Is Politics a Joke? Comedy as a tool for political communication.

Join us for this online panel to hear four local comedians discuss the importance of comedy in a political landscape, and why political satire is universally enjoyed.

The event will be a moderated panel discussion with the opportunity for a Q&A at the end.

Our panellists are: Sarah Stewart, Caitlin Maggs, Laura Johnston and Felix McCarthy.

This event is jointly organised by Voices of Bean and Voices for Canberra.

Panellists

After 40 years of experience working as a midwife, Sarah Stewart decided to embrace her creative side and take up stand up comedy. Since 2020, Sarah has performed and produced comedy in Canberra, Sydney, around Australia, and London. Sarah was part of The Women's Room that had sold out shows at the Canberra Comedy Festival (CCF) (2022 & 23), and was nominated for Best in Comedy at the 2023 Sydney Fringe Festival. Sarah teamed up with Caitlin Maggs in 2024 and had sold out shows at CCF. In October, Sarah debuted her solo show "Midwife Crisis" at the North Australian Festival of Arts to sold out audiences in Townsville. Sarah is touring this show in 2025, including the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Caitlin Maggs is an electrician by trade and owns an electrical business in Canberra. She made a name for herself in the Canberra and Australian stand up comedy scene after winning the RAW Comedy heats in Canberra in 2021 and having performed stand up comedy only five times prior - performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Since then she has been honing her sets, and regularly performs in Canberra and has also performed at Canberra Comedy Festival (2024) and the Sydney Fringe Festival 2024.

Laura Johnston is quickly becoming a rising star in the Canberra stand up comedy scene. Although a veteran when it comes to sketch and musical comedy - she co-directed the 2022 ANU Law Revue - Laura had not performed stand up comedy before 2022 and quit her job to pursue it. Since then she has performed as a finalist in the 2023 and 2024 RAW Comedy heats in Canberra, Canberra Comedy Festival (2023 and 2024) and Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2024).

Felix McCarthy started stand-up comedy in 2019, and has gone from open mics to performing in capital cities and rural towns across Australia. He even managed to get himself on lineups in the UK, including at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which now lets him say he's performed internationally. He has performed sold-out shows in the Canberra Comedy Festival, in Melbourne and Sydney Fringe Festivals, and has opened for such names as Rove McManus and Akmal Saleh. With a style that blends whacky observational humour and insights that shed light on the most bizarre parts of life, he keeps up an off-beat comedy routine that never takes anything too seriously.