Comedian Lizzy Hoo has had a bumper five or six years.
She has starred in three successful live solo shows and two video stand up specials, appeared as a guest on television shows such as Have You Been Paying Attention? and Claire Hooper’s House of Games and performing at all of Australia’s biggest comedy festivals.
But Hoo never had any ambition to pursue comedy; it was one random email that led the former marketing account manager to give stand up a shot, forever changing the direction of her life.
“I’d just moved to Sydney (from Brisbane), I didn’t have many friends or a social circle, so I did all these courses at Sydney Community College,” Hoo said.
“I did sewing courses, a millinery course, and then I got an email saying ‘try stand-up comedy!’
“I thought, well, I’m at rock bottom anyway, let’s try this. I thought public speaking could be good for my job, because I worked at a marketing agency.
“There was another course called Introduction to Small Talk, and I was tossing up between them, but that was booked out, so I was like, I guess I’ll do the stand-up comedy course.”
Hoo was soon hooked, reaching the NSW Raw Comedy state finals in 2017, performing at Just for Laughs Festival at the Sydney Opera House in 2018, and eventually leaving her 9-to-5 job in 2021 to go full-time as a comedian.
Coming to comedy in her 30s, Hoo performs with an uncommon self-possession, and has a wealth of life experiences to draw on for material.
She will headline Laughs and Lagers, alongside fellow Melbourne comics Jeremy Dooley and Steven Bradshaw, at Blackman’s Brewery in Geelong on August 3.
Having performed at the opening of the Geelong Arts Centre and last year’s Geelong Comedy Festival, Hoo said she was excited to return.
“I’m excited, I love gigging in Geelong,” she said.
“It’ll be fun, a good pub gig. It’s one thing to do a festival show, that’s a different feel. But when (the venue) is smaller, it’s intimate, you can riff with the crowd and talk to people. That’s what I love.”
Visit blackmansbrewery.com.au for tickets and more information.
