The beautiful Concert Hall of the Opera House played host to the Sydney Comedy Festival’s Opening Gala Night, which promised laughs from a wide range of international comedians. The host for the Gala was British comedian Sara Pascoe, who expertly led the audience through the night with funny quips and a strong opening monologue, covering many topical issues in British culture. 

The night commenced with a theatrical style comedic performance from Reuben Kaye. It was a strong and engaging opening that prepped the crowd well for the night of outlandish laughs to come. 

Scottish comedian Larry Dean was one of the highlights of the night. He was witty, absolutely hilarious and had the perfect balance of pushing the boundaries and making the jokes accessible to everyone. His humour was very clever and the audience appreciated the depth of his jokes throughout his short set. 

Becky Lucas followed and struggled a little to connect with the crowd, with her jokes about divorce and suicide not really landing. That said, she presented a well-organised set which explored some interesting themes. 

Moses Storm performed an amusing set about his experience in a cheerleading camp (when the basketball camp next to it was where he really wanted to be) before Michelle Brasier showed off her fantastic voice with another musical comedic number. 

Troy Hawke provided some entertaining anecdotes about the Mr Men series before Joe Avati commenced a set that he warned would not be politically correct. While this isn’t a problem in itself, many of the jokes failed to land which really was the underlying problem (rather than the lack of political correctness). 

Mark Watson closed out the first act and was by far the star of the night. He was absolutely hilarious, with jokes about his eccentricities, family and school parent WhatsApp groups, all of which ensuring he connected with a different part of the audience. He was also spontaneous, including some hilarious engagement with a young child that had the audiences in stitches. It was everything that a short comedy set should be. 

In the second act, Nemr maintained the momentum of Watson with a very entertaining (and slightly terrifying) story about his upbringing in Beirut. Chris Ryan brought the jokes about beauty standards before Leo Reich, the youngest person on stage, performed a fantastic set focussed around frank discussions about sex.   

Stephen K Amos was highly amusing, providing a very carefully constructed and well-performed set before Schalk Bezuidenhout joked about his internet activities ‘back in the day.’ Finnish comedian Ismo was also excellent before Ed Byrne closed out the night with a strong set. 

While most of the performers delivered very strong sets, the relative lack of diversity of those chosen for this set was felt. While there were a range of international comedians who performed, it did feel as though that a particular type of comedy was represented more than others and that a lack of racial diversity (particularly among the Australian comedians) was felt. Given that comedy is such a diverse profession, it was a little disappointing that the wide range of comedians that Australia (and the world) has to offer were not showcased a little more. 

With that said, this was a very entertaining show and gave an exciting taster to many of the Sydney Comedy Festival acts. It promises to be a very exciting month of comedy around Sydney and I would strongly urge everyone to do some research and seek out a comedian of interest as there is so much on offer. 

The Sydney Comedy Festival runs until 21^st May. For more information, click here.