International Day of People with Disability (3rd December) is fast on its way, and we’re thrilled to see a number of events on the calendar dedicated to promoting an understanding of people with disability and encouraging support for their dignity, rights and well-being.
Lismore comedy club Larry Laughs Loud is one such supporter. The club is excited to offer something a little different this year to celebrate diversity and embrace difference; an evening of ‘Twisted Comedy’.
EPIC Assist is excited to support this event and their dedication to inclusion in our latest round of community grants.
Larry Laughs Loud spokesperson Vanessa Mitchell said that the community grant would be used to support the organisation’s comedy show to celebrate International Day for People with Disability.
“The event will showcase a number of local and interstate performers who live with a disability, or care for a person with disability.
“Specifically, this funding will be used to hire an Auslan interpreter to make sure that people with hearing impairments, or from the Deaf community are able to join in.
“Larry Laughs Loud provides opportunities for local comedians or wannabe comedians of all backgrounds to develop their skills or perfect their sets in a range of open mic events. Now that the club is growing, we are also able to offer paid opportunities for performers. This event will give a number of performers with disability paid performance opportunities.”
The event’s headline act, Imaan Hadchiti, has had repeat sell out shows at Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festivals and recently moved to the booming comedy scene in Berlin.
Imaan and his sister were born in South Australia, with Rima Syndrome. Standing at just over a metre tall, Imaan holds a Guinness World Record for ‘The World’s Shortest (full-time) Comedian’.
“We’re the only ones that have it (Rima Syndrome) in the world. All it means is everything is normal and in proportion, from top to tail, just scaled down. It’s not technically dwarfism,” Imaan said.
The event will also feature Brian Freeman, a regular performer on the Brisbane, Gold Coast and Northern NSW comedy circuits, surprising crowds with his honest accounts of life with Cerebral Palsy and the benefits of having a disability; and Katie Cooper-Wares, the mother of a young woman with a physical disability.
‘Twisted Comedy’ will be hosted by BJ Connolly, who loves making jokes about autism and all the embarrassing social interactions he endured during his childhood while developing his social skills.
The event will be held on 30 November from 7:30 pm at Lismore City Bowls Club, Spinks Park, Lismore, NSW.
