Fresh comedy for spring

A GROUP seeking to give a platform to up and coming comedians will be holding a stand-up show in Bendigo in late October.

Featuring eight Victorian comedians, plus a surprise headliner, Laughs in the Ghetto’s Good as Gold II will be on at the Golden Vine Hotel on Thursday 26 October.

Drago Ivan Milinkovic, stage name Drago Ivan, runs the show and will also be performing.

Other comedians on the bill include Brett Hunter and Nick Trapani – who do an early morning radio show on 88.9 WynFM, Aarti Vincent – who Milinkovic said had a great Melbourne International Comedy Festival show called Tight Mums, Loose Units, as well as Grant Cater, Michael Haber, CAVIE, and Paula Ferrari.

Ferrari did online comedy during COVID, said Milinkovic said it proved online audiences were viable.

“She had an online audience when people still weren’t able to come out, so she’s revolutionised that part of Melbourne Comedy,” he said.

“Other comedians are good to work with because everyone’s their own creative outlet.

“Everyone paints their picture differently, they might be the most social cat in the room or whether they’re the ones usually in the corner going over their stuff.

“Working with comics is a blessing in disguise because it’s just picking the brains of other people and how they have that creative process when they perform their art onstage.”

Milinkovic said his jokes largely stemmed from his upbringing.

“My own sense of humour can definitely range from past trauma growing up ethnic, to the wonderfully modern times of what’s happening in the news,” he said.

“I just look up history and then I’ll just find out unique facts about what things were invented for and try to find a comedic break from there.”

As times change, what’s appropriate for comedy is changing too, said Milikovic.

“In Australia there’s not too much airtime to how comedy used to be, but I feel like it’s doing just as well,” he said.

“It’s just people need to put into fact that the world is changing so sometimes comedy has to change.

“There’s always some stuff that’s going to be popping up and we can’t just solely focus on the negatives, we always have to focus on the positives and try to bring some laughter.”