Joel Creasey reacts to 'crazy rivalry' rumours between gay comedians

He’s arguably one of the most popular comedians in Australia, and now Joel Creasey is using his platform to shine a spotlight on rising Australian LGBTQIA+ stand-up stars.

The Nova host has teamed up with The Star and launched a casting call for a Camp Comedy Show which will take place early next year.

Amateur comedians from across the country are invited to participate in an open-mic comedy contest at The Star Gold Coast on August 3 and The Star Sydney on August 4 in the hopes of landing a spot in Joel’s Camp Comedy lineup.

Joel, who began his illustrious career doing open-mic comedy contests, says that he’s keen to uncover comedians with “a fresh point of view”.

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“I’ve always found, and I think my gay comedy peers would say the same thing, that it's nice to have a point of difference,” he tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

“So I always say to young comics, no matter who they are, to play to their strengths and talk about something that only they can uniquely talk about.

“I think there are so many queer comedians right now. In fact, we run comedy! If you think about it, between myself, Hannah Gadsby, Rhys Nicholson, Nathan Valvo, Geraldine Hickey, there are so many brilliant gay comics right now. So I'm looking for someone with a different perspective to come and join the coven!”

‘Crazy rivalry’

Speaking about his relationship with fellow queer comedians in Australia, Joel asserts that he sees them all as friends rather than foes.

“It used to always be like, me versus Josh Thomas a lot - that’s what people wanted to think,” he details.

“And then people always seem to think that Rhys and I have this crazy rivalry, but I’m actually the best man at his wedding. We’re best friends and we do very different things.

“So it's not that competitive at all,” he continues, before adding with a laugh, “I mean, during Comedy Festival season when there are ticket sales to be had, yes, it gets competitive. But it’s not just amongst the gay comics, everyone's fair game during Comedy Festival!”

‘Greatest career moment’

Since starting his comedy career in 2006 Joel has embarked on a number of national tours, featured as part of a stand-up series on Netflix, hosted his own game show, landed a role on Neighbours, and travelled around the world as a commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest.

However, he says that his biggest career achievement was opening for comedy legend Joan Rivers in 2014.

“When I first started working with Joan Rivers, that was a really nice tick of approval,” he remarks. “And that will always be the greatest career moment for me because she’s the reason I started doing stand-up, and to get that validation from her was so cool.”

As for what’s next for Joel?

“It could be a breakdown, it could be an international TV series. Who knows!”

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