UPDATE: Very Strange Things wins the Director’s Choice Award at MMF17.

Massive thanks to all the audiences who came and made it such a great season.

If you missed it at last year’s Comedy Fest, here’s your only chance to catch Lawrence Leung’s mind-bending stand-up comedy show.

VERY STRANGE THINGS is back in Melbourne

this July for 5 nights only.

“Mindblowing” Time Out, Top 10 shows of MICF16

Lawrence has taken his wickedly unique blend of psych experiments and stand up comedy to festivals around Australia, with sell out shows and critical acclaim. He’s bringing it back home to Melbourne, one final time, as part of #MMF17. VERY STRANGE THINGS promises to be the most mind-bending and side-splitting experience you’ll have in a theatre this year.

‘ 4.5 STARS Superb and ingenious.’ Australian Stage
‘4.5 STARS’ Beat Magazine
‘4.5 STARS Leung plays the illusionist, charlatan and scientist with witty intelligence’ TheMusic
“4.5 STARS Amazing ” Herald Sun
‘4.5 STARS The laughs come just as often and the humour is just as sharp.’  -The West Australian

FIVE SHOWS ONLY

July 11-15

at the Northcote Town Hall,

as part of the 10 anniversary of The Melbourne Magic Festival.

For all tickets CLICK HERE

The 2017 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards announced their shortlist and the screenplay for SUCKER is nominated for the Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting.

Lawrence Leung and Ben Chessel’s film SUCKER, a coming-of-age con artist movie, impressed the judges whom described the script as “a playful approach to narrative conventions without ever undermining our connection to its memorable, multifaceted characters. Amid the fun and games, it is surprisingly wise on matters of identity, trust and love.”

 

The full shortlist:

The Code, Series 2 Episode 4 (Shelley Birse)

Sucker (Lawrence Leung and Ben Chessell)

Down Under (Abe Forsythe)

The Kettering Incident, Episode 1 (Victoria Madden)

Afghanistan: Inside Australia’s War, Episode 3 ‘We All Have To Get Home’ (Victoria Midwinter Pitt),

Cleverman, Episode 5 ‘Terra Nullius’ (Michael Miller)

The co-winners: The Code & Down Under

Read the Judges Comments about the Sucker script

SUCKER began as a one-man stage show written/performed by Lawrence Leung that received the Best Solo Show Award at the 2001 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Over the years, it was adapted as a screenplay, co-written by Lawrence and director Ben Chessell. The completed feature film stars veteran British actor Timothy Spall and newcomers John Luc and Lily Sullivan.  SUCKER the movie premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival, was the winner of  Best Narrative Feature Award at the St Lawrence Film Festival and was nominated for Best Screen Adaptation at the Australian Writers Guild Awards.

Watch the FULL MOVIE streaming online

COSMIC SHAMBLES LIVE is a gala night of science, comedy and music!

After successful runs in the UK, co-host/comedians Robin Ince and Josie Long tour their Science Variety Show to Australia and NZ.

The Melbourne show on April 1st includes Helen Czerski (bubble physicist), Matt Parker (stand up mathematician) and Lucie Green (cosmologist) and Rod Quantock, astrophysicist Dr Katie Mack, musician Ali Barter.

Oh and resident-geek Lawrence Leung also joins the Melbourne cast to talk about scepticism, growing-up geeky and Rubik’s Cubes.

Cosmic Shambles LIVE is a variety show that celebrates curiosity and reason, an explosion of science, comedy, music and general wonder, with a great sense of fun.

Saturday 1st April 2017

7pm Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

TICKETS – CLICK HERE

Lawrence Leung’s new show is coming to the Brisbane Comedy Festival in March 2017!

TICKETS CLICK HERE

 

“4½ STARS AMAZING” Herald-Sun

“4½ STARS” Beat Magazine

“4 STARS Mindblowing” TimeOut

“4½ STARS ” The Music

“Superb and ingenious.” Australian Stage

“4½ STARS The laughs come just as often and the humour is just as sharp”

The West Australian

 

Beardy comedian, writer and star of ABC TV’s Choose Your Own Adventure, Unbelievable, Maximum Choppage and Ten’s Offspring is finally making his Brisbane Comedy Fest debut with some Very Strange Things.

 

 

Lawrence is thrilled to have his “letter” to his mother published in the new anthology SIGNED SEALED DELIVERED compiled by Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire, the organisers behind literary salon Women of Letters.

Back in 2015, Lawrence was invited to write and perform a “Letter To The Woman Who Changed My Life” at a Men Of Letters event before a packed auditorium at the Regal Theatre in Northcote.

A year later, favourite love letters, confessions and missives from various guest writers at Women/Men/People of Letters events from across 2015/2016 were then compiled into a new book Signed Sealed Delivered (pictured above), available in paperback from good bookstores and Penguin here .

Lawrence’s mum quite enjoyed the letter.

Lawrence posed for artist Dean Manning earlier this year in Sydney. The portrait entitled ‘Maximum Lawrence’ has been announced as one of the finalists in this year’s Archibalds.

 

 

According to Art Gallery NSW,  the Archibald Prize is awarded annually to the best portrait, ‘preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’.

 

Oh, and this comedian!

 

Congrats to Dean Manning. His portrait as well as all other finalists can be viewed at the Archibald Exhibition at the Art Gallery NSW before the paintings go on tour around Australia.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2016/

 

Since 2008 The School of Life in Melbourne has presented wildly-popular secular Sunday Sermons exploring modern day values, virtues and issues. Previous speakers have been John Safran and scientist Dr Karl. On Sunday morning (10:45am) January 17, 2015, Lawrence will present his sermon entitled “On (Not) Knowing”.

From tackling the Rubik’s Cube to investigating the claims of so-called psychics and ghosthunters in his documentary series Unbelievable (ABC1), Lawrence has always been driven by curiosity. But the conclusion and answers aren’t the best part of tackling the unknown – it’s in the figuring out.

In this Secular Sermon, Lawrence Leung argues that the “not knowing” of something is the catalyst that drives human endeavour, science and some less desired outcomes. He will guide us on a journey of critical thinking and ‘a-ha’ moments as he presents fascinating and funny hoaxes, conundrums, mindgames, illusions – and downright lies. He will take us on a journey of figuring out, revealing why we seek answers, why we fall into traps, and how we might better understand the very human drive to “know”. He will be joined on stage by special musical guest Dan Kelly.

WHEN: SUNDAY MORNING, Jan 17th, 10:45am

VENUE: Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne

TICKETS:  CLICK HERE