Steph Tisdell to headline Ord Valley Muster Comedy in the Park

Trailblazing comedian and Ydinji woman Steph Tisdell will headline the 2023 Ord Valley Muster’s Comedy in the Park night, making good on her planned 2020 and 2022 acts, which were cancelled along with the muster.

Joined by Chris Franklin, Bev Killick, and Fabian Woods, Tisdell had some choice words for those in attendance.

“I’m issuing you a threat – you will laugh and you will have a good time. I’m going to make sure of it because I’m just so over the moon to be a part of the Ord Valley Muster! So get your face exercises happening because otherwise you’ll struggle after laughing so much,” she said.

“I haven’t been on Miriwoong Country before and I’m hoping this will be the first of many visits.”

Steph Tisdell is a proud Ydinji woman and one of the funniest Aboriginal comedians to explode on the Australian comedy scene.

Her mission: to empower those around her using comedy as a way to observe the world and find the funny in heartbreak. After all, comedy is just tragedy plus time.

With a magnetic personality and quirky stage presence that skips between gleefully playful to biting political satire, Steph’s comedy is vulnerable, real, and insightful.

Before discovering her gift for comedy, Steph was enrolled to study law and this formidable intelligence and sense of social justice now permeates her material.

Her witty observations challenge stereotypes in non-offensive and hilarious ways.

Steph has a remarkable similarity to an Australian Idol winner and opened her interview on Channel 10’s The Project with, “In case you were wondering, I’m not Casey Donovan”.

She won the Deadly Funny National Grand Final in 2014 and has been collecting awards and accolades ever since.

Tisdell will be joined by self-professed yobbo Chris Franklin, whose “Hoganesque” style of comedy appeals to every average Australian and touches on delicate issues of beer, sport, and relationships.

The duo will also be joined by Bev Killick, a likable and bawdy comic who guest cameo’d in Kath and Kim and was the opener for the Puppetry and the Penis tour which performed to more than 250,000 nationwide.

And last but certainly not least, Noongar Yamatji man Fabian Woods will round out the line-up.

Woods won the Deadly Funny national award and has performed in front of sell-out crowds at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Fringe World Festival in Perth.

Ord Valley Events chair Sophie Cooke said the blockbuster line-up had been a few years in the making.

“We’re thrilled to have Steph Tisdell headline Comedy in the Park – we had her booked to come to Kununurra in 2020 – and we all know what happened that year,” Cooke said.

“Comedy in the Park is popular every year and with the stellar line-up of these talented and hilarious humans, we expect it to once again be a sellout show.”

Comedy in the Park is part of the Kimberley’s Ultimate Festival, the Boab Metals Ord Valley Muster held 19 - 27 May 2023 in Kununurra, Miriwoong and Gajirrabeng country.

A curated program of special events, from big concerts to lunchtime sessions, station luncheons, comedy, Indigenous culture and arts and family-friendly festivities kick off the East Kimberley’s tourism season.