There’s a tried and tested path to refining a comedy show for the Australian festival circuit. It goes something like this: get up night after night in the clubs and small comedy nights, taking cues from the laughs gained on which jokes to keep, scrap or refine. The audience is the comedian’s unwitting but merciless editor, effectively working with them to road-test material until it’s festival ready.
But COVID-enforced lockdowns have disrupted this process.