Women on Top

More about the show

Mandy Nolan

Mandy Nolan has been a comedian for over three decades. As a loud mouth lefty feminist she’s long used the platform not just to make jokes, but also to champion the big issues. She’s not only a domestic violence survivor, she’s brave enough to do a joke about it. Hailed by Wil Anderson as Australia’s ‘funniest non famous comedian’ people have always asked why someone as accomplished and commanding as Nolan has never got the national cut through she deserves. Nolan blames herself ‘I dropped out and moved to Byron Bay when I was 23. Before it was cool. Then I had 5 kids. Three husbands. Then I got old. As a woman that’s not great for business.’

Nolan has delivered a TEDx talk, she’s headlined MICF Roadshow, Sydney Comedy Festival Roadshow and she’s struck comedy gold at Upfront at Melbourne’s Town Hall.

Mandy Nolan has done things differently. She has taught over 2000 people stand up comedy, including Emmy winning Hannah Gadsby, her Women Like Us touring buddy and former RAW finalist Ellen Briggs and this year’s RAW winner Alexandra Hudson. ‘I love mentoring other comics, particularly women. It’s a passion of mine.’

In the Northern Rivers where she lives Mandy jokes are as much part of the vernacular as ay surfspeak. She’s authored The Soapbox, the most popular opinion piece in the region’s iconic Echo newspaper for 21 years. It’s seen her invited to pen pieces for the Sydney Morning Herald, Quarterly magazine Lunchlady and work as one of the most in demand writers and podcast host for Mamamia. Sydney Morning Herald’s Bruce Elder called Nolan ‘the country’s sharpest and wittiest comedic columnist’. Mandy is also the author of 5 books.

Kirsty Webeck

Kirsty wins hearts everywhere she goes with her upbeat and relatable brand of comedy that is often described as playful, light-hearted and fun. A gifted storyteller, she has a natural ability for turning the mundane into the hilarious and has quickly become one of the most popular Australian comedians in the industry.

Kirsty entered the Australian comedy circuit in 2013 in an unconventional way. After doing a five minute set at the end of a comedy workshop she launched straight into writing and performing a full length show. Employing her public relations background she sold over 100 tickets to her first major performance in her hometown, Canberra. No stranger to hard work, Kirsty, used this show as a launching pad to build a professional stand up career from the ground up over the next few years. Her career has grown exponentially over the last few years.

She’s a regular guest on ABC radio and in 2018, she was the featured comedian on an episode of The ABC’s “Tonightly With Tom Ballard.” In 2019, she toured regional WA with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow, and opened for Joel Creasey at sold out shows at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney and The Astor Theatre in Perth.

In 2020 she was seen MCing the comedy stage at Falls Festival Byron Bay, opening for Tom Gleeson at Bunbury Fringe, on Channel 10’s ‘How To Stay Married’ and as the host of the incredibly successful lockdown hit ‘Kirsty Webeck’s Zoom Comedy Hour.’ In 2021 she had a huge season of her show Chuck A Sickie at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, appeared on the Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow, Frocking Hilarious and Audible’s ‘Comedy Up Late.’ She also toured with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow through regional QLD and Victoria and appeared on 9GO’s popular sitcom ‘Metrosexual,’ Today Extra and The Project.

In 2022 she’ll be touring her brand new show ‘Silver Linings’ including performances at The Street Theatre, Canberra, Gluttony at Adelaide Fringe Festival and Melbourne Town Hall for Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Vanessa Larry Mitchell

Currently on an extended National tour of her debut solo show ‘Teardrops on My Dildo’, Vanessa Larry Mitchell has been described as a ‘new-age feminist’, taking her raw and honest accounts of parenting, dating and all things female to the stage. Vanessa is well known for her impressive stage confidence, relatable gags and banging punchlines that will leave you spontaneously laughing for days.

‘Vanessa is exactly the comedian women need right now’
Mindshare.org

Alexandra Hudson

Alexandra delightfully staggers and stumbles through life’s experiences, and in doing so stumbled onto a comedy stage. Alexandra is based in East Ballina, unceded Bundjalung country and made her comedy debut in July 2020. Alexandra shares entertaining little musings about her experiences as a disabled woman and her observations about the mostly foreign non-disabled world she lives in. From Alexandra’s perspective she finds it is the non-disabled who are the oddities, and she finds joy in tipping things on their head. Alexandra recently became the joint winner of Raw Comedy Competition National Grand Final 2022 at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and is set to compete in an International open mic competition at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.

Ting Lim

Singaporean-born Ting Lim’s dark wit and distinctive style have made her a rising star in the Australian comedy scene. She was handpicked to represent Queensland in the prestigious Melbourne International RAW national comedy finals in 2011. Her momentum never faltered and she, once again, represented her adopted home state in the coveted Green Faces national competition in the very same year.

She quickly became a regular at the Sit Down Comedy Club with performances across Australia, Singapore and New York. Ting’s comedy has taken her from her native Singapore to outback Queensland performing for drought-stricken communities, to opening for stars like Beth Stelling, Demetri Martin, and sharing the stage with Jimeoin and many more.

Mel Buttle

Boasting a prolific and award-winning stand-up career spanning over a decade

Mel Buttle continues to delight audiences all over the country. And as if that weren’t enough, Mel’s also managed to become a social media phenomenon in her spare time, with her beloved Mum/Lyn character becoming a break-out star in her own right. With followers tallying in the hundreds of thousands, and over 4 million likes on TikTok you can always rely on her keen observational take on the absurdities of modern life.

Mel’s first solo show in 2010 scored her a nomination for Best Newcomer at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, followed by winning the Directors Choice Award in 2013 for her show How Embarrassment. Mel is a powerhouse on the live comedy circuit and her career has gone from strength to strength. She performed her Solo Show Hands on Heads at the Brisbane Powerhouse at the beginning of 2020 and a recording of that show has since been released and is available to download as a podcast by ABC Comedy Presents.

Mel even wrote and performed her own TEDxBrisbane talk in 2014. She was originally booked to perform a set and instead, used the opportunity to deliver a beautiful message to audiences.

No stranger to a challenge, Mel has hosted The Great Australian Bake Off and entered the jungle in the seventh series of the Network Ten favourite reality show, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Australia. You may have also seen her as the Australian Team Captain in the SBS comedy quiz show Patriot Brains, as well as on Network Ten’s The Project, This Week Live, Hughesy We Have a Problem, ABC TV’s The Weekly with Charlie Pickering, Australia Debates, Tractor Monkeys, Back Seat Drivers, It’s A Date, Seven Network’s Australia Now & Then and NZ’s TV3 weekly program 7Days.

As well as live performance, Mel is a sought-after writer having written for ABC’s Ronny Chieng International Student, The Drum, ABC3’s You’re Skitting Me, Please Like Me, and was a full-time writer on Network Ten’s This Week Live. Currently Mel writes a weekly column in The Courier Mail.

Janty Blair

Janty Blair is a proud Butchulla, Mununjhali and Woppaburra woman based in Brisbane (Meeanjin), Hervey Bay and Rockhampton. Janty is a gifted stand-up comedian, who won the Deadly Funny Grand Final 2022 at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. After nearly four decades in the workforce as a midwife, Janty has taken her life experience of understanding diverse people, improvising and rolling with the punches and paired it with her infectious and uplifting energy to make herself a powerhouse on the stage.

Over the years Janty has had experience organising forums and workshops, facilitating education sessions, hosting and participating in NAIDOC and reconciliation week events. With a love for creative industries and a passion for social justice, Janty uses her stage presence and platform in comedy and keynote speaking to bring joy as well as empower individuals and communities to action. Janty is a burgeoning playwright who loves poetry and singing, she is enrolled in a Bachelor of Fine Arts and aims to create and develop stories that celebrate and showcase First Nations people through media and art.

“Janty Blair from Butchulla, QLD had the audience and judges in stitches”
The Age