COMEDIANS AND good friends Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs are bringing their smash hit comedy show ‘Women Like Us’ to the Regent Theatre on Saturday, March 4.
Their two hour show takes a hilarious look at the lives and experiences of everyday women.
Both Mandy and Ellen found that women often don’t see their lives or their experiences reflected on the stage as the comedians in the spotlight tend to be men and they tend to talk about bloke stuff.
When coming up with a show title, Women Like Us just turned up. “They’re Women Like Us,” said Mandy.
“Our audiences love our shows because our lives are like theirs. We’re not rarefied trophy wives. We’re capable overworked, overwhelmed and totally over it women! And because of sharing stories like that women like us.”
Ellen and Mandy talk about housework, chickens, love, big undies, disappointment, resentment, sex when you’re drunk, fit bits, yoga farts and being a menopausal woman dealing with teenage angst.
Audiences have left the show with aching stomach muscles, sore jaws, and a woman even injured herself when she laughed so much she slipped from her chair onto the floor.
For Mandy Nolan, finding a comedy soul mate has been a godsend. The two friends decided they should hit the road when they realised they have a lot in common and also enjoyed spending time together.
“It’s a lonely life being a comic. You perform on the stage to adoring appreciative crowds, but most of the time you’re in a transit lounge, or in the car, or sitting out back behind a pot plant until show time. Having someone along for the ride is just fantastic,” Mandy said.
Ellen Briggs never intended to be a comedian. She just wanted to write a book. That’s why just over a decade ago she enrolled in Mandy’s stand-up comedy class.
“If the sole purpose of teaching over 1,000 people was just to get someone with Ellen’s talent and ability up on the stage, it was well worth it,” Mandy said.
“I’d hate to think what would have become of her if she hadn’t found her feet as a comedian. She just had too many stories to waste on her Labrador.
“It’s a real privilege to share the stage with someone who is just getting better and better with every show. She’s a knock out.”
“We want to make you laugh, but most of all we want you to go home feeling good about yourself. Women spend too much time not liking themselves, beating themselves up for being too old, too fat, a bad parent, a terrible cook, but we just say, hey, it’s what makes us human! Celebrate your imperfection.”
Women Like Us, at the Regent Theatre in Murwillumbah, Saturday, March 4, 2017 at 8pm. Doors open at 7.30pm. Tickets $30/$28.