of them who won’t go on again. But I only have
comics on the list. I know what it’s like from an
audience point of view. I know what it’s like from a
staff point of view, when people ask, ‘Oh my God
is this ever going to end?! I have work tomorrow!
So I’m very strict on the notion of starting on time
As a producer in the Melbourne comedy scene
(And the Australian scene for that matter) who
can claim to have run one of the longest standing
rooms around, no one can fault her approach. The
important thing about the rooms that are in existence is that all levels are catered for. McLeod’s is
the room comics get to aspire to.
Janet McLeod is a comedian. This makes her productions nuanced. Like most performer/producers,
she supplements her time running Local Laughs
by calling trivia, hosting a myriad corporate events
and other special occasions. Her comedy informs
her production tastes. And though while not a typical circuit comedian, her sense of humour and
her encyclopaedic knowledge of the local comedy
scene is what makes her sought after as a judge
by the organisers of RAW comedy.
“The good thing about technology at the moment is
comedians can no longer say, ‘I would be huge if
only… bla bla blah… whatever reason. There’s always this sense of comics thinking, ‘The gatekeepers are stopping me from being big!! They won’t let
me into TV, radio, RAW comedy… whatever. But the
access to technology means that comedians have
the opportunity more than ever to express their talents more than ever. It’s extraordinary! It’s all around
you. Just get it out there… stop being an a***hole
about it”.
All notions of production aside, the advice that McLeod gives comes with the backing of decades of
sweat. She points to experience and sweat equity as
the number one metric to success.
“People think that 3 years is a long time. Experienced
comedians will say that it is not a long time. It’s 5
years when comics start to become good. And then
will admit that they were lying about the 5 years…
that it’s really 10 years”.