Madeleine Stewart is the creator of Are you Pulling My Leg. Photo: Supplied.
A line-up of accomplished and award-winning comedians are on their way to The Q theatre in Queanbeyan for a performance that is set to bring the house down.
Madeleine Stewart, creator of the stand-up comedy show Are You Pulling My Leg, guarantees the laughs with a range of comedy styles from an award-winning line-up. There will be dark humour, energetic and upbeat performances and a few naughty tales.
There is just one thing we haven’t mentioned – all the comedians have a disability.
Originally created as a one-off show for Sydney’s festival of light, Vivid, the comedy line-up was so popular, Madeleine decided to take it out on the road in a mission to break down barriers and bring some humour to topics that are rarely discussed.
“It’s a bite-sized taster from every comedian on the line-up. They all have different types of comedy styles. It will be a fun night,” Madeleine tells Region.
Jamal Abdul cracks up audiences with his take on blindness. Photo: Supplied.
Having started her comedy career at age 16 and since having performed with Rove McManus, Adam Hills and Reuben Kaye, Madeleine is more than qualified to bring the chuckles.
Originally inspired to take up comedy after attending an Adam Hills show, Madeleine shares that her motivations behind the career have changed over the years.
“I lived in Campbelltown, and no one good came to Campbelltown, but one time Adam Hills came and he has one leg. I was so in awe that a comedian could be so in charge of a room and talk about his disability, and people would love him and his stories, and I wanted a bit of that too. I started doing it for attention, let’s be real,” laughs Madeleine.
“Now that I’ve gotten older, I do it for advocacy; I use it as a way to share our stories and our experiences so people can see that people with disabilities aren’t so scary, for lack of a better word.”
Madeleine was born missing her left hand and forearm and finds herself in a position she never planned for, as a disability advocate.
“When I started comedy, I didn’t even have advocacy on my mind; I wasn’t even a part of the disabled community. In my early 20s, after university, I met other people with disabilities in the creative arts, and that was my clique,” explains Madeleine.
Loz Booth fell into comedy when her son didn’t see representation for their disability in the media. Photo: Supplied.
Finding people that finally understood her, it became apparent to Madeleine that her newfound clique were experiencing similar barriers to her in everyday life.
“I thought I could do something about this and chip away at it, and that’s when I started doing comedy more focused around disabilities.”
Joining Madeleine in the Queanbeyan line-up will be Jamal Abdul, a state finalist in Australia’s biggest open-mic comedy competition, RAW. Madeleine shares that Jamal has a great way of talking about his blindness with his I’m not weird, you are, take on disability.
RAW comedy winner Alexandra Hudson, who has also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, will be sharing entertaining musings on life as a disabled woman.
Alexandra Hudson is a RAW comedy winner. Photo: Supplied.
Elliot McLaren who is a queer, chronically ill, Maori comedian who toured his solo show Memoirs of a Meth Head…Chapter One in 2024 will be bringing his dark humour to the line-up.
Madeleine is also excited to share that Loz Booth will be at the Queanbeyan show.
“She’s so energetic and fun. She has a hand difference and her son was born with a hand difference, and he said to her that there was no one on TV or social media like him, so she started to become the representation for her son through comedy, and she’s really smashing it.”
Elliot McLaren will bring his dark humour to Are You Pulling My Leg. Photo: Supplied.
If laughing about what may seem like taboo topics sounds a little stressful, Madeleine wants to reassure the public that they never make it uncomfortable or go on the attack and that all the comedy is in the name of a good time and awareness around often unspoken issues faced by many Australians.
Are You Pulling My Leg will be playing at The Q in Queanbeyan on Saturday 2 August. Tickets can be purchased on The Q website.
If you’re a disabled person Madeleine says that you can expect access with Auslan interpreting, captioning and wheelchair accessibility.
