This school holidays, The Listies are bringing their latest show, Make Some Noise!, to Wollongong's Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC) from July 19-20.
The comedy duo invites audiences aged “4 to 400 million – dinosaurs allowed” to enjoy a performance full of songs and silliness.
“We aim to make humans of all ages laugh, as many times as possible in 55 minutes,” says the Listies' Richard Higgins.
Richard and his co-star, Matthew Kelly, have been entertaining children and adults for more than a decade. Known for their appearances on ABC Kids' The Listies Work For Peanuts and Art Blast, the duo has built a reputation for their brand of family-friendly comedy.
"We started out doing adult comedy in about 2008, back in the dinosaur times," says Richard.
“There are a lot of kids shows out there that have an educational aim or they're a bit whimsical, about the magic of childhood, which is wonderful and great, but Matt and I are clowns.
“That’s what we’re about – just making pure live entertainment which is increasingly rare in this world.”
The duo's approach to children's comedy is fast-paced, with a new idea presented every five minutes to keep children engaged and entertained.
“I think a good kids show should be dynamic. It should have a lot of ideas in it. It shouldn't have any less ideas than an adult show,” says Richard.
“There should be a new toy, a new reveal, a new piece of music, a dance – it should change every five minutes. It probably should change every three minutes, with attention spans.”
Richard and Matthew create comedy for kids by thinking back to what they found funny in childhood and creating a situation or game that kids can recognise and relate to straight away.
“I've learnt how to make comedy that doesn't have references to contemporary politics or drugs and alcohol,” says Richard.
“A lot of stories done by comedians are about dating or love life, their husband or their partner or something crazy that happened to them on a crazy night.
“We try to start with the premise of ‘what do kids know?’ So our last show was about bedtime. This show is about music, because kids love music.”
Live comedy shows for kids offer an increasingly rare alternative to screen-based entertainment.
"Seeing something live, and being in an audience of people, not a virtual audience, an actual audience with other bodies, looking at things and laughing together is a very human and a very old ancient experience," Richard says.
“But I also think it's important that Matt and I are grown men and we're being silly.
“We’re not being tough and brave and strong, we're being silly and scared and anxious and emotional. We’re getting upset and then making up, and I think that alternative masculinity is important for kids to see."
The Listies have won Best Kids Show at the 2023 Melbourne Fringe Festival, a Sydney Theatre Award and Best Independent show (Golden Gibbo Award) at Melbourne International Comedy Festival. They've also published books with Penguin and recorded four albums.
Now they’re looking forward to bringing Make Some Noise! to Wollongong audiences.
"We've been to Wollongong maybe six times, this is maybe our seventh time," Richard says.
"We know all the staff there. Simon [Hinton] who books us at Merrigong, he's amazing. It's a great theatre and they have a great audience,
“So it’s a little bit like coming home sometimes, going to places like Wollongong.”
Performances at IPAC on Friday, July 19 at 6pm and Saturday, July 20 at 10am (a relaxed performance) and 1pm. Tickets are $29, with a $6.95 transaction fee for phone and online bookings. The show runs for 60 minutes without an interval and is suitable for ages 4 and up.