Josh Thomas tests new material in Brunswick Heads

JOSH Thomas will begin shaping his next stand-up show in Brunswick Heads, treating the coastal town as the starting point for a tour that will evolve over the coming months.

The comedian will perform four nights at the Brunswick Picture House as he works through new material and figures out what will survive once the show hits bigger stages.

“Brunswick Heads is the beginning,” Thomas said.

“It’s always the beginning.”

Thomas said work-in-progress shows were less about polishing jokes and more about testing whether ideas had a future at all.

“I wanted to do a really fun, happy show this year, but I realised that’s actually super ambitious,” he said.

“I hosted family Christmas for the first time last year, and I feel like it’s going to be exactly that.”

Rather than leaning into commentary about the state of the world, Thomas said he was actively resisting the urge to add to what he described as an exhausting level of public discourse.

“Everything has a take, then a take on the take, then an apology, then a take on the apology,” he said.

“To be the person whose job it is to talk right now is genuinely annoying.”

Instead, Thomas plans to take a different approach on stage.

“I’m going to do three magic tricks,” he said, laughing.

He described the tricks as earnest, awkward and deliberately underwhelming.

“Imagine that stage your cousin goes through when they’re 12 and they start showing you magic tricks and you have to pretend they’re good,” he said.

“I think people will survive my magic tricks.”

Thomas said the show would continue to shift as the tour goes on, with jokes and stories regularly swapped in and out depending on how they land.

“Sometimes things just stop being funny and no one can ever pinpoint why,” he said.

“You just know that next week, two bits that worked will suddenly not work anymore.”

Thomas said Brunswick Heads audiences played a key role in why so many comedians choose to begin there.

“It’s such a sweet crowd,” he said.

“They’re kind, they’re smart, and it’s a small place, which makes it easier to try things that might not work.”

When he is not on stage, Thomas said he tends to spend his time at the back of the Picture House, drinking beer and scribbling notes.

“Everyone tells me to jump off the bridge into the river,” he said.

“I’m not going to do that.

“I’m going to work on my little jokes.”

Josh Thomas will perform work-in-progress shows at the Brunswick Picture House from January 28 to 31.