Fledgling comedian wows judges

Eliza Jane Mann fell into comedy by chance and found herself on stage in the state finals of a national competition in only her 10^th on-stage performance.

The North Lakes comedian was one of 16 people in the Queensland finals of the RAW Comedy Competition at the Sit Down Comedy Club vying for a spot in the national finals, held as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Former Grace Lutheran College student Meg Jager took out the top state spot and EJ says it was a tough night of competition.

“Meg obviously earned her place as best in Queensland,” EJ says.

“I gave it my all, and was chuffed to make it into the state finals as one of Brisbane’s newest comics.”

Honing her act

The “accidental” comedian has only been performing since December, but immediately found an affinity for the genre.

“My friend signed me up for a stand-up comedy course and I thought I’d give it a go as a way to boost my confidence,” she explains.

“She’d just done the course and thought everyone should do it.
“I never expected to like it so much, or to end up where I am today – I’d never watched it, never been into it much, but that’s changed.”

Since learning the craft from renowned comedian Fiona McGarry, EJ has been juggling her work at Moreton Bay Regional Council’s Petrie depot with honing her act.

Comedy regular

While the RAW Comedy state final was only her 10^th performance, EJ’s ramped up her stage time and can now be found on the circuit three or four times a week.

EJ takes to the stage with a guitar, entertaining audiences with songs about a family who favours sport over feelings and making light of posts from the North Lakes community Facebook page.

“There’s posts like people complaining about dog parks discriminating against cats,” she laughs.

“I’m mostly singing on stage now – two-minute songs with a bit of talking in between – I’ve changed my act as I went along.

“At the start it was mostly just talking, but people seemed to like the songs.”

So what’s next? EJ says she’d love to make a career out of her new-found passion.

“But at the moment I’m still suffering from impostor syndrome.”