched to full time kids comedy in 2011, and finding it to be a wondrous and rewarding sphere full of joy, never looked back(plus the hours are heaps better).To date, they have claimed to have written nine-ish award-winning & critically acclaimed live shows, collaborated with most major theatre companies and festivals in Australia, toured 3 continents, recorded three albums, and published two books with Penguin – and they have 4 books on the way. Though we only have their word for it. On Australian television you can see them on ABC with their show ‘The Listies Work For Peanuts’, their music video ‘Wash Your Hands’ (with Zoe Coombs Marr and muso Ryan Ritchie) and occasionally in the background of outside weather broadcasts. In 2019 they performed over 120 shows to tens of thousands of people all over Australia. Nearly all of them stayed awake and only some of them vomited. Recently, in what may have been an administrative error, they won the Edinburgh Festival’s ‘PrimaryTimes award for Best Production for Children’.In the past they have received a Sydney Theatre Award, ‘The HarperCollins Best De-signed Children’s Fiction Book’, and the Best Independent show (Golden Gibbo Award)at Melbourne Comedy Festival, (and they are still the only kids act to have been nommed for the Comedy Festival’s ‘Best Show’ award.
www.thelisties.com
Critical Stages Touring is Australia’s national touring theatre company – discovering and developing outstanding independent theatre for audiences everywhere. We create outstanding live performing arts experiences that can travel, connecting these with diverse regional communities, and fostering a sustainable and diverse national independent theatre sector.